In the most recent collaboration between Sawhorse Revolution and Black Star Farmers,  a team of teens from multiple high schools & mentors from Olson Kundig worked together to design a structure for BSF’s future home in Columbia City. The project is intended to be an indoor/outdoor gathering space for farmers and volunteers – a multi-generational space that should be comfortable for children and elders alike.

Sawhorse students visited the site and interviewed Black Star Farmers’ community members to better understand the goals of the space, and over the course of our 12-week fall program, learned principles of design, and worked to address the client’s needs through many iterations of dreaming, drawing, modeling. Big thanks to our guides through architectural the process – Ian Edwards, Collin Palen, and Beth Nowicke from Olson Kundig, and UW student Ilhan Mohamed!

Students shared their final design in our first ever joint celebration – students in the BSF program joined students in the Yəháw program for a final gathering, presenting their designs and speaking on their experiences and celebrating all they’d accomplished. Big thanks to the volunteer team from  Communication Resources who helped coach us to craft our presentations!

Our group came up with an ambitious design: two 10×12 structures, bridged by a pergola over a 10 foot gap, with fire pit in the middle to gather and warm up. The three zones communicate horizontally; one structure will be enclosed with 4 walls, but have french doors to open to the covered area under the pergola. Folks can move through that breezeway into the third zone, that features open walls with blocking for shelving, that will allow light and air to flow through the structure. Each space can function separately or used together to create a larger gathering space.

We’re so excited to see what comes of this wonderful collaboration — stay tuned to learn how we plan to build this structure with Black Star Farmers!