There’s nothing like seeing it to believe it. You can explain it all you want and even draw it, but there is nothing like seeing an actual house under construction to understand the relationship between architectural blueprints and someone’s future home.
I had the fortunate occasion to bring a group of Carpentry students to one of my design project’s job site. Funny enough, upon arrival, the group was more fascinated by the waterfront view (great opportunity for a group picture).
The timing was perfect, as the construction crew was framing part of the second floor and installing the roof trusses so the students had the opportunity to see exactly how it’s done and witness the relationship with the plans.
It was fun to see the group locate the rooms through the open floor without the interior walls. They realized that a room that looks like 4 to 5 inches on a drawing is really 16 to 20 feet in reality. It gave them a great sense of scale.
These job site visits are very beneficial to the Carpentry students as it connects the dots between theory and reality.
Alain Racine
CVCEC Carpentry Teacher