Last week the wardrobe team had a meeting to begin putting ideas together for the design of the wardrobe. Working with the space constraints of a 4’ wide by 5’high frame, the team came up with two conceptual drawings. The picture below shows both designs.

The first design labelled 1 consists of adjustable shelving on the right side, whereas the second design labelled 2 consists of a 1’ high by 4’ wide shelf on the top. The first design allows for greater versatility with shelving options based on the size of objects to be stored, and also enables the children to easily reach objects stored. Both options have drawers on the bottom that are 2’ feet wide and 1’ high.

We presented our client with both design options and asked him to choose which option he would like better. Dave chose the first option with the vertical adjustable shelving on the right side of the wardrobe. We will proceed to optimize the material costs for this design during our next meeting.

After reading break, our team will head to Rona to decide on which materials would be the best to use for the wardrobe that are within our budget. We will mainly be looking at quality and appearance of wood material, as well as extra materials such as drawer handles and screws.

The next step into the timeline for completion of the project will be to figure out when and where we will fabricate and assemble the pieces of the wardrobe. Afterwards, if time and budget permits, we may paint or varnish the wardrobe together with the kids from CityReach.

CityReach Care Society is a non-profit organization that enables ‘’children, youth and families to develop and grow, both as individuals and as a community, through programs and activities offered in a safe caring environment.” They value working together with other volunteers, agencies and organizations to achieve a common goal. This time, we will join this organization by designing and building a wardrobe.

CityReach Day Care provides costumes to children for recreational purposes. Nevertheless, they do not have an adequate place to store these costumes. That’s why the client proposed the idea to build a wardrobe instead of our original plan of a sandbox.

On January 30, we met the client, Dave McManus, for the first time to discuss the details and expectations regarding the new project. Additionally, we also visited CityReach Day Care where the wardrobe will be located. The Day Care welcomes children from 7am to 9am and 3:30pm to 6pm.

Due to a sudden change of plans, we have no specific measurements of the wardrobe yet. Because of this, we were given the opportunity to create our own design for the wardrobe but the client has required us to include certain specifications. These specifications are described as follows:

1.  Must fit regular size hangers.

2. Must be an appropriate height that is accessible to children from 5 to 11 years old.

3.  Must include doors, preferably hinge doors but we were given the option to choose.

4.  Must be sturdy to avoid unpredictable situations.

The client also suggested that we include a shelf on the top, drawers underneath and hooks on the side. In the space that we are required to construct the wardrobe there is an existing shelf and a whiteboard. We were given the option to remove the self and relocate the whiteboard.

Dave proposed the idea to build the wardrobe on site so we can interact with the kids and enjoy the day together. We don’t have a schedule set as of now but we will inform you later. To get started with the project, we started looking at other designs and drawing rough sketches.

From left to right: Geoff Krahn , Daniel Sohn, Matt Kolec, Dave McManus, Gerald Epp, Matt Van Goor