from dan

Dear All:

Marc and I thought it would be a good idea to restate the goals for Monday.

The task was to develop the project in its "totality" in two weeks as if it was three months. This is how Marc described the task if you paid attention.

Yes, given the short time, not all aspects of the project could be fully developed but all aspects or parts of the final project must be present and addressed in short preliminary way.

That is:
1. all students must have a specific site/location for their project-
not " somewhere on this site". Such a statement is not acceptable

2. all students must have a PROGRAM described both in qualitative and
quantitative terms and detailed information should be on the wall not in your heads.

3. all students are expected to have developed, however preliminarily, a schematic strategy
in a site plan, as well as a building plan and section-
All these might be modified later, but they must be present on the wall as part of the
"whole" preliminary design exercise.

4. all students must have the statement of the "theoretical frame work "
concept (the precis) must be on the wall and handed out to critics (make 6 copies)
This concept must contain the role Synaesthesia plays in your design

5. This last point is critical in the selection of a moment (s) in your project to
be conceived now that would become their full scale installation
demonstrating Synaesthesia



We are stating this again to make sure that all of you understand what is expected. Each of you must have thought about and drawn a bit of each aspect/element/part for a complete preliminary design
ALL five items must be present on the wall on Monday.

Some more site history

January 31, 2007

Site History

Over the past week I’ve learned a bit more about the history of my site. The existing structure that is on the site and that I’m going to intervene in is much older than I originally thought.

The existing structure on the site that I will be intervening in was not built as a light industrial building as I first though, but rather as the Long Island Savings Bank, built in 1876. (Wood beams and cast iron columns? Any thoughts?) The photograph below is from 1896. Note the buildings standing on the west side of my site.

This next photograph is from around 1930. The buildings on the west side of my site were demolished in 1907 to make way for the construction of a bridge that connects Hunter’s Point to Greenpoint. Since then, this bridge has been demolished (1965) and replaced by the nearby Pulaski Bridge.

Below is a photograph I took at my site in December 2006. While some of the buildings on the site have been demolished, the Long Island Savings Bank Building is still standing. In its more recent history it was converted to light industrial use as the Cangro Transmission Work Shop. Digging into the Building Information System also revealed an occupancy violation in that the second, third, and fourth floors of the building illegally housed an architecture office and a small job training school. The approach to the bridge has since become the Vernon Mall, a small “sitting park.”

concrete

please keep in mind that a concrete proposal is expected for monday...
marc

Bringing MOMA Outside

Filmmaker Doug Aitken's Sleepwalkers at The Museum of Modern Art is playing every night through February 12th and it's free.

This night installation, produced by Creative Time, features eight large-scale moving images projected on and around the museum. Because the film is projected at eight locations around MOMA, viewers must circle the building to fully participate in the experience.

Revised Schedule/Assignments

January 28, 2007

Assignment 1: Due January 29

The Memory Palace and the Collapsed City

Objective


Develop an understanding of the program, “A House, A Subway, A Nightclub,” as a formalization of the concept of The Method of Loci, in which one uses sites within an imagined conception of the city to store memories.

Means

Draw at least one section through the site that suggests a collapsed image of the city by including external references to the greater fabric of the city. Within the section, a collapsed conception of the city, locate “moments or sites” in which to store the various components of the program.

Material

Research Material, Photographs, and means of architectural drawing of choice

Issues

How are the external references to the city represented in the drawing? Decide when it is appropriate to use sectional datums, datums of phenomena (i.e. the recurring use of colors, textures, light, etc.), or more direct representations such as photographs or drawn artifacts. In the Method of Loci, information is retrieved by an imagined itinerary through the Memory Palace. When drawing the program into the section of the collapsed city consider a specific itinerary related to the itinerary.

Assignment 2: Due February 1

The Hook Up

Objective

The crucial moments of “The House, The Subway, The Nightclub” occur within the “party walls,” which are the architectural events in which the components of the program interact and are brought into relationship with each other. Choose one of these moments and examine the tectonic and spatial implications of the “party wall.”

Means

Build a study model that examines in detail the relationship between programs at a specific moment found within the project’s various “party walls.” The scale of the model should be 1/2" = 1’-0”.

Material

Chipboard, museum board, paper, and/or basswood

Issues

Consider the moment examined as a detail particularly in terms of shared or common sensory experience. Also, how do the shared experiences between shared programs also act within the context of the Method of Loci, referring to external references to the city beyond?

Assignment 3: Due February 4

The Memory Palace and the Collapsed City Revisited

Objective

Re-examine the drawings completed in “Assignment 1: The Memory Palace and the Collapsed City,” and respond to criticism to refine the intentions of the drawing. Then test the programmatic relationships by completing additional drawings considering different itineraries through the site/program.

Means

Revise the section produced in Assignment 1 and complete a second section based on a different itinerary. Then expand the ideas proposed in each drawing into three dimensions with the completion of at least one study model at 1/8” = 1’-0”.

Material

Drawings: research Material, photographs, and means of architectural drawing of choice
Models: chipboard, museum board, paper, and/or basswood.

Issues

How do the two sections relate to each other in terms of the external references and internal itineraries that guide their creation? Does the addition of a second itinerary cause the first to alter itself in negotiation with the second?

Assignment 4: Due February 4

Shared Stories

Objective

Prepare the presentation and explanation of the work for the sketch project review on February 5.

Means

Write a “practice script” that explains the project and commit the key points to memory to avoid leaving out key information during the presentation.

Issues

Aim for clarity and conciseness.

thats the way the google eyed

please obtain a google account asap so you may continue to participate in this blog...do this asap...please...
thanks
marc

Important Blog News

Hello All,

As you may know, The Architectural Synaesthesia Blog is run by Google and there has been a recent push by Google to switch to the "New Blogger." The difference between the two versions is that the new one requires you to log in using a gmail account and once a blog has been switched from the old version to the new version, all members must also switch their logins to the new gmail account system in order to continue posting.
After weeks of avoiding the switch-over, I was finally forced to switch the blog to the new system. For those of you who already have gmail accounts, the switch over is fairly simple, but for those who don't have gmail accounts you will have to create one in order to continue using the blog. I know it's inconvienent, but the blog is an important class resource and the ability to avoid using the new version was no longer an option.

