This afternoon during the first part of studio Professor Huff met with our studio and gave us an informal critique voicing his concerns about our design. His major concerns were the overall weight of the entire structure, the strength of the joint in the 4 legs of the structure, and the “shoulder” joint wanting to cause the arm to fall inwards.
Immediately following this meeting, Jeff Richards from PDA came to CAC.C to meet with Professor Pastre, John, Lauren and myself to help us understand all the lighting and sound equipment. We went through the entire event with Mr. Richards so he could help us figure out what we would need and where each piece would be located on the site during the event on November 18th.
Last week several of us worked on a few different ideas for screen connections. We began by building a frame in which we could test each different method. We learned a lot from these tests and were able to combine a few ideas into 1 specific method that we think is going to be successful. Last night the physical model was finished so we had a little bit of time to test the screen on the model. The screen material that was donated to us from Harmony Warehouse is not what anyone was expecting. After a visit to Hancock Fabric, we discovered that the material is a type of lycra like a swim suit material. It is an old indoor movie screen; it is shiny on one side and is very stretchy in 1 direction.
This evening, I have been doing a bit more research on what type of thread and needle to use on this type of fabric. One sources seemed to be very helpful, saying we need to do a narrow zig zag stitch using a ballpoint needle.
This semester has really proven that the statement architects must know a little about everything is VERY true. I have learned about soldering, lighting, wiring, and sewing so far this semester. I feel like there is always something new and exciting to conquer each day in our studio!
Tomorrow morning our studio will be meeting with Becca Cook’s father, Rick Cook at ADC Engineering along with some of his colleges. They have graciously volunteered some of their time to discuss our design and can hopefully help us solve a few issues we are having with the structure.
I will leave you with an awesome video that has been sweeping through the studio over the past week that you may or may not have seen!