Can we build it? Yes, we can!

Today a group of us went to Edith L. Frierson Elementary to install cabinetry and shelving that a group of students designed and fabricated this past week. We spent most of the day on site screwing the pieces together as well as trimming down pieces that didn't quite fit the as-built dimensions. Most of the [...]

Putting the Community in Community Build

This week called for all hands on deck to prepare for our final design review with our partners and our community outreach event. Like any review week, every minute was precious. Some students worked on mounting our design boards in the wood shop with spray adhesive right before the review. (It brought on a lot [...]

Can I speak to your manager?

This week I have been wrapping up some initial designs with my nonprofit, Amor Healing Kitchen. Amor recently moved to the old Kaminskys location in West Ashley. Here they have gotten more foot traffic and recognition from the surrounding neighborhoods who are curious about what they do. At this location, there is a side and [...]

Model Mania(cs)

Today was another day progressing our designs for our next meeting with our stakeholders, but much of what was started on today were physical models. Physical models are key tools in quickly communicating a design idea to others - sometimes in a simplicity that can't be captured by a computer program. As has been done [...]

Gherkin Hard or Hardly Gherkin

This week heads are down as we focus on our Individual design review coming up this Friday. For this review there are three main concept of placements of the pavilion: 1.) A centrally located main pavilion 2.) A main pavilion located on the top corners of the site 3.) Multiple locations of small structures (Above [...]

On the Boards..

This week we started on our design process for Singleton Park's garden! We were all excited to get into the weeds of it, and we had our first meetings with Prof. Pastre today on our work so far. We all were randomly assigned different "Site Approaches" which delineated generally where the main gathering space and [...]

The Journey Begins!

The first day of class at CACC was unlike I had ever experienced in school. There was no conventional presentation or theoretical lesson. Instead, there was a very interesting workshop for laser cutting. It was fun learning the new skill which will be very helpful not only in our academics but in professional life as [...]

Learning to Weld

Yesterday, March 27th, the studio met after spring break to begin learning some welding and metal cutting/ grinding techniques. We began with angle grinders and the different blades that can be used. Some finish an edge, like a sander, while others cut the material. The cut isn't a perfect cut, like a bandsaw would produce, [...]

Progress from Setbacks

A great architect once told me that design is never finished, you must simply decide at what point do you move on. This is something that every architect struggles with, and we are no different. This week we struggled a lot with finalizing a design, iterations brought new and exciting ideas but also created more [...]

It has been a busy week for the Community Build studio here at the Cigar Factory! We are working tirelessly to provide various concepts for our presentation next Monday at Frierson Elementary. After our studio wide check-in last Monday, my team and I working on the small group design discussed further the elements and ideas [...]