Time to Reflect

Reflecting on this project I have learned a variety of little things

1st, i have learned how to build a porch.  no lie. i might not be able to design one that gets past the bar but i can tell you how to build one. learning from what we have done (some call overkill) i know that i can build a porch that will out last the house. lol. no but seriously, i have learned a deal about construction not only from our own projects but my brief stints with the clemson group and there project.  well maybe more about dirt from them but still constructing an erosion bank. that has to come in handy at some point. i still could learn more about how to erect monolithic concrete blocks.

2ndly, i realize that design is definitely a collaborative effort.  sometimes it works out sometimes it doesnt.  in my product design class one of our projects was to write our design manifesto.  of course i said that i believe design is a collaborative effort that allows you to draw from a variety of people places things.  well i was proven right but what i lacked in that manifesto is the patience that comes with collaboration.  i work better in groups but much happier working alone where i know where my responsibilities lay.  i found it extremely difficult working with some egos and people in general but it was a tremendous learning experience for me. i know (well hope) that the work environment is completely different more lax and an open forum of ideas.  i have learned from law class that an open market is the best kind of market and thats why we dont restrict all kinds of speech so there can be an open exchange of ideas. i understand passion but there has to be some room for others to make suggestions.  luckily i wasnt possessed with that design, megalomania, but i do need to speak up more when i know that im right regardless of how many obstacles are in front of me.

3rdly, community service was a big things for us. i'm glad that we were able to help a community. i'm still a little doubtful if they are grateful or not but i do think some of the community is.  I know that Robert aka pumpkin was extremely helpful.  He was a friendly voice that i looked forward to hearing at the site.  many of them had experience with certain aspects of the projects and offered to help.  the community had more questions then answers in the end though.  people always came by to ask us questions about why we did this or why we are doing that.  i dont think the signage block will answer those types of questions because most of them came from a complaining place.  

4thly, stewardship. well do i feel like a steward per se? no. yes i helped a community but being part of a steward means to tend their property as they would in their stead. repeating what i said earlier about under the community section i'm not sure if we are stewards.  We did our project based on what we felt they needed under the pretense of sustainability.  that may not be what they wanted or needed. it reminds me of a quote from Blaine's blog..."creating a balance between what they want and what we give them" i think the latter is what we have done but i sincerely hope they come to want it.

finally, i have learned a variety of things from this studio. i'm still glad that i took it. i was apprehensive after we began our projects if this was a good call. it might not have been but i think when i look back on my time as an architecture student this will be one of the times i was glad that i had pushed myself.  one of my professors once told me that i was not serious about architecture and wasting the time of others, i feel like i have shown that i'm serious about architecture because i have forfeited my spring break, bleed, stressed out three gray hairs, and sacrifice my last semester as a college student to finishing this project.  i have learned that no friendship is a good friendship that cant be tested. i have learned that construction is a slow process. i have learned that designs aren't always as they are on paper in reality. i have learned that in the work world budgets are laws and can't be broken. 

The return of the soap box

first, special thanks to the clemson group for coming out to help out

remember one of my earlier iterations included a plan for a 'soapbox'. Well after much delineation, we have come full circle and it has returned.  pretty much as i had thought of it in the beginning (as shown below in picture) except new location and with new material.

much progress has been done. instead of spending even more of our budget we became a little more efficient with what we had.  we have an abudance of brick so only naturally we find a way to tie that back in with our design.  Seeing how much the trex took up of the material palatte of the site it seemed appropriate to use brick as a stair in order to tie the historic brick wall back in the game.  the brick also blends the rustic metal in with the brick from the shingle wall too.  overall this small detail really ties in the new intervention with the old and provides a space that after all the wood decays or the deck collapses (hope no time soon) the brick steps will remain and serve as an elevated space that has a variety of applications.  

A soap box is a raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject.  It is also used to express concern or to release frustrations.  The term comes from when speakers would stand on a wooden box meant for holding soap.  I thought reinstitute a common forum to speak your mind in a historic setting was a no brainer.  By using the old brick it also makes the installation permanent instead of temporal like the back half of the porch is intended to be.  This new layer immortalizes the past.

As you can see from the pictures, we first dug a 8 " trench in the space where the last three steps would go.  We then filled that with gravel and concrete masonry units (cmus).   We then used brick and mortar on the rest to create the brick stairs.  The same technique used in creating the brick wall behind/ underneath the porch is repeated in the front of the porch not only for function but for unity.  The site had a problem with separately layers, we intend to overwhelm the visitor with unity.  I'll add more pics of the finished brick stairs later.

creative inquiry

Emily, SMick, and I at the inquiry...thanks Elliot for the pic

click here to view the creative inquiry board.

if for some reason this link isn't working try this.

Stewardship + Pendleton

Stewardship is defined as...don't you hate when people start off like that.

