Ribbon Cutting!!!
Just in case you haven’t seen, the Camas Pedal Bike Shelter was completed at the end of June and has been in use by the students of Camas Ridge Community School during the 2011-2012 School year! Below are some photos (more to come) and the flyer for the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. If you are around Eugene for Halloween, come cut the ribbon with Camas Ridge!
recent build day photos
Almost done with the purlins, just waiting on the roof to be delivered!
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plasma cutting our connectors
After a few weeks off for spring break, Nick and Nate headed over to Willamette High School with AAA’s model shop supervisor, Tom Coates. Tom works at the high school where they have a giant model shop equipped with their own plasma cutter. He was very generous with his time and suggested we use him as a resource to fabricate our own connectors for the bike shelter. So after finding some scrap metal at Coyote Steel for $10, we came up with a quick, inexpensive way to attain some custom connectors to attach the wood beams to the steel purlins. Below are some pictures of the original design, the plasma cutting, and the final product.
This is right on the heels of a guest lecture in the Architecture Department by Frank Barkow of Barkow Leibinger Architekten. Much of his work revolves around digital fabrication and the role of parametric design in architecture. A large contributing factor of his success comes from the fact that his firm develops relationships with outside professionals who have the tools and the knowledge to fabricate components of their design (e.g. Campus Restaurant and Gate House). In one project (Trutect Tower), they actually designed and fabricated a full scale curtain wall in their own office and sent their collaborating engineer to Seoul in order to teach the Korean manufacturers how to put it together.
Between the work at Barkow Leibinger, and a similar mode of operation at SHoP Architects (where they partner with their own construction firm), it’s clear that architects are responsible for making again. Our bike shelter, on a much smaller scale, has been a process of collaboration and professional outreach just like these larger projects.
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2/26 Beam Raising
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On the heels of the outdoor classroom project erecting their wood columns, members of The Camas Pedal Team spent a beautiful Saturday hoisting 14 beams in place at Camas Ridge (special thanks to Jesse Crupper for lending his Toyota Tundra for the job). Both projects are really starting to shape the school’s former blacktop and complement the garden area. This was a big step for the team, now a year and a half into the project. The donated doug-fir beams (courtesy of Zip-O log mills) are finished with the same wood stain used by the outdoor classroom to achieve some unity between the two projects. They look great against the galvanized steel and concrete. It’s hard to believe a year ago we were designing this thing, discussing its form and choosing materials, and now we’re seeing those decisions come to life.
We did have one hiccup which we will have to deal with over the coming weeks. One front column’s footing is higher than it should be, which throws off the repetition of the beams. This will have an impact on how the purlins will line up as they were fabricated based on specific dimensions. Aside from the adjustments we’ll have to make in the next phase of this project (placing the purlins), the angle of the beam is off, interrupting the repetition of the wood (which otherwise looks really nice). It’s frustrating when something like this happens during the construction of a model in studio (most noticeable in photographs), so one can imagine the impact of catching a mistake like this on a realized project, something that cannot be fixed. It will be one of those little things that only we will see, but we will see it every time we look. It was by no means a mistake to blame on any one, rather another valuable lesson in craft and the impact of small discrepancies that will make us all better for the next project.
Today was our last build day of the term, so we have a little bit of time to get some advice and reach out to some professionals who might be willing to lend a hand in our purlin process. Nate and Nick will be meeting this week to talk about the schedule and work out the next few milestones before the racks get installed in May or early June. Next up are the purlins, a roof with the help of the folks at Skyline Sheet Metal, another art tile workshop to plan, a couple of benches to fabricate, planters to fill, and if all goes well a big ribbon cutting to celebrate handing it over to the school.
Concrete Pour 1/22
Today we poured our third and final (for now) batch of concrete. We had a great showing of over a dozen students, including three new faces (two from the landscape architecture department!). After we pull this formwork off, we’ll be done with all our formwork and working way above ground for the rest of the term. Bring on the scaffolding.
We are rockin’ and rollin’ and ready to cut some beautiful wood beams! Below is a time lapse video from today and from our second pour on December 4th.
