Marc and Dan,

I have your books too. What should we do with them?

Marc,

I have your books

finale

Moment of Reflection

Moment of reflection

please..... trust that the quality is much better that this.... had to compress for blogger. (cant wait till web 3.0)



"the abyss, the mirage" by ahmed mohtaseb from ahmed on Vimeo.

feast yer eyes

Anouncement.

Mat, Michael and Derick will present on Saturday.
Their projects will, nevrtheless, be pinned up in room HHS111 on Friday morning together with everyone else.

All of you should be ready to pin up your work on Thursday night !!!

The review will start on time at 10 AM

Plan Scale

this is not the finished plan, but just to show how much context gets in

a scale of 1/32"=1'-0"

after discussion with Dan, I am doing the building plans in 1/32" scale. (with 1/16 or 1/8 sections) and detail section and plan of a part.

question is,

isn't it too much to have 3 plans that all have this much context? (even if the context would be light lines)

renderings

Treatment Unit Plan

Overnight Unit Plan

Section

Dear All:

We will not be in the studio this afternoon. Instead we will be in on Saturday from 1PM until 5 PM. Feel free to contact us with any individual questions, by email or the blog.

Dan and Mark

Request

Marc,
I hate to be a hassle but is there any way that you could stop into studio before Thursday? I can meet at anytime. I just need to show some detailing in Max that I have changed according to our conversation. I am asking only because it will greatly determine the outcome of the physical model which is obviously more difficult to change. I want to have the final model finished by Thursday so the sooner the better.

Thanks,

Matt

Final

I'm interested in coming to the final review. Can you fill me in on the date and time so that I can schedule time off of work. Thanks.

Dan and Marc,

Sorry I won't be able to make to class today. I am working on my plans, sections and 3d model.

I am posting an updated version of a plan for one of the units. I will post more later. It would be very helpful if I could get some feedback.

Thank You

a bit of advice at “two weeks to go”...................

Dear All:

This is a bit of advice at “two weeks to go”...................

This is prompted by seeing where most of you are at this point.

I know that your are still designing !!! Design is never finished! The task is to take what you have and communicate it the best you can. A slightly improved design but not communicated well is of no use!!!!

The wise thing to do is to know when to stop.

Some of you are still changing the overall scheme (but not may) and some developing a part of your total design and developing in greater architectonic detail, both in thde computer in the computer.


That is important to do right now so that you have time to extract interior
(exterior) renderings of your project.

Such renderings to be of high quality and not done in the last moment need time. So no more design changes

to what you have now in the computer, no matter how possibly good the new ideas. Focus on presenting well what you have, not what might have, and run the risk of presenting it badly. (I can think of one or two exceptions)

You must give time to preparing your final presentation. The time is now!!!

The time for major changes to your design IS OVER.

It would be unwise and self destructive to change the basics of your scheme now. Your attention should be

shifted to the strategic task of making a good overall presentation of what you already have. That is to present a “thesis” in all its aspects: including your précis(short statement of your overall goals) research/film, synaestesia, project and quality of verbal and visual presentation.



You all must eave time to pull this together. As you hearde said at mid review,
“just a nice design of a building without a well argued and presented thesis question. And research back up will not do”

You all have to stop design now.(with the exception of minor improvements
that do not affect your time frame). That is it.

Any comments from us or others now must be about your overall
research and thesis as it applies to the project as it is now. Anything
that slows you down or redirects your attention from thinking about
developing what you have and the shape of your final presentation
not helpful at this point.

Please consult the list of requirements for the final presentation.
We (Marc aand I) should be able to help with those questions.


Good luck to all….Dan

skin/structure

these are images shown to Dan today.

I want to keep the idea of 50% porosity of skin(void=solid). it almost looks opaque during the day and becomes more transparent at night(need to work on night renders)

I made a big mistake by making every profile of the tubes 4" wide. I will change this to 3 or 2".

the depth will be revised to 8" from what is currently 12" in images. I am also considering lightening the light shaft structure by making the void space doubled.

we will be in studeio this evening

Dear All:

Mark and I will be in the studio this evening. I will get there at six and Mark at seven.
Any of you in need of urgent contact with us please be there if you can.

Let us know how many of you can make it. It would be good to speak to as many of you as possible.

Dan

Whitney

Is this the entry you spoke of? I am working on the details of the catwalk penetration and I am trying to conceptually incorporate the transition from the lightweight tensile catwalk condition into thick massive dungeon threshold of stone (the black box). Also to be incorporated into this joint detail will be the reminence of the past operation of taking the building apart. That is the digging and underpinning. It is Saturday. If I don't see you today I will post a couple of different schemes for some feedback.

Thanks,

Matt

Saturday in studio

I will be in the studio on Saturday from 2 PM to 5 PM.

rendering

attempt at a rendering trying to show a little of the city in my mirror.

Marc and Dan I know this is not perfect yet, but I would appreciate getting your opinion and advice on it.

Also I changed my plan and started reconsidering some of the issues we discussed on monday I will post it later

No class Thursday 4/3

Been consulting with the grapevine and there is no Design class on Thursday April 3rd. (Today)

I won't make it to class today

i've been sick all night; already visited a doctor yesterday but seems like its getting worse.
I would like to see the doctor again today and stay home and try to cure myself before it gets
worse, since its not a good time for that to happen.
I know its better to communicate with you in person, but I will use the blog for progress.

