Tonight we held our first team meeting in over a month. There were many updates since then, including some fantastic news for the school. Two friends of Mwikali's Gift have generously offered to assist our project by providing funding for the construction of a library at the school, including 3000 books! Much of what was discussed at tonights meeting revolved around the library, so please follow the notes below:
- introduction of new volunteers. four new architects and one interior designer/pm. welcome to the team! each were "recruited" at the AIA Opportunities Fair or the idealist.org fair.
- the New York Chapter of ASHRAE has tentatively awarded our project a grant! thanks to Danielle's hard work in putting this together. an event, sponsored by ASHRAE with NYGBC will be held in early spring to promote and celebrate the project. discussions ensued about location, graphics, displays, and many other ways in which to engage those in attendance. interested parties should contact danielle for more information.
- the EWB-NY secretary and president positions are open for election this year. so far one person has volunteered for the secretary position, but is still open to contention.
- at this months EWB-NY board meeting, new training for newly adopted projects was discussed. President Matt Sisul & co. attended a participatory rural appraisal workshop at both Columbia University and Lehigh University over the past month. PRA is a method for approaching development in third-world countrys that has a holistic foundation. It requires understanding of the community social infrastructure before tackling any technical infrastructure. the board is working on preparing training sessions for upcoming travelers.
- recently both Matt and Dave have been in communication with Architecture for Humanity's New York Chapter. in the upcoming months EWB-NY members will see more information flowing between our two groups.
- this meeting we passed out three documents for review.
- 1) the cost estimate was updated to show an increased contingency of 18% to 9%. after discussions with colleagues, the uncertainty that is the construction of this project deserves a larger buffer.
- 2) site plan. this was distributed to demonstrate the revised location of the community center now near the lot's NE corner under the existing Baobab tree.
- 3) the final document was prepared to demonstrate all the contributions our team is making to the village and school. this will also be used as a guide to prepare graphics and illustrations for marketing purposes.
- lastly we discussed the siting of the library.
- the proposed school plan shows three distinct locations for the library. each site holds it's own set of advantages and disadvantages. the team spent time deliberating on each option. though no scheme was favored more by another, our library team will push hard to prepare three different building designs for the three different site options. the idea is to mail these plans to the village prior to our arrival in mid-July so they can digest the new information.
- meeting ended at 8:30 pm. thanks to Buro Happold for hosting!
- introduction of new volunteers. four new architects and one interior designer/pm. welcome to the team! each were "recruited" at the AIA Opportunities Fair or the idealist.org fair.
- the New York Chapter of ASHRAE has tentatively awarded our project a grant! thanks to Danielle's hard work in putting this together. an event, sponsored by ASHRAE with NYGBC will be held in early spring to promote and celebrate the project. discussions ensued about location, graphics, displays, and many other ways in which to engage those in attendance. interested parties should contact danielle for more information.
- the EWB-NY secretary and president positions are open for election this year. so far one person has volunteered for the secretary position, but is still open to contention.
- at this months EWB-NY board meeting, new training for newly adopted projects was discussed. President Matt Sisul & co. attended a participatory rural appraisal workshop at both Columbia University and Lehigh University over the past month. PRA is a method for approaching development in third-world countrys that has a holistic foundation. It requires understanding of the community social infrastructure before tackling any technical infrastructure. the board is working on preparing training sessions for upcoming travelers.
- recently both Matt and Dave have been in communication with Architecture for Humanity's New York Chapter. in the upcoming months EWB-NY members will see more information flowing between our two groups.
- this meeting we passed out three documents for review.
- 1) the cost estimate was updated to show an increased contingency of 18% to 9%. after discussions with colleagues, the uncertainty that is the construction of this project deserves a larger buffer.
- 2) site plan. this was distributed to demonstrate the revised location of the community center now near the lot's NE corner under the existing Baobab tree.
- 3) the final document was prepared to demonstrate all the contributions our team is making to the village and school. this will also be used as a guide to prepare graphics and illustrations for marketing purposes.
- lastly we discussed the siting of the library.
- the proposed school plan shows three distinct locations for the library. each site holds it's own set of advantages and disadvantages. the team spent time deliberating on each option. though no scheme was favored more by another, our library team will push hard to prepare three different building designs for the three different site options. the idea is to mail these plans to the village prior to our arrival in mid-July so they can digest the new information.
- meeting ended at 8:30 pm. thanks to Buro Happold for hosting!
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