design, build, learn. repeat.

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 …

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‘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 …

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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 …

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More houses!

Construction is happening fast! I really want to be outdoors helping build, and when I finish up my current set of plans I’ll probably see about working construction for a couple of days. Anyway, here’re a few more updates. Below, I found Mr. Lai working on his house along with Habitat (Peter and Deubs have been out there this whole week and their crew is doing some great work). Another house that is going up is this one on Division street for Mr. Tran and his family. This is a really interesting house and is right across from our office. …

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Framing on Hung’s House

It took a while to get going, but now that it is started Hung’s house is going up at a great speed! Habitat for Humanity and their NCCC volunteers are doing some good work over there. This will be an exciting house to see go up. This week, they’ve put down the floor decking and begun framing and sheathing the walls:

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Architecture Blogs

This is primarily a shout out to Snarchitecture, a cool architecture student blog on which Eddie, friend and fellow architecture grad from UVA, was nice enough to link to me. It’s good to see all the different things people are up to. More young grads should have blogs like that to help share the different experiences and opportunities in architecture. A couple other good ones I know of: Up Your Architecture [James, GCCDS staff and University of Minnesota grad] Lost Between the Letters [Della, University of Minnesota M. Arch thesis student] Zenorschnitzel [Jessie, GCCDS staff and Auburn grad] If you …

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Greenhouse Design/Build

Sergio and his students at UT Austin are not afraid of the epic roadtrip, and last Friday six of them packed themselves and a partially built greenhouse into a pickup truck and drove the 9 hours to Biloxi for a weekend of work. The result is the greenhouse above, which replaces Patty’s old plastic storage shed and gives her a place to keep her plants during the winter. Click below for more photos!

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Friday Afternoon Refuses To End

As a way to pass the terribly dull hours of Friday afternoon, let’s wrap up what’s been going on this week: Compiled a spreadsheet of all the property on Oak Street (above) to help us determine what properties might need zoning changes or help rebuilding. Perversely, this was a lot of fun. Piles were driven for Hung’s house on Crawford Street (see previous post). Apparently, they ran into just about every obstacle under the sun, including a huge taproot about 6 feet down, but succeeded in the end. My floor plans for the Nguyen family (a four-bedroom house just across …

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New house starting

I have a new house starting on Crawford Street for Hung and his family. It’s a new three-bedroom L-shaped configuration with the bedrooms along the longer axis of the house and a covered front stair leading to the living and dining rooms and kitchen in the back. It also has a significant amount of deck space, with front and back decks and a small porch for the master bedroom. Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia will be taking the lead on construction for this one. The piles just went in yesterday: Follow the link for more photos of the pile-driving …

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