Epilogue: Solar Panels

Solar Panels on our Project!!!!!

This all went down a few weeks back but I'm just getting around to writing about it now. Sorry for the delay. But they are bought, they are delivered, and they are installed! Only, you know . . . one year or so later than we expected.

Installing the first two - they went in great. Easy as pie.

Look - we were even safe and tied in and everything. Dare I say . . . professional?

But the important part is that they are in! And they look fantastic. They are subsidized by NYSERDA which is why it took so long to purchase them. But they were well worth the wait. Johnny, Jason, Carrie, Star and I went up on a saturday a few weeks back to install - really just a matter of a few bolts and its done. The electricians still need to finish up before the power is actually flowing to the building, but that will happen real soon. Mostly its just great to see them up - I think they change the look of the project pretty significantly. If only we'd had these up for all the press photos and such - would have been great. But at least I can finally put a real photo of the project in my portfolio.

Carrie Shulz - underneath.

Jason - trapped on top as we put in the last one. He's still up there. We bring him a sandwich every now and then.

Look how cool the cable X-Bracing looks now!

And even the sedums are coming in nicely. Lotta color for such small plants.

So in other fun news. I'm graduated now. A Master of Architecture thank you very much. John and I have been hired by Parsons to help Joel run this years Design Workshop over the summer - they are redesigning and building out the Architecture and Lighting Design Studio space on the 2nd and 3rd floors of 25E 13th Street. A really beautiful project. We are just entering full production mode next week - we've been revising details, ordering materials and scheduling for the last few weeks. So far the project is going great and I'm having a blast working with the new Workshop crew. Fun Fun Fun.

If you're interested in checking out the project, feel free to visit their brand new website here: http://www.parsonsdesignworkshop.org/2009docs/splash.html

Just went up yesterday - make sure to check back too cus' we'll be adding pictures all summer as the project moves forward.

So, things are great here. Who knows what fall will bring - there seem to be plenty of opportunities right now and who knows what else will pop up as the summer roles along. But the Workshop has been the best part of my Parsons experience - and hopefully this won't be the last of it.

Who knows -
maybe they'll let me come back and help next summer too . . .

Just how I pictued it. Maybe even a little better.

Ceiling Panels and Lights . . . But still no Solar Panels

Well its spring break - so we got to steal a few days away from school to finish up some things. A bunch of us came up monday to do some finish painting, fix the floor, move some lights and other punchlist type stuff. Johnny, Joel and I went back tuesday and installed the pavillion ceiling panels. I think it looks awesome.

Its 1/2" birch plywood, cut into 4x4 squares and chamfered on the edges. We expect the structure to bend and twist a bit so hopefully the lines created by the chamfers will hide any gaps that form between panels. Its all pre-finished and fabricated by Johnny's shop in brooklyn - made it wicked easy to install. Still needed some trims here and there - but worked out great for the most part. We also put up some more of the richlite panels. We'll install the rest later this spring when we come to do the solar panels.

Contract Magazine / Spring Break

Another article about the project : This time in Contract Magazine. killer.

Now some bad news: looks like we won't get the solar panels by spring break after all. So the installation will have to wait a little longer. But we'll still be able to go up there and finish up all our punchlist stuff. Ceilings, painting, etc. Johnny and I were up there a few weeks ago and everything seems to be holding up. We lost a door to the toolshed - wind ripped it off. So we'll have to fix that. But other than that things look good. And the lights are in too! Way to go electricians.

AND!! People are actually living there! That's right, the building is actually running. People there, elevators - the whole shebang. Awesome.

Architectural Record Blurb

Design Workshop 2008 has a blurb (and a slide show!) in Architectural Record!

You can see it here: http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/090217rooftop.asp

fun fun fun.

In other news - we got our money from NYSERDA for the solar panels!! Kind of thought that just wasn't gonna happen. But it's all set - now we just need to find a time to get back up there to install them. Maybe March break . . .

I'll keep you posted.

oh - and I have a new website, its for my thesis and I promise I'll be updating it more often than that bad studio websitesite I had last semester. You can find it here: http://emthesis.wordpress.com/

hurray for solar panels!

Epilogue: Showin' Off

East Garden. Circa early Novemeber.

I know, I know. I have been just terrible about updating this poor little forgotten blog. But I'm back, and I've brought some fun photos with me - so thats worth something . . . right?

The gallery Thursday night.

More partyin': sorry the pictures are so lousy

Thursday we presented the Design Workshop project with a lecture and slide-show which accompanied a big exhibit that we installed in one of the Newschool galleries. ( the new one right on 5th avenue - pretty slick) The gallery show will stay up through Christmas and is a collection of photos, drawings, models, mock-ups and other assorted goodies (including a mannequin we dressed up in our grimy Workshop clothes). The lecture went great: there was a huge crowd and everyone had a good ol' time showing off our project. David Lewis had us all back to his place for a celebratory dinner afterwords which was super fun - and hopefully we didn't keep him up too late (although I'm pretty sure we did).

