ISU Campus Model

Last semester amid the craziness and drama of comprehensive studio, I landed a sweet little part-time job updating the campus model.  It hadn't been updated for 10 years, but I didn't think that was a big deal... I figured it would involve making a couple buildings and painting them.  Boy was I wrong.

The campus has undergone at least 50 changes in the past 10-11 years, and the changes made to the model before that were, let's say, "less than acceptable" in quality.  Luckily, even though I am no where near complete (only working on one panel), the boss thinks I'm doing a great job... and it is quite a fun job to do.  I don't know why, but detail oriented tasks are often stress relievers for me.

Most of my work last semester involved building digital models of new buildings in Sketchup, figuring out the math and scaling (not as easy as you might think in SketchUp) to convert them to 1:100 scale, and then uploading them to an online service to have them digitally "shrinkwrapped," thereby eliminating all holes and allowing them to be 3D-printed.

My work has consisted mostly of the bottom panel in the middle of the model, consisting of all the changes on the main part of campus (including additions to the COD, UDA Center, Eaton and Marrin Halls, the State Gym Expansion, the MU addition, Hach Hall, Biorenewables, Coover addition, LeBaron addition, Gerdin Business,... you get the idea). 

Gerdin was really tricky because it required a lot of "excavation," cutting into the 40 year old foam that constitues the base of the model.  To fill in any gaps or dents, I have been using drywall mud to a surprising degree of success.  The paint colors have been difficult to match.  The colors the paint guys scanned from the originals aren't quite right, so I have to do a lot of interpolation/mixing (perhaps to compensate for the years of fading).

All in all, it is a really interesting project to be part of.  Perhaps many years down the road I can return to campus and see my handywork still displayed on the model in the conference room and FPM.