Three and a half months into the semester, the house team moved from early ideas into real testing. After wrapping up Halloween Review, we shifted quickly into workshops, mock-ups, and preparations for the end-of-semester fall review, better known as Soup Roast.

In parallel with design work, we began constructing living pod mock-ups that act as full-scale tests for our larger thesis project. Using glulam beams and cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels, we assembled walls, installed CLT sill plates, and worked through how these systems actually come together on site. Building at full scale helped ground our design decisions in the realities of construction.

Not everything moved according to plan. After completing our material cuts, a full week of rain forced us to pause exterior work to keep the CLT and glulam dry. While frustrating, the delay gave us time to slow down, double-check drawings, and work through the details of how the pod system is assembled.

Throughout this period, we benefited from feedback and guidance from visiting architects and consultants. Dan Wheeler helped us refine construction details, while Phil Szostak and Frank Harmon offered broader project critiques. We also participated in a drawing workshop with Frank Harmon in downtown Greensboro, using different techniques to observe and document a place deeply connected to Rural Studio.

At the center of our research is a key question: how can CLT work at a small, residential scale? Most CLT manufacturers produce large, thick panels intended for commercial buildings, often far more material than a modest home requires. Thin, accessible residential CLT does not currently exist on the market, but we have the opportunity to make it ourselves.

At Auburn University’s main campus, a new CLT press allows custom panels to be fabricated in-house. We will use this press to produce all of the CLT panels for Jessica’s Home. Preparing for this process required learning the full fabrication workflow, from milling and panel layup to adhesive application. Because the adhesive requires respirators, we traveled to Auburn to get fitted before fabricating a test panel.

Design work continued alongside fabrication prep. Between Halloween Review and Soup Roast, we refined floor plans and studied the relationship between CLT and conventional stick framing. Our goal is a repeatable system that uses CLT where it performs best as structure and interior finish, and uses stick framing where flexibility is needed for windows, doors, and mechanical systems.

At Soup Roast, we received valuable feedback from consultants including Kim Clements and Joe Schneider of JAS Design Build, Jake LaBarre of the Miller Hull Partnership, and our structural consultant Joe Burns. Their insights helped push both the research and design forward.

Following Soup Roast, we fabricated our first CLT test panel at Auburn with guidance from Joe Burns and Jake Elbrecht, assistant professor of building construction, along with shop manager Mark Hjeltness. This hands-on experience helped us better understand the precision, science, and craft required to make CLT panels, knowledge that will directly inform the construction of Jessica’s Home.

With testing underway and design continuing to evolve, the project is moving from research toward reality. More building, refining, and learning lies ahead.