#projecthsf

[horseshoehub]

WEEK 26-30

This year Pig Roast was on April 28th! It was great to see our families and friends come out to support us, and for us to finally be able to show them what we had been up to for the past year! While we celebrated a year’s worth of work that weekend, we also prepared for stress test, which was two days later…. and WE PASSED!! The three teams presented to Christian Dagg, Rusty Smith, Justin Miller, David Hill and David Hinson. It was a long day, we started presenting at 10 am that morning and the rest of the presentations went through all the way to 7 pm, but at the end of the day we knew that all of our hard work had payed off!

Since our last post we have continued contacting our consultants, we met with Jake Labarre and David Hill, we also called Joe Farruggia, Cheyl Noel and Ravi Ricker. Which has been incredibly beneficial in pushing our design forward! We have also reflected on the feedback from pre-stress test and spent many days charretting. So, moving forward, our screen will still be made of steel cables, but rather than being all vertical cables, in certain areas we will treat the screen as a series of curtain panels that conceptually are tied off on one side, like a fabric curtain would be. This concept gives more movement to the facades as well as facilitates the growth of the vines above the datum line. It also eases circulation, allowing people to pass through the vegetated curtain from one space into another and makes the different zones more connected. In terms of vines, most recently we have been looking into Confederate Jasmine and Apple Blossom Clematis, which are evergreen vines, and how those can be combined with other deciduous vines such as Dutchman’s pipe or Virginia Creeper. Mixing the different types of vines provides different colors and textures to the courtyard, as well as fragrances and blooms during different times of the year.

As we move forward this summer we will be making a series of models and mock-ups to further push the design possibilities and will lead us to a full-scale mock-up by the end of the summer!

[horseshoehub]

WEEK 21

It’s Spring Break y’all! Before we all go take a quick break and return with renewed energies, here is what happened last week:

We got to spend half of Tuesday with Joe Farruggia, our structural consultant to grasp a better understanding of our structural systems for both the screen and the walkway; as well as how we can design it to be as light as possible.

On Wednesday, David Hill, our landscape architecture consultant, was extremely helpful in answering our questions about trees, vines, water collection, and surface treatments. He even gave us a few case studies to look into. The following day we had a visit from the Perky Bros, a graphic design firm out of Nashville that has been doing some work with the studio.  We got to hear a presentation form Jeff, Lindsey and Rex about their work and some helpful tips about representation and graphics.

And finally on Friday we had one more great presentation with Dr.Dorsey and Michelle before the break. We received good feedback and both the team and Dr.Dorsey are excited to see the project move forward!

See you in week 23!

[horseshoehub]

WEEK 8

We have just completed one of the most exciting and stressful weeks of the semester!

Following Rural Studio tradition, Soup Roast took place this past Saturday in our very chilly Red Barn. Parts of the celebration were cancelled due to the unexpected snow! That’s right... snow in Hale County! Even though all of our special guests could not make it into town because of the weather, we still had a helpful review from those that could make it, such as Steve Badanes, Jim Adamson, Jake LaBarre, Mary English, our very own Andrew Freear, and Rural Studio Alumni. 

Before the review, we completed our model of the Hub at 3/8 scale and created a design that fits with Evidence Based Research for mental health. We focused on addressing light, elimination of environmental stressors, safety, security, observation, avoidance of visual disturbance, color, group interaction, and access to nature. With the desire to keep the design simple, we are striving to make each element dual purpose.

Our proposal includes a 20′ high vegetative screen wall with strategically placed perforations along all four sides to define the space and to protect the west-facing facade from the harsh summer win while allowing views and entrances into the space. We also propose a gaggle of trees that allows for either one large activity or multiple small activities to happen at once. 

We are starting to look into metal screens that can be tied back as well as free-standing, deciduous vines, thin deciduous trees that change color through the seasons, gravel, and concrete. We’re looking forward to getting more specific with materials along with our design evolution. 

[horseshoehub]

WEEK 5

This week was filled with meetings! It started off with our professors to debrief about last week’s review, followed by meetings with our structural engineering consultant, our clients, and a local surveyor. 

The team met on site Tuesday morning to walk through with Joe Farrugia, the studio’s structural engineering consultant. He helped us analyze the structural impact of adding an interior fire-rated stair from the third floor to the second. Shortly after being assured by Joe that the structure would allow the changes, we met with Michelle and Dr. Dorsey to talk about the origins of Project Horseshoe Farm, and the exciting story of how he, originally from Southern California, ended up in Greensboro, Alabama. Feeling inspired and excited about the joined work of Project Horseshoe Farm and Rural Studio, we visited a previous Rural Studio project, the Hale County Hospital Courtyard, to see how their design resolved the space.

Saturday we were finally able to confirm the property boundaries of the site! Robert Hoggle met us at the Old Greensboro Hotel to measure and dig for pins that mark property boundaries. No pins were found, however based on measurements from the deed and with Robert’s knowledge, we identified our boundaries.

