Friday was our first “review” of the semester for studio v. When I say “review,” forget about your previous experiences with architecture reviews in academia. The type of review where you’re on constant defense mode as various critics move in for the attack. You’re afraid it may turn into a Comedy Central roast session, excluding the laughter; and someone around the corner quotes the old Mortal Combat game line: “FINISH HIM!” We walked into our Friday meeting knowing this would be nothing of the sort. In fact, we had a pleasant and constructive discussion about the Kiawah River development with our clients and team mates. Our presentation included: a brief history of John’s Island, weather conditions of the site, precedent studies (agrarian architecture, farm commerce and Sweetgrass Basket stands), research into materials and construction, construction phasing diagrams, and potential programming. The meeting was a great experience, talking with professionals from various disciplines, discussing how the master plan would come to fruition over the next few years.
We ended our day with a nice surprise from architect Reggie Gibson. Since the Farmstead is intended to provide the opportunity to buy locally produced goods, Gibson brought in a Bradford watermelon.
These watermelons are locally grown in South Carolina. The above link will take you to the Bradford farm website where you can learn about the history of the local food once thought to be extinct! Enjoying this watermelon with everyone from the meeting was a great way to end the week.
Today, we will begin our preparations for individual design concepts. It will be exciting to see how the nine of use go about the designs for the site. Over the next two weeks, each of use will develop ideas of our own until we meet with our clients and team mates again to discuss how we wish to continue.