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The Ruins |
This morning was very ‘family’ oriented. Everyone sat around the television with their bowls of Apple Jacks watching Saved By the Bell until 8am rolled around. Everyone decided to drive to Mr. Cox's office except for Mike and Taylor, who decided to ride their bikes. We all arrived at the same time and met in the conference room for our daily morning meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting, Roger began the tour of the buildings that we are working on this term. We began at the old Palace Theater, moved onto the upstairs of the Cox office, and then headed onto the Railroad Warehouses. After spotting the baby hawk at the warehouses, we broke for lunch and a library visit. Everyone met at the city hall in Magnolia for snowballs. After we met the mayor of Magnolia and toured of the Railroad Avenue team's property, we were finally able to head back to McComb and see our team's building. The building is beautiful. It almost looks like it hasn't been touched (except for a load of paint flakes and some missing floors). We are really excited for a detailed site visit tomorrow and our client meeting with Roger... Now onto MEATBALL MONDAYYYYYYYYYY!
The Stamp Lickers
Michael Olivier
Jonathan House
Susan Naquin
This image and others we have now found of the Post Office upon completion have become our inspiration in redeveloping this building. Every time we enter the space to take new measurements, pictures, or just to think we are faced with a sense of disappointment; feeling the need to ask questions like "What happened here?!" and "Who wrecked the place while we were gone?!" when in reality it's been in a state of disarray for years. What lingers in the space is a sense of elegance that hasn't been lost to time like the floors, paint, and furnishings. That is what I think feel as we work on it and now desire to bring back the stately, dutiful quality it once had as a key member of the Pike County community. In an effort to do this we decided for certain to switch gears and make this a museum as well and a coffee shop with indoor and outdoor community gathering space. Our main issue now is how to organize this kind of program within the existing space. Originally we only planned to use the main floor of the building, but now with the guidance of Frank and Marsha, we have opened ourselves up to the possibility of using the basement level as a second formal entry that would address the adjacent warehouse project. This new lower level space attached to the main level by a formal stairway and large open ceiling completely changes the image we have created in our minds. Although, it creates significant new possibilities, it leaves a lot to be explored in the next few days as we marry these two concepts of community integration and historical value within the McComb Post Office.
Day 2
Today we continued with our morning routine of cereal and 'Saved By the Bell'. It is starting to become more of a morning lifestyle. When we got to the office, Frank surprised us all with donuts; of course we each had to have a couple. In the morning meeting today, Marsha gave us a presentation on Adaptive Reuse that really opened our eyes to the endless possibilities that can be done. She showed us a project where an old library in Jackson, MS was turned into an African American History Museum. The idea of a museum suddenly trumped a restaurant in each of our minds. Having a restaurant across the street from the Caboose seemed to be a difficult task to pull off. We do not want to take away from the Caboose's business. We would like to create a McComb history museum along with an art gallery and internet cafe. McComb does not have many places with free public internet, and we recently noticed during our trip to the library that many people go there just to use the internet. We spent the day documenting our building assignment. Jonathan and Susan spend the morning measuring the interior, while Mike snapped the exterior and interior photographs needed. After lunch we shuffled up, and Susan worked on getting the program together while Mike and Jonathan finished measuring the building. We met with Roger at 3pm and threw him our idea of a museum. Although he was pretty set on a restaurant, he was impressed by the idea of a museum and suggested that the current Railroad Museum should be incorporated into the design. He also suggested collaborating with the Warehouse team to create an art boulevard in conjunction with the museum/art gallery. We are going see a house this afternoon as a treat from Roger, Frank, and Marsha. After that, it's Taco Tuesday OLE!
Day 3
Day 4
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| Apparently the basement of the old post office was a fallout shelter! Bombs Away... |
No meeting today? Oh we get to go to a bid opening at 9! We were all able to sit in on a bid opening this morning in Magnolia. Steve Cox was on the board for the bid opening, giving us inside access. It was most of our first time seeing this. Today was a long day cooped up in our back room cave. We spent an hour or so at the library trying to get photos of the basement floorplan, which proved to be useless; however, the Broadway Deli turned those frowns upside down. After the rejuvenation we received from lunch, we went check out the exhibit at the current railroad museum. It is tiny. Hopefully we can propose something in our design to give them a better facility to display the rich history of the McComb railways. The dark and clammy basement was waiting for us to measure it. We spent an hour measuring all of the walls with Steve’s laser measurer (cut the time in half). For the rest of the afternoon, we did research and worked on inputting the basement floorplan and one of the sections into AutoCAD. Hopefully we can be as productive tomorrow and start designing.
