A project designed by Gibbs College of Architecture faculty member Austin Lightle has been selected for BuildFest 2026, a national art and architecture festival held at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in New York, on the historic grounds of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival.
As part of the selection, Lightle travelled to Bethel Woods with six students from Sept. 9-13 to fabricate and install the Frame(d) pavilion as part of the five-day festival.
Students working on the Frame(d) project. Photo credit: Austin Lightle.
BuildFest brings together academic and design professionals to develop large-scale art installations through collaborative, hands-on construction. The 2026 competition called for pavilions no larger than 120 square feet and with a budget of less than $1,000, challenging participants to create a spatial activation on the historic site.
Lightle’s Frame(d) proposal explores the different ways a stage can frame a performance. Each side of the pavilion creates a different frame, directing attention toward a performer or the surrounding landscape. The project’s rigid grid structure also allows the pavilion to be disassembled into four pieces and transformed into raised gardens once its time at the festival ended.
Students working on the Frame(d) project.
The team spent four nights camping on the historic grounds and three days constructing the pavilion. Construction took place in the Bindy Bazaar, the ad-hoc cultural center of the original 1969 Woodstock festival, while concerts take place on the grounds in the evenings.
Frame(d) pavilion project.
Through Frame(d), Lightle and the students contributed to BuildFest’s exploration of how architecture can shape collective experiences while responding to the history and future uses of a place. The project also provided students with an opportunity to experience the full process of bringing an architectural proposal from design to construction in a collaborative, hands-on setting.
Gibbs College is pleased to present the exhibition 200 Digital Drawings by Professor Tiziana Proietti, currently on display in the Gould Hall Living Room.
Gibbs College of Architecture Professors Amber Brown and Amy Leveno led 29 students to Dallas, Texas, in September for a learning experience as part of their Design 7 Studio course.
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture professor and Institute for Quality Communities Director Dr. Amber N. Wiley’s book, Model Schools in the Model City: Race, Planning, and Education in the Nation’s Capital, has received two major honors from the Urban History Association.
