After a long but successful week putting up the arches, Team Mind Bullitz moved on to other tasks as this week progressed.  Monday was our day of rest, well sort of.  After the thirteen hour days pulled during Arches Week, we spent Monday morning preparing site plan ideas to show to the Cahawba committee at our bi-monthly meeting.  The day was productive and after a very intense meeting, some of our ideas (we hope!) will become a reality in the coming months.

On Tuesday, two members of the team returned to the church to wrap up some unfinished business with the arches (making wood blocks, putting bolts in, and getting a few new purlins made) and the rest of us began our very short time working at Perry Lakes. We spent Tuseday morning reparing a section of the wall below the beautiful kiosk built by fellow team Roadkill and then proceeded to discuss the best way to repair another section of wall that over the years has begun to sag. A trip or two to Marion Supply, and we were ready to begin! The plan was to pull the wall in using anchor points and cable.  We ended the day by pouring our concrete foundations and placing our bolts so that by Friday we could begin pulling the wall back in!

Wednesday and Thursday were spent with our beloved Professor Dick Hudgens building joggling boards and traveling to Columbus, Mississippi. Friday we were back to work at Perry Lakes! Another trip to Marion supply and we had the turnbuckles and i-bolts needed to tighten the wall.  We weren’t able to get all of it complete, but our hopes are that we can have it finished by Wednesday.

This semester has been equally rewarding and frustrating. After running into many problems with the arches, our hard work finally became visual as the arches were raised, and the church finally began looking like a church. It really was the culmination of a wonderful semester!  A change of scenery was much appreciated in the end, however..

After a long, successful week where we put up all the arches we have been working on getting everything ready for the roofing contractor that will be working this summer. We have also been working hard to have everything in tip-top shape for the annual Pig Roast.

Monday, we met at Red Barn and finalized the vestibule schematics for the Cahawba meeting. Meghan and Alex worked on the PowerPoint for Pig Roast. We packed up and headed to Selma for a 2 o’clock meeting with the Cahawba Advisory Board. After a long meeting, we got approval for the vestibule design. SUCCESS!

Tuesday, we went to the church and began working on placing scaffolding so that we could work on replacing and repairing the three top sills of the Vestry. We also had to place two additional intermediary columns to support the load. While Zane, Heather, and Delvin were completing the top sills, Meghan and David moved all the scaffolding from the mobile attic into the the permanent trailer to prepare for summer.

Wednesday-Thursday, Since we didn’t have class with Dick on Thursday of Arches week we got two class days this week.

Wednesday for Materials and Methods we began building our Joggling Boards out of found materials.

Friday, we began preparation for Pig Roast. We cleaned up the arches work site, loaded pallets in the Dually to take back to Morrissette and carried the rest of the pallets to the Cahawba burn pile. We organized the trailers and cleaned the mobile attic so that it can be picked up.

Learning Objectives:

Traditionally, we write what learning objectives we have achieved for the week. As a team I just want to let everyone know how much we have learned this semester. We are all excited by our knowledge but saddened that this great experience has to end. We are trying to savor every minute of the next week as we prepare for Pig Roast. Thanks to Jason, Natalie, Steve, Dick, and Dan for a great semester.

This week was pretty scattered and a little bit of everything. After being physically and mentally drained from the crazy arches week, we continued our preparation for the construction of our sign. Monday we headed out to the site and quickly realized that using utility poles for suspending our cables just wouldn’t work. The vegetation had grown up too high and there just wasn’t any easy way of setting the poles in the area with our given time restraints. We then looked back to the idea of attaching our cables to two large trees on both sides of the road, forcing us to redesign our pole connections. We then contacted Joe Farruggia, our trusty Rural Studio friendly engineer. We told him all about the issues we were having and he was very helpful in our design alterations. Also in preparation for the sign, we went back to our sign mock-up and sadly had to “mock-down.” We needed to salvage all the parts so we could reuse all the turnbuckles and U-bolts in the actual sign. At the end of the day we had accomplished a ton but we were still far from completing our work at Perry Lakes Park.

Tuesday we once again headed out to Perry Lakes. We began cutting down the existing gate located on site. We took measurements of terrain differences between our two trees and also gathered information on tree diameter. The trees turned out to be wider than we thought (roughly 2′ 6″) and we quickly realized we once again had to redesign our tree connections. Some of us finished up at Perry Lakes around noon and headed back to research our connections. We also gathered more supplies for the sign by ordering parts, making phone calls, and taking inventory of our materials.

learning objective D_develop skills in using materials and tools. The bandsaw was absolutely useless because it couldn’t cut through these hollow steel poles unless you had 2 hours to spare to cut one pole…..but hey, at least we know how to use it.

