No, this isn’t some weird torture chamber in the middle of a forest. It is actually a climate controlled storage shed for the Osage Forest of Peace in Sand Springs, Oklahoma.

I’m not sure if you would call this a building per se but to me it is an important structure. This shed was built by myself and fellow students for a Design-Build class we took here at OU.

The concept was to provide a climate-controlled storage shed so the Forest could store spare beds, linens, and other assets not used on a daily basis.

Students did everything from concept design, material selection, constructability reviews, budgeting, material buyout, earthwork, concrete, all the way to final construction. This is an important building for me because it was the first structure I have ever build from scratch with my own two hands.

We prefabricated the wall assemblies and roof trusses at the Creating Making Lab on campus and then erected them on site. Our 2020 Spring Break was spent living at the Forest and building the structure. On average we worked about 14 hours a day to finish on time. Despite all the hard work and effort put in by the students we still needed a second half day visit to finish everything up.

Overall it was one of the best experiences I’ve had at OU. I would highly encourage any Architect, Construction Science, or Engineering student to participate in this class. I give it a thumbs up!