Form Takes Shape

We're really cooking now. Almost literally with that foam scoop. What a smell? Anyway, we've been working really hard and really efficiently ever since this quarter started on the 5th. Last Friday our SIPS Panels arrived and we unloaded them. It didn't take as long as I thought it would have but it was a task. It probably didn't help that I started a weight lifting program just two days before and I was as sore as can be when we started. Oh well, you live and learn. So it took about 2.5 hours to unload those and then of all things it started to snow. I couldn't believe it. It snowed for a while too. It never really built up that much but there was a pretty significant amount that actually stuck to the ground. Saturday was probably the most productive day we have had out on the site. We had athletes from Tech's basketball and baseball teams helping and what a help they were, particularly their height played a major role when we were putting the SIPS panels in place. The walls went up very quickly. When inside, I could really get a sense of the quality of space, especially in the middle section with these two boxes framing your view into the landscape. From the exterior, the form is very bold, in fact it might have been too bold for a certain councilman. Let me talk about that a little. On Monday, our teacher informed us of an issue that a representative of the neighborhood we are building in was bringing up legal issues involving the lot size and frontage of our property. We kind of thought that the issue would pass because its not like someone would sue Habitat for Humanity. Or would they? Plus, we had done the research for the proper setbacks and variations for this code since the width of our lot doesn't allow for the 50' frontage. But the very next day we were shut down and things got a little crazy then. We discussed it at our meeting that night and we figured out that maybe their issue really wasn't this legal matter but what they were really concerned about was the project as a whole, its form and aesthetics, etc. and how it might affect property values of the neighbors. So we decided to bring our model to the meeting that Habitat had with the councilman and neighbors of the area. At around 3 o'clock we were back at it putting roof panels up on the pier side, which each one is a task getting up there but we work together well when we have to do those. My guess is that the councilman did not understand the project's vision and what it was overall but hopefully that matter is behind us now but it did expose us a little to the legal aspect of architecture. Since then, we've been putting up the roof panels, we finished with the pier side today and we've been cutting out the windows. The views that we have framed up are really poetic, in my opinion. Tomorrow will be another big day. We'll be working with the Delta Chi fraternity on putting the panels up on the utility side of the house.