Firm Tours

Friday we got to sign up for tours of different architecture firms around the city instead of having to sit through a lot more talking during orientation (totally boring.)  I chose to go to Gensler and H+F.

During my undergrad I had always admired Gensler and wanted so badly to work there.  I never had the opportunity and after working at a similarly ranked large internationally acclaimed firm and hating it, I figured Gensler would be the same and pushed it off my radar a bit.  Yesterday all of my ideals and reasons for wanting to work at Gensler were confirmed.  Gensler is awesome.  That is all you need to know, oh and that they are moving downtown in November and that is really awesome!

H+F is the firm headed by Ming Fung, SCI-Arc's Academic Director and her husband Craig Hodgetts.  Ming wasn't able to be there so Craig gave us the tour.  He is adorable and sweet and compelling.  Basically I love him!  They have a lot of great looking models and are very interesting in pre-fab and got there start in exhibition design.  In fact, he showed us some plans of an upcoming exhibit at LACMA that I cannot wait to go to!  It's going to be fabulous!

i heart farmers markets

Reasons:

1)  Free samples without feeling bad about not making a purchase.  After all, the guy who is shouting "free samples" obviously does not care about making every sale.

2)  Produce that is local, in season, and generally pesticide free.

3)  Hugemongous heirloom tomatoes.

3.1)  Heirloom everything.

4)  Pluots (in the summer, unfortunately the pluot season has almost passed)

5)  Fresh goat cheese.

6)  French crepes, Mexican tamales, and Afghan bolani all in one place!

7)  Year round in LA!!!

8)  Making yummy food like this mushroom ragout with crispy polenta for dinner with mostly farmers market items.

What do you love about the farmers market?

this is what we do for fun

Napoleon really loves going for bike rides!

M+M catch up.

Friday was our last day of M+M summer studio.  I haven't written for the last two weeks for two reasons.  The first week was because I absolutely hated our project and had no reason to talk about it.  This week was because  it was far too intense and I have only been home long enough to sleep for a few hours and shower each night.

Two weeks ago we had to use this extremely toxic blue foam to create an entrance, exit, and point of stasis.  This blue foam was to become our negative space when we poured plaster into the boxes. From there we mapped out a part of the negative space that we found most interesting with museum board and this became the basis for a model that we put together with two other people that were chosen to be our group members to make the 1.5" scale model of our 6' pavilion.  That's when we get to this week.

The pavilion was a bitch, but a great project for our final project.  I have never made a full scale structure before and I am really happy that I had the opportunity to do that.  Everyone's turned out awesome.  The show was great and I got to come home and sleep after, that's really all that matters.  Now we have about 2 weeks of break until orientation and the fall semester begins.  I think it's safe to say everyone who did M+M who is entering the M.Arch 1 program is more than thrilled that it's over and we can begin the real studio, but I still say the whole process was really fun and I'm glad to be back in the studio environment.

wine label design

I dig this.  I almost always buy my wine based on the label design.  Side note: brought this to a party and it wasn't opened while I was there, so I have no idea how it tastes.  But it's organic, so I can only assume it is delish.

sequence that shit.

SCI-Arc Making + Meaning week 3?  Somebody help me out, I'm losing count.

Here you go Alexis, I hope I make you proud.  Please don't yell at us all tomorrow about our terrible photographs.  At least pretend that you like them.  :)

I only joke, M+M is going well, some days are crazy and others I stroll in at 10:30 am after swimming laps and running errands.  Today we had to map a 9"x9"x9" section of our 12 cube model with sticks.  I did not like doing that, but I am happy with the end result.  Tomorrow we begin cutting blue foam to fill the negative space which will become the space in our plaster 1.5" scale model pavilion.  Exciting!

Also, I sort of loved doing the above photograph sequencing.  I also love the "levels" and "action" tools in photoshop.  How have I used photoshop for 6 years and not known about these tools?  I love the chiaroscuro effect that my models evoke too.  Watch out Carivaggio!

3 cubes, 9 cubes, up to 12 cubes, now cut it away!!

Cubes ruled my life the for the past 5 days.  Friday afternoon we were given the assignment to make a piece by intersecting 9 cubes.  My concept was to focus on creating a great interior space and to rotate the cubes intentionally so that they would appear to radiate in a gradual manner.  I feel this also helped to emphasize my movement from the exterior space into the interior.  What do you think?

Gehry and Disney. Updated interior design required.

Saturday we had a field trip to the Disney Concert Hall which is a place I have already visited due to my love affair with Frank Gehry (see earlier post).  It was totally worth it though to get an actual interior tour and to learn things I didn't know.  Like the acoustics and how amazing they are and the collaboration Gehry had with acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota.  I also learned that there is such a thing as an acoustician.  Wow, you can really be anything you want to be can't you?  What is the market like for acoustician's anyway?

