"Origin" Updates

The project for Meridian City Hall is moving along... this one has definitely involved a lot of planning & designing in the pre-fabrication stage. Last week, Kevin spent hours on the computer laying out the cut files for our first round on the water-jet. We submitted files yesterday for the main sculptural elements--all the steel, brass & copper pieces. There were lots of details to work out; thickness of material, how they will be joined together, pieces had fit on the cut area of the water-jet table & fit standard sheets of material, hardware & joining processes & some of the larger pieces had to be broken down to fit through the front doors of city hall...

Next we will submit files for the attachment plates, the center-pipe, & the plumb-bob. Hopefully we will have everything back & ready to assemble in mid-March. If we have planned it all out correctly, the pieces should go together like a puzzle. Crossing my fingers, anyway....




I managed to score some perfect lenses this week too; I got a message from the Reuseum that he had some that just arrived, & I rushed down the next day; they are 5 inches in diameter & practically new!!! Perfect! These will go into the piece that looks kinda like a sextant; one on each side to magnify the scale. I will also be adding some smaller lenses to the plumb-bob: more on that later....




And, we met with the Pro. Land Surveyors of Idaho; gave a brief overview of the project & asked if they might be interested in donating some cool surveying artifacts to the project. It turns out, the big state conference is next month, & they are doing a re-dedication of Initial Point---interesting how closely it ties in with my project.... They invited me to come to the conference & present the project in front of about 300 Professional Surveyors from around the state! OMG: I'm a bit nervous about that, but I'll do my best... They also gave me a replica of the marker that is out at Initial Point to use in the alcove art, & agreed to put the world out for cool artifacts. Check out this article in the Boise Weekly for the details on the Initial Point Dedication: a very cool write-up last week...
Since the meeting, I got word that we will be receiving quite a few really cool pieces to use!! We also met with Clint at Land Solutions: they did the surveying for the City Hall property. He has volunteered to come in & give us the exact coordinates of the center of the art piece when it's done. A very cool detail to add in somewhere; I'm very excited that so many people are getting involved! The support for this project has been amazing!

That's all for now; check back soon for updates :)

Amber

Concrete Fun at Mom and Dads house

Yesterday afternoon, we headed over to Mom & Dad's house--to move around some huge concrete chunks that we've been saving... These usually end up in the landfill, & we rescue them from time to time, to use in projects. Mom has been eyeing a few of them to use in her yard; there is a huge area on the side of the house that they want to convert to garden space: rip out the lawn, put in some raised beds, etc & these big chunks of concrete are perfect! One is intended for a raised vegetable garden, & 2 others we put together to make a table/bench with a planter area.... After bouncing through the sand & almost getting stuck, here we are ready to start unloading...

Thanks goodness for the old International & the crane! This chunk weighs a lot!

Tipping over.....

And there it is!! We will stain & seal it before planting; to make sure stuff won't leach out of the concrete. Right now it kinda looks like a crypt....

Don't get any ideas, Mom; his life insurance isn't that great....

Lifting the table-top piece into place: lovely sunset :)

And, we made another crypt... Too funny; actually, this will make a lovely seating area, & there are berry bushes planted already that will grow up through the void. I may add a few sculptural touches too, since there are threaded holes in the top. After staining, & when the rest of the plantings grow up a bit, it's going to make a lovely bench area :)

It was good to get the crane truck out; it's been a couple months since we've done much with it. Always lots of fun & lots of work--these pieces of concrete are unbelievably heavy; the big ones are over 1000 lbs! It take a lot of rigging & hooking & unhooking & chains & checking to get them moved--takes a lot of time; we were at it from about 4:30 until 7. But, the time & effort will be worth it when the garden comes to life & I know we saved a bunch of concrete from going to the landfill :) I can't wait to get them all stained & planted; will post more pics of the garden transformation throughout the spring....

On the 25th of March an event is organized in which the students of the Industrial Ecology Master Programme will showcase their work in real-life case studies where Industrial Ecology principles and tools are applied . The event will be a Studium Generale under the title Industrial Ecology in Practice - A Systemic Approach Towards Sustainability.

Visit the website of the Studium Generale

Tool Sculpture--Done!

Yay!! This one was a trade for a friend; he wanted me to make a sculpture out of all these tools that he brought to me in a bucket... It was a bit challenging; I wanted to keep most of the tools intact, but still make something more that just a bunch of misc. stuff welded together. I'm happy with how it turned out; I'm actually sad that he's going to come get it tonight. Hope he likes it!!

Preview--Tool Sculpture---almost done :)

A sneak peek at the tool sculpture I've been working on; almost done; just have to add some cable, do a final clean up & seal :) Will post finished pics when done....

Meridian "Origin" Project--moving forward!!

Time to start on the next phase of planning for Meridian City Hall! Yesterday, we had a meeting with the City & Arts Commission to get final approval & start laying down real dates & planning out the installation. The meeting went well, I think; everyone seems excited about the project & very open to ideas for making it a successful venture. We have a tentative date for install on the 1st weekend of May---time to get busy!!