Day 5
Half of the house went see the Hangover 2 last night at 10. It was just as funny as the first one. When we got back, we found that the watermelon previously bought was now sliced in the fridge; so we all ate some of that before bed. Today’s morning meeting consisted of small team presentations to the whole class in order to make sure everyone knew what everyone else is doing. Mike spent the day inputting the sections of the building into AutoCAD, while Jonathan worked on the basement plan. Susan worked on organization of the plan. We all sat down and worked on the layout of our renovation. Everything looks great up to this point. We went to Noon Tunes for lunch. The food and music were both great. Tonight Steve Cox is hosting a BBQ for everyone at his house then we are planning on seeing what nightlife McComb might have in store for us!
Day 6
After a fun night watching the Eli Seals band, we were all going a bit slow this morning but our meeting with Frank and Marsha put a little pep in our step. The meeting went great. We were able to discuss minor issues with our program and drawings and we were inspired to take a second look at the East wall. Our attempt to take the project to another level was a success. We have officially decided to drop the floor in a portion of the building on the East side and uncover the basement. This creates the opportunity to change part of the facade on the East side. This idea sparked our interest. We've decided that we have to go with one of two extremes. Either keep the facade purely historical or go completely contemporary in that section. Jonathan's mind started reeling after this idea. He spent a good part of the afternoon researching contemporary options to add in this historical facade. It is important that we find a way to incorporate the contemporary style without loosing the meaning or symmetry of the already existing structure. Mike spent the after noon working on the section drawings which look fabulous and Susan spent her day finishing the calculations for the program. By the start of next week we hope to have the program complete and change gears to production mode. It's looking great so far and we're all excited to get some much needed sleep tomorrow. Tonight is fend for yourself for dinner. Have a great weekend, see you on the flip side!
Day 6
After a fun night watching the Eli Seals band, we were all going a bit slow this morning but our meeting with Frank and Marsha put a little pep in our step. The meeting went great. We were able to discuss minor issues with our program and drawings and we were inspired to take a second look at the East wall. Our attempt to take the project to another level was a success. We have officially decided to drop the floor in a portion of the building on the East side and uncover the basement. This creates the opportunity to change part of the facade on the East side. This idea sparked our interest. We've decided that we have to go with one of two extremes. Either keep the facade purely historical or go completely contemporary in that section. Jonathan's mind started reeling after this idea. He spent a good part of the afternoon researching contemporary options to add in this historical facade. It is important that we find a way to incorporate the contemporary style without loosing the meaning or symmetry of the already existing structure. Mike spent the after noon working on the section drawings which look fabulous and Susan spent her day finishing the calculations for the program. By the start of next week we hope to have the program complete and change gears to production mode. It's looking great so far and we're all excited to get some much needed sleep tomorrow. Tonight is fend for yourself for dinner. Have a great weekend, see you on the flip side!
Day 7 – Memorial Day at the Office
After a well-deserved Sunday off, we were all back on the grind today. We had a brief morning meeting and then got right to it. Jonathan began working on the 3-D model while Susan worked on the metal railroad slipcover for the curtain-wall addition and site plan. Mike worked on updating the section and elevation drawings with the additions we will be adding to the building. Roger came in for a few minutes today, and we told him about the new façade design. He liked the idea, but does not think it will work because it may take away from the tax credits if we mess with the façade. Marsha gave us the idea of leaving the façade and creating a new façade just off the face of the building to get our message across. We will work on the design of this over the next couple days while the site plan is being developed. We are currently correlating ideas with the Railroad Warehouse team in order to create an art walk along Railroad BLVD. We think it is a good idea to tie in the two projects since it will bring in more people to the area. This evening we are having a ‘Water War’ and a fish fry. We are all looking forward to finally being able to get wet since there are no pools in our area.
Day 8
We all had a fun time last night at the dinner and creek. The creek was much bigger than we had heard. There was no morning meeting today, so we continued our progress on the project. Jonathan spent the day developing the 3-D model. It is looking fantastic! Susan spent the day working on the train façade. When she was done with that, she began laying out a preliminary lasercut file for the final model. This will help us stay in line with our daily schedule we made. If we can stay on track, we should be able to finish in no time. Mike spent the day tweaking small details on the sections. They are 99% done right now. Once the 3-D model is finished, he can add the final details. The site plan and diagrams are next on the list. We should be able to finish up with those in the next couple of days. Our group is working great together. Tonight we have planned a house soccer game at the football practice field at McComb High School.
