Activating the Creative Class in Rural Communities

IDES351, Spring 2018

With the creative class population rapidly decreasing in rural America, how can we position the built environment to retain people of the creative class? The Nebraska Art Therapy Collective is a place for healing, learning, and self-discovery through expressive art therapies for children, adolescents, and adults ages three & up. Not only will this program generate people of the creative class, but it will also provide ample job opportunities. This place relies on the adaptation of the standard barn typology and the generation of a new interior using program and circulation as the strategic generator.   This project was a recipient of a competitive national scholarship, the Donghia Senior Student Scholarship.