Cloud, by Matthias Schuler and Tetsuo Kondo When coming to Venice, the first impression of the 2010 Architecture Biennale is pretty straightforward: “People meet in Architecture” is written...

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The second week at Lawrence and the week is heavy. Wednesday the studio is going into round two of precedents. The urban nature of IDS3 (Integrated Design Studio) this semester seems enticing, although I may have bitten off a little. Steven Schneemaan, the principal Professor seems to know his stuff. I am excited for the coursework, mostly because I have no experience; unlike the last two semesters. Constance Bodurow is heading up our section of Urban Design which is equally exciting, as her accomplishments echo a novel.

I recently watched a recording of Steve Jobs presenting a graduation address at Stanford where he enumerated on the idea of connecting the dots, but only in retrospect. He went on to explain that he did a bunch of things early in life that made no sense and appeared supremely useless, like taking calligraphy class, which proved instrumental in helping him design the first personal computer and begin the company Pixar. Only in retrospect can you connect the dots intelligently rang the speech. I mention this annodote because I am currently in the process of compiling and sequencing a book of all the research my team has conducted over the last six months. It is our Phase I book and it catalogs all of the absurd, amateurish, whimsical and despirate design experiments we conducted on our way to finding a thesis project. The goal of the book is to connect the dots, to document step along a trajectory of thought and build a thesis argument from the results, both successful and unsuccessful of the experiments. In short, to connect the dots. Before making the book, however, it seemed abundantly clear to me that we had fooled around for many months, discarding each experiment, moving on in a different direction and beginning anew from scratch. We had a project to describe but there really didn’t seem to be too many dots to connect through the history of our process. But the book needs pages and everyone likes pretty pictures so after the most important experiments were laid out I began stuffing all the rest of our early work in too. “Here is us blowing on balloons.” “Here is us making a sock.” “Here is us making a plastic version of velcrow…” Eventually reaching our first two experiments, it struck me like a Chuck Noris love-tap #437a to the head, that they contained almost in total, the project that we were currently developing. One experiment was tying up a balloon bondage style in wire and the other was screwing a bunch of paper plates together with balloons near the joints. These two experiments, which took us only hours to conduct and document, and even less time to move away from, encapsulated the entire componentry based investigation that we have been pursuing throughout our DRL thesis. In retrospect, the dots lined up pretty well and what is more, these past dots are serving as guides as to where the project should evolve to next. This awareness brings to mind one of the mantras of the current DRL director: “suspended disbelief.” He used to talk about this concept all the time as a way to encourage students to not be too critical of our experiments, not too practice and to not discard them in the hopes that if we were able to suspend our disbelief that the mess on our desks or desktops was just a non-functioning mess, that eventually it could evolve into something quite provocative. Some teams were able to do exactly that and some teams never were. As I think about it now, however, it occurs to me that Theo’s suspended disbelief is the prerequisite to Job’s retrospective dot connecting because one has to first allow themselves the freedom to play at random experiments before the logic that connects these dots evolves months later.

What makes me more Indian than everyone else in my class although my name is "Joshua Dawson" will be a story I will take up in my next post. The AA Bangalore visiting school workshop was held at The BMS college of engineering from the 2nd-12th of August. The workshop had a diverse set of tutors. Shajay Bhooshan(AA/ZHA), John Klein(SCI-ARC/ZHA), Chikara Inamura(SCI-ARC/ZHA), Abhishek Bij(SSAA/Design Plus) and Mustafa El Sayed(research group at ZHA).(to know more about the tutors click here) Being the Information Technology capital of the country, the Architectural Association made a smart decision by chosing Bangalore as their playing field for the workshop since the workshop used softwares in the design process to a large extent. The ten days were intensively packed with learning softwares, design charettes and lectures. The brief was to design a shell structure canopy for the "Bengaluru Namma Metro Rail Project". Simultaneously Mustafa, John and Chikara were working on the construction of a hyperbolic structure. Using Indian production methods. By Indian Production methods I mean shopping at K.R market which is the place where all construction items are purchased in the city. What intrigued me the most was how precise John and Chikara were at the fabrication process bringing their design build knowledge from the sci-arc on Indian territory. Every millimetre was treated with utmost respect. Chikara used the circle packing script in rhino to know exactly where the nodes and the tessellations would be positioned on the structure. Being an Indian, watching such a detailed and efficient process was a real joy. Under Indian conditions nothing is detailed out to such precision on paper first before taken to the site. It could possibly be because India lacks structures which involve such detail. The symposium on the last day had Bangalores top practicing architects showcasing some of their work in the city like B.S. Bhooshan, Kiran Venkatesh from InFORM architects, Soumitro Ghosh, Bijoy Ramachandran and on an international note Nills Fischer from ZHA. John and Chikara at KR Market. Overall, having the Architectural Association itself to come to Bangalore and teach you more about your own birthplace is a blessing. A big thank you to all the tutors and the AA. I will post individual work and more images in the following posts. Joshua Dawson