I perceive our actions on the Keese Barn site in relations to our stewardship creed as alright. Not to sound too nonchalant or anything, but I feel like we have encompassed stewardship in two manners.
First, being on the site and working. Part of being a steward means to manage the property for another. Granted that just being on the site isn't enough but for some of the residents, it means a lot that we are back. A lot of them had given up hope that Clemson would try to come back out there and work back on the site. The few times that people come out to talk to us about the project instead of flirting with our girls (ha) they mention how they are glad that we are out here. That they cannot wait to see what we put up. Often they are looking to help us whenever they can. One time while we were pouring the concrete for the signage foundation, Mr. Bikeman (not his real name) rode by and next thing I know he had a shovel in his hand helping spread the concrete with us. It was a small gesture that meant a lot. Without asking for anything or by anyone, he pitched in. That just showed us that the community does care how the site looks and we should make every possible effort to care just as much, and not just rush to put up something that we know in a few years will look sh*tty.
Secondly, I think we are responding well to the community. As i mentioned before the community really does what something to go up on the site that's not an eyesore. Our designs for the concrete signage block will go a long way in helping the community and everyone understand some of the interventions on the site. I know it took some of us a long time to really understand why this or that was done, thanks to those theses books. Everyone doesn't have the luxury to read them though, so this should help a lot. We had also planned on using the block as an technological medium, but constraints have altered that though. Instead we are going with a reusable and more sustainable option more reasonable. I know some may think that really lacks any design aspect but think of it this way, we are providing another service to the community. Come Halloween, once we finish the lights and the safety measure, the site could be used for a Halloween venue. cool eh?
The infamously tedious porch is a nice way of giving back to the community as well. I noticed that when we are out at the site, sometimes there are a few of the gentlemen from the community there. They usually are just shooting the breeze. But they don't really have a formal space to just hang. They usually gather at the rear of the site along the brick walls. The porch will provide a more formal space for them to gather. Something as simple as a deck porch goes a long way to the community. They don't really ask a lot so this would be a way for Clemson to really give back.
I hope this has given some insight into how I have perceived our role as a steward to the Pendleton community. Hopefully when we are done (can't wait for the day) we will have done a good job in both the eyes of the community and Clemson University.

Light up the Landscape

You have seen what fishing wire can do in concrete from the mock up below. However using that medium would be rather time consuming and much much more time than we have. And trying to keep that vernacular consist with lighting up the landscape is not feasible. So we have been looking into using the glow in the dark (phosphorous) powder to mix with epoxy.  We know it works well with concrete from previous experiments.  How about using it to light up the landscape.  If we use the same powder and apply it to the steel striping, we have light.  More importantly we have light that is self maintaining and sustainable. I think it would light up brilliantly and create a different atmosphere of the site at night. The powder mix would last about 9 hrs after being charged by the sun. To get an idea of how you could use this glow in the dark effect with metal here are some pics of it in actual application. note the second image at how the lighting is used as a safety measure.

      

Spring Break '08

This past week has been busy busy busy. Some of us gave up our most sacred spring break for construction '08. lol. but all in all alot got done...for the Clemson group.
Most of our, well my time, was spent helping the clemson group out. besides our roadtrip to pick up lumber from Charlotte, much hasnt been done. btw driving a 24 ft uhaul is a lot of fun, or maybe it was just janis that made it fun. Yes, we did get the slab poured which is awesome but in schedule land we are nowhere near substantial completion. We are going to have to cancel any possible events at the site for Spring Jubilee because simply we arent ready. Not to take away from what we have done, I just feel like more could have been done this past week like simple things that could have gone a long way i.e. stringing the porch.
CG are amazing though. You guys are putting plans into action. nice. however i feel the same way. alot was done but in the scheme of things there is still so much you guys have to do. but still they are winning the race.
But about PG.....so the "porch" is coming along. there is a design. there are some cds. so all in all the "porch" is near completion in drawings. however there is no actual analog results. the concrete sign block is the most complete. the slab is poured. the slab is brushed. the slab is ready for letters. we have done another mock up of the concrete. this time we used fishing line instead of fiber optics due to feasibility studies. it works fine but its not possible within our schedule. it took a lot of time for our little mock up.

the landscape has been mapped. it has changed. alot of what we talked about is not. its really really basic. almost not worth doing. but if we can make the site nicer, then whats it. i have no idea about the handrails to the memory block. we havent really discussed it or seen it. but somehow somewhere it exists.

In the shadow of Deadline

So crunch time is upon us. We have much to get done but luckily for us we have spring break. We have decided to forfeit our sacred week for 14 hour work days. reality check.



Construction for the porch is suppose to take up the majority of that time. We have been in a constant war with our professor as to the direction of the porch. We think we have found a balance between the much sought after "amphitheater" and the existing geometry and axes of the site.

now that we are resolved on that, we have began to turn our attention to gathering materials (bucket loads of mullah) and the landscape. We arent landscape architects but our hope is that we show some sort savvy and land some beautification money. SAB our personal horticulturist has provided us with a good start as to what plants might be used. I have done some research into that list and got some more details about planting and maintenance. Lucky for me my roommate is landscape so i plan on picking his brain more on the matter.


currently feeling optimistic that we may just graduate in may, hope this lasts.











below are some personal PRE-conceptual ideas i thought the project could go....