By Nicholas Casolari, Project Leader
Think back to when you were in architecture school—remember those days when lunchtime unwillingly became that “spare” time to build a physical model? Do you cringe recalling all those lunches spent frantically assembling a conglomeration of basswood and chipboard while simultaneously scarfing down leftovers from the prior night’s pizza binge?
Was it efficient? Sure… kinda. Sophisticated? Far (far) from it.
Personally, I miss those times. There was something enjoyable about those rapid-fire building sessions. So, in order to relive those cherished days, the Ontario 3 Studio recently participated in a Design/Build session during last month’s studio gathering. Those that elected to participate were informed that they would be building a common household object at full scale. After a couple days and many questions, the program was finally released the night before the event and the teams were given the chance to develop a design.
Program: Construct a chair using recycled drawing tubes as the primary material.
Materials: Each team was allowed approximately 15 recycled plotter tubes (extras were available if necessary). The tube lengths varied, but they could be cut to size and fastened by whatever means necessary. (Thanks to ARC Document Solutions for donating their cardboard tubes to our project!)
Time: 1 hour for construction.
Armed with an arsenal of power tools and a pallet of donated tubes, the training room and back patio of the Ontario office were transformed into a bustling workshop. The groups established their working territories and began strategizing how to construct their designs given the allotted time and limited supplies. Fueled with pizza and salad, the mood quickly changed from a casual lunch gathering into an adrenaline pumping race against the clock and an unyielding battle with the material. It was just like the good ol’ days of school.
The back patio was transformed into a workshop.
Overall, the results were impressive. However, just like in school, at the end of the deadline we hosted a presentation/demonstration and grades were distributed.
After much deliberation, it was decided that the Raging Recyclers (of course, team names were also mandatory) would be awarded the coveted #1 Tube Trophy for their on-the-fly thinking and iterative process that truly exemplified the essence of the design/build method.
Presumably, none of the chairs made it to esteemed level of “focal piece” of their creators’ living rooms, but nonetheless it was a fun event that allowed us to take discarded objects and give them a new life—at least for a little while.