Best,
Alex

Living Above a Bar

I found this article in the NY Times about issues that arise when people live over bars in the city.

The Sound and the Fury

For Alex,

The definition ise from the book called, ecstacity, by Nigel Coates.

"Night clubs: The incubators of social discourse through the vehicles of body language and hedonism, and therefore employers of architecture as a manager of delirious space. Most cleverly designed nightclubs setup an innate theatricality in human behaviour, and to achieve this they disguise the logical disposition of space, in favor of staged animation. The music, the lights, and the smoke are more fundamental than columns or acoustics. Though they often pretend that you are on the street, or the factory, the fundamentals conceit is that they embrace the city by their very seperation from it."

Architectural Synaesthesia - Prof. M. Schaut and Prof. D. Bucsescu

Daer All:

I thought that , at this particular moment, in the course of your design work, it would be helpful for the studio as a whole, to reread carefully this article about Scarpa's way of drawing. There are, I feel, helpful hints about how you all should approach the way you draw your projects now!!!

Here is a shorten version of the reading I was under the impression you all would have shared to date. If not it is never to late...Feel free to comment and engage in a studio discussion on the methods of drawing your projects.

Let me know what you think about this reading and how it might affect the way you draw NOW.

Dan



From the article “The Drawings of Carlo Scarpa”.
by Hubert Damish

in the book about Carlo Scarpa “The Complete works”

Despite Scarpa’s great admiration for Frank Loyed Wright, their use of drawings was quite different. For FLW, the design had no meaning or existence save as an immediate image. For that reason he would visualize it in the form of a perspective view, often colored, which enabled him to see the building, designed in plan, section, and elevation, as he imagined it on the site.

There is nothing like that in Scarpa’s case. ….Scarpa’s graphic output does not act as a surrogate for what was never built. This is because Scarpa’s approach was completely dominated by, paradoxically, the problem of realization. From this point of view, it seems that the Venetian architect’s attitude has a curious similarity to that of Cezanne. Scarpa harbored , the same doubt as Cezanne, if we believe what Merleau-Ponty tells us. And it is this doubt, clearly methodological, which gives his work, seemingly so modest, a historical incisivness that some consider extraordinary………….

It is as if we are confronted with an inevitable and perhaps insoluble enigma, one whose power of raising significant issues will continue to grow wherever architecture is practiced. In examining the series of drawings for the re-ordering of the Castelvecchio in Verona, one is struck by the fact that they are mainly studies of details.

Apart from the quite elaborate drawings for the placing of the equestrian statue of Cangrande, which are the logistical testimony of his (Scarpa’s) precise calculation of effects (though it should be noticed that there is no view of the whole, save for the photos Scarpa used in drawing possible versions of the most active, or at least most deliberately representative, core of the whole) we have mostly working drawings, if not actually those used on the site. ….

Here is the correct term is demonstrative power, for eack of these sketches- …constitutes a proof of the absolute priority Scarpa ascribed to actual construction and whatever that involved.

This priority did not derive from in any way from technological ideology or even nostalgia for traditional craftsmanship, though Scarpa was definitely against everything he considered a sign of the degradation and decline of the métier.

..a perspective representation is barely distinguishable at first glance from a planimetric drawing since both have the look of elaborations based on superimposition of sheets, this constitutes the charachteristic trait of an architecture which has to be analyzed in layers and by its intervals, gaps and joints, often extremely small yet calculated.

Scarpa could not have been more scathing about those students who attempted to work, right from the start, by using perspective views and axonometric projections,, taking up a viewpoint outside the object Instead of laying bare its guts and innards, as he wanted them to do. Perspective views and aerial representations had to be left till a second stage, after the completion of the design by plans and sections, the only instruments that make it possible to grasp from the inside the relationships between the different elements of the composition. Even photographs are useless, save when used as the basis of an elaboration traced over them. The essential goal therefore lies in the purpose of verification, if not actually experimantation, which Scarpa assigns to drawing……For instance, a perspective image of a staircase does not allow sufficient accuracy in identifying the number of steps and their height, let alone the details of their jointing. –jointing, being a link up with Cezannes doubt.

A critical position of this kind acquires special significance at a time like the present, characterized by an attempt to reduce architectural thought to the single dimension of an image, to the detriment of its symbolical and real dimensions.

In this is no paradox; the man who revealed the full potential of museum architecture also uttered the most stringent criticismsof the ever-recurring error of confusing architecture with its image or any kind of scenography. …An image can never replace a demonstration.

REVISED SCHEDULE

THURS 25:

PROGRAM. Think about what specifics program will adhere to; categorization of objects in the flea market may be needed - for example, market in san jose (?) has roads and areas within that lead to a produce district, antique district, clothing district, etc. so people know exactly where to go to find what they seek, while market such as that along highway 127 has objects more scattered in a yard sale, where objects on display along the road are visited based on luck. (an example of something i need to figure out, not that there aren't more things to solve). Have diagram(s) finished. DETAIL MODEL. Drawing(s) or studies of model. SITE. Choose two sites.

MON 29:

DETAIL MODEL. Start building full-scale model. PROGRAM. Sketch model or drawing of layout.
SITE. Have 3 sites documented in 1/16th site plans and photographs.

THURS 1:

DETAIL MODEL. Continue building model. Drawing with objects photographs collaged (shows context of detail). Corresponding text. PROGRAM. Sketch model/drawing continued.

MON 5:

will have completed..