Song: Hang With Me by Robyn Place: New Apartment in Harlem Time: 10:07:26 AM In typical architect fashion. I admit, this blog entry is way past due. I attended the July 3rd PS1 Warm-up Show with musical guest Delorean under the outdoor exhibition "Pole Dance" by Solid Objectives. (Yes I see that, it's almost two months ago! It's been a busy summer.) Just to clarify the confusion. The outdoor exhibit is part of the YAP, Young Architects Program at PS1 and the PS1 Warm-Up Show is the musical program that utilizes the space. I thought the exhibit was successful enough. It didn't feel as substantial as some previous ones. Maybe because it just felt like mesh attached to poles or I was distracted by the music. I'm still keen on "Canopy" by nArchitects and "Liquid Sky" by Ball-Nogues. But all in all, I believe these programs are great opportunities for young architects to experiment and get something awesome built. Maybe down the road, I'd love to submit something. School begins in a few weeks. I will definitely be posting a lot more often by then. Also I'll be posting pictures of before and after photos of my apartment renovation that I'm doing myself with help from friends. Ciao!

From the last post I did a couple of weeks ago, I am better… but it took me a while to get where I am today… So for a recap… the last post was this stupid I had this urge to vent off and at that time I thought that archinect would be a perfect place to do it… and it was, I got everything out of my chest and released all my frustrations… for that day only… why is that… after my [I’m not proud of saying this but let’s be honest] uninspired architecture finals I was asked [well actually, more like told] to hold a lecture and present my life, past projects and the main event, my experiences as an exchange student and my thoughts on Japan oh and the thing I dread the most, my future plans… they gave me two weeks to prepare... and gave me an option to present in English… but since I am a masochist by heart [explains my love for torture call architecture school] presenting in English was just not an option… I was literally sh*tting bullets that two weeks because first of all I had no Idea where to start, I was mentally drained and every time I write something it either feels too preachy or critical and I don’t know the proper protocol in Japanese lectures since respect is a very big deal here… and I am not calling out my dad (I think its funny) but he said to me [translated from Filipino to English] “Don’t mess this up, it seems like you’re their cock that is about to into a cock fight” which made me even nervous. This lecture literally the reason of many sleepless nights… But as the saying goes every dark cloud has a silver lining, and that would be my amazingly awesome friend back home Miki, who helped me translate my speech…. As for the lecture I think it went… not great, more like ok but not really [that’s my personal opinion] but everybody else seems to like it…. I’m just glad to get it over with… But even though I was stressing for a bit I also had a great time doing other things unrelated to architecture… I participated in a festival where we danced in the street as a part of parade… I did this a couple of months ago and they had another festival at this town so they asked me to go and I did… since it was my second time I didn’t quite make a fool of myself!!! And I got to spend a weekend in the road with great friends… I also witnessed Obon which is like Japanese version of “Dia de los Muertos” or us Filipinos call it “Araw ng mga Patay”… I spent that Obon season in a friend’s house and during that time I also spend a weekend working in a carnival/fair/festival thing… so I was not technically a “carnie” but would like to think so… I spend two nights as the bar tender and the last night in the darts booth!!! Next week I will be going back to my homeland, The Philippines, and I will be assisting my Professor and a couple of his students for their research about low cost medium rise buildings in and around Manila… then after that I will join my other professor and assist him and his 3rd year class to their field work in Bali and Singapore… I would be a hectic 16 days with back to back work trips but since it seems like I got my sanity back (for the moment at least) so I could blog regularly again… I hope… Oh one last thing to share I guess… today marks my last 10 days in Japan… I’m excited to go home and see my family and friends and finish school… but it also seems sad to leave the people that literally treated me like family here… you know that one cousin who was dropped as a baby and now slow as heck and later on will be diagnosed with an acute mental retardation… that would be me in my Japanese family, hahaahah… Picture time! kitchen using hot spring steam in Beppu, Oita [I got a chance to use this kitchen that night and all I can say was it was hot as hell... quite literally... but I had fun anyways] Kaze No Oka by Fuhimiko Maki its a crematorium in Nakasu, Oita Haiya Festival...this shot was taken after asking for some blessings from temple... Amakusa Island... me preparing for my speech while in a bus... Minami Obon festival in Hita, Oita Maruoyaki, traditional japanese pottery with a contemporary twist...