Johnny and Solveig installing the show

gallery hangers from way back.

That was all fun and good, but putting together the show I realised I never put any nice photos of the final project up on the website - so I've posted a collection below. We are waiting until next spring to hire a real photographer to do it right - hopefully we can have some plants in, some people there, and everything buttoned up. Ohh - right, I guess an update on the state of the project would be good too huh?

Well its kind of in a holding pattern at the moment. The clients still don't have a CofO yet which means they still don't really own the building which means we aren't really allowed up there to work right now (no insurance and all that jazz). We have a new electrician who is much better at dealing with the NYSERDA application for the solar panels, so we are expecting the money for those any week now. We have everything else (the ceiling, the walls, etc.) fabricated, but it is all sitting on site waiting for us to get the all clear to start working. The electricians have run the conduit for almost the entire roof, and I believe the roofers have finished putting the waterproofing on. So I think over January break we should be able to install the Solar Panels and the celing and the lighting. I'll keep you updated.

For now though - here are some 'Final' photos of the project as it stands today.

Still standin' - thats a good sign.

Mmmm. Material goodness.

East Side benches.

Inside the Pavilion looking south

Pavilion. Still no ceiling or solar panels. But they're comin. I promise.

North Wall of the Pavilion

Ipe and Polycarb Wall Panels.

Solar Panel truss and cable X-bracing.

Greenhouse-t0-column-to-roof-to-wall-to-2-directional-X-bracing. Wow, how many things can all intersect in one spot?

North Garden Black Locust benches.

West Garden, looking north.

West Garden.

West garden, north end. Ready for the some plants.

Our glorious greenhouse. I can't wait till the whole place is covered in green stuff.

The greenhouse hangs off the pavilion - custom made brackets (W8x35 cut at that crazy angle.)

Greenhouse windows from inside the Pavilion.

Toolshed.

Toolshed sink. Ipe and Polycarb.

Looking north.

South Canopy-ness.

Mosswall and black locust benches.

Meg and her Mosswall.

People Come and People Go. Some Without Goodbye, and Some Without Hello

A good chunk of the crew was up on site today and we slapped out all the remaining fussy-stuff / trim, cleaned, and then moved all the tools and scrap material back to school. While you still can't say the project is 'done' (still some work for Vinnie's guys doing the railing and flooring /some painting / ceiling and PV to come later), I think today is a pretty good time to say that the Design Workshop 2008 is over.



God it feels weird to say that.

I finished off the sedum wings today too. Look how good that looks! It really helps to 'ground' the greenhouse.

It will take some time for me to really digest all that the workshop has meant to me, but I know that it has been absolutely amazing from beginning to end and I will be forever grateful for the chance to be part of it. I've never worked harder or been more committed to any project , and I think I can safely say that I sacrificed to this project every single ounce of energy, concentration, time (and money) that I have. But far from leaving me drained in the end, I instead feel like I have gained so much more out of this project than I could possibly have put in.



Of course, the project itself is only half the story of the Workshop - just as important was the opportunity to work with so many amazing people on something we were all absolutely in love with, and to share such an amazing, overwhelming, experience with them. I have learned so much from everyone here this past year, and to be honest - our days were more fun than is probably legal in some of those red states. We have built something incredibly beautiful together, and this experience is something that will always connect us - no matter what directions our paths take after this.

I suppose that's really why I feel like today was the end for me though: Star, my partner in all things workshop-y over the past year, left for her new job in Germany today, and so even though I'll keep working on the project, the 'Workshop' - that amazing, shared experience of building something beautiful with a bunch of incredible people - seems to have come to an end.

I can't even describe how much fun we had working together and we really did make something amazing. So, my friend, thank you for everything, and for gods sake have fun in Germany!!!

But oddly, far from being sad that its over - I actually feel nothing but pride and satisfaction in what we've accomplished. New York City threw everything it had at us this past year in the hopes of destroying our project, and if I do say so myself - we kicked New York's ass. I can't say it was easy, and there were some times (ok - maybe a lot of times) that I thought the whole thing was going to come crashing down - but in the end we succeeded. And even if there are parts that didn't go exactly according to plan or things that didn't turn out just as we had hoped - we did something incredible here and we made someplace beautiful for a bunch of kids who need more beautiful places in their lives.

And so - Star, Johnny, Jason, Carrie, Meg, Solveig, Jon, Steph, Tory, Meghan, Margot, Kristen and Paul - to you all I propose a toast:

One of the most difficult things to accept is how, randomly, amazing people float in, and inevitably out, of our lives - so here's to making the most of the brief times we share, and to building beautiful things while having a shit load of fun doing it.

cheers my friends.