Since we spent the entire previous week with the arches, we had a make up day on Wednesday for Dick’s classes. We spent the morning doing the usual chapter review and test, but we spent the remainder of the day designing and gathering supplies for our final materials and methods project: a joggling board (see picture below). Since, after all, we are the Rural Studio, we were thinking of new and creative ways to build the traditional Charleston rocking bench. We finally decided to utilize the excess roundwood (from one of the thesis teams) for our rockers and legs and use and old baseball dugout bench for the seat. We will be spending time next week building the joggling board. It will be finished by Pig Roast next weekend!

On Friday we had to refocus ourselves on the Perry Lakes entrance sign. Instead of heading out to the site, we searched for the new materials we needed to secure a cable to 2 ½ foot-thick trees. We spent the morning in a panic because we could not locate an essential piece to our cable connection. We couldn’t even find one in the entire United States! After a few headaches and punches thrown, we realized that a simple design alteration (yet again) would work perfectly for our application. John and Matt then headed to Demopolis to return some materials we no longer needed from Alabama Power and unexpectedly received more materials from the generous company. Brett and Corey spent the rest of the day running to nearby stores and ordering final materials for next Monday. Then, we ran into another huge problem. Nobody in the area, and we called about 20 distributors, has galvanized threaded rod in stock and the soonest we could get it would be next Wednesday (because of a rural shipping complication). After another genius revelation, we decided to have the rod shipped to Dick’s house in Selma and we will pick it up on Sunday. Overall, the day was hectic and full of unexpected obstacles, but as always, we came out on top and we will have all of the materials ready to build the sign on Monday.

learning objective B_develop problem solving skills. After running into several problems finding the right materials on Friday, we learned to work together in order to get through our dilemmas.

At the beginning of the semester we set several goals concerning what we wanted to accomplish during our brief 4 month stay at the Rural Studio. St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, a 160-year-old wonder, brought forth highly difficult tasks that shouldn’t normally be given to the typical Second Year student. We, however, proved ourselves worthy and made the colossal puzzle come together. The months of January, February, March, and April gradually built up to our final goal, the erection of the arches. We spent countless hours in preparation, finalizing the church structure and reconditioning the arches. At last, the climax of the semester finally came, a week that was truly the worst and best of our whole Rural Studio experience.

In order to take advantage of daylight, we began our days at 5:30 in the morning, getting all our morning routines and commuting out of the way in order to arrive at the site by 7:00 AM. Monday morning we came to the site with a bittersweet attitude, not knowing exactly what to expect but anxious and pretty flippin’ excited. The cherry pickers arrived a little after 7:00 and without hesitation, we jumped on those babies and went to work. We began the morning by moving the 2 smaller arches from the greenhouse to the site using the trailer. We quickly found out that we would definitely need a crane for the rest of the arches. Around 9:30, Chris the crane guy arrived. With the aid of his trusty crane, we were able to arrange the arches on the ground in order to put them together. We were then able to successfully place both small arches but encountered a great deal of problems. From the arches not fitting in the church, all the way to squaring up the arches for purlins, life as a 160-year-old church builder became quite intense. By midday, we had an audience of people that came out to witness the arch construction. At times, the atmosphere became pretty overwhelming. At the end of the first day, we were exhausted and pretty concerned about the remainder of the week, but hey, we managed to get 2 arches up!

The Hellish week continued Tuesday morning, but not without a few angels to aid us through our journey like Virgil did for Dante. (Read Dante’s Inferno, then you’ll understand). A few of the past church members from the Spring 07 group came to help us assemble Arch 1 and were at our complete disposal for any other tasks that we deemed necessary to erect the arches. First, we had to set the two halves on the back of the crane and drive them to the church site where we aligned bolt holes, push the two halves together, and nailed the trim. We later placed the jig on Arch 1 and strapped them together before Crane Chris hoisted them to the heavens. It was manna to set the jig, but pure hellfire and brimstone to unstrap the jig from the arch when we had it set in place. A one hour task escalated to a three hour three ring circus. Tempers flared just as the heat climbed. Luckily a lunch break catered by Hancock’s Barbeque helped to cool the atmosphere and allowed us to rethink our system for assembling and setting. We realized that the jig used in the deconstruction of the church served its purpose in only being a deconstructive tool. Instead of the jig, we decided to use 2×4s for bracing. The jig was too heavy and time consuming, but it was a lesson learned.. it helped us move along and replan.

