Independent Project
Yale School of Architecture
Critic: Peter De Bretteville
In response to a call for a high school art center on an oft-flooded site in Fair Haven, CT, this proposal offers a cohesive wooden frame to host an auditorium, private studios, classrooms, fabrication spaces and archival storage for student work.
The studios are calibrated to the needs of young artists, each of whom is offered a room of their own and granted day-and-night access. The studio is a social and expressive space as much as a personal and creative space. The auditorium and circulation areas are semi-public spaces where parents and friends are invited to share and collaborate on works-in-progress.
The River Street Studios are built on a brownfield site. As the site is prone to flooding, the project sits away from the water and landscaping is focused to the site’s edge: young trees emerging from the ruderal grassland are replanted to fortify River Street. The remaining field is maintained with a light touch and provides ground for seasonal programming—artistic and environmental.