Towards the end of fall semester, I'll be giving a guest lecture to CFAN 3480 Oil and Water: The Gulf Oil Spill of 2010, being taught by my new acquaintance, Robert Gilmer. The plan is to have a joint session with my seminar, LA 4755/5755 Infrastructure, Natural Systems, and the Space of Inhabited Landscapes, and Robert's class. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but the oil and water course has been getting a bunch of national press (including Rush Limbaugh - see #7!!!!). So this is a chance to address a broader audience, as my talk may be open to the public. So what should I talk about? Over the summer, I've been researching the impact of the Mississippi River on the Gulf of Mexico - so that is one of the starting points. But I also want to tackle issues like how our cities/landscape drive oil consumption, and what post-oil cities will look like... Your suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

2 weeks until university begins again, and it will be my last year. That's a really strange thought--I've been so used to having school in my life the last 6 years, there is so much I take for granted. I guess it's like that in any routine. I have to admit that last semester was a bit disastrous. The semesters are long here, and no one is out there forcing you to be at school. It was easy for me to 'work from home', which I did happily for a while. But I've decided that while it's great to have freedom, it's also important to have scheduled time and weekly goals so that the days don't end up running into each other with not much to show for it. In the end I was pretty satisfied with my work, but not the way I got there. So I've decided that this year, my final year, it's going to be the best year ever. Actually I've decided this in partnership with one of my classmates. I've never run my school year on my own--in my bachelor life was largely dictated by a very tightly scheduled year of classes and studios, with due dates every week. Not so much in Masters. We have our design projects with some vague idea of midterm/final crits. But aside from that, it's unscheduled time and I didn't realize how easy it is to let that time slip by when nothing is demanding it. Anyways. Part of this new approach is going to include updating this blog at least twice a month, and hopefully every week. I'm going to end with some images of the chair I built last semester. I learned to steam-bend and fire-bend Spanish Cane (rattan). I'm pretty proud of the result, though I could tell my instructors were disappointed with the traditional aesthetic. The project was a chair for the elderly, and while I had a whole list of aspirations of what this chair was going to do, in the end I'm just happy that it could hold weight. It's unbelievably difficult to design and build a chair.

I will begin to post more frequently since.. i have a bit more time now! The past couple of months were an exhilarating rush of constant deadlines.. a build-up of pressure until the final presentation held at the end of last month. here at titech they only allow master's students 8 minutes in powerpoint to present there project/argument.. i think for my project especially, since it dealt with preservation/adaptive reuse issues, this was especially difficult... i had to be extremely clear in the images and words that i chose: 1. in terms of briefly highlighting the history of the Osaka CPO and creating a story for why its important to preserve the building. 2. why the merit of the original design refutes conventional rhetoric to achieve maximum FAR for a new high-rise 3. and what my specific interventions are to make the building more public/have increased activity (fundamental because adaptive reuses can never just be about romantic nostalgia..) but i came through! i had an incredible amount of generous support from my laboratory, and can't thank them enough.... when I came to Japan, i really did question the lab system pervasive in universities here (ie. creating divisions among the entire student body, healthy competition between laboratories, the differences in available sources or materials between labs, what each professor/advisors can offer etc..) but there are some truly fantastic qualities. not sure if the other lab members wanted to help me or if it was a kind of communal responsibility.. as if my presentation was a small representation to the entire architecture department. art climbing! but really... how can you go wrong with an adaptive reuse project when you are maintaining almost all of the original building/details? ;) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- i'll be heading to the Setouchi International Art Festival later this week and will be sure to provide an update/photos of how it is.. link

last i was here... i was finishing up a bachelors of science in arch (unaccredited, 4 years) i took a year off, working in california for a small firm doing research & exhibition work which yall might be familiar with. i left my position at the office a bit prematurely with some notions of producing music, and spent the last few months working on a release coming out the beginning of next month. i returned to the east coast about two months ago via crazy roadtrip with a good friend from los angeles (this time south route). now i'm back in raleigh more or less to finish up a degree... school starts next week...

He told me that most people he brings there are less than excited about the place; they simply don't understand and probably find his enthusiasm cheesy. But I was bursting. I hadn't been off the plane for more than an hour and the first thing I saw after exiting the train station was a mountain unexpectedly rising with grandiose savoir-faire, relieving the unending flatness and mocking the small homes we passed. They now seemed out of place next to the city rising quietly beyond. Still, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, my eyes glazed with excitement. The streets stretched in anticipation. We took a turn and the wooden modules of the mountain began to sink below a tree line, hazy with the promise of leaves and summer. Then suddenly there it was, looming with presumption, next to a vacant field. He didn't realize the significance when I told him how much being here meant to me and why I had come all this way, that this was more a pilgrimage than a weekend excursion. It was a dream, like being in the presence of god, although...maybe that's too far. We walked up the metal staircase to reach the top of the mountain, rejoicing in the colorful cathedral around us; I, taking in every step. At the summit we gazed upon the surrounding vista of cold newness and development, a city too fresh for culture and grime to set in to the nooks and crannies. The whole scene was dangerously beautiful, like anything could go wrong. A little bit utilitarian and idealized, strangely clean and empty. As the wind blew through the perforations of Everest I turned my gaze to the horizon. There, the old city skyline watched us back skeptically in the distance. And I it. I'm still trying to figure out everything that happened to me while I was studying this past semester in Europe. I don't know how many architecture schools have study abroad programs, but I know if Kent's wasn't built in to the curriculum like it is, I would have missed out in a major way. A definite benefit in choosing Kent State. See more of my photos from Europe here.

