42 Days of Studio SouthRain GardenWith Dan Harding

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Day one of Studio South. Today we went over the syllabus and all of the basics, getting an idea of what the next 6 weeks would initial. From our first meet-ing I feel the biggest idea/ difference of this class in comparison to most archi-tectural classes was that we were more of an architecture office instead of and architecture class. This is a necessity because we have real clients, a real budget, a real deadline, and have to produce a final product.

$5,000

$7,500

$12,000

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Like an architecture office we have three different proj-ects going on and in order to be most efficient we needed to divide and concur. The three projects are the Botanical gardens, Trail gating, and the Organic farm. Biased on the budget and scale of each project we were divided into three teams. We where all given a chance to say which project we wanted to work in hopes to place everyone on a team they were inter-ested in. Dan then distributed grad students as evenly as possible as group leaders and then the undergradu-ates. The teams were 5, 5, and 7, I was put in the group of 7 which was the botanical gardens team. The botani-cal garden project was the largest scale with the largest budget of 12,000 dollars.

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Today we get our first taste of our project. Our group met up with professor Harding at our site in the back of the S.C. Botanical Gar-dens. We explored the site and discussed exactly what we were going to be working on and some of the specific needs of our clients. We were informed that we would be building a pavilion for the gardens bi-annual plant sale that would replace the tent you see in the image to the left which they had previously been using. The main needs of the clients were as follows: the clients needed a permanent structure that would provide shelter and safety from the weather, they need a place for storage which could specifically keep up to three cash registers securely over night as well as some sort of cash wrap with a power sorce, the clients also wanted the pavilion to establish a better flow of traffic separating pedestrian and vehicular, another main idea was to incorporate sustainable strategies, and finally incorporate the concept of art and beauty in nature.

VS.

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Over the weekend we jumped right into it and started with some preliminary conceptual models. My main focus was on circulation and how we might improve upon their existing set up, and use the architecture to push people in the directions we wanted them to go. One main idea I got from this process was that it was more about ideas than the end look, I Began to better understand the difference and necessity of conceptual models and how rough they are in com-parison to final well-constructed models.

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SToday we started off by meeting with Dan to show him our first models and ideas we came up with over the weekend. We went over some of the aspects and needs of our clients and how we thought we could fulfill them. After lunch we met with our clients for the first time, and re-discussed with them what they wanted from us. The biggest need was for a dry space during rainy days. They wanted it to be an open air, low-maintenance structure, with cash wraps and seating space. In our meeting threw some discussion we came up with and idea of collecting rainwater and feeding it into a bog garden between the road and pavilion. They also showed some interest in possible movable walls that could possibly make some of the space enclosable. At the end of the meeting we were left with a lot more direction and ideas on how to proceed.

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SAfter our meeting with the clients we had a lot more direction for our designs. We where asked to make a second round of models but I felt that I could produce more and in more accurate detail the ideas of my design by modeling it in a 3D software. My design incorporated a layered pitched roof that would shed water while still letting natural light into the space down the middle of the roof. It also incor-porated a long lattice wall in-between the garden/ road in order to say that pedestrians we not supposed to enter from this side but take the path from the parking lot threw the woods in to the pavil-ion from the other side. This was a way to separate the pedestrian and vehicular traffic physically and mentally. I put a door on the side with the wall so that staff could pack a truck up to it and load and unload equipment for the sale.

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We now have started merging our ideas and proceed by making to larger models that both have distinct shapes as well as incorporate our major ideas with the main focus of later picking one of the two to proceed with, but first we take these two models to our clients to see which direction they would like us to proceed. The major differences are that one has a pitched roof and a half wall with a door on the side of the garden, and the others main idea is that the roof is a funnel that brings the rain water into a basin that funnels that water into the bog garden.

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Thursday before our Friday client meeting we met with Dan and came to the decision that would be going with the funnel idea. The collection of the water was the driving force in this decision. So now we are all focused on one idea and have our direction for the rest of the project, and can move forward together. The image on the left is our first parti of our project and says a lot to the way we want this project to look and what we want it to do. This simple decision was a major point in our project and grounded us all together.

