Over 90% of single-family houses in the United States are wood-framed, and this project seeks to find alternative uses for the considerable waste that accompanies this economical construction technique. Beyond the framing lumber that makes up the walls, floors and roof of a wood platform-framed house, a large quantity of lumber is also used to facilitate the construction process including lumber for shoring and concrete formwork for site work and foundations. Mix and Match turns this facilitator lumber, framing offcuts and overages that are normally landfilled into a gridded wall system that can be reconfigured into various spatial arrangements.

 The wood for this project was salvaged from a missing middle housing development construction site in Dallas, Texas. The mix of grades, species and sizes of lumber is cut into short lengths and half-lap jointed together to account for inconsistencies and defects inherent in salvage material. Mix and Match contains over 500 pieces in two and four-foot lengths that are joined with carriage bolts to allow for easy disassembly and re-use following its initial installation. The short pieces of wood are woven and bolted together in three directions with the vertical gradient of lumber profiles reflecting the quantities of salvage material that were found on-site.

Team

Jessica Colangelo

Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design

Cofounder, Somewhere Studio

Charles Sharpless, AIA

Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design

Cofounder, Somewhere Studio

Chris Osterlund

UVA Project Manager, Master of Architecture Candidate ’23

UVA Workshop Participants

Ryan Naddoni, Liv Orlando, Avery Walters, Annabelle Woodcock

Fabricator

Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design Fab Lab

Fabrication Team

Angela Carpenter, Corey Booth, Randal Dickinson, Justin Tucker, Shiloh Bemis, Jessica Fraley, Lauren Hannan, Sarah Myane, Kobee Wade 

Additional Funding and Support

Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design 

Waste Lumber Donation

Centre Living Homes