Spring 2013 Wishlist:10 Things I Need In My Studio

Spring semester is approaching, and with it, a new studio. After having spent all your drafting pens, and using up all your good bristol paper on your final project for fall, it's time to shop for new supplies. But what do I need? In a perfect world, everything that Office Depot, Michaels, and Home Depot can give me. But if I can't have all that, I will definitely take these:

1. Electric Eraser

We've all been there. Smears, tears, and blurs all over your beautiful project. As architects move further and further from drawn media, and into printed media, we might feel as if erasers are obsolete. This couldn't be further from the truth. Most people would agree that kneaded erasers produce some of the best results, but unfortunately because of their shape, make it difficult to be precise with your erasing. 

The Sakura Electric Eraser is one of the highest rated and most expensive. But $49.50 is a small price to pay for subtractive perfection right? Right?

Alvin & Co. SE2000 Sakura Electric Eraser

2. Alarm Clock

I won't say that I'm a morning person. Long years in the architectural program have semi-permanently altered my sleep cycle. This requires me to set at least 3 alarms, in different parts of my room, to stop me from pressing the snooze button. Some fantastic examples are the Flying Alarm Clock, the Ivee Voice Activated Alarm Clock, and the Clocky Robotic Alarm.

 

3. Tube for Drawings
Possibly the worst fate to befall your projects after they're complete? Ripping, tearing, shoe marks, folds, and smears due to insufficient protection. Simply rubber banding might seem like the solution, but when you take them off your paper, they can sometimes cause more damage than leaving it alone. Enter the drawing tube. Portability, Safety, Water-proof-ness (possibly not a word), and Simplicity.

If you're worried that it'll make finding the drawing difficult, you can just get some regular scotch tape, write the drawing name on it twice, and tape it making a tab that sticks out from your drawing, so that you can easily read it without taking out the whole roll. Color-coding is doable as well.

4. Light Box
It's the day before the final project, the library is closed and all the light tables are full. How do you put your intricate floor plan on your presentation paper now while you still have time, and no access to a printer? Oh wait, never mind you have a light box. I have been on a mission to make one myself, and as soon as I do, I promise I will post the tutorial. In the meantime, you can buy one from here.

5.Arrow Template
A fairly consistent mistake in studio, in all the rush to finish our projects, is forgetting to put on a north arrow. It is a basic requirement, learned in first year, but frequently overlooked until the last minute, and then scrawled on with a pen before your professor can look at it. With this template, your professor never needs to be able to tell that you forgot, delivering perfect and professional arrows every time.

6. Expandable Tube

Okay, so I went over drawing tubes earlier. However, this is taking the tube concept to another level. Everybody knows that when it comes to your drawings, in the professor's eyes, bigger is better, and makes it all the easier to go over the finer details of your plans and elevations. These particular tubes by work by adding a middle section, kind of like an expandable table, adding more than a foot of space with each additional section. Another great feature is the water resistance, for obvious reasons.

7. Drafting Chair
Many of us in studio have dealt with the stool forr several years. It offers no back support, numbs your legs, and is usually not adjustable. Behold! The drafting chair! Back support! Cushioned seats! Adjustability!
You can find many different varieties online, but this particular model makes the top of my wishlist.
Great things include optional armrests, orthopedic spine support, and upholstered seats.

8. Cable Organizers
These little things are useful both in studio or in your room, for gathering your cables and not having them lie in a tangled mess on your table or on the floor. My favorites so far are the Cable Monkey which is adorable and functional, and the Cordies Cable Organizers which are functional and simple to use. Either one is a match made in heaven.

9. Ninja Star Pushpins
Give your project a bit of spice, and as a plus, you will always know which pushpins are yours. These pushpins have 2 pins per ninja star, for extra reinforcement, which is great for bigger or heavier presentation boards.