I am leaving out the idea of staggering the tube members and instead making it a continuous piece with lateral bracing. the staggered joints works better in the physical model, but thinking of the material as steel tubes, I think its too much. I will post the progress later today or tomorrow.

items for final

Items for final presentartion (required) M Th M Th M Th M Th F Sa
old film new film 31-Mar 3-Apr 7-Apr 10-Apr 14-Apr 17-Apr 21-Apr 24-Apr 25-Apr 26-Apr

A1. Brief Thesis Statement
A1.1. Program and Site

A2Brief film synaesthesia half min fall film half
min new sketch
A3. Breief word statement of
Synasthesia : arch+5 senses

B1. (Urban)General Site Plan scale TBA
B2. Arch'l Plans and Sections #+ Scale TBA
B3. Detail large model and drwgs
B4. Architectural Models

Note: All of the above to be
discussed with your studio critics
ASAP

C
The "poetics" of your project
Synaesthisia/Arch'l Experience
C Journey through your project
FILM w/sound , renderings, sketches, etc.
Computer interior views
Written description of intendede arch'l experience

Final Review

three weeks left..

Dear All:

Please review the attached list of items required of all of you for the final review. This is a complete list and we will not look kindly on any items missing. You should all have many of these items from last research term. It takes a little thinking and effort to bring back that STAFF into your project as it is today. We will be happy to help and guide how that should be done.Your final presentation MUST cover a whole year research and final project !!!!!!!

For now, we assume you are all defining and drawing/modeling your latest architectural scheme. That is it.
With three weeks left there is no time to keep changing. From here on you should shift your attention to the final presentation and what is it you will have for it. That is the only clear strategy at this point. Any minor redesign must take place as you work on your final presentation. That must start NOW and the attached schedule should help you focus!!!!! I will try to upload that schedule on thr blog. If I am not able to blease printed out from your dmail box.

Because Thursday has been claimed by the school, I will be in the studio on W from 2-5 PM for any of you who would like a cit. Feel free to communicate with me about any and all of this.

no class for me today. WOOHOO

I'm not going to make it to class today. I spoke with Dan on Wednesday, and will speak with him again when he comes this weekend.

The Movement

to clarify your questions from monday: program consists of a market for the Guatemalan soccer league occupying 15 vendors serving authentic food; also space for seating or viewing events of the soccer game and surrounding park. the rendering to the left leaves the idea of units and addresses the canopy as market and seating, incorporating landscaping from the ground to the roof.

The center is the black box that is the scripted performance. Its relationship to the audience is the threshold that I am linking to the ballasts on the façade.

Exterior Courtyard leading from Path train platform approaching theater from 15' below grade.

The catwalks will be the means of approaching the performance area for grade level entry.
For now the floor on grade level outside of the black box (ie. The space inside the existing building ((ie. Ie. The audience dwelling area)) is static and the investigation will deal with the quality of spaces created from the combinations of the four moving walls on the black box.

The floor on the inside of the black box is the only vertical movement thus far and is controlled by the solid ballast. Hatches link wall movement to control ballasts in diagram

notes for liz

-you have a strong thesis and strong tectonic relation to thesis
-you're rushing into too complex of a building
-diagrams of building should relate to circulation = shopping
-you've got the idea of maze and idea of worms eye view vs god's eye view. you need both to stop from feeling claustrophobic
-sectional diagrams
-use of maze is important
-set up clear diagram of qualities of space and what you shop for there
-map out and build systematically - create clarity
-optimal shopping+optimal experience - then layout tectonics for that
-hoe does material, space, and light relate or help experience in relation to your thesis
-diagrams of organization and experience
-focus on syhestretic experience
-knowing where you are vs. being lost in the experience
-may create smaller chopping experience and add on according to the tectonics
-maybe posibility of moving walls to create larger space at different times, ex. fish come in on monday so expand walls
-idea of module
-barcelona, mercato: acts as a supermarket & outdoor eating area
-bringing farmers market into supermarket: think of different scales of the two
-contrast of freshness

Midterm notes--Joyce

What is the relationship to the city?
missing images from film
the city is always present in film
need to include city in architecture
site could be anywhere need to be more specific
it is not architecture yet
good ideas of reflection
need to be more incorporated into architecture
clear idea of circulation
why choose this site
the way you are presenting it, it could be anywhere else but not nyc
make more relationship of breakaway from city
use reflection to remind that city is still there

For next monday:
I think the main issues from that were brought up was that my plans were still not considered architecture and that I was not taking advantage of the location of the site.
I think I need to rework on my plans and see how they could come together more clearly as well as trying to incorporate the city in the reflections, maybe rotating some of the wall units.
I will try a few different options

Notes for Ahmed

-what is your process/technique? what drives our project?
-relationship of building to landscape
-why is there this extreme split?
-your spli is tradition-splitting program
-think about distribution in term of Smithson's displacements
-Think about how you move between those relationships to your landscape
-parking is interesting
-nice quotes, talk about certain ideas
-how does the religious and research mix?
-you've stopped challenging those issues
see something ambitious to build rather than traditional
-architecture elements that cant easily be named
-forget about acropolis
-structure of water is good
-you have to erase what you know
-a process of discovering
-set up entry so beautifully
-museum of a book
-you have to struggle with the issue
-just the adjacency of the 2 is not enough
1-issue: how you're addressing site
2:program
-personal+ implementation
-you can channel program through material practice
-think landscape strategies that become spatial
-how can you dwell within the site
-Cut into the land
-Think of synesthesia: walls sweating because of water.

