I would like to talk about the semester and the pulse dome project, but i’m not going to. I’m not going to talk about bamboo or domes or bridges or dancing ladies. I want to talk about me… and the rest of the students at the CACC, and where we go from here. With the semester coming to a close and the majority of people leaving in the next couple of days, it just hit me the significance of this semester and how each of us have changed for the better. There is no doubt that what happened here (as I write this from what I consider my new home… the shop) will be engraved in our memories forever and will effect the way we design. With that being said the ability to see your design come to life is invaluable experience that I would not have had for a long time. The opportunity to collaborate with others and learn responsibility, but above all “never give up.” I think Pastre spoke the truth as he closed things up for Studio V at the CACC Christmas Party. There were so many times throughout this semester where we just wanted to give up and saw no way to complete the project, but for some reason we still showed up every morning around 8-ish. The end result, although not where it was intended, almost belonged at the shop, because if it had gone on the fountain everything would have been perfect. Every snap or crack was followed by a sigh and every time we sighed something was learned. If it had gone on the fountain, yes we would have created a wonderful experience for the city and yes we would have bragged about it, but it wouldn’t have had the same impact everyone of us. We can not just assume that things will go perfectly and we must learn from our mistakes and never give up. “Never give up,” advice William Katavolos gave to the Clemson Architecture Students at the Halsey Symposium, a lesson he too had learned through his work and wanted to engrave in our minds.
If you watch this video you can see that it took us little time to put the pieces together, but it took many iterations and a lot of time to figure out the right method.
The project was a greater success than any of us could have imagined, but don’t think that I am the only one that thinks this. Our professors have been telling us this for several weeks now and to tell you the truth i thought it was a whole bunch of bs, and that is how I started this blog post. By sitting down and having this time to reflect, I can say with confidence that it has been one of the greatest semesters so far. Not just because of Studio V, but all of my classes and the people I’ve met. So thank you for a great semester and I look forward to seeing more great things on this blog.
