We've gotten construction up to the point where we're ready for SIPS to arrive at site, which is next week. After having piles driven we had to go through and square them all relative to each other. We then notched them all with a chainsaw and thru bolted the girders on.
After this we put the floor joists up. In the design process we opted to set the joists on top of the girders and attached them with twist straps rather than setting them at the same level of the joist with hangers. In doing this we were able to cantilever the deck out and save some costs in material.
Another cost saving thing we did was use bridge blocking to bear the load of the walls instead of doubling the joists underneath. This also allows some flexibility to move interior walls around if we make on site changes. The below photo also shows the twist straps. One thing that really surprised me was how flexible dimensional lumber becomes when its 20 feet long. It always looks so straight and rigid when its on a drawing, it really caught me off guard the first time I tried to walk across the joist. It doesn't gain its strength until you nail the subfloor to it.
After putting the subfloor on (which we learned actually comes in 3' 11 1/2" x 8' sheets not 4' x 8'), we installed the SIPS curb. The SIPS curb is one of the most important components in the assembly because it is wall ties the SIPS panels into the floor/foundation structure. This is done through 2 2x4's (3 in the corner) glued and nailed to the subfloor/joist and then thru bolted to the girder using threaded rod. This requires using a 2 foot drill bit and a big manly drill which is measured in horsepower.
Our first week on site was a cold and rainy one. B, Ms. Dang's dog (one of the few to survive Katrina), has been sporting a wardrobe of winter wear in order to stay warm.
We've brought a radio on site this semester, so I've stayed warm by dancing while building.
While the rest of America got snowed in this week, we just got a bunch of rain down here in the bayou. So to make the most of the unfortunate weather, we had a two day design competition.
The prompt included the following.
Competition: Pavilion for the Pass Christian Farmers’ Market
Program:
Accommodate (10) 10’x10’ stalls
Vendors shall be responsible for tables, etc. w/in stalls
Provide shelter from rain for vendors and customers
Provide power to (5) stalls
Structure shall be ‘eye candy’ to vehicular traffic on Hwy. 90 and Scenic
A secondary use for pavilion may be proposed
Maximum budget w/ labor and materials shall be $50,000
Location: NW corner of E. Scenic Drive & Davis Avenue
Base Flood Elevation (BFE): 19’
Average grade on site: 18.6’
SMART Code Zoning: T-5C (single story shall be permissible by variance)
Deliverables:
One board, 18x24, mounted on foamcore
Minimum: Site plan, use plan, rendered depiction, detail at ¾” scale
Indicate materials and finishes used
Due: On conference room table by 8am Thursday, Feb. 3
Prize: There will be one
I took my point of departure from a local typology called a "shoo-fly". These are small, elevated gazebos built around the bases of large oak trees. The name comes from the fact that there are more breezes higher up than on the ground. So by being elevated one won't be bothered the flies, mosquitoes and other bugs that bite because unlike humans, they do not like the wind.
My entry is an elongated version of the shoo fly. There is a bench that wraps around the perimeter of the gazebo. The gaezbo also includes 5 live oaks, the canopy of branches form the roof of the gazebo. For my drawings, I built a rhino model and worked out all design details on the computer. This is a way that the computer has been beneficial in the design process of both this project and ones past. I like to build computer models the same way I would build in real life. I started with the piers, then added floor girders and joist, next was the deck boards, and finally was the benches and railings. So in building the model on the computer, I can see how it will be physically built in real life. As far as the schematic design phase, nothing beats a roll of trace paper and a drafting board. After I finished the rhino model, I used it to make drawings, a section and an exploded axon.
We began looking at LEED our second week of studio. As designed, the Dang House qualifies for LEED Silver. So we are currently pursuing certification, there is a grant that will cover most of the registration costs. For the documentation, we have 8 students this semester, so by dividing up the documentation it becomes very light work. One of the aspects of LEED is recycled materials, so research has begun to find places we can get salvaged materials to build with. Therefore, we took a field trip to New Orleans last week to look at a place called the Green Project. It was a fun place, (kind of how I envisioned my Institute of Cultural Anthropology to function last year.) There was a big collection of things, we decided to come back and look again when we're in the finishing phase, this seemed to be what they had the most of, old tongue and groove board, trim, doors, 1x lumber, power outlets, tile, paint, ect.
In case any of you were wondering what the city of New Orleans looks like, there was a map on the wall. On the top side of the river, the garden district is on the left, the business district in the middle where the river bends down, and the french quarter is to the right.
They had just started a garden in the back.
We then went to French Quarter to go to a tacky touristy place called "cafe du monde" (though the coffee is really good). On the way we passed through Jackson Square, this is where the "statues" hang out. People, possibly homeless, like the one below who paint themselves silver and sit still with a tip bucket in front of them all day. This guy was in the same position from the time we entered the cafe until we left. My theory is that he's asleep. We also met a street magician.
