We now begin the final stretch of camp.

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Project 6: Studio in the Cotton District

The barn will be full of life today as the campers begin the final stages of their Cotton District studio project. Ideas from last night will be worked and reworked in order to test the level of success each design has achieved. Counselors will help bring designs to relative completion by this afternoon. Drawings and models will be organized and studied to prepare for tomorrow morning’s reviews.

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Band: Delta Inspired, Hill Country Honed, Deep Fried Rock & Roll

Big Blue Truck is the culmination of five native Mississippi music lovers traveling seemingly separate musical paths away from a common nucleus.

That nucleus turned out to be this hard and gritty, down and dirty, sweet and sweaty sound that they’ve unearthed from somewhere between the black delta soil and the red clay hills of Mississippi.

Today we will make a nice recovery from yesterday’s schedule hiccup.

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Project 5: Representation in 2D and 3D

After a short meeting to discuss meeting locations, the counselors lead the campers on a short walk to the Cotton District.  This will be the site of the final project. With sketch books in hand, the campers will begin to record, through perspective drawings, the context of the buildings, streets, foliage and paths that make up the Cotton District. This site analysis should rely on senses and experience while in the space. Basic size and proportions of structures on the site should be recorded as well by the group. Using these drawings a site model will be created, to scale, of the city block in which the project will be located. These observations will help with creating a project that responds not only to the intimacy of the immediate site in which they will be working, but also the greater context of the Cotton District itself. The site model will aid in responding to general elements within the site. Both methods of representation should teach the campers about the strengths and weaknesses inherent in them.

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Project 6: Studio in the Cotton District

Following dinner the campers are asked to engage in a round table discussion with the counselors. Led by the camper questions will be answered regarding architectural education through the experience of the students of the School of Architecture themselves.

With all inquiries addressed, the final project is introduced. This will be a close resemblance to a “real building” project as seen while in school. Campers will be given a program and client. The main program will be a studio specified to the needs of its client (a dancer, a painter, a poet, or a sculptor). This project should tie together all of the experiences throughout the week. Each camper should think about space, site, representation, and, for the first time, building form.

The night will begin and end with a “charrette” of the building. Charrette are a useful method of a quick sketch design that allows for multiple ideas to be addressed in a limited amount of time. From this charrette drawings and models of the selected site and design will be further developed. Through an iterative process, problems and issues can be worked out and brought to a complete idea about the design of the building. A model that fits in the site model should be completed to review purposes. Drawings and process models will also be included in the review of the design.

Drawing Exercises: Part Deux

Professor Greg Watson made a follow up appearance in his two part drawing exercise series. This round allowed campers to record value and light qualities of the models they made earlier in the week. The first of the exercises was light weight studies to help define edges, folds in a drawing using only lines on a page. Using charcoal, the campers were asked to define space by shading from light to dark with varying degrees of gradation between. These techniques allow the drawing to portray depth and quality of space in 2 dimensions.


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Improv Project 1: Water Bottle Holding Device

This project was the product of our talented counselors and directors. When skies turned against us we improvised a simple design problem for the campers to tackle. Using 1 skewer, and as much twine, cardboard and chip board as they needed, the campers were ask to create a personalized device to hold a 17 oz. bottle of water.


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Project 4B: Cardboard Sitting Device+ Final Presentations and Testing

The campers were asked to present their Sitting Devices in the auditorium this afternoon following dinner.

Last night finished with a bang. The sound of bricks slamming into the work desks in the barn echoed as the campers tested the structural integrity of a folded sheet of paper. Today will combine aspects of yesterday’s exercises and experiments.

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Project 4B: Cardboard Sitting Device+

Teams will use scale models and design sketches to design a device that must support at least one team member. This device may be constructed using only cardboard and chipboard. Glue and dry connections are the only structural binding allowed. Colored tape and twine will be used for certain details throughout the design. The designs should also include the incorporation of one other conceptual function determined by the group. This project will require that campers work together to balance aspects of comfort, stability and aesthetic appeal in their designs.

Before lunch the teams will work to complete the preliminary designs based on scale models and sketches. By the afternoon construction will begin on the full scale device. No movie will be shown tonight to allow for progress to continue for this project and allow teams to finish before they return to the dorms.

