Load off my mind

I got accepted into graduate school at North Carolina State University today. Unfortunately I don't have the vocabulary to describe how I feel. The closest thing I could find that would be most appropriate and analogous to this was a motivational poster I'm familiar with from my ridiculous travels on the internet.

Concept Poster?

Thesis Rant, open to the public

An excerpt from my letter to Anna:

"...I still, unfortunately, stand by what I said earlier. I feel the professors I have had stressed thinking and designing outside the "box" or the interior. After you left, I made a list of the major projects I've worked on since transferring in as a second year. Of about 10 projects I consider to be of medium or high importance (duration, detail), 4 of them were strictly interiors projects. The rest either were not related to interiors or an interior was only a portion of the project. I also feel like the projects that I have thoroughly enjoyed have included disciplinary areas besides interior design, where we have studied and designed on larger scales then zeroed in and focused on an interior involved in that scheme.

What I'm saying is I don't want to be limited to a shell or a box where I fill it with program and spec out materials and furniture. I would feel ill served as a student of design to be limited to this type of thesis project, a project where one should be allowed to focus on something they are interested in as a designer. Certainly the long list of design professions which the faculty seem to think we can work in once we graduate should apply here too (I'll attach the copy handed out to us in professional practices).

Another item I would like to point out is the mention of us not being architects or architectural students. Interesting questions came to mind after some thought.

1) Is it safe to assume that the faculty assumes the students have an insufficient amount of knowledge of structure, how buildings are built, or how the envelope of a building comes together?

2) What is the purpose of the two materials and methods courses?

3) What does this approach to thesis projects say about the potential lack of technical knowledge the Interior Architecture department is failing to impart on its graduates?

I did not take the above mentioned courses here at UNCG. I have an associates in applied sciences in Architectural Technology from GTCC. We had design projects but they lasted the entire semester and were heavily oriented towards the technical side of building. In my two years of study, I completed several houses and two commercial buildings. Part of the curriculum included studying types of construction and calculating/sizing structural members. Several of my peers went on to get jobs as CAD operators and designers for local architects and engineers (including myself).

The International Building Code with North Carolina amendments, which I became familiar with at my previous school, practically sizes members for you with charts and graphs for wood framed construction. I'd also like to mention that you don't have to be a licensed architect to build a house in North Carolina (under a certain price or size, I can't remember). With that said, if an unlicensed, informally educated North Carolinian can draw up plans for a house with the aid of International Building Code lawfully, we can do it too AND we can do it better.

The only reason I can see for thesis projects being restricted to a shell is that the faculty feel there isn't enough time to complete a project that includes the site, the building, and interior design (along with the programming and analysis).

Would it be too much to ask to let those who wish to pursue other areas, (besides interiors) do so and to create their own sites and shells to a greater extent (more then minor additions for example) then is currently allowed? I'm not talking a a full set of construction documents with the whole shebang (A,M,E,P,S,C) but perhaps at least as much attention to these areas as we've payed in previous studio projects. Does the pursuit of the other areas even have to require technical drawing? Can they be pure design, conceptual manifestations, places we use to catapult into "real" interiors? That situation would be no different then most of the studio projects we've completed thus far.

My final defense of my belief: we were not taught to design in a shell. We were taught to design everything cohesively. The thesis project restriction is at a paradoxical conflict with the pedagogy of the department. Considering this is our capstone experience as seniors, its rather ridiculous to start giving us rules now since we've been able to break and tear them asunder in every other opportunity we've been given.

I don't expect to change anyone's mind. I just wanted to share my perspective on the subject. I am only student among great thinkers and designers, faculty and peers alike. I don't feel as restricted as I did before because I've got ideas that I think can work with the current rules. I'd like to talk about them at some point after I gather my some more information...."

Wordle conceptualization machine

There are several key words important to our project: education, community, culture, transition, and rapid transit. After compiling 500-2000 words of definitions and meanings for each key word, I submitted each "mass" to the Wordle machine as a pathway for "finding the key words within the key words."

Rapid Transit

Culture
Transition
Education
Community

21 soul

The sonorously iniquity of silence

Among anonymous minds; speckled

Fundamentalists darken through decay and

Hastened by the catatonia, reversing

The embarkment of progress, they are lured

By the grandeur of salvation, through

Righteous vengeances and embellished promise.



