There is no better way to get to know people than to mix excessive togetherness with sleep deprivation and a communal cold. This is how the 3 week core class for the Certificate of Sustainable Building and Design finished. With a bang.
Thursday-Friday
7:47am Wake up, get dressed, eat cereal, drive to Yestermorrow
8:30am Start drawing, and drawing
12:19pm Eat pbbj (peanut butter, banana, and jelly) while drawing at desk
draw DRAW
drawwww DRawww DrAw
DRAW draw figure out detail DRAW
Eat dinner somewhere in here
draw....
Class breaks out chips from top shelf in kitchen
11:58pm Finish drawings
11:59pm Begin model
4:17am Go back and finalize drawings
6:15am Figure out how to put on coat, figure out how to drive car home
6:30am Instantly fall asleep with coat and hat on, no blankets
7:32am Wake up, change clothes, eat cereal, drive to Yestermorrow
8:30am Presentations begin
3:35pm Present my project!
3:50 End presentation, forget everything
To explain the class further, the certificate program at Yestermorrow is a unique option for students looking to get a full understanding of sustainable building and design from theory to construction detail. After completing the core class, students choose 2 week long classes and 4 weekend classes and take them within their own time frame depending on when the classes are offered. They then complete a project entirely of their own choosing be it a home design, a timber frame structure, a construction company business plan, an energy study, etc. The program is open to anyone and is very self-guided and adaptable. I am doing it because it allows me to explore topics that I am interested in while putting a specific title to my hard work. I want to get more experience on the design side of things but at the same time learn how designs are actually put together. Each time I design a space, I learn a little more about floor plans that work and how they translate to a section and elevation of a building. In other words, I'm learning how to visualize a building not just in one dimension but 3. It can be addicting trying to figure out how to best configure a couple of rooms under one roof, taking in consideration the position of the sun, the topography, and climate, and still making it look good. We can no longer design without taking all of these factors into consideration. The more places I go, the more I realize how little advantage we take of them.
This was a fun class and I am looking forward to my first weekend elective, Urban Regeneration, coming up this weekend of the 26th and 27th. I'll be sure to put out an update about that.