Ok, so the Concert Hall architecture is amazing, as are the creative ways the graphics are displayed throughout the space, not taking away from the architecture, but really adding something special to it.  My favorite was the felt wall with silver letters embedded in it. Felt is so vogue right now, and this was completed 7 years ago, so forward thinking.

One thing I must say, the only negative but a rather large one:  The carpet and textile on the chairs.  Hideous.  I don't care if it was for Mrs. Disney and that Gehry designed it by abstracting her two favorite flowers.  The colors are awful and distract from the beauty of the hall around it.  I get that when there is a concert, people fill the seats and one probably wouldn't notice the terrible bright floral pattern adorning the chairs throughout the space, but I will notice.  The pattern would not be so bad if it were in a more neutral color, preferably tone on tone.  I suggest a reupholstery party up in the concert hall.  But until then, I will definitely be attending a show to check out those millions of dollars of acoustics up close and personal.

A yummy summer meal

This is very late, but I came across this picture I took of our 4th of July dinner.  It was amazing!  Grilled Heirloom Tomato Caprese, Grilled Corn on the Cob, Grilled Watermelon, and a burger for Danny (salad and extra caprese for me!)

Volume: wood block, bandsaws, museum board cubes...

I have been slightly bored the past few days, which was why I didn't blog about anything.  But today we did an axonometric during drawing time (I LOVE axons!) and in the afternoon we really started playing with cubes.  I'm a nerd, so I think these things are really fun!

the axon was done in pencil, I laid this on top of it so I could better understand how the planes intersect

The other days we cut different curves into three faces of a 4.5" wood cube with a bandsaw, in turn making many pieces of different shapes and sizes, then we were to shear and rotate the pieces to expand it to fit it better into a 9"x9" cube.  Everyone's looks pretty cool, but I thought the process was sort of boring, and I get frightened watching some people operate the bandsaw.  If I saw a finger slice open or fly off, I'm sure I would pass out!

The drawing is fun because you really have to think in 3D and it's very systematic, which is nice sometimes.  The cubes were monotonous at first because we only connected them orthogonally.  Today however, we began rotating the cubes against one another and the result was three cubes intersecting each other at all different angles.  Doing this is not as easy as it may look.  It takes a lot of skill and craftsmanship, but somehow I like it.

1st Critique

This afternoon we had our first critique of our work we completed last week.  I was not expecting this to happen and I am usually quite good at explaining my work, but I would say that I had an epic fail of explaining the procedure of creating my models.  The instructors were not so bad to me but did make me feel like two of my three models need a lot of work, though afterwards I realized the key things I should have said which would have helped my work tremendously.  Oh well, it's over now.  I will work on my models a little more to make them more dense in some areas, though my overall process was to create surfaces and lines which visually interact with one another and to create special spaces within these elements.

I froze up or something.  I think I felt a bit intimidated by the size of the group and the fact that I'd never spoke to the two instructors before.  I think I could have explained it quite clearly to Alexis.  Where were you when I needed you the most, Alexis!?!  :)

Field Trip #1 - Watt's Tower

Saturdays we have field trips, which ensures that we are working every day.  This week they sent us into South Central with a map that was improperly marked, which I feel was a sort of initiation.  We made it there alive, to Watts where these reinforced concrete towers stand.  They are covered in tiles and glass from soda bottles.  This little (4'11") Italian man named Simon Rodia built these in his yard over 33 years.  Now that is dedication!  I think that is partially why they sent us to Watts Towers, to show that a piece can take so much dedication that it is never really complete.  Also it is clearly a stick figure, so that probably had something to do with the choice to go there.  Or maybe they wanted to see how many of us made it back alive from South Central.  In all seriousness, this is a great thing for this neighborhood.  The people have respect for the art and there is a museum with work from a local artist who lives across the street.  This particular neighborhood is a great example why the arts are important.  Keep the arts alive!

My third model and the other two all together.  Do they look like they were created with the same hand?  They are supposed to, so hopefully!

Planes and Intersections

Ah the surfaces model.  It begins in a much more difficult way than that of the sticks, but it becomes something so much more amazing and fun.  At least that was my experience today.

I utilized my map very well on this one and really tried to emphasize the parallelogram without being redundant or obvious.  In using the 30 and 45 degree angles from my map, a few really great spaces began to take shape.  I'm assuming that is kind of the point of this exercise, to bend and intersect the planes using the map and hopefully something interesting emerges.  In my case, I tend to look for those beautiful interiors such as this one:

This view reminds me of Yoshio Taniguchi's design of the MOMA.  I have a thing for museums. There is just something so delicate about creating a space that should be the background to the art, but really it becomes more than just a complement to the art.  Steven Holl did the same on the addition to the Nelson Atkins in Kansas City which is a tie for my favorite museum design.

