Masonry Magazine September 2004 Page. 52
News
Masonry Camp:
The Value of Collaboration - and Masonry
It's a lot to cover in just one week. Somehow it all works out, and participants at the International Masonry Institute's (IMI) Masonry Camp say it changes their perspectives forever.
The intense week starts with selections of teams, half International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC) apprentice masons and half architects and other design professionals this year's group included several young construction managers, which added a valuable perspective. The teams are assigned a design/build challenge, but the real objective is to get each profession to appreciate the other by reversing roles: masons get involved in the design process, and designers get their hands dirty.
At the same time, all campers get hands-on exposure to all of the masonry crafts: brick and block, tile, terrazzo, stone, plaster, and restoration/PCC. An Architecture Tent covers job site situations. Together, the beauty and range of masonry in the hands of skilled instructors becomes indelible.
At the end of the week, the teams present their designs and a built element, and experience a gentle version of an architectural critique. This allows team members to discuss the learning process they experienced throughout the week. The mind shifts are nothing less than dramatic.
"Along with exposure to materials and methods, it was the first time I understood how masons think about the same building that we do as architects," says one architect camper.
Now in its 11th year, this year's two sessions also involved some high-profile architects who lectured and participated in the end-of-the-week design/build critique: Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang (Chicago); Monica Ponce De Leon of Harvard Design School and Office dA (Boston); and Elva Rubio, Director of Design for Gensler (Chicago).
IMI is a joint labor/management alliance of BAC and signatory contractors. For more information, please visit www.imiweb.org.
Camp participants get to try masonry crafts firsthand, an experience that makes them appreciate skilled craftworkers even more. Here, IMI Special Projects Coordinator Matt Redabaugh demonstrates rubble stone cutting. He also covers stone veneer methods.
The opportunity to experience each other's profession brought masons and designers a sense of common purpose. It also gave the young designers a sense of what happens when a design is translated into reality.
Masonry campers get a taste of job site realities in the Architecture Tent. Here IMI Indiana Area Market Development Director Dave Collins performs the Initial rate of absorption (IRA) field test, which properly trained masons use for matching the brick to the right mortar mix.
50 Masonry September 2004 www.masoncontractors.org