Ledgers and Re-bar cages

On Sunday, we worked for a couple hours, but had to end a bit early due to weather conditions and shortage of personnel. Despite that, we got our ledgers in place. We still need to drill lag screws through, but we at least know where they need to go. A big part of the problem was not knowing whether or not there was sufficient structure to drill into to hold the ledger.

We also tied up our re-bar cage for the retaining wall that holds back the earth berm and set it in place. We could have poured, but we are going to wait to get an inspection. Hopefully this week we can talk to an inspector and purchase the deck substructure. By next weekend, we hope to be out of the ground!

Pouring Post Footings

Saturday we were graced with beautiful sunny skies. We were out on site from 9-5 and got a lot of work done. We dug holes for our footings, poured concrete, and set in our pier blocks for the entire upper deck. We sealed up some exposed wood under the sliding glass door. We kept working on sorting out wood we could reuse and the rest we took to Lane Forest so they could turn it to mulch. We also got a bunch of help from Jacob and Donnie over at Hoffman Construction. We could not have done it without their help. Eugene Mason Supply donated SEVENTY 80lb bags of concrete. With this generous donation, we are able to take care of our footings and retaining wall. Big thanks to all the donors and volunteers!

DEMO DAY

After getting approval of our plans from the city, we went out to the site and started taking apart the old deck and some plants. It was raining quite a bit, but with the help of a few awesome volunteers, we got the entire deck down in about two or three hours. We were able to take the waste to Lane Forest Products and examine the conditions for our footings.

Permit Approved!

Great news!!! Friday the 15th, the city got back to us and we have a permit set that told us we are good to build. We will need to make a few revisions and show some calculations for footings, but we are all set. This is awesome because we ended up getting the set back from the city in ONE week when we thought it would take FOUR. Its Build Time!

Handrail

Our handrails have changed quite a bit from our initial considerations. We went to Bring Recycling in Eugene and were able to find a great buy. What we ended up getting were small metal square tubes that we  could drill and run cable through. After meeting with a metal cable rail company in town, we soon realized that the Bring metal tubes were a much more cost-effective option. This railing is a mock-up, but the real ones will be drilled into the deck fascia and run along the entire deck.

Framing Model

Here is the model we constructed to show how this deck is actually going to be constructed. We learned quite a bit from doing this and were able to get a tiny taste of what a task it is going to be to build this.

Final Review!

Our term of studio came to an end with our final review. It was an awesome event with great support from the AAA school. Both teams constructed mock-ups of their buildings. Our team built a small trellis out of wood which we pictured being an open structure people could go and relax under on the East edge of the garden.

During the review, we received lots of feedback regarding our choices for paving. We were able to get some helpful information and realize that maybe a gravel-pave system would not be appropriate for an accessibility ramp. Our client was also present to check out what we were working on. Again, their main focus for the space was low-maintenance and inclusiveness.

We would like to thank our reviewers, everyone who showed up, and all who helped!

Permit Set

Well here it is. Our permit set is what we have put a lot of our hard work into. Since we are building in the city of Eugene and that the residence has a conditional-use occupancy, we are required to submit a permit set to the city for review. We would not be able to build if we did not, and it still needs to get approved. Here are some selected details we have been working on.

The Site Plan

This is our most recent site plan. It shows how the deck has been minimized and much of the ramped surface occurs by shifting ground into a slope. The gathering space is a large paved circle that becomes inclusive for everyone to meet for events like fundraisers.

Fabrication Project

Our instructor led us out to the hills of West Eugene for us to all get some hands-on experience building an actual project. This was a two-day project set on a ranch property and was to be a small garden shed. The shed would be constructed like a pole barn, so the first thing to do was to set the posts. After that, the gable roof and siding would be added. It was a great opportunity to get outside of the classroom setting, work with tools, and build something!

Setting up a grid system for the posts

Post goes here

Post braced on its sides, set with concrete.

The dirt has to go somewhere!

Laying on the beams.

Truss time

Chris was so happy

Materials!

As mentioned, our client is very interested in making this yard project as low-maintenance as possible. Since most of us have minor knowledge of low-maintenance materials and what materials are actually out there, we have been constantly researching what types of materials are out there. Some materials we are primarily focusing on is wood composite decking, pressure treated wood, and different types of stone/rock paving systems.

Materials and color board

Plant board

Whitney's awesome section model of stone paving

Grass (gravel) pave model

Midterm Review

A couple great reviews thanks to Otto Poticha, Stuart Ramsing, and Laurie Nelson! A lot was discussed.   Some not so good news was that we still needed to refine some scheme details before moving forward, especially regarding the ramped portion of the deck. The good news is the reviewers were able to offer us some really helpful, realistic pointers for moving forward.

One important topic was making the half of the ramped deck constructed out of dirt and paving. This would not only cut costs, but create the opportunity for adding a more organic form (earth) versus an orthogonal element (deck).

Another topic was eliminating many of the minor elements or parts that didn't have a strong connection to the rest of the built structures. This would hopefully create some clarity and reduce some scope creep.

Here are some pics of the model we produced for the review:

Process Model

Here is a model we have been working off of one of the main schemes. It includes an extended portion of the deck outside the deck to create an outdoor room. The ramp is connected to the house to an intermediate platform that begins to divide the yard. A new gate entry was proposed to make exiting the yard from the ramp easier. The ramp becomes the central source of circulation. The large gathering area is beginning to develop. Here a tree is placed in the center and seating occurs along the edges.

designBridge Open Charette

At the weekly dB meeting, we invited anyone to jump in and help with designing schemes. It was a fun experience for people and a great chance for us to hear fresh new perspectives from others. A lot of great dialogue came about this meeting. One idea was to create an open amphitheater area towards the north corner of the site and have circulation wrap around it. Another idea was to push the "hard" boundary of the fence back away from the street about 15' or so. This would create a front yard/back yard separation.