Entry #16: 5th November 2010

Remember remember the 5th of the November! Today was our ‘intended’ finnish day.... and we are so so close. 

The weather has been the factor slowing us down over the last week and if we hadn’t had it contend with this on top of everything else we would definitely finished by now. 

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We have now got all the sarking and cladding pieces moved down to the site so we are all go; thanks to Trevor at the Botanics who helped us move this down with his van and trailer.

By the end of today we have just got cladding on the top third to complete; this is the 4.8m strips which wont need cutting, just placing and nailing. There are a few infill bits left to cut which will be slotted into the remaining gaps and then there’s the floor. 

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We are aiming for a finnish time of lunchtime on Saturday; we shouldn’t run to much over that hopefully!

Entry #15: 4th November 2010

2nd last day till the intended finale and we are doing well! With everyone on site for a good couple of hours this afternoon we really did ‘bash out’ a good chunk of the cladding. 

Like a well oiled workforce we hammered on harmoniously until dusk.



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Sub groups have formed now so loads of areas are progressing fast; there is a good chain of command also which means that no ones time is being wasted - we really had a good work ethic going today - this can be seen in what we managed to achieve.

The cladding has been started on both sides and we only have a small area to complete on the west side. All thats left after that are the sarking floors and the infills, hopefully these will just magically spring into place - but if they don’t we have the two full days of working on Saturday and Sunday before the review if we need it. 



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There has been loads of footage taken of the site, this material is going to form our presentation video which will be available when the structure is completed next week. 

So heres to tomorrow, everyones keen to get the project complete before sun down, so keep the optimism alive....

“‎tough times never last, but tough people do...."

Entry #14: 3rd November 2010

Today was a long day, but a very very productive one. Spirits have been really high, maybe because the weather was on our side for once. 

The concrete pad that was added to yesterday is now well and truly set and we have covered that over to give it a bit of protection. 

We started to measuring up the A frames on Tuesday but the real progress has come today. We have managed to borrow a generator and drill from the guys at the site, so this is saving us such a lot of time. We are still charging drills in the the reception area but now we have a drill that works all the time, its raring to go whenever we need it. 

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We aimed to have all the frames, that were now in place, fixed to the central member by lunch time. It was pretty time consuming, as each length had to be budged into place so that it was in line with its corresponding friend on the other side. 

At three meters tall, and with only a ladder to reach up, the job was a precarious one - but we hit target and even managed to get a few floor joists sat in place before we munched our group lunch in the sun!



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In the remaining few hours of sunlight we started to lay out some of the cladding members. This is still a working design, each stage offers us new challenges and we will have to iron out a few technical issues - but we have faith. 

Its obviously completely different working on cad with the poker straight lines to that of the site - where everything is covered in mud and the wood is slightly bowed. 

Seeing Aoifes face today as the cladding was being slowly stacked on, the design is actually coming to life now. It isn’t just a cad drawing or a bolsar model anymore.

Entry #13: 2nd November 2010

Quick morning update; 


The lads have visited the site this morning to have a look at the concrete pad that was giving us trouble yesterday. They have decided that more concrete is needed on top to bring it to sit flush with the height of the existing pad. They've put some bolts in so that the new will bond well to the old, so its all good in the hood. 


This does mean that we can't add the frame on this morning as we had hoped - so those that were heading down to do this this morning can just come along with everyone else at half twelve, hopefully will be set by then.

Entry #12: 1st November 2010

Most of our efforts are now based centrally at the site. There are a few members of the team still working back at the studio laser cutting logos for the cladding and promoting and selling the hoodies.


Site today was pretty muddy and it felt like we hadn’t done very much apart from discover issues. There were some steep variances in the heights of the feet - which puzzled us for a while - until we realised that they had been placed the wrong way round, all part of the fun!
The drilling for the resin bolts is the most time consuming currently. The 18v drills are pretty good and last a good while when your working on timber, but after attacking the holes on one pad of concrete the poor thing needs charging for a good couple of hours - just cant hack it.





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We all stayed at site till the bitter end last night. The weather was pretty horrendous but we powered on through. We managed to get one frame up by the end of yesterday. Everything seams to take so much longer when we were doing it. The frame needed aligning and then drilling and because it was so tight we then had to use a mallet to bash the bolts through... One is up though, only a few more to go!




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What really held us back was the left hand footing on the south frame. The ground is so soft because of the weather and the way that it has been sculpted, so the concrete just wobbles around. We have attempted to stabilise this by adding more concrete around the pad to support it.
This meant that we couldn't attach that frame till it was dry. We had to prop the North frame up last night before we left as it is supporting itself - windy conditions could easily be the end of it.
Hopefully it will still be there tomorrow - 4 days left to go!

