The approach that we are proposing integrates ideas from the existing housing programs with innovative techniques from a Kansas State University fifth-year architecture studio. In the North Central and Northwest Kansas area, there are currently no architecture firms focused on rural housing. Our plan includes someone skilled in architecture and oversight of rural buildings. The
Our team has over fifteen years in studying rural housing problems and we have hired a Rural Architecture Lead who comes to the project with a master’s degree in Architecture and multiple years of rural housing experience.
Our Rural Architecture Lead, Harley Schuster, came to us with a master’s degree in Architecture from Kansas State University. She participated in the Net Positive Studio which studied, designed, planned, and built rural housing in St. John and Ogden, Kansas. Through this work, her studio won the prestigious Kremer Prize, which is awarded for outstanding collaborative design achievements by students in the final semester of the Professional Master of Architecture Program. Throughout her time at K-State, she developed an interest in the rural development of workforce housing and a focus on adaptive reuse projects for downtown revitalization.
Harley grew up in rural North Central/Northwest Kansas and has chosen to come back to the area to amplify her impact as a professional. She was a former Dane G. Hansen intern for Republic County Economic Development where she studied housing issues and proposed housing designs for rural housing. She previously worked at HTK Architecture in Topeka, Kansas.
To offer comprehensive development services for the creation of affordable housing serving rural, low-income, and/or workforce households in rural Kansas. To foster community stability and growth through housing improvement initiatives & development programs To improve quality of life through architectural design, development, and preservation related to downtown buildings in rural Kansas communities To offer consultant/technical assistance to organizations developing/rehabilitating affordable housing and/or downtown buildings
The iteration of designs to expand our knowledge of housing and strategies for utilization.
Learn MoreThe process of prefabrication, assembly, site-work to fully complete the project and erect the finished house on site.
Learn MoreA new solution that reconstructs standard building processes towards an affordable and net-zero housing prototype.
Learn MoreI have been working in rural Economic Development for over fifteen years. The longer that I have been around, the more that I realize how the lack of affordable housing and day care affect the success (or lack there of) of rural areas. When the opportunity arose for the communities that we serve to have
For my masters level graduate studio at K-State, I chose to take the Net + Studio. It was an intriguing aspect for me as it focused on the notion of rural housing in Kansas and how to analyze and approach the situation from an architectural standpoint. Going into the Net+ Studio in the fall of
Across the nation, small rural towns pepper the landscape, and in many cases the first image one sees is of the ‘traditional’ rural downtown. Many main streets of these towns developed quickly, spurred by the railroad cutting a path across the country, but as automobiles became more popular the importance of an established downtown in