Dual Purpose

It's really convenient when anything at any given point in time can be used in more than one way.  I think that is what made the volunteer fire station in Newbern, AL so interesting.  While housing the two emergency vehicles for this part of the county, there is also space above the vehicles that acts as the town hall.   This project was completed by some a group of four fifth year thesis students involved in the Rural Studio.  It took over two years to complete the building of this fairly large (relative to some of the other projects we saw).  One interesting stipulation about the thesis year at the Rural Studio is that the students are required to live in Newbern until they complete their project.  It's very nice to see a group of students so in love with their work that they gave up a year of their time to leave behind this wonderful building for the town to benefit from.

Time Flies When You Learn You Cannot

I cannot excuse why I never followed up with my promises of uploading all the pictures from the Rural Studio, but I will, eventually.  Hopefully sooner than later.  Anyway, I recently learned that we as humans are not meant to take flight.  I learned this by leaping off of some scaffolding some 12 feet above the ground as one of the other students working with me here unsecured a metal roofing panel and began sliding down the roof in my direction.

Stupidly or instinctively, I still am unable to distinguish which, I jumped without looking.  I came crashing down on to a metal fence of some sort, which I think helped, along with my ankles to break my fall.  We were able to find some crutches and I tried to avoid taking a trip to the hospital nearby, but after two days and some strange colored bruises, I decided it was in my best interest to at least have my left ankle, which absorbed most of my weight from the fall, x-rayed.  Somehow, I managed to only severely sprain my ankle, which I have been nursing for the last two weeks.

Since the fall, I have been delegated to finalizing our construction documents for the house we have been designing and working on putting together a book. Below are a few of the drawings going into the book, and should provide for more of an idea of what the house will look like.

Where The Secrets Go (And Stay)

I'm finally getting to all the Rural Studio projects we visited over two weeks ago.  Of the half a dozen projects we saw my favorite was "Subrosa".  I'm not sure if it was my favorite because of the backstory of the project, or the use of concrete, but it is something that really has to be seen.  Designed by Samuel Mockbee before he passed away, it was later built by his daughter in 2003.  It serves as a meditation chamber, and as a place to share secrets.  It is described in much more detail and with all the prerequisite knowledge necessary to understand many of the nuances of the project here.  And for more of the symbology of the rose and secrets you can read this brief little thing here. 

Remembering to Laugh

On the rainy days, we are unable to work on site, so we are forced back into the studio, and usually in front of our computer screens for long periods of time.  Those stretches can be taxing on one, especially when you have grown accustomed to turning around and catching glimpses of the Gulf as you work outside.
In response to those days, we found a way to amuse ourselves. We call it, the Humiliation Vest.

An Unexpected Twist

It's been a busy week since returning from our road trip, and is why I have not posted in nearly a weeks time.  We ran into a great deal of legal issues regarding the placement of Ms. Dang's house, which consequently pushed the start date of building her house from this week until January.  As such, we have turned our building efforts back to finishing the house for the Green's, which was started by the group last spring and construction began in the summer.  We spent the large part of last week preparing the roof for the metal panels which we have began installing this week.  (Pictures will follow in a day or two).

However, I have finally been able to sit down and start going through some of the pictures taken on the previously mentioned trip.  Our first stop was to Auburn University's Rural Studio, in the heart of Alabama.  The Rural Studio is a design/build not unlike what I am taking part in here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but over the last few years it has grown to the point that the focus has been split.  The second year students learn what it takes to realize a building by working on a house, and the fifth year students who return develop and build a community based project for Hale County, AL.

Anyway, as we were making our way to what we thought was our destination, we were struck by a building left vacant for what looked like the better part of three decades.  It begged us to stop, so we obliged its request.

The more time I spend in the built environment around us, the more I enjoy scenes like this.  As much as we try to control nature, in the end, we will never win.  

P.S. The Rural Studio projects will follow in several posts detailing each project that we stopped to visit.

Flannel Was My Camouflage

So there we were.  Finally.  And under the cover of the night.

Talladega.

After a lengthy detour for educational purposes we reached our destination.  It was impossible to understand exactly the scale of our new landscape.  But there we were, in the midst of it.  Hungry.  For food and adventure, but appetite for food took hold.  We decided that after setting up the tent we would eat and make it an early night and reserve ourselves for the next day.

As the sun woke so did we.  To the sound of a generator roaring next to our heads fueling the party needs of some of those around us, and off in the distance, you could make out the sound of cars humming past this barbaric scene.  The air also held the smell of the fires that raged the night before keeping those around them warm.  Once we opened the door to the tent, we were confronted with the enormity of everything around us; everything the night tried to hide from us.

This photo does little to describe the conditions to which we awoke, the sun burned off the fog and a breeze blew from the north to help clear the air, but it does begin to show what we inserted ourselves into.  As Saturday continued on, and the hours since my last shower grew greater, we did what our instincts directed us to, eat.  The festivities during the day were only there as a placeholder for what was to come that night.