Thanks to Leslie

midterm notes - kj

where's the relationship between elderly and daycare? - physically
the language used in children's spaces and elderly are the same - what distinguishes them?
used conventional architecture - should be creating new architecture
acts to link the spaces doesn't link them
detail model - poetic - tectonically and socially
how did you lose the curiosity - experience?
communities of people cannot experience unpredictability of architecture
in detail - furniture and aperture specifically relate to child - through tectonics of structure the 2 interact - middle space in architecture - everything should spawn from it

transition from detail to large scale is difficult but you need to take a position that carries through to both scales - must carry through
have a multiplicity of courtyards at multiple scales

at all times - retain connection between 2 groups - these walls connect the 2 in all places
circulation system must be integrated in program
think about accessibility of surrounding elements
what about the view of the water - the horizon?
take this into consideration in design

more important how building behaves rather than how it looks


to do for monday: model work in detail - spawning from wall detail as the source - will post again when the specificity is realized

thanks to kwangmi and derek for the notes

Notes and moving forward

Go back to thesis:
Consider a stronger declaration, something like a manifesto.
In terms of housing:
Consider issues of rituals, and the home as a kind of apparatus?
Consider cleanliness associated with the home and its relation to the site, which does not have this feature.
Also go to Identity, as in “Nostalghia” and the registration of the aspects of the home.
Smithson: question of the importance of concrete and the issue of scale. eg. spiral jetti
Zoom out and look at the urban scale: Rust at this scale...Analogous relationships of chemical and urban processes. Think about corrosive and renewal.
Create a datum as a basis of measure for ritual as well as physical degradation
consider making a kind of “periodic table of elements” on the site as well as the new materials instituted and their interactions.

For next monday: I will continue to work on perspective/collage drawings, work on proper plans and sections, and try to go back to my research and readings to incorporate the ideas of my thesis back into the architecture, which seemed to be a major critique of my project as it now stands.
I will also focus specifically on the housing portion of the program, developing the rituals and relationships of these rituals to materials and material degradation. This will be done mostly through perspectives and sketches for now.

Midterm Notes

-Destill movement, they thought they wouldn't need art
-art and sensation collapse in their view - think Mondrian
-very beautiful but don't want it to be conceptually banal
struggling with what your thesis is
-there isn't enough challenge to struggle with
purpose of a thesis problem is to create a question an then solving it
-beautiful composition
-I'd like to see you investigate this further
-pollute the program a bit
-the good news is you've got a good building - carefully worded out
but what now?
-challenge you to make a thesis - not just about solving a problem - how do you turn your building into a question
-perhaps focus on your details which are so compelling - perhaps your windows - start with that
-thick planes vs. thin planes
-micro then becomes catalysts
-larger organizational quality
-how do you constitute the section?
-how do you create interstitial voids - nest the spaces?
-what's missing is terminology, i'm sure you have it, just tell us what it is
-Scarpa - he installed an architecture in an existing building
-what are you saying about light?
-layering that you've built up the aperture in the frame - showing what your view is
-art, window, the experience of it
-have to be really strategic with references
-have a position on something
-the site: how is this going to function in Soho? - shopping mall area?
-how does the architecture respond to the environment that you're in?

notes

You don't want it to seem gratuitous
metaphor dimension and literal
piano-structural, trying to carry over these structural techniques
relationship between weight and counterweight
form and function are one in a piano
don't have this yet
parking garage and see what types of spaces are being made
what might make certain boundaries in the theater?
Would it leave the box and enter the city?
Start simple. Your counterweights used to stand out, now just elevators
Look more into the way its prescribed
look at how a barn door opens and closes
fail to organize thoughts around the intentional aspects of your theater
Design the interior. Then, the relationship between interior/exterior will be clear. Then you can show the interior (backstage) as the exterior
Van Doesburg and Mondrian - Cartesian plane
About infinity X,Y,Z axis
Regulate changing pattern
Multipurpose music space in NY-large planes, slices and rotate on tracks- allow you to explore the interior. What will constitute the interior condition?