This is a condemnation of ways past, an anti-eulogy

For faces elapsed, destructive voids of a never

Ending cycle of violence and pain, anti-creation

For anti-planetary gain, though knowledge prevails

Through the proclamation and cry of original transgression

A reckoning of truth begotten in solstice sails

And stars’ gone supernovae, showered by the collisions of energy flares.



And through this seizure of vivacity, a black hole

In humanity, it radiates hate and erupts ever so silently

But the non-tolerance befits uncertainty, and its loyalty scathes

The conscious of so many who believe the nightmare and vision

Of millions who would conceive such a travesty in the name of man

The imagination of the unimaginable figure, an advancement posturing

His given name, like fools to the meat grinder, it is all the same.

Material Study

Rested and Recharged

View of the sun setting from on top of Breezy Point (beach house!).

Picture of the water tower at Holden Beach with the sun setting.

The water tower, visible from 2 miles away.

Kaylin, my girlfriend, being stalked by a giant bird.

Sunset from the bridge (inner coastal water way).

Turkey vultures grubbing on a baby shark.

Family of sandpipers.

Sandpipers grubbing on crustacean goodness.

A giant hornet attacking my cranberry juice.

Feedback and possibilities

The presentation went as I expected, disastrous. No, haha, I'm kidding. The context plans and diagrams we paraded were strong, at least I thought. It was obvious where we fell short (better site plan) and the last minute addition of the perspectives. A stronger site diagram would have solidified our ideas further, giving the guest crits more of a perspective on where everything was happening. The feedback on the scale and ridiculousness of the gesture in perspective was expected. It was massive, practically engulfing Lee street, the site, Oakland avenue, and part of campus. I think we went too far showing those perspectives even if the purpose was to exaggerate the gesture visually while having something to compare it to (sorry physical plant and Curry education, your time is over!). It reminded me of a godzilla sized armadillo-esque snake. I'll leave you with that description, the actual drawing is even more ludicrous.

The words "celebration" came out of my mouth during the presentation and as soon as I said them I instantly regretted it. How can you celebrate the railroad, the beginning of Greensboro as a city, by placing them underground and erecting a gargantuan monstrosity in its place that has no relationship with the context surrounding it? The guest crits were quick to point this out.  I knew right then and there that we should bring those tracks out of the ground, raise them up high, and put their prominence on display for all to see. That is a path I hope to pursue when we continue this project after spring break. Another helpful note mentioned was the series of experiences that we should think about that might occur for a person approaching or entering the building. 

Here are two train station projects I found perusing the Perkins & Will website [ 1  2 ]

After reading the book, What is OMA?, I came across a project they did in Lille (Euralille). It was a good read for anyone interested in Rem Koolhaas, OMA, and AMO.

Atlanta

First off, I want to thank everyone: peers, professors, and design professionals. It was quite an experience, one that changed my perspective on the city of Atlanta. Originally, I'd had no interest or desire in ever working or living in the area. After seeing what some of the firms have to offer and the types of projects they work on, I feel myself gravitating a bit more toward a positive view of the area, with a little help from the night life downtown (midtown? I don't know) has to offer (we went to Opera first night). 

Urban design and development was one of many studios in several of the firms we visited, which is a tremendous draw for me. Unfortunately, I feel I would be hard pressed to get a job in that type of studio considering my current background and the way the economy is. I've tried in Greensboro, at the city planning department, to no avail. I couldn't even get an unpaid position as a volunteer and this was before the economy took a nose dive. Maybe I'll try HUD next. Or perhaps I'll get more respect and attention with a professional graduate degree...

Anyway, back to Atlanta. The "downtown" that our hotel was in (hilton) was made up of parking decks and hotels. there was a single strip of restaurants and a mall hidden inside an office building. The MARTA, was a few blocks away as were the aquarium and coca-cola museum. On a search for high priced coffee we found two Starbucks locations nearby, one being  inside the Marriot hotel across from us which had recently been renovated by TVSA (I think we should have shelled out the extra cash to stay at that place, it was pretty amazing). Eric Kaguyatan took the two hotel photos.

The first thing I noticed from my hotel window on the 22nd floor of the Hilton was that there were what seemed to be multiple CBD's (central business district, you know, the place where all the high rises are) in Atlanta. We seemed to be inside one and then there were others off in the distance.
This was further enforced by our itinerary which had us travel to other parts of the city several miles away from each other, by car. I didn't like this at all. It seemed we were miles away from concentrated public activity with no reasonable public transportation access to these areas [Downtown, Midtown, and Buckhead from the map handed to me by the concierge]...ie. we had to drive everywhere. We took the MARTA to Buckhead the last night we were there, making several stops along the way to investigate what was out there. The city was dead, no one was walking around, and there were few (closed) if any concentrated areas of activity (restaurants, night life, etc). Even when we got to Buckhead, it reminded me of a series of suburban strip malls to some extent. 

