05 / 05

The Bussin Blocks

Connecting city and neighborhood through a loop walk

Type: Adaptive reuse and urban design
Location: Post Falls, ID
Year: 2025
Context: Graduate studio, WSU
Role: Co-designer. Shared project concept and block-by-block design; form generation diagrams, AIA COTE Top Ten diagram and all D5 renders
Team: Maxwell T. Kyle (co-designer)
Tools: Revit, Rhino, D5 Render, AutoCAD, SketchUp, Photoshop, Illustrator, Tally, C.Scale

The Bussin Blocks redevelop a 19-acre brownfield, a former veneer mill, into Post Falls' first walkable downtown. Surrounding streets extend into the site and set a block size small enough for real porosity.

A walking loop ties four nodes together: the preserved mill silo, the Centennial Trail, the neighborhood edge and a city gateway. Housing, a transit center in the reused mill structure, a museum, a hotel and a seasonal ice rink line the route.

Site19 acres

StrategyAdaptive reuse of mill structures

FrameworkAIA COTE Top Ten

Concept

Four nodes create the loop journey. Six steps take the site from reused structures and a continued street grid to courtyard blocks with heights tuned to orientation.

Masterplan

Sustainability

The mixed-use apartments are tested against the AIA COTE Top Ten: PV-ready roofs, rainwater collection, heat recovery DOAS, VRF heat pumps and rooftop beehives.

Views

Transit center boarding zone in the reused mill frame

Next projectBridge1400