SITE: 3 chosen sites at different scales. Photographs, 1/16” site plans.
PROGRAM: Categorization of objects and corresponding display units in diagram(s). Program requirements determined. Sketch models?
DETAIL MODEL: Studies, drawing with object photographs collaged, text, finished full-scale installation model.

Ancient Intersection of the Via Appia and Via Ardeatina

This is my favorite Piranesi print and I have for some time had a desire to draw some kind of intervention into it, but never really knew where to start. Nonetheless, I have been thinking about how to build my site and I think an interesting departure point would be to take synaesthetic spatial moments that I identified in my synaesthetic memory map, collage them into my concretely identifiable site at 5015 Vernon Blvd, and then intervene into that collage with my program. My conception of this approach comes both from looking at the Piranesi print, in its full implications of ruin, collection, memory, and fiction, and also an excerpt from my thesis book that I wrote about the program.

A house. A subway. A nightclub.

Acting upon the desire to create an architecture born primarily out of the conceptual crossing of synaesthesia and the Method of Loci, the relation between the mental map of the city and the program becomes crucial. Within the Method of Loci, the concept of the mental image of the city suggests a construction that simultaneously exists somewhere between factual reality and imagined abstraction. Turning to Bachelard’s model, his realms of discussion, such as the cellar and the garret, suggest different behaviors of occupation and ways of storing memories occurring in distinct zones within a single construct that houses memory and the creative being’s act of dwelling poetically. Following these two models the act of choosing program becomes one of reaching out into the city, gathering programs and collecting them into a congealed block on a single site.

Thus the chosen program, “the house, the subway, and the nightclub” means to do just that, guided by the found itinerary of the synaesthetic memory map. The house provides the inhabitant with sanctuary and privacy. It is rich with physical sensation but on the domestic scale. The nightclub exists in the realm of public life and its experience presents an intensity of sensation that at times passes into the realm of adversity against the well being of the occupant. The subway mediates between the two offering an in-between experience for reflection on past events and the anticipation of the destination. The spatial joining of these programs presents an anxiety that drives the design as it seeks a resolution of the mental image of the city. In proposing this program, the project confronts the structure of memory and the role played by the synaesthetic union of physical sensation and memory in the union of disparate experiences into a single near-fictional narrative.

In The Poetics of Space, Bachelard writes:

The house we were born in is more than an embodiment of home, it is also an embodiment of dreams, each one of its nooks and corner was a resting-place for daydreaming…If we give their function of shelter for dreams to all these places of retreat, we may say…that there exists for each one of use an oneiric house, a house of dream-memory, that is lost in the shadow of a beyond of the real past.

Behind the Method of Loci stands that idea that one can recall specific memories by an imagined walk through the mental image of the city along a specific path. Consequently, it also implies that by walking a different path through the imagined structure, one can create new possibilities. As the inhabitants of “the house, the subway, and the nightclub” dwell in a space modeled as a formalization of the mental image of the city, the program becomes one, in terms of Bachelard, primed for dreaming and creating the new stories in which one dwells poetically.

posting

since dan and i are meeting with you seperately for a bit, please post any major revision to your thesis or schedule to keep all up to date...
thanks...i think we are off to a good start...complete your schedules...stick to them.
marc

rubulad for alex

alex,
have you heard of this place called rubulad? it's in the neighborhood and is not your regular party venue or "club". maybe it would be worth a visit. i was at a halloween party there last year and i'm told that this place is actually someone's home. here's a quote from the voice i found after doing a very quick search:

Every few weekends in the summer, and occasionally at other times of the year, the Williamsburg basement calling itself Rubulad puts on a show, and they don't do it in a small way—it usually involves local and out-of-town bands, weird arty decorations all over the place, DJs, slide shows, costumes, quasi-legal beverages, drone-chants, giant-sized puppet shows, circus performers, cookouts, and a few hundred local hipsters staying up past their bedtime. There's a festive vibe here that's been missing from Brooklyn rock venues since the early-'90s days of Bicycle and Room Temperature. Rubulad's not terribly official, but poke around on Bedford Street and you'll see signs alerting you when something's going on.

so judging from my experience there and from this info about it also being the home of a group of folks this may also shed a little light on your zoning issue.

does anyone else know of rubulad?...or any other leads for alex that are not in the crobar or mega club vein?

here is an invite link for an event/interest listing source that publishes digitally on a weekly basis...this is the one i mentioned to you alex.

http://lists.laughingsquid.org/mailman/listinfo/nonsensenyc/

don't be dissuade by it's title "nonsense"

a little more mainstream source is flavorpill...go to http://www.flavorpill.com/

Today's Phrase, "Epically Long." A House, A Subway, A Nightclub.

Largely the project is about the occupant's memory-infused narrative journey from the house to the nightclub via the subway, and then back again. So I started to block out the program as a "cast of characters and sub-characters." I have written two scenarios because at the moment I am not entirely decided whether the program should be "one house, one subway, and one nightclub," or "several apartments, one subway, one nightclub." In the latter of the two scenarios, the residents of the different apartments could interact as neighbors through the subway and the nightclub, which may yield fruitful possibilities for creating narratives. Below is my program and I am more than open to comments and suggestions.

January 21, 2007

On Program: A Cast of Characters

Scenario 1: One House. One Subway. One Nightclub.

A journey from a house to a nightclub via the subway becomes the occupant’s traveling narrative through the city that informs the creation of his memory map: an imagined architecture that extends his memory into the landscape of the city. Through the synaesthesia of memory and physical sensations within his domain, the house joined with the subway and the nightclub, memories surface on his perception of the moment and he dwells, poetically, within a near-fictional narrative. His domain becomes his memory palace. The interlocking programs for Scenario 1 joins one residence, one nightclub and a new G Train Platform between 50th and 51st Ave whose entrances intertwine between the other two characters and extends the network of the memory palace back into the greater city with a new transfer to the 7 Train.

