The Alley Flat Initiative

Tea Time April 16

2010-04-19T06:43:00.000-07:00

Daphne was responsible for Tea Time last Friday. She brought Greek yogurt with honey and chocolate salami. It was delicious! Thanks Daphne!

Sol (Field Trip)

2010-04-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, the first part of the class was spent visiting Sol, a new sustainable development in East Austin. Chris Krager was kind enough to show us around and let us walk through some of the units. Everyone agreed that while walking through the completed units was fun, the really interesting part was walking through the unit that was still open to the framing. Thanks Chris for meeting with us!

Just to be clear. Everyone reported straight back to studio. Nobody stopped at El Chilito and no one stopped at Sonic.

Meeting with Mark

2010-04-19T06:31:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, the Guadalupe groups met with Mark from GNDC. It went well. He had a lot of insight into what the board members would and wouldn't like. He stressed that the resident was likely to be elderly, so we should be careful to not give them "too much house." All in all, he seemed to genuinely appreciate all of the designs. Thanks to Mark for fitting us into his busy schedule!

Review 3

2010-04-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

This past Monday we had our first review with our community partners. Our first two hours were spent at ACDDC going over the Guadalupe projects. We were unable to get a reviewer from GNDC, so Michael from ACDDC served as his proxy. It went really well and we got tons of great feedback. Shiloh, who is helping us with cost estimating, was also able to join us to give us his perspective.

The first team to present: The Justins

Everett talking through his design with Michael and Sarah.

The final team to present here was Daphne and Nishiel.

Everyone around the table.

Next we went to Clarksville to present our ideas to them and hear their opinions for a few hours. It was a lot of fun and a great conversation. Here's a group picture (Special thanks to Patrick Bresnan for getting this for us.)

Consultations

2010-04-09T06:54:00.000-07:00

Last week was a busy week preparing for our first review with our community partners. Various studio visitors met with us as our consultants regarding HVAC, accessibility and other issues. Dason, another UT professor, met with teams on Friday to discuss energy modeling in ecotect and solar strategies.

Tea Time April 2

2010-04-09T06:48:00.000-07:00

Lauren brought these delicious cupcakes for tea time last week. Thanks! In her own words, "I'm from the suburbs we make cupcakes from a box."

Blue Carpet Stories and a Special Guest

2010-03-30T09:32:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday we learned that blue carpet is rarely a good idea. What started with one person commenting that they didn't like blue carpet, led several to contribute their scariest blue carpet story. Please share yours with us below.

Also on Wednesday we had a surprise visit from architect, Marlon Blackwell, who lectured that evening. For anyone who doesn't know his work, check it out; it's outstanding. Below is Marlon talking with us about our site models.

First Review

2010-03-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

We had our first review a couple of weeks ago. Every presented a project for either our Clarksville site or our Guadalupe site. There were lots of great ideas and criticism. We've formed teams to continue going forward. Below is an outline of the teams and what they're working on.

Justin/Justin: Partnered because they had similar designs - linear corridor schemes. They are interested in relating inside and outside through tectonics. They are also continuing to develop an arbor strategy as a way to claim additional living space outside.

Mike/Ashley/Kirti: Partnered because they had similar organization strategies. One of their priorities is to create a welcoming place for the entire community by way of an on-site community garden. They are interested in utilizing some sort of rainwater collection. They are also interested in relating inside and outside; one of their strategies is a look nook, or breakfast nook.

Lauren/Lauren/Sarah: This group is creating a modular system which can produce multiple variations. They have several configurations including a Dog-trot and a Two Story prototype. The are also trying to design an interactive presentation strategy to help people understand the adaptability of the system.

Daphne/Nishiel: Partnered because they had similar projects. Their priority is to create a place for the home as opposed to just a structure for the home. It is important to them that the residents have the opportunity to feel connected to the community fabric.

Everett: The only single person group left. He is using cmu construction. His concept is to have a bar of fairly well-defined interior space which is then mirrored with a more ambiguous exterior space.

