LSU Minden Main Street Workshop: Team Webb Hardware Day 1

WELCOME

WELCOME to the LSU Minden Main Street Workshop. Students and faculty from the LSU School of Architecture will be working and living in Minden for two weeks to provide assistance to Minden Louisiana Main Street in their efforts to cultivate a resilient community. This program is funded in part through a grant awarded to the LSU Office of Community Design and Development from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Minden Main Street Workshop is the first in a series of workshops to connect environmentally responsible design practices with historic preservation strategies to accelerate sustainable development in Louisiana's small towns and cities. For more information, please contact the Office of Community Design and Development.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Team Webb Hardware Day 1

Group Blog

Members: Elizabeth, Jeremy, Rhett, Stephanie

Day 1 was fun and we got to see a bit more of Minden. As a studio, we toured all the buildings we will be working on and we got one that spans a whole block. It is divided in 2 parts and is the second floor of a building with retail/commercial areas underneath. One part is owned by the Odoms and serves as their storage area and the other is an old photo studio. These areas are somewhat deserted and filled with various, discarded junk, so getting measurements was a challenge at times. We've seen our share of dead birds so that was frightening/disgusting, but one other group has many dead and live birds in their building so we're counting our blessings.

We also got a really informative and interesting lecture from Lester Martin who is an architect and taught at LA Tech for a number of years. He is a really nice guy and had a lot of wisdom to share with us. He also had a number of awesome, detailed, hand drawings of a restored building he did in downtown Ruston, LA-they are really beautiful. He spoke about restoration and rehabilitation of old buildings and the positive consequences that come from it.

We aren't completely done with taking measurements as well as editing our photographs, but we are working at a steady pace and have started our CAD drawings.