The Rural Bridge House

Academic Project
Group Project with Michael Thut, Timothy Jockers
Studio Professor: Jonathan Rule, Kathy Velikov
Arch 562, Collectives Studio
2023. Jan - May.

Our project aims to create a living and learning community through a set of interwoven public and private spaces. It establishes a hybridized form of collective work/life through a mixture of housing, youth education, and public engagement programming. This is aimed at attracting and retaining the younger population, both children and young adults, in Port Austin to support and enhance the town's future. For this reason, we have designed units that accommodate families, young adults, one-bedroom permanent residents, and camp groups.

Formally, our project features a central core with programming branching out. It can be likened to a tree, with the central trunk connecting the entire building and smaller branches of programming extending from it. The core public infrastructures on our site include farming, education, and woodworking, which extend out in more defined ways through activities such as chicken incubation, vertical farming, a farmers market, a live performance venue, wood harvesting, sap collection, and more. All of these elements have been intentionally located on the ground floor of our building to attract both residents and members of the existing community.

To reinforce this formal narrative of a central core, we have designed an elevated pathway on the 2nd floor that connects the entire building. We envisioned this pathway as a means of traversing the project, but it has also become an extension of the living environment. Almost all of our housing units have their living space located on the second floor, encouraging the traditional living room to flow into the communal space. This results in an active space that is not only home to people but also features clotheslines, fire pits, barbecue grills, cornhole boards, giant Jenga sets, kayak storage, slides, and much more. In this way, we aim to break down typical distinctions between private and public space within housing by proposing a variety of shared spaces, ranging from two units to the entire complex.

Lastly, we recognized that Port Austin's activity varies across seasons. As a result, we have designed infrastructure that activates the site throughout the year. This is most evident in the design of camp units and the planting of four tree species—cherry, maple, pine, and oak. These trees serve additional functions beyond providing wood, as they produce fruit and maple sap, which can be harvested and processed for consumption.