3.29.2006

at this moment it is 3:31 AM and i just wanted to let everyone know....

I"M GOING TO
R-R-R-O-O-O-O-O-C-C-C-C-C-K-K-K-K-K OUT
THESIS STYLE ON FRIDAY....

i have just laid out all the drawings and what i plan to have for friday...
and i am right on schedule...just PRAY that maya isn't hard to learn...

you have just witnessed an erin breakthrough....you may now continue on with your lives...sorry if i have distrubed....

3.28.2006

i've reached the stress point where i find everything funny and ridiculous...almost a manic state, but for those who have worked with me when i reach this point, you know this is around the time where i become my silliest, goofiest, and most random!!
so therefore i submit this to the general cyber-space court:
"walker says i have aids"


http://media.putfile.com/conan-best-walker-clip-ever


song of the day: the song from pee-wee's big adventure--tequila

3.27.2006


i finally finished 1 of 6 stall configurations...and my prof wants me to go on wednesday instead of friday of this week....holy shit.....let the craziness commence...

this is the prototype of the clothing stall...the clothes/purses/whatever can hang from the slats or stacked on the little counter peice. advertisement and extra storage space is in the upper part.

the volume box and sectional quality of the stall parts are based on a forest stratum of the varying heights of folage and habitation.

i still don't know the material quality, so suggestions are welcome for what the material of the slats should be...something lightweight preferablly

3.23.2006

because reality is too crappy to deal with right now[aka thesis] and i'm more frequently getting the question regarding my post-May 13th plans....i feel like daydreaming about my plans for the future...so again these are day dreams...

**sigh**
-i want to graduate
_TAKE A WEEK OFF!!!
-work for LEED project to give me money to move
-get a job working for Lindy Roy or another progressive firm in the city of boston, nyc, philly, washington dc, chicago or LA
-work off my debt for 3-5 years...getting experience...
-get accepted to bartlett or aa for a one year urban design degree--spending weekends travelling around europe... **sigh**
-coming back to the US and working in some other medium size, theoretical firms
-getting licensed as an architect
-calling up some of my old buddies in architecture to see who is in a place where they are so unhappy with their boss that they want to start a firm with me...

**sigh**

and reality slowly fades back in....

song of the day: "must be dreaming"/frou frou

3.21.2006

drawings from my digital base model: the first two are drawings taken from the urban fabric, noting the instigators of the neighborhoods[economic, political, cultural]. i'm taking this into maya to map the flows between these instigators and how these flows affect the site under the freeway itself.
the third drawing is progressive sections of the freeway[built ditigally] and i'm in the process of examining the spatial configuration of this situation.










i'm now in the process of simultaneously designing the layout of the market and the design of the stalls themselves based both upon the programmatic requirements of the vendors, the flows mapped by maya, and the forest ecosystem concept...














i'm still in the process of figuring out my process of design for the stalls but i'll be sure to include snapshots[line drawings like the ones here or mini-renderings] of the stalls as it comes...


Jesse Reiser from RUR spoke at Tulane last night...and through some discussions with some other architecture students and i wanted to continue the discussion here...

so during this presentation reiser was showing mostly urban schemes and more recent work since the famous[and in some cases infamous] West side convergence and the new york waterfront development competition. in this case he was showing the project from 2004 on the alishan railway through taiwan and china, and then went through some of the classics of sagaponac house, west side, and the waterfront development....but to conclude his presentation he showed a 15 minute film that he had produced dealing with the ideas of rethinking the freeway....







now for the discussion:
in a history class that my friend is currently taking, the professor posed the question of what the impression was of rur's work and it's relevance to the students...many of the students said that they were quite impressed with their work and that they felt that rur was a very forward thinking firm in practice....
my friend and i discussed this and we both agreed...
granted that rur deals mainly with the ideas of infrastructuralism and that the freeway is a definite fundamental aspect of infrastructure of any city, but i would argue this:
their practice as a whole is simply dealing with the utopian ideology of the modernists through the filter of the newest computer technology of our architectural age. i feel that i can state this because even when they talk about the "new material condition" that they are putting forth through the West Side Convergence, they are dealing fundamentally with the truss system of the post-industrial era....their urban planning scheme is not as progressive as the way in which they actually deal with the truss system and they are more than willing to admit this through their writings...stating that they use the truss as a field condition to which almost all other is subservient. referencing ONLY their west side convergence project, what occurs UNDERNEATH the truss field is based on the natural flows of traffic from penn station down to the river...but any series of rigorous diagramming based within the general theme of infrastructure could produce such programmatic results. the other projects that they have produced seem to carry this same general theme....program and much of the architectural significance that could be derived from such a study seems to be usurped by a simple rethinking and reinterpretation of the utopian ideals of the modernists by taking one peice of structural or infrastructural siginificance and reproducing it through the newest technological means...even on the waterfront development and the final[and most recently produced]movie that they are planning to soon post or sell or whatever...the way that they deal with the freeway references DIRECTLY[especially in the case of the movie] Eisenhower's ideal usage of the highway system by american's in the 50's....in each case of rur's work, there is a focused examination of a structural system from the truss system, to bucky fuller's dome, to even the maison domino and the tweaking of these systems through a modern technological and engineering eye, THEN, and ONLY THEN an actual architectural or urban construct from these investigations....

