Week 13: Philo!

I love small town America - let's just establish that right now. I really love it.  And so, I decided to bike to Philo. Fortunately, I had HUGE tailwinds and got a ride back from a classmate. It's kind of cheating, and I'm totally okay with it. :)

The streets are named after presidents. The location of the town is the intersection of Route 130 and the railroad tracks. These are already things I knew because I'm such a small town nerd. I don't even live in one; I'm just going to go ahead and blame this all on my love for bicycling.

The town has expanded quite a bit. There are several public high schools: Unity High, and a private school too. As the town has grown, houses have become more modern farther out, and the churches have grown enough for the presence of a private high school.

This was a fun day! See below for more details.

Stereotypical bike shot - Casey's in the background. This defines the town: it's ability to have a successful Casey's General Store.

Bike-bus selfie! Such a fun class!

Here's the "McDonald's-style post office." Hinders calls it that because people just come in and grab what they need. It's a 70's-style storefront, if I recall correctly.

Here's the AMAZING Philo Tavern. The food was so good. Thank you so much, Professor Hinders!

Week 12: Education Building and Krannert Art Museum

Week 12

(No week 11 blog post; I missed class.)

We had a semi-student-directed tour today. We started with the Education Building, which is surprisingly bigger than it looks as a result of its extended basement. We moved onto the Krannert Art Museum and spent the rest of the day enjoying the art inside. I won't speak on that much because it's not the main point of this class. Photos below show what I learned on this particular tour. Finally, there is the exterior of the Krannert Art Museum, which is copper meant to not tarnish. It's interesting about how copper is used in ways such that it should oxidize or not - based on its orientation. Vertical metal will not tarnish, but horizontal or slanted metal will collect water over time and oxidize much more rapidly.

The education building has a lovely way of lining up its axis with the two buildings shown north of it. These buildings are Wohler's (left) and the Architecture Building. HOWEVER, the stupid lamp post being off-center with these two lovely sidewalks is driving me insane.

The cement ceiling tile pattern continues from the inside to the outside of the building - like the Erlanger House.

Outside of the Education Building is a beautiful garden. I might like to go study there sometime. It's peaceful and full of gorgeous trees in full blossom.

We got to go out on the balcony of the building! This was a really cool part of the tour! It felt like we were going to get into trouble, which naturally made the entire thing a lot more daring and fun.

The stairs at the Krannert Art Museum are decorated with a motif of the building's shape! Crazy awesome!

Week 10: Construction Site

Week 10

(There is no week 9 post because I unfortunately missed class.)

This was perhaps my favorite day of the architecture tours. Unfortunately, I was unable to take any photos, because I wasn't really sure if it was allowed or not. We visited the Center for Wounded Veterans, which is being built near Busey-Evans. I've never been inside a construction site before, but I definitely have a huge fascination for how things come to be.  I do recall observing the construction of a house across the street, as a child. My brother and I would go over when the construction workers were gone and walk through the sawdust-filled zones, wandering among the 2x4-shaped stud spaces. This house even had an elevator shaft to explore! In this particular site visit, there were dozens of workers, each doing their own specific job to contribute the entire project.

Also, seeing as I am planning to be a prosthetist/orthotist in my future career, I care greatly for people with disabilities. My research lab in the mechanical engineering department at Illinois is investigating an ankle-foot orthosis which can help people to regain the ability to walk. Moreso, I will be working at Georgia Tech this summer to develop a hydraulic lifting system for patients in hospitals.  This will get them safely from a hospital bed into a wheelchair. So, I thought it was cool to see the rods affixed to the ceiling which will allow for the dormitories to have lifting systems installed. There is a track which runs from the bed to the bathroom of each individual dorm room. The tour guide probably wondered why I had so many questions, but it's just my inquisitive nature.

Finally, this place was set up to deal with the PTSD that some veterans will deal with. It is an open, handicap-accessible building, and it is quite lovely. I can't wait to see it complete!