merry christmas

Journal of Architectural Education - Beyond Precedent

Category: Calls For Papers

Posted by: Saundra Weddle and Marc J Neveu

Deadline: 16 August 2010

Description:
Although the National Architectural Accreditation Board (NAAB) requires that students understand historical traditions and global culture, it does not mandate the method of instruction. Still, many schools offer a suite of architectural history lectures that are often perceived as distinct from studio topics. The relegation of history, theory and criticism to a supporting role is furthered by the outdated notion that history courses serve primarily to provide a buffet of precedent studies focusing on form and technique. Such an approach, born of historical methods and pedagogies that emphasize stylistic and typological diagnosis, fails to recognize the depth of historical inquiry, changes within the discipline of history itself and increasingly diverse design pedagogies. Is it possible to propose more complex relationships between history and design? Indeed, many architecture faculty, historians and designers alike, are engaged in the project of interrogating and reconceiving history's significance to design, and vice versa. Historians question the content, role and outcomes of their courses, examining ways in which the discipline can serve as a nexus between theory, criticism and practice, and investigating opportunities for deploying design pedagogies in their classrooms. Design faculty consider ways that historical methods and analysis can inform the design process so that students understand how history’s narratives are literally and figuratively constructed, and that they are not simply a collection of objective truths to react to. As concerns about representation and fabrication become central, critical engagement with histories of architecture and allied disciplines can situate the design process and architecture itself in broader and deeper contexts. That the role of history in architecture curricula is a subject of debate is nothing new; and yet, the shape of that debate appears to be shifting. This theme issue of the JAE focuses on neither the discipline of history per se, nor the history of history education in architectural schools. Rather, it takes as its premise the notion that the relationship between history and design should be activated. The journal invites text based (scholarship of design) and design based (design as scholarship) submissions that propose and analyze progressive methods and goals for integrating architectural history in the professional architecture curriculum and in practice. The submission deadline for all manuscripts for this theme issue is August 16, 2010, 5 pm US Eastern Time Zone. Accepted articles will be published in issue 64:2 (March 2011).For author instructions, please consult http://www.jaeonline.org/submission_guidelines.html.

Posted on: 3 December 2009

Expires on: 16 August 2010

direct link: http://www.sah.org/index.php?src=directory&view=opportunities&query=&xsearch_id=opportunities_search1&xsearch[0]=&xsearch[2]=&xsearch[1]=&xsearch[3]=&refno=8497&srctype=opportunities_detail

playtime

hi!

for those of us in 435 this morning... what a great lecture! for those of you not enrolled or missed, here is what Garth lectured on this morning (and 1 minute into the afternoon).

the major topic of the lecture was deconstructivism. he didn't approach the lecture as many other guest have by reciting architects, their buildings and the relevance (although that did come a bit at the end) but instead explored the theories and ideologies behind de-construction itself.
(items in quotations are from Garth's lecture/slides)

'how can intellectual or physical processes that take things apart, liberate (or improve) putting them together?'

'is discarding tradition and standards of excellence (i.e. repression) necessary to find freedom and innovation?... or are boundaries necessary to navigate, discover and verify where, what and how these freedoms provide value?

do guidelines and parameters provide guidance and serve as the gutter-guards to our architectural explorations? or do they limit the dimensions of our educational foundation? by encouraging certain ways of thinking or doing, are other ways, by default, discouraged?

additionally, do rules and standards prevent anywhere from being populated by any building designed by anyone? would a strict set of guidelines guarantee success in design?

he ended the lecture by interrogating our traditional idea of 'play'. i've thought about the value of play in regards to primary education, but never had applied the concept to our architectural education.

'the art, humor, adventure and comedic dimensions of deconstructivist work is inherently critical, proactive and trans formative... without knowing for what purpose or end'

would our studio projects and exercises be more beneficial if we weren't aware of the NAAB standards that we were fulfilling? what is the point of fully exploring a thought if the primary purpose of the exercise is to have stellar line weights? a foundation of basic skills is beneficial, however could the student or professional with the worst line weights benefit from misinterpreting their drawings and finding new layers of understanding?

'does canonizing (industrializing) deconstruction, ironically discard or diminish the promise of play'

by giving 'play', architectural or otherwise, a name, does it pervert the initial purpose of the act? freedom of outcome is one of the beauties of play.

i know that my thoughts have been mostly in question form, but i am hoping to not only extract and dicuss thoughts from you guys, but also from myself.

