Student project success
Nine students from Western Michigan University’s Residential Architectural Design program took on the assignment of designing a home for HSP community member Kate from Victoria.
After circulating information about the opportunity to members of the HSP community in early February, Kate’s application was chosen, leading to 9 independently developed designs for a home based on Kate’s needs and wants.
Each student produced documentation covering:
- pre-design data gathering
- concept design
- schematic design
- construction and material documentation.
Climatic studies, site analysis, passive design strategies, building code and standards, accessibility, working from home, adaptations for HSP symptoms, movement patterns in the home, sustainability, materials/mood board with colours and textures are all factored in to the final designs produced.
The students made final presentations in late April when Kate received all the designs and documentation for her consideration.
Foundation President Frank McKeown said “this was a fortunate and wonderful opportunity for all involved. Kate received different designs and options from which to pick and choose for the home she is going to build. Hopefully other people living with disability and other designers can use this project to guide similar projects in future, plus the students got to work on a project outside their own country and get the satisfaction of doing something worthwhile for someone else, so it was a win all round.
Full credit, congratulations and sincere thanks to the Richmond Institute for Design an Innovation at Western Michigan University, particularly to program leader Kim Buchholz who is the drive and vision behind this highly commendable initiative”.