click to enlargeAP212 (second year design studio) visited a ‘Classic Usonian’ house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1950. The house, built for Isadore J. and Lucille Zimmerman is located in Manchester, NH and is a beautifully restored example of Mr. Wrights work. 

click to enlargeThe house uses cypress, concrete, glass, and brick. Students had a hard time finding an instance where the module of the common brick was broken, but may have found a clue in the upper corner of Ms. Zimmerman’s closet. Precast concrete window blocks, made specifically for the Zimmerman house, sit atop a double-wythe brick wall from the street side elevation. The garden elevation wall is almost entirely glass and sits 5’ behind and below a cantilevered, tiled roof.

See Slideshow

click to enlargeThe 2nd year studio evaluates the pros and cons of conventional prefab mobile architecture. A hands-on study with professors Lutz and Laythem got the 27 students out of the studio and into the field.

They will apply their observations toward their final project: a small, mobile, freestanding structure in Andes, New York. (see Slideshow)

See ON THE BOARDS > SLIDESHOWS, "Sublime Vessel"Given constraints of 10'x30' in plan, design a space to exhibit light. Working as a group, we were assigned a site behind Chaplin Hall. Our designs are to perform the conventional tasks of keeping weather out, have two entrances, of which at least one is large enough to accommodate a 6' x 8' object.

(see more)

In exploring the ideas of the ancient architecture of Southwest America in FA202 History of Architecture II, the students got their hands dirty. Literally, while making their own adobe bricks; one with only local dirt and another with the addition of clay from the Lake Champlain area. We will update you on our progress. The test of their strength is to drop them from a height of 4 to 5’. If they don't break apart, they are good to go. The students also analyzed, with help from the Geology Department, the ratio of clay in the local soil before making their bricks.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

October 17, 2008

This year's AP211 Design Studio class traveled to Boston to investigate three of the libraries that were the focus of this semester's library design project. Of the day's many highlights, the fabulous lunch hosted by Board of Fellows member Virginia Houston; meeting Board members Jeff Holden and Harry Blackey; and then hanging out with Harry as we went through downtown Boston from Faneuil Hall to the Boston Public Library, stand out.

The day's triumph was getting the whole crew on the T (and off again) at the right place. And, it was especially fun having two Norwich students with us from the Czech Republic.

click to enlarge

The Library Project:

The second year design studio is focused on the typology of libraries. To help in expanding an understanding of the quality of libraries, the students were asked to create their own 'book.' Their books were to reinterpret the idea of book and therefore many were 'read' in very creative ways. The subject of their books expressed aspects of a library that intrigued them, either in a positive or in some cases a problematic manner.

click to enlargeFor Flux Wednesday, the school was invited down to the studio to 'read' their books. (The books were originally planned to be exhibited in a vending machine; thus the size constraint. Scott, the vending machine guy, disappeared but we are hoping to still make this happen.)

click to enlarge