Interesting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/opinion/27taylor.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

Its about grad school. A suggestion of a new way to conduct school. Reminded me of our conversation the other night. I personally appreciate his second point.

Beer and Poetry 4-24-09

Here are the notes from tonight's meeting. The notes were taken fast so they might be a bit hard to follow and the indentations are fairly arbitrary, but they hopefully, they'll still help everyone generate some good ideas.

• Architectural thesis - must be related to a piece of architecture
• Can't imagine Justin dressed as Carl Lastrito - would like to but not necessarily would theoretical v.s. physical
• Jon Healy's intro to module 1
• questioning convention
• discuss rather than lecture
• module - forum for event of conversation
• growing flexible community
• critical ideas into tangible form
• marries text and graphics
• issue 1 debate of student community - Beer and Poetry
• ideas as well as process
• accessible at many levels
• effect place an solicit interaction
• content not accepted or rejected but challenged
• since we're piggy backing on module it's important to see how it's concieved
• natural way - pure conversation
• we're taking organic thought and putting our own spin on it
• in or der to revamp we have to know how it started
• taking idea of architecture outside of built environment in to the application of diagramming and analyzing everything abou the world around us
• why try and define architecture and not just do it?
• have to know what you're doing before you do it
• have to understand why objects do what they do, i.e. why does the t.v. sit that way and what is it doing.
• architecture school changes our perseption, and what do we decide what is the built environment
• is the built environment anything synthetic/ man-made
• why industrial design is concentrated architecture
• counter: Architecture creates anthropomorphic space
• there is a hierarchy of space, is architecture inhabital space?
• just because it's on the floor doesn't make it architecture, but it can supplement architecture
• why do waste so much time trying define architecture - student of design
• learn how to speak and think a different way
• it's a language and way of thinking
  
• terms start to seep into everyday space
• architecture school helps us to consider environment versus self
• do we consider our selves part of the environment, but when we design we have to consider how space effects everyone
• interesting to see how you're body effects your design. Would Frank Lloyd Wright still be famous if he was two inches taller? (he designed based on his height)
• we're coming from a different point of than anyone else experiencing architecture,
• does architecture remove us from the rest of society
• can we truly design for the people we're trying to design for based on the people we design for?
• first year of architecture school takes us away from people, we don't know how relate our ideas in the same way we used to
• not just that way in architecture, it's in any field
• that's part of learning to be a good architect it's about being able to do work that can be related to other people
• dependent on person though, because not everyone can relate to ideas between culture. e.g. translation from french to english can mean the same thing
• e.g. writer who are educated inthe art of writing if they want it to have a certain dynamic they should be able to....
• because architecture is about desigining space you'd think that people who are the same sizes would experience space similarly
• architecture has to communicate to people without you communicating to them
• school viewpoint: we're presenting to our critic/client
• real world, the building has to speak for itself
• do we have the capabilities to approach a building the same way other people can
• we're desiging for the way the world should exist - architecture is a critique on how people living
• designing for the future versus designing for present
• e.g. clients can't see why architects want do things but architects can present that to them in a way that makes it clear
• are architects too concerned with diagram
• if coleen's bench was a piece that was perfectly folded from wall what would that matter in the end?
• normal person - something feel wrong; architect - pointing out inconsistency
• architecture = mentor who can know what creates good experience
• if bench were actually folding from the wall you might experience it differently
• message does not have to be explained but would it be persieved anyway?
• a rose isn't a rose isn't a rose at the end of the day - they're not all the same
• we're contesting this, things that are similar aren't the same
• form follows function and function also follows form, instead of just form and function there is perception of form and function, those things change based on perception
• percieve form and funtion two different ways
• architecture is perception - i don't want to build houses for other architects, I want to build houses for everyone
• we have different perception of world than most other people
• we're more cultivated with perception - not disconnectd
• is that unhealthy?
• unhealthy is our relationship to other people, only because we are so seperate from rest of campus
• if you're an author - you're designing a story - it's design- in essence we are all designers
• we're designing things that can be carried to other fields
• not much of learning happens in architecure school
• less a school of thinking a more of school of how to think
• how do we approach thinking about it
• alot of people in other field don't hit that step
• another level of cognition
• why are we doing this? is there some moral goal behind everything?
• architecture challenge it and change what is built
• what is the greater purpose of what we're doing?
• lawyer and police office has specific jobs, architect can be broken down to "we build buildings" but it's more than that
• it's not personal, how do we develop skill to be able to design for everyone well
• if we have to design a set of stairs, everyone does percieve it the same way, but there reaction is not necessarily individual.
• e.g. danial libskind's jagged edges, everyone is thinking something different when they walk around it, but everyone is walking around it
• everything thinks there own thing while reacting the same way, but architect is trying to direct thought?
• so are we trying to get people to think similar thing?
• what if you put three different stair cases in same room, forcing thought pattern to be "which do I take" are we predicting what they'll think and desiging for it? it's about creating the question
• then do we go into design asking what the question is to be asked?
• with each piece we create we are creating a question, individual designers are creating there own question
• asking question what is your question
• why are you an architecture major:
• architecture is dead poet's society
• can it help explain of arbitraryness, why do we keep coming back to what is architecture?
• Marisa: Architecture had the least definition; she didn't know what she wanted to do and architecture has allowed her to do many things including travel. Travel places and know that she gets them.
  
