A studio for Elliott Earls is from a design competition held at Cranbrook Academy of Art among the second year architecture students. This design for Earls, the Artist in Residence for Cranbrook’s 2D Department, is a summer studio for his lake house in Michigan.
The design was based on 4’x4’x8’ wooden boxes forming walls of the building. Each box would be constructed from pieces of plywood of standard dimensions. The boxes would be easily fabricated offsite then transported to the lake house. Each box is customizable to the needs of the occupant, shelves, desk, bathroom and fireplace to name a few. If the needs were ever to change, one box could be removed and replaced with another.
Wrapping the studio, as well as supporting the roof, is a series of concrete columns. The organic form of the columns helps settle the building in the dense forest setting. If the studio were ever moved, the concrete structure would remain as a studio to Elliott Earls.
The winning design was constructed in the Architecture Department at Cranbrook. This was not the winning design.