On the way out of the city I noticed this Banksy piece. After returning home I googled to discover the transformation that this particular piece has undergone.
I end with very good news. Construction on the Dang House has finally begun. Our funding was delayed because of some legal red tape, but we finally made it through to be approved. Here are the pile drivers putting our foundation in place, yesterday we started notching the piles with chainsaws and putting the girders in place.
Each semester at Southcoast begins with a brief design project. I just realized that I never showed the completion of the fall semester's project so I will do that now.
As you may remember we began last semester building seating around the studio's outdoor fire put. However, the first hint of progress was quickly quenched by mother nature when a tree fell on the post we had just set in the ground. About a month and half later building resumed.
When finished the bench featured both firewood storage below on the right side and a built in smores storage unit on the left side. Flowers were also put into the planters.
This semester the project was building benches to go around the studio's big table we use for potlucks. The theme of this project was "quick and dirty".
We made 8 of the benches, so mass production was key to this design. Jig's we're made and the lumber was prepared in an assembly line style of production.
The only materials used we're 2x4 and 2x6 dimensional lumber joined with pegs. Each piece was fed through a planar to turn the once splintery framing studs into a grade A furniture making material. Note the color of the legs. I have always been morally opposed to painting wood because it covers up the beautiful grain, but during this project I learned a new technique called "white washing". This allows the wood grain to show through the white paint. Tom Sawyer did this to paint his fence because it made a bucket of paint stretch farther. To prepare a white wash dilute a water based paint with water (I used a ratio of about 1/3 paint - 2/3 water). It will be runny so to get even coats we hung the legs on a laundry line so they could be painted all at once.
Also, among other things, this week included my first trip to the roller derby.
I come bearing both good news and an apology. First I am very sorry I have been such a slacker about updating. I will do a much better job next semester because one of the requirements of my extended stay in Mississippi next semester is that I document progress on a weekly basis. That leads me into the news, rather than returning to Blacksburg in the Spring I will be continuing to work with Southcoast Design/Build. (The fourth year faculty asked me to make it very clear that my extended stay is a very special exception.)
Now allow me to get you more acclimated to life in the small coastal town of Pass Christian, MS.
This is the apartment where Kyle, Julius, and I lived this semester, located 3 miles (a short bike ride) from studio. I think it looks like a nintendo. My guilty pleasure of the semester was going on midnight, barefoot runs on the golf course behind the apartment.
This is studio, located in a house in "downtown" Pass Christian.
This is the house where we will be living next semester, located just three doors down from studio. It has already begun to be affectionately referred to as the "Speed Square Manor". I am very excited about the large front porch.
This is Ms. Dang, the client we designed for this semester. Construction will begin on her home first thing in January. In this photo she is teaching me how to gut and filet fish.
Here is the Green's home we were building this semester. It is completely water tight and leak proof. The end of the semester included metal panel roofing and fiber cement cladding.
I spent my final day of the semester making camera obscuras in one of the studio bedrooms.
In other news, do you ever wonder what happens to your models after the semester is over? Do they become relics preserved in time or something else entirely. I came home to find my rainmaker site model has been ranked as one of the more interesting places in the house.
I found this today and once again was reminded of both of you. This is a new project by Studio Gang with an expected completion date of 2012 and is sited in the one and only Greenville, SC. Perhaps we'll have to make a visit after graduation?
I thought I'd share something I found while perusing this morning. This is a project entitled "bunker 599" by two Dutch firms: Atelier de Lyon and Rietveld Landscape. I'll let you read more about the project specifics on your own, but I couldn't help but think back to our third year competition entry when looking at this. This idea of place re-contextualized as well as the duality of vulnerability and strength of materiality inherent in the tectonics are both themes I find particularly provoking in this piece as well as our own project. The fact that a former site of impenetrable fortitude and isolation will now become a space for public gathering and introspection is really invigorating.
We are currently in the phase of doing construction documents so that we can begin construction on November 1st of the house we've designed. (More will be posted about that soon) Since working on CAD for extended periods tends to impose heavily on one's soul, we came up with an idea that we call "Outside Desk". This has greatly boosted moral.
I spent this past summer in Jacmel, Haiti, working as the summer intern at an orphanage called the Hands and Feet Project. During my time there I was able to get involved with some design work that was going on. You can read about my adventures on my other blog traystrawhorn.blogspot.com
This first project is just the second floor of a guest house a group called Mission of Hope was building. The first floor was already under construction when I arrived. The director of the mission took me onto the first floor ceiling/current roof and asked to come up with and idea for the second floor. The limitations for this we're designing within bounds established by the first floor. The rebar coming through the slab told me where columns can be, and the pvc pipes told me where water and septic can run. The large hole in the photo is where two stair sets are going to be, each going the way opposite of the other, so circulation was also predetermined. In a strange way working on this was kind of like doing Hejduk's 9 square grid project.
