scaled architectural model | Menokin: Rubble With A Cause

I received a text from Sarah on my way to work this morning that said – and I quote – “There is something here that’s going to make your day. Hurry up and get here.”

What could it be? I immediately started making a wish list in my head:

Brad Pitt
A new puppy (for Sarah, not me)
A million dollar donation
A national award for best blogger

Since I was almost already at work, I didn’t have much time to keep adding to the list, but you get the gist. However, what was here was better than all of those things (except maybe #3) and will warm the hearts of baby boomers everywhere.

Lassie and Timmy for Sarah — My sister and I watched Lassie religiously and would fight over who got to shake her paw during the closing credits.

Lassie and Timmy for Leslie — Suddenly I wanted to be eating a TV dinner off of a plastic TV Tray in the basement family room of my mother’s house.

Amazing, right? By now, you’re probably wondering how in the world Timmy (aka Jon Provost) had ever even heard of Sarah and me, not to mention the Menokin Glass House Project he references in his autographs to us.

Believe it or not, Jon’s nephew, Alexander Jacobson, was one of the Harvard Graduate Students who interned for Machado and Silvetti Associates this summer, and was one of the co-producers of the architectural model of The Menokin Project. During his visit here in July with Carmine D’Alessandro to deliver the model to us, we learned that Alex was from California, near Hollywood. During our interrogation into whether or not he knows anyone famous, Alex revealed to us that his uncle, Jon Provost, played Timmy in the television series Lassie.

Jon-Provost-note Who would have ever thought that this innocent conversation would lead to the thrill of receiving these beautiful autographed photos?

Lassie has come home to Menokin, and she and Timmy are now honorary members of The Menokin Canine Corps. A happy ending indeed.

The Menokin Foundation is pleased to announce that it has received a generous $25,000 grant from Union First Market Bank to fund the building of a scaled architectural model of the Foundation’s Menokin Project.

The finished model, which will be used in the Foundation’s educational and public awareness initiatives, is being fabricated by the internationally-recognized architecture firm of Machado and Silvetti Associates, LLC. The model is based upon Machado and Silvetti’s concept design for the rehabilitation of the Menokin ruins—once home to Declaration of Independence signer, Francis Lightfoot Lee—into an exhibition and conservation center that provides a revolutionary approach to the study of history, architecture, the arts, and conservation.

The design incorporates developing new systems to support and combine architectural glass with the remaining historic fabric. This strategic rehabilitation will accurately represent the shape and volume of this 18^th-century National Historic Landmark.

Production for the model is currently underway, and is scheduled to be completed in early August. Several students from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, who recently participated in a studio class focusing solely on Menokin, are assisting Machado and Silvetti on the model fabrication as summer interns.

Construction of the model uses Computer-numerically-controlled (CNC) machine tools. These tools require sophisticated CAD/CAM software to translate three-dimensional models into simple text files that directly control tool motion through combinations of linear and rotational motion. The images below illustrate this 3-D printing process in action.