Bringing it all together

November 23rd, 2012, 11:27 pm

Welcome back once more to our blog!

It has been a very stressful week for our group due to unfortunate turn of events. As we have announced in our last few blogs, we are at the final steps of completing the rough work before starting construction on our exhibition area. During our last meeting with our urban designer Erin, we shared our ideas of what the transformation of the selected alley would look like. Since she currently resides in Toronto, we emailed her several photos of the section of the alleyway we chose to focus on and agreed that she will implement these ideas using her expertise onto a hard copy. We are hoping Erin can send this hard copy by this weekend so we can move forward in our legacy report of the project.

After meeting with Sandy’s father, a construction worker, he agreed to lend us a hand in building the brick wall that sits in the center of our station. But to make matters worse, his schedule does not give him enough free time to assist in the construction but he is willing to bring the materials needed to finish the job for us to use. With time running short before the exhibition reception opens, extreme measures will be taken to complete this task and the help of friends and family will be necessary. Also, the draft design of our exhibition station will be adjusted to accommodate this change.

Our goal for this weekend is to finish the design we have in mind and immediately begin construction on our station using the materials Sandy’s father will have ready for us. In the meantime, we are hoping Erin would come through with our agreement and send us her finalized projection of our ideas so they could be prepared for printing next week. We have high hopes in reaching our goals for this project before the deadline and we are looking forward for the opening day next week!

Also, a reminder for next week, our Exhibition opening day is on November 27th, 2012. It is open for the public so anyone is welcome. We hope to see you there. Thank you!

 

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Making it Reality

November 10th, 2012, 10:21 am

 

Deciding which section of the alleyway is ideal for our project.

It’s been a long week and our team is excited to begin on the hands on aspect of the project. After meeting with our urban designer Erin, we felt that our group managed to get a good grasp of our resourcing problems. Although Erin works in Toronto, she agreed to help us however she could with the time-frame given. We will work together through email, phone and through video chat in order to express our ideas of the planning we agree upon.

Since the days of the exhibition are counting down quickly, it was also time to start thinking of the Exhibition grand opening which will be in place on November 27^th, 2012. Our team brainstormed how it would be best to illustrate what our new design in comparison with its original copy. One idea brought up with the miniature model concept is how to present these ideas. After giving it some thought and with the help of Rod and Patricia who are guides and exhibition experts We’ve come to realization that having a small model would not portray the right feel and perspective we want our guests to see. The best concept would be to build a human scale model inside our exhibition room. This model would present our transformation from the original alley to the new design.

Deciding which section of the alleyway is ideal for our project. (Pictured above)

For the coming up week, there is a lot to consider when thinking of  concept building. We considered the materials involved and the time it would take to complete the building process. As we previously reported, we spoke we two of the store owners recently and we will be meeting with them this week with visuals of our designs to inform them of where our imagination took us. We will collect more information about the alleyway in the rear of their shops and how they feel about this change, so don’t forget to check back with us next week!

Thank you!

 

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The Overview

October 26th, 2012, 10:16 pm

This week proved to be the toughest but most important week yet. It was our midterm presentation week where we had to present our project to the rest of the class. Also, we had to give a brief idea of what our project is about and provide a future outlook on what is to be expected . While we presented we received much feedback, some good, however others questioned a few of the ideas we presented. But out of all the feedback and advice we received it was obvious that one issue was brought up several times. The aesthetics of the actual design was our key issue. So our next objective is to begin designing. We had already accomplished and researched ideas that would help begin the first stage of process.

There are a few things that have to be updated before we get our hands dirty. The group will update its task schedule and proposal update in order to keep the project in check after certain setbacks. The proposal update covers a small but significant portion to redirect the changes we have set. These need to be done by the beginning of next week.

Looking ahead, our team has a lot to accomplish if we wish to complete this project by the end of the semester. We feel this project has  huge potential in reviving our alleyways.  We hope to share more next week on what has been completed. See you next time!

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Outsourcing for Improvement

October 17th, 2012, 3:15 am

This week started our with a lot of brand new ideas being thrown to the table. Now that our final vision is in mind, the requirement for tools and resources to reach this goal became our top priority. In order to achieve our goal  is to reach beyond our limitations by involve the community and the experts on the project we have set forth. From architects to engineers, to creative art specialists and urban designers, we look to integrate a combination of selected skill sets and ideas to create  improvements to  urbanize alleyways within this city.

During the first half of this week, Sandy came across valuable information about a high school  that also unearthed the issue of alley abandonment. A class at Vincent Massey High School decided that it was necessary to end neglecting alleyways in their city and it was time to speak up. This was a perfect opportunity for our team to collaborate with these eager students who are also looking for a change in their community. We decided it was necessary to contact the civics teacher and pool our ideas!

With our eyes set on a ideal location, and a nifty design in mind, the team kept its foot on the gas and is concurrently preparing for the visual construction of the final product. The team is using a computer program to render a 3D visual of how the final design would look like. We are hoping this will be finalized by the end of this week due to time-constraints.

The images above were taken of sites our project will be focused on. The first two images depict the location within the alley that we would like to transform. The third image provides an insight to what we are currently working on and in the hopes of getting it done before project presentations.

Don’t forget to check back next week for new updates as well as feedback from our class presentation! Thank you!

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A New Perspective!

September 24th, 2012, 11:48 pm

From a late start to begin a fresh new term, to meeting new class members from diverse programs, we slowly but surely merged into different groups mixed with new creative ideas, as well as, varying perspectives to fulfill one common goal: the development of a new proposals for the Downtown City of Windsor!

Downtown Windsor (Above picture)

Given a list of projects to develop and the option to create and propose new ideas, our team quickly realized it was time to step foot outside the box and add a new proposal for this city. Consisting of two team members thus far, Wassim Ayache, a 3rd year student with an Electrical Engineering background combines forces with Sandy Chehade, a 4th year Sociology and Social Justice student, familiar with the law principals and procedures, to bring forth the propositional idea of solar-powered street and traffic lights.

This innovative concept is specifically and carefully designed to conserve energy, reduce cost, as well as enforce security and safety of pedestrians in areas where street lights are not available. Before any details are pushed into light, much research must be done to generate and design this device before it is fabricated, hence why this team is ready to get down and dirty this semester to fabricate and show off its new idea!

Green Corridor 2012 BEGINS!

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