jenn argued that she didn't know if she could respect the fact that they had only been published and had never produced an actual building[until most recently i beleive, because we were shown some construction photos from the alishan railway...but again reiser mentioned that they do construction on this railway all the time....so who actually knows..]
---BUT i WOULD argue against that [to an extent] in that a theoretical and process based practice is in a way progressing the field of architecture through the polemic form/format/program/whatever that they are generating...as in yes it may or may not be built, but by challenging the profession, and the reality of materials to be able to create such architecture IS valid...
had we not challenged the materials of the industrial era the truss system and other new innovations of materials would never have been acheived....should we base our progressive architectural discussion on rethinking those same antiquated systems is something altogether different....
to me there is no relevance in re-reviewing the aspects of modernism ideology beyond it's educational value in the fact that we as designers of the 21rst century have learned, seen and experienced the restrictive and proscribed utopia that modernism FAILED to produce....LET THE GREAT MODERNIST DESIGNERS LIE IN THEIR GRAVES UNDISTURBED!!!

i have said my piece...but i would like feedback from those willing to contribute...
i'm getting a little feklemt...discuss amongst yourselves....modernity...is it a rethinking of the modern or a zeitgeist thinking...

i will include some drawings from my rhino model soon...

3.17.2006

i'm sorry i haven't posted in a while...
i ended up having 3 seperate due dates this week!!

-Monday: thesis pin-up--went pretty well...advisor impressed that i've made progress on my project and will have MUCH more to show for the REVIEW on friday of next week...

-Tuesday: LEED audit meeting--had to have a completed LEED audit for verderber and i almost threw my shoe at him...no sleep can do that to you...

-Thursday: Annotated bibliography/Topic outline/research material due for Ethics in Architecture...not too bad but alot of reading required

So yeah....it's been a really busy week...

my next BIG review is on Friday of Next week and i got my grade back this last week for the last review and made a B-....not good. so i'm focusing and producing and producing some more, and will post progress posts this weekend...

OH AND I ORDERED MY CAP/GOWN/MASTER'S HOOD TODAY!!!! it's soooo close i can almost taste it....may 13th....











Song of the day: "here comes the sun"--nina simone

3.10.2006


during my last review the other students didn't quite understand the need to make concept models....as in what exactly are they informing in the project. so taking comments on the models i rebuilt the concept models to not only fit into each other in the way an ecosystem would but also the dimensions and complexity of the seperated concepts will inform the different stall types and the complexity of each version. the fact that all the concept models fit together speaks to the way that the stalls will be able to grow into each other as the market becomes more crowded with vendors. as i've already explained the meaning behind the concepts i'm going to simply list their corresponding name:


biological legacy--acting as the base of all the other models
seeding--these peices are inserted across all the other models..
biodiversity VS symbiosis--didn't really change all that much...
variable regeneration speeds--this one expanded a bit
dormant rendered activated--this peice is expresses the way that your eye wants to continue the horizontal lines across the base, and yet the lines don't really exist--etched plex lifted of the base...
the combination of all of these models is adaptation--as each idea has to both integrate and compete with the other concepts...and yet they work together to create a whole...

the sizing of the base, and other peices relates directly to the standard sizing of food and retail stalls at flea markets, farmers markets, and the sizing of carts/tables/other retail peices/etc.

i know that the model is not very three dimensional, but had the model really challenged the sectional qualities of the concept, the abiguity of the later design of the market stalls would have possibly been comprimised...[this last little bit is for micheal]

and just for good measure[so that you know i had a good spring break]here is a photo of me having a good time....when the word was still in my vocabulary...
song of the day: zero 7-look up[this band is also on the soundtrack of GardenState]





these are the boards from the first review:
first one shows my concept models and their association with the rebuilding of an ecosystem, the second is a grouping of site photos, the bottom two on that page are recent site photos of the cars that were towed and left there to clear paths through the city, the third board is some of the site analysis(that has actually changed and is now more accurate in my more recent versions) and and last board is the beginnings of the site and stall design.....
i'll have more photos soon!!

3.06.2006

the animation of the urban landscape of my site:


the animation of the smaller scale of site:

3.04.2006

So i am starting back to school on monday from my spring break and i really partied WAY TOO MUCH in the last week so i am attempting to do most of my work by monday....am really really almost scared. i just need to work and stop thinking about how much work i have to do....just produce, produce, produce...

we have a pinup on friday and monday of next week.

give you guys an update on monday--if i make it until then.

song of the day: livin' on a prayer.

3.01.2006

Happy Ash Wednesday....may God forgive us ALL for the sins that we have committed(if that's your bag)--but he DEFINITELY needs to forgive mine...


i have had a C-R-A-Z-Y Mardi Gras, which included:
-having a drunk friend run 6 blocks down the street during a parade b/c she was pissed at her boyfriend
-a guy that i gave my number to almost stalking me in new orleans...but told him that i was getting freaked out then told him and things are cool now...3 days later.
-a friend's friend who came in town from ASU almost got arrested for yelling at police officers
-i danced at an impromtu drum circle on frenchman street in the french quarter--block party in the street--fun, weird, hippy, crazy--ended up being busted up by the cops...again feeling the hippy love...
-drinking from 3pm until 5am and saw the sun rise twice in the last four days...
-i apparently moved through 4 seperate parties(saw 2 parades twice) in one night and ended up passing out at someone's house that i had NO FREAKING CLUE how i got there, but my car and keys were there in the morning...go figure.
-got hit on by a 41 year old man in a bar--creepy...
-my friend's friend KNOWS ALEXIS!!! ALEXIS FLORES @ ASU!!! I COULDN'T BELEIVE IT!!!

we'll just say i got my Gras on for all of you...so you all have to focus on Lent fasting for me...

song of the day: doors-people are strange, when you're a stranger...