• people who are dependent on architecture aside from
• Difference between defining and creating
• Relationships towards architecture
• How are people connected?
• Who is the audience?
• How are people actually affected?
• Is this even a point that is relevant to talk about?
• What is a more directed topic?
• Who was not a pre-admitant to architecture?
• Jenny/Andrea/Matt/Donny
• Money
• Landscape architecture/engineering/philosophy/spanish
• Marisa-didn't know what to choose; multidisciplinary; sociology/archeology it was the most ambigious/least defined/ father suggested/ did it for a semester/quit
  
• Emma-didn't know what to do; had a hunch to choose; when she was in the building;
  
• Chris-did art his whole life; didn't want to stick with it; balance between art and practicality; right feeling
• Justin-liked buildings since first grade; when he decided; never accepted anything else; just liked buildings; the concept of buildings; fuck you; "outside or inside?"; designed baseball stadiums; by the time in 8th grade, i designed baseball stadiums; community parks; making them better; how can take what is there and make them better;
  
• Jess pauly- started as "i like lines." wrote college essay on that. lee waldrep asked her what will noteable about you; replied "i like lines", the way "i started thinking about architecture" teacher in fourth grade; did line designs; dittos; connect every point to another point; during class when other people were reading; I would be making my own line designs; and i went up showed her one day; she was flipping bat shit crazy; she said that you must have been an aztec architect in a past life; what do i want to do; her ideas are very ideas about massing; and forms; and its about fucking aztecs
• Matthew- journey project- nomad- feel like I grew up without a home- interested in international affairs; mass displaced people; i didn't want people to go through what I went through; i want to design refugee housing
• Andrea- practical art; draw and create; and actually use; art is typically a one trick pony; practical and functional and practical; socially innovative; are actually designing how people live
  
• Dave O- project in seventh grade that got him thinkign about it; study an architect and a bridge; chose gaudi; younger- hated everything around me; hated government, religion- this and that; architecture is my way of making a statement; (architecture is a way of hating everything?) architecture is my way of getting a say in things; architecture is my way of designing a way of part of society; i hated all popular things; even more than jenny!; *competition about who people hate life around them more* **winner: whoever hated the most when they were the youngest** typical suburban agnst
• Donny- extension of Dave's. similar childhoods. Communism was awesome wahoo---i didn't know shit. When i was in highschool i was a math and science kid, i was going to be a chemical engineer, i did a semester of engineering and i decided i hated it. The reason i decide i hated it is because i realized that you are either right or wrong. i love how you can say I don't buy that, I like being able to say that it is right or wrong, i like that I can tell people whatever I want whenever I want.
• (I LOVE SILENCE- transition in conversation) --correction **silence** Perhaps post fight club rules
  
• Dave R- when i was a little kid, i loved geography and Sim City- those two were possibly my favorite things in the world. Giving me the power to design a whole community and be in control of everything was just always perpetually interesting to me. just so many things you have to think about on different levels. Also, being able to put definition of space around me was big. I also settle on it when I was in 8th grade, and I was good. But now, if course, I'm having more doubts.
  
• who played the Sims and who played Sim City? because there is a difference...i always moved the showers when people were in them!
  
