LaserCuttingSweatShop

Laser cutting is, finally, getting done.

We've had a few difficulites......

But the process is rolling now. And the nester's are keeping the files coming.

GettingItDone

Creek

My concerns have been resolved thanks to the cities concern and commitment, thank you city of Clemson.

Breaking Ground @ Teaching Children

Day 1 of construction brought a strange combination of feelings. There was the excitement that we, finally, after four years, are seeing our designs come to fruition. There was a slight bit of sadness from that the pulling up of the first stump meant the beginning to the end of our formal undergraduate education. There was an eagerness to work, in a way that, never before this studio, was a part of my Clemson experience. There was also a sense of reluctance and uncertainty to start this process of construction because of our lack of construction knowledge and the fact that many things are still up in the air. As the bobcat torn into the earth I began to think about the past four years of my life and how that the cumulation of all of it came to be symbolized by a city worker named David moving some dirt. Like the dirt that was taken from the earth, moved, shaken, and shaped, all the things I have studied and learned, worked on and done, has been a clearing and leveling of a foundational place for whats to come. Overall I am very happy we got started on our construction aspect of the process, but a few things still concern me.


The main area I am concerned with is the possibility that the restoration of the eroding creek bed, and all of the work, facts/figures, and learned knowledge may have to be discarded. I know that our class and our project stated that the canopy over the stage was the prominent issue, at the cities request, but I believe that we have a responsibility to keep the park functional by addressing it's most urgent need; the erosion. If you take your car in to get detailed and the detailer notices that your missing a belt in your engine, you don't just say o' well because it cost extra to fix, you get a belt so that your car will continue to run properly. I think that not addressing the erosion would be extremely detrimental to our project. I know that the ball is not in my court because I lack the monetary funds to even start to think about a restoration, but I will feel a great sense of disappointment even when we do finish the terrace seating and the canopy if something is not done about the creek. Our intervention will all be for not in 10 years down the road when our canopy and seating are taken into the creek due to erosion. And I know that no one wants to see that happen.
My other concern, which I'm sure will be resolved shortly, is that infill dirt has yet to be found. We have contacted many construction companies, but no one seems to need dirt hauled off. I'm sure that it is only a matter of time.



On to the brighter side of things, the school and studio south are officially in union and "Architecture Antics" will begin on the 12th of March. Teresa Skewes (after school director at Clem. Elem.) is sending out the permission slips this week out to the parents through the 3rd grade students who attend after school programs. Now that every thing is set and all agree on the after school program, as a class, we need to attend a 20 min. volunteer training program at the elem. school sometime before next week's end.

SchoolProgram

I need to talk with all of the Clemson group about their individual plans for Spring Break. As it looks now we will be starting our "Architecture Antics" on the 12th of March from 3pm-4pm and each succeding week after that for 3 weeks. The only snag is that our second week of this program is during our spring break, so if there is not enough of us here to have a lesson, we will be skipping that week and continuing on the week after. I am in the process of writing up a explanation about the classes and permission form for the parents of 3rd grade students (also possibly 4th) to sign and return to the after school programs director. The Clemson Elementary school teachers are very exciting about having us there and I think that the kids will be also as soon as we start doing activities.

CreekRestoration

As far as the creek goes we meet with Brad again and another engineer. He had a lot of different ideas for us. The feeling we left with, unlike last week, was that this could be completed in an environmentally friendly way that was simple and inexpensive. This intervention would do number of things, some of which included what was talked about the week before, and would finish till just around the bend. The ball would then be in the cities court to finish the job we started in helping the eroding creek. Our next step is to contact hydraulic engineers to help with a design for the wall/structure to help the erosion. Also, we have yet another meeting with Brad (who is probably our greatest addition and asset right now in studio, we really can't thank him enough) and another engineer to test the soil on Wednesday during studio time.

Also, funny note, while we were having a serious discussion on different possibilities for the creek and little kid stood right on the other side of the fence and proceeded to make a real life fountain that went over the eroded part and into the creek water, while proclaiming he was six and this is what he does, in front of the 20 or so odd people. It definitely would have won money on America's Funniest Home Video.