Wednesday morning was just as cold as Monday and Tuesday, but everyone’s eyes were glazed with the speculation of what will happen today. Yesterday, only Arch 1 went up and at this rate, we will not meet the deadline to finish by the end of the week. Our best bet is to organize early and issue out specific duties to everyone. The Assembly Team assembled the arches from the greenhouse area to the site, joined the halves, nail the trim, and hoisted the whole piece with Crane Chris. The Scaffolfing Team made sure the arches were meeting the columns perfectly on the wood block cuts they shared. The Cherry Picker Team directed Crane Chris to the appropriate destination of Arch 2. Also, they made sure that the arches weren’t crooked on the sills and set the purlins in place between Arch 1 and Arch 2 to resist lateral force. All the while, the Assembly team gathered Arch 3 and this was the cycle between the three groups/teams. It was a great system that worked until we get ear that Arch 4 is in an unstable condition. I cried. No one saw me, but I cried. Later, I walked to the greenhouse and saw people handing tissue to one another. It was the whole team crying. I felt great to know that at least I wasn’t the only one crying. And I’m a grown man. Not supposed to, but at times like this, ya gotta do something. We all mustered strength and focused on what to do. Our taskmasters decided that we aim for 2 arches tomorrow because the sun was setting. Secretly we couldn’t allow only 2 arches to erect on Thursday. We all voted to aim for four arches, knowing that three arches was the only possibilty. We aim high because we can get no lower. Two altar arches and Arch 1 and 2 stood alone on Wednesday’s sunset. Thursday will only foretell how well we do. But hope is in our hearts.

The horrible despair that hung over our head the previous 3 days began to dissipate early Thursday morning as we arrived and got ready for another go at Arch no. 3. Late Wednesday afternoon, we realized (after taking bringing no. 3 back to the ground after an unsuccessful attempt) that the best way to put the arches up quickly was to measure the width that each arch would have to fit between. In retrospect, this is a decision we should have made in advance, but seeing as how there were dozens of variables to deal with, none of which we had any idea about ahead of time, I think we did pretty well. Once the discovery was made, the arches went up at the breakneck speed of 3/10 a/h (arches per hour). This might not seem fast at first, but if you’d experienced the unbearable tedium of the first 3 days of the week, it would seem like we were literally throwing them onto the church. After tripling our productivity and feeling our first hint of warmer weather, we were in high spirits as we left on Thursday.

Friday started off with everyone in a quiet anticipation, because with the finish line in sight, we were ready to put the misery that was Arch Week behind us. Arch 6 was put together and ready to go within an hour of our arrival, and it went up without any snags. All that was left for Crane Chris to help us with were the 2 faux arches that provide the frame around the 6 large arches for the roof rafters. After a bit of debate and research over how these “45s” (this is the name we’d given them, even though we decided that their slope is closer to 55 degrees) fit onto the roof, they were placed and braced to the arches at the front and back of the nave. And finally, after weeks of planning and hard work for the 15 second year students, the arches were up, and we could breathe a collective sigh of relief. Our cries of joy reverberated through the trees and squalid swamplands of Cahawba, and we got the flip out of Dodge.

Arch week was a trying experience for all of us, but we can simply look at St. Luke’s and see how our labor paid off. Whether we were exerting all of our possible energy sliding the arch halves together until we had a seamless fit or risking life and limb in the ever-swaying cherry pickers, we’re all proud, and honestly pretty amazed, that we were actually able to get this church back together without breaking it or straight up killing each other. We can now sleep a bit easier knowing that the bulk of our semester is behind us, and we can simply enjoy the work and each other for our remaining time in the wonderful Hale County, Alabama.

Early Monday, Team Roadkill split into two groups: one group continuing with to help the Arch team, and the other group prepared the vestibule and buttress designs on powerpoint to be presented to our archaeologist Linda.

The entire group met at the church on Tuesday to present a new site plan and vestibule and buttress designs to Linda. She gave a few head shakes and nods, nut nothing that would that would sink our hearts completely. It was a well relaxed meeting. We hope that the next big meeting will be just as pleasant. Then, it was back to completing our previously assigned chores. One thing we noticed, the wood blocks were only fitting the arches but not the columns. In order to make them match, we cut what measured to be a 1/64th of an inch out of two colums. Pretty small eh?

Wednesday the Arch team ran into a big problem towards the end of the day. Somehow, the custom made arch is about an inch from where it is supposed to be. But a long day of hard work will burn a person’s energy down. But no worries because it will all be handled before showtime. Oh not to mention (I was told not to) that one of us had to run behind a pick up truck fifteen times trying to balance the weight of a member to prevent it from snapping in half off the bed of truck is a tiring task.  Also, Al and Jesse said, “Hi”.

Death Penalty for those that did not come to Red Barn on Friday. We cannot tell what happened from sunrise to noon, but I for one sure can say that my fingers and eyes bled. They bled! And yes, I recieved the smallest penalty as stated in earlier blogs. Being hungry for three sunsets is nothing to laugh about. On the bright side, Monday is near and is ushering a great blessing to all the very second that the very first arch is erected.

Next Week: LOOK TO THE HEAVENS! ! !

Learning Objectives:

B. Develop Problem Solving Skills: We are all thankful that we reevaluated our work before showtime on Monday. If not, the wood blocks would have been incorrectly measured and placed, and our very own customized arch half would only suffice for being fire wood.

F. Develop Leadership Skills: We all have made it this far motivating and leading each other to the eve of ARCH DAY. If nothing bad happens, and nothing bad will happen, the we will know that we all succeeded during our studies here in Rural Studio.