We did eat at the Rockbottom Brewery that night, which was a blast as anyone could tell from the pictures taken.

I don't think I've ever been caught on camera laughing so hard before.

Food.

Drinks.

I went to Philadelphia in early January this year for the first time. The place was vibrant with life and activity, during all times of the day. The contrasting experiences prompted me to look up population statistics on Atlanta and Philadelphia for comparison. I found that Atlanta had a city population of a little over 500,000 while Philadelphia had a population over 1.5 million. Looking at the metro areas that were included with these cities the population numbers are nearly identical: ATL at 5.29 million (9th largest in the country) and Philly at 5.82 million (5th largest). For comparative purposes, the Piedmont Triad (Greensboro-Winston Salem-High Point) is 30th on the list at 1.5 million. 

It appears as if the two cities developed in completely different ways: Atlanta being much more spread out where as Philadelphia was much more concentrated. I can even attest to this with my own personal experiences. You can walk to most places in Philadelphia (New York and Boston even, but not from personal experience) if you live in the city. Atlanta seems built around the automobile, as do the city's of Charlotte (NC) and Raleigh (NC). While writing this I've noticed that there is a clear distinction between the six cities mentioned. The three cities where you can walk and have access to good public transportation are in the Northeast United States while the three based on driving a car are in the Southeast United States. Funny how that goes.

Its probably unfair to compare these cities but it has raised some questions in my mind.

DF7A26 - thoughts, process, dynamic

A difficult task, we have been assigned. 

Our preliminary goals have been established after several discussions involving the [10x10] week long exercise in which we were all required to submit 10 "big ideas" in both two dimensional and three dimensional forms. Our group, DF7A26, coalesced in light of the fact that we all were interested in some form of bridge mechanism, a formal design that would connect lee street and the community with UNCG's campus with our Lee street site and the rail road tracks harboring the focal point of transition. 

The goals grew out of a diagramming charette initiated early on in assignment 2.1. A time limit of about an hour was given to complete as many context and goal oriented diagrams as possible. Afterwards we each discussed our ideas, sometimes sketching over each other's diagrams. There were three that stood out in my mind. 

1) The context of Greensboro's existing rail roads

2) The bridge/transition between community and education

3) The bridge/transition from ground level experiences to higher levels offering specific views

After achieving these and several others, we moved on to a conceptual sketching charette. As a group we each spent 5 minutes sketching out what we thought the building should look/feel like. After that time period we passed our drawings to the person on our right for another 15 minute sketching exercise. This continued until everyone had sketched on everyone else's initial idea. The results were fruitful. It was an enjoyable experience, as the previous goal charette had been. After the deliberation and discussion of what everyone thought the drawings represented, a decision was made on one that everyone could agree on. I feel this drawing's ability to be flexible visually was perhaps the strongest pull for most of the group. The sketch could be interpreted in plan, section, elevation, and maybe even in perspective to some extent.

Afterwards, we turned to the charette process again, this time in model form. Inspired by the above mentioned concept sketch, as a group we spent an hour constructing  parts that could be interchanged. The process was similar to the drawing exercise. Everyone had a chance to construct a model of the building out of the group of parts, taking pictures of things that sparked our minds and satisfied ideas in varying degrees. Several areas were discussed: exterior formal design, general floor plate design and placement, and the massing of programmatic areas. The creations were complex, at least in the sense that it would be difficult to translate them as a group in the limited amount of time available for this part of the project. Unfortunately, this continually challenged us throughout the rest of the project.

Moving on from the physical world and into the virtual, DF7A26 initiated another charette. Each of the group members chose a picture from the model charette and continued the modeling process in sketch-up. The collaboration process was amazing. Proving to be effective once again, we mixed and matched our 3-D models in the virtual world, establishing a gestural form we felt represented our goals.
Around this gesture we were able to complete several more diagrams including views and multiple iterations of general program placement in plan and section. With the Atlanta trip looming over us, we still have to complete a site diagram and model. Not much we can do except get done what we can in the time we have.