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Ryan Bacha

Architecture professor

Education

  • M.Arch., architecture, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
  • B.S., architectural engineering technology, Fairmont State College

Credentials

Teaching experience

  • Professor of architecture, 2003–present, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA
    • Third-year architecture studio coordinator, 2019–24
    • Admissions and transfer committee member, 2017–23
    • Sustainability council committee, member, 2013–17
    • Curriculum and assessment committee, committee chair, 2005–17
    • Curriculum direction council, faculty member, 2005–07
    • Tau Sigma Delta, National Honor Society, advisor, 2005–08
    • Athletic committee, member, 2003–04
    • Institutional effectiveness and assessment committee, member, 2003
  • Assistant professor of architecture, 1998–2001, Fairmont State University, Fairmont, WV
  • Teaching assistant, 1995–97, Virginia Polytechgnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, VA

Professional experience

  • Principal partner, 2005–present, BKDW LLC, Savannah, GA
    Select projects:
    • Residence design build of interior, Newport, RI
    • Residence remodel of exterior and landscape to beach, Tybee Island
    • Chatham County Health Department Wellness Park, 2013, Savannah, GA
    • Saigon restaurant renovations, 2010, Savannah, GA
    • Bacha residence restoration and redesign of 1923 bungalow, 2009, Savannah, GA
    • Cuban restaurant design development, Savannah, GA
    • Tantra Lounge, 2006, Savannah, GA
    • 319 Abercorn St. carriage house design development, Savannah, GA
    • Residential house design development, Turks and Caicos Islands
  • 2001–02, Dunay & Associates, 2001-2002 Blacksburg, VA
    • Assistance with residential design and construction. Carpenter in residential reconstruction and remodeling.
  • Brown's Drafting Service, 1998, Radford, VA
    • Assistance with construction documents for Bradley S. Payne, AIA.
      Select projects:
    • New MRI scan/control/equipment room, 1998, Marietta Memorial Hospital, Marietta, OH
    • Renovations of Drs. Clark, Lee, & White's suite, 1998, Marietta Memorial Hospital, Marietta, OH
  • WYK & Associates, 1993–95, Clarksburg, WV
    • Full management of design and construction documents for various public projects, inspection of shop drawings, site and survey work, administrative work.
      List of projects:
    • Peoples Bank, 1995, Bridgeport, WV
    • Lincoln County High School addition, 1994, Shinnston, WV
    • Clarksburg Country Club bath house, 1993, Clarksburg, WV
    • Harrison County Bank, 1995, Bridgeport, WV
    • South Harrison Middle School addition, 1994-1995, West Milford, WV
    • Air National Guard, 1994–95, Bridgeport, WV
    • Huntington National Bank headquarters, 1993, Fairmont, WV

Awards, recognitions, and honors

  • Top 30, 2015 America Makes; 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, Design Competition, New York City's Makers Faire, 2015
  • Vulcan Teaching Excellence Award, Vulcan Material Company, Southeast Division and Georgia Independent College Association, 2013
  • Best in Show, Southern Home Show, Coastal Empire Habitat for Humanity Trade Booth, 2009
  • Runner-up, City of Lynchburg, VA, Design Charette, 1997

Organizations

  • USGBC, Georgia, Savannah Branch Leadership Group, 2013–present
  • President of the board, GoDesign, Inc, 2010–present
  • Designs and builds schools for the poor and impoverished around the world. See http://www.godesigninc.org/
  • Associate member, American Institute of Architects, 2004–present
  • Member, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, 2004–present

Publications and presentations

Exhibitions

  • This Ain't Your Grandmother's Rocking Chair and Hyperboloid Pavilion, SCAD architecture faculty show, SCAD Museum of Art, 2013.
  • This Ain't Your Grandmother's Rocking Chair, SCAD Seen Gala, Atlanta, GA, 2012.

Design build projects

  • UnderGo Music Festival Petal Gate, SCAD Spring 2019 Digital Prototyping and Fabrication, facilitated student build, 2019.
  • Open Studio Gate, facilitation of student build for SCAD fall open studio, Lacoste, France, 2018.
  • Open Studio Gallery, facilitation of student build for SCAD spring architecture show, 2018.
  • Hyperboliod Pavilion, SCAD Sidewalk Arts Festival, 2012.
    Designed and built a bamboo pavilion with GoDesign Inc. and Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens for the SCAD Sidewalk Art Festival and then permanently placed at Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens' Historic Bamboo Farm.
  • Tool shed and garden area for America's Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia, SCAD, 2011.
  • Habitat sheds, SCAD and Coastal Empire Habitat for Humanity, 2010.
    Designed and built a tool shed for Habitat for Humanity houses in Construction Technology I course.
  • Trade booth, SCAD AIAS and Coastal Empire Habitat for Humanity, Southern Home Show, 2010.
  • Outdoor classroom, SCAD with Hands On of Atlanta and John F. Kennedy Middle School, Atlanta, 2007.
  • Savannah College of Art and Design Gallery, SCAD Eichberg Hall, 2007.

Research, publications, workshops, and conference presentations

  • Rethinking the French Hamlet as an archetype for co-living housing typologies, 2022
  • Regenerative Architecture, a design process via critical thinking in divergent and convergent methodologies, 2020
  • London Workshops & Lectures, Folded Structural Methods: How paper folding techniques generate structural systems. Conducted at Eton College, Tonbridge School, ACS Hillingdon, Wellington College, Marlborough College, Charterhouse, and Latymer Upper School, 2018
  • French Masonry documented French stone masonry trades in France's Luberon region, 2018
  • It's Gonna be MAEE published article in SCAD's Works. https://www.scad.edu/blog/its-gonna-be-maae, 2015
  • Spanish Granaries documented traditional granaries (hórreos) in the Asturias region of Spain, 2015
  • Digital Prototyping and Fabrication Methods research & implementation of design-build projects, 2010–present
  • Collaboratively Crafting a Unique Architecture Education through Model Assessment, Mentioned in the article for participating in assessment models, 2009
  • Design Methodologies: Teaching Fundamentals of Electronic Design, ACADIA 2005 workshop, 2005
  • Design Methodologies: Teaching Digital Design Fundamentals, ASCAAD 2006 abstract, 2005