April Showers Bring May Flowers

By Meghan Shanahan

Another beautiful day in Carbondale and another productive week at SIU architecture! Over the weekend I was lucky enough to have my mother come visit me in Carbondale, and I was taking her to all of the delicious restaurants and cool spots in and near Carbondale. We started with Jack’s meat market in Murphyboro for a delicious breakfast Saturday morning. We went to William Masserrey Arboretum off of Pleasant Hill Road. It has some hiking trails and an area with bamboo growing! It is a very cool place to take a hike that is close to campus. We also took a long walk around Campus Lake looking at all the wildlife living in and around the lake. We also ate at Midlands Bar and Grill and have such amazing pulled pork nachos. My mom cannot wait to come back and bring my dad to all these places.

We are only 30 days left till we walk for graduation and are done with the spring semester and 16 weeks till we have officially graduated from Southern.  My thesis is moving slowly, but I am very happy with where I am in the process. I am currently working on an overall exterior and interior design feature that will affect the waiting, and lobby spaces as well as the exterior of the building.

Meanwhile in Professor Davey’s Global Architecture Class we have been working on the “hand built project.” For this I am building a Mashrabiya, which is Arabic latticework screen. The lattice works is generally constructed out of wood and were usually seen in houses and palaces. I looked at many different lattice work patterns and then made mine out of one quarter inch birch wood and then framed the lattice work with one inch by one inch wood. It really came out nice as you can see in the image that is attached. I hope Professor Davey likes all the work I have put into this project over the last week.

This weekend I will be going back to Chicago to attend my cousins bridal shower and then the following weekend I am extremely excited because one of my best friends since sixth grade is marrying the love of her life and a guy we all love now. Her wedding is going to be such a blast and I am counting down the days for all the fun! I will tell you all about it in my next blog! See you then. Meghan