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| "Wordship" mobile writer's cabin at Shelburne Farms |
can’t go far in Central Vermont without running across the innovative and functional public structures branded with the Yestermorrow Design/ Build School insignia. From the numerous projects serving the visitors and guests at Shelburne Farms – including a mobile writers’ studio dubbed the ‘Wordship’ by Bill McKibben – to an elegant footbridge astride the Poultney River at Green Mountain College – installed just weeks prior to Tropical Storm Irene, and which dutifully withstood the torrent – to an elegant outdoor composting toilet in Montpelier’s Hubbard Park, the rich and textured history of these structures adds to the cultural fabric of Vermont.
These projects, and countless others, were spawned from a
two-week course that resides at the intersection of the Vermont-based
design/build movement and the burgeoning public interest design movement, which
seeks to promote architecture as a tool for the public good. The course, Design/Build for Public Interest, is taught by some of the preeminent names and pioneers of the
design/ build movement, including Steve Badanes, who was involved in the landmark
architectural project almost fifty years ago on Prickly Mountain in the Mad
River Valley that radically broke from the constraints and traditions of
architecture and helped set the foundation for the design/build movement. Jim
Adamson, who, along with Badanes, distinguished himself professionally through
the wildly innovative projects of Jersey Devil Design/Build fame, also
instructs the course, as does New York City-based architect Bill Bialosky, who
is currently working with Vietnam War Memorial designer, Maya Lin, on the design
of a $300 million research laboratory.
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| Picnic Shelter in Warren |
Badanes first began teaching at Yestermorrow in 1982, just two
years after the school was founded, and for the last twenty years, he has been
teaching the design/build course creating community projects alongside Adamson
and Bialosky. Their students’ work pushes the creative envelope in the
design/build process, incorporating the school’s commitment to environmentally
and socially responsible building, all the while working to transform public
spaces and the lives of those whose inhabit them.
From his office in Seattle, where he holds the Howard S.
Wright Endowed Chair of the University of Washington’s College of Built
Environments, Badanes explains, “We are able to build community projects for
the nonprofit groups who couldn’t afford to do them if they had to pay. For me,
[working for the public interest] is a much better of a way to spend my time,
working where I can make a difference. Many architects spend their entire
career working on nothing but houses and additions and commercial buildings.
That’s all fine, but public structures affect us all.”
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| Trail Kiosk in Warren |
Historically¸ there has been a disconnect between architects and students of
architecture and the building process and the materials
used to create architecture. This class offers students an opportunity to engage with both the design
and building processes, and to see how they are interrelated. “Many students
come into the class with few building skills, and we teach them a lot in a
short period of time. We also teach them to not be afraid of trying something,
and that design can be a powerful influence in the lives of people that don’t have
access to innovative design,” Badanes adds. “Students benefit from our class by developing
some confidence in themselves as designers and builders.”
It’s also fun, he adds. “It’s fun for us teachers, and it’s
really fun for the students. It moves a
lot faster than other classes where there are a lot of demonstrations. We don’t
really have time. You learn by doing. You have to go through a collaborative
design process and come up with something to build. It’s a fantastic
combination, in a very short period of time becoming part of a cohesive unit that
designs something and builds it for a public client.”
The prospective recipient of this year’s project is a public
elementary school that has the need for an outdoor learning structure. Like all
of the class’s projects, there are no designs predestined for this project. The
entirety of the project, from its design to the building and instillation, will
take place from August 3rd to August 15th and, empowered by the instructors,
will be done entirely by the students of the class.
--by Nic Tuff
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