Week 7

Monday and Tuesday I spent getting ready for this meeting we had on Wednesday with Andy Akers, a local Theatrical Fabricator who builds sets for concerts, plays, etc.  My boss thought this would be a good person to meet with because he could potentially help us build the exhibit. What was frustrating was that I have spent so much time figuring out how to actually build this exhibit and how to stay within our budget, but none of that was really taken into consideration before the meeting.  I figured out that the most sustainable and cost efficient way to build this would be out of galvanized pipes with special fittings at the corners.  Each frame would cost less than $100 and is cheaper and much more durable than wood (again, this exhibit will be up for a month).  I based the size of the frames on standard sizes of pipes so that we would not have to go to the extra trouble of cutting and threading the pipes.  Anyone who can tie their shoelaces could put these frames together, and my guess is that we will need a lot of extra help.  The pipes could be recycled and easily stored before and after the exhibit so really no material would be wasted.  There was also an issue of stabilizing the frames so I solved that by staking two of the corners into the ground and sandbagging the third, which is on concrete.  There are a lot of factors in building this exhibit, and I had taken a good amount of time to think through them. 

But like the good intern I am, I did a couple more renderings of my design and made a construction document of the frames (Jeff would have been proud) to take to the meeting.  On Wednesday we met with Andy at an outdoor ice cream place in 100-degree weather to talk about the exhibit.  We were there for about two hours talking about different construction methods…wood, scaffolding, PVC…and then in the last five minutes we decide that my original idea is the best.  Oh to be an intern. 

Wednesday night was fun seeing Erin B, Erin M, Teal, and Abbey!!  It was really entertaining to hear about everyone’s internships.  Thursday I took a personal day because I had to drive to Knoxville to sign a lease on my apartment for next year and it had to be done that day.  Friday I spent the day catching up on some things around the office, and mailed out book orders of their new book Moving Tennessee Forward.     

Again, I am not really able to answer the weekly question because we are not an architecture or design firm.  NCDC deals with the big picture of the city and provides standards for architecture, landscape architecture, and community development.  Even if they were to think of a really neat project, they would not be the ones to actually build it.  Most major cities have a place like NCDC that looks at the holistic design of their city and pushes designers in the right direction.  They are not so much concerned with individual buildings, but rather how these individual buildings work together, and they want to keep a good balance of the built environment and green spaces.  Their "clients" are usually governmental agencies such as planning and transportation.  

My people of the week just left!  I will try to post a picture of them next week.  Mustafa and Kyle are two high school students that are in our office this summer.  NCDC is in the process of starting a high school course that students can take on Urban Design, and these two are testing out the curriculum.  They are also entering the Designing Action competition this summer.