http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/104210-save-the-pool http://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/105715-save-the-pool-readers-reflect-on-the-christian-sc http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/07/30/landmark_decision/ Open letter to the Boston Landmarks Commission. Visiting Boston as a young person I gravitated to specific areas of the city without much thought into why I was attracted to them. As a new college student I would photograph the city without much thought into why I wanted to make images of these places. Now as an architecture student, I study the spaces made by the city with much thought into why I want to study these places. The constant drum beat through all of this exploration is the Christian Science Center. The Christian Science Center has been the backdrop to many memories that I hold dear. It is my intention to protect the center in its current condition so that many others may share the plaza as it exists today. The length and breath of the pool should be celebrated for its immense scale; to break the pool and soften its surroundings would only serve to choke the power held within the endless plane of water. I encourage the commission to designate the plaza a landmark while not permitting the exceptions being requested by the landowner.

In the last crit it was interesting to note that most people were in praise of Tom's beautiful drawings yet struggled to get a handle on the project. This is a common problem with short presentations, but was slightly accentuated with Tom's project because - if my memory serves me right - the drawings were part of the narrative. They were intended to be the remenants of the stranded situation and, as such, were intended to be drawn from a first-person point of view rather than a third-person report. [Tom has had some problems signing up to archinect but, assuming this is fixed soon, watch this space for some explanation and dialogue from Tom. ] This problem, however, seems to be an inherent problem for projects seeking to present a narrative on top of a proposal. With narrative comes the need to draw the reader into a world - whether it be spatial, material or spiritual. No longer can students rely on the well-tested routine of explaining the what, why, where and how. With a narrative you need to add an explation of the whoa. This added demand (or the Keanu Reeves Angle™ as I will never call it) is key in any architectural project where the quality of the space is a key component. Looking at the models and plans for Therme Vals, for instance, I was struck by how divorced they were from the experience itself. Even Zumthor's rough, material sketches failed to communicate his phenomenological ambitions until after I had experienced the space for myself. And this is the crux of it - architecture is a rare buisiness model where the actual end result - the real feeling of occupying a space - can't be explained or communicated beyond the author until the job is done. Sure, we do our best with models and renders but architecture (and here I'm refering to the inspiring, moving architecture which we've all aspired at some point and hopefully still do) rests on the experience of the space. It's like trying to describe dance through drawings and text but without the failsafe of ephemerality should it all go wrong[1] - the same reason Mies and Behrens made seperate full-scale timber and canvas mockups of the Kröller House in 1912 and why the photography ban in Terme Vals only heightens the experience of stepping in for the first time - drawings just can't cut it. With this in mind - and the fact that 1:1 mockups are beyond the means of most students - I think it's important to sometimes run the risk of not explaining a scheme fully in order to try to communicate the spatial or atmospheric qualities or a project - especially when that is crucial to the scheme (of course, this applies to student projects where construction packages are not always required). Some units in the Bartlett do silent crits where the students have to pin up work and get critted without saying a word. I've sat in front of projects and been sucked into the student's world even when it's a normal crit and they're just frozen with nerves. However, I'm yet to see a student explain their project eloquently with no drawings on the wall and it not end win tears. So, with this in mind, it's time to go down the rabbit hole that is: Kevin Kelly's Spatial Episodes of Hermitic Indulgence A summary from the Unit: "Through his work Kevin has developed a speculative narrative-based project about an order of hermits who individually embark on a pilgrimage of virtue. The pilgrimage guides each hermit on a path through a series of spatial episodes. As the hermits are committed to a life free from social interaction or communication with others the project charges architecture with the role of the other. The question arises how can architecture guide a hermit in his practice to learn the hermetic virtues? The virtues themselves have been assembled based upon “Au Rebours” by Joris-Karl Huysmans and “A Journey around my Room” by Xavier de Maistre. Both novels depict the lives of notably decadent hermits that become more and more self-indulgent. By extracting the main solipsistic themes of the two books Kevin establish the main design agents. The architecture that arises from the narrative is elaborately decadent and over indulgent in that is specifically designed around the extreme polarity between the alone individual and its ritualistic interaction with the architecture. A Jules Verne’esque tour de force of imagination, envisioned by meticulous conceptualising architecture as material interface between spatial order and the ritual. Yet, the cleanliness and sharpness of Kevin’s black pen on the white canvas reveals the opulence of hermetic indulgence." Click for bigger Click for bigger Click for bigger Click for bigger Click for bigger As before, it would be really appreciated to get some feedback and I'll try to get Kevin on here to respond to any comments or questions. Unfortunately I don't have any captions for the images yet, so hopefully that will get sorted soon too. ------- [1] Interestingly enough, I've seen lots of fascinating projects which look at the realtionship between dance notation and performance in relation to architecture. I'll try to get some images on that soon.

