1st Solo Job Completed

Today I just finished my first job that I handled start to finish. It was a small project and the client's budget only allowed them to complete half of it but I'm pretty sure they are excited now and want to complete it sooner than later. They wanted to xeriscape their front yard and thats what I attempted to do. The guy really wanted to get rid of his sod because he was tired of the cost to water it. On the plan I have drawn a line to show where we stopped with the landscaping. Everything on the left of the red line was completed and everything to the right stands to be completed in the future. It was really fun getting to see this come to life and actually kind of funny to see the change in the client from start to finish. When I met with them, I could tell they were like "did this company really send this kid to talk to us?" But they told me what they wanted and were honest with me about shopping around with 2 or 3 other companies. By the end I was shooting the shit with the guy and taking a check back to the company. The job took a 4 man crew a day and a half to complete. The only time my boss made it to the site was yesterday for about 10 minutes to make sure I had everything under control. I will attach some before and after pics as well as the plan. I forgot to get an after pic of the left side of the driveway but if you can imagine we ripped out the existing crap (rock and mulch mix) and put the 1 1/2" river rock. The client wanted to rip out some shrubs under the pines up near the garage too which made it look much cleaner. Until next time, Enjoy!

Check it Out

Almost famous

http://picayuneitem.com/local/x1414104938/Arboretum-s-new-exhibit-in-the-works

One Alfred Street

One Alfred Street is a very historical corner right in the heart of Sydney CBD. Currently there is a building there mostly made one offices and a few retail stores. But there are plans for a new residential/retail development to take place. The 2 or 3 million dollar apartment will provide its residence with a front row seat to some of the best views of Sydney's Harbor including the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

I have been very excited about this project because I have been able to work on it from the very beginning, where most of my time here I have been thrown into the middle of a lot of projects. We were ask by the client after our first meeting to build a model of the site to really begin to understand the spaces with in the site, especially between the buildings. So I had the opportunity to build both the physical and virtual models for the site as well as the existing and proposed plans. All I was given was the architectural plans, so I had a good time looking over and studying the plans figuring all the different roof and ground elevation, to eventually building and rendering all my models and plans. We were also asked to study and propose the idea of a roof garden of the lower building which residents will look down on to, as well as some private gardens for the residents with the big buck, so I have also been studying roof gardens around the world.

This projects is still in its "very" earlier stages, after our last meeting we were asked to not add any trees to the new site ... so who know where things will go next but I am looks forward to watching it development.

Existing Plan

Our First Proposed Plan

(The physical model was built to be used as a working model, I was not asked to make it perfect, but to make things editable for future changes. Also note: one building is about 93 meters heigh and the other and 45 meters, in the model I build up about 25 meters just to show all the spaces and over hangs)

Back to the Red Stick

Today is my last day at Crosby. I just received a phone call from "The Picayune Item" who will be doing an article in Sundays paper on the gum pond. Between Moss Point and Picayune I am becoming a regular small town celebrity... watch out Denham Springs here I come. Looking back at the past four months it has been a wonderful experience. I've met great people in and out of work. I sold my boat "The Bass-Turd" to my buddy Jon and we went cruising on the Pearl River Wednesday for my last ride in the turd. He is now updating the name to "The Dirty Old Bass-Turd". The arboretum will always be a special place for me. I will leave you with a picture of a young longleaf pine and see you in a couple of months.

Journal?

Hey everyone! Mason & I were getting our close of semester paperwork ready and noticed that we were apparently supposed to be keeping a daily journal of our experience to turn in to the curriculum committee. Has anyone done this...'cause we certainly didn't!