Scooter Haddad '25 Thesis Build

Recent graduate Scooter Haddad '25 has brought his thesis to life, serving as both designer and constructor to demonstrate the legitimacy of digital marketplaces as generators for circular architecture.

“Found Before Form: Material-Directed Design in the Age of the Online Marketplace”

The Ames/Weissenborn studio is an artist studio in Blacksburg, Virginia, constructed from extant materials collected through digital marketplaces. Unlike contemporary construction practices, the collection of materials preceded the construction. Through websites like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, materials were salvaged from barns and backyards. This resulted in a catalog of irregular but high-quality materials that could be processed and reused. By removing the familiarity of standardized materials, the design was forced to develop in tandem with this growing catalog. CMU blocks were salvaged from a building in West Virginia and edited to form the foundation of the studio. Lumber from a barn in Hillsville, Virginia, was de-nailed and formed the Oak frame and cladding of the studio. A fourteen-foot steel beam from a sawmill in Floyd was dragged from a horse pasture to support the exterior walkway. Each material offered unique constraints and opportunities. This design process aims to redefine the economic basis of material culture. Low-quality building materials and a superficial understanding of their production have led to the predilection of demolition, adding to landfills and continuing the production of waste. The proposed framework of the Ames/Weissenborn studio returns value to forgotten materials, promoting circular and sustainable architecture.