Well the past 2 months have been busy ones for egresStudio. After weeks of rain delays we have finally been able to get stuck into the site, been able to get excavators and concrete trucks and been able to get some foundations in!
We welcomed new sponsorship partners Boral, Entire Concrete, Uni Pier, National Pumps and Irrigation and QPN (quarry Products Newcastle).
But it hasn’t been all building work, Dean and Jo were lucky enough to be asked along to the Glenn Murcutt Master Class as student helpers. This two week long class held by Glenn Murcutt, Peter Stutchbury, Richard Leplastrier and Lindsay Johnston is attended by architects from around the world. This year’s group also had the added treat of having Rick Joy sit in on 2 days of crit sessions.
As student helpers we were teamed with groups of architects, essentially working as their slaves, making models, helping with layouts, throwing in our comments and suggestions and lending advice on designing for the Australian climate and vegetation. 
The first week was spent down at Murcutt’s Boyd Art Centre at Riversdale, the site for the brief. The students joined the group at the end of this week, viewing the site and observing their first critique. The following week participants and students travelled to Sydney where work continued at the Carriage Works, developing schemes, working on presentations and learning from Australia’s best architects.
Evening talks by all of the tutors were a highlight, especially Richard Leplastier who started his talk with the words ‘How can you design a building if you don’t know how to build one’, the very words that sparked the creation of egresStudio.
As well as the architecture, there were dinners in China town, beers in Newtown and catching up with other student helpers who Dean and I first met at the Murcutt Summer School in 2007 and 2009.
Back on site design changes were considered, engineered and then sadly let go due to having to stick to our real life budget (I really wanted those in-situ concrete parti walls!).
egresS also had the pleasure of welcoming Alice Boyes from UTS. Alice is a construction management student and was keen to get some real site experience. She assisted with set out and excavations, preparing the site for foundations. She joined us for dinners by the outdoor fire back at Villa Provence and early bedtimes due to the shear exhaustion of labouring!
With the site set out and excavations complete, we were able to pour all of the concrete
for our uni piers and foundations. This week we were joined by Zack, a student from Buladelah. Zack and Dean wielded the wheelbarrows full of concrete while I played with boy’s toys like jackhammers, concrete vibrators, nail guns and drills! Unseasonably hot weather scored us all some sun burnt necks and sock tans and was a nice change from the cold and rainy conditions that we had become accustomed to.
Sitting back yesterday and admiring our achievement, Dean and I decided that one great part of this project so far has been reading and implementing engineering plans, and learning how to interpret them as we set out the foundations.
We have increased our building knowledge, increased our food consumption, developed some more muscle and worked on our unsightly tan lines. We have refreshed our enthusiasm, spending time with our mentor Rick Leplastier and are excited about the next phase – concrete block retaining walls, driveway and the steel frame construction. In a few short weeks a building will really start to appear on site!
Jo