Campers were treated to lunch from City Bagel Café at 12:30 p.m. The late start today begins an afternoon full of skill development exercises and the introduction of two short projects later this afternoon.

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Project 2: Perspective/ Detail Drawing

Using the techniques and methods demonstrated by Professor Watson Saturday morning, the campers will begin recording their environment. Perspective drawing is an important skill used by architects to record and communicate a 3-dimensional space in a 2-dimensional format. Another means of communicating the physical condition of a space is by using detail drawing. Both tools can also be utilized in working out design decisions of physical conditions.

The campers will create a series of 15 minute and 45 minute drawings to help improve their basic drawing skills and to also help with learning the value of each tool for future design development.

Project 3: Kit-of-Parts Spatial Habitat

The lessons learned from the instant environments about capturing and defining space will be rolled over into the spatial habitat. A new “kit-of-parts” will be introduced. These pieces will be used to define public and private spaces in an abstract model with no numerical scale. The models will be constantly rotated and flipped to allow the campers to see the spaces that are created from different points-of-view. Relationships between spaces will change depending on the angle in which the model is viewed. Models are a closer representation of how we see space compared to 2 dimensional drawings.

Project 4A: Experiment with Paper

This quick project will follow tonight’s film and will end the evening with an exploration in simple structural experiments. The campers will be asked to fold a single 8.5” x 11”sheet of paper into a structurally stable but aesthetically pleasing structure that must hold the weight of a one or more bricks.

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Film Series: An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

An Inconvenient Truth is a documentary on Al Gore’s global campaign to increase the awareness of global warming on a worldwide scale. It mixes the science and facts about global climate change with the personal views of Gore who is a longtime advocate for environmental protection.

Last night was full of brainstorming between the counselors and the campers. Most of the groups had a clear grasp on how their designs would progress today.

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Today starts with breakfast on the bridge provided by City Bagel Café. Following this jump start, Professor Greg Watson will lead the campers through a series of drawing exercises ending at around noon. Techniques and methods will be taught to help each camper with recording space in 2 dimensions.

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Project 1: Instant Environment

After a lunch break, the construction stage will begin on the instant environment project. This stage of the project will allow the campers to experience actual conditions of space as the conceptual sketches and models are brought into full scale realization. A design/build technique is sometimes used in smaller industrial design projects or, like in architecture, it can be used in small residential or civic projects. The most important aspect of this project is the response and creation of space. Final construction should be completed by 6 p.m. this afternoon. Group pictures will be taken and projects will be documented for a slide show and presentation in the auditorium at 7 p.m.

Instant Environment Final Reviews

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Film Series: Children of Men (2006)

Children of Men portrays a world one generation from now that has fallen into chaos on the heels of an infertility defect in the population. Humankind is facing the likelihood of its own extinction. It is set in London where society is torn apart by violence and warring nationalistic sects. Theo (Clive Owen), a disillusioned ex-activist turned bureaucrat, is forced to face his own demons and protect a young pregnant woman, the planet's last remaining hope.

Welcome to the 2007 Design Discovery Workshop. We are going to have an enjoyable week that will aid in your understanding of architecture as a profession, and of the demands and expectations of architecture school. During the week you will participate in projects and exercises that open your mind to the world of design. The experience will be a positive one that may ultimately help you choose a major and profession.

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Daily updates of activities and schedules will be posted here under Mom and Dad Need To Know throughout the week including descriptions of projects and films in the film series. Photos of the campers will be posted in the gallery section throughout the daily activities.

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Project 1: Instant Environment

Following Dinner and the Introduction to Design Discovery, campers will end their night by beginning their first project of the week. The instant environment should begin to teach the campers about how to deal with site, materials and construction, as well as capturing space. These are three of the most basic and real things that architects must deal with on a daily basis. It is crucial to develop an awareness of these issues for the future. Materials will be provided in a "kit-of-parts" including: muslin cloth, varying lengths of small lumber, and limited amount of string. The campers must work as a team to make a space and structure that provides shelter for their team. This also should respond to the given site.

Tonight will be the preliminary design stage of this project. A visit to the site will be followed by a night of sketching, model building, and communications within the group to produce a working design by the end of the evening.