Week 5 is a wrap! We continued our design process by breaking out into more specific, detailed groups while finalizing our design, and scheduling out the week of field trips and updates on the project.

 

 

 

 

 

We split off into groups while some finished prior group discussions of construction strategies and joined other groups who had different areas of the project to focus on. We had volunteers Jeffie, Laurel and Nicki give students some professional advice how on to move forward through the different phases of the project.

 

Carolyn, who is one of our volunteers, showed two projects that she completed in grad school. Her projects had a great similarity to the current project, both including a canopy and other additions to an outdoor space. Students continued to work on designing and finalizing it into CAD drawings.

 

 

The rest of the week consisted of a hybrid of field trips and zoom/work days. Students on the field trip, went to Chicago Metal Rolled Products and received a tour of the shop, while getting a presentation of how/where they operate. They are one the world’s biggest metal companies and one of their popular projects are the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and Chicago’s Iconic Rock N Roll McDonald’s metal arches. Students also took a trip to Andres’ shop, where they were given lessons on tools, understanding different screw/nail types and getting familiar with working in a shop environment. Students got to build a sculpture in small groups out of cedar wood to get used to the construction process, as the construction and installation phases are in the next 2 weeks.

 

Students had another hybrid day,  so some students worked at Blackstone’s court space while students who were on zoom, continued to work on the design to refine details. Students on site focused on clearing the out site and preparing for concrete pour. While students continue to work on the design, we had guest Sayiddah McCree, who took an alternate journey of architecture focusing on building an inclusive environment for the black community. We also had Black stone join while ACE mentors assist with their design process for redesigning their staircase for the bike shop.