Millennium Place Park Pavilion
| Dates: | April-May, 2006 |
| Location: | Millennium Place, Muncie, Indiana |
| Studio: | Arch. 402 |
| Professor: | Olon Dotson |
| Project Team: | Tom Bell, Ashley Crane, Meri Everett, Dominick Gallegos, Sarah Hockemeyer, E. J. Mastandrea, Jonny Noble, Shaun O'Connor, Shane Outten, James Pint, Ben Ross, Dusty Woolsey |
5-7-06 Completion!
On Sunday afternoon, the day after graduation, we finished the pavilion.
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| E. J., Dom, me, Jonny, Sarah with the finished pavilion | Yes, our pavilion is structurally sound |
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| The beam and the moon (photo by Dominick Gallegos) | |
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Here are photos from earlier in the day:
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| Dom cuts blocking for the bench | |
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| Shane cuts out pieces of roof sheating | |
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| Dom hammering in a really awkward position | |
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| Dom and Jonny attach the joist hangers for the cross-joists | Chopper must have heard Dusty ask Sarah to put him in the bed of the truck because he ran around and around the pavilion trying not to get caught |
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| Sarah sands the bench | |
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| A tire-iron works great for tightening the lag-screws | Shane checking the measurements of the sheathing |
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| Dusty, master of the Sawzall | |
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| Chopper in the bed of Dusty's truck | That's a nice detail |
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| That nice detail from above (photo by E. J. Mastandrea) | Top of the post (photo by E. J. Mastandrea) |
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| The threaded rod (photo by E. J. Mastandrea) | Detail of the cut around the post |
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| Beam detail (photo by Dominick Gallegos) | |
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| Yeah, that's me |
5-5-06 The Day Before Graduation
On Friday we got as much done as we could. It was so close to being finished for graduation.
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| Dom and Jonny start assembling the bench | |
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| Jonny works on the roof | |
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| The south bench nears completion |
5-4-06 Aligning the Roof
There were only four of us, but we got the three sections of the roof aligned and fastened together. I didn't get there in time to get a picture of Sarah hanging from one of the roof panels to hold it in place.
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| Dusty's ratcheting straps help pull the middle and south sections of the roof together | |
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| Olon adding joist hangers to the connection between the north and middle sections of the roof | The roof starts to come together |
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| Jonny takes the sawzall to the problematic joists | Forcing the south section of the roof into place |
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| Tightening the threaded rods (photo by Sarah Hockemeyer) | "Why won't this line up?" (photo by Sarah Hockemeyer) |
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5-3-06 The Big Day
On Wednesday we assembled the three sections of the roof and then lifted them into place. This did not go as smoothly as we had planned, but we got the roof into place. Many of these photographs were taken by Sarah Hockemeyer.
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| Dusty tightens the last bolt on the steel plates | |
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| Assembling the roof structures | |
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| A box of Dusty's CDs, which arrived today | Sarah returns with McDonald's for lunch |
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| Lunch on the porch of one of the quads | |
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| Jonny contemplates the helix-like warping of the middle section of the roof | Sarah strikes a chalk line |
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| Dusty and Olon strike another chalk line | "Hey Dusty, you cut this nail in half!" |
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| Dusty trims the sheathing | Speedily screwing on the sheathing |
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| The middle section goes up... | |
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| ...and we couldn't get it to go in any farther | |
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| The beam would just not go all the way through the slot | |
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| Attaching the threaded steel rod in an attempt to pull the roof up into place | Joe saves the day |
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| The south section of the roof goes up | |
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| ...and it went in much easier than the middle one | Tightening the steel rod to pull the south roof up into place |
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| Putting the north roof up | Pushing the rest of the roof over to try to make it all fit |
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| Joe brings the CAT over to push the north roof into place | |
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| Tightening the steel rods | |
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| Dom and I try to push the roof together | Yeah, it didn't line up very well at first but it was all up |
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5-2-06 Mud
Due to finals week schedule conflicts and much rain the night before, we were not able to do much more than mark the joists and bench components. Before doing that, we had to bring over some pallets to make a workspace because the mud was so bad.
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| Sarah and Jonny marking the bench components | |
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| Jonny inspects the top of the posts |
4-28-06 The Beams
On Thursday, IMI poured the 5' of concrete which serves as the foundation for our pavilion. On Friday we laminated the beams and added the steel plates. Many of these pictures were taken by Sarah Hockemeyer.
