cal poly design build project

competition rules: have to use 80% found materials, structures must be hand carried up the mile and a quarter hike, and you must live in your structure for the whole weekend. with this in mind a very thought out project is required to meet all of these criteria.

starting with our design we used the concept of a water bungalow. the theme of the competition this year is "landfill luxury" so we thought about what the best luxury is as an architecture student. our answer: sleep and relaxation. with this in mind i came up with the idea of a bungalow because it is a simple structure that serves the purpose of being a place for relaxation.


a main element of the competition that we wanted to think about was the fact that we needed to carry our structure up the mile and a quarter hike. because of this we were limited to light materials and the necessity for a wheel system. after messing around with small sketches and study models, i came up with a hinged system to make each bungalow fold in on itself. we wanted this to be important to show that our structure is easily adaptable and transportable in any site.

ultimately we came up with a structure that folds in on itself and is light enough to be carried by one individual. the video below shows how this process works.

the other main element we used within the overall design was the idea of creating many different spaces with the bungalow layout. with hinging doors, each bungalow will latch into the adjacent bungalow, creating a small community. when connected, we have the option of opening our doors to travel into different bungalows or we can close them for privacy. also, the layout of all the bungalows together creates a central public space that we are going to design an awning for. by reusing crutches as legs, we created an adjustable system for the foundation that we can manipulate depending on the topography we are in.

for the good news: WE WON THE PRELIMINARY SELECTION AND ARE GOING TO COMPETE AT CAL POLY!!!!!!! we worked really hard and definitely deserved a selection to go. im soooooo excited to work on these further into making them truly luxurious. i want to win every single award there and will not be happy if we dont come away with at least two awards. wish us luck in our quest for gold. ill keep everyone posted while we build and adjust our remaining 3 bungalows.