- hand graphics, research
- Department-wide charrette
Each year the entire LAEP Department at USU divides into teams with a mix of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, grads and faculty. Each team focuses on a different aspect for a project with a real client. For a week, we cancel class and spend all our time finding solutions to problems to present to the client.
Our client for this particular charrette was Summit Powder Mountain Resort. Our team focused on housing in and around the resort. One major problem was the lack of affordable housing for seasonal employees in Ogden Valley.
It would have been an easy solution to just find a spot in the valley below to build apartment buildings, but the agricultural town of Eden is a very small community that, understandably, did not want massive developments moving into their town.
I tackled this problem by looking at what other ski resort towns were doing, because I knew this was a common problem around the West. Then I explored ways to create housing options without taking away from the valley’s charm.
The solution I proposed was to design a community center that looked like multiple smaller buildings, inspired by the architecture of buildings in the area. Behind the building was a neighborhood of tiny homes on a grid that could easily expand, if needed. Each block of tiny homes would surround a communal fire pit for social integration. The community center would also house amenities for residents like a laundromat, shared kitchen (which could also be used for cooking classes) and a shuttle waiting area for Eden residents, skiers and resort employees going to the resort or outside the valley.
Other projects
