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| T-minus 14 days and counting... | |
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This rendering is based on a model of the exhibit, and is obviously missing pieces like the plants (duh!), as well as a number of art pieces we're borrowing from a pair of sculptors in Aptos and a beautiful mosaic that flows along two walls. (click on the buildings, their roofs, or the short wall at the back of the garden for more information on those sections) |
| The San Francisco Flower and Garden Show is fast approaching, so work on the Foothill exhibit is kicking into high gear now. Our garden is one of only 23 large gardens in the show, and the only college to attempt this (the other gardens are done by landscape contractors, designers, and architects). Which isn't to say our garden isn't professional--the garden was designed by a landscape contractor and the department head, a landscape architect. But most of the labor building the walls and buildings (and figuring out how to build them!) has been provided by students like me. Students have also been caring for plants to go in the garden (including some aphid-prone clematis, which has been threatening the few remaining hairs on the dept. head's, er, head). I've been sticking to construction--somehow I'm just not into greenhouses much--but I've bounced around the project enough that I've had a hand in just about everything that's been built rather than grown. | |
 | I'm not generally timid around power tools, and I'm even less timid now. I've cut steel studs like Mark is doing here, run wood through a band saw to make curved ribs for the roofs, tried a worm saw (it's like a circular saw but more powerful) on foam insulation board we're using for our "concrete" walls, and gotten really comfortable with my new screwgun (cordless drill). I've also found out I love to plane wood...maybe I inherited my dad's love for woodworking after all. |
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The garden is like a stage set--nothing is built to last, and it's not necessarily built of materials you'd actually use out in a garden. The walls, for instance, which look amazingly like poured and painted concrete, are actually insulation foam panels. The wood used in the roofs wouldn't hold up outdoors for very long before warping and rotting away. And the buildings are strong enough to stay up, but not necessarily strong enough to handle real use. But the purpose of these gardens is not to build something exactly like it would be in real life, but to provide inspiration for those who view them (and a customer or two for the designers). For that purpose, the stage set is enough. In two weeks, I hope to show you photos of the completed exhibit. Until then, take a look at the buildings, the back kickplate wall, or a diagram of the roofs! Cheryl | |
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