Entry #11: 30th October 2010

To catch up, a few keen beans went to the site today to push the feet along. 

Joe was in charge today, so I caught up with him in the afternoon to find out how the day had gone...

The group managed to get 2 shoes finished - so these elements are now fixed to the concrete - they would have kept going but the drills ran out of battery - AGAIN!

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4 of the frames have been properly fixed together, we didn’t want to do this poorly on Friday as we were worried that under tension the frames could snap, we do not want to have to buy more! They are done now and are ready to lift up into place when the feet have been completed. 

We managed to get some filming done whilst the second shoe was being drilled - everyone was really optimistic but then the drills died, so - not as much got done as was hoped. 

One positive was the weather, clear skies have allowed the site to dry out a little - it was turning into a slippy mud bath, health and safety nightmare - saws and drills flying everywhere...

So a big thanks go to our dedicated Saturday team; Pat, Aoife, Joe, John, Jess and Kawther. Hopefully we wont have to see the site next Saturday as we are still aiming for a Friday finnish, fingers, toes and everything crossed. 

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Entry #10: 29th October 2010

Lectures till 12 today so that set us back a couple of hours initially anyway...

Design and Construction

The two teams continued as they had the previous day, with some based in the workshop and others at the site. 

Mindaugus and Pat carried on with cutting out the notches on each individual piece of cladding - by hand! This process is really time consuming and if we had know what the situation was at the site it was have probably been for the best if the majority had stayed there helping with marking out and generally moving the large quantities of timber around the workshop. 



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The site was basically at a standstill as we didn’t have the fixings that we needed for the next stage of the construction. The holes couldn’t even be drilled at this point as the drill had run out battery and was on charge...

The lads did find out some interesting information about monkey puzzle trees; first that they are native to Chile - so the area that we are building in is actually the chilean plant section. Also;

• Did you know that monkey puzzle trees are called this as when they were brought across to Britain someone looked at them and said “it would puzzle a monkey to climb those trees!”
• The trees on site are currently flowering, and there are female and male varieties - you can tell this by the spike arrangement at the top of the tree

More building - less chat tomorrow i hope...

When the girls arrived with the shims, bolts and resin it was action stations, or we had hoped - but the drills, 14v just aren’t powerful enough so by the end of Friday we were a little behind on schedule with only the holes drilled for one shoe.  We also discovered that the frames were a little large, but they have now been cut down. Lets hope for a more productive day tomorrow.



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Documentation 

Some site videos have taken place today, with new backdrops. We are all waiting with bated breath to see what crackers John gets out in the final piece. ‘Johncam’ is getting a little too good, it has become very sneaky - so watch out, John could be about!

Entry #09: 28th October 2010

Fundraising 

Thank you to ‘Fat Sam’s’ as they are our latest and last sponsor needed for the project! With this contribution from Dundee’s biggest nightclub we are now well in track for completion on the 5th. All thats left now is to get the money through the system and transformed into to some brand-spanking-new pieces of cladding and some shiny shiny fixings! 

Fatties have also kindly agreed to sponsor our last fundraiser - Hoodies for the School of Architecture - we will be selling the hoodies all next week so miss us and miss out! 

Thanks also to TLC for their kind donation.

Design and Construction 

The first allotment of cladding arrived at 7am - pretty early wake up call for Klara. There was a slight mix up with sizes and the timber received was a little different than expected - it wasn’t planed like the examples in the workshop (n.b in future always get samples of materials) but there’s nothing that we can't rectify.

The construction team were today split into two groups, some again went to site whilst the others stayed in the workshop cutting the first batch of cladding. This timber has all been coded, so when it comes to constructing the secondary elements we should be able to add it on in layers rather than in patches - much more satisfying.


On site today the shoes were set out, so tomorrow we are ready to drill in the bolts and secure with resin. We are hoping to get the frame up tomorrow as all the concrete footings are dry - but its going to be complicated.
The site is on a slope and the grounds really soft, the rain isn't helping much either. With the slope going down in the middle and up at the sides its going to be tricky getting everything perfect and level... hopefully the weather will at least be good. Waterproofs and cling film at the ready, because soggy sandwiches = not good. 



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Documentation 

A basic storyboard was discussed today to offer some structure to the video that is now in full swing. The group has been split down into their teams so that the members can offer their insights on the parts of the project that they have been particularly involved with.

This we hope will be informative and lighthearted, as is the intention with the blog - so we have also been looking into creating an e-book to form a more professional account of the project. 