Character 1: A House. 2000 sq. ft. maximum

Sub-Characters

1. a bedroom. +/- 200 sq. ft
2. a bathroom. +/- 60 sq. ft
3. a closet. 20 sq. ft max
4. a study/library/studio. +/- 400 sq. ft
5. a living room +/- 200 sq ft.
6. a kitchen/dining room +/- 200 sq. ft.
7. an entry. +/- 50 sq. ft
8. a terrace. +/-700 sq. ft

Character 2: A Subway. +/- 22000 sq. ft.

Sub-Characters

1. a platform. 18000 sq. ft.
2. entries including 24-hour booth. 3500 sq. ft

Character 3: A Nightclub. +/- 12000 sq. ft.

Sub-Characters

1. a vestibule/waiting area (off street) for arrival by subway and car. 1600 sq. ft.
2. a coat room 200 sq. ft
3. a bar. 500 sq. ft.
4. a seating area with tables for 100. 1500 sq. ft
5. a dance floor for 300. +/-2500 sq. ft.
6. stage/dj area. 200 sq. ft.
7. a back stage area. 400 sq. ft
8. lounge rooms 800 sq. ft. total.
9. bathrooms. +/- 400 sq. ft.
10. an administrative office. 150 sq. ft.
11. an employee room. 200 sq. ft.
12. a security office. 150 sq ft.
13. storage including cold storage. 400 sq. ft.
14. an outdoor courtyard. +/-1200 sq. ft.

Scenario 2: Several Houses (apartments). One Subway. One nightclub.

A journey from a house to a nightclub via the subway becomes the occupants’ traveling narrative through the city that informs the creation of their memory maps: imagined architecture that extends their memories into the landscape of the city. Through the synaesthesia of memory and physical sensations within their domains, the apartments joined with the subway and the nightclub, memories surface on their perceptions of the moment and they dwell, poetically, within a near-fictional narratives. The occupants’ domains become their memory palaces. The interlocking programs for Scenario 1 joins the apartments, one nightclub and a new G Train Platform between 50th and 51st Ave. The residents interact as neighbors through the experience of the nightclub and the subway, the entrances to which intertwine between the other programmatic characters and extends the network of the memory palace back into the greater city with a new transfer to the 7 Train.

Character 1: The apartments. +/- 8000 sq. ft. Six units at +/- 1200 sq. ft. each

Sub-Characters

1. a bedroom. +/- 150 sq. ft
2. a bathroom. +/- 60 sq. ft
3. a closet. 20 sq. ft max
4. a study/library/studio. +/- 200 sq. ft
5. a living room +/- 200 sq ft.
6. a kitchen/dining room +/- 200 sq. ft.
7. an entry. +/- 50 sq. ft
8. a terrace. +/-400 sq. ft
9. a common laundry room +/- 30 sq. ft.
10. a common entry and corridor +/- 200 sq. ft

Character 2: A Subway. +/- 22000 sq. ft.

Sub-Characters

1. a platform. 18000 sq. ft.
2. entries including 24-hour booth. 3500 sq. ft

Character 3: A Nightclub. +/- 12000 sq. ft.

Sub-Characters

1. a vestibule/waiting area (off street) for arrival by subway and car. 1600 sq. ft.
2. a coat room 200 sq. ft
3. a bar. 500 sq. ft.
4. a seating area with tables for 100. 1500 sq. ft
5. a dance floor for 300. +/-2500 sq. ft.
6. stage/dj area. 200 sq. ft.
7. a back stage area. 400 sq. ft
8. lounge rooms 800 sq. ft. total.
9. bathrooms. +/- 400 sq. ft.
10. an administrative office. 150 sq. ft.
11. an employee room. 200 sq. ft.
12. a security office. 150 sq ft.
13. storage including cold storage. 400 sq. ft.
14. an outdoor courtyard. +/-1200 sq. ft.

The other task I accomplished this weekend was to take a more in depth look at the site particulary in terms of real world issues such as zoning. Not surprisingly, my project stands to not meet most of the zoning requirements, largely because a nightclub probably cannot exist on my site in reality, and while sorting through the zoning and code texts was arduous, in the end it was kind of interesting to compare my vision for the site to that of the city's vision for the site.

January 20, 2007

About the Site, 5015 Vernon Blvd, Hunter’s Point

Site Addresses

5015 Vernon Blvd, 1001 51st Ave, and 1015-1019 Jackson Ave
Queens, NY 11101

Lot Information

A. Lot Size: 6000 Sq. Ft
B. Zoning: R7X with C2-5 Overlay
C. FAR: Residential = 5.0 and Commercial = 2.0. Buildable Area = 30000 sq. ft. with a maximum of 12000 sq. ft. of total as commercial space.
D. Max Lot Coverage (for Corner Lot): 80% x 6,000 sq. ft. = 4,800 sq ft.

Building Potential

A. Minimum base height is 60 feet. Maximum base height is 85 feet and the maximum allowable overall height is 125 feet. Above base height the set back ratio is 2.7 vertical to 1 horizontal for narrow streets and 5.6 vertical to 1 horizontal for wide streets.
B. Side yards are not required, but any side yard space provided must be a minimum of 8 feet wide.
C. The street wall should be no closer to the street wall of any building within 150 feet but also no farther back than 15 feet.
D. The maximum number of residential units is found by dividing the maximum residential floor area by the factor for dwelling units (680 for the site)

Existing Building on Site: “The Cangro Transmission Building”

A. 2000 sq. ft. footprint. Four stories tall, with 12 foot ceiling heights. Total building square footage is 8000 sq ft.
B. Brick building originally designed for industrial use.


A diagram of the site and its zoning potential.
Plan and elevation overlaid.

About R7X Zoning

The R7X zoning designation is used largely in Queens and denotes medium density residential uses designed to conform to the “Quality Housing Program.” The “Quality Housing Program” means to promote buildings that are compatible with the neighborhood scale and character, provide on-site recreation space for its occupants, and also promote security and safety for the residents. The following regulations are designed to achieve these goals.

