Thursday, July 28, 2011

Summer Visit

It's always a nice afternoon at the Griffis Sculpture Park.  We spent some time hanging out at the site and adding a few screws here and there.  Overall, the projects are holding up remarkably well and weathering nicely after a rainy May and a hot and dry July. 
Here's the view of the Wall from the field, with green grass and leaved trees: 



A few more shots: 

Thursday, June 2, 2011

TLW Accepted into the BTES Conference 2011



Professors Shadi Nazarian, Chris Romano, and Nick Bruscia will be presenting the project as part of the Building Technology Educators' Society Conference 2011, themed "Convergence + Confluence"  on August 5, 2011.  
TLW will be presented in the Environmental Design category.
The conference this year is hosted by Ryerson University (Toronto, ON) and sponsored by both Ryerson and the University of Waterloo.  Conference website: http://www.btesonline.org/toronto.html


Saturday, April 30, 2011

Final Review / Opening

Yesterday, The Living Wall 2011 was opened to the public following a final review and exhibition of the projects.  The students were invited to relax, hang out at the park, and stay overnight in their projects.  Congratulations to them all for an amazing semester and job well done!





Many thanks to our guest critics, who remained cheerful and constructive throughout the long day in the rainy weather:
James Brucz - Pratt Institute, School of Architecture
Craig Huffman - Florida A&M, School of Architecture
Maciej Kaczynski - University of Michigan, Taubman College of Architecture
Steve Mankouche - University of Michigan, Taubman College of Architecture
Alexander Maymind - Cornell University, Department of Architecture
Abigail Murray


A few shots from the review:

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

On-Site Assembly

It's been a wet, muddy, but productive and fun few days on site. The weather is slowing us down a bit, but we'll be finished for the opening!



Monday, April 25, 2011

Shipping!


The projects were done on time, packaged within the limits of their original volume of 6'x8'x8', and loaded safely onto the trucks before 7:30am.  On-site installation to soon follow ...

Monday, April 11, 2011

Meanwhile at the site ...

It's still April after all  :)
























Measure. Mark. Dig. Level. Check. Dig. Level. Double Check. Repeat (or dig again)

Sunday, April 10, 2011

We've been busy fabricating ...

... and digging in the foundations and preparing for shipping.  We transport the finished projects tomorrow, and begin the on-site assembly.  More updates to follow in upcoming week.

Until then, have a look at the Flickr page for some work in progress fabrication shots:
go to: Flickr Archive

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Modularity and Structure

Working now in groups of 6-7, the students have been working on the final 12 projects that will be built at full scale.  Phases 3 and 4 focused primarily on modularity and structure through drawings, scaled models, and full scale mock-ups of some of important structural details.


Drawing: Team Ascension

























Drawing: Team Light Wall



Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Phase 2, mass to plane (interior and program)

The massing studies were developed into planar models (as well as drawings in plan and section) interrogating the possibilities and consequences of the geometric transformations explored earlier.  Here's a few snapshots of some of the results.  The projects now take program into account: entry, a minimum of 5 sleeping spaces, and internal circulation.  
The students will soon work in teams of 3-4 and begin breaking a selected series of design schemes down into modules for ease of shipping and on-site assembly.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Phase 1, initial massing schemes presented

The project for 2011 got off to a great start with each student completing several individual schemes, testing ideas and different strategies for transforming the rectilinear volume.  Program was left out of this phase, resulting in a wide array of abstract geometric investigations that will soon become a base to study interior / exterior occupancy.

Photos: Rob Garlow


Monday, January 10, 2011

TLW accepted into the NCBDS 2011







Professors Shadi Nazarian, Chris Romano, and Nick Bruscia will be presenting the project as part of the National Conference on the Beginning Design Student (Beginning Of / In The End - Sustainable [re]starting) on April 1, 2011.  TLW was accepted into the "Integrating Integration" category.

The conference is hosted this year by the University of Nebraska, College of Architecture.
Conference website: http://ncbds.unl.edu/

About NCBDS: (from http://www.beginningdesign.org/)
The National Conference on the Beginning Design Student (NCBDS) is a national peer review scholarly gathering dedicated to the study and practice of beginning design education. For over 25 years, the NCBDS has provided a forum for design educators to present papers and projects and hold discussions related to introductory design issues.