February 2011
18 posts
it’s a tedious challenge to show materiality in sections and plans, but it is important and informative. paul rudolph really is the shiz-niz in sectional perspectives showing surface texture and light quality. here’s the yale architecture building…
yesterday was officially “bad left index finger day.” i would like to say that it went on sweet drinking binge, made a few mistakes and that it can’t remember a thing. but today, unfortunately, is a sobering reminder, that crap went down for my left index finger… all along the lines of being an architecture student, of course. the events as follows:
8am - left index finger turned off alarm after sub-four hours of sleep. (ok, that’s just metaphorically painful)
9am - someone handed me chipboard and i got a chipboard-cut. think paper cut, but wider, and deeper, and stingier.
10am - fresh olfa knife slipped and sliced off a chunk of flesh on the tip of my finger. i saw the skin and flab on the cutting mat before i realized what i did. it was a glorious scene as i promptly reworked my final model from being made out of white chipboard to black chipboard.
11am - finished typing, ahem, t-y-p-i-n-g a paper with a bandaged finger. not easy.
2pm - slammed my… yes, still talking about left index finger… in the laser cutter mammoth-of-a-door.
today i worked all day in the shop, fabricating other parts of my model using the band saw, rotary sander, and other power tools and everything went just fine… as i knock on wood… and get a splinter ;/
so lesson learned - have good model making experiences as you prepare for pre-spring break finals. and don’t forget to SAVE as marchstudent says… :)
The Playground House
This is quite a fun way to grow up… in a house with three floors connected by a slide… by Level Architects in Tokyo
(see Dezeen for images and plans)
I got elected Field Crew Manager!
I just found out that I got elected (by my peers) to be one of the Field Crew Managers for the Yale School of Architecture Building Project. This is one of 12 positions that also include Detail Coordinator, Engineering Coordinator, and Construction Documents Coordinator etc. But, I am so excited to be a Field Crew Manager because it is perfect for the organizational freak that I am. I am really looking forward to building a house in New Haven this summer! For more information, you can visit the previous Building Project’s site here.
10 lessons for young designers - by John C Jay
1: Be authentic. The most powerful asset you have is your individuality, what makes you unique. It’s time to stop listening to others on what you should do.
2: Work harder than anyone else and you will always benefit from the effort.
3: Get off the computer and connect with real people and culture. Life is visceral.
4: Constantly improve your craft. Make things with your hands. Innovation in thinking is not enough.
5: Travel as much as you can. It is a humbling and inspiring experience to learn just how much you don’t know.
6: Being original is still king, especially in this tech-driven, group-grope world.
7: Try not to work for stupid people or you’ll soon become one of them.
8: Instinct and intuition are all-powerful. Learn to trust them.
9: The Golden Rule actually works. Do good.
10: If all else fails, No. 2 is the greatest competitive advantage of any career.
(Reblogged from ummhello)
(Source: edwinhimself.com)
Architectural Terms... and what they really mean...
”Sense of Entry”
- The front door is big and far away.“Human Scale”
- Less than 400 feet tall.
“Skewed Grid”
- The design looked too boring with a regular grid.
“Pedestrian-Oriented”
- Doesn’t have enough parking.
“Contextual”
- Is surrounded by a lot of other buildings the architect couldn’t tear down.
“Theoretical”
- Nobody in their right mind would ever consider building the crazy thing.
“Signature Building”
- You can’t afford it.
“Less Is More”
- The designer ran out of ideas.
“Classically Proportioned”
- Traced out of a book of Greek architecture.
“Postmodern”
- Traced out of a book of Roman architecture.
“International Style”
- No country will take responsibility for it.
“Deconstructivist”
- The backhoe ran into it during construction—and they liked it.
“Seismically Designed High Rise”
- In an earthquake, the structure will not collapse, but will drop all of its glass and stone panels into the street turning pedestrians into a stew-like mush of pureed flesh.
“Jury”
- Firing squad.
“Design Review Board”
- Failed architecture majors.
“Architecture Student”
- Egotistical masochist with no money.
(Much thanks to pintday.org for this one)
One hell of a week… but today, was pretty awesome. I woke up to take test on concrete beams, had a 30 minute break to clean my apartment and do laundry, returned to school for a three hour class on glass detailing, had a team meeting about building a house this summer, went for a six mile run, and then returned for a two hour symposium with Kevin Roche and Christopher Hawthorne. (funny quotes to come)
Those were all the things that I had planned and expected myself to do during the day. But, what came after was unexpected. I went to the usual post-lecture cocktail in the exhibition space and ran into my TA from last semester with a cluster of other students. For the next hour and a half we were completely engrossed in conversation about archi-politics, which led to dinner at a local sushi joint. What I loved about this evening, is that we were constantly talking about ways to improve our environment, whether through Yale specifically, or through our own stance on design. One fellow student has started a company based on potluck style dining experience for graduate students. Students essentially create a community by sharing ideas over cooking and eating while enrolled in various graduate fields of study. Another student argued the value of free hand drawing and the increased failure to produce being a purely technologically dependent artist… ie the writer who can’t write without a computer… which is a bizarre realization. Another student criticized the “game-playing” politics involved in the critic-practitioner relationship.
While we were all passionate and sometimes upset about certain aspects of our “profession,” we all more or less spoke with an undertone that we care. We, as designers, care about the way people live their lives. We care that people get together, that they produce, and that they have integrity. I really can’t think of something I’d rather be doing than reinforcing those ideals. And, I truly believe design/ architecture is able to do that.
To send my message home… after dinner, it was no question that we grab coffee on our way back to studio. There is nothing more than doing that can get you to where you want to be and what you want to accomplish. It was that moment when we all returned to school at 11:30pm on a Friday night, that I realized I was happiest. And now at 2am, I am still am excited about what I am doing and working towards.
When working in Rhino I tell myself: “this is just a placeholder for something more inventive to come…”
When working in CAD I say: “get your act together because this line has to actually mean something.”“
there’s weird satisfaction in doing things that make you miserable…#24hourworkdays #runningtoolong
“design is not just about solving the problem. it’s about solving the problem cleverly and beautifully.”
—
Alan Plattus is a beast... (of knowledge)
Yep, I said it. So fail me… kill me! I don’t care. I’ll die knowing I am that much smarter having attended only three of Alan Plattus’ classes so far. First, we talked about Rome and the Renaissance (duh) and then we moved swiftly on to Paris and London’s urban planning schemes. I have never witnessed such an adept, organized, and articulate lecturer in my life. The man can speak for an hour and a half straight without taking a single breath!
It’s not like he is making slow steady statements… he’s explaining the evolution and the decision-making/motives behind city fabrics while promptly including names, dates, rulers, monarchs, invasions, occupations, and wars without an ounce of hesitation. The man doesn’t skip a beat, and he makes a potentially boring course into a lively, high-speed chase of comprehension and analysis. Plus, it’s not rehearsed or scripted - the information (specifics included) are just hanging out in his brain, and just oozes out like it’s nothing. He’s got “it” - whatever “it” in professor-land is - Mr. Alan Plattus.
