Well here we are.... finally done with our project for the semester. I half expected for it to never actually end, but I guess all things must end eventually. Anyway, I think it has been a pretty good semester, with a pretty good project, and that we all did a pretty nice job of making it all come together. We had a lot of disagreements and hard times collaboratively, but over all, it never got as bad as I thought it might get. We learned some stuff the hard way, but I guess that is the best way to learn. Here is the stuff I got out of the semester:

1. It is really hard to work collaboratively... but if you can get over petty stuff that comes up it is a rewarding experience. We worked through problems on site, made a lot of quick design and construction decisions on our own, and ultimately came up with a really nice product. And I think that made the semester a good one for all of us ultimately.

2. Stewardship means a lot of things, and it is a lot easier said than done to actually design and build something... especially if it is supposed to be sustainable. Although a lot of our design ended up being really wasteful, I think that ultimately that taught us all a lot about how easy it is to be really wasteful... and how quickly something can get out of hand. Hopefully this fact will really impact our future designs and thus be sustainable in its lesson it has taught us. It is difficult to make something that is innovative OR something that is sustainable.... but to do both at the same time is even more challenging. I am not sure that we really accomplished that this semester, but I do know that I, personally, learned a lot just by experiencing the project in its entirety. 

3. Community service is a really rewarding thing.... but sometimes you really think that the community does not care one way or the other. There were many times that we never heard or saw anything out of the community, but then every once in a while we would have people come by and show interest and support in what we were doing.. and that made it all worthwhile. I think that the people of the neighborhood are actually happy with the porch... and hopefully will be with the sign too.... and will use it often. We got to meet some characters and some really interesting people, and that was nice. It would have been nicer to have a little more time to get to know the people and get a little more of their input on the site and what we made... but there was simply not enough time. Hopefully we can get them started on their new site tomorrow with our community get-together. 

I feel like I contributed pretty equally to the project: I was able to work with the others to design the sign and how we actually cut it out using the CNC, I worked with the team getting donations, buying supplies and running errands, building the porch, re-building elements of the porch that we messed up the first time, driving poles for pin foundations into the ground, going to Charlotte to get donated Trex decking, working on the landscape by shoveling dirt, gravel, and placing bricks, cutting grass, taking off the formwork of the signage block (what a job!!!), and, of course, destruction of the mini-block. There have been fights all semester about people not "pulling their weight", but we did it... it looks great.... and I think I did my part. 

Here's to another... and my last... studio at Clemson.