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On Friday after lunch we met with our clients at the site with ¼” scale models of our final structure. This included the idea of the rain garden to divert pedestrian traffic away from the road, a wood structure, and warm natural colors in order to blend into the natural surroundings. Our clients were extremely excited with what we had for them and ready to get things under way which only made us that much more confident and excited about what we where doing. Another side note is that the decided to donate the blue and white tent they had on the site to the CRDC for us to use as a shelter/ shop space for building.

Roof

Rafters

Valley Beams

Beams

Columns and Braces

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ON to the next step of our process, we have our idea now how do we bring that idea to reality? We now start to figure out how we are going to structurally build this pavilion. We look at our foundation, columns, beams, rafters, roofing etc. We are not structural engineers so there is a lot of back and forth with Dad on what is and isn’t pos-sible. And this will later start to change and shape our structure due to physical restraints. We also begin to look deeper into the furni-ture side of our design and what kind of cash wrap/ storage will work best.

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Today we met with Dan and had a discussion on how to brace the beams that had large spans and how to triangulate our structure to make it solid and sturdy. This led us to a kind of tree branch look on each of our columns.

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Now for our first major obstacle we had to face. We now start to realize that we are going to have a problem with some of our larger spans. We can’t have spans larger than 16 feet because of the restrictions due to the length of lumber that is available to us. The largest and most challenging span is that of the Valley Beams. There is just no way we can cover this distance even with a composite of boards joined together. We also don’t want to put columns in the middle of our space but unfortunately the physics start to control our design and call for some kind of support in the middle of these valley beams.

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Our answer to the obstacle of the large spans we decide to make our structure symmetrical instead as well as add another beam span-ning from valley beam to valley beam in order to shorten the spans and make it possible to take the loads of the structure. This changes our parti/ overall look but we soon realize its for the best and the fact that the design starts to take shape based on function and physi-cal restraints makes the architecture that much more true and begins to provide us with some unique solutions.

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SOur next design decision presents it self when we start to look at the corner details and how to join the outer beams in a structural and attractive detail. Our solu-tion came in the form of a double bridal joint around the corner columns. It is such an interesting detail because we have so many of our structural compo-nents coming together at one point.

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SToday we finalized the placement of the central columns we originally didn’t want to have them but the physics called for them so now it is our job to proceed with this new element as best as possible. These columns are the ones that hold up that central beam that in turn support the center of the valley beams. When deciding the placement of the columns we tried to let the existing structure inform their placement. As u can see we used the existing grid work to inform the new columns while still leaving as much open space on the left side to keep a good circulation.

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SOne task that I took on was the basin. At one point we wanted the valley beams to be at 45 degree angles but after visiting the site and laying out some guide lines I realized the basin would be way to big so we had to change the size of the basin which changed the angles of the valley beams. I also looked at how the basin might look and function, on the left you can see an early design idea, that’s main function was to catch the funneled rainwater and feed it out into the garden.

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SWe now have our final structural model and feel we are in a good place to begin the construction proses. It is over A-symmetrical but we are also happy that it has some of our original asymmetrical aspects.

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SThe first step in the construction process is the foundation so in order to prepare to break ground we had to set up our site. This meant staking out lines to grid out where our columns were going this step was very important and had to be done as precisely as pos-sible. We not only had columns on the edge of the slab and on the slab but also about 8 off the slab, because we wanted to extend the slab from 24’ to 32’.

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SToday we broke ground. Dan used the auger to drill out most of the holes for the foundation which we then hand dug out to be 2’x2’ and 3’ deep.

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SToday we began preparing the form-work that we would be using for the foundation poor, as well as getting the wood for the columns cut the proper sizes. We also drilled 1 in holes half way into the sandwiching pieces of each column in order for the bolts that hold the 4x4 to the foundation, to sit in making the sandwiched columns flush.

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SAfter digging the holes the other day we come back only to find that they have filled up with water after yesterdays rain so we then have to re dig them out and pump the water out. We then set our formwork in preparation for the con-crete poor later that day. The poor goes as plan and we learn how to treat con-crete and how to finish it. Once we have finished the concrete and before it sets we go ahead and set our brackets in place that will tie the columns to the foundation.

