ISLAND DESIGN ASSEMBLY 2012, 2018
In 2012 while interning with McLeod Kredell Architects (MKA) in VT, USA, I helped to create the first annual Island Design Assembly (IDA) by coordinating and naming it. IDA is MKA's professional externship program held in ME, USA and it is an instrumental part of international architectural education nowadays, attended by students from USA and abroad. During the first-ever session held at Buckminster Fuller's Bear Island (hence called BIDA—Bear Island Design Assebly—until 2016), I took photographs for promotional materials for subsequent years and designed conceptual models for a light-weight portable shelter (#1–#13). The assembly has been run without my contributions since then and it has grown to a full design-build program. During the past years, IDA design-build projects included a farm stand, chicken tractors, compost commons, greenhouse, footbridge, pavilion, recreation shelter. I returned during summer 2018 for IDA's 9th edition.
In 2018, I returned to IDA to help execute the earlier "IDA's 3S ideas: shelter, shower, sh*tter" (#14–#43). The challenge was to design and build a rejuvenating bathhouse for an island science education community within one week, rain or shine, on a remote site, without connection to utilities. We were based at Hurricane Island, the former summer base camp of the Maine Outward Bound School and now the home of the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership. Our IDA rejuvenating bathhouse provided a composting toilet with a removable composting bin used to fertilize island gardens, rainwater catchment system and storage area, sinks with foot-pump pedals, solar shower, and custom storage shelves with other interior fitouts. During the construction process, we unearthed foundation ruins from a 19th-century quarry town and accentuated many other splendid views.
As an assistant instructor, my primary responsibilities were to aid the collaborative design process, accelerate clearing of the mutually selected final site, contribute to construction while mentoring younger students, oversee safe tool handling, and photodocument our thrilling and rewarding process. In the communal words of over 100 IDA participants over the years:
We intentionally conduct this program on a rugged island an hour’s boat-ride from the mainland, with no running water or utilities, because it strips life down to the essentials. Everyone on the team has to be mindful of how we use limited resources. If we forget something, we cannot run to the store and get it. Everything needed on the island comes by boat. Meals are made with food that comes from local farms, from the surrounding waters, and from the island itself. It is a self-sufficient and inter-dependent way of life, if only for a week.
island design assembly
offshore, offline, offgrid
architects and students
designing and building
for island communities
one week at a time...
In 2018, I returned to IDA to help execute the earlier "IDA's 3S ideas: shelter, shower, sh*tter" (#14–#43). The challenge was to design and build a rejuvenating bathhouse for an island science education community within one week, rain or shine, on a remote site, without connection to utilities. We were based at Hurricane Island, the former summer base camp of the Maine Outward Bound School and now the home of the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership. Our IDA rejuvenating bathhouse provided a composting toilet with a removable composting bin used to fertilize island gardens, rainwater catchment system and storage area, sinks with foot-pump pedals, solar shower, and custom storage shelves with other interior fitouts. During the construction process, we unearthed foundation ruins from a 19th-century quarry town and accentuated many other splendid views.
As an assistant instructor, my primary responsibilities were to aid the collaborative design process, accelerate clearing of the mutually selected final site, contribute to construction while mentoring younger students, oversee safe tool handling, and photodocument our thrilling and rewarding process. In the communal words of over 100 IDA participants over the years:
We intentionally conduct this program on a rugged island an hour’s boat-ride from the mainland, with no running water or utilities, because it strips life down to the essentials. Everyone on the team has to be mindful of how we use limited resources. If we forget something, we cannot run to the store and get it. Everything needed on the island comes by boat. Meals are made with food that comes from local farms, from the surrounding waters, and from the island itself. It is a self-sufficient and inter-dependent way of life, if only for a week.
island design assembly
offshore, offline, offgrid
architects and students
designing and building
for island communities
one week at a time...
