Faculty and Students Plan Watch Parties for ABC Show Featuring Fruits of Their Labor

Reprinted Courtesy K-State Media Relations and Marketing

Television viewers may not notice it, but purple plays a big part in the design of a project featured on the Sunday, January 8, 2006, episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

Kansas State University students and faculty from the College of Architecture, Planning and Design lent a hand on a project that was filmed in October near Wichita, KS, for the ABC television program.

Now those K-State students and faculty will gather to watch the episode featuring their work — a home built for the Nutsch family of Rose Hill, KS, whose house was destroyed by a propane gas explosion in August. A K-State watch party will start at 6:30 p.m. January 8 at Willie’s Sports Bar and Grill, 307 Seth Child Road, Manhattan, KS. The episode is slated to air 7 p.m. on ABC. Viewers should check local listings, though, in case of a scheduling change.

While around 200 College of Architecture, Planning and Design students and several faculty members served as volunteers for the residential portion of the “Extreme Makeover” project, six students and four faculty members had a special role by helping to design and build an unusual outbuilding as part of the project: a chicken house with a chicken run.

The team only had a couple of weeks prior to construction to design the chicken coop and seek donations of materials to build it.

“We spent about five evenings in work sessions over about 10 days in design, working late at night. Students pulled the drawings together over a long weekend, then prepared a materials list, which we forwarded to donors,” said Larry Bowne, assistant professor of architecture who helped supervise the planning and some of the on-site construction.

“Our goal was to design a chicken coop that provided a safe and useful environment for the chickens and allowed for ease of use by the homeowner,” said Mike Rieger, a design team member and a fifth-year student in landscape architecture, Topeka, KS. “Overall, I felt our work turned out great. I think the structure was well received and provided an aesthetically pleasing piece to the overall project.”

Both the chicken house, an indoor facility, and the outdoor chicken run were 12 feet by 12 feet. The chicken house is constructed of structurally insulated panels, which consist of a thick layer of foam stiffened by strand board. The panels provide excellent insulation, Bowne said.

“The run and the house are clad continuously in wood slats, which provide a warm texture and create a pleasing rhythm,” Bowne said. “Inside the chicken house, there are little wooden cubbies for 16 hens, some roosts and a box for the rooster. All are made of plywood and strand board.”

Bowne said the project was a valuable lesson for students in the design-build concept.

“Architects typically prepare drawings for a building to be built by someone else, at some other time. So, this was a great opportunity for students to try to construct what they have drawn,” he said.

A real challenge with the project was that the team didn’t get to see the site prior to construction or take part in the site preparation work, said Staci Wayne, a team member and fourth-year student in architecture, Overland Park, KS.

“We weren’t there to answer questions during preparation of the site, so the slab for the project ended up being wrong and orientated differently that we stated. We had to make changes on site,” she said. “Even though it was a small project, we were put in a ‘real world’ situation and had to deal with challenges. It is very rare during our education that we are able to see something built that we design, and even rarer to actually help build it.”

“There is no substitute when trying to learn how buildings go together than to actually build it yourself. Everything works so well on paper, but the job site is a whole new world,” said Tanner Pikop, team member and a fifth-year student in architecture, Bellvue, NE.

Rieger said he was glad to learn more about the construction process and about working on a tight schedule. “Trying to get a structure up overnight was a difficult task, but we were able to get it done in time,” he said. “I think the design-build process is very beneficial to a design student’s educational experience. The more you know about how designs get built, the better you will be at designing. I think any opportunity that a student can have to learn more about construction is great.”

Actual building time was just a few days, Bowne said, with construction beginning on a Tuesday night and ending on Friday.

“Students worked all day and all night. Some worked through the night, others stayed for a couple of days and took short rests between shifts,” he said. “The students did a great job. I think the ‘Extreme Makeover’ folks were rather taken with their work. Sometimes, the students got depressed as they saw the steady progress the professional builders made around us, but K-Staters are famously hardworking and they prevailed.”

Pikop agreed.

“All of the students involved treated the situation as if it were a design charette back in our K-State studios, only with a new set of rules,” he said. “As a whole, we worked day and night, solving problems as we went along. There also was an aura of excitement around the site because it was a television show. I’m grateful to have been a part of such an experience.”

“I think our project turned out beautifully, and to say that we were able to help someone, even in a small project like this, is an amazing thing,” Wayne said.

Other members of the design team were Evan Needham, fourth-year student in architecture, Prairie Village, KS; Gabe McKee, fifth-year student in architecture, DeSoto, MO; and Elizabeth Nease, fifth-year student in interior architecture, Kansas City, MO.

Eric Bernard, assistant professor of landscape architecture and regional and community planning, helped with general site landscaping for the “Extreme Makeover” project. Todd Gabbard, assistant professor of architecture, and Mark Bacon, graduate student in architecture, Manhattan, KS, helped supervise construction of the chicken coop.

K-State alumnus Tony Rangel, an employee of Law/Kingdon Inc., the Wichita architectural firm chosen for the Wichita area project, approached the college about participating. Project architect for the residential portion was K-State alumnus David Trimble. K-State interior architecture alumnus Torry Hessman, a general contractor in Colorado Springs, CO, arranged for a donation of materials for the outbuilding. Isaac Boehr, Branché Designs, Wichita, loaned many of his tools to the students. Bill and Lisa Farris, parents of architecture, planning and design alumnus Matt Farris, provided overnight lodging for the student team at their Goddard, KS, farm.

First-year student Brandon Salisbury, Bennington, KS, was among the many students who worked on the residential and surrounding landscape portion of the project. His jobs during the 23 hours he spent on the site ranged from driving a golf cart to transport VIPs and fellow volunteers, to laying down wooden flooring inside the home, to placing plants in the yard under the supervision of a landscape architect. Brandon found his experience fulfilling as well as informative.

“Since I am just a first-year student who has not yet decided on a major, it was helpful to talk to a practicing design professional about his schooling and his profession in general,” Salisbury said. “It was also fulfilling to be able to volunteer, meet so many people from all over and work together to help out the Nutsch family. The experience and memories will last a lifetime. I believe K-State was well represented and definitely added a lot to the project,” he said.

“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” chronicles a team of designers and builders as they “make over” homes for families who have experienced hardships that, directly or indirectly, affect the livability of their home. One of the show’s stars, Constance Ramos, is a K-State architecture college graduate. Ramos, however, was not part of the cast for the Rose Hill episode.

College of Architecture, Planning and Design alumni across the country have contacted college administrators about hosting watch parties of the January 8 episode in their cities, including Ann Arbor, MI; Denver, CO; New York City; and Washington, DC. To rsvp and for more information about the various watch parties, go to http://capd.ksu.edu/event-details/671

More information about “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” is available at http://abc.go.com/primetime/xtremehome/index.html

For more information, contact:
Wendy Ornelas, 785.532.5950
Diane Potts, 785.532.1090