Going into every semester of teaching Studio V, I am confident that the new batch of students will rise to the challenge and overachieve on the given project. This group has been no exception so far. At every step of the way this semester the students have met their deadlines, and exceeded expectations, until recently. We find ourselves behind schedule for the first time, which is disconcerting since we are less than two weeks from the final review. This weekend, many things did not go as planned and we had to make on the fly decisions to accommodate. Also, we are working extensively in steel for the first time in my tenure and I find myself having to make phone calls to my professional friends in the industry for answers to questions more often than usual which also slows production. The thing is, these situations are common to all design/build projects, and it’s how you respond to these varied adversities that can compensate for the time lost.
The goal for the weekend was to complete all structural steel fabrication for the interior viewing structure and begin work applying the steel parts for the guardrails, a very exciting milestone. Even with the bumps in the road we experienced today, we came very close to completing our goal, and that was by 7:30 pm. Rather than pushing through and finishing, it was decided to pick back up in the morning, a decision I was not part of. With a due date approaching fast, it worries me that procrastination on this project persists. I know that there are many more unexpected hurdles ahead of us, and that things will often take longer to finish than we estimate. Moments to seize the day will come again. I hope we are not foolish to let anymore slip away.
