In inheriting the Crop Stop, our team had to dig some holes to get to the roots of what was done before so we can take the project to the next level. This acquainted us with the nature and scale of what we are trying to accomplish by the end of the semester, and beyond when the project goes to the creation of crop stops all over the nation. In seeing the results of all our research however, we’ve come to realize that digging holes has led to the need to patch up some holes!
We came into the day expecting to break into different groups of two to tackle the design of crop stops for different regions. Sharing the information we’ve filtered through really brings to the table just how many parameters need to be considered in creating a product of excellence that will assist farmers in preparing their crops for sale. The groundwork we’ve laid has proven to be a solid building block for setting our expectations and goals as well as knowing how to improve Crop Stop 1.0. By this point the regions have been determined by several factors, including but not limited to crop season length, rainfall, natural disasters, geography, snowfall, etc. The kitchen team has created solutions for layouts of the appliances from their investigation of appliance sizes/types and is getting ready to give us decisions on spatial volumes to use in our designs. Our foundation and transportation teams have communicated with our partners at Clemson’s campus to determine spacing of the foundation and standard sizes we need to adhere to (this crop stop must be able to be picked up and moved to another location quickly!) when designing for modularity and transport. Frost lines and proximity of moving will be determining factors! The critique team has developed a more advanced map to designate the different relationships and hierarchies of the pros and cons of the Crop Stop’s design as well as to give it an overall score in the Vitruvian principles firmness, commodity, delight, and of course our own category of innovation. Believe it or not, this map below is simplified in comparison to the first pass at it from earlier in the week. It’s just one of the examples of a good breadth of groundwork that just needs some holes patched up to give the best picture of the good, the bad, and the necessary to take the project to success.
The above image is the map for the critique of the architecture and kitchen
As previously stated, the ground base is a great start for taking this project to new heights. We even plan on performing the same evaluation and research over again upon its completion at the end of the semester. But as is with the design process, it is never truly finished. We feel confident that zipping up the little issues and patching up the uncertainties together as a team will give us firmer ground for designing the six crop stops up next on our agenda. Research will of course continue throughout the entire process of designing and building this semester. But of utmost importance right now is excellence in communication, presentation, clarity, and depth of our ideas and findings. With this, we will continue to dig as deep as we can into how to make this project the highest quality of firmess, commodity, delight, and innovation. We will continue to fill the holes and gaps of what we don’t know with solid facts and decisions and intelligently creative design.
“Designing is a matter of concentration. You go deep into what you want to do. It’s about intensive research, really. The concentration is warm and intimate and like the fire inside the earth – intense but not distorted. You can go to a place, really feel it in your heart. It’s actually a beautiful feeling.” – Peter Zumthor