RESTRICTED

This weekend went on another one of those required field trips. It wasn't so bad but as near as fun as the first one. I blame this on the lack of ocean experiences on the latter excursion. We essentially tromped through a series of old growth forests in a range from douglas fir/ cedar old growth to some dry ponderosa pine old growth. Fun stuff. As you can see from the picture we also tromped through a series of research forests which i felt bad for but we had permission.
Each of the trees in this research area is tagged and measured every single year. This last year was the 61st year of measurement in this stand and has lead to enormous jumps in forest ecology understanding.

Our professor is the well renowned Jerry Franklin, no not the foot ball player, the OLD GROWTH GURU as described by many. This guy is pretty much the single most influential man alive when it comes to old growth forest ecology. If he wants to walk through some research forest then he walks through research forests. Pretty cool. Yes...I envy his power. He is the guy that started it all in terms of forestry. So what does any of this have to do with architecture coffee or life you ask? Well, alot. Lately I have been feeling more and more that the principles and ideas set forth by old growth ecology will significantly influence my designs in the future to reflect this unique element of the Pacific Northwest. We'll see if that comes to any fruition in the upcoming studio series in the fall. Also I am considering changing the name of this blog to something less lame. Until next time~


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