The Green Garage

New Architectual Sketches

Woody has done a couple of sketches of the front exterior of the building and we wanted to share them with you.The first one shows the front of the building with the fence and landscaping in place.

The second image shows the front exterior from a birdseye view.

Getting closer to the finish line

If you've been keeping up with this blog, you know that this fall has been dedicated to planning the design of the building and what will be happening inside (and outside) of it. We've been following a schedule that finishes us up, for the most part, on Dec. 19. The Zero Energy Design group will extend a bit into January, but for the most part, this planning work will be done. This past week we took stock of where we are. Here are a few points from the week:

• We now have a viable exterior design courtesy of Woody. It's hanging up on our new kiosk (courtesy of Joe) and photos will come next week. It looks great, and reflects the design work we've done quite well.
• We are getting close to the time when will be proposing the Green Alley project to the city council - stay tuned.
• The garden group is developing a master list of trees, plants, vines, etc that will be used for the exterior.
• The design group is working on the interior. We focused a lot last week on private vs public space, how people work in space, the possible need for multiple work areas with different degrees of privacy. We talked about numbers of people using a space, noise levels, etc. We think we know where offices will be located (along south wall), where reception will be (toward the front), where the kitchenette will be (just beyond the reception), and where the bathrooms will be (back north corner, where the plumbing already exists).  Because the last meeting took place the day after Thanksgiving (no, we never rest!), we were joined by 4 young people who were home for the holidays. Their input was welcomed and valuable...and now we have a few new Facebook friends.
• We're getting close to a decision on the logo...stay tuned to this, too.
• As you will see in the video below, the Zero Energy group is working right now on walls. I'll give the video an 'E' rating - for Engineers only. Just kidding, but we are getting a bit nerdy here.

Week 11 update

Here are a couple of new videos explaining the work the Zero Energy group, above, is doing. The Zero Energy group, in case you are unfamiliar with their work, is working on the energy plan for the Green Garage. We'd like the building to be a net zero energy building, meaning you produce as much energy as you use.

The following videos tell a bit about their latest work, the building envelope -- in other words, the floor, walls and roof, and how they interconnect. Bob Prud'homme, an architect who is in this group, is in charge of the explanation.



More on the wall/roof connection:



In other news:

• We were visited by Susan McBride of the Detroit Historic Commission last week. We wanted to go over the work we're doing and get her input on what the commission might be looking for when we present our ideas to them. Great meeting -- we're on track and will be gathering material for a presentation in the new year. [Background: since this is a historic building, improvements to the exterior will have to be approved by the commission.]
• The design group is working on the interior of the building - where centers of activity will be located, public vs private spaces, taking advantage of sunlight, traffic flow, etc. In addition, we'll be meeting with Woody next week - he has finished a rendering of the exterior of the building.

Working on our visual identity

In early November we went over to Wayne Sate and met with a class of graphic design students who had been given the assignment of developing ideas for our visual identity. Each student had to present at least 2 ideas and demonstrate the development of their ideas. The results were amazing. One of the students is above.

We have tacked up some of the ideas in the Green Garage, seen below. We are considering which we would like to use for the building, and we're having a hard time selecting just one!

 

Some photos from week 7

Joe and Justice have been busy deconstructing the inside of the GG. Here is a picture of what we have been calling the janitor's room (because it holds things, like a sink, that a janitor might use). That pile of rubble you see is what's left of a smallish room that existed within this room. And since this is a no-waste project, we have a pile of rubble. We're hoping to get creative and find a use for it. Do you see the door at the top right of the picture? That door leads to our scary basement (really scary, although some think it might be nice for some cheese-making).

We've also asked Joe to poke around behind some of the walls to see what's there. First, some good news: the windows seem to be there, even though they were bricked over in 1967. Also, Joe found this paperwork stuffed into the walls. It looks to be a variety of things - handwritten business notes, newspapers, etc - from the 1920's-1940's. Lots of things from 1942.  I'm supposing this was an early attempt at insulation. I'll be sifting through some of it, and if I find anything of particular significance, I'll scan it and put it up for us to see.
We had some visitors this past week. A senior-level graphic design class visited us from Wayne State University. We had arranged with their instructor, Charles Morceri, to provide a field opportunity for the class to design our visual identity (i.e. our logo). So we took them on a short tour and Tom gave a presentation of our foundational elements. In the picture, Peggy is taking them through our website. We plan on meeting with them again next week to see what they have come up with.
Finally, it's getting cold in there! We're currently operating without heat, but we do have an old furnace that we may be able to get working to help us out -- otherwise, it'll be a long, cold winter! If you visit, make sure you dress for it.

