This past Thursday was the opening for the most current Design/Build Alum bronXcape 2008...Congrats....at the gallery they had these cool postcards of each project as a keepsake, which I love as a Margaretville '07 Alum. Here is a history of The Design Workshop 1998-2007 for your viewing pleasure:




The Design Workshop, 1998-2007

One of the nation's premier design/build programs, the Design Workshop offers students direct experience working with clients to determine their needs and devise and implement solutions, With faculty guidance, students complete the design and construction, from schematics to punch list, of a medium-scale project for nonprofit organization. Since its first major project in 1998, the Design Workshop has brought to life the progressive educational agenda for which Parsons is famous: extending education beyond the confines of the academy; developing projects that address social, economic, and environmental concerns; and bridging the gap between theory and practice.



The Event Cooridor, 1998

The redesign of the Architecture, Interior Design, and Lighting Department's 12,000-square-foot Greenwich Village studio loft was the Design Workshop's first realized project; Parsons was the workshop's first client.





The Glass Corner, 1999

The Glass Corner is the principal lecture and event space for the Architecture, Interior Design, and Lighting Department. Workshop students designed, fabricated, and installed all elements of the faculty, including the 14-foot-tall-glass corner that extends events beyond the room and into the public realm.



The Swing Room, 2000

The Swing Room is a prototypical multifunctional academic space designed to support a range of pedagogical activities at Parsons. Numerous spatial configurations are made possible by hinged and pivoting architectural elements, echoing the range of anticipated functions.




The New York Studio Program, 2001

The New York Studio Program is a nonprofit service that provides work space in lower Manhattan for art students from around the country. Workshop participants designed and carried out a comprehensive conversion of the 4,000-square-foot loft to accommodate 20 student artists with movable workstations that can be stored compactly at the side of the room.





Academic Lobbies, 2002

In a 12-story urban design school like Parsons, elevator lobbies are a combination of public plaza and front porch. Workshop students designed and fabricated two such hybrid spaces for design departments of The New School.




Field House, 2003

Take the Field is a public-private partnership dedicated to rebuilding athletic facilities for New York inner-city schools. Using weathering steel, porcelain panels, perforated metal screens, and wall of pivoting doors, students designed and constructed a field house for the Grand Street Campus High School in Brooklyn.




Prince George Hotel Gallery, 2004

Common Ground, a nonprofit organization that provides housing for previously homeless people, required a new public entry and exhibition space for its facility in the former Prince George Hotel. The workshop responded by adding new construction as well as stripping away layers of material to expose the raw building fabric.




Gallery, 2005

The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Artist-in-Residency program required a portable infrastructure to support events ranging from small gatherings to large groups of 100 persons. Workshop students designed and fabricated a kit of mobile architectural components to serve as "event structures."



InfoWash, 2006

In consultation with the residents of DeLisle, Mississippi, a community almost totally destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, workshop students designed and built InfoWash. The 3,000-square-foot facility comprises a laundromat-counseling center and is the workshop's project outside of New York State.




Margaretville Park Pavilion, 2007

Built in the ecologically sensitive floodplain of the Delaware River, the 6,000-square-foot steel-frame community pavilion is the workshop's largest and most ambitious project to date. The construction, from excavation to ribbon cutting, was completed by 11 students in three months.


...me in red shirt (far left) and colleagues with the huge model...


...and one of the few pics of me smiling upstate...lol


...pavilion "link" between the deck and tower...


...pavilion enclosed prep area...


...and the loggia...


...and at the ribbon cutting...