Sat. Oct 4, 12-5pm, free entry, registration required.

Registration & more information here.

Celebrate Michigan’s first permitted straw panel structure, designed and manufactured by Bale Craft, at a special open house. This cabin serves as a living prototype for regenerative, low-carbon architecture and will be a future site for artist residencies and hands-on natural building workshops. Tour this unique structure, explore its design, and discover how straw panel construction and earthen plaster offer a cost-effective, healthy, and environmentally sustainable solution for housing and community spaces in both rural and urban settings.

Open to all ages, this event is part of a growing movement that brings together artists, designers, builders, and repairers to imagine and build more resilient futures.

Sun. Oct 5, 6-8pm (doors at 5:30), free entry

The Alluvion

Join Megan Gilger (Perma Studio, Fresh Exchange), Sophie Pacelko (Balecraft), Ellis Wills-Begley (Balecraft), and Matthew Ross (Botanic Garden at Historic Barns Park) for a dynamic discussion about their design processes, the role of sustainability in their work, and the ways they stay true to their principles even when faced with client demands, budget limitations, and other real-world challenges. Hear directly from the designers themselves about how they balance creativity, ethics, and practicality in their projects. The event will be moderated by Jessica Kooiman-Parker (Art Curator at The Alluvion).

Tue. Oct. 7, 7pm, free entry

Corson Auditorium, Interlochen Center for the Arts

Designed to Resonate explores how sound and design converge across mediums, from handcrafted synthesizers to immersive video game audio. Moderated by Marc Lacuesta, Director of Music Production and Engineering at Interlochen Center for the Arts, the panel features local creatives working in professional audio, including a designer and engineer of handcrafted synthesizers (John Woodruff of Oddment Audio), a video game sound designer (Chris Hite, sound designer for the video games Doom 2016 and Fallout 76), and a BAFTA-winning composer (Jim Bonney, composer for the video games Bioshock Infinite, Mafia III, and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon). They will discuss shaping sound as a creative and emotional design tool.

Fri. Oct. 10, 1-6pm, free entry

Shirley S. Okerstrom Fine Arts Building, NMC

The Okerstom Fine Arts Building is a wooden, asymmetrical A-frame with soaring open spaces and exposed timber construction. It was built in 1972 by the Architects Collaborative, founded by Walter Gropius, best known as the founder of the Bauhaus. NMC embraces these Bauhaus roots and invites you to explore them at a drop-in printmaking workshop. A dozen (or more) 2-inch linoleum “tiles” carved with Bauhaus-inspired geometric designs will be provided. Visitors may choose six tiles, arrange them in a 4x6 frame, and run them through a press to create a unique postcard or bookmark. Blank tiles will also be available for those who wish to create their own design.