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.
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to announce the promotion of Ph.D. student Rafael Hernandez to lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve.
Gibbs College of Architecture Assistant Professor Dr. Ladan Mozaffarian, in the Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Design, has co-authored a new book chapter with Josh Newton and Andrew Born, published in De Gruyter Handbook of the Geographies of Race.
Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design (PLAD) alumni Trey Ingram, AICP recently spoke with current PLAD student and graduate media assistant Molly Strobel to share his experiences with the Regional and City Planning program and current work with the Toyota Mobility Foundation.