10. USB Toast Handwarmers
You might think these are not a neccesity, but that makes me think that maybe you are not an architecture major at all, and possibly a business administration major here to spy for the other side. Picture yourself in studio, in winter, in the middle of the ngiht. Every square inch of you is bundled up except for your hands, which you need to type. Though your body is warm, your hands are freezing and becoming more and more useless and ice-like every hour.
Solution? Handwarmers! They plug into your laptop, which is already beng heavily taxed, so a little bit more won't hurt it. And as a bonus, you can type with them! And as a double double bonus, they are ridiculously adorable.

Supply Station #3 Michael's Arts and Crafts

Michael's Arts and Crafts

Your regular arts and crafts store, they have everything from beads to thread and needles. Not everything in the store is online, so sometimes it's best to check out the store in person. Be warned all art and architecture majors, you will walk in with money, and walk out happy and penniless. 

Location: 2170 Coliseum Dr. Hampton Virginia 23666

Phone: 757-827-0176

Website: www.michaels.com

Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm
           Sunday 10am-7pm

What They Have:

• Art Supplies
• Bakeware
• Beads
• Craft Painting 
• Floral
• Framing
• General Crafts
• Home Decor
• Student/Teacher Supplies
• Scrapbooking
• Season/Celebrations
• Wedding

Advantages

Lots of drawing supplies, pens, papers, and pencils, as well as anything you might need for hand rendered work. They are also fairly close to campus, being only a bus ride away. You can take any bus going to Peninsula Towne Center to get there, which is only $3.50 for an all day pass or two 1-way passes, which is cheaper than asking for a ride for $5 from a senior.

To Ride or Not to Ride: Hampton Roads Transit Part 2

There are many places you might want to go, for various reasons in Hampton. I am only going to list the really important ones here, as a quick reference for any future trips.

Malls

Patrick Henry Mall

Location:12300 Jefferson Avenue, Newport News, VA 23602

Phone: (757) 249-4305

Bus Routes: 107, 111, 113, 116, 119

Since Peninsula Town Center opened up, Patrick Henry has become a lot less of a hot spot. However, it is still good for those mall staples, like Spencer’s, the Food Court, and Auntie Annie’s Pretzel (yum!). Getting a ride here could be a lot more expensive, because of the increased distance. Driving it can take 20 minutes, more if there is traffic. It will admittedly take longer if you take the bus, but since most people go to Patrick Henry with their friends it should go by quickly. Just make sure you know what bus you are taking and which bus you’re using to get back. With buses, lack of information can cost you up to 3 hours of lost time, especially in that area, which is technically Newport News.

You will need at least 2 buses to get there, more if you do it wrong. None of the buses that go to this mall leave from Hampton Transit Center. To get there from Hampton you will need to either take another bus from Peninsula Towne Center, or from the Newport News Transit Center (NNTC). The buses to Peninsula are listed below, and the buses that go to NNTC are the 101, 103, and the 961 from Hampton Transit Center.

From NNTC  you take the 107 to Patrick Henry, which can be 35 minutes and operates daily. It leaves NNTC every hour at xx:15.

From Peninsula Towne Center, you can take the 113 to the mall, which only operates Fri.- Sun. in the evenings and afternoon. Check the schedule for exact times as they vary.

Peninsula Towne Center

Location: 4410 East Clairborne Square, Hampton, VA, 23666

Phone: (757) 838-1505

Bus Routes: 102, 105, 113, 114, 118

Peninsula Towne Center has become a very popular spot for dining, shopping and hanging out. It’s main selling points are the Target, Five Guys, and the Forever 21. They have a little bit of everything. Taking the bus has the added advantage of not having to search for parking. The buses that go there from the Hampton Transit Center are the 102, 114, and the 118. Click on any bus number for a link to its schedule. 

The 102 is pretty much specifically for Peninsula Towne Center with maybe 2 other official stops on the way. It leaves HTC once every hour, at xx:20. When leaving from HTC make sure you give yourself 20 minutes to get there, because nothing sucks more than watching your bus pull away, and having to wait for another 15-30 minutes for the next one. Luckily, there are other Peninsula buses that leave from HTC. 

