Hello dear reader and welcome back to the latest edition of the Rural Studio Bathhouse blog!

So much has happened over the past few months and we are extremely happy to share the progress of what’s going on over at the Rural Studio Bathhouse!

Over the summer, we continued to work through the design of the outdoor shower in preparation for construction. The team has decided to use the outdoor shower and its construction process as a mockup for the rest of the bathhouse structure. With this in mind, the team has chosen most of the main conditions and details of the project and will be testing them out in the outdoor shower.

We have also welcomed back some incredible reviewers to provide feedback on the design and construction processes regarding the outdoor shower!

This mock-up will provide the team an excellent opportunity to learn what works and what may need to be reconsidered before the construction of the rest of the building.

While the team was busy designing, the large pine trees and underbrush that were in the way of the building were removed and the stumps were ground, leaving the bathhouse site clean and ready for construction!

In August, the bathhouse team quickly moved into action on site. After learning how to construct batter boards we set them up for the area around the outdoor shower. After this, we pulled strings to level and mark out the foundations on the ground.

At the end of August, we broke ground on the foundations for the outdoor shower! Digging the foundations by hand at this time of year was challenging, but we all made it through some of the hottest days in Hale, unscathed.

The team continued more recently with preparing the foundations for concrete. This has included leveling the trench, cutting all pieces of rebar for the footings, assembling the rebar cage in the trench, and preparing the upturns, which will tie into the CMU block walls that lift the floor of the outdoor shower six feet off the ground!

Finally, as of writing this blog, the team has reached a huge milestone in the construction of the outdoor shower. We have poured the concrete for the foundation with the help of our amazing classmates and professors!

Moving forward, we are so excited to continue with the CMU block walls, preparing for the forming and pouring of the elevated slab, and the stacking of our wood walls!

Thanks for reading along, and we look forward to sharing our progress again very soon!

– Rural Studio Bathhouse Team

Carla, Ambar, Ashley, and Logan