Site/Sight

I don’t think I’ve ever learned as much from any single class as I have from this design build experience. This is because every screw we drill, every piece of metal we spray paint, and (most importantly) every mistake we make is a new experience and thus a new learning opportunity. At this point we [...]

Emergency Response

Concrete is flowing out of the chute, 4 of us are frantically shoveling concrete to various areas of the trenches that we dug out, and 2 of us are leveling the concrete with a screed. Suddenly we hear “We aren’t going to have enough.” Everybody looks at the man who has walked out the truck [...]

Learning Through Drawing

 It seems insane how fast this semester has progressed; we are just a few inches away from going into full on fabrication mode. But before we get there we have to make sure we have an adequate set of construction drawings to go along with building. It’s pretty interesting how this project has paralleled the [...]

Frighteningly Detailed

Do details really matter? I mean, most of the people who come and see our pavilion won’t be architects, right? They won’t notice if we put effort into making this joint beautiful AND functional, right? I won’t lie, thoughts like that cross my mind all the time when I’m trying to design aspects of a [...]

Design vs. Presentation

I don’t think I would make a very good architect. I say this because I don’t think I would ever get any buildings built. Why? It’s simple…I would never finish designing them. I think one of the most challenging aspects of being in a design based field is learning that at some point the design [...]

Translating Languages

I have always found language to be a beautiful thing. The idea that our modern languages have evolved over time and are even now a constantly changing body is amazing because it chronicles our history. Each culture has their own language; even those that technically speak the same tongue as another group of people have [...]

You know you’re in Design/Build when…

…spending time on the bubble diagrams actually matters. Well, the bubble diagrams matter to some degree in the traditional studio project, but the fact that our work right now will dictate someone’s experience is in some ways mind-boggling. Knowing that we have to make sure that the various end user groups are comfortable and able [...]