The 118 also leaves every hour, at xx:15. It will take you 20 minutes to get to the Towne Center, which will be listed on the schedule as Coliseum Square. The 114 bus leaves twice an hour, at xx:20 and xx:50 until 8:00 pm, after which it only runs once an hour at xx:50.

Grocery Stores

Farm Fresh #1: Coliseum Dr. 

Location: 2190 Coliseum Dr., Hampton, VA, 23666

Hours: 6am – Midnight, 7 Days A Week

Phone: (757) 827- 4816

Bus Routes: 118, 102

The 118 and 102 bus both go here. The 118 leaves every hour at xx:15 and the 102 leaves every hour at xx:19. The bus should take around 20 minutes from the Hampton Transit Center. This Farmfresh is right down the street from Peninsula Towne Center on Coliseum Dr. You should request a stop as soon as you see the Farm Fresh come up on your right. For the 102, there is not an official stop for that Farmfresh so you’ll might have to ask the driver to stop when you get to it.

Farm Fresh #2: Phoebus

Location: 608 E Mercury Blvd, Hampton, VA, 23663

Hours: 6am – Midnight, 7 Days A Week

Phone: (757) 723 – 0771

Bus Routes: 120

There are many buses that passby within a block or 2 of this store, but I’d rather give you the most direct bus possible. The only bus that goes right in front of the store is the 120, which leaves HTC every hour at xx:31.

Walmart

Location: 1900 Cunningham Dr., Hampton, VA, 23666

Hours: 24/7, 365 days a year

Phone: (757) 826-6377

Bus Routes: 105, 114, 118

Cheaper than Farmfresh, with great deals on everything you probably shouldn’t be eating in large portions. Conveniently open all the time, which is great for design students in the middle of the night who need supplies and snacks. NO one wants to run out of Sharpies in the middle of a section drawing.


The 118 leaves HTC at xx:15 every hour, starting at 6:15, and arrives at the Pine Chapel Rd. and Freeman stop at xx:29, with the last bus arriving at 10:29 pm. 
The 105 is a special bus that I'm guessing is specifically for those working the early shift at Walmart. it only arrives at 6:12 am on weekdays. It leaves the Newport News Transit Center at 5:40 am also on weekdays only.
The 114 is another special bus, but with a few more drop off times. This bus appears to be picking up the graveyard shift at Walmart. Instead of going to the NNTC, it goes to the HTC at 5:53, 6:23, and 6:53 am. 
For all the Walmart buses, the stop should either be Pine Chapel Rd. and Barrack St., Pine Chapel Rd. and Freeman, or something with Pine Chapel in it. If you need further directions, ask the bus driver. 

The Aquatotter is Coming........

So this will be the beginning of my first Project Series. The name of this project is the Aquatotter, and I will put the project guidelines in my next post. It is generally a floating boat/raft/thingy that is supposed to be able to float on the water, exchange crews, and go back to the dock. We are supposed to use mainly Reclaimed materials, like plastic bottles, cardboard, found wood, or anything generally that we didn't pay for. I think this is going to be a fun project, and I'm bursting at the seams with ideas already. Here's a link to previous year's Aquatotter adventures. 

The first portion of the project, the anchor has been completed, and I shall have pictures up of the final thing in a couple of days. It went pretty well, and I believe our anchor fulfills all of the criteria established by the professor. Here are pictures of the original design which contained the initials of all the people who were in our group at the time. For the record, my group currently consists of RM (me), TC, RB, and EC. Since TC was a later addition to our group his initials didn't get on the anchor, but he helped with the lab report, so it's all good.

I did the anchor design in Google Sketchup. The anchor came out a bit rounded on the sides because of expansion, but otherwise came out as designed. We added fabric in between the layers of concrete for reinforcement, and a chain was added to pull it up by. There is also a hole in the center in case the chain breaks. Yellow and Red paint were used as colorant as well as red yarn. We emptied the whole bottle of yellow paint and the cement was eating it like m&ms but it showed up in the end, ditto with the red. 

The R, with the chain coming out for securing and hoisting the anchor. There's also the hole in the center in case the chain breaks.

One of my group members giving an idea of scale. 

