Specialized Studios

Storefront Studio

Each year the Storefront Studio occupies a vacant Main Street storefront in a King County community. In partnership with local business associations and the King County Historic Preservation Program, the studio hosts a series of public open houses, exhibits, and information exchanges. Through archival research, photographic documentation, and digital collages, the students generate before-and-after streetscapes and individual building proposals. Recent Storefront Studios have worked in the University District, White Center, Auburn, Renton, and Skyway.

Design/Build Studio

Each spring, Professor Steve Badanes and students in the Howard S. Wright Design/Build Studio design and build small community projects for Seattle-area nonprofit groups. Students in the studio gain experience with clients, public agencies, and hands-on construction while working to benifit people in the greater Seattle community. The studio receives funding from the Dept. of Neighborhoods and the local business community.
 

Furniture Studio

Students in the furniture studios, offered each spring and summer quarter in the wood and metal shops, design and execute a complete piece of furniture, such as a table, chair, case, desk, screen(s), or the like. The approach is based on the "studio furniture" movement in the U.S. where individuals design and build individual pieces of furniture in small-scale shops (rather than mass-producing furniture). Participants thereby have a direct hands-on interaction with the materials and the tools necessary to make a complete piece of furniture in the ten-week quarter. Many recent student furniture pieces produced in the furniture studio have won regional and national awards.