Design/Build, Fast!

We finished building our model. It is possibly the best model I have ever made.

(Or, mostly finished.) The back three trusses gained some posts on the front end of the building to provide extra support and create a nook for the people at the table. We decided to square off the building for decking's sake.

When we make changes to the plans, a little masking tape holds the new onto the old. It creates a little flip book of sorts. I am amused by this.

Most of the students in my class are in or have completed grad school with an architecture degree. Therefore, when it's time to draw something, I'm not generally the most qualified. However, I have been helping with the revisions. I've never used a drafting table before - pretty helpful, really. (I am, however, one of the go-to folks on the work site, at times.)

After adding the new supports to the trusses, we raised them.


Before doing so, we had to level and build the deck. We built it on skids, but we don't plan on the skids being used for pulling. The ground is too soft at the site for a vehicle to drive on it, so we've had to design the building in pieces. The joists have been placed, but only with a few bolts (and no screws.)

We got all the trusses up.

This fellow and I worked together to design and build the benches. This was the first support completed. We used sandwiching techniques similar to those that we used on the trusses, as well as the only vertical supports in the structure. The benches are attached to the floor joists only, so we can take the trusses off for transportation.

After installing supports to each truss, we had to build similar supports for the truss-less floor joists. These intermediate joists each got the seat, back rest and upper shelf. The light support on the left is one of these structures. (We painted the structure with a very watered down black paint - it's enough to disguise wood discoloration/inconsistencies, but still show wood grain.)

I spent this afternoon and evening working with three other ladies from my class to build the table for the structure. We used 1 by 5 cedar, the same that is being used for decking.

In this picture, we were testing out the sizing of the table compared with the benches. The far side rests on a beam that I installed on the farthest truss, while the front of the table is supported by a leg. I didn't get an adequate photo of the bottom of the table to show all the supports that we installed to keep that leg firm. While we used dozens of screws on the bottom, we managed to keep the top hardware free. We were very proud.

We even signed our names.

While we were building our table, decking was set.

As we were putting finishing touches on, the structure was disassembled. Tomorrow morning, we get to move the pieces out to the site.

Some unmentioned thoughts and highlights from the last several days:
- Jim, Bill and I had to measure the bridge between here and our site. There is no clearance sign, for some odd reason. The bridge is very narrow, so the rush of running out to the lowest point, climbing high enough to get the tape measure to the top and reading numbers was quite extreme. Lots of fun and giggling afterwords. Had the bridge been a little lower, there would not be giggling.
- My arm looks like it has some sort of skin disease because of all the thin black paint that has made its way onto me instead of the structure.
- Every morning, Steve leads the class in a clap - starting slow and getting faster until there are enthusiastic whoops and lots of smiles. For some reason, this works for making us energetic.
- We have been working every evening after dinner. Thursday evening and Sunday were the only times we've had off before dark since the class started. I am amazingly tired, but in such a wonderful way. Building this structure is mentally and physically exhausting, but very rewarding. It changes so quickly. I am amazed at how much we have done in such a short amount of time.
- The instructors are great. They are full of encouragement and good ideas. At times, their non-stop ideas can be frustrating - significant changes were still being made in the late stages of design. Sometimes, when someone has just figured out all the details of their next move, prepared and possible even started, one or three of the instructors will swoop in with entirely different suggestions. The timing is not always the best, but they have great suggestions.

I am heading home a week from today.

Getting Ready for Building : A quick update

We finished all our drawings and small models in time for our 10am meeting with the clients. We presented, they asked some questions, we answered them and they approved the design, giving us free reign for the rest of the project.

After approval, we had to finalize the designs. The best way to test sturdiness is to build a model to scale.

We ripped tiny lumber pieces (1/6" by 1/3" is a 2 by 4.)

We built trusses.

We put the trusses together.

We added benches and a table. We are currently adding decking and siding (which is 1/12" by 1/3". Awesome tiny woodworking.) (This photo was taken about a minute ago.)

For the record, Berea's Ecological Architecture course should use the woodshop. Models turn out much better with the appropriate tools.

We came up with a cutlist.

Yesterday, we scaled up our final design and built a jig.

Now it's waiting on us. And we're waiting on a lumber delivery that is about an hour and a half late.

I'm under the impression that we're running a little behind, but nobody seems to panicked yet. I'm excited to start building. We're assembling as much as we can at the school and then moving out to the site for assembly. We had to keep construction and transportation in mind as we were designing. We don't want to be on site too much because of the possibility of rain.

Yesterday was the first day that we didn't have class after dinner. A lot of folks went out to celebrate Steve's birthday. I slept, happily. Every other day has been completely full of drawings and models, from the time we wake up to the time we go to bed. It was a nice break.

The Beginning of Community D/B

Sunday night, I started my Community Design Build class with Steve Badanes, Jim Adamson and Bill Bialosky. Coming into the class, nobody (including instructors) was sure about what the project was. The Community D/B class is well known and very popular, designing structures that addressed needs of the community. (The first four pictures of this post were built during previous Community D/B classes.)

We soon found out that we were given a small plot of land at a new affordable housing complex to build some sort of community spot. The area is problematic because there are many manhole covers, drains and a pumpstation to the septic tanks scattered around that we can't build over. There is also a strange subtle slope that could be an issue. There is a retention pond to the south that is an eyesore, but there is also a cute stream that can be spotted from the right angle.

These folks are generally standing in the area that we're going to build our structure:

The only program that the clients (landlords) provided for the place was a spot for parents to sit and watch their children playing.

The class (13 people) came back and broke into three groups. We brainstormed and sketched, then came back for a group meeting where we discussed ideas. Over the next two days, this process happened about 6 times. We had started by designing complex structures with multiple platforms and lots of program, but after a second visit to the site this morning, we realized how small the space we had to work with was. Each time we broke into groups, it almost seemed like a step backwards - we were breaking into different groups each time, so we had to start from scratch. However, around 3:00 this afternoon, we discovered that all of our groups were designing the same thing. From all our group discussions and mixing around, the ideas had been evenly distributed and somewhat settled. The best had come out, it seemed. These instructors seem to know what they're doing.

So that's where we are. Right now, some folks are finishing up a site model so that we can build our idea to scale.

(Actually, as I was typing this entry, the site model was finished.)

We present to the clients tomorrow at 10am. Every moment awake is expected to be spent on this project, it seems, so I am already fairly exhausted. However, the project is exciting and once we get a design approved tomorrow, we'll get to start building.