Bringing the Dead Back to LifeA few weeks ago, the dean of the OU Christopher Gibbs College of Architecture contacted me about a project for an acquaintance of his. His friend, an avid historic building and vintage car enthusiast, had recently purchased a building on Linwood Boulevard near Stockyards City in Oklahoma City. The plan is to renovate it and restore it to reflect its original appearance when it was built in the 1940s. The building has quite the eclectic history. Originally it was a transmission shop. Today it is an industrial warehouse that houses the businesses Architectural Antiques and a humorously titled business, Dead People's Stuff. Inside there are hundreds of antique parts that were salvaged from old buildings, such as windows, doors, wood siding, tiles, light fixtures and even an entire staircase. There are also smaller antiques such as clocks, statues, vases, and butter churners.
The client has asked that a student produce elevation drawings of the facade of the building, as well as documenting the square footage of all the warehouse and suite spaces. This involves measuring every detail of the faces of the building, hastily sketching it down, and later translating that into beautiful AutoCAD drawings. A fellow student, Nick Pazdernik, and I were chosen for the job. One of the biggest challenges for me is staying focused on that tasks at hand. When I am standing back looking at the bigger picture, it is easy for me to see a dozen different elements that need to be measured and jumping around between them. That window height, this concrete panel, that sill height, this wall span, that door trim. If it were my job alone, I might take 4 hours to measure one side of the building because I would be running back and forth instead of working methodically. Luckily, working as a team balances out my weaknesses with another's strengths and keeps us focused. As of today we have finished measuring the building. I possess half a sketchbook filled with boxy, not-to-scale diagrams of the facades and tiny dimensions squished in between one another. It is legible to me, and that's what matters. This has been a very useful experience with my first job involving drawings in the real architectural profession and I'm excited to make the final product to show for our efforts. Digital drawings to follow.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Amy HostetterCurrent student. Archives
January 2019
Categories |