Stay tuned for more observations from our next review on Friday.

Alley Flat Exhibition

2010-03-06T07:39:00.000-08:00

At the end of March, The Alley Flat Initiative is hosting an exhibit at city hall in Austin. John Peterson of Public Architecture in San Francisco is giving the keynote at the opening on March 26. Below is a postcard with all of the details.

Project 2.0: SITE

2010-03-02T12:11:00.000-08:00

Last week the studio presented our research for Project 2.0: SITE.
The site study is conceived as an "immersive" learning experience, bringing together data and on-the-ground research for learning about the neighborhoods where we are designing, Guadalupe and Clarksville. Our research offers a contemporary snapshot of the neighborhoods, with background as to the changing dynamics that affect the areas. These "findings" contribute to our growing studio archive.

The data sectors that we studied include:
1. Topography (Geography/Geology/Climate/Soils/Plants)
2.  Social History (Settlement Patterns/Demographics/Land Use/Ownership)
3.  Institutional History (Churches/Schools/Youth Centers/Neighborhood Associations/Libraries/Museums)
4.  Regulatory Framework (Codes/Covenants/Restrictions/Guidelines/Zoning/Rights of Way/Planning Initiatives)
5.  Networks (Transportation/Open Space/Parks/Data/Telecomm/Zoning/Retail)
6.  Site Models

Tea Time 2/26

2010-03-02T08:58:00.000-08:00

For Tea Time last week Justin introduced us to Ayyam-i-Ha, a festival which starts at sunset on Feb 25 - sunset on March 1. It was an enjoyable time, thanks Justin!

Taste Tester

2010-03-02T08:52:00.000-08:00

On Friday Ashley went by Our Lady of Guadalupe to see what times they hold mass. She was commissioned to be the "taste tester" for the weekly Friday Fish Fry. Ashley reports that they were interested in what we're doing and are prepared to see students with sketckbooks and cameras milling around.

Their services are as follows: Sat. 6:15pm (Spanish) Sun. 7:45am (Spanish), 9:45am (English), 11:30am (English), 6:00pm (Spanish).

Global PechaKucha Night for Haiti 2/20/10

2010-02-17T05:53:00.000-08:00

Below is part of a press release for a Global PechaKucha Night to benefit Haiti

Global PechaKucha Night for Haiti 2/20/10
Saturday, 20th February
130+ locations around the globe

In a matter of seconds, thousands of lives and dreams were destroyed in Haiti.

Following the tragedy, aid came from many quarters, in all shapes and forms. The global PechaKucha community is coming together with Architecture for Humanity to lend a hand in rebuilding Haiti and establish long-term solutions. Please help us spread the word about our global event in February: 20 images x 20 seconds, 200 cities, 2,000 presentations, 200,000 people. Rebuilding a nation 20 seconds at a time.

This is a true, last minute, we‐can‐do‐it fundraiser, mobilized less than a 20 days ago, spreading today to over 130 cities globally with 100% of proceeds destined for ready‐to‐go reconstruction projects in earthquake‐ravaged Haiti. Why this matters:

“The fact is more people died in Haiti than in the 12 countries affected by the ‘04 Tsunami. Oh, and rainy season begins in a week. So this natural disaster IS a big deal and it’s going to get rough.”

Cameron Sinclair, Founder and eternal optimist @ Architecture for Humanity.

Global PechaKucha Night for Haiti - 2/20/10

On 20th February many of the 280 cities that host PechaKucha events worldwide will converge to present one continuous 24-hour edition of PechaKucha Night. Beginning in Tokyo 2003 as an online networking and exhibition event, PechaKucha has become a massive global event inspiring creative communities from Uganda to Norway. Kicking off at SuperDeluxe in Tokyo, where PechaKucha Night first started seven years to the day (20th Feb 2003), the a presentation 'wave' will travel westward, with cities presenting one after the other. Crossing all times zones and cultures, the 'wavecast' will be streamed live online on Ustream and will be viewable not only on computers, but also on any iPhone or Android handset.

