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Spring 2026

Architecture

Big Door Company truck in front of a construction project
Winter 2024

Big doors, big dreams

There are doors—and then there are really big, automated doors.

For the latter, Darren Kiesler (’05 Arch.) and Boone Helm (’03 Comm.) run the Big Door Company, which installs and automates large door systems throughout the western United States and British Columbia.

The longtime friends met at WSU and then became business partners a few years ago.

Kiesler and Helm answered questions for Washington State Magazine about their unusual company, time at WSU, incredible projects, and how automated doors could help people.

All photos courtesy the Big Door Company

 

How did you get the idea of a company focused … » More …

Line drawing illustration of cohousing building
Summer 2023

An introduction to cohousing

What exactly are cohousing and intentional communities?

Cohousing is a way of living where people choose to share space with their neighbors, get to know them, and look after them.

Architect Grace Kim (’93 Arch.) explains the idea, and its many benefits, in her 2017 TED Talk video below. Continue on for more resources on cohousing.

 

 

Learn more

It takes a village (WSM, Summer 2023)

Cohousing communities and more information at the Cohousing Association of the United States

Northwest Intentional Communities Association

Close up black and white profile of Rudolph Weaver
Summer 2023

Weaving a tradition: The architect behind the President’s House

Visions of the past still resonate from what former President Enoch Bryan, writing in his memoir, remembered as “that beautiful corner of campus.” Work on a new home for the Washington State College president began there in 1912.

Sprawled across a grassy knoll, its elaborate garden-side façade remains visible behind thick foliage. More than a century since its completion, the newly re-dedicated Ida Lou Anderson House remains the premier representative of a transformational moment in the planning and design of the college grounds.

Designed by architect Rudolph Weaver, the new house for the college president offered a distinct example of the Georgian Revival: a … » More …