Blog_o_Ben

A WALK

Our studio took a walk in preparation for the design of our new project. The goal of the walk was to explore and document the border between College Station and Bryan. There is a curvy, jagged, and altogether confusing line that separates the "twin" cities. I put twin in quotes because the two municipalities have entirely different demographics. although it isn't evident at the border necessarily, it is clear that College Station has more money than Bryan and this zone where the two interact is especially interesting because it has an unusual concentration of dead space. When our professor claimed that there would be something intriguing along this borderline, I was skeptical, but during our investigation of the area, I realized that it was not the same as the areas around it. It was disheveled, spotty, unresolved. Our walk brought us to some interesting potential sites for our project and I will attempt to document in this post what it is about these places

that make them good candidates. By the way, our project is a filling station fo

r alternative energies.

Bike in a tree at the counter-cultural community

these people really liked bikes

The first site we came across. It's a standard rectangular lot without much slop

e to it in any diction. Good access to the street and in a densely populated area so pedestrians and bikers would be able to frequent the store. Most of the sites along the border are rectangular and flat. The differences come in orientation and size. This one is oriented at a 45 degree angle to the cardinal directions.

This was a chair and table set up out in the woods. Who used this stuff?

We had to jump a few fences to continue along the path

Then we came upon this site. It's a large corner lot. The trees are on the fringes which means they wouldn't have to get chopped if the building was planned right.

Then we crossed a pipeline over a creek to......

A scene straight out of "Stalker". This place had all kinds of rocks and earth like materials piled up in various amounts.

If you were wondering, YES WE ARE AUTHORIZED!

We then walked through the horticultural gardens that are owned by the university. This is a market located on the back of the property.

After the Horticultural Gardens, we caught a bus back to campus and discussed the mornings activities. This particular trek along the border just goes to show that there are things out there that are right in front of you if you care to look.