University students, professors and community members gathered at the Sexual Assault Support Services of Lane County’s office @@http://www.sass-lane.org/@@on Saturday to celebrate the completion of a new deck and yard designed and built by designBridge, a program within the Department of Architecture @@http://architecture.uoregon.edu/programs/@@that gives students the opportunity to manage real-world projects.
Led by co-managers Bryan Hollar@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Bryan+Hollar@@ and Christopher Deel@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Christopher+Deel@@, a small group of architecture students have been working on the project with SASS since its conception in the fall of 2010.
“DesignBridge looks for organizations in the community that don’t have the means to hire professional design services but that need design services,” Deel said. With a backyard that was rarely inhabited and with a dilapidated deck, SASS was an excellent candidate for the remodel.
The designBridge process operates much like a real firm: In the fall there is a seminar for pre-design planning and scheming. During the winter, studio students design and create working drawings for the build phase, which occurs in the spring.

While primarily run by students, designBridge also has a faculty that assists the teams.
“The projects we choose provide an educational opportunity for the students as well as the mission to provide community members who couldn’t afford a project otherwise with a need,” Faculty Advisor Juli Brode said.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Juli+Brode@@
The entire project was funded by SASS for approximately $4,000, a third of the projected total cost for construction. The small budget was supplemented by generous donations by community members for building materials and plants.
The renovations included a brand-new deck and patio space complete with wheel chair accessible ramps, low-maintenance plants and log benches. According to SASS Co-Director BB Beltran,@@http://www.klcc.org/Calendar.asp?View=EVENT&EventID=23500&Date=04/16/2011&SectionID=-1@@ the project created “a nice place to go and decompress and enjoy the natural beauty.”
For Deel, the learning experience for the students was invaluable.
“We always sit in studio and design things as architecture students but to actually take it to the level of something that can be built and then build it with our own hands was amazing,” Deel said.