I think I have currently exhausted the possibilities of the sliding planes on the four walls of the box. I will now choose a movement that suits the desired conditions of the first theater, then the two adjacent theaters. There will be an inner box that separates the performance from the audience and the outer box which separates the theater from the rest of the city. The sliding will break both boundaries. I am currently drawing three plans: the sub grade, grade, and super grade. I will then do another saveas on the max model and 3D model these spaces to investigate the conditions of these two boundaries being broken through their linked movement to the ballasts. I can have the three plans posted by this Friday while I simultaneously 3D model the system granted that I can choose the correct dimensional system that will provide the desired conditions. Sections will be a matter of production.

mid term note, kim

need to take position, difference between dead and disappearing things.
what makes things that are in the museum more important than other disappearing thing.
what does memory have to do with history.
study texture of the building, concrete, wood, steel, water... etc.
try to relate bridge with building.
and why dumbo?

mid notes

Abandon landscape ideas.
Focus on market strategy, more aggressive structure enclosure.
Go back to research on park market.
Roof ideas how to occupy, edge of fields.
Change program to "viewing platforms"
Break work: park scheme, building schemes

derik mid-review notes

idea of runway is good,
not integrated across the board. light shafts are too discreet.
there are number of different devices that you can use.
great program- commes des garcon; ateliers on each floors.
in terms of the sesorial as a fashion house-might change sensorial qualities.
labor and production. the connection between the two.
the show is the production itself.
good program.
how can you learn from a small .... to the larger scale.
great animation of veil system.
light wells as the mannequin.
scale issue.
do light study to figure out size of it.
skin should be same filtering system also structure.
renderings nice but lights wells dont help it.
mixing of program floor to floor.

midterm review notes

Real program or written? Did you research size, typology...etc
What is the critical point of view? You sprinkled your program on the site -What is the logic of trapsing across
Landscape- what is driving your decisions? Where are the children coming from?
Think about the tone of existing orphanages
Think about transitions - the experience for the child- scale of the child
Wind catcher- beautiful - upside down light shaft
you see how it is played out- maybe more scales in terms of site
You need more complicated problem that wind catcher- think about ideas of identity - how to deal with that
Develop ground systems- all the boundaries you set up within project- how do they find themselves/ identify themselves
then negotiate all these forms of identity within the walls and borders of the campus - ex: classroom
Think about the interaction with adults- fundraising hall - want to see the children
Relationship of project from the outside- if there's a wall- they are protected but feel rejected closed in.
Alhambra- levels of courtyards - control privacy
technically - make strategic cuts with model making

plotting?

just so everyone knows, plotters are down in higgens, so print earlier in the EDS lab

WE ARE STARTING AT 1PM ON THURSDAY

Dear ALL:

WE ARE STARTING AT 1PM ON THURSDAY. Please be pinned up/ready/loaded at 12:30.

Please obtain data projector if you are showing your 2 minutes film!!!!!!

We are in: HHS 2nd Fl Hall on Thursday. The line up is as Mark posted on the blog.

All student must attend. I will be there at 12 Noon to see you pin up!!!!!! You may use the adjacent room

Plans and sections

Could you give me some feedback before I send them to print?
Thank You

plans

here is a revised plan, any comments before i build the model?

revised chart of perception boundaries

i revised the forte-piano chart a little.

i hope the layout itself implies perception boudaries as well.

Just to Clarify

We are presenting with Oron and Titus?

midterm review schedule

March 10, Monday
1. Alanna
2. Mike
3. Matt
4. KJ
5. Dionysius
6. Liz

March 13, Thursday
1. Joyce
2. Ahmed
3. Noorah
4. Kwan Mi
5. Derik
6. Robin
7. Leslie

To all who need grades for the research term:

Dear All who need grades for the research term:

First, we owe you an apology for having allowed this task to slip. You will get grades on Monday.
On my part, allow me to expand a bit, not as an excuse, but as a narrative of why I, personally let it slip. In January, Mark and I reviewed your late submissions at length. in our personal time. We carefully read the booklets. That task takes me a few hours.

At the end of that process we called Juliet and gave the go ahead for the late students to enroll for the Spring. After spending considerable time carefully reviewing you work, and giving you the right to register for the spring, I felt that those students had passed the research course. The grade was a last minor administrative step.

I, on my part, apologize again for this slippage. That being said all of you should not worry too much about the grade. It will reflect the quality of your work and as well the lateness of its submission. Just focus on doing better this semester. As I said, we. will take care of it on Monday. Dan

modified structure

after the discussion yesterday, I decided that the structure system HAS to change.

I know I need to develop further, but I have to take that step back, because I agree with

many of the comments: in particular, the structure looking like it is randomly positioned,

not having much relation to the slab and the adjacent structure. ( and needs to be worked out "gracefully")

and to resolve this, my decision is to change the system first.

first, I am not using the earlier parametric, because the curve-look and the relation to the

slabs are not being controlled. ( plus I like the idea more that the light shaft should not have curves, although it may have angles)

Now, after the slab heights are positioned. the square structure will rotate 90 degrees from slab to the next slab. and lateral bracing will be place between the 90 degree change. the lateral bracing will gradually show the square rotating. although all the lines are straight, at an oblique view the structure gets slender in the middle. if the ceiling height is taller, this middle part gets more slender.

the model is not in scale, but I will have few wide ones(that can actually bring in light) and leave much of others at a size that the shafts dont become too dominant.

the parameters in this case, would be the square holes, and position. ( I believe this will resolve the slab relation better)

comments asap would be great.

i'd also like to know wheather I'm presenting on monday or on thursday with the rest of the 'bad students.'

grades please

I still have an incomplete on my transcript. This may become an issue for graduation. please comment.

