Ox-Bow

Saugatuck, MI

Located in Saugatuck, Michigan, Ox-Bow is situated on 115 acres of protected wetlands, dunes, and forest along Lake Michigan. Ox-Bow is the second oldest summer art school in the United States, and the oldest in the Midwest. The campus encompasses more than forty structures,  a patchwork of historic, artist-built, and adaptively reused buildings anchored by the 1873 Ox-Bow Inn, including two cottages designed by Chicago Prairie School architect Thomas Eddy Tallmadge. The satellite site, Ox-Bow House in downtown Douglas, functions as a vibrant arts hub and public programming space for the local community.

A 2025 FCI Scoping Grant funded an energy assessment of Ox-Bow House to guide energy-efficient creative reuse and renovations of the site, with an ASHRAE audit assessing current energy consumption and providing recommendations for reducing emissions while preserving the building's historic integrity.

A 2026 FCI Technical Assistance Grant will support a campus-wide energy assessment and feasibility analysis across the historic facilities of Ox-Bow's main campus, expanding on the prior FCI-supported assessment of Ox-Bow House. The project will conduct ASHRAE-informed energy benchmarking, building-level system evaluations, electrification feasibility analysis, and financial modeling, producing a prioritized roadmap for capital improvements that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve building performance for artists and students.