Since my last post I've found a house in Berkeley. This weekend we unloaded the POD into the new house and threw a small party to celebrate that achievement. I met and re-acquainted myself with some of the Option III students who are taking the Summer Program, they are all very promising and I'm becoming more excited by the day for the semester to begin. Finding a place to live was an incredible task, with hundreds of houses/apartments added to Craigslist daily coupled with the intense competition to secure a place in town, we had no less than 3 places we thought were a done deal before we actually signed a lease. I am happy to report that the search paid off, we found an incredible house with a serene garden fenced off from the street. I have a fireplace that I'm actually going to have to use to heat the house and learning how to make a good fire is high on my list of priorities. We also have a jacuzzi tub... We studied the neighborhoods of Berkeley thoroughly before choosing a place to live, and I'm glad that we did. Berkeley has an incredible cultural topography as you would imagine, including a very high number of homeless persons in proportion to its population. Many of these persons were drawn to the area due to the 'disability independence' movement, where those with mental or physical disabilities are driven to live a self sufficient existence and fend for themselves. There are quite a few mentally ill and homeless centered around Telegraph Avenue, just South of Bancroft Avenue. Drug use is rampant as well, you can witness strung out hyper-excited folks wandering back and forth on the streets talking to themselves at all hours. The presence which I thought was an interesting quirk about Berkeley at first became more concerning after Alex was harassed by someone collecting cans and witnessed someone pooping on the sidewalk. So we ran from South Berkeley... after dreaming of living on Panoramic Hill, Claremont and the North Berkeley Hills (looking at a few places there) we decided that we didn't have what it takes to live up the hill, so we went with North Berkeley (Gourmet Ghetto area). While I have loved the Cheese Board pizza and the breakfast at Chester's, I have yet to be blown away by the food here, though I haven't tried the famed Chez Panisse yet (any recommendations?) I have rounded out my Summer reading list with the following books : The Timeless Way of Building and The Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, Searching for True by Cutler Anderson, Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, the University of California, Berkeley by Harvey Helfand Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut, Why Architecture Matters by Paul Goldberger, Nudge by Thaler and Sunstein and Design on the Edge: 100 years of teaching at the CED by Lowell, Byrne and Frederick-Rothwell. I will focus on the Campus Guide, The Timeless Way of Building and 100 years of teaching at the CED because they are the most relevant to this blog. I wanted to get an idea for the history of the University and the CED in general so I bought a Campus Guide and spent a rainy day exploring the many early 20th century gems of the main campus, designed mostly by John Galen Howard, the founder of the Architecture program. The Beaux Arts style of the buildings is attributed to Patty Hearst's taste as she guided the building campaigns of the University. Some of my favorite spaces include the Main Reading Room at the Doe Library, the lobby and promenade in front of South Hall, and the courtyard of the Bechtel Engineering Center. The Timeless Way of Building was written by Christopher Alexander, who became a Berkeley Professor after graduate work at Cambridge in mathematics and completing the first PhD in Architecture ever awarded at Harvard. The book explores poetically yet pragmatically the importance of procedure and action in the development of 'patterns'. The recognizance and tasteful accommodation of those patterns is what makes high quality architecture, or that which is constructed in the timeless way. He has great arguments, and cites many examples from classical architecture and vernacular construction. I am curious as to how this body of thought fit into emerging Post-Modern theories as Denise Scott Brown was teaching at Berkeley in the late 1960s with Alexander before moving to UCLA to start the Architecture program there. The Pattern Language is a 'database' of the concepts introduced in the TWOB, and along with The Oregon Experiment they form a trilogy. Design on the Edge is a great collection of essays and short stories about the pedagogical and philosophical development of the architecture program as it evolved into the College of Environmental Design. It is becoming clear to me that the school has always had a sort of tenuous relationship with the mainstream, pushing underdog streams of thought like Building Science, Sustainable Design (before the 2000s), Socially Responsible Design, instead of jumping onto high fashion design trends. That makes me comfortable, the fact kept me from applying to Sci-Arc and a big reason in deciding not to attend Penn was because of a style over substance I sensed, that I can't put my heart into. I highly recommend this book for its beautiful drawings, images and stories for anyone interested in the history of the CED. I am just browsing through it at the moment and I'm sure it will appear in the blog again at a later date. By the way, I am and will be updating the Berkeley CED wiki periodically as I get time to document what I'm learning about the program. Leaving you with a quote from the Table of Contents of The Timeless Way of Building "The more living patterns there are in a place... the more it comes to life as an entirety, the more it glows, the more it has that self-maintaining fire which is the quality without a name... and when a building has this fire it becomes a part of nature. Like ocean waves or blades of grass, its parts are governed by the endless play of repetition'. Thanks for reading.