Suspension

Happy Theater Chaps from the Sunnyday Realestate album

theres a chance i wont make it to class on monday. if so, it will be at 5 PM or later. Will either Dan or Marc be in studio on tuesday/wednesday?

schedule

This is what is on the table as of late. I have a skeletal plan, and two sections completed. I printed them and will be sketching on them to determine the actor-to-audience-to-written performance relationship. I will also be sketch builing with the model to test these relationships.

1. Paint through materials as the front and the back have different registries recording evidence of audience
2. Underpinning strategy negotiating the existing to the new construction. models or drawings
3. Create two words for subversive thesis building function
4. Movement model to test and create conditions of 5 theater spaces beginning with perception of moving walls.
5. Blog response text
6. Max site model
7. Perspective drawing
8. Draw 1-1/2” = 1’-0” detail model and extend into site
9. Thesis statement
10. Operational breakdown performance of historical mysteries
11. Where is the large space?
12. Spectators attached seats to ballasts
13. Views through to city/train tracks
14. Sound written for each space
15. Material performance written for each space
16. Dressing areas
17. Operable wall locations
18. Walls to draw onto
19. Operational breakdown performance of historical mysteries (will now be geared towards "Oedipus Rex")
20. Modulate façade ballasts to determine the variable that can be put into them (built for people or water or both etc.)
21. Diagram of sounds on the site at different speeds
22. Design for Illusions
23. Decide type of theater. Epic?
24. Design for the conditions of the epic theater of “Oedipus Rex” by Sophocles


Sequence

1. Sensation – achieved through the skin
2. Parallel – realization of discontent / disconnect through imitation
3. Disassembly – subversion of reality by displaying the process of creating its illusion
4. Creation – display to inhabitants of their influence on the environment towards the end of their visit

For tommorrow I am hoping to have the diagram of spatial relationships completed. Produce the techtonic in the sketch model tomorrow in class. I am really trying to think of one thing at a time.

study model 2-2

Pin-up notes

In each one- blank space between the pier and the street.
Do you have enough program for the site?
Is it a retreat center or a daily thing?
accept that park and icorporate it into your site model
Where are your most private spaces?
perhaps farthest away fromt he city
A retreat center could incorporate more program - think monastery many people congregate at certain times but for the most part they re alone, in prayer.
May be objects in a park at a scale like this .
You can cut into the pier to reveal, capture interest in the reflective walls
separate bodies of the water .
If landscape and water are so far part maybe unpleasant
Create privacy that you're looking for like the way there are slippages- most successful
the kind of episodes, the hierachy of the pieces- strongest point
putting it on a pedestal- people looking out and people looking in
Meditation- Walking not only sitting
you could turn it into an interesting part of the meditation ritual
Occupy hte end of the pier
DO you bring cars here?
How long do the people have to walk to get to the end?

Notes for Michael Toste

"I think that one of my main hold-ups in moving my program forward is the lack of a concrete program precedent: I have mentioned that housing may be appropriate for my site"

Michael:

Yes, it is the specific program you are in need of as it was said at your review.. You have mentioned housing since last semester. So it is not new. In considering housing you are off in your thinking that a precededent is the first thing you need (of course that would be helpful at some point). Here are the thinking steps you should undertake now.

1. research housing typology in general (look in Times Savers. Modern Housing , I will bring you that book today) and other sources.

2. Identify the exact site location, check how big the areais, establish the site conditions and the possible footprint of a housing structure and a floor parti.

3. On that foot print as a floor plate, sketch an apartment layout that is broadly possible. Several alternatives on yellow tarcing paper.

3. Check the zonning for the area and establish how high can you build, how many floors.

4. Than you are in a position to roughly establish how many and how big the apartments might be (roughly). If is is for artists they may be lofts...etc.

5. Now that you have a quuatified program you can begin designing.

6. Only NOW a specific precedent suitable to your projects can be selected. Those you mention are OK. The question is what a precedent is used for and how.

I will be in school this afternoon. I can see you briefly and give you the book.
I hope that this detailed guidence will help you catch up. The steps above should not take more that 2 hours. Than you sketch on yelloow tracing paper a typycal florr plate and a diagramatic section through the building.

On Program

I think that one of my main hold-ups in moving my program forward is the lack of a concrete program precedent: I have mentioned that housing may be appropriate for my site as well as theoretically consistent with my thesis. As this is the case, I am was thinking that I would use the program specifications of the Unite d'habitation as a guide in my project, while investigating and incorporating some of the principles of the metabolist housing strategy and something like architgram's plug-in city.
Modularity and rhythm, in particular have been key components in my thesis.
The other side of this will be a research center of sorts, to study the environment surrounding the canal, I would like to use Kahn's research facilities as precedent for that.

I think this will be helpful to quickly develop a tentative site and program strategy for my project. I would appreciate any feedback on the appropriateness of these precedents, and any other suggestions regarding this.

Pin up notes

How important are the earthworks? If they are a large part - start having relationships with one another - build the model and cut into
No sensitivity to the differences between two edges - you just put two bars with no differentiation
Need more sensitivity to landscape
Come to grips with scale of project
The two bars are too institutional
Maybe the orphanage is in park - then must control where they go
Find middle ground between detail and urban design - zoom in for partis
Think about level of water- where is the water table- help you make decisions
Start setting up boundaries - work in layers

would like to clarify

after talking to both Dan, Marc,
you told me to finish with the 1/64 scale.
the reason I started another 1/32 is to think tectonics first to organize the parti.
and 1/64 seems too small to work through..
and you told me to resolve the plaza, entrance first and the rest will come after,
but what I understand of the 1/64 scale is working the overall mass ( ofcourse with parti)
my question is not very clear, I know, but any replies would be appreciated.
(I don't feel that I am stuck; I just want to be more clear about what the process is)

Schedule

I am going to try to organize and stay on top of this as much as possible. This " to do" list is straight from my personal notebook (notebook 73.)

