revisiting excavation

the past few weeks have been an adventure, to say the least!
we've been battling the weather (thanks tropical storm ida!), inspections (thanks city of charlottesville!) and a deluge of concrete/footing dilemmas. needless to say, we're learning a LOT about the construction process.

as you know, we dug the holes a few weeks ago.
then, we fixed the holes and poured concrete. tommy came by and helped us mix a sturdy, soupy batch of concrete. each of the 22 footings, 24" inches in diameter, needs 6" of concrete...that's a lot of mixing!

the footings solidified well. then we double checked and found some fun errors. more excavating and soil compressing set everything up and now we are ready to set the posts and backfill!!

anyway, this project is still going strong! we've had a great turnout for work days and we've had a great response from the city offices and united rentals. lowe's and nature nurture have been great too, and where would we be without martin's hardware?

please come out and help over the next few weeks! we WILL finish this before the semester ends!!

CONSIDER IT...EXCAVATED!!!!!

hi freedom fans!

this weekend was a monumental step in FBD's fall 2009 project - we dug all 20+ footing holes, graded the front yard and replanted a rosebush! along with finding artifacts (and by artifacts, we mean bricks, remnants of past flower beds and more bricks), we figured out that there are atleast 4 different types of soils and clays in gladys' and mary's yard. plus, we got to use an AWESOME two-person auger which was super exciting (check out the extreme spinning action in pictures below...thank you united rentals!) we had to haul a TON of soil from the front to back yard, and we probably should have brought a wheelbarrow from the beginning, but it was all part of the process. with rain looming overhead, we decided to wait to finish with the concrete footings. it doesn't look like much now (since we covered over all of our hard work with "sod") but this is a huge task to keep us on schedule.

ANYWAY. this week we'll be pouring the concrete, generously donated by allied concrete. then this saturday will be putting in the posts and working on the framework! hopefully the rain doesn't fill in all 24" of these giant, gaping holes!

2k9 - the year of the build

welcome to freedom by design 2009!
we're looking forward to a productive fall - we're finally building a ramp for gladys!

stay tuned for more information about building days, progress and the completed project...

post-paintjob

This post is long overdue. It's been a hectic start of a summer.

We finally finished with the paintjob the first week of May'08.THANK YOU for all the FBDesigners at UVa and all the volunteers.
The paintjob project was suppose to last no more than a month. It ended up taking the entire semester. Mary and Gladys' house is a lot taller than we anticipated.
It's finally done and it came out great.


It would have been nice to leave all the colors in. But that would be against the housing codes in that area. It looks nice in the pale yellow that Andrew and Ryan picked out.


Everyone worked very hard and Gladys looked on.


Stephanie and Carmen measuring the slopes around Mary and Gladys' house the good old fashioned way - with a rock on a string.


Ryan taking the measurements down.

Once again, thank you to everyone who has participated in this process. Our first project ("Project Paintjob") took a lot longer than anticipated but it came out great and it's a lot better of a paintjob than this house has ever had.
Thank you to Sherwin Williams in Charlottesville for donaitng much of the painting materials. And Thank you to the Order of the Pantheon for donating money for our project. And THANK YOU for everyone in the School of Architecture at UVa for showing your support!

Our next project will be a multi-use ramp design. We're looking forward to it and we hope to get more support from all of you as well.

freedom project

here are some images from our current project. we have started our relationship with the client by repainting her house. the job is proving a lot more difficult and time consuming than we expected because the cinder block is incredibly hard to deal with - chipping paint and painting. note to future fbd-ers: don't take on a paint job!

freedom fest

we held our first fundraising event titled, FREEDOM FEST, in february. it was our first fundraising event and possibly the introduction of freedom by design to university students. we were very nervous and probably under prepared, but it had a great turnout and we raised over $350!
thank you to everyone that came for your interest, support, and donations!

here are few pictures from the event:

freedom by design

Large numbers of people feel confined in their own homes. They are unable to get into their showers, ascend steps, open doors or pass through doorways. More importantly, many are unable to flee their homes in an emergency without assistance because their residences are not properly designed for their specific needs.

Freedom by Design™, the AIAS community service program, utilizes the talents of architecture students to radically impact the lives of people in our community through modest design and construction solutions. Vital modifications are made to enhance the homes of low-income elderly and disabled individuals by addressing their struggles with everyday tasks such as bathing, ascending stairs and opening doors. Our priority is improving the safety, comfort and dignity of the home’s occupants.

This blog is our way to keep our community involved and informed. It is also our way to express gratitude to those who is helping us through this process.