On Monday morning we began working on the details of our proposed entrance for Perry Lakes Park. Even though our design is radically simple, the decisions we make for connection pieces and anchor materials will determine whether or not the project will be successful. We spent the day researching various materials and visiting Rural Studio projects to see in person how students have approached similar problems in the past.

We made a trip to Greensboro’s Alabama Power office on Tuesday morning. We met with Don Ballard to discuss the best ways to suspend 100 feet of cable 20 feet in the air. After our lengthy conversation, Don suggested that we take a trip to the area headquarters in Demopolis, AL to see if they had any scrap supplies that we could play around with in order to get a feel for the materials. We took his advice and drove the dually to Demopolis to meet with the head honcho, Corey Sweeney. Not only was our trip beneficial, but we unexpectedly received ALL of the hardware we needed for the entrance sign FOR FREE. Mr. Sweeney donated the exact materials that his road crews use to hang power lines, including approximately 1600 feet of cable, 2 - 30 ft power poles, and hanger clamps to secure the cables. We were also promised to be able to use Alabama Power’s cable tightener, so we can suspend the cable as straight as possible. After returning to Morissette, we quickly began constructing our mock-up of the sign to see how well it worked. We were able to set roundwood poles in concrete, but because of the curing period we had to wait until Wednesday to suspend the cables.

Since we did not have the cable tightener for our mock-up, we ran into a couple speed bumps. We knew that we had to get the cables tight, but we did not know how to go about doing it. After some discussion, we remembered from Monday’s research that pulleys are an effective way to tighten cables. We devised a method to use a pulley and attach the loose end to Corey (Moulton)’s awesome 4-Runner…and it worked! We also were faced with the task of testing letter connections. After some failed attempts, we customized automotive hose clamps to firmly attach to the cable and bought shorter screws for a stronger fitment. Overall, even though we had a difficult start, our day was a huge success. Except for some minor details for the letters, we know exactly how to properly build our entrance sign. We were given Friday to work on renderings, so that the assignment would not be hanging over our heads next week.

learning objective G_ develop a commitment to high quality, accurate work. Even without a cable tightener, we had an obligation to construct our mock-up as accurately as possible only with available tools. After all, there is no point in testing a design if you are not going to test it correctly.  

learning objective C_ develop skills in using materials and tools. By creating a full scale mock-up of our design, we have familiarized ourselves with materials that we had previoulsy never worked with. We have learned from mistakes and now know how to construct the sign quickly, and more importantly, correctly.

Next week we will be back in Cahawba helping to re-raise arches. It will definitely be a huge week as far as progress is concerned. Once the arches are up, we will be back at Perry Lakes building the sign. We only have a few weeks left, but they will be extremely busy!

 

Let me just start this week by saying that if anyone who reads this knows how to kill large quantities of mosquitoes quickly, please let us know.  Our legs will thank you..

With one week left to finish preparing the arches for their big day, team Mind Bullitz (Gwyn/Kristy/Alex/Blake/Franklin) had to maximize our efficiency and utilize our newfound help from team Roadkill to tie up all of our loose ends.  We were 99% successful, with only one thing to fix next week.

learning objective C_ develop skills in using materials and tools.We continued using old fashioned methods on our repairs this week. It takes more time, but in the end, we have realized how much more rewarding it is. (the blisters aren’t so great though…) 

After getting our newly cut/detailed wood finished at the end of last week, we figured out the best way to assemble our new gigantic arch piece in the way that would keep it as level as possible while the epoxy dried.  It took several attempts and lots of critical thinking, but we finally got our final repair started on Monday.  While the large piece dried, we set to cutting wood blocks that will stabilize the arches on the columns of the church, making sure all of our bolts will fit in the piece that goes between the arch halves, and drilling bolt holes in the new pieces of wood.  It got pretty tedious, but with arch week right ahead of us, we kept going like a horse with a carrot in front of its face.

learning objective G_ develop a commitment to high quality, accurate work. Putting an arch half together is basically a six-step process, and a stressful one at that. A bit intimidating at the beginning of the semester, the process has now transitioned into something we do (usually..) with speed and accuracy. Every now and then, one will cause us a bit of strife, but as a team we can usually find the problem and take care of it quickly.

There were a couple of things that frustrated us this week, one of which was trying to get quotes on the new lumber for the roof we need to have on site by the end of the semester.  Trying to get quotes from some of these lumber people was painful and tiring, but the order was finally made, which gives us something to work on after the arches go up.  Also frustrating was realizing at the end of the week that the holes we had drilled on our newly repaired arch beam were off by nearly an inch, giving us added stress for next week.  Hopefully that won’t be too big of a problem to fix on Monday afternoon after the crane operator calls it quits for the day.

  The arches are ready, the equipment is ready, the site is ready, and we are definitely ready for the next few days.  Our whole semester has led up to this week, and we are confident that everything will work out.  We can’t wait to see the difference the arches will make on top of St. Luke’s, and we can’t wait to mess around on the cherry pickers when we’re bracing the arches with purlins.  Anyone who wants to come out and watch or help is welcome (especially help, the arches weigh a couple thousand pounds), and if you can’t make it, check back in next week for a recap of what is sure to be the most exciting week of the semester!

