This Integrated Studio explores reasons (environmental + contextual + ethical + ideological + historical + pragmatic), strategies (theoretical + spatial + formal + collaborative) and techniques (process + material) for making architecture that is explicitly Local. Like Local Food, Local Architecture is highly specific in response to place and climate, in material, local supply chains, construction craft and technique, and in capacity building and sustainability (environmental, social, economic and cultural). Of specific material interest this semester is the intensive use of wood. Warm, beautiful, sustainable, adaptable, and a material long sourced and used in Northern California buildings, wood will be the material focus of this studio. As an Integrated Studio, this studio will take you, for the first time, beyond schematic design into the early part of Design Development. We will explore how to maintain and develop your architectural ideas at multiple scales through the various stages of the design and documentation processes.  Further goals for this studio include developing your ability to integrate the full complexity of elements of architectural design and construction and understand how these elements relate to one another, to begin to detail a building in a way that supports and furthers the design concept, to carry through design ideas at multiple scales, and to integrate building technology systems with the design. Regular input from outside architects, engineers, and building technology experts will strengthen and assist this development. You will work in teams of two, and together you will track and document the demanding and complex processes and products of this studio in a portfolio-ready format.  

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