wood is good

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Back to Wisconsin Built on Friday where we got a pickup and an eight foot trailer's worth of wood donated to us by Jeff Ball, founder and owner. Thank you!

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The company is housed in an industrial park in Deerfield.
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As a custom manufacturer, the company has a lot of waste.
Warehouses full.
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A lot of the leftover product is sold in an annual 'garage sale', but Jeff was nice enough to let us pick through and inquire about pieces we thought could work for our installation. More often than not, he gave us the go ahead to load it into our trailer.
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Here is less than half of what we came away with, mirrored to give you some sense of the breadth of our good fortune.
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Hi Hat Lounge

Interior pics.

Innov8iv Site Model V1.0

Site Model V1.0
Site Model V1.0Makin' Waves

Side Profile

steel for real

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----6,740 FT / 5500 LBS----

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whew!

last week on the grit tank project...

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Last week we visited Wisconsin Built in Deerfield

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They too were generous with a factory tour and a material donation. The owner Jeff Ball started the business in his garage and it has grown into a major operation. Wisconsin built makes all of the interior fixtures for Noodles and Company and Chipotle nationwide. They make furniture and cabinetry for Starbucks, BW-3, Cosi, St Mary's Sprint, Au Bon Pain, Burger King, etc. The list is long. Check the website

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We were taken with the level of craftsmanship and handwork that goes into the interiors that were barely notice (or appreciate.) Next time you are about to eat a burrito bowl or get down on some pesto cavatappi check out the bench, or tabletop. Its beautiful.

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Here's some of what we saw.

la planete salvage

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SATURDAY MORNING WE WENT ON A HUNT FOR MATERIALS

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WE HIT UP A SCRAPYARD

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AND AN ARCHITECURAL REMNANT WAREHOUSE

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IT WAS FANTASTIC

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NOT SURE IF ANYTHING WILL WORK FOR THE INSTALLATION

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BUT WE BOUGHT THREE FOOT TALL LETTERS FROM A VINTAGE CHEVROLET DEALERSHIP SIGN

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I GOT THE C AND H. ALI CHOSE THE O.

V STILL AVAILABLE. ACT FAST.

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where its at

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THE CAFE

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WE'LL BE WORKING ABOVE/BEHIND THE COUNTER

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http://www.roastcoffeecompany.com/

Check out the story about our project on Roast's website. Wonderful news from our material donors (Wagner Rails and WI Built) we should be getting material this week. We've got an awesome client (Ryan Mason of Roast Coffee Company), there are amazing collaborations in process, it's a very exciting experience.

knock knock peck

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With the fortune of the steel donation comes the challenge of working with an unfamiliar material. :

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Serendipitously, four of our six members are in Gil Snyder and Frankie Flood's Fabrication Methodologies class this semester. So, we visited Peck School of the Arts sculpture and metals lab to see what we can (and can't) do with our cache of material.
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Yet another gift of generosity was found in Frankie, who readily offered us assistance with the project.

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Eager to get started, we tested the feasibilty of our idea to slice the steel members into rings. The thickest piece took prohibitively long to cut and the bend in the blade made straight cuts difficult, if not impossible. Also, all cuts require sanding to smooth hazardous burrs. Small components may require too much time. But large components made of steel may be too heavy. Hm...

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A quick stop in the metals lab filled out our list of potential processes available at the arts school. Anvils, anyone?

ka ching

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Thanks to Ali's ingenuity and the genoristy of Kane Behling at Wagner Rails, Grit Tank has come into some stellar steel supply. Kane took us on an awesome tour of the facility where we saw the many ways that they work with metal. Laser-cutting, waterjet-cutting, bending, welding, to name a few. Everyone was super gracious to tell us about their trade and we were amazed to see the extent of the operation. Not only do they make the stuff, they make the stuff that makes the stuff. Did I mention it was awesome? Plus, he is going to hook us up. Bonus.
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Beautiful

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Splendid

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woo hoo!
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squirming coils v_2

wire wrapped coils are clustered and stacked to create both

the enclosure and volumes within the space

close up of connection between coils

finished model. the shadow shows an interesting contrast between

the dense enclosure structure and the much lighter roof structure

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COMPLETED PAVILION

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TOP VIEW

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CONNECTION DETAIL

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Arches

One of the first shots

Close up

project 2 presentations

adriana_bob_joeashleigh_chad

blake_tim

dustin_colin_joseph

therese_ali_sam

Aluminum Forest

Each aluminum component relies on the two below it for structural support. Components vary in size and ring counts, forming ever-expanding trunks as the rings are aggregated.

Detail of the completed "forestation" of aluminum trunks as they rise to meet a consistent overhead plane.

10:08 Crunch time

Form Work

Individual component

Larger scale components

Half arch