It was Team Roadkill and the Mindbullitz first day to work together as a ten person team (imagine an octopus or squid like Ursula the sea witch). Monday was a bit of a slow start for the group as a whole. The Arch members were working as always to their full potential to finish running new bolts through the Arches, while the Top Sill/ Wall team took down the green house that at one time covered the arches. Off and on we aided the Arch team rebolting the connections between the arch and the purlins. Also, two people were nearly turned into cartoon characters. How? An arch nearly recruited them to the cast of Looney Toons if they did not move out of the way in time. But we are glad that they were unharmed. Other than that, we ran around tugging on the pants legs of our brethren with doe eyes crying for a task they could think of. Any task the arch team could come up with would have sufficed. I was told to make sure that gravity still existed on the church site. You know what? It did. Our next deal is to insure that we are better organized for the rest of the week. End of Monday.

No. No. No! It’s raining. Stuck at Red Barn on Tuesday. It is crunch time and we need to organize for the tasks that should be completed by Tuesday afternoon at 4 pm and prepare a schedule for Wednesday and Friday. Everyone had a job on Tuesday. Roadkill had to research vestibule and buttress design and create drawings for the next big meeting. Also, the Arch team made numerous calls to inform people that the great Arch Day has been pushed back by a week. Yeah, I cried myself to sleep too. All day Tuesday, both teams worked together on the church model. By 4pm, 98% of all tasks were completed (church model needs a little more time).

Early Wednesday morning, we discussed the day’s schedule over breakfast at M.O. (Mustang Oil) then we drove to the site. Wednesday morning, we were on top of it. We epoxied a few purlins, moved the large 45s, and moved the jig to bolt it back together. Wednesday was a good day. Any day that we as a team can leave the site bruised, bleeding, belching, and soaked from head to toe with the vinegar salt taste of sweat dripping from our noses like the creatures from Alien, then it was a good day. Walking towards our cars together joking about the day’s events as the sunsets makes it even better day.

Looks cleaner than it was on Tuesday. But of course it would. Why? It is the calm before the storm. Friday forecasts is a storm. Heather and Meghan epoxied the purlins again and worked on the large 45s. David helped hold and rebolt the arches and purlins. Delvin and Zane worked on the wood blocks that set the connection between column and arch. The rain started to pick up and that was the end of Friday’s work day. Oh believe. Alot was completed. Sanding, drilling, sawing, and graining. By the way, who wrote the message about graining? Oh no I said too much again!

Learning Objectives-

C) Develop skills in using materials and tools- It is quite a shock to know what the human hand is capable of without electric saws. The chamfered column by Alex and Blake is surely a marvel. 

L) Develop a commitment to personal development- It is extremely hard to get along with others when a job depends on cooperation amongst everyone. We all need a helping hand in the personal development area before we try to say that we can cooperate with others.

Next Week- The tracks are set for this train. We will place a bit more coal to get that fire burnin’ because the big day is just around the bend. Check over all tasks and make big decisions prior to next Wednesday.

After working at Lions Park for a week and getting ready for the GRAND opening we went back to work designing an entry for Perry Lakes Park. We were determined to get our design to work and make it an effective, yet subtle, park edition. Monday we began the day finalizing a design that we felt created an appropriate experience upon entering the park. We finally reached the point where drawings were of no help and that we just needed to go out and actually mock-up an example of our design. After lunch we gathered all our materials and headed to the backyard of Morissette to test the scale and experience of our entry proposal. It took us only three hours to build the mock-up and at the end of the day we were quite pleased with the results.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE C_ develop skills in using materials and tools: You’ve seen this objective once and I’m sure you’ll see it again. Instead of constantly drawing them, we just had to physically work with the creosote railroad ties, get the feeling for them, and decide if they really work.

In addition to our mock-up construction on Monday, Tuesday we continued to test certain features of our design. We poured concrete and tested the appearance of concrete dye. Since we had two extra letters to play around with, we were able to experiment with contrasts between the dye colors and the aluminum finish of the letters. We also drew up new drawings in order to easily illustrate our design ideas during our review later in the day with Andrew Freear. There were many useful things brought up in the review that made us reconsider our design. In the end we had decided it was better to push back the entry, realizing things could be so much more simple, yet just as effective.

Wednesday was a difficult morning getting started. Under strict time constraints and having developed this one design for a couple weeks, it was hard to open up to a new location and new design. We began the morning by heading out to the park to analyze and measure the new site for our sign/entrance. After toying around with new sketches and designs all morning, we decided to do a few simple mock-ups out at the park. Our new designs all boiled down to the letters being suspended in the air so we attached a few letters to rope and strung them across the road. We tested their visibility from many distances and experimented with a variety of heights.