A. The site must be planted with of a minimum of three-inch caliber street trees every twenty-five feet along the street edge of the lot.
B. The minimum size for any dwelling unit is 400 square feet.
C. Every floor must have a refuse room that is a minimum of twelve square feet with no dimension less than three feet.
D. The buildings must have one washing machine per twenty dwelling units and one dryer per forty units. The laundry room must have a minimum of three unobstructed square feet of standing space and must have an exterior wall with a clear glazed window at least 9.5% of the total floor area of the room in size. It must also include tables or chairs for folding laundry.
E. If a corridor has a minimum of twenty square feet of exterior glazing, 50% of the area of the corridor may be subtracted from the total floor area of the building.
F. The on-site recreation facility must be a minimum of 3.3% of the total building are and be accessible to all residents. An outdoor recreation space must be at least 225 sq. ft. and an indoor recreation space must be at least 300 sq. ft. with a minimum of exterior glazing equal to 9.5% of the total floor area. In either case, no dimension may be less than 15 feet.
G. Safety and security is meant to be achieved by reducing the overall number of units in the building to reduce the occupancy density. Under this provision the building may have a maximum of eleven units per corridor, per floor.


Left. The site. Right. An R7-X Buidling.
Photograph taken from the Pulaski Bridge.


The R7-X Building from the ground.

About Nightclubs

Though the zoning code says rather little about nightclubs specifically, or “Eating and drinking establishments and a capacity of more than 200 persons or establishments of any capacity with dancing,” which fall into Use Group 12, it is clear that they are not permitted within the site’s C2-5 commercial overlay. The C2-5 overlay allows for retail, local services, theaters, public parking garages,

In Conclusion

As an example one can look at the new residential building to the east of the site, across Jackson Avenue that is also zoned R7-X. At eight stories, this building’s bulk does not entirely convince that it respects the context and character of the neighborhood.

Clearly, the real world zoning of the site does not allow for the program of, “A House. A Subway. A Nightclub,” but an understanding of the zoning arguably opens possibilities to work beyond the rules of the code, and at the very least, somewhat reinforces the position to almost completely disregard the zoning in an academic setting. In other words, at least within the context of the project, it is known and understood which zoning requirements the proposal does not follow.

On the other hand, certain ideological principles of the R7-X zoning are certainly applicable to the project, such as the requirement to work within the context and character of the neighborhood, and the requirement to plant street trees, which implies a necessary attitude and intention to considering the relation to the existing streetscape. The encouragement of the use of exterior glazing in areas such as laundry rooms and corridors speaks to the idea that no space in the building should be inconsiderately designed even though they are purely utilitarian spaces, which in turn promotes a greater overall architectural experience. To an extent, these requirements of the Quality Housing Program are a somewhat refreshing change from standard New York building code, which tends to lean towards density and economy, rather than architectural quality and experience.

Last night I finished watching the epically long Andrei Rublev by Andrei Tarkovsky, which I had previously mentioned to Dave for the extremely prevalent use of water throughout the film. However, after having watched the entire film I would highly recommend it and also The Mirror to anyone in the class who have not seen either film. Tarkovsky's style is visceral, sensual, and experiential. All of which are important qualities for our own work, particularly in this studio.

For Delal

"The birth of the clinic" - Michel Foucault
In the Pratt library ... I havn't actually looked at the book itself, but might be worth taking a look at.

Also:
Over the break I read "Architecture and the burdens of Linearity". About half of the book is about gender in architecture...

Refreshing the blog...

This is something I've been meaning to post for a long time...

Something I realized:
If the blog is not refreshing, delete the cookies on your computer.

To do this, (while in Firefox) go to the "tools" pulldown menu, and click on "clear private data" (in Internet explorer go to "options" after pulling down the "tools" menu)

... just be careful, if you do this your browser will lose track of all the sites you've already been too ...

Architectural Synaesthesia - Prof. M. Schaut and Prof. D. Bucsescu

Architectural Synaesthesia - Prof. M. Schaut and Prof. D. Bucsescu Yes a promising start of a new term......

schedules

nice job everyone...
marc

Schedule for Sketch Problem

01.22:
Site plan of Hart Island @ 1/8 scale
Site section including Long Island Sound @ 1/8 scale
Photographs of site possibly from City Island of a ferry
Diagram of existing relations in the site
Begin 1/16 scale site model

01.25:
Clarify performative technique to Diagram programmatic relationships / conceptual joint
Volumetric Program model @ 1/16 scale
Name parts of project, specifying program and ritual
Continue site model

01.29:
Joint Study combining performative technique and programmatic volumes
Plans and Sections of Joint Study @ 1/16 scale

02.01:
Finish Joint Study/Building scheme
Detail study of a specific condition within joined volumes @ ¼ scale

02.05:
For Presentation:
Site plan and sections @ 1/8 scale
Diagram of site relations(with and without intervention)
Joint model
Plans and sections @ 1/16 scale
Detail drawings @ ¼ scale

Charrette Schedule

Monday January 22:

1/16" site model approximately 36" x 60"
Site sections @1/16"
Site analysis with attention to ground plane and orientation

Thursday January 25:

Sketches of idea in plan and section
Rough model

Monday January 29:

Determination of program in qualitative and quantitative terms
Develop model at 1/16" including its intervention in the site

Thursday February 1:

Plans and sections @ 1/16"
-with emphasis on the section given its instrumentality in the project, i.e., the section will be important to developing children (the vertical) as they grow taller and extend away from the ground plane (the horizontal)
Continued development of model at 1/16" or a sectional model at larger scale

Monday February 5:

Full scale wall section(s)
Perspective rendering/sketch

The ‘Public House’ or Pub is made up of three parts: The Tavern, The House* and The Stair that acts to connect. For this two week sketch my goal is to produce a scheme of how these pieces connect and relate (conceptually, programmatically and formally) then focus on the tavern portion, specifically the parts that constitute the bar area, what I see as the crux of the project.

