Our first week at the CAC.C has been action packed and full of new challenges and problems for the eight members of Studio V to solve. From day one we jumped right into a design charrette in which each of us picked a vegetable or fruit to analyze and document. We have also been working on garden and vertical wall research as well as documenting parks and community gardens within the city of Charleston. Not only do we need to know what has been done and what products and systems are available, but we want to understand the identity of the city and how we can pull for inspiration from our surroundings in order to make the project a success.
On Wednesday, Charleston Parks Conservancy (CPC) executive director Jim Martin came to the CAC.C and gave a presentation on what he does with the CPC and how the organization works. We learned about the Park Angels program, completed projects, and future endeavors for the CPC. Jim also shared some images of vertical wall garden installations that he has produced and answered questions that we had about our design-build project for the semester. It was a great opportunity to meet our client and get a sense as to who the CPC is on a more personal level.
Currently Studio V is working together to find a site within Charleston that is suitable for a vertically applied vegetable and fruit garden. The site needs to have direct sun light for 5-7 hours every day in order to sustain edible plants and it needs to be in a visible place where it will generate interest, visitors, and contributors. After completion at the end of the semester, the CPC will assume care for the project; therefore the site selection process is extremely important in order to establish awareness within the community and to ensure its continuation. Within the next week or so site selection should be complete and we will continue with our research and precedents study. All of us are looking forward to getting underway with the design-build process and are really excited for the outcome.