1. Archiculture blog response text.

I began writing a response to a blog posting on the Archiculture site that developed into a more concise thesis statement.

2. Watch review.

Go over notes and watch video of crit. I did this once already last week but I want to see it again to readdress questions after I produce.

3. Theater anatomy drawing series.

I have one finished and rendered as of now. These are drawings of the Diderot theater machines that I am abstracting through a series of drawings as a means to organize and qualify spaces. I will model these and experiment in the working site model.

4. Site model. This will be finished by Thursday's class. It will consist of space to experiment with various techniques of modeling on the site itself as well as the unchanged surrounding context.

I am also thinking of a list of work that I would like to have for the final but I feel that it may be a bit premature for that.,

Tuesday

Marc I can be in studio tomorrow around noon/early afternoon- is that a good time to meet for my desk crit with you?

for matt

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/theater/10ishe.html?8dpc

Notes for Matt

Matt:
This is a follow up on our talk!

I hope you are breaking through the difficulties of finding Diderot's theater mechanisms and the draewings of the existing building you chose.

In the meantime I, from memory, will try here to name some of the stage set mechanisms as I remamber them. Keep in mind that these are narratives from the renaissance so they are old but still applicabale with new technology. As I said to you, you should get some books from Pratt library about theater stage set design and architecture. Please do that. You can not invent it all by your self....I also advised you to attack the problem from many fronts at once to avoid tunnel vission and get stuck!!!

Here is what I remember:

Each mechanism was dedicated to a specific kind of theatrical illusion desired at that time.

1. A sudden appearance/disappearance ...trap door from bellow or swinging ropes from above/ many
entrance points
2. The movement of the cosmic bodies-the celestial stars- rotary motion like a clock
3. Optical illusions (also check Ames demonstrations)
4. Durrer's (the painter) grid....a framing system a frame within a frame with a grid for compositional use
5. Gravity...a plum line/whights as you have them in your model....
6. A wavy motion symbolizing the sea or drunken sailors etc...they had a mechanism for that
7. Lighting spotlight for zooming in an on character in the play...

All of these are, to my mind part of your "PROGRAM" for the front/back "stage" of your theater.

Some of these I have used in a first year project a long time ago. It is on Youtube. Take a look at it
None of this research would prevent you to reinvent the theater as an experience, as you said you want to do.

This is a short film I did with first year students in the early nineties ( I coordinated First Year from 1987-1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWZiwtB6yZM

archigram anyone ?

So I was fortunate to have gone to the Archigram's Dennis Crompton lecture yesterday afternoon. I'd like to share some of my thoughts.

For starters, I really enjoyed it! I did not know very much about ArchiGram. The little information I did know was not enough to create a solid, unforgettable image.

Dennis began the lecture with the story of his childhood in Blackpool England. Here he described part of the context of Archigram. He talked about being an ordinary boy who lived in a seemingly ordinary world. As a teenager who did not leave home much, there was not a need to question the obvious. It just was!

Like a photograph that becomes exposed to light, Blackpool's fantastic image became clear to him. The ordinary suddenly became extraordinary.

Instant city is a project that questions our tendencies to passively accept the obvious. It is absurd simply because it is unfamiliar. It is idealistic, unrealistic, and completely science fiction; all this true, it is entertaining. The proposal's temporary fantasy makes apparent Blackpool and the world's permanent one.

just curious how others have reacted?

review notes

from Liz

-in social sciences wasnt allowed to ask people questions, but not it allows subject matters to be asked questions
-scale figures
-spiritua vs. scientific
-must articulate through certain orders
-scientific method always the same
-what is science in your architecture, is it the organization of coloums, balloon framing? 16" o.c. the way you change the framing is spiritual
-Mcdonalds vs. french restuaruant. which is valued more? one is a product of standarization the other isnt
-Science and religion are not separate realms, do they need a different space?
-level change, study structure of regular building, procession, threshold light
-deal with change of ritual, turn into louvers (muli functional space?)
think about light from the top, grazing down.

