The food of the soul is Light and Space. (Melville)

This week the topics have been diverse. Beginning with the need to finalize the plan design. There has been a lot of back and forth about what the individual spaces within the plan are supposed to communicate. Much debate has centered around the dinning room, the living room, and the long hall which splits the two and leads to the private bedrooms of the house. Many people have had differing opinions about the language of these spaces. There is no right or wrong answer. And as long as the design is fluid and unified, there is not necessarily a good design or bad design. We are dealing with very limited square footage. So manipulation of light and space is crucial to the overall success of the design.
With the number of people working together on the project, it is understandable that there will be opposing ideas on each of the spaces and design elements. What is most important is that we all agree to disagree. Given our impending time constraints, there is no more time to debate the potential of one design or the other.
Through the week these issues have been addressed. The permit set was submitted to the city. And now is the time to start finalizing design details. Each of us have selected a topic of personal interest and some formed small groups. As each person researches specific elements of the design, the findings have been brought and presented to the group. I have begun to work on plumbing research.
Also, the site was cleared and Richard and I met with Mr. Calendar about the ground work. We have to get this going so that we are able to start the foundation work. Clearing the site of the bamboo and kudzu was a daunting task. It took several people several days to cut bamboo and navigate through all the vines and brush. Not that I expected the bamboo disposal to be an easy feat, but until you get into the thick of it, you can't accurately estimate what it will take to get the job done.
When talking to Mr. Calendar, we discussed the dirt needed to fill in the hole near the northwest corner of the site. It was concluded that, in order to fill the hole and just smooth out other smaller variations of the ground plane, we would need 4-loads of dirt hauled in. We have to clear the ground of the remaining vegetation and grub. This is necessary to keep the ground work stable if dirt is to be brought in for filling and smoothing. If grubbing is not done, shifting can and will occur. Therefore becoming a hazard and creating a serious foundation problem.