[11.19.08]

I know it has been a while since the blog has been updated, but the project has been progressing so fast that I have not been able to catch it up. Monday was the first day that all floorplans to our master concept were placed on the site. It was pretty incredible; I think we all thought so. Anyway, here are some pictures demonstrating us working through the design process, ensuring that this design is of something spectacular. Another presentation is today, so more is to come tomorrow!

[11.11.08]

Massing concepts have been completed for the site on our model; cardboard masses have been constructed and placed on the model. Next we will begin to develop our buildings further, but right now we have a bunch of cardboard massing models. Here are some of the latest pics.

[11.06.08.a]

Our next step is to create massing concepts for our individual "sites". This will give us an idea of where the height differences are going to occur, as well as giving us an overall visualization of what we have in mind for Norman, Oklahoma. Dr. Bozorgi compiled this nice graphic that clearly illustrates who is the designer of each section of our Master Plan footprint. Tomorrow, we are going to present our massing concepts and place them on the model to give us all a clear visualization, and give us the opportunity to make any changes that may improve the overall design of this progressively innovative design. Here is the graphic depicting the designers and their site within the bigger site.

[11.06.08]

The footprint of our Master Plan concept for Norman has been defined, and our personal obligations to design particular sectors for this master plan have been decided too. Here is the footprint of the Master Plan:

[11.03.08]

Well our model is FINALLY complete, and now it is time to show it off. [Excuse the missing panel; I tried to hide it as much as possible] I love you all, and thank you all for the hard work. We have created something beautiful, and that something will be the centerpiece for our Master Plan creation, which will re-define the word "beautiful". JUST WAIT AND SEE!!

[10.28.08]

After typing the last post I remembered some things of last summer. A client out in California was talking to me about the "little speck of a city named Norman", and said that it was one of the nicest places to live in the United States. I shrugged my shoulders and thought to myself: how in the world did this Eastern Indian gentleman, who has never even been to the Midwest region of the United States, come to the conclusion that Norman was one of the top cities in the United States to live in? I came to the conclusion that he was talking out of his ass, and making fun of Oklahoma, just as he had been making fun of our accents [my boss and me] all week long. I had not even thought of that moment ever since it happened. Until last Wednesday. Dr. Bozorgi proved it: Norman, even being a "little speck of a city" is the sixth best small city to live in. Check it out:

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2008/

10.28.08

Hello all. Well as we all know, the Monday deadline for the completion of our model was not met. Hopefully by Wednesday the entire model will be set up and glued. I have not seen the progress on the model as of today, but I am sure that it is fabuloso. I am willing to put in a few hours tomorrow and Wednesday morning gluing down the residential and commercial; that will take some time. Anyway, we are coming to a close in this grandiose adventure, and even through the many tough times, I believe we will come together as a whole in the end, and create the perfect master plan for this little speck of a city named Norman. Peace!

P.S. I am feeling better than I was earlier; the doctor said I was going to live. [This time anyway!]

[10.16.08]

I was taking a look at some of the pictures I have taken throughout the semester, and I couldn't help but notice that peeling the top layer off to give contrast to the roads was one of the best decisions we have made as a whole this entire semester. Take a look:













It is like day and night. Our model has about as much contrast as our studio class does. I know there has been much 'compromise' and 'discourse' among our class over the past few weeks, but it has not always been really tense. Take a look at the pics from the day we were choosing the colors for the houses and commercial buildings. We all look pretty high on life:

Here are all of us agreeing on the color of paint. Finally, something is agreed upon! This is also one of my favorite pictures too. I know that we are all excited to get on with this project and start on our own design; I just hope that we ALL realize this whole year is going to be a collaboration. I just hope we can all get along for another 7 or 8 months!

[10.15.08]

The time has come! Our model is well underway, and due for completion by the end of next week! There is still a whole lot to do on the model, but it is totally feasible to wrap it up in the next 10 days. I think for this post it is reasonable to introduce the studionauts involved in this massive effort of collaborative model making. So here we are, 1 by 1.

1.] Sean Jackson
2.] Regina Savini
3.] Matt Savini :)
4.] Katie Edgar
5.] Mike Ruark
6.] Candice Fleming
7.] Waylon Becker
8.] Jennifer McAlister
9.] Marc Wright

[10.07.08]

After a long weekend in the model shop, we have come to the conclusion that the roads do not have enough contrast against the green mat boards. This can be seen from the picture to the right. We have been exploring different ideas, such as markers and paint, but the best idea was to peel off the top layer of the mat board, which exposes a cream colored middle layer. It matches the green very well, and is a lot easier to accomplish than painting in between 2 lines. Almost all of the contours have been cut out, and gluing is well underway, so hopefully, we can wrap this portion of the project up and proceed recreating a miniature Norman with all of the houses and businesses. More to come later. Best!

[9.30.08]

Here we are, rapidly approaching October working full force on our site model. [Pictures of our progress will be posted tomorrow] I think all of us wish that we were a little further along than what we are, but it seems as if that is how it always is. We took shifts and spent time all weekend in the model shop cutting out the contours to glue them down to the model's base. Candice and Katie worked hard on the houses; I believe they are finished painting them. This is going to be a very exciting 2.5 weeks; we should have the contours glued down and be building the neighborhoods and retail centers by then. Here are some pictures of us hard at work. Look at the pile of houses on the desk! We should have put them all in a jar and had a contest to see who could guess the right number of houses. They could win a prize, like the day off, or something. Man those contours get confusing if you stare at them for too long, look at our faces. You can see it in our eyes! Just kidding. It does get confusing if you stare at it for long enough though. Anyway, it is going to be very cool when it is all said and done, but until then all we can do is work our butts off. Later!

[9.22.08]

The order of our mat board arrived on Friday [9.19.08], and the day went downhill from there. When the box was opened, and some of the students saw that the boards were green instead of the originally decided cream color, hostility overcame the studio. The order was placed while a few students were sent to the model shop by Dr. Bozorgi to cut out houses to see which colored houses would look better next to cream colored mat board; while these students were gone, the idea to use green mat board was decided, and the students at the model shop were left under the impression that the color of the site contours were going to be cream colored. After much debate both Friday and Monday afternoon, it was decided; our site model will be green. Dr. Bozorgi was very truthful when he stated, "using a color like this [green] will present us with a great challenge throughout the project", so we will ALL willingly put our complete faith in the design capabilities of this diverse group of 9 students, and come out with one bad-ass model! Later.

[9.09.08]

Here we are, second week of school, and the model size has been established; it is going to have an impressive 12' by 15' dimension, and will cover approximately 6 square miles of the City of Norman. We have a lot of work to do. Here is a picture of us at Copeland's making some executive decisions on the color scheme of the model.

First Week of Class

Our first week of Studio is over now, and we have reached a very exciting point already. After all the fussing and fighting was resolved over the amount of Studio space that was available, we were able to actually begin our capstone project under the direction of Dr. Khosrow Bozorgi. Throughout the first week of class, we were focusing on a site along the I-35 corridor, extending south from Indian Hills Road to Robinson Avenue. We were trying to become excited about this project after meeting with a few individuals from Norman's planning department, but it wasn't until Friday when we became very excited about this capstone project. Bozorgi gathered us on campus to view a presentation on our project. The table was turned as he easily persuaded us to focus on our new site. A plot of land that is south of Lindsey and I-35, extending radially from the Canadian River in both directions. This site is very dynamic, and has an abundance of potential for a group of young, ambitious designers such as the ones comprising our studio. Here are just a few pictures to illustrate all of the excitement. More to come later!