Notes from Review - Leslie

-you start with the object and then lighting it?
-your investigation is how do you light the art
-maybe choose and existing building and then inserting art work into it
-light helps you focus on objects
-haven't pushed the window idea far enough yet
-you could make the whole facade a window
-write a story of the senses through the project
-photographs really expresive of what you're trying to do
-cast shado on whee you walk
-know where you are on the earth and which way North is
-all these notions could help to organize
-concerned your thesis is tied to convention preconceived notions
-a "hearing aid" example:
create an apparatis to control light and amplify it
-create a new architecture to create a light aid to create/highlight inspiring art
-analyse the uses/types of light and diagram them
-get technical - get series of tools
-discover conditions
-start with quality of light

Derik - notes from review

interaction between sensibilities

-let go of the literal trembling of an object
-uncertain memory and how you remember things. engage time and emotions and forms.
-sequence of events is more difficuilt because it is not predictable
-control points, relation of assembly of fixed form + control points
-assembly of a fixed form. navigation of one thru space control points.
-if you move walls around people won't remeber and keep shopping - changing light conditions.
, don't remeber, lose their mind
-background and foreground can be a dead end.
-pull people off street, shopping is strong memory- this is what you want
-how do you play these ideas for the memory?
ex, cant' find register, shop longer
-look at comparison artificial

Noorah's notes

You were talking very artistically and philosophically - Smithson piece - reflection
Memory of that reflection is more monumental than stone
Refugee is dealing with reflection
Build model of site - look to studies - philosophically- and take from that
First gesture: steel beam
Second gesture: roof (protection from rain and from sun)
Weather- the architecture will be challenged and formed from your previous research
Does the capturing of wind have anything to do with that the orphans are feeling?
How are you treating your structure - towards the elements or feelings
Does wind catcher make sound?
Talk about origins of your ideas
Emotional - materials are too rigid and stiff for emotional quality of the program
Wind catcher - so many images and emotions come to mind
interpretations of ideas
Doing something "post modern" taking pieces from elsewhere and putting them together - your project won't look like an orphanage then
Tie in specifics of orphanage and background - describe program of the space
Orphanage should be part of thesis statement - very important
More sensorial - wind catching - catching the voices of the children
'kirkider' (sp?) sculptor/painter - rigid yet flexible as if modeling with clay
Maybe using clay and molding would be good for you
Keep playing - turn wind catcher on side to become passageway in plan
** Environment for kids - Playful and Fun
continuation and underside of wind catcher
Sand could be your metaphor for your project (mountain one day - gone the next)
Also children love sand

liz's notes

-profound thesis. 1st one about expression.
-the maze, to look into, gives ultimate power. to be inside, gives excitement.
-human conditions, 1st is my value, 2nd is artifacts, reevaluate how I question my work.
-maybe supermarket needs a new defination. I am playing with what's already there.
-material not enough for synaesthetic.
-quality, content is the fruit. now you relate to the object. wont mind whole building being mesh. how does your body engage it? to look down?
-piece bottom up
-think if point structure (column) goes with the idea of the maze, or line structure (load bearing walls)

If you are standing outside a bakery with the smell of fresh bread in the air

Dear Liz:

While reading the NYT today I came upon this article and the study it refers to, and thought of your project and the discussion we had last Thursday.Check it out!

This story has implications for a topic that came up last semmester regarding the desire present in several of your booklets proposing the posibility of architectural experience as a means to improve human moral behavior. Do you all remember that discussion? Let's talk about it briefly on Monday.



from: New York Times Feb 3, 2008 The Book Review
"Morality Studies- As scientists take to explaining right or wrong, Kwame Anthony Appiah examines what this means for philosophy."

review of book: "Experiments in Ethics" by Kwame Anthony Appiah


"Many philosophers, for example , argue that doing good, and living the good life, consists of possesing virtues like honesty and kindness, and that a good society should aspire to cultivate these virtues in its citizens. But a large body of evidence suggests that these enduring character traits, to the extent that they even exist, may not play much of a role in moral action. Instead, our behavior is determined to a surprising extent by the situation.

Appiah points out that we are usually not conscious that this is happening. If you are standing outside a bakery with the smell of fresh bread in the air, one study showed, you are morer likely to help a stranger than if you are standing outside a "neutral-smelling dry good store". ......"This has implications for how we think of moral responsibility...."

Notes from review

dematerializing the glass
triple height- but can't get to the outside
hinges upon wellbeing- peace & harmony
social, physical, image, harmony-- of self
What is wellbeing, mental healing, spiritual, physical
etched surfaces, this creates that to qualify that.
it worked or not?
work on the scratched surface- interesting,
take the model outside and film it
experience with it.
how can it relate to wellbeing?
What is on the other side of the mirror?

new schedule

here is my new schedule, however it will undergo another revision once i have a clearer idea of waht needs to be completed for the rest of the semester. I'm changing my metaphor to science is religion for the purpose of clarity. also i will be revising my thesis book to include new research and filter the research that no longer applies to my project. please check my schedule and comment on the items that are in it. thank you
-Ahmed

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Notes from the review

Sketch Problem: A Synaesthetic Construction


Message from Mark and Dan

All of you should finish the models and drawings. Publish on the blog notes
from the review.
ALL of you should yet again focus on the synaesthetic qualities implied in your model. Write a short paragraph outlining that and publish on the blog.
On Monday we will discuss next steps in your projects.

These are some notes I took from the review.

Toste:
Draw section and plan identifying existing conditions, new construction aand
Datums, that is a reference system indicating canal water level changes, and surface and rain water collection. Finish the model!


Leslie:
Research lighting technology systematically. Types of light (wide beam/narrow
Spot, diffuses etc. and develop a typology of light sourses and qualities of light)
See Dan’s notes on the blog re theater lighting aimed at Mat and Ahmed)

Robin
Develop a park planning strategy (a narrative ) of your program (market and sport viewing). Make a topographical site plan aand cut sections. Do that in words and site plan sketches as well as describe and vary the section and roof shape of your unit model as contingent on what happens front and back.

