Last Friday morning we went for a field studies walking tour with Professor Michael Maher for our History & Theory III class through the Mazyck Wraggborough neighborhood and other parts of downtown Charleston. The tour started out front at the Charleston Gaillard Center and then we headed down Queen street and onwards. A little while into our tour Professor Maher was stopped by a man driving down the road who asked if our class would want to take a look at an active timber frame construction project that was happening just down the road.
When we arrived we found out who this seemingly strange man who stopped our professor during our class walking tour was. His name was John Paul Huguley and he is a principal for the American College of Building Arts. John Paul told us all about the project they were working on which is an old timber frame barn that is being turned into a duplex farm-style house. The new house is being constructed of as much of the original timber frame structure as was salvageable plus new timber frame members where they are needed to replace old and damaged ones. The construction is being conducted by current and graduated students from the American College of Building Arts.
There is a very intricate level of detail they are working with in the construction of this house to maintain some of the traditional character of the architecture which can be seen in the high quality level of the craftmanship of the building. John Paul was telling us about many different sustainable strategies that are working in this design. To name a couple, there is actually a basement in the design of this house. This can be achieved because the ground elevation of the building location is high enough above sea level. They watched the water levels for over a year to ensure this. Furthermore, any water that does manage to make its way in will be extracted using special pumps and collected for sustainable water strategies. Another sustainable strategy that the building is working with is special type of solar panel roof that hasn’t been used much in America yet but a lot in Canada. Solar paneling doesn’t typically fit the character of Charleston but this special type is made to appear not to look like the typical solar paneling. John Paul’s team has been given special approval by the BAR to use this solar paneling as an experimental trial for the material use here.
Later on Friday during studio we began our construction work on the Singleton A+cB project. We began to dig the foundation of the small pavilion and place the formwork for that. David had to leave to meet with candidates for a new Dean for the school so before he left he explained to us what to do using a metal stake in the sand.