Friday we continued to explore our new design idea brainstorming on how to connect the letters to whatever they would attach to and how to create an effective experience leading up to the sign. For several hours we drew up rough sketches of how to make it all work, but every time it just seemed like too much and that there must be a simpler solution. Towards mid-afternoon we came up with the simplest of all our designs. The aluminum letters would appear to be floating in mid-air, and only by taking a closer look would you notice they were attached to some sort of cables that disappear into the trees. Out of all our designs, this design seemed to be the least but say the most. Friday afternoon we had another review with Andrew and it seemed to go really well. Now it all boils down to if we can make it work. If we can properly execute what we’ve drawn up, we could have a potentially successful project.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE G_ develop a commitment to high quality: When it all comes down to it, it’s not all about fancy things or a lot of stuff, it’s what works. We feel the answer to the signage issue is simplicity, creating the highest quality language to communicate to others.

Next week we will begin dealing more with the engineering and structural aspects of our new found design. We still have a lot of work to do and little time to do it. It looks to be a busy rest of the month…

This was a huge week for the arch team, as we reached our deadline for having all replacements done.  We needed to have every piece ready to go by Wednesday so that the epoxy we’re using for repairs would have time to become structurally sound.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.  Because of weather and other uncontrollable/unforeseeable events, the placement of the arches has been pushed back a week.  This was a very tough decision for us to make, because we’ve been planning on April 7^th for quite some time.  We had finally gotten all of our equipment rentals lined up, all visiting helpers from thesis as well as back at Auburn were ready, and we even had lunch on the schedule for the first couple of days.  However, as we sat in Red Barn one lonely rainy day, we realized that the most realistic and intelligent decision we could make was to postpone arch week until the next Monday.

learning objective G_ develop a commitment to high quality, accurate work. This week we were faced with many challenges. In the long run, we made the decision to push the arch-raising deadline back a week so that we could be certain of the structural capacity of our repairs and so that we could spend more time ensuring their precision. 

With that huge decision made, we were able to get a lot accomplished this week.  We finished the majority of our repairs, leaving one large arch piece the only repair remaining for next week.  Because some of the pieces are so large, and the cuts need to be extremely precise, we took several repair cuts to a woodworking shop in Selma to prepare the pieces.  A couple of the larger pieces that we’d been waiting on were ready on Friday, but when we got them back to the site, we realized that one piece needs to be planed down further to fit the original wood we are splicing it with.  We tried to get that piece glued at the end of the day, but as the rain approached, we realized it would be better for us to take our time and get the piece right than to rush it and have an ugly arch.

The rain day ended up being one of our most productive days of the week, as we divided and conquered with a vengeance.  Kristy and Gwyn got real on the site plan we will be proposing to the Cahawba committee at our next meeting and made some great AutoCAD and SketchUp designs.  This is very important to our team, because it gives us a chance to add some of our own design to St. Luke’s.  Franklin once again headed up the team of the church model builders, who worked on what will surely be another legacy of this semester’s group.  Alex and Blake got a chance to learn some old school carpentry methods as they prepared new pieces to be spliced onto broken dovetail purlins.  They decided to cut and detail the pieces themselves rather than wait on the woodshop.  Four sore forearms and one wicked chisel slice later, the pieces were done.

learning objective L_ develop a commitment to personal development.  This week we decided to take a more hands on approach to some of our repairs. The condition of several splices requiring chamfering presented us with an opportunity to learn the techniques that would have been used when the church was originally built. It was a wonderful teaching tool, and made many of us more respectful of the original builders.

Next week will not be quite as hectic as we’ve been planning for it to be all semester (thankfully), but it will be busy nonetheless.  Once we finish our repairs and get a few other minor details completed, we can help the walls team on the church and finish getting the site prepared for the cranes, cherrypickers, and dozens of people that will be visiting us on the 14^th, 15^th, and 16^th. 

Won’t you join us?

This past week proved extremely helpful as we move steadily to our deadline of April 7th. As we near the end of our time at the church, most of our repairs on the arches are complete, and repairs on dovetail purlins will begin on Monday.  The week started off a little shaky; coming back from Spring Break we all had a bit of spring fever to deal with.  But back to work we went! We decided it would be the best idea to create a “punch list” of things left to do and were amazed at the number.  It proved to be pretty helpful though and we made up a schedule to help us stay on track.

learning objective C_ develop skills in using materials and tools.  As we FINALLY begin to make some repairs, we are learning how to use a lot more of our resources at the site. We were also finally able to start using the epoxy that we bought for repairs. It is working wonderfully!