Keeping this productive weekend rolling, we returned to the site today to sit and observe the courtyard’s surroundings. By moving fold-able chairs in and out of the sun and shade, we thought about how the future fellows and users of the building would feel and use the space. We discovered aspects of the courtyard we hadn’t noticed before, such as wind and glare, as well as confirmed some theories about sun and shading.

[horseshoehub]

WEEK 4

Last Thursday we had the opportunity to observe one of the adult day programs at the Hub! It was a very insightful visit in which we discovered some of the needs of the Hub and got to spend some time with the fellows and participants.  

While we were there, we tested our culinary skills by helping to bake a delicious chocolate chip zucchini bread for everyone! Later in the day we took a trip to the community garden beds, located behind the neighboring buildings, that the fellows use to teach the participants about gardening. They also planted some herbs in some empty pots in front of the Watchman building, the Greensboro newspaper. In the future they hope they can have small planter beds or pots for tomatoes, onions, and other foods that they can use in the cooking classes.

The following day we had a long but highly constructive review with Andrew Freear. We were all excited to see him, and hear what he had to say about our project. He challenged us to critically think about what we wanted the courtyard to be, but to also have some fun with it and the challenges it brings. We get more and more excited about the courtyard’s possibilities each week! 

[horseshoehub]

WEEK ONE

We made it back! While all four of us were here two years ago as 3rd-year students, this past week was our first full week as the Hub Team for the 5th-year studio! Our team consists of Zack Cundey, Claire Kubilins, Caleb Munson, and Claudia Paz Melendez.

Zack Cundey is from Augusta, Georgia. He makes great impersonations of people and spends his free time trying to become a better father figure for his friends. 

Claire Kubilins is from Poquoson, Virginia. She is happiest when she’s on the water and wishes to travel the world throughout her lifetime. 

Caleb Munson is from Bolingbrook, Illinois. He enjoys the sounds of Motown and watching horror movies.

Claudia Paz Melendez is from Punto Fijo, Venezuela. She wants to learn more languages and loves to dance.

Our client, Project Horseshoe Farm, a nonprofit organization focused in community health, recently relocated from their “Club House” to the old Greensboro Hotel right down the street in historic downtown Greensboro. This new location, now being referred to as the “Hub”, has already undergone many changes. They have gone full force in renovating the ground floor and second floor, leaving the courtyard and an interior space on the second floor for us to design. The design encompasses a flexible courtyard for an array of activities, including the addition of a balcony, extension of the central corridor, and access to the second floor. The second-floor interior space will be used as a lounge for the Project HSF Fellows and future medical students.

In this first week, we have learned more than expected about this nearly 200-year-old structure. We spent multiple days measuring, photographing, and drawing the existing building. We met with one of the representatives of Project HSF, Dr. John Dorsey, to better understand their day to day interactions with community members, what they provide for the overall community, and how our design can positively influence their organization. 

[horseshoehub]

WEEK  76

Hi friends! Lots to catch up since our last post! After many weeks of rain in April, we have designed, built, put up and down our full-scale mockup. Some on Morrisette to test if the 18’ screens would stand safely, and finally on site. As always mock-ups are the best tool for making decisions, so as we were putting up the screens, we made some changes to the design as we saw how the space shaped out. Also, thank you Andrew, Steve and Mass Timber team for helping us raise the 18′x18′ Screens!

Luckily the mock-up was ready by the time Pig Roast came around the corner, and it helped us study how people inhabited the space. Not only as a large crowd but also when the Horseshoe Farm Fellows had one of their weekly meetings in the courtyard.

We have also had many pin ups and meetings in the last 2 months. We had a chance to meet with Zane Morgan and Cassandra Kellogg twice! They are not only super generous with their time, but also incredibly helpful when talking to us through some of the details we have been working through. We also had a visit from David Hinson, whose excitement about the project energized us to keep pushing forward! As well as a long, but incredibly helpful call with David Hill, in which we learned some more key information about tree choosing, and soil conditions of our site.

Additionally, in the last two weeks, we have spoken to Joe many times, in order to work through some of the structural questions of the walkway and screens. We also visited Jim Turnipseed to update him on the newest design proposal. We are incredibly thankful for Jim’s generosity with material donations and for letting us use his shop when the time comes to fabricate the screens!

[horseshoehub]

Week 69

East facing elevation shows 18′ screens that slip past balcony datum line to separate the two elements. We are also working through options for the “porch” on the Southern portion of the site, we are interested in using lights or a dropped ceiling to lower the scale.

We finally modeled our most recent design! This past week we shifted from plans, sections and SketchUp to a physical model, so we could charette through the tree and furniture placement.

Stepping out of the waiting room looking towards the active space and porch.

Part of figuring out the tree layout is understanding how it shapes the north end, as another entrance to the courtyard as well as what it gives back to the street since it is the most public area of the design. 

Stay tuned as we work through the different options for the railing (not featured in model at the moment) and its interaction with the screens!