Oh, and I added more than just 5-10 sticks.  It's finished now, I refuse to add anything else because I'm afraid it's on the verge of becoming redundant and there is nothing that I hate more than a design that is so obvious it slaps you in the face.

Eric Owen Moss spoke to us today.  He sort of laid out the idea behind SCI-Arc, I guess in case anyone didn't already know.  I knew, which is why I chose to apply.  Basically SCI-Arc is not a school of ideas in itself, but the idea that everyone should experiment and strive for something new, that has never been done before.  There should be no labels on the work that comes out of SCI-Arc, no systems or rules of particular styles are to be followed, but instead should be questioned.  I liked his example that at SCI-Arc, we wish to get into the cracks that are inherent in the differing styles of architecture and from there see what hasn't been seen.  The idea in itself is incredibly abstract and I believe that is the point.  Basically it goes back to my philosophy for life, which is to question everything.  I think me and this school are going to work out just fine.

Sticks are lines and lines are points, let the model building begin.

Today we began constructing a three dimensional representation of our drawing by using the plexi-glass box as a map.  We used wooden posts (actually bamboo kebab skewers) and manipulated them in such a way as to create a relationship between the three sides and our overall drawing. The piece was then taken out of the plexi-box and more sticks were added to complete a small cubed piece that represents something much larger.

My stick model is not complete, but very close.  I am thinking of only allowing myself 5-10 more sticks, carefully placed to complete this piece before I move on to using planes.  I'm attempting to create spaces that hold significance and utilize the parallelogram shape that my drawing developed into.  Ok, maybe there is a lot more work to do.  Perhaps tomorrow night is my late night in the studio.  We shall see how it goes.

P.S. Check out SCI-Arc's pictures of M+M studio on facebook.  I am in a few of them, working away :)

Mayline vs. T-Square, Mechanical Pencil vs. Lead Holder

Today was the second day of Making + Meaning, a summer studio at SCI-Arc (Southern California Institute of Architecture.)  The studio is comprised of 80 students, half of which are beginning the M.Arch 1 program this fall (that's me!) and the other half are people wishing to gain more knowledge of architecture to:  A) decide if they want to pursue architecture as a career or B) build their portfolios and resumes for grad school applications for next year.

Alexis Rochas is the director and he has a passion for drafting tools.  While I agree with most of his obsession (confession: I've always been obsessed with office supplies) I HATE the fact that we had to have a Mayline on the first day of class and that they cost $220 at the supply store.  Also, why don't they make 48" T-Squares?  Such B.S. really.  The architecture supply market has a monopoly on this stuff.  And they know in today's digital age that you are only going to use that thing for like one semester an then it's gonzo.  Obviously I have an issue with the price of the Mayline, but I admit that it is pretty nice thus far.  I'm highly skilled at a T-Square, but this is nice for a change.  Also given the fact that I absolutely love hand drafting and find it to be a lost art form, I have been quite content in my little studio space the past few days.

Our first drawing was based on a grid system we created the first day with 20 horizontal and 30 vertical lines and dots at their intersections.  Today we had to experiment using other marks such as arcs, curves, dots, lines, etc... This created many intersections and I feel that the important issue at hand is how to address these intersections.  Originally I used points radiating outward in one area, arcs radiating outward and getting more intense on the exterior in another area and then the 30 and 45 degree angles which later became my overall theme.  The original idea, which has now became a background to the angles, was for these 4 different marks to merge in areas of high density and the question of collaboration versus conflict.  I likened the page to a representation of an urban landscape with high density downtown spreading out and converging into the more suburban areas which also have areas of intensity.   Instead it became more about the series of 30 degree angles moving from a few moments of intensity to moments of sparsity and 45 degree angles doing the same but in the opposite directions.  This brought intersections that allowed me to create my own little "weird" shapes, as my instructor told me.  Then this parallelogram shape became my theme with which I completed the drawing, making the entire page visually become one large parallelogram.  When I was finished I realized how three dimensional the piece looked and how my small little weird shapes became almost planes of an axonometric of some sort.

After our drawing was complete we had to chose three 8"x8" snapshots and they were photocopied and put onto a transparent adhesive which we put onto our three sided plexi box that we made.  Tomorrow we get our next step in the design process.  I'm thinking we will use the designs on the plexi to create a 3D piece, though I'm not sure what materials we will utilize, but I am very excited to find out!