For Monday 1-22

• Site research and site (analysis) drawings
• Finalize performative technique drawings; establish a method of drawing
• Preliminary program diagrams

For Thursday 1-25

• Begin performative technique model; conceptual joint / dream construction
• Begin sketch site model
• Preliminary site intervention drawings @ 1/16

For Monday 1-29

• Continue performative technique model
• Continue site model
• Plans and section through tavern @ 1/16

For Thursday 2-1

• Finalize performative technique model
• Finalize site strategies
• Plans and sections through tavern @ 1/8

For Monday 2-5

• Performative technique drawings and model @ no scale(?)
• Sketch model of site with prelim. proposal
• Program diagram showing site @ 1/16
• Plans and sections of tavern @ 1/8 and ¼
• Prelim. details through bar, including mirror and bottle rack
• Performative diagram of tavern

Architectural Synaesthesia - Prof. M. Schaut and Prof. D. Bucsescu

Schedule

for january 22nd:

site analysis drawings
physics/architecture of instruments studies

for january 25th:

material studies
building as instrument studies

for january 29th:

site model/beginning of building model

until final due date:

building model/drawings

2 Week Sketch Problem

Jan 22-
Complete 1/16" site model of city block enclosing site
Determine specifics of program
Collect photos and previous site documentation
Initial sketches/diagrams of program and intervention of the site

Jan 25-
Develop model and/or drawings of linkage between 3 programs
through the use of water
Continue to diagram/draw and finalize the location of programs and intervention
on the site
As an aside...research hydroponic plants and additional methods of
water treatment and gray water use

Jan 29-
Develop sections and elevations through site
Start to build entire scheme into 1/16" site model

Feb 1-
Continue sections, elevations, and plans
Continue model at 1/16" scale
Start detail model of a connection involving the collection
and transformation of water

Feb 5-
Site model with scheme at 1/16"
Site plan 1/16"
Detail of a connection...scale to be determined
2-3 Elevations
3-4 Short Sections
1-2 Long Sections

schedule/ sketch problem

In an urban context, the mental institution would drop the veil; it would become part of the public realm, and would make a community of its own. There would be a new language of textures, colors, materials, spaces that unfold from one to another.

The understanding of a mental institution has been defined through the term warehouse in history and even now. To deconstruct this notion, having contradictory elements to the program, such as an urban site, and objects as boundaries.( a place to sit, a place for gathering, the bed of the patient, the module of a room etc...), through these interventions, to define new boundaries.

A complex, which de-materializes the notion of the boundary, and scale in order to restore one's identity.

Schedule

MON 22
Site contextual drawings,
Collages that help to define the boundaries already found on the site,
Photographs,
To start the site model at 1/16”=1’-0”

THU 25:
Models at 1/16”, and 1/32” to be started, Bristol board
Through these, defining the scale of the project
Sketches done on the site

MON 29:
Finished site model at 1/16”-1’-0”
Drawings from the models, creating interventions in the interiors in perspective sketches
Building model at 1/16” sectional from these drawings, basswood

Feb 1- Feb 5:
Final Drawings of the sketch problem,
Plans, sections, to be done at 1/16” scale.
An axometric drawing that unfolds from one boundary to another.

Check this out

Technology helps blind people see by using their ‘tongues.’ They literally see images by tasting them.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/18/eveningnews/eyeontech/main2373433.shtml

Mon JAN 22
Define a rough main programmatic elements and square footages
Begin: Site Model at 1/16”
Continue: Site Documentation: photography

Thurs JAN 25
Site Model Completed
Continue: Site Documentation: sectional drawings
Continue and clarify Moments Insertion Diagram within the Site
Begin: Sketching and drawings into the site
Detail diagramming of one of the Moment (probably of Rest)
A conceptual model of this moment will be built within the site. It will address the relationship between it and other Moments as well as in the context of the site. It is an exemplary detail of the itinerary connecting the Nursing Home and the Urban Park.

Mon JAN 29
Continuing the conceptual model
Inserting the Conceptual Model of building into the Site

Thurs FEB 1
Begin sectional drawings and diagrams of conceptual model within site
Drawings at 1/8”

Sketch Problem

Mon 22
1. Refine programmatic frame and Performative techniques
The most important thing for me right now is to refine my programmatic frame, in terms of its purpose, functions, and scale. This untraditional ‘blind’ museum is about the collaboration of senses; one’s sense of reality is strengthened and articulated by this constant interaction. A number of questions are raised in the process of reexamining the typology of a museum and rethinking the activities of viewing in a museum.
- What kind of selected artwork will be exhibited in the museum in order to free ourselves from our dependence to vision and start using other senses our bodies have been privileged with?
- Shouldn’t it be more about the space and surfaces? How will people be encouraged to touch and to hear space in order to experience the selected artwork?
- I previously attempted to interpret a set of painting by Umberto Boccioni and created specific spaces for it, so called ‘reversed cognitive mapping’ of space. Is that a good strategy?
These questions needed to be more or less solved before I can move any further. So, the bottom line is to have a solid, or clearer, programmatic frame and also performative techniques.

2. Make a catalogue
As Anthony suggested in the final review last semester, I need to create diagrams or drawings which categorize and prioritize the senses. I have already started last semester but they need to be clearer. What are the priorities in navigating within unknown spaces, or in darkness? Possibly create a ‘blackout’ drawing, prioritizing the experience, priorities in darkness. We prioritize light in art, what if we use blackness/darkness as the medium.

