This is a vertical studio combining students in their second and third year of the MArch program with students in the MAAD program, and those in the final semesters of the undergraduate architecture program. The students may choose from a diverse range of options of study proposed by different faculty members. In general the studio options are grounded in a conceptual basis that invites theoretical and/or programmatic innovation. These studio options may vary from year to year.What does your future as an architect look like in a world impacted by climate change, increasingly uneven economic prosperity, spiraling material and labor costs, and severe resource constraints? All the Advanced Studios this semester take on aspects of this question. The Local Futures studio equips you with ways to intellectually frame answers to these urgent issues; to investigate and adapt alternative strategies to “practice as usual” through short making experiments; to research, source, and play with a wide array of reused/reusable, recycled, and/or radically local materials; and, through the design of a building, to explore techniques for applying this all in our sprawling urban and suburban contexts. In your hands the goal is an elegant and leading-edge architectural work. And you will leave the semester with a toolbox of frameworks and skills for the precarious future. IDEAS and STRATEGIES: Rather than seeing constrained resources as an impediment, Local Futures sees the condition as one of creativity and opportunity. Among the frameworks we will explore and experiment with are bricolage (construction or creation from a diverse range of readily available things), improvisation (making or doing something that you have not planned, using whatever you find), flexibility (the ability to be easily modified or adapted), and regionalism (architecture attuned to a specific place or region) MATERIALS and TECHNIQUES: When dealing with materials and construction techniques, we are up against the question of what constitutes “local”. We will be starting with a premise that it means a wide array of materials and fabrication/construction/building skills that are within a hundred-mile radius. (This may shift during our research). Preference will be given to materials that are reused, recycled, reclaimed, repurposed, and/or destined for landfill. These will range from concrete to steel to wood to agricultural by-products. Among other issues considered will be carbon footprint, environmental impacts, job creation and sustainability, skill and craft preservation, and scalability.APPLICATION and DESIGN: The design project will be the adaptive reuse of a building, with a significant new addition. Two candidate buildings will be investigated by the studio after the research phase. (Specifics in the lottery presentation). Students will select the one that aligns most with their interests to carry forward into design. Design investigations may include material research and experimentation, full-scale or scaled down mock-ups, as well as other visualization techniques. The semester will be divided into five weeks of research and hands-on experimentation (collaborative, group sourced), followed by a three-day/two-night field trip (organized by the studio in pursuit of discoveries and interests, and including a site visit), then individual experimentation and design on your own. For those of you who took the Radically Local seminar Fall 2023, this studio is an opportunity to explore those ideas through design. For those of you who have not had the seminar, this studio may serve as a precursor to the seminar, which is offered again Spring 2025.* Travel Requirement: This studio is anticipated to include a required three day/two night travel component to northern California and the Central Valley on October 3, 4, and 5. Students who are unable to join the trip due to unavoidable personal obligations or extenuating circumstances can request to be excused from attendance in person, and will receive alternate research/project assignments in exchange, but it is understood that every effort should be made to attend. In order to participate in the field trip, students must complete the CCA Student Travel Emergency Contact Information and Release Form, which will be shared with them in advance of the trip. Students should anticipate spending no more than $175 for this trip.

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