mockup

Onwards and Upwards!

February 26, 2026

The last time we saw you, we were gearing up for the greatest mock-up, and boy, do we have updates for you.

The first step in creating the “greatest mock-up” was testing the design and construction of the piers for the dining house. The team augured footings and built formwork for four piers and two concrete pours that would eventually be the first step toward understanding the implications of our design.

After completing the piers for the Dining House’s mock-up, we attacked the main foundation for the mock-up. Starting with trenching for the foundation footing, the team enlisted some help from friendly Welsh student visitors to the studio.

Students looking over strings with rebar cages in the ground, preparing for a concrete pour — Ensuring alignements inbetween metal structure

Students placing tarp over foundation pier formwork for a mockup. — Ensuring alignements inbetween metal structure

Shortly after the trench for the elevated slab was dug and poured, the block mason came out and did an excellent job laying out the block in its elaborate design.

Following the block mason’s help on the Dining “House’s mock-up”, the team worked quickly to finish up the elevated slab. We filled in the block perimeter with insulation, soil, and waterproofing so we could finish the last concrete pour of the mock-up when we get back from Christmas break.

Image of the mockup foundation prior to preparing the slab — Foundation infill prior to preparing slab

Image of the Mockup Slab tamping the gravel flat before pouring the concrete — Foundation infill prior to preparing slab

Students preparing to pour the concrete for the mockup slab with the lining and rebar in place — Rebar layed over top

3 students working to pour the concrete for the mockup slab with a concrete mixer and wheel barrels — Rebar layed over top

After some much-needed time off and with families, the team got right back to work with the last concrete pour. Once we smoothed out the concrete floor, the Dining House finally had a finished floor to begin testing the construction of the building we designed.

After the week of Neckdown and the subsequent completion of the mock-up foundation, our team jumped right into one of the initial layers of a building: flashing. The initial test explored a galvanized steel flashing profile that will hold in the white oak cladding.

Photo of student cutting the flashing for the slab — Cutting flashing

Two students setting the flashing in place for the slab — Cutting flashing

Step 4: Framing:

Student working on the framing for the mockup walls. — Measuring framing

Student taking care to infill the column base plates with grout — Measuring framing

Bonus round.

The team built a second mockup to refine the oak cladding. The walls are white oak exterior boards, salvaged from the Supershed. On the exterior of the building, the weathered wood is displayed, while 1″ white strips are turned on their end grain, giving a different texture on the interior walls. Behind these 1″ panels, black acoustic material will give the wall a baffle-like function in the dining and kitchen room.

Students laying out patterns for the white oak pieces. — Laying out pattern

Two students working with a table saw to cut down the white oak pieces. — Laying out pattern

Students pausing to examine the battens they put together for the mockup. — Studying framing

Student setting in place the white oak board on the zip sheathing — Studying framing

Many more updates to come soon. We have continued experimenting and tweaking material and form. Meanwhile, major action is taking place on the north end of the campus at Rural Studio. The Dining House is taking off with the beginning steps to fixing parking and drainage infrastructure, while also preparing the groundwork for a foundation! More on this later!

Tags: foundation, mockup

An Expected Journey

November 13, 2024

Students dressed as hobbits, for Halloween, are posed in front of Red Barn.

While it may have been expected, do not let the title fool you. In the long journey of every Rural Studio team, everyone will at some point come to a moment where they need to build a mock-up to test their ideas. What would be the point of a mock-up if everything always went exactly how we planned? The unexpected results of an expected endeavor are some of the most valuable lessons we have learned in our effort to design a home for Loretta and her son.

A photo of the completed interior of the mockup with shiplap.

A student gives a thumb up in front of their mockup.

At the end of our last blog, we were ready to move the mock-up core. We were trying to test a few key factors from our design and construction process. Actually, we were mainly testing two factors. First, we needed to see how realistic, or possible, it was to try and move this core from the off-site location of the Fabrication Pavilion to its eventual resting place on-site. And second, we wanted to test the durability of the core and its finishes during this process. We are happy to report that both tests went better than we could have imagined!

