The past week has seen a few misunderstandings resolved, and some quick progress. The porch design has been modified so that we do not encroach upon the ground within the footprint of the old Keese Barn, because nothing we have designed thus far has felt "right". We have thoroughly discussed the signage block and have decided on an orientation and dimensions. We will probably have to pour footings very soon for the blocks, and Robbie and I are working to figure out a formwork with dimensions which will reduce the bowing effect that the last mold had. Our Friday review was helpful and promises to help us with progress..... 

grrrrrr.........

Well it was a week. One more try at coming up with a cohesive design for the porch, and another failed attempt. I must say that I really am getting frustrated with the lack of being able to come up with a design that will work and that everyone agrees on. Time is running out fast and we are all really aware of it, and what is more frustrating is that we really are trying to get something accomplished; somehow things just always fall apart. 

This past week was busy though: we split off into two groups, one of which to work on the new signage mini block and another to design the porch. I was to work on the new mini block, and with the help and ideas from the rest of the group, I think Sara Ashley and I came up with a design that I think we are all excited about. We worked to digitally model the new block and its intricacies and to model it in the 3d printer. We immediately found several problems with the design and went to work fixing the problems. Once we agreed on a rough design, we consulted with Robbie on the best way to create a formwork. Saturday Robbie and I went to buy supplies and dropped about $200 on the materials for our experimental cast and on miscellaneous supplies like buckets and a wheelbarrow. Monday we finally got the formwork finished and got together to cast the form. It was messy, scary, and a lot of fun... and it worked! We now have a mock-up at quarter scale of what the form may look like. We still have a LOT of work to do though, but it sure feels good to have something done that is physical. 

Next step is to figure out how to encase photos and text into resin or some other material and embed it into the concrete. We found out a LOT about what materials to use and not use just casting our first mock-up (like that construction adhesive will eat through foam), and I am sure that we will learn just as much with our experiments to come. 

The porch.... well, I think that we are making to too complex. We really need to scale it back and start looking at it as a much less complex form. Several of us stayed up in studio for hours last night trying to rehash the form and make it work. We also need to remember that we have to save some time and effort to enclose/find some other way to make the memory block safe to occupy. 

We really have our work cut out for us!

P.S. sorry for the late blog!

(Painfully) slow progress.....

We have now gone through another week of design on the Pendleton site, and although we have made some progress, it is not enough to brag about. The group is really starting to feel the strains of trying to design as a group, and there were several days this week where we spent hours doing nothing but catching other group members up on our ideas and doing some intense arguing. 

However, I think that we have now got a much more concrete design down, and since then we have made some serious efforts to show our work. We have been focused on the idea of layering in the site, and have thus far been concentrating on the porch and how it can be the main focus of the site and its landscape; with the help of Robbie's digital skills, we have been designing a porch experience that will transition visitors from the formal porch area through a dynamic, organic porch area which can accommodate bodies in the laying, sitting, and standing positions. The porch layer will occasionally be perforated to reveal the old foundation, the old footprint of the Keese Barn, and where the major structural elements were. These elements will be lit from underneath to make them more powerful at night and to lend some light to the area. We are using regulating lines pulled from the porch area and viewpoints (both to the Clemson site and existing viewpoints to the town square and the Community Center) to inform the rest of the site's design. 

Last week I cut and co-assembled the site model that I got from the group in digital form, and this week I have been working with a couple of the other group members to assemble the various parts of the existing site as well as our proposed ideas. We have been looking into materials and have been asking around to see if we could find anyone who has been known to give donations/a cut in price for students in the past. So far, we are planning on hitting up Home Depot and the companies that manufacture the recycled plastic lumber for donations and price assistance as soon as everyone agrees on what materials to use. We also want to purchase some LEDs that Dustin found offline to test out, but we need a "studio credit card" or something because no one has the funds to just outright buy the lights. Yesterday, four of the group members and myself attended the clean-up morning at the site with the mayor and the United Way group to clean up the glass, computers, weaves, and perm boxes underneath and around the memory block. We had hoped to be able to take down the "Ron" box beforehand so that the broken pieces of rotting lumber could be picked up by the clean-up crew, but unfortunately this did not occur; however, there are still members of the group that are arguing against taking the block down. I think that most of the group agrees, however, that the block should be de-constructed, and then should be re-constructed as an element that informs visitors of both what the site was, what it is now, and why the students chose the design that they did, while also serving as a night-lit sign to catch the attention of the community. Many of us also believe that a formal historic marker is also very important and something that the community would like in the site. 

In addition to the design arguments in the Pendleton group, the Clemson group came into situations where they needed our help in the past week. Myself and a couple of others donated some of our time to help a few of their group members survey their site and perform several other tasks when many of their group members were nowhere to be found. I really think that this is a good thing, however, because I foresee that working together as a studio rather than solely in the two site groups to get the projects done will be crucial in the final stages to ensure that both sites get finished (hopefully) on time. We have also managed to recruit several of our fourth-year studio friends to come out and help us if we need the extra labor. 

Even though we have made progress, the first real waves of panic are starting to set in as we realize that we really have to get moving if this project is to be realized. With that said, time to get to work!

Progress: Design week 1

We are about to enter into another week of studio, and our two site groups are intensely working on our respective designs. The Keese Barn site group is working very well together, and there have been a lot of really great ideas tossed around; however, we are constantly having to be conscious of the fact that we need to both fix the "fragmentation" of the site's ununified elements and prevent our design from contributing to this flaw. In order to counteract the tendancy to create individual projects, we are making a concerted effort to meet only as a group. This has worked relatively well so far, and I hope that it continues to go well.

We are really concentrating on working with the landscape and the existing structures as a framework rather than tearing down any structures just to rebuild something in its place. Our analysis of the site's needs have led us to create a list of design needs including unifying the site's existing elements, making the barbeque pit and table more useable, finishing the porch, adding seating elements, providing shade to the area, adding signage and pictures, and ensuring the safety of the site's visitors from falling wood, etc. The ideas presented by the former students who constructed the site as it is now were really interesting; however, the community does not understand the ideas and see the current site as merely a "curiosity", according to Joe at the Historic Information Center in Pendleton. I really hope that we will be able to re-habilitate the site into something that the community will be proud of and use, but I know that there is no pleasing the entire community. However, even though I anticipate some controversy, I know that this will be a great experience for all involved.