TO NYC: Peter's story.

Thursday, July 29th 2010.

I woke up late for work, in a panic I quickly got ready and drove to the office. Today was the day I fly out to meet Marc Fornes, and all I could think about is how exciting it would be to work with him. I finally get into the office around 8:30, my boss is already waiting to brief me on changes for our new project. I started immediately on the changes only to later run into horrible printer issues. Thinking to myself "God why! its already 12:30" fixing presentations was one thing... I still have two competitions to finish before 3!. 2 o'clock runs around, I start to panic. Everything has been pushed behind schedule and my plane leaves in a couple of hours. My co-worker is struggling to get his competition model finished and the bossman asks if I can stay behind...and disaster strikes. I have not told my boss before hand I was flying to NYC....

After a moment of silent had passed, and a few awkward statements were said I was on my way to finish packing for my flight! Riding quickly down the highway I thought to myself that was the worst of it! traffic all of a sudden slowed down to a screeching halt...

CRASH!!!!

I had gotten my self into an car accident....I thought to myself wow....it hasn't even been 3 weeks since i got into my last fender bender.. and twice I was rear ended and pushed into the car in front of me... I immediately get out and look at damages on both cars, the man in front gets out and yells at me "HEY, i have to get to work." I looked to the car behind, the windshield had blown off the car. I started walking towards the car and again the man yells out "HEY!, do you have some paper i can write my info down and leave." In that instance something in me snapped and I turned around and yelled "Stand there! Wait! and when i'm doing helping this person out of their car i will talk to you!" The door starts to open, and the women starts to get out. I helped her out and talked got our information straight and eventually left the scene.

Alex eventually comes to pick me up at my house, we had decided to take his car to the airport and drop it off there for the weekend. I tell him my situation and we have a hardly laugh about my misfortune...at that point I had made a terrible joke, "hey, Alex just watch our planes going to be delayed as well." We both laughed and went on our way to the gate. After sitting down for not even 5 mins we hear "for flight 508 leaving for Laguardia airport. Your flight will be delayed until 9:30 PM." Alex looks right at me, "Omg, peter....your just a troll today.." I laughed and told him to leave me alone, I already had a bad day.......

Heres an image of the Art museum designed by Sanaa.

I finally found a spot to put this.

2A_Em IN NYC!

meltwater

this post is long over due, but i'd been helping construct uwm's first entry into the solar decathlon. this is building competition that 'joins 20 college and university teams in a competition to design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered house.'


© stefano paltera

the project is the culmination of two years of design and execution. i jumped in during the last 6 months of the project as a builder. not really having much formal training in carpentry, i learned on the job, fast. we all did. the house was showcased in dc from october 9 - 18, 2009.



the project - meltwater - uses nature as a model. much of the region around milwaukee has been shaped by glacial forces. the earth's shaping strength is articulated in the butterfly roof and along the south facade. the design was stimulated by a desire to harness the limitless power of solar energy and our finite fresh water resources.



the rain screen ungulates over the surface, giving depth and allowing shadows to paint its surface. 'the topographical facade sweeps across the front of the building reminding the building and its maker where we come from, and our indelible ties to our region.' we worked closely with the aldo leopold center, many of the materials used in the house were sustainably harvested from the foundation's grounds - including the rain screen.



the form and potential of the home takes on the strength characterized by the natural process that reworked our regional landscape.

we constructed in multiple locations around milwaukee, including our newly renovated kenilworth building - with historical ties to milwaukee's long tradition to industrial processes - and the courtyard of the school of architecture and urban planing. we had eight days to reconstruct the house on the mall - the heart of washington dc. we were in the early morning shadow of the us congress and the evening shadow of the washington monument.



there, we ran into some snags and our competition scores reflect. it began after we were re-routed around indiana and later getting into washington dc. the deliveries put us two days tardy... growing pains. it's all a learning process.

shining brow [east]

after brief stops for lake louie's 'kiss my lips' ipas and pbrs, and procuring fresh wisconsin cheese curds, we take the scenic route to the hillside school compound. over the waterfall, around the 'house', through the corn fields [which i heard was a golden sea of wheat during the first growing season], past midway's silo steeple [surrounding apprentice russell mahoney's jewel of an installation], we received the shade of an ancient oak.

over the weekend, i was realized a long awaited visit to the fabled taliesin [east]. a local legend and personal hero's compound of living, learning and laughing. the school's 2009 summer box celebration - a festive event marking the final presentations of the idealistic, optimistic, exuberant students as well as a gathering of some fellows, well-doers and characters from all the old stories i've heard of this pastoral paradise. originally, this event marked 'Mr. Wright's' birthday, today its meaning has been reincarnated. if you want to hear some great stories from the day's of 'Mr. Wright' minerva montooth is your lady. this sweet matriarch has been involved with the taliesin fellowship since 1947 and personally assisted 'Mr. Wright' for nearly 23 years.

during the afternoon we caught ourselves up with the student's projects, made introductions, and heard stories from past visits. a few apprentices have succeeded in a major undertaking - red squared art gallery. this place is has some innovative use of materials - peg boards clad the walls, making hanging exhibitions quickly and neatly. additionally there are some accordion walls that break the space up with great connections: zip ties. the evening included trips between the gallery turned dance hall and the shed for pizza, beers and conversations added depth to the evening.

our tent pitched, a bright orange folly on the landscape, we awake to the birds calling and the sun filtering through the screens. earning our keep; sweeping, dusting, picking tomatoes for the dinner salads, preparing tables, and tableware we passed the afternoon exploring midway and swinging in the hammock.

as the sun set we continued showing our appreciation for the invitation by serving drinks, cooking food, and serving - we all helped out to make the event. after a dinner that had those who knew remembering the 'old country' we retired to an incredible dance party - in the assembly hall. learning to salsa, box step and bachata we spent the night shuffling our feet, cutting and mixing.

the migration to the winter complex happens this weekend... we await spring.