The design is pretty much finalized: now Kevin has to draw all the files for the pieces to by cut on the waterjet: this will take a lot of time & planning to make sure everything will go together correctly, that we are making the best use of materials, etc. Hoping to have pieces cut in March & start on the fabrication. This project is a bit different---so much of the work is being done in the planning & design phase: when it comes to fab, we will be putting lots of pieces together, but everything will be already layed out like a puzzle. There will be very little welding; most of the pieces will be joined with bolts/rivets: we have to bring everything into the building through the front doors; just regular sized man doors, so the whole project is designed in pieces that will be put together on site.

Still lots to do; more updates to come!!

Amber

"Can Web 2.0 Outperform Duct Tape and WD-40?"

Here is an interesting conference at the Center for Industrial Ecology at Yale.

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February 11th, 2008 4:30PM-6:00PM
Burke Auditorium, Kroon Building, 195 Prospect Street,
New Haven, CT
David Rejeski, Woodrow Wilson Center to speak on Web 2.0
Read the Press Release here.

Upcoming conference ISIE Lisbon

In June 2009 the International Society for Industrial Ecology organizes the 5th biannual conference on Industrial Ecology in Lisbon, Portugal. These conferences are excellent opportunities to hear about the latest research in the field and to talk to lots of interesting people.

5 DIY Green Building Techniques

Steve Kornher Flying Concrete Homes















































Living Roof- New Academy of Sciences: Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

The Farm- Summertown, TN.













































Adobe/Cobb/Strawbale- The Farm, Alex's Green Dragon Tavern: Summertown TN

Rammed Earth- Eden Project: Cornwall, England

The pictures from The Green Dragon, at the Ecovillage Training Center, at The Farm in Tennessee, show the progress of the project, which is still in construction. it was constructed to be the largest cobb structure east of the Mississippi. The roof construction pictured above was particularly difficult, as it caved in once and had to be built again. The structure uses a combination of almost all known natural building techniques, the walls are strawbale covered by cobb and then adobe for extra insulation. There is also use of earth bags, such as in the construction of the fireplace face. Earth bags are large strong bags, that you fill with dirt, to create something similar to a sandbag. These are incredibly strong. The Dragon Sculpture and large face inside the structure I made myself and took pictures of the process, I sculpted it out of cobb, which is dirt, clay and straw then covered it with a mixture of adobe and lime to harden it. We then painted it with store bought natural colorings and painted around it as we did the whole building with that orange coloring. Other highlights of the natural building process included custom wood fences that we built with the help of a local construction agency.

The living roof at the New Academy of Sciences building in Golden Gate Park S.F. is the largest example of a living roof. A living roof provides very good natural insulation and the moisture from the grass actually cools the building in the summer and insulates it in the winter. Living roofs can also be executed on a much smaller scale. The pictures of the smaller huts above are again from the Farm. Anyone can create a living roof like this. First spread old or recycled carpet pieces over a wooden foundation. Then spread dirt and and grass seeds on top. water and sunlight create the roof. The Green Dragon shows pictures of a living roof with seeds that have not yet sprouted, another picture from later on shows the building when weeds took hold of the roof. This is not a big deal because the building is still in progress.

The Rammed Earth at the Eden Project in Cornwall, England also uses a variety of natural building techniques. The rammed earth wall above uses techniques possibly old as the Great Wall of China. Rammed earth is similar to adobe and cob techniques, in that the soil is mostly clay and sand. The difference is that the material is compressed or tamped into place, modern forms utiilize heavy mechinisms and even machinery to compress the material.

Steve Kornher is the builder who has made flying concrete a notable building material. "Flying Concrete" or, Lightweight concrete has been used in this country for more than 50 years. Its strength is roughly proportional to its weight and its resistance to weathering is about the same as that of ordinary concrete. As compared with the usual sand and gravel concrete it has certain advantages and disadvantages. Among the former are the savings in structural steel supports and decreased foundation sizes because of decreased loads, and better fire resistance and insulation against heat and sound. Its disadvantages include greater cost (30 to 50 percent), need for more care in placing, greater porosity, and more drying shrinkage.

The principal use of lightweight concrete in Bureau work is in construction of underbeds for floors and roof slabs, where substantial savings can be effected by decreasing dead load. It is also used in some insulated sections of floors and walls.

Lightweight concrete may be obtained through use of lightweight aggregates, as discussed in the following sections, or by special methods of production. These methods include the use of foaming agents, such as aluminum powder, which produces concrete of low unit weight through generation of gas while the concrete is still plastic. Lightweight concrete may weigh from 35 to 115 pounds per cubic foot, depending on the type of lightweight aggregate used or the method of production. In Bureau construction, lightweight concretes have been limited to those whose lightness depends on inorganic aggregates which are light in weight.