North Dighton, Massachusetts, United States
Kyle Barker is the founder of Primary Projects, an architecture firm dedicated to more sustainable, affordable, and communal design. He’s interested in diversifying housing models, reducing embodied carbon, and communicating clearly. Kyle is the author of the “Communal Housing Design Guidelines,” a book collecting his Rotch Scholar research, during which he traveled across Europe, Australia, and Japan to study collective housing models. He’s taught housing studios, seminars, and workshops at Harvard, RISD, Northeastern, and MIT. In 2023, he received the Boston Society for Architecture’s (BSA) Earl R. Flansburgh Young Designers Award. He holds an MArch from MIT, a BSID from the University of Cincinnati, and is a licensed architect in Massachusetts, New York, Maine, and Michigan. Outside of practice, he is the Board Secretary for the Boston Society of Architects, a member of the Design Advisory Council for the National Cohousing Alliance, a member of the Rotch Traveling Scholarship Committee, and a design mentor for the Affordable Housing Development Competition.
We see sustainability, affordability, & accessibility as paths to greater abundance: a connection with nature, new communal opportunities, & better spaces for all. We have extensive experience designing for multi-generational families, co-ops, intentional communities, and the like. (We’ve also done research, lectured, and taught on these topics!) We offer a range of services, from architecture and interior design to furniture selection and graphic design. Sometimes, clients hire us for one thing; sometimes, we do it all. Our involvement depends on the project and the client’s needs.
STU1202: Core 4 - Relate (Spring 2026) An architecture studio for fourth-semester graduate students focused on the design of dense, mid-rise housing. Coordinated by Jenny French
ARCH21ST-04: Good Neighbor (Fall 2025) An advanced architecture studio for 4th & 5th year undergraduates and masters' students focused on the design of low-slung, dense housing that’s socially rich and environmentally responsible. _ ARCH301G: Disciplinarity (Spring 2025) A seminar course meant to introduce second-year graduate architecture students to urgent issues in contemporary architecture & design (and their historical lineage and theoretical underpinnings).
ARCH7140: Home Makeover - Master's Degree Project (Spring 2022) ARCH7130: Home Makeover - Master's Research Studio (Fall 2021) A year of research culminating with 13 graduate architectural masters' theses testing new models of communal housing. - ARCH2140: Urban Walk-Up Housing (Spring 2021) ARCH2140: Urban Walk-Up Housing (Spring 2020) Taught two "single-stair" housing-focused undergraduate architecture studios. Coordinated by Tim Love & Paxton Sheldahl.