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| Video from January 22nd on Camas Pedal Bike Shelter |
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| Video from December 4th on Camas Pedal Bike Shelter |
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We’re making moves at Camas Ridge…
After a successful concrete pour on December 4th, we all took a few weeks off for the holidays. Last weekend (January 8th) we had a very productive build day, clearing the site of all the formwork and erecting the front columns. This past weekend (January 15th) we just about finished work on the south planter, which means we are looking to pour our last concrete this upcoming Saturday.
Firstly, i am continually impressed with our progress from week to week. I think as a group we are learning how to build together, and as individuals Nate and I are learning how best to prepare for and manage the help we get. As with all designBridge projects, labor (and the enthusiasm that comes with it) is our biggest asset. Without our volunteers we would never be this far along. We are now in our fourth term of building and I cannot overstate how incredible it has been to see people come out every week. We have also started reaching out a little more to teachers and parents of Camas Ridge who have graciously stepped in to offer labor and occasionally some well timed, delicious snacks for the crew.
Secondly, this past weekend’s crew deserves a shout out. It was wet. Really wet. Really, really wet. A big thank you to everyone who came despite the weather. The following people get awards for their performance (see gallery for pictures):
Kelsey: most valuable contortionist.
Dan Anthony: best choice of first day to show up
Nate: longest arms and dirtiest hands.
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Saturday 10/9 Build Day
We had another great turnout of about a dozen students, and the rain held off despite the grim forecast. We’re moving along and starting to see some major progress on the bike shelter! Here are a few photos from the day.
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- Mike Beamer squares up some rear formwork
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- Alex and Ryan constructing some formwork for the foundation
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- Our rear columns look sexy
10/2 – 1st concrete pour
Well, it’s official – we have a bike shelter. After a short summer break, our crew (with a lot of enthusiastic new faces) got to work this Saturday morning. The site is now no longer home to just holes in the ground; we have our first pieces of above ground, visible superstructure in the concrete planter, two precisely placed anchor bolts and two of the rear columns. The concrete was donated by Fortis Construction (currently working on the U of O Alumni Center) and delivered by Nation’s Mini-mix. I had some technical difficulties with my camera, but hopefully next pour we will get some good pictures of the process. All in all it was a beautiful day at Camas Ridge and we’re all excited to show off our progress at this year’s Walk and Bike Day on Wednesday morning.
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- Shannon recalls her expertise from the HIV Alliance pavers
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- Nate, Sylvan and Amanda place the first anchor bolts with the template provided by W&W Steel
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- Some very helpful, 1st year option IIIs get to work on the rebar cages (jeremy, collin and sarah)
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- Caitlin takes a break, framed by our homemade A-Frames
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- Erecting the rear columns
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- Our finished planter in the foreground
Steel Delivery!
It feels like forever ago when Tim Hunter from WW Steel popped into a meeting in one of the trailers at the Arena jobsite and offered to donate all our steel for the bike shelter. After all that designing, building, drawing, digging and cutting, our unbelievably generous donation had finally landed in Eugene this afternoon.
Work has been slow this summer – our build leads are in two other countries, half our team is out of town and the other half have a lot on their plates with summer classes or great internships – but we rallied some troops to take off the pieces of steel one by one.
When all was said and done we unloaded over 5,000 lbs of steel – a nice little workout!
We can’t really thank the crew at WW Steel enough for all they’ve done for us. They read our drawings and made shop drawings out of them, then fabricated the columns, purlins, anchor bolts and bolt-templates, then managed to get the shipping donated by the same trucking company that hauled all the steel for the Arena job, CRST Mallone. In fact, their donation really helped to create the momentum that carried us in some crucial phases of the project. Once again – An enormous, bikecited thank you to WW Steel.
[click any picture to see the full gallery]
John from CRST Mallone
Caitlin and Jon
a great showing!
Henry's holding one of our columns!!
nick carrying another column
brian and erin - so strong
Wood Donation
Henry and Nick headed over to Zip-O-Log Mills last week to pick up the wood that was generously donated by the local lumber yard. They didn’t really know how much wood had been donated, so they were a little unprepared with Henry’s truck (see pictures below). But they made it back to the dB shop in one piece and now we have our beams and benches!
Obviously an enormous thank you to the crew at Zip-O-Log Mills for hooking us up with some beautiful lumber! Special thanks to Joe Honochik, the general manager for making it happen.
at the yard
safe at home in the dB shop