Thurs 25
Site/ Contextual drawings and documents
Site photographs completed
Site map completed
Site model at 1/16” = 1’-0”
Site sections and elevations at 1/8” = 1’-0”
Start designing/ sketching into the site

Mon 29
Model making
Site model completed
Sketch models of design concept in chipboard
Continue designing, possibly starting final drawings

Thus 1
Final model and drawings in process

Mon 5
Final Outcome
Models
- Final model of design proposal on site at 1/16” = 1’-0”. completed
- (Possibly one small detailed model)
Drawings
- Site map
- Site sections at 1/18” = 1’-0”
- Plan at 1/18” = 1’-0”
- 2 Sections at 1/18” = 1’-0”
- 2 Elevations at 1/18” = 1’-0”
- 2-3 Interior Perspectives

Sketch Schedule

1/22

• Record site onto CAD
• Site model
• Begun site analysis

1/25

• From site analysis, construct force diagram model
• Begun program analysis

1/29

• Based on site and program analysis complete parti model
• Beginnings of plans

2/1

• Further development of parti model
• Plans/Sections
• Begin analysis of certain key moments for further development

2/5

• Completion of all above with complete drawing/model, in larger scale, of key moments/details

schedule

1.22

Substantial completion of initial site model at 1/32 or 1/16

Site plans

Programmatic breakdown in terms of square footage

Begin diagramming relationship between programs

1.25

Choose 1-2 Specific relationships and diagram/model them in more detail, or begin conceptual modeling of building

Finish site model

1.29

Conceptual modeling/drawing of building

Plans and sections begun

2.1

Conceptual modeling of building and/or modeling detail of relationship between programs.

Plans and sections completed

2.5

Work on full scale detail

Prepare for pinup

Site model, plans, sections

Conceptual building models, plans, sections, elevations

Detail model, diagrams of relationship between 2 programs

Full scale detail (?)

2.8

Address main criticisms from pinup

Revisit conceptual models and drawings based on critiques

2.12

Choose next set of relationships between programs to develop in detail

Revisit previously developed relationship at different scales, address critiques on relationship

Schedule; next two weeks

1/22/07
Over the weekend I will construct a site model, which for me will be a sectional model, at 1/8".
Before I jump into that, I will draw a section through the site which will be the location to then build my model, also I will have a site plan. More importantly, I will refine my proposal in terms of program, but also in terms of my theoretical approach.
1/25/07
I will diagram through drawing and model in my site, and then begin sketching out through drawing and model.
1/29/07
I will have drawings; plans/sections of my proposal, most likely at 1/16".
2/1/07
I will produce a detail model from within my construct, and would like it to be full scale, but for production purposes, it may be at a smaller scale, but large enough to feel the body in the space.

schedule.

J.22
a rough sight model and cad drawings
rough concept drawings.
visiting my site.

J.25
diagrams based on the concept and site conditions. for specific gesture.
development the concept drawings

J.29
develop the diagram and study model (1-32 or 1-16)
details

F.1 develop all

F.5
Everything will be completed.

Plans, Sections ,elevations ,Interior Elevations at 1/8"=1’-0”.
and Perspectives.

Models
study model at 1/16(or 32")”=1’-0”. Started.
Final Project Model 1/8”=1’-0”
Detail model at 1/2"=1’-0” or full scale.

MON 22:
(in order of importance. however i will probably jump around: example, after having the site plan, go to detail model assignment to make sure it's well started, then go back to the site model)
SITE. documentation in photos, site plan, start sketch model, probably at 1/16" scale.
DETAIL MODEL. start a sketch model/drawing of joint model assignment (this won't be full scale), i plan on building some sort of example display cabinet for the full scale intervention.
PROGRAM. scale the square footage.

THURS 25:
PROGRAM. think about what specifics program will adhere to; categorization of objects in the flea market may be needed - for example, market in san jose (?) has roads and areas within that lead to a produce district, antique district, clothing district, etc. so people know exactly where to go to find what they seek, while market such as that along highway 127 has objects more scattered in a yard sale, where objects on display along the road are visited based on luck. (an example of something i need to figure out, not that there aren't more things to solve). start sketch model.
DETAIL MODEL. continue drawing(s) of model.
SITE. most probably finishing sketch model.

MON 29:
PROGRAM. have sketch model(s) finished in site.
DETAIL MODEL. start building full-scale model.

THURS 1:
DETAIL MODEL. continue building model.

THURS 5:
will have completed..
SITE. photographs, 1/16" site plan and model. more sitework to be completed as necessary.
PROGRAM. sketch models in site (about 2 is my guess). determined scale, program requirements. some kind of diagram would be good to accomplish by today.
DETAIL MODEL. initial sketchwork, drawing, finished full-scale installation.

January 18, 2007

As of the moment, these are the generative/representational items that I think I will need to have completed by the end of the semester. I'm planning to start most of these items for the sketch problem as diagrams. I have already started some of these last semester and over the break and have stated so if that is the case.

Site/Contextual Drawings – To eventually include project

1. Large Contextual Map. Started.
2. Local Contextual Map. Started.
3. Site Sections and Elevations at 1/8”=1’-0”. 4 minimum, 8 preferred. Started.
4. Site Photographs. Started

Project Drawings
1. Plans at 1/4"=1’-0”. Number to be determined by design.
2. Sections at 1/4"=1’-0”. 4 minimum.
3. Exterior elevations at 1/4"=1’-0”. Three total. One for each exterior face.
4. Interior Elevations at 1/4"=1’-0”. Two minimum if these drawings are not combined with the sections.
5. Perspectives. Four minimum.

Models
1. Contextual model at 1/16”=1’-0”. Started.
2. Final Project Model 1/8”=1’-0” or 1/4"=1’-0”.
3. Detail model at 1/2"=1’-0”. One or Two
4. One full Scale Detail

Other
1. Short films (this is still under consideration).
2. Narratives. Finish the narrative I started last semester and write a new one for the program.


