Welcome to the CAC.C Studio V blog. This blog will be updated daily by the students and professor of Studio V as a way to document our design/build process, and keep all those who may be interested in our progress of the semester’s project informed.
STUDIO V focuses on architecture and tectonics, particularly the relationship between design and building. STUDIO V will emulate practice in that, unlike standard academic exercises, students will not always work in isolation on hypothetical situations. We will work often in collaboration. The studio will offer an approach to design informed by how something is assembled and the materials from which it is made. The studio will employ craft in the execution of the work, which will require patience, planning, understanding tolerance in materials and tools, testing and mock-ups, and the working with the limits and capabilities of tools and materials.
This Fall the studio is devoted to the execution of one project- researching, designing, fabricating, and installing a GAP processing shed for a small farm on John’s Island in Charleston South Carolina. Our client, Sweetgrass Garden, is a farm Co-op whose mission is growing food for the hungry in Charleston. Sweetgrass Garden is a not-for-profit corporation, and their goal is to provide free, fresh, naturally grown, local produce to charitable food distribution agencies in South Carolina and to support that effort by growing a portion of the produce for income to sustain the enterprise. They cultivate a variety of fruits and vegetables, using sustainable methods and Good Agricultural Practices, as they educate the public about farming, composting, and distributing food to people in need and the organizations that serve them.
Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) is a set of production guidelines designed to reduce the likelihood of microbial or other contamination of fresh fruits and vegetables. It focuses on utilizing safe techniques and inputs on all levels of the farm to fork food chain. When a farmer utilizes GAP principles in their production it means they are proactively taking steps to reduce the possibility of producing unsafe produce.
We will be working closely with Harry Crissy of Clemson University’s Institute for Economic and Community Development, our partner on this project.
After visiting the facebook of Sweetgrass Gardon and having seen tons pictures of harvest fruits and vegetables, I just cannot help being eager to participate in farming there as a volunteer.!!!
Hey there! Great to see some Clemson Architecture folks on here as well. My name is Hillary and I completed my Undergraduate Degree in Architecture at Clemson in 2011. I currently am completing my Masters Program in Architecture at SCAD, and I have started a blog specifically focusing on my thesis project, a Proton Therapy Treatment Center for Children. Interestingly enough, my site is ALSO located on Johns Island.
I will definitely be keeping up with this blog, as it catches my interest on multiple levels. Good luck with the semester, and keep up the fantastic work! And as always… GO TIGERS!