design, build, learn. repeat.

Doug Nelson: ‘No small plans’

Thanks to Seth for referring me to Douglas Nelson’s speech at the Enterprise Community Partners Conference in Baltimore on November 20. Speaking to an audience of community development professionals, Nelson outlines the “under-acknowledged, under-analyzed, and misunderstood” impact of economic globalization on American communities. He identifies a coming turning point in America, and urges the community development movement to reposition itself “as part of a broader effort to restore economic security and insure a measure of family stability to the nation’s underemployed poor and working poor.” The full text of the speech, which isn’t long, is available on Enterprise’s website. Douglas …

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Status Update: Last Day of AmeriCorps

Big life news: My AmeriCorps contract with Hands On Gulf Coast is finished on November 23, which makes today my last (official) day of work. (Last I checked, I had 286 extra hours on top of the 1700 I’m required to complete.) Despite the turbulence of its organizational transition, being with Hands On has been a great experience and I’ll miss being a part of that. I plan to stay in Biloxi for Thanksgiving, and probably through the first week of December. I’ll be wrapping up projects and organizing things before I head home for a nice three- or four-week …

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Hands On: The End of an Era

This December will likely be the last month that Hands On Gulf Coast inhabits the large, cluttered building behind Beauvoir United Methodist Church on Pass Road in Biloxi. Lillian Jenkins, the new Executive Director, and Caitlin Brooking, now Director of Programs, have been heading up the search for new, more compact office space. The implication has been slowly sinking in: the task of moving three years of possessions, supplies, and memories out of a space that thousands of people have shared. Having never lived at Hands On, I don’t have the personal connection with base that others do, but moving …

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Maurice Cox: ‘Design for All’

Coming rather late, here are my notes and thoughts from Maurice Cox’s October 13th lecture at the Tulane University School of Architecture. Maurice was my architecture studio professor in the spring of 4th year, and I’ve run into him since through his involvement with the City of Moss Point, Mississippi. He’s a brilliant guy, so there was no hesitation about heading over to New Orleans for the lecture. First, a little biographical information: Maurice Cox was appointed Director of Design for the National Endowment for the Arts in October 2007 where he supervises the grant making process in design, oversees …

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The Trace Work Day

Edit [12/26/08]: See these photos and more at my Flickr page. An office job means that I get to work on construction sites less often than I like. But Friday, I spent the day building out at The Trace along with the other Design Studio folks on the project, Kristen, Sam, and Nadene. We worked with Bryce, a construction supervisor with Habitat, on one of the eight houses currently being framed. Another eight or so foundations are going in, and the remaining houses are being permitted while the lots are being graded and readied. Alongside volunteers from Thrivent Financial, the …

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KaBOOM in Vancleave

Edit [12/26/08]: See these photos and more at my Flickr page. After working with KaBOOM! on a shade structure in North Gulfport, I was asked to lead another tile project in Vancleave, MS, a mostly rural community about 30 minutes east and north of Biloxi. This KaBOOM! build was scheduled for October 25th, “Make A Difference Day”, and Hands On wanted to help out by using painted tiles to beautify part of the park. We decided to tile the columns of the large pavilion adjacent to the park. To do so, we had to pad out the 5-1/2″ by 5-1/2″ …

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Barack Obama

This election means something different to everyone, so I won’t go into much depth right now about what it means to me. But man, is it good to have a president-elect who can speak to America like an intelligent adult. It’s good to see so many people enthused by politics for once. And now, the work begins.

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The Trace, an Introduction

What has been your biggest project over the past month and a half, you ask? Why, I’ll tell you! It’s “The Trace”, a 28-house subdivision that Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast (HFHMGC) is developing in Long Beach, Mississippi. This is the first collaboration of this kind between the GCCDS and HFHMGC, and it’s been productive for both sides. Their goal is to develop a high-quality neighborhood that’s not bland and has more appeal than a “typical” Habitat development, and we’re providing them with some architectural and planning assistance. We have some great progress so far. Eleven different …

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Election Day

The “Obamamobile” came by the office today, driven by our friend Laura. I’m excited, no doubt. I’ve been following the election more closely than is probably healthy; I voted several weeks ago, and now we get to see how it turns out. A quick plug: my favorite source for election-related statistical geekery is FiveThirtyEight.com. They’re fairly new to the political scene, but I’ve been impressed by their thoughtful, analytical approach to polling results, their compelling ways of presenting information, and the willingness to go the thousands of extra miles to bring things like road trip updates and state-by-state analysis. Check …

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