McEwen School of Architecture

Bruce Wrightsman

Assistant Professor, Architect

Education

  • M.Arch, University of Texas in Austin
  • B.Arch, Kansas State University

Contact bwrightsman@laurentian.ca
Office: TE-211 - Downtown Sudbury Campus
705 675 1151 #

Preferred Language

English

Biography

Bruce Wrightsman is an Assistant Professor with the McEwen School of Architecture.  Bruce brings many years of teaching experience.  He served as the first year studio coordinator for MSoA from 2020-2022 and is currently teaching a comprehensive design studio ARCH 4505/4515.

Bruce is a licensed architect with over 25 years of experience and has over a decade of experience serving as instructor on multiple award winning academic Design Build projects. His current research examines the pedagogical, environmental and social efficacy these design build projects are leaving on their intended communities.  He is currently developing a book on the work of architect Neil Astle, who re-envisioned traditional wood framing through the design of his own house in 1968 and developed a nailed wood scantling system, based on the logic of interlocking system of 2×2 wood members. His research on the Astle house was featured in the April 2021, Built – Volume 75, Issue 1 of The Journal of Architectural Education (JAE).

Research and Scholarship

2022 “After The Awards : Exploring The Long Term Impact Of Academic Design Build Projects On Clients, Occupants And The Public”. Seventeenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices, at Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, March 29, 2023 – Mar 31, 2023
2021 Beyond Building: The latent lessons obscured by conventional design-build pedagogy. Co-authors:  Bruce Wrightsman,  Michael L Hughes. Professor, College of Architecture, Art and Design, American University of Sharjah. ACSA 109th Annual Meeting EXPANDING THE VIEW March 24 – 26, 2021 Virtual Conference.   
2020 Presenter: RAIC / CCUSA 2020 Virtual Academic Summit on Architecture

Work and Practice

2022 Sand Hill Residence – Big Sky, MT
2020 Bond Dental – Bozeman, MT

Creative Activities

2022  Radio interview on Morning North with Markus Schwabe.  2022 MSoA Ice Station Projects.  Aired: Feb. 24, 2022.  

Publications

2022 Paper title: Is learning “to make” enough? The latent value hidden in design-build in early design education.  National Conference on the Beginning Design Student 37 (NCBDS 37)   R. Wayne Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning at Ball State University. 
2021 A Critical Investigation of the Wood Frame System:  The Case for the Neil Astle House. The Journal of Architectural Education (JAE), Built – Volume 75, Issue 1.
2018 Wrightsman, Bruce. Skin and Bones:  Exploring Structural Performance.  Journal of the DesignCommunication Association  Edited by M. Saleh Uddin, Kennesaw State University.  pp. 106-111.