DAISY AMES

There were some really awesome advanced studio design reviews the last few days - some of which were by friends I have followed closely, and some were projects that simply stopped me in my tracks. Over all, the diversity of the studios, breadth of work, and the discussions that ensued were really stimulating. Yesterday I popped between one uber-practical studio focused on designing a house, and another theory-based studio that debated “liquid” architecture.

One thing that amused me was all the pancake’n going on. Mmm, pancakes… stacking floor plates within a structure which inherently fights linearity. There is no doubt that form has taken precedent in architecture especially in countries that are willing to take chances with construction ie. India and China. While these projects are evocative, I sense an insensitivity to functionality. Whether it’s a hundred story office building proposal or a small museum - form dictated design. There is nothing wrong with this approach, but when I see elaborate curves and expressive structures punctured by the rhythmic and disharmonious practicality of linear walking surfaces, it leaves me a bit baffled. It makes me wonder if occupying these flashy forms was an after-thought. The projects I found most refreshing are the ones that represented the human scale critically. 

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.

“Analysis allows us to have “holy shit” moments… to realize something we cannot see and to be able to go somewhere with it.” 

- Peter Eisenman during third year studio critique September 17th, 2010

“So, this is my favorite class. It’s not going to be yours… but that is why it’s mine. I’m not here to make you happy. There are plenty of things to spend $50,000 on to make you happy.”

He’s a straight shooter and I like that… a lot. 

“This absolute pre-cendence and pre-dominance of the transcendental as content of the signified as “narrated” by the signifier, has as consequence for the Middle Age a profound, radical devaluation of the significance of the empirical experience and, with that, of the reality of the physical world.” 

- Guido Zuliani “On the Origins of the Conceptual Difference in Architecture”

what. 

I just had my first lecture course: Modern Architecture and Society, taught by Kurt Forster in Hastings Hall. He wanted us to just sit back, relax and have him talk us through the story of architecture, rather than be a maniac note-taker. He began the class saying, “this is supposed to be a class you enjoy, and want to come to… it’s important to refine these jumbled up facts in your head into clear and logical modes of transition so you can understand them intellectually.” (something of that nature) Professor Forster is a master lecturer and his pencils-down “policy” was really effective because he presented the material in such an enthusiastic, lively, and witty way. I’m looking forward to that! 

Yesterday, August 26th, as part of the Yale Lecture Series, Canadian architect, Brigitte Shim of Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, gave a touching presentation on her work. Most of the work addressed was located around the Great Lakes. She seemed very connected with materiality, sensitivity to landscape, and ecological footprint, but not to a point that they completely regulated design decisions. Below are a few examples of her work.