Entry #08: 27th October 2010

Today began with a cancelled lecture - so it was up to the bay for a quick meeting to see where everyone was at. The construction team were heading to site and so we decided that everyone would meet there before any major works had been started so that we could get a ‘before team photo’.

Fundraising

We had a couple of meetings lined up for morning, but nothing substantial came from the discussions - it seams to be difficult for businesses at the moment as they get their quota assigned for fundraising just after Christmas, so although lots of people are interested they are unable to contribute at this time.

We have been trying to set up a credit account with one of our suppliers as we don’t have the funds to pay for all the timber as it stands. Money from our sponsors should be in by the end of the week, but without cash no timber orders can be put through. 

With the money we did have ordered 40 pieces of timber cladding (47/50), which should be arriving at the workshop tomorrow all being well. 

These elements of the cladding need notches cutting out of them using the machines in the workshop. Once we have more money to do so we will be ordering the rest of the cladding to the Botanics. It will then be cut and assembled on site. 

We had a very promising meeting late this afternoon with a possible sponsor, which has left us in a much better position - so, fingers crossed and  we will keep you posted with that one! 

Design and Construction 

Second major day on site; along with the visit from the rest of the group we also had a mini meeting with the guys at the Botanics. They are going to sort us out with a much needed step ladder (the design reached 3m high) and also have offered us a couple of options for landscaping around the entrance area.

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The last of the concrete pads was cast today, so thats all eight sitting in place now. These were then topped off also - for those learning, like myself, this means adding more concrete. 

Tomorrow we are going to be setting out the shoes...

Documentation

Its all systems go on this front, not a minute of action can be missed - no one can take a step without being photographed. We are moving forward with the video as well with the first interview taking place on site today. 

Entry #07: 26th October 2010

We have had other course things on today so to make it easier we have been working on our own tasks so as to get as much done in the time that we did have.

Documentation and Fundraising 

Both groups have today been trying to source funding and sponsorship. This is so important as this money will pay for the final installment of timber cladding. We still need cash for fixings and for a few in house topics, petrol for example. 

We have been trying to contact anyone that we think would be interested in the current project, so we’ve literally been going door to door design in hand trying to drum up support, at the end of the day we will have raised awareness of the project if nothing else. 

Design and Construction 

We managed to source transport for the freshly cut A frames today, thank you Estates and Buildings! Without this we would have had to resort to our bare hands and lift each element individually - thankfully we have avoided this. So the frame is now in site, covered to keep it dry. 

The site team have set about marking out the footings and 7 out of the 8 concrete pads have been cast - just one final one left to do tomorrow.

We’ve had much less time today, but it has been very productive. Work has started on site, we are on schedule - we just need to find some more money so that we can get it finished - tomorrows task!

Entry #06: 25th October 2010

Today was the first day back after the weekend and everyone has just been trying to find their feet. We have our FIFA tournament this evening and so it was all go to get everything sorted so that the event ran smoothly.


Design and Construction
The wood arived on Friday so today it was a case of mocking up a detail of the apex of the frame to check that it worked before we could move forward. Lyle did this for us and the current solution seams to be acceptable. Mindaugus and Pat have been in the workshop this afternoon cutting some of these joints - it's a bit tense as we are now cutting on the real thing, no mistakes are allowed!!



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Aoife and a few others have also been up to the site today to check out the area and properly mark it out. We did do a site survey last week with all the equipment but we need to find the exact position to calculate the foundations and also look at how the existing topography can be manipulated around the design to help when entering and exiting the shelter. There has been a little bit of miss communication between the Botanics and the designers, as the guys at the site didn't realise that we were going to have to put in foundations. This is obviously quite intrusive - but very necessary to our designs stability.

Steph, Jess and Klara have also managed to source us some ‘free’ concrete from ‘Wickes’, so we have also saved a few pennies there!

Documentation
With only two weeks left the documentation team overseen by John, have finalised their objectives for the next couple of weeks.

We have been collecting a lot of information and so today we have been looking into different methods of presenting this. The main element will be a short piece of film, collating the stills and short pieces of video from the process so far. It is to be hoped that we will have time to develop this, animating it with construction details etc. Along with the blog we also hope to create an e book.


Fundraising
If our final sponsors come through then we only have a little way left to go in terms of funding so today we have been chasing up our loose ends, sorting out details and working out how much we need so as to get the structure built.

We only have two weeks left to go and one of our last planned fundraising events is the FIFA tournament this evening, our hopes are pinned on the football mad freshers and there arthritic thumbs. We are also hoping to ambush them with some of Kawthers handmade brownies at the door. Only time will tell if we have made a good profit from this event!

