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!