Let’s walk through the process and our main takeaways. Our first challenge was figuring out how to move the cores on the Fabrication Pavilion. We used hydraulic forklifts for this step, and they worked just as intended. Next, we had to rig the core on the end of the Pavilion so that our friend, Crane Shane, could move it to the trailer. Here, we realized that the real cores will be larger than the mock-up, so the channels for the straps will be further apart to provide better stability.

A photo of the core mockup wrapped up and ready to move on Fab Pav.

Students move core mockup with hydraulic forklifts.

Once the core was strapped to the trailer, we took the core on a “joyride” to simulate the strain it would be under over a longer distance. After arriving safely at the site, we rigged it again for the final move. We knew the main trick to this was to ensure that the core was level once it was placed into the slab depression. This went better than planned (unexpectedly we know), and it sat well within our tolerance for levelness and placement.

The CLT mockup is being moved by crane onto a trailer.

The CLT core is strapped down and being driven off campus.

After celebrating this success, we had to tilt up the CLT (cross-laminated timber) wall that would, in the real project, help to form the area between the kitchen and bathroom cores that will be the laundry and mechanical room. We realized that despite our best efforts, the main slab was not perfectly level. So, trying to rest the wall on this unlevel slab and pull it tight to a level main core was a challenge. We managed this by using ratchet straps to pull it in tight. In doing so, the wall was now too tall due to the misalignments in the slab. As a result, when we placed the CLT roof (meant to cover this space), it did not line up perfectly with the main core’s roof as intended. To fix this, we will deliberately build the stud framed portion of this wall shorter than intended and leave the CLT portion larger than intended. For the real house, we will be able to tilt it up. Then, we can take the accurate measurements for the height of the CLT walls and make the appropriate cuts they need to fit between the two cores.

A student screws a truss to framed walls.

Lastly, like many students before us, we had to build the “house” part of the mock-up. Unlike our predecessors, who built mock-ups at a smaller scale, our core had to be full scale to adequately test the moving process, the rest of the build had to follow suit. Here, the benefit of a mock-up truly shined. We learned so much about what it takes to build a house. We saw how easy it was to make a small mistake and oftentimes, how hard it is to think ourselves out of it.

Student slides shiplap into interior mockup.

With all of this under our belt, we have finally begun work on the real project. We have also gotten the chance to meet with some more amazing reviewers and consultants.

Students cut CLT on the back of Fab Pav.

Jake LaBarre helps students with their construction documents.

Students attempt to lift fellow student on CLT panel.

All seriousness aside, we are still making time for a little fun!

A photo of a carved Scooby-Doo pumpkin. — You can look, but you can’t touch!

Student shows off their costume. — You can look, but you can’t touch!

Tags: CLT, CLT Core House, halloween, hobbits, mockup, rsleftovers, ruralpref

Four Cores and Seven Weeks Ago…

October 10, 2024

Student lying down on wooden framed box.

The CLT Core House team had just begun their journey to build the core mock-up. Bright-eyed and eager to prove their design’s worth, they got to work. Despite the heat, it was exciting for them to be working outside.

formwork for the mockup's first concrete pour.

Students use shovels to spread concrete throughout the mockup's formwork.

They exclaimed, “Finally, we can get our hands dirty!” Though they, like many before them, were about to see an entirely new side of design, one that would transform their drawings into reality and expose the previously missed shortcomings. A humble lesson for all, and perhaps the most potent. Yet the team treated these lessons as opportunities, not an embarrassments, and were pleased to embrace them.

the plumbing stub out in the concrete slab.

the first concrete pour drying in the sun.

Students acted shocked by their hard work as they wrap up their second concrete pour.

How optimistic! How youthful!

The act of, as it were, “mocking up” a design is a pivotal moment for any builder, green or experienced alike. It forced the CLT Core House team to reckon with the stutters in their meticulous design process. No matter how long the process took, they learned new lessons. One would think that after the third consecutive day of sanding wood, they might have stopped to question the process. Alas, they powered through for the fourth, and yes, fifth day of sanding.

