outdoor kitchen everyone village
The Bruton Design Intensive represents a dynamic and transformative program that brings together students from the School of Architecture & Environment for an immersive two-week design-build charrette.
The intensive is designed with a clear mission in mind: to cultivate a dynamic and engaging learning environment centered around the charrette method, ultimately leading to a range of innovative learning outcomes for participating students. This program goes beyond traditional classroom learning to equip students with a comprehensive skill set that extends well beyond the realm of design.
Workshop Details
The 2025 Bruton Design Intensive (BDI) two-week Design-Build workshop continued working with Everyone Village, a non-profit organization based in Eugene that provides transitional shelter to individuals experiencing homelessness. The Village is located on a 3.5-acre property in west Eugene, and it currently serves about 75 people.
A shared space for cooking and eating was designed and built, with both functional implications and aesthetic-spatial qualities in mind.
Under the broader theme FOOD, the project focuses on four primary areas:
A) Teamwork and community cooperation
B) Conceptual approach meets participatory design
C) Exploring the spatial relationship between one's own basic needs and community impact
D) On-site implementation
During the work at Everyone Village in 2024, it became evident that food is a central element for the villagers. Food deeply ties to personal stories and traumas, reflecting the complexity and communal power of this shared human necessity. The challenge is to bridge economic, cultural and
individual differences, to give space for the individual and existential, and to activate food as a catalyst for community empowerment, mental wellbeing, and physical health.
The DesignBuild intervention focused on the existing spaces within the Village, including the Indoor Cooking Space, the Outdoor Cooking Space and the Communal Fire Pit. It also helped dealing with challenges such as missing rain protection, space limitation, appliances/equipment inadequacy, and lack of storage. We will explore how and where the neighborhood can participate in community food events and how therefor space serves as
catalysator. Students will learn how a community kitchen works, which dishes villagers prefer and why it is still valid that Gottfried Semper's fireplace
as a social-sacral element is the central of the four elements in architecture.
Images and Plans
Technical Description
The first week we explored cooking and eating in its individual, communal and architecture-theoretic context, examining the specific challenges of the
site and designing the spatial intervention. Students visited Everyone Village to conduct a site survey and community engagement activities and
shared a barbecue. Villagers will be invited on campus, to challenge our reflections and creations.
The second week was dedicated to the production of spatial elements. The installation was developed on Campus to enhance conversations within the academic community. The structure was then assembled at our partner's location where it will live for its long-term use, including the
modification of existing surfaces. The last day was dedicated to prepare he inauguration, to which villagers, neighbors, students and the academic
community were invited.
Last year’s structural framework was adapted to the new purpose and location. It was constructed in layers of standard 2-by-4-inch wooden slats. The structure was erected on L-shaped steel profiles and anchored to the ground with post foundations. Each layer is screwed to the one before it and attached to the facade of the new kitchen. Windows, shelves, and small wooden “connecting elements” are distributed across the walls. These connecting elements were necessary to stabilize and support the wall and are positioned to cast shadows like leaves on a tree. Benches, tables, and two counters invite people to cook, eat, and socialize.