Thesis Introduction P

Everybody Wants Some

The starting point of my thesis project was the desire to develop an architectural design solution for a challenge that faces the Chelan Community. The first and most obvious problem that came to mind is the lack of available affordable housing. A growing amount of people are unable to work there and sustain residency. Statistically, only 1/3 of Chelan’s housing stock is occupied year-round; most of the market is used as 2nd or 3rd vacation homes or is reserved by their owners as VBRO-type tourist accommodations (Brunner).

Unsurprisingly, the growing volume of seasonally occupied units is tethered to the local area’s tourism-dominated economy. The area is rich with recreational activity options year-round but is also home to the PNW’s most fertile agricultural land. EasternWashingtonistheleadingproducerofapples and cherries for the entire United States. Specific to the Chelan area, the most recent fruit claim to fame is the area’s grape production. With over 35 vineyards in the recently designated Lake Chelan AVA, wine tasting and vineyard touring have become the ultimate fusion of tourism and agriculture for the local economy (Steigmeyer). As the value of Lake Chelan as a natural resource and beloved vacation spot grows, so does the cost and privilege of local housing ownership.

The issue of affordable housing is quite ripe for solving in Chelan (pun intended). However, after working on a project regarding affordable housing during an undergrad studio, it became more apparent to me that many of the issues rooted in the affordable housing dilemma are systemic. Chelan’s lack of affordable housing, the seasonally driven economy, and their relationship became my point of departure for seeking a challenge to focus my energy on and gain resolution through place-making or architectural design.

That Pivotal Moment...

A robust volume of visitors is vital to survival and a thriving local economy. But in terms of relationships, I did wonder if other negative relationships had begun developing in correlation with the consistent growth of Lake Chelan’s popularity as a prized vacation destination. I considered some of the passages in The Turning Point, written by physicist Fritjof Capra, and how I might use a Systems Theory perspective to discover where I might generate meaningful value for the community and the environment as a designer. Lake Chelan and its surrounding area contain a smorgasbordofnaturalandconstructedintertwining systems coexisting with interdependence and interrelatedness. How have the biological systems faired alongside our human interventions, explicitly concerning the increasing human population and use of the famous aqua-pristine natural resource? Well, logic tells me that increased use of a natural resource reasonably equates to an increased burden on the systems within it. It occurred to me that an increased strain on Lake Chelan’s systems (environmental, ecological, and social) jeopardizes the very experience and nature that draws people to Lake Chelan. So what other systems are being impacted as Chelan’s popularity and usage grow? What do those impacts look like, and could I counteract the negative ones through architecture? Form corresponds with process, interrelations are associated with interactions, and the contrary unifies through oscillation.

Why is it so bli spend the sum in Lake Chel