Two students paint water proofing onto CLT panels.

Student handprints are left in a pile of sawdust.

How determined! How youthful!

Once the students realized that sanding one spot means sanding all spots, they came to their senses and scrapped the sanding altogether.

Student stands in front of framed walls.

The CLT core assembled without the roof on top

Do not fear, dear reader: not all lessons were born of mistakes. Many a wise word was gained from consults versed in all manners of design. Among these travelers came Joe Burns of Chicago, the city of winds, to aid our CLT Core House team in structural matters. He continually adds merit to their work, ensuring that their uncommon use of shiplap as both a ceiling and structural member effectively transfers shear loads from walls to the central core as intended.

Many more came bearing gifts of knowledge and advice. Jonas Weber of David Baker Architects, defender of tile, Kiel Moe and Jacob Mans of various wooded landscapes, and lady Adele Schirmer of all things civil (engineering) have helped to refine the details of the cores themselves and the performance of the house. The CLT Core House team is so appreciative of this aid, not forgetting the many more who have helped take this project to where it is.

A model representing the bathroom core's tile and CLT.

Students talk with structural engineer about drawings.

How Fortunate!

Soon they will endeavor to build on a full scale. They do seem to feel as though they are ready…

How Ambitious! How Youthful!

Students demonstrate the layout of their mock-up.

Tags: CLT, CLT Core House, concrete, mockup, rsleftovers, ruralprefab, sawdust

Do a Flip

June 28, 2023

You haven’t heard from the 18×18 House team in a while.

And they’ve been busy! Now officially “leftovers,” the squares graduated in early May, so everyone is feeling grown-up and very official. Pig Roast was a great chance for friends and family and visitors to catch up with the project, and for the team to explain the scheme of the house they were planning to build.

But then, everything changed…..AGAIN. Very recently, the 18×18 House was flipped on its head another time, with sleeping and bath on the ground floor and living and cooking elevated above. By cutting the third-story loft almost in half and extending it to the dormer, they found more usable space up there and vertical interest in the house. Now, the living room is below a balcony of sorts, and the loft has access to operable windows in the dormer. The team is pretty excited about making a double-height space happen in the living room, because the house now has a grand reveal when going up the main stairs.

At the same time, the mock-up has begun! The squares got their first shovels in the ground and poured their backyard slab for their doghouse-sized version of the project. Next comes tiny framed walls, sheathing, and cladding. Getting started with work on site is just around the corner!

Tags: 18x18house, mockup, mockups, rs5thyears, rsleftovers, ruralhome

Make A List, Check It Twice

June 16, 2022

Welcome to Summer in blazing Hale County, Alabama! The heat and humidity have set in and the team is hard at work preparing to break ground. Before we can start, we have a few things to smooth out: details, deconstruction, and a mock-up.

The next steps are to begin expanding the current foundation footings and replacing the columns. First, we will need to deconstruct some of the pavilion as it currently stands. In order to understand the deconstruction/reconstruction process better, we have created a storyboard of the process, sketching out each step, while also showing where each piece of equipment will be on site at each stage.

students working — The team sketching out the construction process

In preparation, we have been regularly meeting with our structural engineer, Joe Farruggia, to finalize structure calculations. We also recently met with JAS Design Build (Seattle, WA) to get feedback on the framing model that we have been utilizing to understand the process of framing our structure and had a visit from architect Dan Wheeler (Chicago, IL).

Meeting with the JAS Design Build team about framing strategies

JAS Design Build’s team confirmed that we are on the right track and offered some suggestions on how to manage a cantilever using lookouts that extend out to help reach the “knife’s blade edge” detail. Meanwhile, Dan challenged us to study how the steel skirt at the base of the column will come together and how the lighting design of the base relates to the overall concept.

Soon we will construct a large-scale mock-up (which is a right-of-passage here at Rural Studio) that helps the team practice details at a one-to-one scale. We have begun to finalize the details of the finished roof and ceiling materials. The mock-up gives us an opportunity to test the metal and new details, while also practicing pouring concrete footings, building a column, and testing lighting.