Keeping you up to date -- week 6

Here's what's been happening over the past week or so....

• The garden group has been busy selecting plants for the alley gardens.
• The web group has pretty much completed setting up all components of our information architecture. So, in addition to this blog, we have a wiki, an iGoogle page for our communications, a Google sites page to hold our documents, a Flickr page to hold our photos, a YouTube page for our videos, and our last effort, our Green Garage Facebook page.
• The zero energy design group has been working on wind and sun. Check out our graphs and charts page to see some of the results.
• The community relations group spent time last Friday meeting some more of our immediate neighbors, and passing our cookies and business cards. First, we had a meeting with Liz Blondy of Canine to Five, a doggy day care, and we got to meet some of her charges. Across the street from our building we met the people at Wayne Coin Laundry, and then stepped next door to Passport Pizza and Ribs. We also met 2 businesses along Willis Street (a couple of blocks away, right next to Avalon Bakery): Revolution Books Outlet, the local communist bookstore; and Goodwells Natural Foods Market, which smells heavenly of homemade soup. We also passed this band making great music that reverberated  throughout the streets...

and this garden...
We're learning a lot about the neighborhood.

• Finally, the design group. Rather than tell you in detail about each area we covered, I'll give you an overview. We discussed areas that had to do with the site of the building, such as site repair (what are the areas of the site needing repair, and what are the assets?); the importance of a south-facing wall (which happens to be our alley wall); the use of positive outdoor space (surrounding the building with greenery and space for people to feel comfortable in); natural light use within the building; the importance of access to water (possibly involving the parking lot area - and what about a water fountain?); and finally, the concept of quiet backs (ensuring quiet, contemplative space in the back of the building, away from the traffic).

Some charts for you tech people

If you know our group at all, you know we love charts. Often when we tackle a new idea, we develop a chart for it and tack it up at the Green Garage. So for those of you who are so inclined, here are a few we have developed lately. (And by the way, now is a good time to mention that you can click on the pictures to enlarge them.)

First, one that's nice and simple. This one we drew up after a discussion of the different realms of the GG, and the gateways to these realms. You can see that the community comes onto the site, into the building, into one of the realms of the building, a room, a desk, etc. It reminds me of the Old Lady Who Swallowed The Fly (she swallowed the cat, who ate the bird, who swallowed the spider that wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her, she swallowed the spider to catch the fly, I don't know why she swallowed the fly, .....). Anyway, here's how the whole thing should flow.

And now something a little more complex. Actually, this chart looks a lot more complex than it is. Most of you are using these tools right now and have never taken the time to chart it all out, but if you did, it would look something like this.

So this is our information architecture. Our pictures get placed in our Flickr account, our videos in YouTube, and they will get fed to our wiki.  All text goes either to our wiki (where it will reside permanently) or to our blog (for updates). We use Typad for our blog. Eventually, we'll develop a Facebook page for the Green Garage and the blog will get fed there directly. We have also developed an iGoogle account for the GG so we can receive e-mail and have somewhere to communicate and place our to-do lists. We have developed a Google sites page for our Google Docs. You can find the links to these accounts on this blog, over in the left column.

Finally, the business plan. This one actually IS as complex as it looks. Just kidding. Kind of.

So what you're seeing here is, from the top left, 2 businesses that are using space at the GG on a temporarily permanent basis (they are there for a while). They will have full use of the Green Business Resource Center (design and education studio, planning template, networks, business platform, legal, accounting, etc), in addition to the office services, and of course the building itself. We also envision micro-offices utilizing the Green Office Services, something called rent-a-desk, and services for the public. In the top right corner is something we're hoping to do: a sustainable design challenge through the universities.

So I hope you tech folks have enjoyed this little tour (I figure I have already lost the rest of you.) See what you can do with a little imagination, paper and markers?

