Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Our original project was, we had no intention of building it full scale. Professor Furman
decided that he liked them and picked 3 of them and decided let's build one of them full
scale. The project revolved around what we can do in a summer studio. And we originally
had planned, an 8 week intensive. A lot of that hinged upon being able to get the proper
consultants. So what we had to do, was work with what material could be donated. And Hanford
lumber donated all the plywood for us and that became the design driver. So much of
what we do in design school is very time based so there isn't often opportunity to build
something in real life, especially something structural. Structure isn't something that
typically we have too much time to develope in the program. We started off as a furniture
school and the furniture school had a very strong structural component and that is something
we managed to continue over the years. And the delightful opportunity came up where we
can do a full scale structure. That's a wonderful learning opportunity for the students to take
it in and do a design build. For the first 3 years we had no budgets. Just kind of like
think out of the box, be as creative as you can. You don't actually have to spend money
or think about anyone else's money. So at this point, we actually had a budget. We had
to think practical and simple. When we finally decided to build it. It was really really
exciting. Because you get to showcase not only my design, which turned into our design,
because we modified it a lot. But Ryerson as a whole, we can attract people to Ryerson
to explore Ryerson more, outside of the school. This kind of education is kind of an intensive
space where you need to have a space to build, to create, and to break things. And it's not
tied so much to the virtual. It's tied to the physical, call it the muscle memory of
working with materials in order to understand what material is beyond the way you conceptualize it.
I'd say that it doesn't really blend in with the modern architecture we have with
the Image Arts building and historical Kerr Hall. It's kind of just there on its own and
creates its own look and style. A lot of people think it's unfinished but it's nice there
because it's raw. It gives you a lot of opportunity to give your own perception on it and make
it look like the way you think it would look based on its concept. So it would be nice
to see how it takes its own shape near the end of its course on Gould Street.