University Design Research Fellows from Washington University knew quite a bit about Columbus when they began planning their project. Constance Vale brings her second-year WashU architecture students here each year for a field trip. Chandler Ahrens had come on a family vacation and recalls his daughters loved  Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor as much as he loved the buildings. Kelley Van Dyck Murphy knew about Alexander Girard and admired his work. 

When they met to decide what their project focus would be, it took them only 15 minutes to decide on the dollhouse that Girard created for the Miller House. They said that meeting was the most fun they had in the year since they established their AVV A architecture practice. The project was ideal for the team’s areas of interest and expertise: Murphy’s in cultural material and practices, Ahrens’ in digital fabrication and technology, and Vale’s in miniatures and architectural representation.  

In the vein of celebrating Girard, they wanted to focus on textiles, interiors, and furniture, which they believe have been considered less important than architecture by historians and preservationists. They wanted to point out the challenging legacies of architecture, that even today only 25 percent of licensed architects are women and that interior and textile design are still considered to be “women’s work.” Their project includes the interiors of women architects who have worked in Columbus, such as Susana Torre and Deborah Berke.

“We wanted to elevate their spaces,” Vale said. “We’d really love to see the discipline and architecture education be more diverse.”

Another goal was to involve children with architecture by way of their work. They especially wanted kids to get to see places where they don’t usually get to go. 

“We were surprised that children weren’t allowed in the Miller House,” Vale said. “But in a fun twist, their schools live in our dollhouse and are something they can identify.”

During their visit last fall, they met with third- and fourth-grade art students at Smith and Mount Healthy Elementary Schools to tell them about Girard as well as to enlist their help. They gave the children templates so that they could design dolls and carpet tiles with a personal or Columbus connection (ala Girard) that the team later incorporated into the project. 

They took the local children’s work back to St. Louis and the Alberti Program: Architecture for Young People, which Murphy runs at Wash U, to introduce fourth- through eighth-graders to architecture each June. Those students 3-D printed and painted the dolls that their Indiana counterparts had created—one for the house that will stay in Columbus and an extra for the local creator to keep—“a little bit like having a pen pal,” Murphy said.

“Making the dolls is about seeing themselves in these spaces,” she said. “There is a history of people being excluded from certain places, and now everyone can see themselves there. We are democratizing the spaces so that children and others get to see things they don’t have access to.”

The dollhouse tower makes colorful references to 19 interior architectural spaces in significant buildings around Columbus—from churches and fire stations to schools to the former Republic Building and the Miller House itself. The main structure is constructed of plywood like that used in kitchen cabinetry, fashioned with a computer-controlled router to cut it accurately and using the traditional furniture-making technique of mortise and tenon. 

Replicas of the interior spaces were created by a combination of laser-cut acrylic and 3-D printers for the more complex geometries. The team selected materials in part for their ability to resist extreme weather conditions since they hope the tower will have a life beyond Exhibit Columbus. 

The color palette they chose reflects spring colors at the Miller House—pink, green, orange, and robin’s-egg blue. Because of the site’s location near the Bartholomew County Public Library, Visitors Center, and First Christian Church, their representations on the tower are configured so that visitors can see the model against the actual building. Vale said they are grateful for their site because it is near places where people can go to learn about Columbus, and Murphy added that they hope once people see the tower they will be inspired to visit the architectural masterpieces it depicts.  

The tower sits on a waterproof carpet created from the tile square designs made by the students. Around it is a terraced playground that allows children to climb up and look inside. Their hope is that, along with kids getting a look at places they wouldn’t ordinarily see, adults will feel playful as they interact with the design. 

“We thought a lot about Yes And, Murphy said. “We said yes and to Girard and how he inspires us and how we feel like we are designing with him, yes to the City of Columbus and the spaces there, where it is always ‘Yes And’ and never ‘Yes But.’"