CBDS

I'm a week deep into school and not only my last spring semester, but also my last design studio at Catholic (wow, thesis in the fall, still cannot believe how quickly time flew by). Studio this semester is supposedly the "capstone" of my education - the comprehensive building design studio (CBDS) group project that everyone dreads. Seriously, some legendary horror stories. Rumor had it we were going to have a Solar Decathlon project, but apparently that was just not enough, so now we're doing a net zero master plan in Southeast DC. Oh yeah, and my group also lucked out and drew scenario three, which as far as I can tell doubles the amount of work this semester as we have to design scenario 1 (21 townhomes) and scenario 2 (10 single residency occupances + communal area), all the way through construction documents...

Anyways, I thought for some humor I'd post images of what we're working with. A DC councilman came to introduce the project to us. It's pretty ironic that the new master plan calls for an entirely sustainable strategy and yet they have to tear down a minimum of 15 buildings on the site to clear the area (this is a real project that has had some financial problems but is slated to continue when the economy picks back up). The only building that is staying is the St. Coletta School by Michael Graves, which is adjacent to the block we're on (aren't we so lucky??). The site visit was fun in the snow last week, too, especially wandering around the STD, TB, and detox clinics that are on the site...

Michael Graves' St. Coletta School - our next door neighbor

Can't wait to spend some time here ;-).