Around the end of this past semester a giant inflatable torus was brought to life on the Kent State campus, a product of the Operative Detailing seminar led by Jason Turnidge. Since I was in Italy, I couldn't be there at that time, however much to my delight, the big plastic fun house was re-inflated this summer here in Cleveland within the courtyard of the Sculpture Center. Named treehugger: giant torus, the courtyard in Cleveland was not the original site for the project, and even though providing a tree (as did the campus site...hence the pun), a few permanent sculptures required that the structure be roped and suspended over them, re-adapting the torus to the new site. But after releasing this project to the greater Cleveland area it begs the question, “What are the intentions, if any?” Was the project decidedly satirical, or maybe just purposefully offensive. Is "treehugger" a play on words or is it simplistically and innocently literal? Was the selection of the torus shape an exploitation of design process or explotation of exploitation? By no stretch of the imagination the goal was to provoke not just the viewer but architecture at large; which I can definitely get into. From the artist's statement: “Doing more with less” -- a Buckminster Fuller ideology in a situation when there is no “more”. No fabrication lab, no CNC mill, no … – only an idea to provide a back drop for an event made feasible through the use of a diagram, a plotter, sharpies, 4 mil vapor barrier, tape, a leaf blower, and time. 36 unique two-dimensional surfaces are hand cut in 4 mil vapor barrier, individually taped into continuous loops, and joined edge to edge on 35 seams accounting for 10,357 linear feet of packaging tape. A flattening of the relationship between representation and actualization through exploitation of design process and fabrication achieves a 1:1 space approachable in the context of a three-week vertical seminar assignment. A torus was selected for its ability to define a closed loop of inside | outside space with a singularly curved membrane that turns doubly curved through the simple process of inflation. A focus on the production of a temporary and mobile space for a particular event-based experience calibrates material selection, precision, and construction. Siting provokes arches, drops, lifts, compressions, and expansions as edits resulting in various modes of access between the outer and inner | outer spaces of the inflatable turned architectural trope capable of making a scene. Precisely. "Making a scene", not just creating a place for one. Not very often do we at Kent get to design in a 1:1 relationship with the final product, and for that, I'm incredibly jealous of these students. Even if Treehugger leaves you with a sarcastic and bitter taste in your mouth, the efforts of the students and the opportunity this gave them can still definitely be appreciated. And for that, I commend everyone involved. Good work Kent. [photo credit | Christopher Schoenlein] [photo credit | Christopher Schoenlein, preliminary model] Students // Graduate: Eric Pros, John Collett, Diana Kichler, Rachel Crafton, Alex Hosack. Undergraduate: Justin Parish, Justin Gantz, Nathan Bailey, Rachel Pensinger, Jenelle Kuehne, Jeremy Beatty, Paul Adair Professor // Jason Turnidge.

University can be quite an insular business. So much time spent focussing on the tiny details can be suffocating for the student; the underlying manifestos of units and departments leaving students struggling to find a clear path for their ideas and even less likely to be able to find a position where they can take a step back. I've often found uni to be like having an argument - it's always once you've walked away out of the impatient dynamic of explaining yourself that you think of the perfect comeback. Similarly, it's only when I've had a chance to step away that I'm able to see the real strengths and weaknesses of a project. Now, however, the 2009/10 year is over and the projects of Unit 24 at the Bartlett are complete and ready to be consumed. Many students find ways to take their proejcts further after graduation, whether it be realisation, exhibition, publication or continuing refinement in their spare time, and as such it's a good time to open these projects up to a wider audience and get some feedback/constructive criticism/awe-struck praise. ;) In this spirit, I'd like to ask you guys to offer critiques of a selection of projects from this graduating year of Unit 24 at the Bartlett. If you have questions to direct to the student too, I'll be sure to encourage them to sign up and respond in the comments below. I know archinect can go a bit quiet outside of term time, but any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. First up: Tom Ibbitson's project: The Still Vessel A summary c/o Tom: "The project speculates about the beginning of architecture at a moment in time when sailors skilled in the crafts of timber are shipwrecked on an island of stone. They start constructing a vessel out of stone using their timber craftsmanship in order to build the ship that they hope will take them away - but ultimately they fail. The accident of the situation restrains the construction of the ship to explorations of the material properties of stone as alternative to timber. Springing from rigorous research into timber and stone crafting techniques and the Doric order, when timber detailing was inherited into stone despite its properties, Tom’s drawings are mapping out different stages in the construction of the hope-laden vessel. Contained within this narrative, Tom’s work comments on how material properties and crafting techniques are used as architectural design agents. The project investigates the unfolding of space between material, the landscape and the body in moments of construction and in moments of occupation. It asks “At what point does architecture become inhabitable?”. Critiquing on the separated nature of the representational segregation of plan and section, arrangement and detailed drawings Tom has methodically developed hybridized drawing tactics that allow him to re-interpret the role of the primal modulators of architectural space – door, window, stair in his search for the first moments of spatial occupation." Coral Click to enlarge Formwork Construction Click to enlarge Mast Construction Click to enlarge Oyster Click to enlarge Ribs Construction Click to enlarge Window Click to enlarge ------------------------------------------------------- I was lucky enough to see Tom present this work while in progress at a crit in March. As with most projects, such a small space can't do justice to a term-long piece of research. I do, however, remember there being a world of amazing details (one such detail that jumped out at me was using lemons from the original ship as a tool to corrode away a stone pin to enable the use of an oyster shell as a fixing: see the Oyster image above). The project itself stuck a real chord with me in the way it ties itself back to real architectural considerations. I think it's fair to say that in the past few years at least, most universities have had their fair share of indulgent projects: amazing visuals lacking a hook to relate itself to the real issues faced by contemporary architecture - alegories with no application. However, what I like about this project are the possibilites of reexamining the moment when the doric order was born and architecture took a step away from material and structural 'truth' towards a stylistic imitation owing to physical and methodical legacy. By setting the story up with the wooden ship meeting the stone island, the project forces the move from the 'true' Laugier hut to the 'imitation' inherent in the inertic addition of new technology. Rather than taking the easy route of proposing PoMo-esque self-references and suggesting that the intertia is a stylistic one, it becomes an opportunity to retrace these critical moments in architecture which still exist today. How amazing it would be if material development was still ao ingrained to the architectural process today and, rather than specialists being isolated until the point of sale, new types of architecture were born out of the testing and improvising of bespoke solutions. Add a bit of Heidegger in there and start discussing the move away from 'truth' by introducing technology and I'm half tempted to start writing a thesis myself.

