Free Little Libraries - Palouse, WA

Little Free Library was established in 2009 and is a program whose motto is “take a book, return a book.” To date, Little Free Library has built 15,000 libraries in 62 countries. This is a non-profit organization whose goal is to inspire learning in people of all ages. This goal is accomplished by filling the little library with donated books and then placing the little library in a central location of a town so that people will walk by and see it. Then, when someone takes a book they should exchange it with another book of their own. This model will work perfectly in a small town like Palouse because it will allow pepole to have access to books at all times, even if the main library is closed. 

Small But Mighty

The town of LaCrosse, WA may be small and located in a rural area, but it still has everything that any town would need to thrive. By studying the demographics of this town it allowed me to have a better understanding of the town and the community's needs so as to best design the rock houses to suit their needs.

Bed & Breakfast Case Studies

 These two small bed and breakfasts located in the greater area of the Palouse are great examples of small town bed and breakfasts and how a small business can thrive even in a small community. They are run locally and cater not only to people in the surrounding area but also consistently to people traveling from outside areas. These bed and breakfasts offer reasonable prices and an alternative to staying in one of the larger hotels in the area.

By studying these two establishments it gave me a better understanding of the components required to make a small town business run successfully. I was able to apply some of the concepts that I gathered from my research to the LaCrosse Rock Houses that I designed to be a bed and breakfast.

Integrating Community Through Rural Hospitality

The small rural town of LaCrosse, WA is a place full of people who have the desire to make their town better, and have the unique opportunity of doing so through the redesign of the old basalt rock houses located near the entrance of the town. This cluster of small houses has been abandoned for many years and may look completely run down to the naked eye, but with the help of LaCrosse Community Pride (LCP) and the help of motivated community members, these houses can be restored to their former glory and provide function for the town. One option for the houses is to utilize them as a bed and breakfast. This option will entice outside guests to come into the town and will not only bring income to the bed and breakfast, but will also help to support local businesses. By creating the bed and breakfast it will become a part of the community rather than a separate entity and will enhance the strong family and community values that the town already exemplifies.

Boundary County Library Design

The Boundary County Library Project is one that we have been working on for almost the entire semester, and we have gone through many different stages of design to finally end up at this point. We began this project by visiting the town of Bonners Ferry and speaking with the community members of the town to discover what they wanted to see most in the design of the new community center. We then formed teams with the landscape architects in SDC and began to work on this project as a team. This design that our group came up with is that of a brand new building, which entails demolishing the existing building in order to incorporate all of the square footage needs that the different organizations moving into this building require. This is the best option for the town of Bonners Ferry as it will give them all of the space they need, and it will allow for the design of a building exterior that will be better incorporated into the design of the rest of the town. The facade that we came up with mimics the look of the old mill in Bonners Ferry with a pitches roof. It also uses logs on the exterior of the building and river rock to tie it back to the history of the river in the town. Overall, this project gave me experience working with a community, working in a group, and also improving my ability to be flexible and work on my development conceptual design.

Case Study: Rosettarray

This case study was done on a light and art installation in the Rosetta office building in Seattle. I chose this to do my case study on because I remember seeing it when my Dad worked here and also because it was similar to the type of thing I would be designing for my own Atrium project. The glass panels act as a sort of wall between the hallway and the offices on the other side, much like the atrium and the offices that are on the other side of the windows. Researching this design gave me inspiration and sparked my own ideas on what to design for the Atrium in the IT Building on the WSU Pullman campus.

WSU IT Building Atrium Design

The main goal of this design was to create a space that the patrons who will be living with space on a regular basis, would be happy with. In order to accomplish this, our class conducted interviews with the patrons who have offices surrounding this large space. The space as it is now, is completely empty and completely dark with offices surrounding it. Prior to the closing of the atrium when the football stadium was built over top of it, the space was a beautiful outdoor space with natural light flooding in, and plants and trees. Now, the patrons with the surrounding offices look into a completely dark room, with absolutely no natural light. When talking to the patrons, they realize that there is no real way to get natural light into the space, but they would like a space that was usable and functional, but without compromising the privacy of their offices. Many said that they would love a place to go and have lunch and a place that everyone could go and gather outside of their offices. Because of their responses, I came up with this design that not only gives the patrons the privacy they desire, but also a place where they can go and enjoy their lunch, get a coffee, and just take a break from the confines of their office.

Working with actual clients on this project was a great experience, especially since most of the people we spoke with were very enthusiastic about the project and the redesign of the atrium. It was interesting to hear first hand all of their opinions, and was a fun experience being able to apply their wants and needs into my design. Finally, being able to present to the clients and get feedback on my design was another great experience because I could tell how excited they all were to see a positive change to the space, and one that could feasibly be implemented into the space.