Entry #05: 22nd October 2010

Friday was a big day for us on all fronts. The first allocation of wood for our ‘A’ frames arrived at the workshop and we also had a big fundraising event planned for lunchtime.

Fundraising
We have been successfully fundraising all week selling brownies and baked goods whilst trying to raise awareness of our project and the leg waxing which was to take place on the Friday. Joe and Dave had donated there hairy limbs to the cause with the aim of drumming up support for the project.

It was absolutely throwing it down on Friday, which limited the number of people passing by. We had set up camp outside the Union with the hope of pulling in some money from outside of the studio. We had good representation from second year architects, but that was it - it was a bit of a flop.

We managed to flog all the food we had made, plus all the hair on the legs of Joe and Dave, which left us with £145 in the kitty - so we made about £60 pounds.

Focus is now to be shifted to the FIFA tournament which is to be held on Monday 25th in the lecture theatre at 5 pm in the Matthew Building.

Design and Construction
The wood came today! This was the first delivery we have had (free of charge - thanks KEYLINE) This batch is for the Primary structure of design which comprises 4 A frames. Lyle has kindly offered to help with the assembly of these pieces as our time line and budget wont allow for any mistakes.

The Construction team (four of them in total) are now well practiced in the joints which will have to be accurately and individually cut into each of the pieces of cladding. The team have also been making mockups of the footings of the structure - checking that all the pieces align. It has also given us a chance to look closely at which fixings will work best for us offering the best design solution. Klara ‘don’t mess with me’ Svobodova has been on the search for threaded rods, fingers crossed for a donation of these because at the moment they are £2.

Documentation
The blog is now up and running and is getting good reviews, plans are now in the pipeline for the other projects that will be run by the documentation team. We want to produce something that simply explains the process that we have been through, further brain storming will take place on Monday.

We have been trying to promote the brand making sure that it is well advertised and that the blog is accessible to all - there have been a few technical glitches with photos and graphics on the website so these need tightening up after the weekend also.

Entry #04: 21st October 2010

It would be the Open Mic Night later on in the day. The whole year had invested time and effort in making the night a possibility, and the hope was that a lot of money would be made in the 7-10 spot we had at Social. The night, which didn't start until 45 minutes after the 7 "official start time." Nathan kicked the night off with an attempt to involve the year group by singing "a classic" with Hit Me Baby One More Time. His 4 songs helped set the mood until two older Architecture Students hit the stage.

Joe and Dave soon followed with numerous renditions of classic songs. The majority of the room was full of students of Architecture, and despite this, the year managed to raise about £75, meaning the night was quite successful. It helped that the year had some light relief from working in the workshop, detailing, and trying to find sponsorship and updating the blog.

Design And Construction

Pat, Fergus and Mindaugas spent the majority of the day in the workshop. Aoife managed to link the work in the workshop to Dave who was busy detailing in the bays. They began creating a footing joint, which they would hope to have made by the end of the week.

Klara proceeded to buy wood with Steph, and they managed to negotiate early delivery so that the wood would be available in the workshop on friday. While in Wickes, they also sold the Shelter idea to one of the managers, and another possible investor was established.

Fundraising

Having seen other groups making lots of money from food, and the success of some selective options the day before, Katy, Sunita, Kawther and Tolani set about selling large quantities of Brownies and Cupcakes that Sam, Joe and Kawther had cooked the night before.

Jess handed out letters on the Crux Shelter, explaining the project and its intentions to various business sources.

Documentation

Aoife handed out small fliers with the Crux name, logo and blogspot page emblazened across. New posters for the Fifa event were made before the Social Event also.

More photographs were taken throughout the day, and the location for the videos and images were made available to the group. The blog was further enhanced with slideshows and new pages in the process of being added.

Entry #03; 20th October 2010

A short meeting was planned. We discussed the progress of each member's ongoing work and also the itinerary of the next day's member's duties.

Design And Construction

A mock up at 1:1 was refined and practiced by Pat which helped develop the groups understanding of some of the detailing. They discussed the need for people to practice the technique in the week before the timber arrived, as accuracy was imperative.



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David refined the AutoCAD drawings and the SketchUp Model, tweaking each joint where necessary. Klara and Steph visited a number of timber merchants and bought some steel shoes. The cheapest place was pin-pointed for timber and they priced up the costing for the fundraisers and for Steph to raise the necessary funding.

Fundraising

Aoife and Jess helped to convince the group to look for sponsors. Tolani confirmed she could get her fathers firm to make a donation to the project. The speed of the funding would be important for the progress of the project, namely ordering material.