Sunday was the main draw for most of those in attendance, but Saturday night had to pass first.  It tried relentlessly to not let Sunday morning arrive, but the fatigue from the work week before and the partying that day eventually washed over the masses.

Sunday morning came in much like Saturday.  The same noises and smells as the previous morning.  But Sunday also brought with it more.  More people.  More traffic.  Just more.  But it was why we were there, wasn't it?  NASCAR.  And where else to better experience it than in the heart of the South?  I couldn't think of a better place so there we were.  Despite the energy expelled the night before, the air still rang with energy. Or was that ringing still the generators?  Either way the morning was buzzing, along with my head.

So I began my day of observation by recording that panoramic above of our campsite.  It stretched nearly a mile and a half from end to end.  And as I would come to find out that afternoon, the smart ones had left earlier in the morning.  But around us were still people and sights worth noticing.  Many buses converted into RVs or something of that nature, but used primarily for partying, I assume both on the way to an event like this and of course throughout the durration of their stay.

And the people.  It's hard to find the words to describe them, and I don't mean that in an insulting way.  It's just that there isn't a single type of person there.   Sure, most of them are probably drinking, heavily, but there is more to it.  They work hard throughout the entire year, and this is their vacation.  I guess what sets it apart from a family vacation to a more scenic area (say a beach, or something more people would consider "normal") is just the location.  Modest.

To Hold You Over

Here is a picture of one of the more awesome sights we stumbled across driving through the Alabama countryside this past weekend on our way to Talladega.  It was about three quarters of a mile off the road with no real easy access so this was the best I could get, but it was basically a house built over top of a silo sitting in a field.

My Hiatus

Sorry for that.  Things have been happening at a slower pace in the studio due to many issues regarding land; though that is just making short of a very long list of difficulties we have just recently run into with some state agencies, but that may be a rainy day post.

On a personal note, I took another trip to New Orleans this past weekend and experienced the night life of the city (read: Burbon Street or La Rue Burbon.)  I would personally rather just leave that to the tourists and travel more through the city, but in the same breath it is also something that needs to be seen to even begin to comprehend.  The air is full of a hurried excitement as throngs of people rush to lose all inhibitions and a stink that I cannot begin to detail the origins of.

Also worth mentioning, Tray, Julius, and myself will be traveling through Alabama and paying a visit to many of the projects done by Auburn University's Rural Studio on our way to Talladega Superspeedway.  And I am certain there will be at least three posts about our journey there and back.

Revisiting

It's something that I have done a lot more this semester than I have in semesters past.  Be it a place or idea, it's a practice I always saw I needed to do but for one reason or another I have not, until now.  Maybe it is the dynamics of working with a group that demand a constant observation to maintain a clear focus with original ideas intact or constant communication with others keeps the ideas coming a head. This week was another revisiting of a place though.
Last time we were there it was very impromptu, and without knowing when we went, Leah had kindly arranged for us a tour of the museum in Biloxi, MS that Frank Gehry's firm is currently working on, with the help of a local firm.  That local firm, whose name escapes me now, was kind enough to walk us through the project again, while looking at some of the points from a more technical standpoint.  I think the one thing that stood out to me was just how much control Gehry's office maintains after they "give," so to speak, the project over to the local firm.  If ANYTHING moves more than just 3 inches Gehry has to give his approval before it can continue.  Anyway, here are some more pictures, mostly from the two structures that are not going to be completed for another year or so; those being what are referred to as the "Pods" and where a Ceramics studio will be housed.

And my favorite:

Design Developments

We are working diligently the past few weeks on detail drawings for the construction set, which can cause ones soul to grow restless when staring at CAD details for hours and hours on end.  I've broken these times up by revisiting some earlier design documents and adding newer details.  We're also beginning work on our book to document the process from the early work to the built product.
We've recently run into a problem with one of the grant agencies over an address dispute which has put a halt on our moving forward with the building phase, but we're hopeful that we will have all that cleared up soon.
I hope to post more drawings from earlier as well as some of the more interesting details as we work through them.

More Information (But Not What You May Think)

As it has become evident, the water towers have caught my attention for many reasons unbeknownst to myself.  But the more I have looked at them, the more they tell me about the area under and around.  

Iconography

I wouldn't know what it was otherwise.

Infatuated

(Re)Constructing Gehry

That was what Frank Gehry's Ohr- O'Keefe Museum of Art looked like 5 years ago.  That is a casino barge that washed over top and eventually settled on the building leaving very little behind.  Today the museum is nearing it's (re)opening of three of the five buildings on the campus with the other two slated for completion sometime next year.  One of the curators of the museum, greeted us outside the main building in which the offices are located and told us kindly that the building wasn't open, but once we explained to her our story, she was more than happy to guide us around and explain all the work that has been happening post-Katrina.  It may have also helped that she once taught a little at Virginia Tech, but that's only a minute detail.