After our critique, we voted on the farmstand design schemes that would be most interesting and most realistic to build within 8 weeks and deliver on site. After combining a few concepts and taking into account budget and materials, we landed on two schemes (rather than 3 farmstands) to build full-scale, with a third mini-project that would include built-in furniture and other related components.

The first scheme was a combination of Ryann’s “vented” structural component walls and Leanna’s lattice-work structure. The second was a revision on Davis and Austin’s “magic carpet” design with a curved profile that went from floor to walls to ceiling. As it turned out, and as we worked through the team dynamics with students, trying to figure out who would be on team Ryann/Leanna, and who would be on team Davis/Austin, it was naturally proposed that we should run this construction phase as a “battle of the sexes,” with one team of girls and one team of boys. Because we have an odd number, Raleigh was left to decide if he wanted to be on the girls or boys team. He chose the girls team.

As we began moving from design development to construction, the teams also thought it was a good idea to name themselves, the girls choosing the name Quad-X, and the boys Team Genie (in reference to their magic carpet design). The girls did not waste time, however, before changing the boys team name, written on the board, from Team Genie to Team Wenie.

Both designs are buildable primarily because of their component systems. Each one can be broken down into reasonable parts that can be produced in great quantities on either on the table saw, laser cutter, or chop saw. These components can then be assembled by the team. In this case, the precedent studies were very helpful in building students’ understanding of structural systems that could be realistically produced under the tight constraints of time, budget, and material.

We will be building the two farmstands in class the next month or so, with final delivery to the town of Lewiston-Woodville and an individual farmer out on Highway 308 in mid-May.