done

plan, originally uploaded by neutralSurface.

This monday was the final review for our fifth and last project of the first year. In order to build the final models I estimate that I spent around twelve hours on the laser cutter cutting over three-hundred precise individual pieces out of chipboard. I remember making fun of those pale kids hunched over the computers in the basement cutting out sheet after sheet of whatever for a model. I thought I would never be one of them. But after spending hours myself hunched over the slow computers with blackened fingers inhaling chipboard smoke and toxic plexi fumes I am no longer above anyone. I also spent quite a bit of time getting cozy with the CNC router in a semi-failed materials experiment. Now I have a few days to catch up on sleep and try to figure out my summer before the last round of finals hit next week.

flamer

Flaming Manholes in Harvard Square, originally uploaded by neutralSurface.

on a bleary eyed trip during an all-nighter to 7-11 for orange juice and breakfast burritos I encountered the most exciting thing to happen in Cambridge for years: A flaming manhole on Mass and Dunster. The light rain, thick smoke and early-morning light made it pretty spectacular. The whole thing looked like a tire fire with the occasional burst of Black Cats. But perhaps the best part were the dozens of firemen and emergency personnel standing and sitting around nonplussed as they waited for the fire to go out on its own. Fire on the street + no one hurt = awesome. //extra bonus for having both cameras on me.

sections

partial model, originally uploaded by neutralSurface.

This is how I'm dealing with curver's remorse…at least in 3D.

I'm slowly but surely pumping out my final production models for my second semester core class. The GSD has a lot of resources (CNC routers, multiple robot arms that no one knows how to use, plotters everywhere, 3D printers, and frickin' laser cutters), but when it comes to crunch time, everything is always taken. So you have to be crafty and slip in and get things done in the cracks and be ready to jump off of whatever it is you're doing and run down to get pieces of your model laser cut. It's insane and not conducive to sleep. But if all goes well we should all have very nice projects. Still being alive at the end would be a huge bonus too.