Some presentations intend to offer hope and encouragement through stories of past disaster relief projects, others simply inspire by showing the power of creative thinking.

All of the 2,000 presentations generated from the one-day event – in what could be the world's biggest single-day globally distributed conference – will be posted on the PechaKucha website, where visitors will also be able to make monetary donations to each presentation.

100% of proceeds will go to Architecture For Humanity which operates globally, and was instrumental in getting projects built after the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

"We are not the first responders, we’re the last responders and we’re in for the long haul. We estimate having teams in Haiti for 4 years but we will only do that with the financial support of others."

Cameron Sinclair, Founder and eternal optimist @ Architecture for Humanity.

In organizing this event PechaKucha intends to not only raise funds through pledges from host cities and contributions from individuals but also illustrate the power of innovative minds, creative passion and, most of all, sharing ideas for change and sustainability.

More information about the project and cities which are holding events
http://www.pecha-kucha.org/pechakucha-for-haiti

Community Development

2010-02-13T08:24:00.000-08:00

Every Friday we have "Tea time" to bond as a studio and reward ourselves on another week of hard work. Thanks to Lauren, who this week brought these fantastic apricot/carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting!

Project 1.0

2010-02-10T13:06:00.000-08:00

So far this semester, we have been primarily working on analyzing precedent projects, all recently constructed and many serving as prototypes or “tests” for emerging technologies. For this analysis we are producing original drawings and models as a way of “unmaking” these buildings in order to understand how they are put together. We reviewed these projects on Monday, so now the challenge will be deciding how to best incorporate this research into our design process for the rest of the semester.

Below is a list of what were identified as the "take aways" from each project. The things that we could or should try to use in our projects going forward.

triPOD House (Carnegie Mellon 2007 Solar Decathlon House)

1. modularity

2. efficient use of space (small footprint)

3. circulation outside is important (how you move into the house)

EcoMOD 3 (University of Virginia)

1. usable outdoor living space - indoor/outdoor transitions

2. customizability. . . to a certain extent - might get messy

3.various living scenarios as far as who can utilize the modules

R House (ARO and Della Valle Bernheimer)

1. Lots of insulation is good for preventing heat energy from passing through the walls of the house in winter and summer.

2. The small house is made to seem larger through several techniques: Incorporating large vertical windows that span floors; Light colored interior walls and ceilings; Double-height interior spaces, a dynamic interior with various simple planes that overlap and allow the passage of light through translucent walls and from around corners.

3. Connection to the out-of-doors is provided by the large viewing windows and smaller windows that welcome the natural rhythm of daylight and views to the sky, trees, and ground outside as well as patio stones that appear to be the same level of the interior concrete floor surfacing over the low set viewing windows viewing out to the private back yard.

4. Local typologies are integrated into the form of the home in an abstracted, modern sense at a scale smaller than the surrounding buildings to give the home a humble presence that respects its neighbors while accomplishing a cool modern look.

ZeRow House (Rice University 2009 Solar Decathlon)

1. The idea of a system of "cores" which attempt to locate the higher cost elements (electrical/plumbing) into one localized zone - perhaps as a way of incorporating prefabricated modules into the generally simple stick-frame construction.

2. The use of traditional/common building methods as well as the inclusion of simple design moves (as opposed to relying on hi-tech, hi-cost methods) that accomplish high performance operations. This includes the use and adaptation of a row house typological model for the given climate.

3.The extension of the interior physical space, which is small, to expand into exterior spaces. The blurring of the lines between exterior and interior.

Design Build Texas (University of Texas at Austin, Professor Louise Harpman)

1. Utilization of water, wind, and sun

2. Large roof to shade smaller enclosure

Team Germany (Technische Universitat Darmstadt 2007 Solar Decathlon)

1. Jacket concept: adaptable and could be made low tech

2. Modularity

3. Repetition and variation: does a lot with one thing

4. Flexibility

5. Interactivity