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[design-the-planet]

Anti-Homeless Architecture

One of the biggest topics I’m interested in researching in this class is the concept of anti-homeless design and how it works. I’m interested in this topic because I’m majoring in architecture and I think its really important to understand why this has been implemented into the design and how we can change it going forward. At this moment, my personal thought is that Anti-homeless architecture does more harm than good in that it actively pursues funneling money towards these designs instead of towards ways to help homeless people. I think I would find that it is actually costing more money than it would to put money into methods helping the homeless. I’m planning on researching this topic by exploring Lexington to see if I can find any of these designs and to see if they have an impact on the city. Some of the questions that interest me about this topic are how do these designs effect the heat map of homeless in Lexington? Another question I have is when did we start designing in a way that excludes certain groups of people? I plan on conducting this research by going throughout Lexington but also looking at maps and rates of homelessness in the area and by interviewing designers that might be able to give me insight into how these designs came to be.

[design-the-planet]

Viewpoints

I think the most important reason someone needs to recognize multiple points of view is the fact that every person has biases and those biases are subconsciously reflected in the opinions that we take. It means that when we present problems and questions we need to give the audience one other side of a story to show them that there is more than one solution to the problem. I think that also the reason you should find other viewpoints is because it allows you to get a much fuller picture because of the biases that all humans have. Everyone comes from different backgrounds and that is going to affect where they stand on an issue and the solutions they bring to the table. I also think it's important to learn about alternate viewpoints because when you are making a case for one side, being well versed in another viewpoint allows you to give more well rounded responses because you understand all the facts and reasons why people are choosing the side they are choosing. I think a good instance of this is the video we watched on the exclamation mark. They went to different professors and journalists to figure out what their opinions were and used all of them to formulate a conclusion on the symbols current purpose.

[design-the-planet]

Hardwell

One bizarre little memory I have is of me hanging out with one of my best friends back when we were 12. I always feel super nostalgic about that place because it was such an iconic hangout spot for all of us when we were growing up. We were playing games on his computer and we had the live streaming platform Twitch up on a second monitor. I noticed this electronic music festival that was one of the live streams and I clicked on it. There was this DJ and his name was Hardwell. I had heard of him before but I had never heard him play live. I had never really heard any electronic musician play a DJ set before. At least in the sense that everyone had come there just for that particular DJ. And I just sat there and watched the set and realized how much I loved the vibe. The feeling, the people, the place. And I look back on that set as being one of the most pivotal turning points in my life. Music has always been a massive part of my life and I attribute my love of deep diving through different artists' collections and live shows as well as creating my own music back to the longing to be just like that guy on the stage.

[design-the-planet]

James Turrell

When I was in high school. I wanted to really start exploring design and looking at becoming a designer. It led me to take a couple of classes in things like architecture, jewelry, and graphics. I also took a few summer camps and during one of those summer camps we began to look at artists who worked in the medium of space. One of the first designers that caught my attention was James Terrell. He was making these spaces with an emphasis on light and form. He created rooms in which the walls became so saturated and made the space so disorienting you couldn’t tell where the room ended. It was a really impactful study on me because I think we often think of art as something that’s hung on a wall in a museum surrounded by flat white planes. But he was really the first artist I’d ever come across that was allowing you to interact with the art by simply being in its presence. That really opened my eyes to what we can create and how we can manipulate space to benefit different aspects of an experience.

[design-the-planet]

Pentwater

Since before I can even remember, I was going to Pentwater Michigan. For my entire family on my moms side, Pentwater is the capital of life. Every summer, we’ll plan multiple trips with all corners of our family to this lakeside house which could fit as many people as you could fit air mattresses on the floor. For us kids, it was always the most carefree place. We’d explore the treehouses from past generations as well as make our own. Dive into the cool blue waters of Lake Michigan and spend evenings in the town center eating ice cream. It was in these days, with these people who I created the most hectic, hilarious, and happiest moments of my life with. And that was how I learned what family truly was. To me, family is about the moments of togetherness where you all take the time to explore. To feel like a kid again. And it was the forests of this place that fostered that. There were moments and days where things went wrong, of course. I broke my collarbone there, for gods sake. But even those stories just helped contribute to the magical aura of that house, that forest, and that place called Pentwater that I hold so dear.