Day 9
As the house food has dwindled down to the final scraps, Frank and Marsha surprised us with donuts and pigs-in-a-blanket for breakfast. We stood around and had our brief morning meeting as everyone ate. Our next three meals will be provided for us (excluding tomorrow’s breakfast). As a team and in coordination with the Warehouse team, we worked on the site plan most of the day. It seems to be a difficult task to get done especially with the time limit that we have. We are all starting to get anxious for the end. We met with Frank and Marsha for 45 minutes this afternoon. Our drawings seem to be up to par with the exception of the outdoor dining area. We need to develop that a little more. After the outdoor area is complete, we can finish designing the site plan. The days are getting shorter as our time in McComb comes to an end.
Day 10
Live on Mainstreet!
We started out the day meeting with Frank and the Warehouse team in order to clear up the site plan issue. We were able to come to a consensus about that. We feel that the connecting plaza area between our courtyard design and the front of the warehouse will be a nice addition to the area. Mike worked all morning fixing up the sections and elevation with the new stair arrangement in the courtyard. Jonathan spent the day perfecting the 3-D model, which looked exactly like the building. It is fantastic. Susan spent the day updating any documents we need and setting up the lasercut file. This will keep us in line with our schedule. We had an EMERGENCY meeting this afternoon after lunch to decide on a new date for the presentation. With most of our classmates starting summer classes next week, the only day we could come up with a consensus on was Friday, June 10th. We had a lecture from Chris Chain who has spent the past 23 years developing old downtown buildings into apartments and retail, much like what we are doing. It was good to see someone who has history doing this.
Day 11
We all had a great time last night at the Mallard bar. It was soooo much better than the Icehouse. We finally saw people our age in a social setting. Today a few of us had a rather sluggish morning. The girls left for the office at 9 am and the guys came in between 9:15 and 9:45. We had a mid morning meeting in which Frank went over the cleaning duties for the office and house and also made some small notes on what we needed done for this afternoon. We all congregated for lunch at the Dinner Bell, which was delicious. During the afternoon, we met with Roger to go over final presentation comments and also met with Frank and Marsha to go over the drawings that we printed yesterday. Overall they liked them. They gave us a few pointers on how to make them read better. Jonathan and Susan left at 3:30 to get back to Baton Rouge because Susan has work tonight. Mike spent the afternoon taking a few more pictures of the site and getting photoshop entourage ready. We did a test render of the new courtyard and façade before Jonathan and Susan left. Mike added in entourage to make it more realistic. It came out great. No clue what we will do tonight. Hopefully something fun on our last day here!
Day 12
It was quite a change of scenery today. We began our work in Atkinson once again. It is so deserted compared to the normal semester. This time, we are lucky enough to be in the studio room closest to the parking lot. Our group was pretty spread out through most of the day. Jonathan had work from 8-5 but came in after. Susan came in around 10 and had work from 1-4 then came back and stayed later. Mike came in from 8:30-5. We met with Frank and Marsha about the final board layouts and found out that the size of the boards has changed, so we can now fit our drawings on there better. We have some designing left to do, but we are in good shape. We should lasercut the model tomorrow and begin assembling it. Jonathan has to work everyday this week, so he said he will render the images on his computer while at work. Mike will work on touching up the drawings we need for the final, and Susan will work on the model with everyone lending a hand throughout the day.
Day 13
Today we continued our progress toward the finished product. We had to print out a test print for the final boards and hand them in to Frank and Marsha to redline and correct. Mike spent all morning working to get all of the images and documents together for that. Susan went lasercut the model and began assembling it. Jonathan rendered all day while at work. We are working great together right now. Everything is spread out evenly amongst the three of us.
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| It's Crunch Time... |
Today we continued our progress toward the finished product. We had to print out a test print for the final boards and hand them in to Frank and Marsha to redline and correct. Mike spent all morning working to get all of the images and documents together for that. Susan went lasercut the model and began assembling it. Jonathan rendered all day while at work. We are working great together right now. Everything is spread out evenly amongst the three of us.