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| They poured the concrete! | |
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| The arrival of Chopper | Putting on the steel plates |
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| Fitting the plate onto the post | |
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| Dusty fits on the steel plates | Jonny and Dusty tightening the steel rod |
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| Our shiny galvanized steel plates | |
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| Chopper wondering why his owner is up in the air | Jonny uses technology in the field |
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| Arrival of the joist hangers | Course evaluations in the field |
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| Cutting the joists | Trying to fix the bent joist hangers |
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| Teamwork: nailing the joist hangers | |
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| Shaun nailing on the joists | Dusty loves to drill |
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| Olon drives the last bolt | "Man, this is the coolest tie ever!" -Shane |
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| Tightening bolts | |
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| "What were you thinking, Sarah?" | Don't mess with Dusty when he has the drill |
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| Dom confronting Jonny about the ice-spitting | Jonny spitting ice at people |
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| Shane's first experience with a hostile little Chopper | The second time Chopper was friendly |
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| Jonny drank some of Dusty's Coke and Dusty wasn't happy about it | |
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| Shane and Ashley drive in the bolts | That's a nice end detail |
4-26-06 Presentations and the First Beam
Today we had our final walk-through presentation at the Muncie Urban Design Studio (MUDS). We walked down to the site to see if the concrete had been poured, but it hadn't. Afterwards, we laminated the first beam and put it in place, complete with the threaded steel rod.
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| James, Dusty, Sarah, E. J., and Jonny at MUDS | Card for Olon |
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| Caribbean food cooked by Emile Dixon--good stuff | Walk-through presentations |
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| Dom (expressing some sort of emotion), E. J. and Jonny's board | Walking to the site from MUDS |
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| Shaun, Dusty, Ashley, James, E. J., Meri | The same except with me on the right (photo by Meri Everett) |
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| Walking the tracks back to MUDS | Loitering |
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| Chillin' at MUDS (photo by Shaun O'Connor) | Work time at the site |
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| Sarah (holding stainless steel bolts) and Dom modeling with the pavilion | Dusty drills for the bolts while Jonny looks on |
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| Olon places the first bolt | |
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| Sarah as our "Vanna White" of the stainless steel nuts | |
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| Ashley drives in the last bolt | Jonny tightens the bolts |
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| Jonny, Sarah, Dusty, Ashley, and Olon | The same with me on the right (photo by Olon Dotson) |
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| Time to raise the beam (photo by Sarah Hockemeyer) | (photo by Sarah Hockemeyer) |
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| Javelin | The threaded steel rod (photo by Sarah Hockemeyer) |
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| Dusty scales the post | Bad place for your cell phone to ring |
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| The beam in place | |
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| It is a very attractive beam, we think | A long way to temporarily thread the two nuts on the end |
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| Olon, Jonny, Sarah, Dusty, Ashley with the beam | Later that night at BW3 with Meri as our server |
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| James vs. Olon at PacMan |
4-24-06 Cutting the Beams
Today we pre-cut the pieces for the three beams. We also temporarily fitted on piece in the column to see what it looked like.
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| Surveying the work | |
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| Dom pretends to wield a hammer menacingly behind the unsuspecting J-Nob | Dusty cutting the angled ends |
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| Sarah and Jonny measure for the joist hangers | Temporarily fitting a piece in place |
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| Contemplating the beam | The Plymouth temporarily came to a stop 1 block away |
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| Referring to the drawings | Re-leveling the center post |
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| Shaun vs. the blocks | Conference |
4-22-06 Raising the Posts
Our Saturday was perhaps the most exciting of all our workdays. We raised the three massive (and very heavy) laminated posts and Dusty and Jonny devised a means by which to level them.
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| "How are we gonna level this thing?" | Jonny and Dusty work out the leveling scheme |
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| E. J. drives a stake | Dusty drives another stake |
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| An exercise in trust | Leveling the 2x4 |
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| Jonny paints the post marks on the footer | Mark for the north post |
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| Getting the brace plumb | |
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| Marking the post | |
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| The center post is up! | Getting it plumb |
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| Adjusting the post and bracing it in place (photo by Dominick Gallegos) | (photo by Dominick Gallegos) |
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| Dusty and Olon return with the ladder | The second post is up. (Photo by Olon Dotson) |
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| Dusty walks the braces | |
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| Raising the third post | |
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| Composite panorama of the park from the porch roof | |
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| A closer view showing our project site and some neighborhood girls who wanted to pet Chopper | |
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| All three posts are up! | |
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| A forest of bracing | |
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| Chopper - our new project mascot | The three posts ready for the concrete to be poured |
4-21-06 Laminating the Posts
Today we laminated both of the side posts. We hope to set the three posts tomorrow (Saturday) and pour concrete on Monday.
