design, build, learn. repeat.

Dec. 2-6 Building at The Trace

Edit [12/26/08]: See these photos and more at my Flickr page. The main (only?) advantage of unemployment being the ability to do whatever you like, I spent last week building at The Trace. I worked on a 3-bedroom house called the Cypress. Thanks to the leadership of construction supervisors Bryce and Austin, an enthusiastic college group from Ohio, and a mix of other volunteers, we started from a slab and raised the walls, built the porch, and set about half of the roof trusses within the week. Here’s the Ohio group: The project is moving quickly. In the past 4-6 …

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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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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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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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Hung’s Dedication

On October 9, Project Rehab finally dedicated the house they have been building for Hung and his family on Crawford Street. Hung, his wife, and their three young children are very excited to be moving in. The best thing about it is seeing the work Hung has been doing in the few short weeks since he has moved in. He’s added gates at the stairs, created a brick patio and storage area below the house, built shelving for plants on the porch, and added a shed roof over part of the back roof. Sadly for me, I’ve never been happy …

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GCCDS in ArchRecord!

The Gulf Coast Community Design Studio has a feature article in the October issue of Architectural Record! It even has a photo with the back of my head! Biloxi Clues: The Gulf Coast Community Design Studio provides a model for rebuilding after Katrina October 2008 By James S. Russell Full article Almost three years after Hurricane Katrina pushed a 30-foot-high surge of water through East Biloxi, Mississippi, tall weeds grow along streets once lined with houses. Biloxi’s casinos have been reconstructed, larger than their former selves. Many residents have returned to neighborhoods that missed the worst of the flooding. But …

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