so its not architecture....

recycled toy furniture video

This is the video from the recycled toy furniture project that I worked on this past summer at Greg Lynn's office. The project was exhibited at the Venice Biennale and won the Golden Lion award for best installation.
While the actual toys used in this project were not recycled, the idea is for them to be in the future. At the office we have digitized versions of several different plastic toys, which can allow us to custom make any piece of furniture from our library of toys. Since each toy is individually cut via robotic arm, the complexity of the overall composition is almost irrelevant. As an idea I think this is quite provocative and forward thinking, but it is still in the early stages of implementation.


Greg Lynn Form

Santa Monica Parking Garages

Since completing school in June, there isn't much work that I am able to post on this blog. Most of my professional work at the moment is still in schematic design and somewhat secret for the time being. I did stumble across the following post on Curbed LA Blog for the Santa Monica Parking Garages renovation that I worked on while at Pugh Scarpa. One of the garages is a renovation to Frank Gehry's original Santa Monica Place parking garage from I believe 1967. Didn't double check the date on that, but I seem to remember reading that at one time.
I did most of the design and presentation work on the garages and were the last project I worked on prior to leaving P+S.
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2008/08/santa_monica_approves_pugh_scarpa_parking_garage_designs.php

Hernesaari Yacht Club Final Images

Following are images from the Sotamaa research studio final review as well as project descriptions:

The research studio, titled “Spasms, Convulsion, Eruptions”, explored sensations of movement in architecture at both the scale of a building as well as at the scale of the city. These sensations of movement were first explored through still images, carefully analyzed for visual traits which conveyed movement. A gradient of light, blurry colors, contorting linework or ripples in a surface are all visual signs of physical movement. When translated to an architectural scale, these sensations move architecture from a purely functional endeavor, but instead provoke an emotional response from the viewer and directly engage them in the work. This studio focused on the role which aesthetics play in design and how to integrate aesthetics with functional concerns.

Architectural examples of movement based design, most notably the work of Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Aero Saarinen, and Antoni Gaudi were studied for the experience they produce. These architects, without being directly metaphorical in their approach, managed to create work which moves beyond the practicalities of program and context and engage the user at an emotional level. At a smaller scale, we also researched automobile design and specifically the use of lines, creases, and folds as a graphical means conveying emotion in design. Car designers are able to highly specifically create designs which are “aggressive”, “cute”, or “rugged”. This kind of design integrates aestheticism and functionalism without becoming superfluous.

This sensibility reinterprets the baroque into an architecture conveyed with a high level of detail articulation, but without superfluous formalism. The Hernesaari urban proposal is treated holistically, not as a collection of individual elements, but as a series of untraceable design moves working in concert to produce overall sensations. Just as in product or automotive design, lines serve both an aesthetic and functional purpose. The site linework both develops structure and program as well as aesthetically ties together the vertical accumulations to the horizontal landmass.

Each tower is programmed using ratios of residential, office, entertainment, retail, essential commercial and hotel which are applied to each tower individually based on contextual information, parking, transportation infrastructure, views and proximity to boat berths. After the program ratio is determined, a scripted process creates the inner core to each tower. This process offsets the tower surface to create an inner skin. The offset distance varies depending on the program mixture. The residential spaces receive a low offset, so that they sit very close to the outer surface, while entertainment and commercial spaces get offset farther inwards, creating a situation where the public programs sit within the poche space of the wall section.

HERNESAARI YACHT CLUB

The yacht club is located at the narrowest point of the site, and is situated almost entirely underwater. The yacht club questions the relationship between the marina and the city. While the use of the water is public, yacht clubs traditionally are highly exclusive environments which attempt to isolate themselves from the rest of the city. In our proposal, this isolation comes through the use of water as a material.