As Ashley Beard worked on her final project as a WSU graduate architecture student last year, she realized halfway through the semester that she didn’t like her building design at all.
This was, after all, her last-ever project for school – her final chance to design the way she really wanted to with few real-world constraints.
“My design was super rigid and was blocking the views of the neighboring buildings,” she said of her first attempt. “It was just kind of boring and not a good example of what I could do.”
So, she started over on the project which called for the design of a facility that would improve the lives and mental and physical health of people. She dreamed of an undulating space and a building that could truly benefit the community and the environment at the same time.
“In this project, I wanted to emphasize how architecture can work cohesively with its surrounding landscape, hoping that the two can be more interconnected,” she said. “Once I combined the two, I started to visualize a space that I hoped to see more of in the real world. I brought together aspects of design that I genuinely loved; this is when I really began enjoying the project.”
Her aspirations and work paid off, as she was recently named a winner of the 2022 American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment (AIA COTE) Top Ten for Students Design Competition. Sponsored by The American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment in partnership with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, the competition recognizes ten exceptional student design studio projects nationwide that integrate health, sustainability, and equity.
Beard’s project, called Relook Overlook, is a mixed-use building design that aims to create a sustainable relationship between the Earth and our built environment. The project aimed to tackle health challenges in a Spokane neighborhood, including high rates of obesity, low access to healthy food, and the lack of employment prospects.
The project, located on an overlook above the Spokane River, called for collecting, treating, and distributing stormwater on the site while at the same time supporting the community and creating a more sustainable future. While the main building component was a water treatment system, the project included secondary components such as community gardens and kitchens, job opportunities and a job assistance center, as well as a recreation facility.
She maintained the beauty of the site by following its natural topography in her building design.
“I used the high points of the natural existing site, and I exaggerated them so that the water was still flowing the same way it naturally would,” she said.
The experience designing the project was transformative, Beard said.
“During that last semester, I finally figured out what I like and what I want to do through design,” she said. “I knew what kind of design interested me, but for some reason I didn’t realize I could put that into an architectural project. For so long I played it safe in design and this was the last chance I had to not do that.”
She realized instead that she could incorporate her desires, inspirations, and dreams into her design work.
After graduating last year, Beard has since joined EL, Architects in Vancouver, Washington. She still holds out hope that one day her project can come to fruition. After all, she said, the Spokane site remains vacant.
“I think that there are not enough spaces in our world today that provide a good integration of architecture and our environment — it’s so separate,” she said. “I feel it is so important for people to be living cohesively with their environment, it would improve our health and wellbeing a lot. We need that to be happy and cohesive.”
Mona Ghandi, assistant professor in the School of Design and Construction, was the faculty sponsor for the project.
“This is a very prestigious and highly competitive national competition with thousands of applicants,” she said. “I am so proud of Ashley and wish her success in her future professional endeavors.”