The black stuff is the fabric reinforcement that we used. We were happy that we saw some color differentiation at the end of the day, because the cement was straight gray last time we saw it. You can see bits of the red and yellow paints we put in there.

The E/M & C, which came out pretty well considering that part of the E/M support collapsed while we were putting the cement in. More color visibility from this side.

Finally the B shape, where you can see the red yarn we put in. It turned out looking like red veins, which was an unexpected bonus. 

So all in all, our anchor was a success. Its definitely heavy enough for the project requirements, the color is visible and we have 2 things to secure it with (the chain and the hole) when we get out on the water. And its light enough for one person to carry. Here's one of my group members describing our anchor.

I went to Ben Franklin's Art Supply mentioned in my earlier blog to grab some supplies for the coming project. It was a short trip, I only bought wax candles for sealing the plastic bottles we are collecting and some sketch paper for a different project. I went to 7 eleven afterward to get a pack of matches. You can get a whole lot for $1.19. My next post will be about the plastic bottles and the sealing process. Stay tuned.

Useful HU Campus Services

I thought I would list the times and uses of various offices on campus, I'll let you know about the Architecture library times as soon as they get updated, because they seem to change every year.

Office Services


Location: Stone Building

Times: Monday - Friday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Uses: They print, copy, and fax. Useful for graphic design and architecture students. They can print in black & white and color

Woodshop

Location: Armstrong Slater 103 B

Times:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Tuesday&Thursday: Closed

Uses: General woodwork and power-tools for student use

Director: Mr. James Grant

Supply Station #2 Ben Franklin

Ben Franklin


Location: 5007 Victory Blvd # F Yorktown, VA 23693

Phone: (757) 875-0484

Website: www.benfranklinstores.com

What They Have: 

• T-squares
• Lead Holders
• Triangles
• Technical Pens and Pencils
• Protractors
• Erasers and Erasing Machines
• Scales
• Frech Curves
• Compasses
• Drawing Boards, including Parallel Bar Boards
• Drafting Dusters
• General Office Supplies
• General Art Supplies
• Model Size Trees, Grass, and Vegetation, as well as other ground textures
• Portfolios and Storage
• Wood, both dowels and panels

Paper:

• Bristol Pads
• Vellum
• Tracing Paper Rolls
• Water Color Paper

Advantages

Has alot of stuff, if not all the stuff you would need for drafting. It has things that would be very useful for site models, such as the model trees and turf. These things were originally made for model train sets and stuff like that, but there is no reason y i cant be used for your architecture models. Also has other basic art supplies so you can explore with other materials in your projects.

Disadvantages

Basically unreachable by bus, and is about 15-20 minutes drive from campus. So you'll probably have to either hitch a ride or get a taxi. 

Let's Get To It...Supply Station #1

Skipping the customary intro post, I'd like to get straight to the meat of this blog. I want to help people, both in and out of Bemis, so I'll get straight to the information, starting off with a list, a compendium if you will, of the art and design supply shops in and around Hampton, VA. I shall make one post per store listing its advantages, disadvantages, and what they have that you might need. If I can later on, I will post pictures. I'm gonna be calling these Supply Stations to make them easier to search for..

Office Max


Location: 2330-B West Mercury Boulevard Hampton, VA 23666

Hours: M-F 8-9, Sa 9-9, Sun 11-6

Phone: (757) 838-6897

Website: www.officemax.com

What They Have: 

• T-squares
• Rulers
• Sketchpads
• X-Acto Knives
• Wide format Paper
• Printing and Binding Services
• General Technical Equipment (laptops, CDs, etc.)
• Glue
• Scissors

Advantages: Its relatively close to campus, easily accessible by car or bus, walkable or bike-able if you have that kind of time. The staff are usually pretty helpful, so its usually faster to find someone as soon as you walk in the door to save time. To save even more time, call ahead to see if they have what you need in stock.

Disadvantages: Not open very late and might not be a good bet the night before the project is due. They can also be pricey compared to what you can find online, so do some web-surfing ahead of time to look for bargains on supplies you'll need.