design, build, learn. repeat.

It’s Flippin’ Pouring

Summer days are pretty predictable in Biloxi – sunny and humid in the morning, hot and humid during the day, rain showers in the afternoon, warm and humid during the evening. Today, it’s just raining; it rained this morning as a warm-up, then rained more, took a brief break for lunch, and a settled in for a good solid four-hour downpour (so far) this afternoon. The rain has, however, provided a great proof of concept for the roof across the street at Mr. Tran’s house. Jason designed the inward-sloping roof as the perfect means to collect rainwater, and it works …

Read more

My Mississippi Playlist

Certain songs seem to resonate with my time here; others just happen to be flippin’ great. Without any ado, here’s a rough draft of my Mississippi playlist: Old Crow Medicine Show, “Wagon Wheel” [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2vJUadjdmo] Rehab, “Sitting At A Bar” [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_0pw-LeloU] Bruce Springsteen, “My City of Ruins” [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8xJpnnBZ-4] There’s more…

Read more

Vignettes of the Coast

So there has been a lot going on lately but I haven’t been very good about taking pictures or anything. Here is basically what it all is: Act I: Bike Tour & Homemade Wine Tasting Party We have some new folks here at the studio: Andy and Katharine, who are architecture students from the University of Tennessee, and Chris, who is from the University of Kentucky. Well, to introduce them to the place a little bit, we went on a bike ride last Friday evening to Ocean Springs. The bridge across the Biloxi Bay is about a mile and a …

Read more

Update on Division

This isn’t my house, this is one of Jason’s, but as it’s one of the coolest projects we have going on I thought I’d let the wide world know about it. It is a house for Mr. Tran and his family and is being primarily built by Hopeforce. Today they had a contractor come in and spray bio-based (soy) foam insulation, which we also used on Patty’s house. In Mr. Tran’s they’re using a full coat of spray foam in the rafters only; this is instead of insulating the ceiling and then having to ventilate the tight attic space. The …

Read more

Update on Crawford

It’s been two months since I posted an update on Hung’s house, and a lot has changed since then. The house is a few days away from a finished exterior, thanks to Habitat Project Rehab and all the AmeriCorps NCCCs and volunteers who have been working with them. Check it out: The group of volunteers working on the house last week: The house being sheetrocked: Everything’s going according to plan! A couple of missing closets have been added back in and the shearwalls have been more or less built. A contractor is currently finishing the drywall and the volunteers should …

Read more

‘I just want to slap them upside the head’

This awesome quote comes from Bill Stallworth, the head of the organization where I work, in a CNN article about FEMA‘s misallocation of supplies intended for victims of Hurricane Katrina. I’ve also worked with the two ladies from Coastal Women for Change who are quoted in the article. It’s an interesting story, and one which implies three things: First, insufficient relationships with local organizations — word of the need for the supplies should have made it to FEMA much sooner. Second, dysfunctional communication within FEMA — those who did know about the need didn’t pass the message to the people …

Read more

Rezoning Oak Street?

Oak Street is one of the major commercial corridors in East Biloxi, and I’m part of a task force that’s looking at ways to revitalize the street and encourage residents and businesses to build back. We’re suggesting a zoning corridor along the street that would allow a greater mix of developments; to that end, we’re doing this survey to test people’s attitudes toward new types of development on their blocks. The responses are interesting; some people are tolerant of just about anything and eager to see any kind of rebuilding, while others are very specific about the kinds of activities …

Read more

June Madness

Here’s a go at catching up. As I hinted at in my previous post, this month has brought some pretty big changes. New car! I bought the car I was looking at (a 2001 Mazda 626); I’m still biking to work, but the car will be good to have for trips and for hurricane season. New house! After a couple pretty tedious months, I moved to a new house at the beginning of June, making my living situation infinitely better. The roommates, Doug and Phil, work for Habitat for Humanity and are great guys. The house is a classic Biloxi-style …

Read more

Biloxi North 40

I took my new Trek out on its maiden voyage this morning, doing a route called the Biloxi North 40 with my friend Anne. The land here changes pretty quickly as you head north of the coast. Biking just a couple miles inland, the cities of Biloxi and D’Iberville morph into a rural landscape interspersed with concrete distributors and uninspiring subdivisions. The coast’s southern live oaks are replaced by scrubby forests of longleaf and slash pines. We headed out around 11, so we had a hot and sunny two-hour ride. The bike was a good choice; it’s a hybrid road …

Read more