• emma admits she hated legos. the crowd is shocked.
• Who here has seen star wars *everyone raised hands except for jenny*
• Jenny- Despite not seeing star wars; my whole life- i did both dance and art, my parents are art people, put in that at a young age; did that in school; liked math and science, contradicting issues; could balance until college; in college when deciding what to do; never felt fulfilled when only doing one of the two; had trouble deciding between one or the two; didn't know architecture was a possibly; when architecture became a possible it became a happy harmony; i have to do the hardest thing; i have to do all of me; architecture forces me to do that; i guess i'm masochistic
  
• Math and science aren't as separate from art; scientific and mathmatic way; which is very rigorous;
  
• Jesse Wolfe- didn't know about architecture until my neighbor moved from pennsylvania in fifth grade;she knew she wanted to do architecture (doing engineering now); introduced me to architecture; played roller coaster tycoon;sims and legos and after rain storms it would be the best time to make tunnels in the mud; had a tree house; set since middle school; last minute decision though between engineering and architecture
  
• Carolina- I hate this question; never actually chose it; came late to me; i kind of got into the major in the summer because i heard it was harder to get in later; didn't want to commit; don't know if I still want to commit; i'm scared of commitment; committed to architecture because it committed to me; not completely random; liked art;politically limited to a country;
  

http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2009/04/19/style/t/index.html?hp#pagewanted=4&pageName=19emotional&

Also, here is a great article. check it out.

Since we didn't get to meet up yesterday, I think we have to be certain that we will meet next friday so that we do not let this get away from us. With that said, I have an idea about what our "theme" of the night could be. I think that it would be great if everyone read an article or two of the published modules and write/think/formulate a critique to it. I think this will address a bunch of issues, a few are: make us more familiar with module, understand what type of articles are publish-worthy, how they address their audience, see what articles are pretentious- if so why, etc.

I've read a few good articles in there that I overlooked before that I think could help us also get the ball rolling on where we want to take this.

Let me know what you guys think.

dave

fresh update...

marg and i found the pilot issue. check dave o's desk for copies.

Beer and Poetry Notes

The first of Beer and Poetry, again. Sorry this is such a long post, but it includes notes from two meetings. Happy musing!

• ideas for module content generation
  
• interventions
• haiku reviews of architecture lectures
• whatever we can get submissions, if people like it we'll bring it back
• quotes
• for discussions
• possible focus points for discussions prepared before or after
• also could gain ideas from discussion and research and generate later
• audience?
• publicize something to get attention for it
• however - this is for getting our ideas out and matured on paper for us
• represent readings
• core group for content and reader generated submissions if available
• We are not writing for someone
• get issue done before buzz
• Open source architecture/ Architecture for Humanity Cameron Sinclair
• a network for people to submit designs for third world countries
• can be anything even mundane
• openly submit design ideas, test them and see if they work
• once design is built it can't be copywrighted by anyone else, but anyone in any third world country can download it and built it
• collaborations
• architecture school
• tension of architecture
• trying to design "good" architecture conservatively in school, versus breaking boundaries
• new expeiences based on architectural thougts
• architecture school experience
• insiteful writing on issues of bein involved in architecture culture
• environment for learning
• challengeing your environment what means what and how
• disecting a wink
• Procrastination- self-reflection
• Biggest issue= wrap around Ambrose
• "If you love it, clone it"
• Dont be pretentious- no elevated vocab, dont want to fart above our assholes, meaningful, well-informed words.
• Studio culture= isolated from campus, want an issue in Diamondback
• Module= Diamondback for architecture school, relationship to university-get other people involved
  
• Slip them in the Diamondback
• Better way to teach architecture?? Could we learn architecture without being in studio? Better to be submerged or to step back and think about it? Where is the balance?
• Is there a happy architecture student? Is it appropriate for a university campus? Should we be in a firm as a mentor?
• Should we be designing retreats? What should we be learning?
  
