New Updates

Hello all!

Apologies for not keeping everyone up to date on the latest news.

First off, the site is now fenced off. Pictures of this to come soon.
For safety and practical reasons, the site will be off limits as we begin construction, especially since it is next to a community center where small children go.

Second, construction has been somewhat stalled. There are logistics that should have been sorted out last term, but were unforeseen. Despite our best efforts to stay on top of things and keep the project well oiled, bumps in the road we have hit!

So, instead of on-site work, we are getting stuff done in the designBridge shop.

Some of the things we are currently working on that have no physical evidence (yet) but are moving the project forward in leaps and bounds are:

• Designing and prefabricating the trough system (that takes water from the Brattain House and our structure to the rain garden)
• Modifying our structure for an easier build—less steel, more wood, which means more things can get done in the shop before they are taken to the site
• Designing and building the educational signage (one of the most important parts of our project)

Pictures will be up soon!

 

Ciao for now!

A New Term and a Fun Way to Kick It Off!

Eugene’s own Ninkasi Brewery is hosting a fundraiser for the designBridge organization. 25% of all pint sales will go to designBridge–that’s $1 per $4 pint!

It will be hosted at the Ninkasi Brewery in the Whiteaker district in Eugene.

There will be fun, laughter, and beer!

We like to have fun, but keep it clean and safe!

Pictures of the Reviews! (Pt. 2)

Pictures from the review!

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Pictures from the Final Review! (Pt. 1)

The Mock-up as it is being built!

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Model Pictures

Here are some pictures of our model for the final review:

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Final Review!

Yesterday was our final review!

There is still a lot of work to finish, but overall, the term is over; the construction phase of our project is upon us.

It was a fantastic review. Our clients, Meghan Murphy, Matt Stouder, Ed Naylor, Gloria Griffith, Janet Beckman, were all able to attend. Chris Jones, Richard Matinson, and several others who have helped us through the term were present, and Rob Thallon, Don Corner, and Jenny Young reviewed us.

There was overwhelming support for our project.

Pictures will soon follow!

Thank you to everyone who attended and has helped us with the project!

Lots of news! Really, really BIG news!

Two big pieces of news.
We’ll start from the most recent:

1.     Willamette Graystone just donated permeable pavers to our project today!

Willamette Graystone is a local distributer and manufacturer of concrete building materials. Willamette Graystone has donated over 300 sq. ft. of permeable pavers to our project, enough to pave our entire projects exclusively with the donated pavers. The permeable pavers will be an excellent addition to our education components of the project – the less paved areas we can have, the more water will infiltrate into the ground.

2.     Site Mockup

We did a mockup on site this past Sunday! 2x2s, stakes, a couple of hammers, some caution tape, and lots of smiles. I’ve tried to include a couple of similar shots from the site and from the model so you can get an idea for what this project is actually going to look like.

Things to be Done…

These are all of the things we have to detail between now and next week.
What does “to detail” mean?

How does an art piece come to be? Sculpture, painting, sketching; all art, comes about from each chisel chip, brush stroke, pencil mark. While the artwork is governed by the whole, the fuzzy image in the mind’s eye, the art cannot come about without action: without the tool – the chisel, brush, pencil – there is no art.

As is architecture. One may speak about it, articulate an elegant passage, breath an eloquent monologue, but there is no architecture. It must be drawn, measured, modeled, mocked-up, shown. That is design development. That is to detail.

What does the corner look like? Is it chamfered, rounded? Or simply a sharp corner? Is it tiled, made with wood, concrete, or metal? Does that come out 1/2″ or a 1/4″? Does this look better when it is 2″ wide or 2-1/4″ wide?

 

Everything is an opportunity. Just as an organism, within a hierarchical structure, has subsequent levels of organized structure, a building, at every level, from the other side of the street to the handrail cap at the top of the stairs, has a series of organized structures.

That is to detail. To organize that structure, all levels.

Simplicity

I will spare the long paragraphs. This week we have made immense progress. Our project is growing up, calming down. It is incredible to see the product of several individuals’ minds.

Here are a few images. See an entire album on Facebook.

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Updates 2.16

• The team took a visit to the new dorms being constructed on campus. Jacob McCay from Hoffman Construction was generous to let us tour the site, see how concrete formwork for paths is set up, and what a job site in progress looks like.

• A new art and architecture student, Chelsea Boehnke, has expressed interest in helping with some of the graphic presentations in our educational signs. Another interdisciplinary collaboration for Team Storm!

• Daniela and Alayna did several infiltration tests at the site, confirming good soil and infiltration rates for our rain garden.

• Hiroshi has started the structural calculations for the structure on the site.

• We have begun to investigate the cost to build our current scheme. Economics will begin to play a role in helping us to refine and distill our ideas.