Concrete is Crazy: The Oasis Story

And no, I'm not referring to the well-known rock band. Instead, I am referring to something far more dear to my heart. The Pathways | Edges | Boundaries project has been a tremendous learning experience thus far. It has taught me, along with my classmates I am sure, the importance of taking risks and what design really is, all the while beating time management, teamwork, and leadership skills into our already sore brains.

[The Pathways | Edges | Boundaries project dictated that we create objects from concrete that respond to the dialog between the parking lot and the building edge.]

After the research process, and cumulative hours of debate as to how the project should be handled, we divided into five groups, each group taking an area. Four of the groups were assigned the islands in the parking lot that run along the building, while the remaining group was assigned the building edge itself as a space to address. The furthest island was deemed the desert, the next is the Way Station/ Mirage, then my beloved Oasis, and last the Gateway group.

I had the luck of landing in the Oasis group. We Oasians have some prime property in that parking lot. Three tree creating shade and an atmosphere that seems especially inviting when looking out over the bleak asphalt of the parking lot, or the sun radiating off of the rows of cars. People really do find it a place to walk through. While most islands were walked around, the Oasis was walked through. There is a distinct pathway through it where people have walked day after day, from their car to the building and back. Of course, this partly has to do with its size, but we would also like to believe that people are drawn to natural beauty, and compared to most of the surroundings, the Oasis has just this. But of course, in reality, it is just a traffic island and people do need to get to class.

And so we began to design. And re-design. And simplify. And then we would realize that the simple was not quite simple enough. And when we thought we had it, we started trying to execute our plans in concrete. Mortar mix, to be exact. We had to find an aggregate, and after trying such things as wood shavings, we decided on Pearlite. One of the benefits of Pearlite is that it adds virtually no weight to the concrete. Another plus was that it does not prolong the drying time, which was especially important concerning our time crunch to reach some sort of finish line.

After days of making circle and rectangular shapes, we decided to asses our situation. Really, we had to go back to the designing board. It is a fact of life that no matter how carefully one might plan, few things ever turn out the way they are intended. So we loaded up our concrete forms and took them to the Oasis. Naturally, we found that we were far from where we wanted to be. In an effort to make this something successful, we began to play with the shapes in the space and come up with a new way of laying them out. We decided to create a border to the pathway instead of filling the entire pathway with the shapes, as we had planned, and making the pathway itself out of gravel. I soon realized that this fulfills the objectives of the assignment better than our previous design had. It was a relief to know that things really do work out in the end.

Of course, it is not really the end yet. There is still putting up the exhibit and the critique, but those seem like small tasks compared to what is behind us. I have done things I never thought I would do and things I did not realize I was capable of doing. I never thought I would cast concrete or saw cardboard tubes with a handsaw and have a sore arm for days. I talked to people I would have never or rarely would have talked to who ended up being really interesting people. And most importantly, I have learned things I did not even know there were to learn.

And throughout the production process, I could not help but keep thinking, "So when we're out there designing stuff and we give the plans to someone for them to build or make, is this what we're going to put them through?!"

For photos, please visit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/myartificialsunshine/sets/72157609712308355/