The suites are one room with a bathroom attached. The bathrooms are all in a row at the back, this will make running the water and septic easier. The really interesting thing about building in Haiti is the relationship with the builder. Much more faith is placed in the builder than in the states. Everything in America is all about contracts, liability, and preventing yourself from being sued, but in Haiti without such fears, there is a healthier relationship between architect and builder. This drawing I did with a tape measure and piece of plywood for a straight edge will come back manifested in built form. Note the way the rebar from the columns comes through the slab. In Haiti everyone leaves that on the roof instead of trimming it off. By doing this they don't have to pay taxes on their building because its "unfinished".
This next project is a small 14 x 20 foot house. It has just begun construction, when finished about 10 people will be living there. This house will be for a really poor family that our mission is helping out. Note some of the details about the construction. Columns and beams are cast in place concrete with cmu infill. You can see some of the things being done for earthquake prevention. An additional lintel/bond beam are placed between each floor. Everywhere a slab and column intersect a concrete triangle is created with a piece of steel in it. This is really cheap to do, you can normally do this with your rebar scraps. Our orphanage learned how to do this by watching the discovery channel. All the earthquake proofing measures are simply ways to create lateral stability, how to minimize movement when the earth shakes.
Through this model we were able to do a cost estimate by knowing how many blocks and feet of steel will be used. The most expensive thing about building in Haiti is foundation cost. So for not much money we added a small loft for the children to sleep on. The building is oriented on the site so that the wind will travel up the slope of the roof, creating a Bernoulli effect to more effectively cool the building. Wind passing more rapidly on top will pull out the hot air that gathers at the top of the house. Note the louvers shown in the section, this is vented block, a precast building unit used often in Haiti. They allow air to pass through while keeping water out.
The most exciting project I worked on was the new orphanage for the Grand Goave site. Construction has begun on this, I've been told they are currently working on the footers. It has a really beautiful site, up on a coastal mountain overlooking a river and the beach. It is composed of four 30' X 70' units connected by an open air dining room. The dining room expands out to a panoramic view of the ocean. I was given the project at this point in its design (the sketch up model below) and started working on the floor plans, filling in the units. After the first unit is constructed 30 kids who are currently living in temporary housing will move in and construction will continue. After the second unit is completed the orphanage will start taking new kids. And construction will continue for the third and fourth units. It was a really fun narrative to work with, floor plans orchestrated the events growth and expansion of the orphanage.
Each unit is divided into seven 10' x 15' bays. The bays are oriented to allow them to cross ventilate and cool the building. Since the site is on the side of a mountain and next to the ocean there is always a breeze. The first water well on site failed, depending on how the next one goes, the building may become dependent on a grey water/rain harvesting system. The design would not have been possible without Steven Mulligan, of Invision Architecture in Iowa. We had different groups come through the orphanage every week and as fate would have it he was here on a week while I was working on this project. He helped me make my ideas work and I learned a great deal of things that they don't teach you in architecture school. I emailed that hand drawings to him after he returned to America and he put together a revit model and exported to drawings below.
This is the project as of October 18, 2010. Photo courtesy of the Hands and Feet director, Bob Herdman. (Note the breath taking view.)
I hope to return to Haiti soon, to visit the forty pieces of my heart I left behind in Jacmel. Hopefully then I'll have some built works to post. It was an incredible honor to work on these projects this summer. The whole internship worked out better then anything I could have ever hoped for.
with a gift. I'm not sure that I even have to specify what these are, but I will say that Jim was gracious enough to bestow us with the recipe. Nick is the first amongst our studio to attempt their preparation and after a thorough sampling, I can say without hesitation that they were a complete success.
Look out for a copy of the recipe in your inbox. There are some more nuanced details which Nick has suggested that I am waiting to tack on as an addendum. My personal recommendation is to partner them with butter and honey. Benissimo!
Our current build project is the Green's house in the next town over, Long Beach, MS. This is about 1,000 square feet. It was designed by the group last spring, construction began in the summer. When we picked up, it had just passed its hurricane strap inspection, so we finished sheathing the house in osb, random frame work like facia and drywall nailers, and putting the water proofing layers on the outside. Currently the Tyvek and roof underlayment are complete. Construction has temporarily halted until some more funds are gathered. The next step is to put on the metal roof.
Also in the news.
We spent a few days rebuilding a section of our driveway. So we learned fun things about working with concrete. Like building forms, working with concrete truck, skreeting/floating it, and cutting control joints.
