student work poster.jpg

Montana Open-Air Museum

Montana Open-Air Museum
Visiting Scholar | Arch 551 Studio
Montana State University
2026

This experimental graduate studio at Montana State University grew directly from our ongoing Prix de Rome research into historic solid-wood construction. Students investigated everyday buildings from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Students reimagined how their technical lessons could inform contemporary architecture through the design of a ticket booth, gallery, and café for a speculative Montana Open-Air Museum. Beginning with careful observation and analysis of precedents, the studio explored how traditional building knowledge can inspire new architecture that is simpler, more direct, and rooted in the intelligence of pre-modern construction. 

Students

Kyle S
Olivia T
Paul T
Arianna C
Octavia F
Erik K 
Jason K
Kadia M 
Kathryn R
Christopher R
Ryley S