Fall Lineup

Classes began last Friday. This quarter I am taking Advanced Topics Studio with Craig Hodgetts, Research Studio with Kivi Sotamaa, Computer Programming, a seminar titled "Soft Monstrosities" by Marcelyn Gow, as well as TA'ing for the Introduction to Computers class. I think the lineup this quarter is one of the strongest yet and will allow me to work between a variety of topics and mediums. The research studio and Soft Monstrosities are heavily interested in a contemporary discourse on affect in architecture, and will develop ideas through both written and graphical means. The studio will focus on implied movement in architecture, working with computer animation software, particle fields, generative scripting as well as physical studies of form and material.
The Advanced Topics Studio has developed in a very hands on manner. Our first project, a large scale light study model, is due this coming Friday. Hopefully this contrast between analog and digital approaches to design will prove productive and not frustrating.
Meanwhile, in the Computer Programming class, I will learning how to write parametric design programs. This quarter presents a very broad spectrum of work and I hope to be able to merge these approaches as the year progresses.

Fall '06 - Purple Line Subway Terminal

The terminal developed through the transformation of a single surface, embedded with program and funicular logic. The upper, exterior surface is walk-able and intended for primary circulation from bluff to beach. Sectionally, the “pocket” space is the interstitial condition created by the sandwiching of two materially dissimilar surface conditions.
The exterior surface is rendered with a uniform consistency and subtle texture. Linear flow is implied through surface line work created by planking/board formed concrete. This tactility is intended to delineate high-usage surfaces in a rugged manner. The intense sunlight will create small, but distinct shadow patterns which will shift throughout the day, creating subtle animation and highlighting the exterior condition.
Much attention was given to construction techniques. Where surface curvature is the most extreme, the surface was divided into two foot sections and individually pre-cast using a standard set of rubber inserts to create the window openings. This created a distinct cross grain to the project which was carried into the interior as well as immediate site for continuity.



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the last weekend of freedom...

The last year of graduate school begins in three days. I am sure the intensity levels will be much higher in previous years, but now that I am out of core classes the direction of my work and research will be much more self driven. This fall quarter I am hoping to be able to focus on smaller scales of detail and perfect the transition between digitally designed work and fabrication. I enjoyed the taste of fabrication which I experienced during the Superglow project, but the experience was lacking in many respects.
Last year's technology seminar was an exercise in futility. Sure, we learned to take a design from the computer screen to the storefront, but the methods to accomplish this were outdated, inefficient, and highly wasteful to non-renewable resources. The money that was spent on plastics, foam, lights and finishes would be enough to build a small house in many parts of this country.
The 3-axis CNC mill is yesterday's toy, and the process of vacuum forming plastic as we know it, came into use in the 1920's. I'm tired of hearing about "cutting edge" CNC fabrication; I am ready to experiment with new techniques and technologies. For example, when are architects going to stop describing their work through biological analogies, and instead actually learn to "grow" a building, if not literally in a biological sense, shouldn't we at least be focusing more energy on efficient means of design, construction and usage? Why do we devote so much effort to writing and speaking about the design of architecture, and so little on the physical ramifications of real design? Why was the full size 3d printer developed by a civil engineer and not an architect? Perhaps architectural education needs to focus less on learning the latest software package, and instead research physics and the biological sciences. Perhaps we need to pull our heads up from the computer screen and look around at the rest of the world. Perhaps innovation doesn't come from talking, but from doing.

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Or maybe not. At any rate, I feel there is still much to be learned, and I am hoping to find some answers this year. This marks the culmination of many years of schooling and I hope to be able to pull together some meaningful research and cap my education off with an innovative project.

I'll leave you with an image from a recent trip to San Fransisco:
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St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, by Pier Luigi Nervi 1971

Oakland Airport and the end of year two

Finally finished up second year, and the Oakland Airport project. For the last half of the quarter we zoomed in to a smaller scale of work, concentrating on only five jetways and a portion of the support core. The initial circulation and program studies were heavily interested in developing a skeletal sort of architecture drawing from examples in nature. The airport's circulation core, and support program such as shopping, dining and restrooms nested within a central spine, branching out to connect to the jetways.
Since the beginning, a series of linework diagrams informed the design process. The plan became a layering of slabs, structure and systems, with each part complementing the next. On a macro scale, the linework flow is linear down the length of the building, but at a detail level the plan starts to work laterally with flows fingering out from spine.
The project was developed primarily through polygon modeling in Maya, with a couple scripts being used to automatically generate the secondary structural system based off surface isoparms. Looking back, it would have been nice to use some of the animation tools a bit more. The process was always initiated through 2D drawings which meant a greater degree of control over the linework and plan, but perhaps animation could have introduced some nice sectional variation and a smoother flow between surfaces.