I have roughed out a schedule for both the sketch problem and the rest of the semester. My long-term schedule is highly subject to change because I prefer to work holistically and rather than finalizing an individual assignment and starting the next I prefer to simultaneously work on a number of tasks and develop the project through the play between them. Click the link below to view my schedule. It is in .pdf format.

Semester Schedule of Work.

Schedule until Feb 5

For Mon 22
1. Access substation and take footage with a better camera than last time.
(My dealings with the Newark building department have ended with a letter saying that the topic of my request is “too sensitive” to gain access to, so film will be my primary means of site documentation. I believe this will actually be better because it will be a way of “creating” the site through selected documentation)
2. Visit Grand Central Station and (if I time) a theater
3. Record multiple walks through each building
4. Stitch an imaginary “jointed” itinerary of substation, terminal, theater cinematographically (This can be a work that can be continuously added to, so If I do not have the time to visit both a terminal and a theater I can always insert footage at a later time…)
5. Begin quick sketches of existing site and diagrams of intervention

For Thurs Jan 25
1. Begin sketching plans and sections of existing substation and its relation to site.
2. Begin laying out unraveling circuit drawing of stitched itinerary.
3. The drawing will be used to name spaces and key elements (which I have named spatial pins – for example, the screeching fan I’ve previously described) in order to describe them phenomenologically. This will be a revisiting of my previous method of drawing with a few (hopefully better) changes.
4. Continue diagrams of intervention


For Mon Jan 29
5. Begin sketching and building unraveling circuit model (The model will be a joint much like the first year joint studies. Only one piece will be able to be removed at a time, dictating a specific sequence of moves. Each piece will be a sectional cut through a space along the stitched itinerary (containing intervention) that one will be able to look into as if looking into a perspective sectional drawing. For example, a 3” x 3” x 6” piece may have a rectangular void that is 1” x 1” x 6”, this could be a hallway for instance (more detailed of course). Through the removal of pieces in the unraveling circuit model one is able to “walk” along a selected itinerary/circuit. It will be a sketch model made of chipboard most likely. This will be an investigation into a method of representing a circuit. A later model can make use of nicer (and differing) materials as a way of conveying the sensorial attributes of specific spaces.

For Thurs Feb 1
1. Continue unraveling circuit model

For Mon Feb 5
1. cinematographically stitched itinerary complete
2. unraveling circuit drawing(s) complete
3. unraveling circuit model complete

My question is whether I should invest the time into the joint model now or later. If I do the joint now, I can see more time being spent in building rather than developing the program to the extent that it could be developed in a regular model. I guess I am just wondering what is more important/expected for Feb 5, a solid programmatic technique or a solid program? I’m not saying it will be one or the other, just more emphasis put on one than the other. I guess this is something we can talk about next class though…

for J.T. Lee

jon,

forgive me if you are already familiar with this person, but do you know of Mademoiselle de Scudéry or Madame de Scudery? she's a french author and in her writing, namely Clélie, she maps the stages of a love story. there is a physical map by the title Carte du pays de Tendre (map of the land of tenderness) appearing in the mentioned work, however i came upon it in Lipstick Traces by Greil Marcus on page 169.

i remember you did have a text with the love story dissected or mapped but i wasn't sure if this was the one...hopefully this is new to you.

Architectural Synaesthesia - Prof. M. Schaut and Prof. D. Bucsescu

AL- get your groove on

in an effort to clarify your stance on the nightclub, i found a precedent that you might like to visit. in my apartment building (891 bedford ave), there's jon and my apartment, and then there's one other apartment, and they're getting evicted for not paying rent for two months. so... they're having a three or four day long party with house and trance music and probably trashing the place.

it might be good for you to go over there and cut loose... synesthetically speaking, of course.

Architectural Synaesthesia - Prof. M. Schaut and Prof. D. Bucsescu

book submission
i put my book in the box where we have put all of our previous submissions. i don't know if it was supposed to go somewhere else since it's being reviewed by different professors, but that's where it is for now since it was never mentioned to drop it off anywhere else. there's a separate, labeled folder within our class bin for today's submission.

synesthesia for namtip

there's an episode of the tv show called "the twilight zone" in which doctors have figured out how to give vision to people who have been blind from birth. a formerly blind man who just got the corrective surgery is in a building, several stories above street level, looking out a window, and he sees something on the street that intrigues him. not understanding visual perception of depth, he tries to grab it, from several stories up, and falls out the window to his death.

i've actually never seen it, but it sounds pretty synesthetic

Architectural Synaesthesia - Prof. M. Schaut and Prof. D. Bucsescu: December 2006

It seems to me that we are in agreement on one point: full scale, full scale direct experience of a synaesthetic moment in our projects.
The current discussion is , in a nut shell, a semantic one. regarding the question of what should it be: an actual (what ever that means) "part" of the whole final project,functional/programatic "part" of the whole functional project, a "cube" or "joint". The words "the cube" or the "joint" are the most abstract terms used in the first year of training architecture students to mean intended to mean the "smalest unit of analysis of architectural experience". They differ in emphasis in that the first "the cube" stresses space and the second , the "joint" emphasises the way of construction. Ofcourse both are fluid semantically. The word "joint" cant be a moment of construction, but it also can mean a moment in the program, such as a waiting room, a joint beteween movement by car to train, boat or plane. Any terminal is a joint on a transportation diagram. So, Brian part of program or part of construction or part of a spatial sequence on a journay on a landscape or within a building, a "joint" is a "loint" is a "joint".
As long a it containes a synaesthetic experience, the full scale "art/architectural" instalation that does the job is Ok by me whatever you call it.

next semester

Marc, Dan,

I don't know if you actually have any control at all over this issue, but if you do, with the talk of more full scale details and otherwise large models, can we get a large and generally decent studio space?

Dear Marc and Dan:

For those that didnt pin-up for the final, will there be another pin-up, if so when is the official date?
Or that we can just submit the final book to the committee, if so when is that date?