Hello again!!  The challenges of a design build studio consistently reveal themselves every week!  I feel constantly that I am trying to catch up with this design process and trying to make the leaps between assignments from week to week while the edge of the cliff feels like its crumbling from under my tippy toes.  Oh how I do love this creative process!  However, in the end all of the hard work and worrying pays off.  It’s so wonderful to see each students work hung up and displayed at the end of the week, it all looking so nice.  Each one so very different and strong in its own way.

The final product for my vegetable study conveyed the ideas and elements that I wanted it to but the challenge since then has been taking those ideas and elements and forming them in a vertical garden wall.  My wall design was originally based on forms that were found within the artichoke and now the challenge is taking these forms and abstracting them to create a working, functional system.  How do I incorporate what a vegetable needs to grow?  What about storage space for gardening tools?  Where does composting fit in?  Can there be different systems of growing the plants? How will the irrigation and rain catchment work?  Does it fulfill the request of the client in helping to create a barrier from the street?  What materials are best suited to make this design successful?

My task for the next couple nights will be weaving all of the elements together in order to create a flowing and functional garden wall.  One quote that I often repeat to myself is “Good design enables honest and effective engagement with the world” (Robert Grudin).