Fall 2008 - Week 4

This week we chugged right along. The highlights:

1. We hired Justice to rip up the old carpeting in the front rooms. He's a good, quick ripper.
2. The garden group began developing plant lists. The initial list is for historic plants, most native, and some not. We are using a source from the Detroit Public Library. Next we'll be looking at plants for the front garden.
3. The web team worked on upolading a video and placing it on the front page of our wiki. We also began changing the front page of the wiki to make it more readable.
4. The zero energy group worked with Mike McCarty - brought him up to speed.
5. The community outreach group circled around the block, introducing ourselves to: The Bureau of Urban Living, Cass Cafe, Planned Parenthood, The Spiral Collective. We plan on heading back o each of these places to give them our business card, and want to hit the Unitarian Church next week.

The Alexander design group was productive. First,a summarization of last weeks work - the GG in relation to the surrounding community - in the video below:

1. We then laid a sheet of tissue paper over the map you saw in the video and mapped out the transportation system for the area: freeways, bus routes, future light rail, pedestrian pathways and bicycle paths. We want to provide incentives for the use of public transportation, bikes and walking.
2. We also discussed the fact that we need to promote a unified home/work environment (Alexander's scattered work: #9).
3. In Alexander's network of learning concept: #18, we found that we will need to embed opportunities for learning in everything, and using his work community idea: #41, the idea that it's important for people at work to feel they're part of a community.
4. We looked at university as marketplace: # 43, which suggests an open teaching/learning environment that is integrated with the community which surrounds it.
5. Another idea came from Alexander's local town hall: #44: The GG should serve as a spot for public discussion, and should provide space for ad-hoc community projects, and in his necklace of community projects idea: #45, that perhaps we offer free rent for a limited duration for small groups representing grassroots efforts.
6. In market of many shops: #46: The idea that there should be an inviting and open center to serve as a commons that connects disparate elements.

Fall 2008 - Weeks 2 & 3

Here's an update on our progress.

We are loving being down at the GG every Wednesday and Friday. Every morning we do a clean-up of the outside - less and less to do every time, by the way - and then we have lunch. We eat outside in a little shaded area to the right of the truck well and greet all the passers-by. To our amazement, they all reciprocate, and we're finding that we are starting to get to know some of the regulars.

One of the regulars we have come to know is a man named Justice, who is looking for employment. We had a meeting with him on Wednesday and it looks like we may be able to hire him for a few projects. In particular, we want to include him in some meetings to pick his brain on ways we can reach out to the surrounding community. He is wise and articulate, and we look forward to our further association.

After lunch, meetings. A look at each:

• Garden Club: We had Erica Giorda with us on Wednesday (Italian garden expert!) and took her around the building to get her input. Her suggestions, including a space for kids to play, are on our wiki.
• Zero energy group: Is making progress in passive design in the ceiling, walls and floor.
• Web group: We have our information architecture done. We have developed a page for our IDs. URLs and have standardized our password (don't think you'll ever get it out of us!!). We have pulled the content from our old wiki to the new one. All fun stuff. I know you're jealous.
• Business group: We are working with someone who has an idea, and are using this as a prototype project. The project involves cell phone reuse in 3rd world countries. Great first project.
• Community outreach: The funnest group by far. We went out to the Detroit Public Library to do a little historical research, and then headed to the Detroit Historical Museum. More trips every week!
• Alexander community design: This is the group that develops the design specs we will hand over to the architect in a few months. It's called 'Alexander' because we are using as a guide the Christopher Alexander book, 'A Pattern Language.' We have a schedule of discussions set up, will chart out our results, and this will form the basis of the design.

So that's the story for weeks 2 & 3. Anyone is welcome to stop by and say hi!

Fall 2008 - Week 1

Well, we've all started our series of discussions at the Green Garage. In case you're not aware of the purpose of these meetings, now that we have our foundation set, we are trying to tackle some of the practicalities: the design, the website, and the surrounding property. We're meeting every Wednesday and Friday to discuss these various components (see our Design Studio page for more details.)

This coming week, also, our building is going to be used by Flashback Films to feed their crew, who are in town filming a movie called 'Butterfly Effect: Revelation.' They are filming scenes at the Victorian next door, and needed our space for lunch. Here is their location scout, Sarah, talking about the project: