Hello Gorgeous

As gorgeous as burnt masonite can be.





Still a bunch of kinks to be worked out, but this will be the basic form, with casters.

Go Go Gadget Laser Cutter!

And here we are. All of this crap should produce a model by 10am tomorrow morning.

Pine Street Inn Desk Updates

I'm working through the process of construction for the desk. Here are some weekend models out of chipboard and one from yesterday (where I obviously had a scale issue with the two lower bookcases). I think I have the entire thing down to 12 or 13 pieces and hopefully only 2 sheets of plywood. I have some great stain samples that I'll take pictures of tomorrow as well.











I've also got a simple cad model built. Just a few more tweaks and I can order the birch plywood. Fitting all of these pieces on two 4x8 sheets is going to be fun...




OH AND tonight at 10pm the cad drawing file goes onto the laser bed over at the architecture building. It's going to be exciting. Even more exciting will be when I put the thing together in 10 minutes instead of three hours on Wednesday before we see the client again on Thursday.

OH AND I've been completely neglecting my three other classes and assistantship. I hope to enjoy their company later this evening.

OH AND I need to come up with an independent study for Wintersession. I've emailed a few places, just waiting to hear back.

Also Last Friday...

I went up to MIT for a seminar on Synthetic Biology in Design. This project kicks all ass. Visit the Synthetic Aesthetics website now.



The seminar was held in MIT E14 - an incredible Media Lab. I drooled. RISD, we need to step it up.








And then I took a walk around campus at night and admired the Stata Center by Frank Gehry. Oh how beautiful it would be if huge sheets of ice didn't collect on the folded overhang above the front door, each winter threatening to kill some of MIT's brightly shining intellectual stars.

Metals & Plastics Field Trip

On Friday we took a double field trip to Maley Laser and All State Fabricators, which are located on adjacent lots in Cranston, RI.

Both of these were awesome! Maley has a waterjet and a laser cutter.



The laser cutter is a larger version of the one we have at RISD. The platen holds the stock that the laser works above, cutting through metal, wood, plastics, whatever.



They even let us raid the negative pieces trough, so we all got to take home some "gleaned" laser negative. I got a metal hummingbird.



The water jet uses an ultra fast stream of water containing garnet dust to cut at a slower pace.



Maley does government contracting work, which includes this product, Skydex. Navy ships and Humvees are custom outfitted in sheets of this rubber/plastic material, which was originally pattented by Nike, to soften soldier's impact against instrumentation. An overwhelming number of the injuries sustained by soldiers could have been lessened or completely avoided by cushioning the interiors with this material. Very, very cool.





All State Fabricators works primarily in Stainless Steel - purchasing something like 10 million pounds of it each year. They manufacture sinks, countertops, pretty much anything a person can dream up, out of stainless steel using laser cutting, bending machines and welders.





Because a lot of this work is cabinetry, All State also has a CNC (Computer Numerical Control) Router. Basically a mill that cuts 3d. We watched it work up this cabinet side panel, which will be used as a substrate for either a laminate or stainless steel, and eventually become the back portion of a cafeteria serving area.





I'm sad this is our last Building Materials field trip of the semester. Boo.

They chose lucky number.....

So we'll be working on firming up this design over the next week or so, present to Pine Street once more next Thursday 11/11/10 and then get building as soon as possible.

Also, I got back one of our recent drawing assignments, the axonometric drawing for the Collections project. This was rushed. I wish I had done a better, more detailed job on it. But we're on to Cinema 4d software in drawing class now...which means computer modeling. Sigh of relief.

We're Off!

Christina and I (naturally in matching attire) are headed to Boston with the rest of the class to present to the Pine Street Inn directors. Here's what we're bringing:


























Wish us luck!

Plugging Along

Our presentation to the clients at the Pine Street Inn is tomorrow. There's a lot to be done. Luckily today started with a gorgeous Rhode Island sunrise. You wouldn't even know it's 26 degrees outside.



There's model making and floor planning to be done. As well as computer modeling, presentation board-ing, a history class, a drawing class, an assistantship project and some reading.






The good news is I got into Web Design for Wintersession. The bad news is all the other second choice classes are full. Hopefully by this Friday, when everyone has a crack at getting a second class, they'll be something interesting left. Damn you "Design for Digitally Printed Fabrics", why did you have to look so good in the course catalog that everyone else registered for you?

Peripheral Research

This past Sunday I visited the Anne-Marie House in Hudson, NH to do some additional research on communal spaces within transitional housing. This is a little different from the Pine Street Inn house because Anne-Marie works with families, but many of the attributes of the homes are similar. Most importantly that the building was previously a convent - just like our space! The individual rooms are small and the communal spaces must perform many functions.

The Family Support Coordinator, June St. Lawrence gave me a wonderful tour of the facilities. Her insight is invaluable to our project: durable but comfortable furniture, groups of seating and work spaces, organizational systems and most importantly - the feeling of home. Thanks June! Visit the Anne-Marie house website here