Throwing Shade: Park(ing) Day 2017

Final Thoughts…

One of the best things that an Architect can do is build something. Taking an idea or concept, and transferring it into a real world material, shaped and solidified into something people can touch and experience. Working through ideas out of the computer as a group with limited budgets and time was, as always fun! I’ve always felt that actually working at full scale is so insightful for later when you are drawing details for projects because they are no longer just lines on a page. Wood or steel takes on a real weight and understanding how a custom design needs to be built beyond just lines takes real work and time to fully flush out. For TLCD this was a great experience to connect with more young designers in our profession and learn together the process beyond the office. Connecting to our community with this event is hopefully just the beginning as the young designers begin to help shape their cities and experiences for years to come.

Summertime STEM Fun!

Each summer TLCD Architecture welcomes incoming 9th grade students from the Mike Hauser Academy (MHA) to our office for one week to participate in a STEM related project. This county-wide program is a partnership between the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber, the Healdsburg, Rohnert Park and Sebastopol Chambers and exposes students to opportunities in professional, technology and engineering occupations.

 

This year our team used the international Park(ing) Day event as the basis for the project they planned for the Santa Rosa City Schools students. The week began with a walk over to the newly completed Courthouse Square to experience the square and select the parking spaces that would become the installation location for their design concepts.

The students, lead by Instructor Jesse Hauch, split into teams to develop their concept for a pop-up urban oasis that would transform each parking space for one day. Students were encouraged to consider the audience for their concept and provide an inspiring retreat with amenities to entice tourists and the people of Santa Rosa alike. They came back to the office and worked on sketch plan diagrams in teams and then built 1/2 scale models of their space. We then had the kids take Avatar pictures against a green screen so that they would be able to place themselves in their 3D model later in the week.

From the physical models, the students worked in Revit to create 3D models of their parking space. They especially enjoyed seeing their Avatars in the model and then experiencing their space using VR goggles. The students presented their concepts to their peers and a group of TLCD professionals on the last day – and all were invited to come back and see TLCD’s realized parklet experience on the actual Park(ing) Day this September!

Links to the student’s renderings in Autodesk 360 Panorama:

Team 2 AM

Team A2DX

Team RAT

Team CAOZ

Visiting Artist: Petaluma Sculptor Matt Devine

TLCD’s ongoing Wine Wednesday tradition is evolving and we are thrilled to welcome creative professionals to share their process, passion and artwork with our team. We recently had Petaluma sculptor Matt Devine join us and he brought many small scale pieces which he encouraged us to touch and examine. Matt works in metals… steel, aluminum and bronze and achieves beautiful variations depending on the metal and the finishing treatment.

Matt was commissioned by TLCD to create a custom installation at our American AgCredit project in Santa Rosa. It doesn’t get much better than designing a building from the inside out, with custom furniture solutions and an amazing collection of art.

Representation in the San Francisco Bay area is by Simon Brietbard Fine Arts.

Summertime STEM Education and Architecture

 

By Carl Servais AIA, NCARB, LEED AP

The Mike Hauser Academy is a summertime program through the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce that focuses on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education. The program provides students entering 9th grade with hands-on experience from STEM related employers in the area. TLCD Architecture hosted the class the week of June 20th and I had an opportunity to work with fellow designers, Nick Diggins and Stacey Walker to shape the curriculum for the week.

We had a lot of fun leading the students through the process of measuring an existing space, creating scale drawings by hand, developing a design based on a functional program, and finally modeling their design in 3D. The students did an amazing job working together throughout the week, which culminated in a presentation of their design to the group, complete with floor plans and a 3D rendering that could be viewed with Google Cardboard viewers. They particularly enjoyed seeing their own pictures as scale figures within the renderings. Check out these stereo panoramic renderings of the students inhabiting their designs:

green screen, avatars, mike hauser academy, santa rosa chamber of commerce, tlcd architecture, 3d model, STEM, science, technology, engineering, math

Lucas and Ginger

http://pano.autodesk.com/pano.html?url=jpgs/736133b5-4d1f-4157-9609-ffea6be8b99c

Dorian and Janai

http://pano.autodesk.com/pano.html?url=jpgs/4c793c80-ec79-4125-b49d-709875031e62

Jerry and Montse

http://pano.autodesk.com/pano.html?url=jpgs/6fba6e88-9cab-42c4-981b-e570b20bc6ba