Liz:
Energize the design by closely considering the bodily experience of picking food, smelling keeping them wet , cool and bright (lighting), (synaesthetic qualities)
THAT GOES FOR EVERYONE !!!!
Lex suggested Kapro “The blurring of Boundaries.

Ahmed
Dan (the guest criticJ “the different architectural qualities of the two spaces are not sufficiently articulated”, that is not complex and different enough. DEVELOP typology of sensorial and spatial qualities “they could be the same spase that changes at certain times.”


Matt:
Develop a schematic plan and section for the front/back façade of the theater.
Develop a diagrammatic plan of an entry sequence into the theater through the
“back stage fly tower mechanism”. Research such a mechanism in theater literature. Conceptually consider the relationship between outside and inside,
the narrative of the play and the façade.

Alanna:
Test the model for actual sound transmission- Sound is air waves-
Dan the (visiting critic) “consider conceptually transmission of all
Wave phenomena –sound, light etc.”

Noorah:
Refocus on the sensorial qualities (synaestesia) of your architecture
particularly sound (in the wind catcher), water and temperature (hot, cool)
Develop the program and site landscaping strategy next.


KJ.
Balance attention to the seniors use of the space. Develop narrative of how the two sides of the wall and return to an emphasis of shadow. Phogtograpg the model with that in mind.

Joyce
Photograph and video the model to achieve reflections like your film. Scratch
the back wall.

Dionysus
Write a short and clear program story. Develop both the living space and the collection space. Develop systematic typology of ways of collecting types of objects- develop a list of kinds of objects.

from LEX

Dear All:

This is from Lex who is thinking of you all:

Dan
another for your synesthesia class?
particularly thinking of the girl who's doing the Chelsea waterfront originating with a reflected facade, all students whom focus on perception, reflections, shadow and light.
anyhow.....
pleased to tell, one of your students is in my drawing class
Lex

e-Announcement


See what you See, 2007
C-print, Diasec (silicon mounted between Plexiglas and Reynobond)
180 x 235 cm. // Ed. 6

Ola Kolehmainen
until 1st March 2008


Galería Senda
Consell de cent, 337 . 08007 Barcelona - Spain
Tel.: +34 (0)93 . 4876759
Fax: +34 (0)93 . 4882199
info@galeriasenda.com
www.galeriasenda.com
Tue-Sat 10:30am - 2pm + 4:30 - 8:30pm


Golden Wall (No. 3)
C-print, Diasec (silicon mounted between Plexiglas and Reynobond)
203 x 257 cm., Ed. 6
158 x 200 cm., Ed. 3

Architecture is the subject matter of Ola Kolehmainen's photographs; however, these are not photographs that document architecture. The building is a source of inspiration. The artist is fascinated by the building's structural compositions, focusing on their details and sequences. This type of architecture abandons the building's three-dimensional quality and transforms it into an abstract object. As well, the facades show reflections, providing a metaphoric meaning that questions the notion of presence and absence. Kolehmainen's photographs are always done on a large scale, allowing them to move beyond their visible parameters, to the point where the eye can no longer see and the imagination takes over.


Composition of Collected Reflections
C-print, Diasec (silicon mounted between Plexiglas and Reynobond)
203 x 263 cm., Ed. 6
145 x 185 cm., Ed. 3

Ola Kolehmainen, one of the most prominent artists of the Helsinki School," graduated in 1999 from the University of Art and Design in Helsinki (TaiK). His work centers on the exploration of contemporary architecture. Concentrating on the basic structure of architectural façades and interiors, and the strict geometrical order of serial forms, Kolehmainen creates nearly abstract images whose aesthetics are rooted in Minimalism. Disturbing details, called "visual noise" by the photographer, are eliminated, yet there always appear to be elements that undermine the concept of a clear, orderly structure, such as tree branches covering a section of a façade or mirrored façades reflecting a fragmented view of the world outside.


White, Pink, Yellow and Green
C-print, Diasec (silicon mounted between Plexiglas and Reynobond)
203 x 256 cm. // Ed. 6

Model to Build

here are sketches of the model I will build.
(Marc, I was assuming that you left, but if you did come back, I'm sorry I wasn't there at the moment. I had to step out for a while)

the sketch is what I propose as "Light Shafts" The Shafts would be a shaft of structural glass with mesh in the inside. much is quite the same (in terms of the use of the mesh) as the model I had today except that the glass is structural and forms 4 sides to make a "room". these shafts-rooms according to size would become storage area, rest area for workers, or maybe even a dressing room if the glass works like the bathrooms in Bar 89 ( I don't think there is a name for the system.
the "Light Shelfs" will slide in/out to control the light into the shaft. (similar to the study model)

I will make 2 shafts to hold the roof(ceiling) and will make the floor,ceiling big enough so that the lit
shafts could be contrast with the rest of the shadowed space.

I will study and put more detail in the connections. (floor to glass to ceiling)

saana...sejima (annie leibovitz)

saana on bowery

mockbee yancy chapel for ahmed

fay jones chapel for ahmed

http://www.thorncrown.com/architecture.htm#