For our Fall 2025 design studio, we were each tasked to design a “maker-space.” At random we were each given a building material and a maker medium. My maker was a textile artist, and my building type was wood. The textile artists are specifically natural dyers, fabricators of small batch natural fiber clothes, instructors, and they provide a service to shred unused fabric into stuffing. The equipment required for all those activities are described below. For the wood structure, I primarily used the Wisconsin-based company WholeTree Structures as inspiration. WholeTree Structures has developed a unique system of utilizing unmilled tree members for structural elements in commercial spaces. Here are initial research snapshots for the equipment required for the textile artists and building typology.
The site we designed for is a 38’ x 100’ infill lot that has no known history of previous construction, located at 1305 SE 8th Ave, Portland, OR in the Buckman neighborhood. The north, south, and west sides are abutting existing buildings, the east side is street facing. The neighborhood is historically industrial, with apartments in close proximity. Here is an historical report written by a classmate and I about the neighborhood and site:
The first design element I considered was the roof. The shed roof is south sloping for solar gain, the butterfly roof is for the rain water catchment system that fills an above grade 5,000 gallon water cistern. The unmilled columns support glulam beams, the roof trusses are exposed, and the floors are mass timber supported by parallel chord trusses. See the 1/4″ model below:
Process drawings, floor plans, section perspective:
Process drawings and material studies of the knife plates that connect column to foundation and beam to column:
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