Library tour

It's always a different experience to be able to see the building and walk through the different spaces than just seeing the floorplans. Being able to walk around the library helped me get a better understanding of the problems. Also, the chips and salsa were great while discussing the library further!

According to the reading, architects were once seen as master builders who possessed various skills. They worked on everything from the design to the construction of a building.  Over time architects have lost their touch of being a master builder. Architect's role is vital to a building as discussed in the last writing, but it is no longer the architecture that was seen so long ago.

It has been broken down into very specific branches such as engineering, construction, and material scientist. This may be the cause for people believing that architects only design and that their job can be done by anyone. Yes, architects do develop the design of the building and then pass it on to engineers and so on. Every person involved in the design and construction plays a specific, detailed role in the process.  However, this does not mean that an architect has completely lost his or her touch and ability to create what he or she envisions although I does complicate it.

As mentioned in the reading, master builders were able to carry out the process of a building from beginning to end. This allowed for the architects to carry out their design the way they envision it from the beginning because they were able to make all the decisions. The breaking down of careers into specific branches has created a disconnect between the architects and what he or she has envisioned for the design. The design is passed down, and changes are made accordingly so that the building is structurally supported and follows codes. Unfortunately, the disconnect between the people in these different careers has increased more.

I believe that architects entail a basic understanding of the job of the engineer and builder, but just as an architect specializes in his or her field so does the engineer and builder. This basic understanding, or great understanding for some, allows for an architect to think more about the structural part of a building rather than just design. This understanding distinguishes an architect from an everyday person. However architects cannot do an engineer's job just as an engineer cannot do an architect's job.  The separation of careers and focus that each one has is too detailed to be specialized in both. Engineers, architects, and builders learn similar things yet are so different in specialization.

The craft and skills that master builders held was and still is admired. Even today architects strive to be as skilled as possible by picking up minors while in school in other specializations. However, the way today's education is geared it is too difficult for one to specialize in various branches. An architect goes through so much schooling, but can only do so much. The necessity of an engineer and builder will not go away just as the necessity for an architect will neither.

Like said before, this does not be little an architect of today. Architects are able to focus more on the design and process that a building undergoes. Although they have budgets and limitations, architects find solutions and ways around the complications to be able to design to the best of their ability.

   Source: http://bgwallpaper.net/architecture-blueprint-of-a-house-wallpaper-architecture-blueprint-hd/

The library we chose that was built after 1995 is the Chingquing library. It is a modern library with curtain walls and a shallow pool on its sides. The library built before 1995 is Chapel Hill Public Library. Chapel Hill Public Library has had a couple of additions and remodels but it was first built before 1995.

Improving the project

Our cicada is finally done and placed on the skywalk where the sun can shine on it. An idea to improve the project may be to design a different animal after the first one we put together. The first one could be used to see how the connections work, and then the intermediate model could be to see if the new design works and the corrections needed.

Cicada coming together

Our cicada is coming along great. We had to sand a couple of slots so that they would slot together better. Tonight we are going to buy the paint and make it into out own abstract cicada. We are thinking white and yellow!

The ranch

Alicia and me went out to the ranch this morning to turn in our tests, do the walk through, and start cutting. Some mistakes were found with our file, so it took us a while to fix it. We had to make the diameter of the circles added .01 bigger than the bit we intended to use. Eventually we fixed everything and left our wood cutting. We were told it would take about two to three hours, so we will be picking it up tomorrow and hopefully assembling it. Hopefully we accounted for everything correctly and don't have to re-cut. However, if we do have to fix something we accounted for enough time!

After doing our intermediate model, we know that we have a lot of work to do with the joints. Some of our joints were not scaled correctly therefore making our model flimsy. We know that up scaling our cicada would create a problem with the wings and the body, so we have to design a couple of more pieces to help stabilize it. Making our cicada three times bigger will make the wing span about three feet, so i'm excited to put our final together and see how huge it is over all.