2x12’s

ABCDE

1

2

3

4

E4-E2 x4

ABCDE

1

2

3

4

E2-E1 x4

E1-D1 X2

D1-B1 X2

B1-A1 x2

13’ 6 1/4”

1’

11/2”11/2”

31/2”

1’ 61/2”

Bridal Joints

5 5/

8”

14’ 6”

8’ 2 1/4”

11’ 1 1/2”

15’ 8 1/4”

ABCDE

1

2

3

4

2x6’s 9’ 5 3/4”

5 1/2”

1’ 7’ 11 1/4”31/4”

11/2” 11/2”

7’

5 1/2”

1’ 1’3’ 11”31/2” 31/2”

11/2” 11/2” 11/2” 11/2”

C4-C3 x4

C3-B3 x2

111/4”

111/4”

111/4”

111/4”

111/4”

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We go back to the site and it has rain again giving our concrete foundation the weathered natural texture, which we are actually very happy with. We con-tinue to make our shop drawings while some of us begin cutting the beams that span the columns and we also start cutting out our bridal joints.

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SAfter lunch we finish up cutting our bridal joins and test them by dry fitting them just to make sure everything fights nice and snug, which some did and the ones that didn’t we tweaked and got everything fitting just right. We also began thinking about our color scheme.

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Today we took our possible color schemes to the clients and decided on our final colors. We also drilled holes for our brackets in on the exist-ing slab and placed those brackets. We also set up the basin columns and beams.

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With the help of some of the organic farm team we built and secured one of the largest spans of our structure, the interior columns and beam. In order to do this we built this piece on the ground and the raised it up and secured it.

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Monday we put up the additional columns/ beam pieces. Just like last time we built each part of our main structure on the ground, then raised them, leveled them, and finally secured them in place.

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STuesday we put up the remaining sections of our initial structure, beams and columns. We then dropped in the remaining beams that secured each of these sections together making it all one piece. This also meant that we had to put in the bridal joints and make sure they all fit properly. We then leveled and secured everything. We made sure that it would stay in place by setting up two dummy rafters, and adding in our braces to each column and beam at a specific height and angle.

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We began making sure we had everything level and then started to bolt everything together. We started making more specific shop drawings for our valley beams and set lines where they would be placed. We also bought our paint and began painting our rafters.

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Today was for the most part a day of painting and setting up shop drawings for the next step.

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Friday we built and secured the valley beams which are the lon-gest spans of our pavilion. They were mad up of 4 2x12s joined together, with a special cut made to sit on the center beam. We also cut the initial 14 rafters, which were placed on each side of the basin. Still the painting continues.

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Today we installed 2x4s that ran the length of the valley beams in order to catch the rafters that were fixed to the valley beam. We cut the rest of the rafters, which were all unique lengths and angles. We also finished up painting the rafters and valley beams.

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This is our final week of construction. Monday we finished installing the rafters and began painting the skip sheeting. The electrical box was also installed by Clemson faculty, and we started the clean up process.

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Installation of skip sheeting that acts as support for metal roofing as well as what the roofing is tied into. We also put up a 2x4 skirt around the top edge of the roof/ rafters.

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SStudio south held our final review on the 28th of July. We did our reviews in the Pecha Kucha style we had become so used to. We started of with a cookout in the lee hall courtyard where Trailgating presented there project followed by a trip out to the organic farm project. Finally we came out to the Botanical gardens four our review. We where joined by S.C. Botanical garden staff, Clemson architec-ture faculty and our fellow peers. On our site we displayed pictures of our building process on a spare piece of metal roofing. We also had a time laps presentation of our jobsite, set up on a computer. We gave our presentation and took questions followed by mingling and individual con-versations about out project. The project will continue to be under construction by Chris Paris and myself. We still have to finish the roofing, build the cash wraps, form and pour the basin and extension of the slab, as well as a service door on the side of the bog garden, which will be handled by the Gardens staff. To be continued ……