Flyers for fundraising events were posted on various boards. To give more awareness to students, Facebook was used as a medium to send out virtual invitations for these events to students of University of Dundee, across the university, broadening from the architecture department.

Documentation

Various photographs and blogs were being collected by the Documentation Team. Constantina continued to update the facebook page, John and Steph worked on the look and appeal of the blog, which is now reachable from the facebook pages. Farid collected the information on what the group was done to help supplement the photographic material being posted on this blog.

Mindaugas spray painted the logo across the studios, and have helped to sell the project to the other years in Architecture and the tutors also.

Entry #02; 19th October 2010

Design And Construction

The design team went to the workshop. Lyle helped the group to develop a series of joints that were much more appropriate for the design. The group were advised to make a series of 1:1 mock-ups, so as to test their integrity as features, improve the final appearance by thinking of ways the fixings could become integral aethetically and give the team members practice on creating the pieces in preparation for the order of timber. We were recommended that we should fundraise quickly, as the group would need to start building in the first week, unlike the other groups, that were likely to be able to experiment more in the first week on perfecting the aesthetics.

Fundraising

The Open Mic Night and Leg Waxing posters were created by Katy and Sunita and they began distributing them amongst art and architecture students. In addition, buckets were taken around the building with the Leg Waxing Posters and more money was raised. We realised however that the buckets appropriateness was not high, as students were more willing to buy things than contribute loose change, we therefore decided to offer more options for students, such as pancakes and brownies, which would be offered in later days.

Documentation

Aoifes drawings were scanned onto the computers and will be distributed and used in a collection of sponsorship sheets, the blog and the facebook page.
Having decided on the name of the project, John was instructed to create a series of options for the logo. After finding a design deemed most appropriate, the design was refined and manipulated until the final design was completed.

This was then used on the documents created to distribute to sponsors, the letterheads which were also sent, and the logo was also to be pinned up around the building to build the brand and project awareness.

Entry #01; 18th October 2010

The shelter project, led by head designer Aoife O'Donnell, consists of an A-shaped shelter through its roofing shape sat on the floor. Its location is to be the Botanics Gardens, part of the University of Dundee, in the American section.The simplistic and concept of a portal was intriguing in the final design and was chosen from a number of designs by the group, selected also from a trio shortlisted post-review.

The group congregated to brief the project, and the name and subsequent logo associated with the project was to be a key feature. It was integral to sell the idea, and would also have a short time-span in design. A number of ideas such as gAtewAy, Pathway, Triad, A, Delta, Waki, Vortex, Portal, Trax, Flux etc. were brought up. The names mainly focused on accentuating the shape of the shelter (A, Delta) but some others tried to focus on the purpose and conceptual idea behind the design (gAtewAy, Portel, Waki). Through humble democracy, the name that was chosen was defined by Dictionary.com as a vital, basic, decisive, or pivotal point; The Crux.

The group discussion was also joined by lecturers of the Architecture School led by the Year 2 Leader, Carol Robertson who acts as supervisor. Through the discussion, inputs were considered within the team to brand the shelter to a higher level and to fundraise.

Design And Construction


The head designer, Aoife, finalised the design with a scaled model of 1:20 with a final clear vision of the construction of process of the shelter, with sections and plans already drawn on CAD. David also helped in visualising the shelter to a better scale by drawing on Google SketchUp.

The design of the shelter, on the other hand was altered slightly with the centre height stripped down to 3 metres, reducing the length of timber required.

Klara assessed the costs of timber required for the construction of the shelter and collected prices and damages from various sources and settled upon one timber company namely Keyline.

Fundraising


The funds required to support the construction of the shelter was heavily discussed and was brought up as a probable obstruction for the project. The likelihood in comparison with the other projects, was that Aoifes design would require the most investment. It was the largest scheme, and also brought about many difficult detailing technicalities. A number of possibilities for fundraising were brought up to help supplement any sponsorship we would be able to generate, alongside an initial funding from the group.

Joe and David agreed on an idea to get their legs waxed for the project. This would help generate some initial funding in the first week, as well as draw awareness to the project group and name. Alongside this there would be a bake sale/tea and coffee stand which is planned for Friday. Other events include an Open Mic Night which will be held in Social on Thursday from 7, a FIFA Tournament with date to be announced planned to be in the Matthew Building lecture theatres.

Documentation


Various methods of documentations, focusing on internet media are justified. Pages on the internet such as a Facebook page and this blog with a series of daily entries are to be a few of the methods of documenting the scheme and its development in the next three weeks. It also helps to build the brand and raise the awareness at the beginning of the project, and should help to supplement when fund-raising and looking for sponsors.