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Photo: Nate Watters

Olson Kundig Partners with Sawhorse Revolution

2017/03/22

Since 2014, Olson Kundig has partnered with Sawhorse Revolution, a non-profit carpentry program for high school youth. In providing mentorship through the program, Olson Kundig designers collaborate with Sawhorse students to create and design ideas, giving them the training needed to bring their ideas to life. This design/build program is run, staffed and attended entirely by women, and a majority of the students come from low-income, immigrant or other diverse backgrounds. Sawhorse aims to work with students from every background to empower youth through the realms of carpentry and craft.

Photo: Nate Watters

Most recently, Olson Kundig partnered with Sawhorse to design a much-needed security booth, named “The Hub,” for a homeless encampment in Seattle. Designers Katherine Ranieri and Ming Yuan, along with LMN designer Plamena Milusheva, led fourteen high school youth in conceptualizing, sketching, and presenting “The Hub.” Under the tutelage of these design professionals, Sawhorse students completed all aspects of the design process, from client consultation, to collaborative floor plan design, to hand-drafting presentation renderings. As a capstone, the teens presented their design last fall at Olson Kundig to representatives from the homeless village.

Photo: Nate Watters

The group will re-convene in April to build the project, led by carpenter and cabinet maker Katie Walker of JAS Design/Build. This project is part of Sawhorse’s larger initiative to design and build high-quality structures for Seattle’s homeless villages, several of which have been in partnership with Olson Kundig.