I feel very delinquent, I have ideas for several blog posts and I just can't stop procrastinating. But isn't that what the summer is for? Here is a very delayed post about my July 1st trip to Ottawa. Ottawa is not only the nation's capitol, but a lovely city to visit and only two hours away from Montreal (one of my choices for architecture school was Carleton University). In a last-minute decision, I decided to drop-in on a friend and check out Canada Day festivities. Unlike the other million tourists, I did not spend the day on the Hill, but rather chose to profit from free entry to the national museums. Although there are many museums in and around Ottawa, the three big ones (the ones I chose to visit) are the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian War Museum and the Canadian Museum of Civilization. All three museums border on the Ottawa River, allowing for plenty of green space near the water for leisure and recreation. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Canadian Museum of Civilization architect: Douglas Cardinal opening: 1989 location: Gatineau/Hull (across the river from Parliament) View from Alexandra Bridge. In French, its the Musée des civilizations (its plural: Museum of Civilizations). I find this very appropriate, the English should be the same. I walked across from the Ottawa side of the river, so I got to see the museum from the bridge. I'm not sure about the long-views... I'm not a huge fan of the bulbous green roof. Up close the buildings undulate, especial the curatorial centre. The sculptural qualities make me really want to see Cardinal's St. Mary's Church in Red Deer. I wasn't too impressed by the inside, perhaps because I have visited many times. The exhibition spaces are heavily adapted to fit the permanent exhibits (which are a ton of fun for kids). Curatorial offices building. Lounge space on the second level. The main reason for my visit was to check out the West-Coast exhibition in the Grand Hall. I wrote a paper on Haida architecture for my History of Housing course in the winter semester and wanted to see the Pacific-coast houses. What I found the most interesting was the way the different nations treated the wood - split planks, columns bearing chisel marks, there were so many different textures. Textures from the Native Pacific architecture in Canada Hall. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Canadian War Museum architect: Moriyama & Teshima Architects opening: 2005 location: LeBreton Flats (west of Parliament) The front of the museum rises out of the landscape like the prow of a ship. This museum has been a favourite of mine since its opening. I remember the first time I visited was only several months after the official opening. The landscaping wasn't finished and it was located in the middle of a muddy field (now LeBreton Flats park). The museum lobby connects the two entrances. The new Canadian War Museum is an absolute masterpiece of materiality. Some of the textures featured are recycled copper panels from the Library of Parliament and rough-wood textured concrete complete with fake bullet holes. I have recently read the book written by the principle architect, Raymond Moiryama, and so skipped the architectural tour and quickly hit-up some of my favourite spaces. Inside the Memorial Hall. My favourite space conceptually is the Memorial Hall located in the entrance lobby. Inside this small space is the original tomb-stone that marked the grave of Canada's unknown soldier. The solitary tomb-stone hanging on the wall is a sharp contrast from the rows of identical white markers in the Commonwealth cemeteries of Europe. I love that you can see the part of the stone that was buried underground. On 11am on November 11th of each year, light hits the tombstone from an aperture in the roof. One year I will have to be there to see it happen. If I had designed it, I would have made the space of the hall more like a place of worship. As it is, you enter into the room from a transitional passageway right that ends to the right of the tomb stone. I would rotate the space so that the stone was placed on the short wall, away from the entry, like in a chapel. But that's just me. The museum's south entrance. The part of the museum that I hadn't explored before was the roof walkway. The building was designed with two, equally important entrances. One faces the river, the other provides easy access from the main roads. Inside, the two entrances are connected by the lobby. Outside, the roof walkway connects the two sides of the building, offering views towards Parliament. I was pleasantly surprised by the field of poppies growing on-top. Peace Tower framed on the roof walkway. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// National Gallery of Canada architect: Moshe Safdie opening: 1988 location: Sussex Drive (just east of Parliament) The museum's form is dominated by the Great Hall. I don't remember visiting the National Gallery before, but some of the interior spaces seemed familiar. I wasn't impressed by the building from outside. The largely glazed facade made me think of office buildings. Once inside, I quickly changed my mind about the building. Designed by Canadian/Israeli (and yes, American) architect Moishe Safdie, Mediterranean influences are can easily be seen inside. Walking up the entry ramp, the patterns of light caused by metal louvers immediately bring to mind the screens used in Islamic architecture. The warm-coloured stone and concrete seem to soak up the light. Funny how the thing I dislike most about the outer appearance is what really makes the museum inside. Inside the Canadian Gallery, there are two inner courtyards which draw light into the centre of the gallery and provide a place for respite. I'm a big fan of crisp lines and rectilinear designs, so I had a lot of fun photographing the museum. I promise a recap of last year before the next one begins. Meredith

