Process : About [DesignBuildBLUFF]

DesignBuildBLUFF is a program for graduate students to realize architecture that nurtures the spirit and improves the lives of all who experience it.

flash website

what's DBB

supporter

news & blog

About

Process

Architecture that builds hope and character

From hands-on, hands-dirty, real-world requirements to the practicalities of designing and building a home that balances an architectural concept with the needs of actual, living, breathing human beings and their communities, architecture serves multiple masters.

DesignBuildBLUFF is first of all a unique learning experience for students, teachers, clients and all onlookers alike. It seeks a harmonious union between clients’ needs and architectural intent and purposefulness. When possible and practical it employs natural, sustainable and intuitive building methods along with non-traditional material applications in order to create unique structures that respond to the social, cultural and environmental needs of the region.

The program exposes and encourages students to study the social implications of architecture, the appropriateness of alternative building methods, recycled materials, unknown and untried innovative solutions, and to soak up the knowledge, wisdom and motivation of visiting professionals.

Student members of a project DesignBuildBLUFF team interview and select the client family and proceed to work with them along with the other stakeholders in order to define specific needs and limitations. Then opens the box of practical experiences and lessons: in some circumstances presenting ideas and drawings to planning and zoning staff and boards, compliance with OSHA building site safety standards – essentially planning and directing all aspects of the building process, however always assisted by experienced contractors, architects, community agencies and select specialists. Affordability, energy-efficiency and overall sustainability are a few of the criteria against which the construction is continually being measured.

Although Hank Louis, architect, and Dennis Caulfield, contractor, assist and instruct throughout creation and construction, the lion’s share of the design and labor are completed by the students, who live together for the entire semester and are required
to commit to the completion of the project.

Perhaps the greatest lesson provided by DesignBuildBLUFF is one of empathy. Participants
of the program learn to appreciate the needs of
others while working together in cooperation to realize a collective vision.