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| A butterfly at the site | E. J. applies the Liquid Nails |
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| Dusty cuts the slot for the threaded rod | Aligning the boards |
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| Dusty, Sarah, and Jonny nail the center board in place | Clamping post #2 |
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| Inspecting the center post (laminated Wednesday) | Fitting the beam into the slot to make sure it fits |
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| Dom talks to the ladies... | ...and then E. J. almost backs into him... |
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| ...Dom vs. the Benz | Chillin' on post #2 |
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| Dusty and his truck | Post #3 |
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| Dom applies Liquid Nails for post #3 | E. J. tightens the clamp until it bends |
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| Taking a break and looking over the three laminated posts |
4-19-06 The First Post
On Wednesday we began cutting the boards to form the laminated posts. We finished one post as well as the remainder of the concrete that had not been finished Monday.
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| Olon's 1965 Plymouth and Dusty's 1963 Ford | |
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| Throwing stones at a big rock | Contemplation (yeah, it's posed but so what) |
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| Measuring | |
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| A brief game of football | |
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| Popsicles on a hot day | Mobile technology--laptop on the trunk, with an improvised sun shade |
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| Liquid Nails to laminate the boards together | Sarah drives the last nail |
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| E. J., Shaun, Dom, Sarah, Jonny, Olon (seated), James, Dusty, Shane | The same picture with me in the back |
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| Clean-up time |
4-14-06 Rain
On Friday it rained so we were not able to continue our concrete work. The materials had been delivered on Thursday. We made plans for next week and headed out just before the next storm rolled in.
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| Conference and planning for next week | Another conference |
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| Jonny and Sarah stand triumphantly with our building materials |
4-12-06 Concrete Footer
On Wednesday afternoon we made a few modifications to the placement of the pavilion, moving it over 12". Olon brought a very cool 1965 Plymouth Belvedere II 4-door sedan from Mississippi that his grandfather purchased new, and we hauled 600 lbs. of Quikrete bags from Lowe's to Millennium Place in its trunk. It was riding pretty low. We backfilled part of the base with rubble and poured Quikrete over the top. The lumber should arrive on Thursday or Friday so we can start building the superstructure next week. Afterward, we went to BW3 to visit a classmate and enjoy the 50¢ legs special.
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| Olon's 1965 Plymouth Belvedere II 4-door sedan from Mississippi | |
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| We hauled 600 lbs. of Quikrete bags across Muncie in the trunk | |
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| Jonny realigning our lines | |
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| Adjustments and modifications | Rubble fill under the footer |
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| Football break - we were utilizing the park | Contemplation |
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| E. 2nd Street on the south side of the park, looking into the phase of Millennium Place now under construction | Mixing concrete |
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| Dom's newfound troweling skills | Shane points out our afternoon's work |
4-10-06 Groundbreaking at Millennium Place Park
Today we broke ground for our pavilion in the park at Millennium Place, the neighborhood on the site of the former Munsyana Homes Housing Project. After laying out the site, we obtained the assistance of a backhoe operator who kindly dug the hole for the footing. He encountered old wires, a brick wall, iron pipes, large rocks, and other debris that would have made digging by hand a very laborious and difficult task. The digging also turned up a few artifacts--mainly green glass items that were probably discarded from the houses that were on the site before Munsyana Homes was built in 1938. On Wednesday we hope to pour the footer and proceed with prefabricating the pavilion's components and our lovely penthouse workshop above the Muncie Urban Design Studio.
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| Locating the water feature which our pavilion sits adjacent to. | |
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| Looking over the plans to figure out where everything goes | |
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| Olon marks the center of the circle with a stake | Dusty and Sarah run around in a circle with a string and spray paint to define the boundary of the water feature |
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| Jonny and Sarah utilize mobile technology in the field | Dusty poche-d the footer outline so that it would be clear for the excavator |
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| About to break ground | 15 minutes, a wire, and a brick wall later |
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| Construction Administration--we do our own CA | |
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| The design team, the professor, and the hole in the ground | Shaun and Dusty test our pallet-cover (intended to keep kids from falling in the hole) |
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| The skull-and-crossbones and the "DANGER" should convey the message | End-of-the-day conference on the construction site |
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| One of the artifacts we found--the base of a beer or soda water bottle made by the Root Glass Co. of Terre Haute (which developed the famous Coca-Cola bottle in 1915) sometime between 1909-1932 | This appears to be the rim of a Ball Perfect Mason jar that would have had a twist-off zinc lid |
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| A broken medicine bottle, probably early-20th century | The same bottle, stamped "A 45" |
3-27-06 Studio: Designing the Pavilion
After we collectively designed the pavilion, we divided up into project teams which produced the drawings necessary to build it and teams which prepared the necessary materials.
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| Some general views of our studio | |
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| Jonny hard at work on the SketchUp Model | Meri, Dom, Sarah, and Shane chillin' at my desk (because it's the cool place to be, you know) |