• Different teachers are better for different people
• Problem= dissconnect with critic and student
• Explain, analyze problems and then have a 'so what', what do we do about it?
• ALWAYS GOING TO BE MORE, need a stopping point- Is there ever an end?
• Can design the same project their whole life and never be done, fundamentals of design is always evolving. If time allows evolution of design- will always be more/new design
• Quotes- how we are introduced to things
• Possible theme= word, can be organic but also think critically. Can interpret a word in so many ways, good idea for theme
  
• We are isolated- how do you connect to the world? Talk to other majors?
• Quad conference- generate other things, generate buzz
• Restraint vs editing- fell free to edit, but dont restrain each other. This needs to be a free space.
• Write something, put your thoughts after it- the exquisite corpse
• Inviting excessability- dont do too much text/content/graphics
• Website- post cool sites, visit it, get inspired.
• Digital vs something tangible, better reading it out of the magazine or online?
  
• Attending Beer and Poetry Night is mandatory for any influence on direction
• definitions of architecture
• architecture is shit
• is the creation of shelt by a group of individuals
• is what does it matter to define
  
• primitive hut
• architecture is such an ambiguous topic, imore vague then other careers
• constant issue in the field of architecture
• in architecture - you CAN do more than be architect
• architecture is a "pretty" way in which we can define our discipline
• where does design want to manifest itself. Can't it manifest itse;f in other interventions
• Do you still beat your wife?
• Be organic!

meeting 4/10/09

• meetings => contribute to discussions
• never really settled on theme, but led to discussion of lots of themes
• we'll talk about this for 30 min and you talk about this for 30 minutes
• not an organization - cloud of changing people
• intended audience - other school from architecture
• ways to get around the edge of getting money
• fundraising - sell it to firms
• macnturff
• steve parker
• money through egb and sga
• faculty members maybe be willing to pitch in research money
• school of architecture
• don't let professors publish
• don't let alumni write in it
  
• keep it student => don't let it become an organization -> no members no dues
• secret santa for ideas
• other people read your ideas - starter for development of ideas
• decide audience - no critique of any faculty members or projects specifically
• turn it into an archetype that could apply to many different settings
• may use this semester to brainstorm and get ideas started and raise awareness - fundraise all summer and bang it out in september

Categories yo!

I've just started trying to organize the blog to make it a bit easier to go through posts and get ideas.
When you guys make a post, it would be great if you could add labels to the text box at the bottom of the section where you write the post. Your labels should include your blog name and "module" as well as any other label you feel is relevant. Thanks!

Module

Hey guys! Here are the notes i scribbled down during our discussion last Friday. Some of them make sense to me and some of them don't.. so i can only imagine what they will mean to you.

- articles based on buzz

-interventions

- reading

- quotes

-travel journals

- series of quick thoughts

- informal vs formal conversations

- basing off of a quote and then allowing web to form

- reviews of class readings with thoughts

- generating thought (and material) through architectural experiences

- experience vs inexperience

- extension of thought

- what do we get out of extension of experience

- breaking the rules = superfluous

- challenging environments

- what feels natural and right... why? self analyzing

- honesty- not overextending our intellectual means

- well informed, accessible

- disconnect and self contained

- perspective students- reveal

- subversion and removal

- education

- how to build on architectural knowledge

- disconnect between methodologies

- synthesize

- there is always more

- when do things really end?

- fundamentals of design

- times changes design

- insights within studio

- relevancy of.....

- force vs

- Liz Diller

- doesn't have to be a criticism, but just to be

- isolation vs connection

contact vs details

- don't get caught up

- ' let's just have something'

- date of April 14: have material

- before graduation: have product

- perception

- theme without authority

- restraint vs. editing

- module = free space

- edit grammar/spelling

- exquisite corps

- inviting

- accessibility

- images- same thought as articles: fun and free

- 'talking is poetry'

- blog-form generator

- refine the 'meat'

- limiting access to blog

- physical vs digital

- forum

- blog access

- developing confidence and understanding

- motivator

- viral and guerrilla advertising

- 'my life is a mess of majestic proportions'

- requirement: 'whoever can make it to beer and poetry night'

- attendance = influence

- walls are not the force which defines architecture or space

- definition, placing meaning

- cop out question vs cop out answer

- what do we get out of it

- designer's leading

- be mindful of egobation

- questions, concerns, fears?

- only do it when excited.

can't wait to see what comes from this......

First post: Studio

I guess I'll do the honors for the first post for the group.

I was clicking through the school blogs section of Archinect and I found an article that is eerily similar to what we are trying to do with module.