Tuesday morning we started the day off with a bang. First of all, Tuesday we got a visit from the Auburn University President as well as many many other people: professors, photographers, etc… It was a very nice morning: we were able to explain our part of the project, what we are doing and how we are doing it.  After the visit, we were able to get all of the trim (yay for our new trim!) attached to the 2 smaller arches that go into the altar of the church and also began to attach trim to the larger arches.  To our dismay, however, we realized that we wouldn’t be able to continue the trim because of a connector bolt that would have to be run behind it. We will have to install trim as we are piecing the arch halves together for installation on the 7th, 8th, and 9th.  Tuesday was also a big repair day! By Tuesday afternoon we had three arches repaired and clamped and a fourth underway. For the rest of the week we continued working on our repairs, making sure the purlins were ready to be installed, and got several of our “little” tasks completed.  All of our repair trim is cut and ready to be installed the minute we possibly can, lots of new splining was cut on Friday, and three more arches are completely ready for installation in the church.

learning objective I_ improve speaking and communication skills. This week we got a lot of visitors to the site: on Tuesday, the Auburn University President came to visit us and we explained to him our process with the arches. On Friday we were also very lucky to talk with Joe Farrugia, our structural engineer from Chicago. Explaining our ideas to parties who are not directly involved in the project every day is a wonderful learning experience and I know we all made the most of it.

We were also lucky to get a visit from Joe Farrugia on Friday morning. It was very nice to finally meet him in person after several phone calls and emails.  He was able to help us quite a bit regarding the repairs for the arches: he is here to make sure we are doing it right!

After one week and with one week left, the pressure is on. We are making some intense progress and have been able to stay pretty much on task.  With some minor setbacks we are optimistic about being able to complete the work by the deadline, and getting extremely anxious about it as well. One week is a very short amount of time but I know as a group we can tackle the obstacles head on, making the most of each minute on site.

Early Monday morning, we were all blessed to see that everyone had a fantastic Spring Break and made it back safely. “Now wake up and get back to work! YAH! YAH!” Those were the words of our taskmasters as they cracked their red whips from atop the highest scaffolds of the church. Of course we are not allowed to speak of such nonsense because it is surely a punishment to do so consisting of no rationing of bread and water for three sunsets. This is purely an exaggeration of what all teams expected on the beginning of a post Spring Break work day. We began the morning taking down the North Altar scaffolding and moving it to the vestry entrance as well as reexaming the top sills of the church.

Tuesday was a visit from Auburn University’s President Jay Gogue along with many other professors and people of top hat class. He walked around the church site with us presenting various questions about the church’s condition and our opinions about the project and what is rural studio from our perspective. “Do you like Rural Studio? Would you recommend it to others? PS3 or XBOX 360″ , and so on and so forth. President Gogue is a pretty tall man face to face. He resembles John Wayne, though I doubt any of us have ever met John Wayne, but I guess he’s cool too. First impression. . . . . we say cool.

After the visit, we all went back to our duties. Heather and Delvin searched for members to begin nailing the horizontals of the South Altar wall and setting scaffolding against the West Vestry. Meghan, David, and Zane began working on the top sill of the Altar with Steve’s supervision as the day began to wind down.

The crane people say they needed space to operate the crane for the big day the arches are to be placed and thats what we did on Wednesday. We moved a few church pieces and scaffolding equipment to the side to clear the way. Later, we removed one column and placed three new fresh columns to aid to the structure of the two top sills that were in much need of repair. Homework: Come up with as many questions as possible for Joe Farrugia

Joe Faruggia came to the church site on Friday and shared his thoughts on the arches and the top sills as well as his answers to the barrage of questions. With the big day swimming with sea demon speed towards us, we Team Roadkill are at the hands of the Arches team. What is it that we can do to make things run smoother for them? Not much is their answer. They really have the restoration of these arches down to an art form, and as an individual I have nothing but respect for that group because they are so confident and precise with every cut, splice, glue, and notch they make that it is impossible for things to go wrong. Hearing this, Team Roadkill shot out of Cahaba back to Greensboro to help the Lions Park crew clean up on the eve of the Lions Park Surfaces and Toilets grand opening.

Learning Objective I: Improve Speaking/Communication skills

This week there was a reasonable amount of communication between the church teams. We, top sills/wall team, had to talk to the Arch team configuring the placement of their arches on our sills.

Learning Objective: Develop a Commitment to Personal Development

Spring Break really was good break. It allowed everyone to come back with happiness and joy in their hearts. This joy that we all found really helps move things along.

 Next Week: Those whips will crack harder and they will connect this time, fore preparation is near to an end.

After a well-deserved week of rest and relaxation we returned to the studio to knock out the entrance design to Perry Lakes. We had met with Jason and Natalie before Spring Break to propose a possible entrance design. The critique brought up the question what was our “one big move”. They told us to concentrate on one great thing instead of a bunch of good things. On Monday, we were able to fine-tune our previous idea into a much more subtle design. We met with Jason that afternoon to discuss our decisions and changes for our new design. He agreed with our design, and also agreed on making a separate welcome sign for the park instead of trying to incorporate the letters into the gate. That night we thought it would be a great idea to cut Mohawks. Most of the guys were willing, but for some reason none of the girls wanted any part in it.

