The End is Near!

November 23rd, 2012, 9:14 pm

This past week has been the most exhausting and busy one. It was our last week for the project and we made two different models of public seating space and a planter using painted tires. We also made sure that we had achieved the goals we set out earlier After painting the tires, the group got back on Monday and Tuesday to work on building the bench and the planter. Portia and Mohammad (Rafi) set out to work in the morning, and the other group members eventually joined them and worked till sunset.

Careful measurements had to be made on the tires to pin point the location where holes needed to be drilled. We used bolts to hold the painted tires firmly together so that it remains stable when people sits on them. In order to build the second bench with a back-rest feature, we pushed rebar through the drilled holes and used bolts to support the structure. In the beginning, things were progressing quite slowly, mainly because of the difficulty in making measurements amongst other things. Once we sorted out by trial and error process, work was divided accordingly and it went pretty smooth and fast. There are still a few finishing touches that have to be done in order to fully complete our project. This includes making the planter and putting in the potted flower we have purchased. Rosina has kindly put together a video to show at the exhibition, and we have begun to work together to write our legacy report.

 

Portia and Sajid are sitting in the ‘Public Bench’ made of tires.

Overall, it has been an enduring and exuberating journey and we are looking forward to sharing our experiences about this project with the class and special guests next week at the exhibition.

 

At the end of the day’s work on Tuesday: Exhausted Portia sits in the ‘Public Bench’ with the back-rest feature.

 

 

Tweet

Final proposal for Midterm presentation

October 19th, 2012, 8:29 pm

We found this chair to be closely related to our model which will help us to build ours.

 

Our group spent the better part of this week preparing for our midterm presentation. With our final sketches ready, all we need to do is to play with the materials to implement the physical model. We were able to find 25 free used tires of different shapes and sizes, and will be using different tools borrowed from the Lebel Sculpture space, setting up shop there for a few days to continue our progress.

 

We are thinking of installing this kind of table with the chairs shown at the top.

 

This weekend will be make or break in our realizations for our chosen material!  We’ve taken out a few different tools, depending on how difficult the tires will be to cut will be the deciding factor in our final outcome to be displayed in the course’s gallery show at Civic Space.

 

Another version of table-chair made of tire

Tweet

Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho…It’s Off to Work We Go!

June 7th, 2010, 2:39 am

Wildflower Group Cleaning up the Land

Not unlike Disney’s ‘Seven Dwarfs’ who like to ‘dig dig dig dig dig dig dig from early morn till night’, the Wildflower Garden Group donned their gardening clothes and eagerly dug into the next step of the Wildflower Garden plans—preparing the soil.  A few hours were spent with some help from the Urban Agriculture group (who also aided in the purchase of a permanent tool collection for the Eco-House garden) sorting through the tilled lot removing garbage, large rocks, and other debris that could hinder the growing of plants as well as digging up the grass the till had missed.  The soil was found to be incredibly hard and so it was only the biggest rocks and clay that were removed in the hopes that the flowers and rain would be able to break up the smaller mounds of dirt.  Slowly, the land is improving, and though we don’t have any Disney magic to instantly transform the lot into supple soil, we’re not far off with the generous donation of minerals from Noel Harding which will shortly be sprinkled over the land to aid growth.   It was difficult work, and I think we all left with a greater respect for those working outdoors–those seven miners included.
Wildflower and Urban Agriculture Working Together to Clean the Land

Minerals to be Sprinkled Over the Land

Tweet

Canadian Tire Eh!

June 2nd, 2010, 7:22 pm

Today we purchased items to assist the Wildflower garden group to begin cultivating the land. Staying within the Green Corridor we went to the Canadian Tire on Huron Church. We purchased 2 large shovels a large pack of gloves and a nozzle to attach to the hose. The products were not difficult to find but we were faced with a difficult decision on whether to sacrifice price over quality. In the end we went with quality. An update on another part of our project is establishing a volunteer base to maintain the garden after we have gone. Manjot contacted “A Place of our own”. They gave us some promising news that the possibility of them assisting with volunteers is high. We also called a number of other community organizations where we left detailed voicemail messages explaining who we are and what we are aiming to do. The signs for both the eco house and wildflower garden are well on their way. All they require is approval from Rod and Justin and a little editing in Photoshop. After class with tools in hand we headed down to the Ecohouse to assist the wildflower group in cultivating the land. There were number of areas on the land that have ingrown weeds. We assisted them in removing the weeds. Today was a far cry from the complete project but a productive day overall.

Working hard or hardly working?

We're not scared of getting dirty!

Tweet