Here is the link for the article.

http://www.archinect.com/schoolblog/entry.php?id=87228_0_39_0_C

and

http://cornell-convivium.blogspot.com/

Basically, he and a group of students are analyzing the learning environment they are in. Pedagogy, time management, academic structure all come in to play. I know that Marisa has commented on the subject of re-thinking the academic structure for architecture. I think it is a valuable discussion, especially after reading the comments the blogger was suggestion.

Personally, I feel that the difficulties from studio are inevitable. Therefore, I need to adapt myself to the environment I'm rather than change the environment. However, that may not be the best approach. Maybe there does need to be a reassessment of our learning environment. I think it is safe to say that studio is not a healthy environment to grow in. The suggestions that Kyle, the blogger said, were directed towards the other classes we have to take. What if we removed those classes and could focus solely on studio? It might extend the schooling but may be their is worth to it.

I am starting to realize how important it is to be aware of the non-architecture related things we are learning from studio. What bad habits are we picking up that are worked so deeply in our subconscious that it may require another environment as intense as studio to work out? I fear sounding dramatic, however, I have concerns. Maybe this is a good place to get the dialogue flowing. I feel that I tend to repress my frustrations towards studio in order to not complain but maybe its time to cross the threshold, and take an objective stance on our learning environment and let it out.

Too High Tea with Terunobu Fujimori

image courtesy of dezeen.com

image courtesy of designcrack.com

a fruitful bit o' diggin' yielded this architectural gem today.

Terunobu Fujimori is a Japanese architectural historian and architect who, after a well-developed career as a researcher, decided to design buildings of his own. This tea house was for his own use and enjoyment. For more info check Fujimori's own site.

Just a quick, fo' fun post today!

good ol' boring architecture

New and exciting is great, and boring and old is bad. Right? maybe?

Let me preface this by saying that I haven't done much research on the subject, but I have made a lot of my own assumptions. Of course, this completely qualifies me to shoot my mouth off about it.
Some buildings are just good at doing what they do. The architect knew the job the building had to do, and desigined accordingly. Usually with these buildings, they have nice moments, and the inhabitants generally enjoy living/ working/ playing/ eating/ whatevering inside them without taking much notice of how their built environment is assisting their enjoyment. Is it such a terrible thing to strive for making these sort of buildings?

Sort of. An architect's primary responsibility should be to make space that considers its users and effectively engages its program and, if possible, future programs that may present themselves. If you're building achieves this through a standard procedure, in ways that have been done thousands of times, well then great. You still probably have an idea of why these methods work and why fix something that's not broken. Congratulations your building works.

Taking larger risks can mean larger rewards, sometimes. It's always interesting when architects question the fundamentals. Why do we have to do it this way? What does it mean to eat, or sleep or view, or rest? These questions can lead to some absolutely terrible buildings. They also can lead to buildings that are beautiful physical representations of an idea about living, but don't seem to work on a realistic, day-to-day basis. It seems like our history books are full of buildings like this.

The problem is that as an architect it's difficult enough to balance the clients needs and expectations, with your own ideas about architecture. Adding the risk of trying to answer too many questions and the job seems nearly impossible. Unless, of course, you've established yourself enough to gain rich clients that want you to make big clear moves in your architecture, even at the expense of smaller, basic details and programtic requirements. Starchitecture is often it's own worst enemy, ask Frank Gehry.

Maybe it's simply about finding a balance between fresh hot, and functional. The idea of building something that "looks nice" on the street and achieves success through the rigorous employment of standards and precedence set by others is somewhat dull. However, designing a flashy building that only works in one way isn't all that appealing either. Focused questioning can lead to some beautiful and unique solutions, and standard solutions can fill in the blanks. This allows a building to have an identity with out losing it's practicality.

project the first

So here it is, the first studio project of the semester and it's already winding down.

The Site: Santa Fe, New Orleans, Minneapolis, or Seattle (but the same site plan for each)

The Client: a pianist, sculpture or large canvas painter of your creation

The Program: A studio, an outdoor performance/gallery, living space (eating, sleeping, peeing...), a stargazing area, and a wine cellar.

Personally, I have a Pianist heading up a music collective, who's a bit of a rebel and a lot of a night owl. She chose Santa Fe as her geographic and climatic existence.
The concept I concocted for her home and studio in Santa Fe, is a lantern plugged in to the landscape, allowing her to enjoy her surroundings at night. The lantern will be contained/framed by shifting punctured planes of concrete.
The concrete planes and cubic shape of the studio lantern reflect the volumetric forms found in the area. Their punctured and shifting nature allows focus to be placed on the glass encased in them, promoting the idea of my client as a structured yet dynamic and creative individual. The shape and position of the concrete is in response to climatic variables such as the position of the sun and direction of the wind.

