The Community Design Center serves Montanans by connecting the classroom to the community. CDC activities foster a collaborative, interdisciplinary partnership with the School of Architecture. Under the guidance of faculty advisors, fourth-year Architecture students research, design, and produce their own projects alongside larger team projects. Recent projects include:
- Downtown, Choteau, MT
- The Unified Development Ordinance, Bozeman, MT
- Irving Elementary School greenhouse, Bozeman, MT
- A retired living community in Ennis, MT
A History of Helping
Having been active for over 40 years, the CDC boasts an extensive collection of project documents, carefully collected and preserved over the decades.
The CDC was founded in 1976 by Bill Semple, who had a vision for students to experience project deliveries in a context similar to a firm. Working with real clients, the CDC connected communities in need of creative design work to upper-level SoA students seeking real-world skills under the guidance of an experienced professional. During these beginning years, the Design Center provided drawings and schematics for projects across Montana and nationally in West Jefferson, North Carolina, and Seward, Alaska.
In the 80's, the CDC worked on a variety of cultural, residential, community, and educational projects throughout Montana including: Bozeman, Gardiner, Belgrade, Harlowton, Dillon, Livingston, Terry, Pablo, and Whitefish. Robert Meeker became director in 1983, but changes in the program left the CDC without a department head shortly after. All of the images in this archive are scans of original hand drawings.
In the 90's Ralph Johnson took over as director for the CDC. During this time, the Center still operated similar to an architectural firm but was under the auspices of a non-profit.
Urban revitalization projects across the state were common in this period. Documentation moved to printed booklets, marking a stylistic change in graphic communication.
In 2005 Tom McNab became the new CDC director. Collaborations with various indigenous tribes headlined the projects from this era. In 2003, the 50-year master plan for the Rocky Boy’s Chippewa-Cree Reservation won the Regional and Urban Design Award from the American Institute of Architects for exemplary work. Students embraced the challenge of large-scale structures using both hand and computer drawings.
Tom McNab continued operating as the CDC director until 2018. Professor Brian Brush then began leading CDC projects. The use of computer-generated renderings drove the design process and grew the program during this time.
Under the directorship of Jordan Zignego, CDC projects have included Anaconda, Ronan, Hamilton, Kalispell, Helena, Gardiner, Missoula, Livingston, and Shelby, MT.