Its July 22, 2010, 9:14 pm… It has been 9 months, 22days, 9hours and 52 minutes since my plane landed here in Fukuoka, Japan… and I have something to say… I have cracked… I NEED A BREAK! I am not having a nervous breakdown or anything… So don’t worry… [then again I know that this blog is not going support the previews statement] But yeah I made a bad mistake of taking on too many things…There is no one else to blame here other than myself. Besides my obvious problem of saying the notorious n-word “NO”, I am also leaving Japan in less than two months… so I guess I feel that I should take advantage of any opportunity that comes my way here in Japan… may that be going out with new friends, working on little simple projects that seemed fun and interesting at first but turns out to be a real time hog, to all the classes that I am taking this semester… thank God though that next week is the last week of school… YES!!! Physically I’m ok...or at least I think I am, but mentally is another story… I desperately need a mental break… I’ve always got (forgive me with this word…) shit inside my head… like preparing for some field works this summer that I’m suppose to support while being extremely ill-informed, to finding a place to stay when I go back to school in America… thinking of the future plans after graduation, if I graduate on-time [it all depends on how much credit I get with my year in Japan]…. My creativity feels drained too… I have this project that I cannot seem to focus on… I don’t feel inspired to work… maybe because my mind is too busy thinking about something else…. So yeah… I tried distracting myself with watching mindless funny movies but it didn’t help… I watched Cool Runnings and didn’t enjoy it… so I was thinking what’s wrong with me… I have enjoyed this movie since I was a kid… How can I not enjoy watching Doug E. Doug+egg and company re-enact what the first Jamaican Olympic Bobsled team’s ordeals and triumphs accurately… or at least in according to Disney’s eyes… I felt lame… Not to mention the current unbelievably crap-tastic summer climate here in Japan… Its constantly hot and humid… oh and before I forget I cannot enjoy the one thing I like to do the most during summer time… laying down under a shady tree… why you may ask… It is because I refuse to serve myself as a feast for those blood hungry mosquitoes… [you know in a group… there is always that one person that always gets bitten by the mosquitoes… Well I am that person…] I’m more than just a piece of meat, God-damn-it! Anyways I am NOT writing this blog because I am miserable here Japan, actually it is quite the opposite, but rather verbally express my rants so I could be more productive and less distracted in the couple of days… its normal to vent off on random people I don’t know in the interwebs right? So first I would like to apologize for the people that bothered reading this [then again I warned you]… I think I am just going to end the night early… Oh how I long for some “Hermit-Days”... but sadly this weekend is going to be a busy one… I might also stay offline more just so I can get back to my usual groove.. Wish me luck…. or much needed sanity… so I guess goodbye for now…

This year a search took place for a new director of SALA and several great candidates were short-listed, giving presentations at the school. It was a really wonderful opportunity to speak to esteemed academics from all over the continent and hear what they have been working on in their practices and at their respective schools. Lesley Van Duzer will be the new director at UBC this fall and we are all very excited to have her on board! Professor Van Duzer comes to UBC from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis where she served as Director of Undergraduate Studies. She has taught at numerous schools in the United States, Canada and Europe and is currently serving a five-year term as an external examiner for Dalhousie University in Halifax. She completed her graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley and practiced architecture in San Francisco and Vienna prior to her academic career. An expert in early-modern European architecture, Van Duzer is co-author of four books: Adolf Loos: Works in the Czech Lands; Mies van der Rohe: Krefeld Villas; Rudolf Arnheim: Revealing Vision; and Villa Müller: A Work of Adolf Loos. The two building monographs were awarded the architects’ journal Top Ten Books of the Year award in London. Van Duzer has published extensively in international journals and lectured throughout Europe and North America. It is very exciting time to be a part of the school as Lesley’s appointment will commence many initiatives including fundraising for a new building and the growth of the school in general. *biographic information taken from www.sala.ubc.ca

I can’t put down Aldo Rossi this summer! We had read excerpts from The Architecture of the City in our Themes in Architecture course in the fall semester, but I just finished the whole thing and it is amazing. Additionally, I keep rereading paragraphs from his Scientific Autobiography; it’s so good! Both of these staples are highly recommended for anyone starting their architectural education.