Here's the sketch up model. Real plans, sections and perspectives may find their way here as well.

And finally: MoMA

MoMA is sweet. We can all give Yoshio Taniguchi a large round of applause for desiging it's expansion and renovation. According to MoMA.org, Taniguchi's plan for the museum was to incorporate the original pieces of the museum into a unified whole. The renovation greatly increased MoMA's gallery space as well as added a research and education portion to the museum.

A bustling lobby reflects the busy street life of the NYC.

Visual and circulatory connections between the old and new.

Taniguchi punched out sections of wall to allow visitors to get glimpses into other parts of the museum. Not much of the galleries that the punch-outs lead to are revealed, and they all seem to be filled with the same quality of light. This makes the punch-outs feel like ambiguous lanterns cut in to the wall.

Taniguchi continues the idea of punch-outs in to exterior views as well.

roflcopters

The most exciting gallery space, in my not-so-professional opinion, was the industrial design and architecture portion of MoMA.

It incorporated installments from famous architects like Frank Gehry

and Phillip Johnson



to the likes of Evan Roth (UMD what?!) and the Graffiti Research Lab.






This is only a taste of MoMA. It's filled to the bursting point with amazing art and exhibits, but unfortunately that must be saved for some other blog.... well, o.k. here's this stuff...

Dear MoMA,

Thanks for that great night in NYC. We'll have to do it again some time. How does spring break sound?

Yours sincerely,

Me

CCTV tower may have been too fresh hot...

A rogue firecracker seems to have lit up the Beijing Mandarin Oriental Hotel, designed by Rem Koolhaas as part of the CCTV headquarters in Beijing. Tears.

I ♥ NY

We may have been a few months late, but we finally made it to NYC. A roadtrip to New York was a great way to spend the last Friday of winter break. First, a post on everything up to MOMA and later a post on MOMA!

Our visits to fresh hot architecture in the Big Apple included:

• The Apple store on Fifth avenue for some trendy fresh hotness. What better way to say "we're apple, we're hip, and we want your money" than a giant apple logo floating in a glass box. Thank you Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. For more info check LOISOS + UBBERLOHDE (the constultant's page) and BCJ's own page.

• Pinkberry, where frozen yogurt has never been so fresh hot. According to wikipedia, the first store was opened in 2005 by Shelly Hwang and Young Lee. Apparently, Young lee is an architect, and although I couldn't not find anything concrete saying he was responsible for some the chain's interior design trademarks, it's probably a safe assumption. Here's an interesting article on about "Crackberry" as fanboys call it, the "phenomena" of the frozen yogurt wars at CNN.

• Lever House, because it was fresh hot in it's day (some day in 1952 to be exact) and was next to the Seagram building. Sorry Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, we don't really like Mies that much more than you, the Seagrams building was just a more noticeable landmark because of it's height. Providing the boulevard with it's first glass curtain wall (leaverhouse.com) the Leaver House is great example of the application of high modernism and the international style ( greatbuildingsonline.com).
• 

• The Seagram building. Effin' Mies. Erected from '54 to '58, piloti and all, Mies' sky scraper clearly reflects his ideas of celebrating the structure of a sky scraper rather than covering it up with "a chaos of meaningless and trivial forms." (Mies' own words atgreatbuildings.com) The dark Bronze of the Seagram building truly does give it an attractive drama when compared to the buildings around it compared to the buildings around it. Although, the plaza around it seemed a bit sparse or unbalanced do to the fountain and plants crowding the 53rd st. side of the building.

• interesting places we passed by:

• The Citicorp Center

• Unfortunatley, I can't remember the name of this successful plaza at the moment, but I will update once I figure it out. Yes, I know, the pic does not depict a successful public plaza, but it is January after all.

• LEED pursuit!

• Facade? Billboard? Iconic..

• Deconstructivism?
  

And next time...MOMA.

Final Boards

BAMF

Abstract...

...we'll see how detailed this gets in the model, but tomorrow is the final assembly of the boards with people, marshes, etc drawn in.

the boards begin...

the beginnings of diagrams on BOARD_1

diagrams