LaCrosse, Washington has begun to rehabilitate their town with the help of the Washington State University RCDI (Rural Communities Design Initiative) Interior Design students. As my final design, I have transformed their historical basalt rock structures into functional and useful community spaces. With an agricultural education center, the community will have a place for children to learn the towns most valuable attribute. They will have a place for hands on learning with a classroom and computer lab dedicated to their education. Using this for weekly classes, the center will also provide the community with income from class fees and jobs for the teachers and assistants. The design also transforms their bunk houses into functional, year round green houses. These would be rentable spaces for community members and the agricultural education center. The interiors would provide soil plots for the off season in LaCrosse. Lastly, the old service station would be the farmers market with a café/bakery area and a commercial kitchen. The farmers market would allow local farmers and community members to sell their produce or homemade items in a community focused area of their town. The market would potentially bring in visitors off the highway with the lure of fresh and local items. The café and bakery would be used year round as a thirdplace where the community could have somewhere to spend time and chat with friends. The commercial kitchen would also be used year round for the bakery while doubling as a canning kitchen. As a canning kitchen, community members would have the opportunity to can their food items for a small fee while the education center could also use it to teach children and youth how to can as well. These new buildings would still be built from the historic basalt rocks, uniting the town with community centered spaces that bring income and job opportunities to the small town of LaCrosse.
