In the middle of our first week in the design process I know that we are all working diligently and thorough, but that doesn’t mean that the cliche Wednesday feeling doesn’t exist (even on labor day week). Sometimes the hardest part of the process is to dive in and create a multitude of design layouts/configurations out of thin air – yet that’s exactly what we are doing (and doing well)! We waste no time in terms of breaking ground on this.
We think it’s important that we all explore individual tactics and techniques for both designing and constructing our project, regardless of how we divide responsibilities in the future. In order to fully comprehend the scale and functionality of the product we all need to imagine it, separately, from head to toe. For this reason, we are exploring all aspects of design and leaving everything on the table for consideration; of course things will be weeded out but it’s not necessary to hinder our designs with any intentional constraints at the moment. That being said, we do have some things that are set in stone as far as design attributes, some of the bigger ones being mobility and versatility.
That makes for a challenging innovation – several structures that can be regularly transported, reconfigured, and maintain their structure? These are aspects that are crucial to the Kiawah River developers. In order to understand why, you can imagine that our structures will be the first built objects on the site, however it is going on a site that is projected to be a much larger hub than what we could accommodate and as important as it is for our project to be the frontage of the development at the time, it’s still an active job site and they must be flexible to meet changing schedules and challenges of the construction process. I believe we are somewhat sold on the idea of placing structures on skids, similar to how your typical backyard shed would be built, and as you could imagine, sometimes transported as a whole from a store to your backyard. This allows for the option of mobility with relative ease but also provides a generous and stable foundation for the footprint of our structures. It will be interesting to meet at the end of the week and share thoughts about alternatives that we may have found individually.
As far as versatility goes, this is where we can get nifty with modular capabilities and architectural engineering. How can we make structures that look uniform, but yet can be reconfigured into multiple different schemes and still remain uniform? I believe one of the more popular ways for this to be achieved is through certain woodworking techniques, such as finger joints.
This is one adaptation of a finger joint that I found through the preliminary research, and I think it’s something that will carry through my design because of the possibility of turning these in three separate 90 degree orientations. Imagine this is at the four corners of your structure, at a larger scale – walls can be opened up and pivoted to create different arrangements for spaces and obviously accommodating different programs for the sellers, creating versatility.
I’m sure we are all looking forward to convening at the end of the week and melding our ideas together for “the first time”. Some will be strong, some will be weak. Some will be good, some will be great. Although our opinions may vary, I have confidence in our collective power and believe that the Kiawah River project will benefit from our contribution.