The Clayton School of Boat Building and Design

Sited along the St. Lawrence river is the city of Clayton in New York, a major shipbuilding and lumbering port since the early 19th c. The Clayton school of boat building and design is to be a centre of apprenticeship between master boatbuilder and student. It provides not only a school which runs 6 months out of the year, but also housing facilities for both students and professors, a museum for visitors, and boat restoration and repair facilities. The building draws its structure from the complex methods and necessities of boatbuilding, as is evident in the use of gantry lifts that can be seen throughout the workshop space. The movement of the boat during its many processes is the priority in the workshop, as the boat can be transported from the street down into the workshop, and then into the water and vice versa, whereas the movement of the human is as a viewer of these processes.