Learning Objective B- develop problem solving skills. We spent time in the Studio on Monday redesigning a threshold to the park that seemed more appropriate for the environment it would be built in.

Tuesday and Wednesday we joined the surfaces team at Lions Park. The superthesis were in crunch mode trying to get the park presentable for the opening today. There were a lot of things to be done in a short amount of time. On Tuesday the entire team helped lay the edging to divide gravel and dirt along the front of the park. John manned the Bobcat for about seven hours and assisted in bringing red gravel and dirt to the area we were working on. Wednesday, John pulled another full day on the Bobcat while Corey and Cassidy helped with the rest of the edging. Brett and I (Matt) spent the entire day fighting with the custom trashcans that had to be installed near the baseball fields. It would not be crunch time if you did not run into mistakes. On top of everyone getting sunburned, the Bobcat’s wheels eventually gave out on Tuesday and had to be replaced. Johnny pointed out a fuel leak in the Bobcat and we luckily were able to rent another Bobcat for Wednesday. The trashcans put up a fight during the mounting process. The drill bit we were using would not drill through the metal because it had worn down. We found another drill bit, but it eventually did the same. Through theses dark times we found light in the plasma cutter and just blasted holes into the tops of the trashcans. A couple could not fit due to ground clearance, but the rest were successfully attached.

Learning Objective D- develop ability to work with others. The Jackalopes fit right in from the get go. There was not a task that we could not complete and we kept or work at an excellent standard.

On Friday we returned to Lions Park to help with the clean up. The sidewalks and the area under the supershed needed to be cleaned. Cassidy started out by pressure washing the sidewalks and the rest of us started sweeping dirt off the high traffic spots. The guys also assisted in placing more stones along the top of the swell near the parking in the front of the park. Team Roadkill joined us after lunch. They dressed up the baseball fields while we started pressure washing under the supershed. A few of us also assisted the bathrooms team in a few random jobs.

There are many possibilities for next week. There are some repairs at Perry Lakes that need to be attended to and there is also our entrance that needs to be finalized in the studio before we can go out and actually build it. With it being so close to placing the Arches at St. Lukes there might be extra help needed at Cahawba. There is no telling what we will be doing next week.

On Tuesday we were greeted with a rainy drive to Cahaba, followed by a rainy drive back to Newbern.  Even with the rain, the day was not wasted. The team was able to get the foundation built for our scaled model and Alex worked on a creating a Sketch-Up model for part of our site plan design. The day ended with a fun night at Lions Park where the Rural Studio Film Festival was hosted. (thanks to Cass for representing 2nd year with an amazing video! “Just Do It or Don’t Do It”)

learning objective B_ develop problem solving skills. A problem that seemed to haunt us this week was how are we actually going to repair these arches? After talking to Joe we think we have gotten it figured out and will hopefully be able to make some serious headway after Spring Break.

Wednesday and Friday met us with similar accomplishments and also some challenges. On Wednesday we were able to complete the rebolting of two more arch halves, and then we began making our cuts for repairing a third arch.  When we were making the cut, however, we decided it might be best to contact Joe before we proceeded with anything more.  Friday morning we stayed behind in Newbern to make several phone calls. That hour and a half proved to be very valuable and productive: we talked to Joe and narrowed down the way we will prepare our arches, got several estimates for cherrypickers, and (perhaps?) finalized our arrangements with the crane operator for the “Arch Days.” The remainder of the day was spent in Cahaba repairing one more arch half and estimating repairs for purlins (which thank goodness is minimal!) before we all departed for Spring Break.

Build to Last_ Build relationships_Build for function_

The first week of studio we were told to list the three most important things that we had learned while touring Rural Studio. These are the three things which our team came up with. One goal for the semester is to emulate these three “objectives” in our work and attitudes. This week, as we near closer to April 7th and reflect on the past few months, it became apparent how much of our time at Saint Luke’s basically is dependent on maintaining these ideas.

So, all in all this week was a good one. We are finding that April 7th 8th and 9th are fast approaching, perhaps faster than we anticipated. Our goals stay lofty but we may include a few weekends in the repairs; a necessary step towards getting the arches up and ON TIME!

Look for another blog in two weeks with hopefully many repairs to boast of.

On Tuesday, we had a rain day which gave us some time to start on the model of the church. Most of our group, along with a couple people from team Roadkill, got a lot of work done on the walls and foundation of the model. We also started on a digital model of some of our ideas for the site plan of the church to present at our next progress meeting.

As we realized how difficult it might be to make some of the repairs, it was a huge relief to find out on Friday that there are only a couple of the dovetail purlins (the things that brace the arches against each other) that need to be repaired. This really takes some stress off of us for our April 7 deadline for having everything ready. We also got our crane/cherry pickers lined up, our new molding is being cut, and we had another conference call with our structural engineer to get some tips for repairs. Overall, it was a good week considering that the most relaxing week of the semester was on the horizon. Check back in for our next report in a couple of weeks, because there will be no report of the mischief of spring break.

PEACE!