Week 2 Update

Valentine's Day evening (Tuesday) was spent with my new friend, Bri. We watched a chick-flick, drank Whiskey, and chatted the night away! Gotta love a Girl's Night!

Wednesday's highlight was improv night. Bri and I made our way down to the Student Union again to have a fun evening with The Shrimp. I can't say I'm good, but there were lots of laughs, which is the important thing!

During the day, I went into class and had a two hour lecture on town planning and urban built environments. There was a lot of theory covered about how to draw people into a site and consider the people who use the area, instead of saying that the buildings make the city.

Thursday:

My Land Contamination class spent the morning listening to a lecture given by Adrian Grant, a Senior Geo-Enviornmental Engineer, on pollution sources and methods of dealing with it. He talked mostly on sources of pollution and how to analyze its source. He also talked about the different kinds of (chemical mostly) contaminants and how their chemical structure effects how you should deal with it. Most solutions seemed less like design and more like just moving the problem somewhere else, which I was a little disappointed about.

For the rest of the afternoon, the class visited Swinton, Croda site. It's an abandoned old industrial factory. There have been many chemical spills over the years and lots of toxins were used in its production. We stuck to the paths. Dog walkers use it now. A lot of plants are starting to re-vegitate the site. My assignment is to either do a design proposal or to write up a report on its various contaminants and how they might be addressed. I'm not sure which I'll choose.

Friday:

I went in briefly and spoke to one of the tutors about my design thoughts on the studio project so far. I got some good feedback and will continue work over the weekend.

It's raining again here. But it's a pleasant light mist, which makes it rather enjoyable.

More bulbs are popping into bloom!

Also, the Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon Grape Holly) is starting to bloom, along with the Viburnum lentago (Nannyberry Viburnum).

I'm most excited to see the first cherry tree (Prunus sargentii perhaps?) starting to bloom!