Friday at the HQ

Friday was a big day for the studio group as we traveled to the headquarters of the Conservancy. After our presentation with them Wednesday, we needed a bit more feedback in order to confidently move forward with the design. At the HQ, the plan was to bring the physical models and printed drawings to be [...]

Book Club feat. Special Guest

  On Thursday we all met up at City Lights Eastside for our weekly book club. We discussed the books let my people go surfing by Yvon Chouinard, and Raising the Bar by Gary Erickson. While we’re split about half and half between the two books, both offer valuable insight into the business world, and [...]

The Eve of (Another) Review

I don't know why my blog post always seems to fall just before review, but it does! On Wednesday, we will be presenting our small group designs to the Kiawah Conservancy (now called the Conservancy of the Sea Islands). I've been working with Nate and Tyler on a design incorporating a trailhead, educational/social pavilion, and [...]

Framing the Trail Ahead

As we continue to work in our small group phase of the Conservancy of the Sea Islands project, things are starting to feel more focused and intentional. My group of three has been refining a few concepts, pushing it beyond just a pass-through structure with expandable/modular stalls to something more meaningful and tailored to the [...]

Moving Forward

Mondays are quiet in the studio, as everyone meets with their nonprofits for the Community 1:1 course. There isn’t much to report on that, BUT if you have recommendations for architecture-related things to do in Charleston, please let me know! I’m partnering with the South Carolina Architectural Foundation to create a brochure / informal walking [...]

Site Plan Iterations + Snow

Post first meeting with the council from Dolphin Architects, the Sea Islands Conservancy and the Gullah Geechee Chamber of Commerce representative Cory, we started site plan iterations for where the best locations for our stands would be. Some considerations driving these plans being visibility from the street/entrance, incorporation into nature and accessibility. With 3-5 iterations per [...]

Trust the Process

With spring cleaning complete and the initial site visit for this semester's sweetgrass stand project concluded, students now pivot to compiling project information, research, and precedent studies for their upcoming presentation on Wednesday. Both the architecture students and historic preservation students are currently collaborating to make this happen. All hands on deck! While everybody is [...]

Final Review!

The studio held our final review for the semester today, gathering faculty, staff, students, and community members under our pavilion. Even though the structure isn’t fully complete, it was exciting to share the project and see the enthusiasm the community and city had for it. The review felt less like a critique and more like [...]

Preparing For The Grand Opening!

For the past little while the class has been on site, rushing to get everything built for Wednesday. Over the weekend, all the furniture was welded, grinded, and painted. Additionally, the central columns were placed, and the central beams were installed. Today, we put up the outer columns, which was followed by the outer beams [...]

Back to Build Mode

After coming back from Thanksgiving break, our studio is focused on finishing up our build work in the shop so that we can start assembling on site. Right now, we're working to finish the columns; we've cut them, drilled the holes for bolts, cut a slot for knife plate connections, and have put on our [...]