Rail Ties

Today, JT and I have been calling around looking for composite railroad ties. We were unsuccesful in contacting someone who had the amount of ties that we were looking for, but we did find some other things. I talked with a few companies who had "recycled/reused" ties that were made from plastics. While they were much more expensive than used railties and composite ties they last longer, are denser, and are insect proof. The two most promising companies were EPS and TekTies. Here are some of the things about each:

GPS: available in multiple lengths and widths
insect proof
50 yr. warrenty

TekTies: 6"x7"x9'
insect proof
9 month warrenty (but withstands at least 25years under a railroad)
Expensive

There were also a few lumber companies that I contacted about "used" timber rail ties. The most promising company was Winslett Mulch who sells ties for $10 each with a $50 transportation fee.

Making moves

I've moved on to the next step of getting the gabions set, which is obtaining and the delivery of the correct size stones to the site. On this woodcut are the companies I have contacted to see the prices and what not. Our next step, which should have probably been one of our first, is to get an erosion control engineer (I think that would be there title?) out to the site and make sure the ground is stable enough to handle a load. The way it looks from the facts/figures we will need about 10 tons of Surge Stone (we will use the most abundant stone in SC, granite) and with delivery will be between $290-$320 depending on which companies we decide to go with. Below are the numbers/names of the companies I have been talking with today.

I found a website about gabions, bad thing is that it is from ontario. Regardless, here it is.
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/engineer/facts/99-049.htm#advantages

Retaining Wall

While looking for the actual construction of a retaining wall I ran across something I had forgotten about called a Gabion. Not only would this use and match what is on the site now but it would be more natural than a concrete slab thrown down there as a retainer. A couple good websites to go to are http://www.gabions.net/ and http://www.maccaferri-usa.com/. A few good case studies are:

The Igualada Cemetery, Spain

The Protection of Eroded River Banks, Tucker Gulch, Colorado

The Durable Gabion Retaining Structure, Fall Road, Baltimore

Here are also a few photos gabion retaining walls and an illustration on how it works. Also, the third one down is Igualada.

Community Involvement

Just to get it out there I have talked with the First Baptist Chruch Daycare Center in Clemson about some activites on the site and they seemed very happy about it. I also have contacted and have a meeting set up for the 14th of Feburary at 9:30 with the Principal at Clemson Elementary about what we're doing on the Clemson site and possibly getting the kids invovled with some fun activites and teaching them some things about architecture.

Urban Furniture

I was on the computer looking up some things on urban furniture since our landscape is and will be used in this fashion. Some furniture I found wasn't excatly what I was looking for but sparked some ideas and possibilites. Here are a few photos from the site I found.

Here is the website which also has many other designs http://www.myurbangardendecoguide.com/my_weblog/furniture/index.html

I also found a few things on what a landscape is and will be posting it later on tonight.

I think that we are going to have a great studio this semester with a lot of meaningful times and experiences. One of the most meaningful things to me will be that we will be working with and for a community in which we have spent the last four years of our life learning and studying architecture. Hopefully, we will be able to implement a part of our education into the community that has provided the environment for this education; ultimately showing how far we have come and providing a window to the future ahead of us. Another meaningful part of this experience is that not only will we be working in this community, but we will be working with peers whom we have grown to know very well over the past four years through, classes, workshops, trips, and “extra-curricular” activities. I also believe that in order to have a really meaningful experience we must put ourselves out there, figuratively and literally everyday, in order to engage the community at a high level. I hope that through the semester our engagement will have an impact upon the community that will be extensive to start off with and continue to rise throughout the semester. I expect that at the end of this semester the interaction between the class and the community will be a positive one. Moving from positives to a possible negative, I can see some possible difficult aspects in our project a few weeks down the road. The most difficult aspect in my opinion will be the actual construction process. The availability of the resources, tools, and materials will be frustrating at times. Also, we train our minds in the theory of design; this means that most of our work never leaves a 2-dimensional of a piece of paper. The transition and the work it takes for a 2-dimensional drawing to be constructed into a 3-dimensional structure is something new for many people. Ultimately this will be a very challenging and also a very rewarding semester.