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A city of Chaotic order 1:

Bylea

The grid based city of Bylea was gray block of intricately ordered alleys and walkways.  City defining interstates sliced their way through the place.  High walls surrounded the inner city defending it from the ever expanding and consumptive slums that threaten the very existence of Bylea.  This was a place of ordered gluttony, the eaten realms of nature became blocks and squares. Greenery appears only in the center of the roadways and on the outskirts of Bylea.  Although the city of Bylea exists, many have questioned her origin.  Was she always there?  Even from the beginning?  Was she planted as a seed and grown into the monstrous beast that lumbers though time, that she is now?  Or was she a contract between two parties?  A peaceful partnership that had turned into a broken friendship.  A blood pact between Nature herself, and Man.  This agreement was ruined when Man grew proud, “Higher walls!” he said, ”More to govern!” he cried.  And with those words Nature began to topple.  From equal partners to subservient child.  Bylea was born and grew fat from the death cries of the countryside.  But alas, Nature, she finds a way.  All around the water containment zones she works her magic.  Life springs up in peculiar places, in cracks in the pavement and in relished areas that Bylea has overlooked.  It is a curious thing, to enter Bylea one must remove all green items from their person, as they are a hurtful reminder of a most bitter war between once good friends.  It is unfortunate that Bylea believes this, for what good she could do, if only their differences could be reconciled. 

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Zenobia a City of Elevated Linearity

Drawing 1:

An elevated town of platforms and hanging balconies. The place is a tangle of fishing lines and ladders, a perfect jumble of loftiness.  This drawing is a transcription of that idea.

Drawing 2:

Linearity is expressed by the exaltation of of the wooden rooms.  They are lifted up, raised. Rope bridges, hanging sidewalks stretch between the pylons. Wooden supports link the towering lines only to add to the constructive ability of the lines.

Construct: 

A built version of the art.  Constructing the linearity of the drawing in the physical environment.  Raising up and exalting the cylindrical spaces. 

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The Architectural Project

Lecturer: Jason Young

Guest Lecture Blog 2

Jason Young gave a lecture about a couple of projects that he and his architectural partners designed.  Mr. Young described some of the intricacies of design work and how his firm was a small one that not only designed, but built as well.  Their team was commissioned to design a loft space that doubled as a demo kitchen and show room.  Essentially when designing a space a lot of that design comes from materials.  This project was a place for customers to come in, sit down, watch food be prepared, eat, and hopefully buy some of the appliances used in the show.  There was an operative part of the space as well were customers could participate in the cooking.  For a kitchen space like this there are already tons of rules, or codes, that designers have to abide by.  ADA , or the Americans with Disabilities Act, requires things to be handicap accessible.  When designing this kitchen, Mr. Young had to take these codes into account.  The practical things and the theoretical things mix and intertwine in architecture and this kitchen is a great example of this.  Mr. Young spoke about how code required there to be a place to wash one’s hands in the main space of the kitchen.  This practical and necessary item became a beautiful design decision for him and his team.  The sink became a separate entity and was called a ceremony.  This ceremonial task and the contemporary design of the kitchen showed that architecture can be done anywhere and with anything.  This project was truly remarkable and thoroughly proves this statement.

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Nature’s Architects, Landscape Architecture

Guest Lecture Blog 1

Gale Fulton gave the class a lecture about Landscape Architecture and the school that studies this field at UT.  Landscape architecture should more accurately be called Contextual Design.  Landscape Architecture is still associated with small gardens and basically glorified lawn work.  This assumption could not be farther from the truth, Contextual Design is the art of knowing the place around your building.  The site on which the structure is placed and how it reacts to the built environment are the main issues a Landscape Architect has to deal with.  A lot of things that Landscape Designers are thinking about revolve around the realm of sustainability.  They design incredibly interesting and beautiful solutions to problems like water runoff and soil erosion.  On a more existential plane, these designers are trying to go beyond nature.  Their work is relative to time and the shaping of space, but going beyond nature by designing the natural environment is quite next level.  Today landscape architects are trying to design inside infrastructure.  The idea is to make the most necessary yet boring pieces of the built environment into living, breathing things.  Landscape Architecture is incredibly important and will continue to be a robust field just as long as Architecture in the built environment.

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des_writing_1

A Shot in the Dark

My heart is pounding in my ears as I lay surrounded by broken glass, eyes and guns trained on the shattered window.  The stairwell leading up to the window is a dark, flickering green and a suspenseful minute passes as I guard the tiny staircase.  There is a single light on, it illuminates the only visible landing like a tiny sun amidst the dark space of the cramped fire-stair.  My assailant is the only thing that matters, safety is my solitary concern, but the pursuit has come to a halt.  I am safe, for now. 

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Blog 10: 

Lounging in Light 

Tokujin Yoshioka is the designer behind this futuristic lighting installation.  He partnered with LG to display a kind of “real life Science fiction.”  The installation is about writing with light.  There is an idea of starkness and futurism in the room.  The installation is made of 17 light chairs and a wall of individual lighted panels.  The installation is designed to be interacted with and is set firmly to the human scale.  Users will been encouraged to use the chairs and interact with the room.  I believe that this room is a statement about the present.  The future is here.  Now.  Design is past modern, it is past style, it is past time.  The idea is to abstract what furniture is, what light does to a space, and how that space is defined.  Now, does this installation accomplish this?  I have no idea.  Firstly one would have to inhabit this space to fully critique it, but, secondly Futurism is not something one can truly achieve.  At least this is what I believe, mainly because my definition of future is quite literal.  We evolve with time, and this means that the future will always be ahead of us.  This installation could be an attempt to chase down “future.”  The chairs and light are a movement in the direction of unifying present and future and for that I think that this room is a successful representation of that union.

If you found this critique interesting check out the original article at: https://www.dezeen.com/2017/03/31/tokujin-yoshioka-lg-sf-senses-future-light-installation-milan-design-week-2017/

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Blog 9:

Cyclical House Provokes Contemplation

This structure is Cloud House, a place for quiet contemplation on the cycles of life, water, and energy.  Cloud House is an art instillation that cycles water in an interesting way.  The cloud collects rainwater and pools it into an underground basin.  When the user sits in one of the two rocking chairs, it triggers a pump that showers “rain” from the cloud onto the tin roof.  This water then drips down into the edible plants in the windowsills.  On first glance I thought that this was a blatant misuse of water and it’s life giving properties.  The idea seemed wasteful, but upon further inspection I found that the water is used well.  The design of the space is meant to obviously read house, and it accomplishes this goal well.  Contemporary design is more than just reading “house” it is about expressing ideas and thoughts and feelings regardless of style.  I think that the cloud portion of the structure is a step in this direction.  The building becomes more than just a reading and is more of a space for contemplation.  I believe that this building is successful because it accomplishes the goals that it has made for itself.

If you were interested by this critique and want to read the original article, check it out at: https://www.dezeen.com/2017/03/22/cloud-house-matthew-mazzotta-rain-installation-springfield-missouri-usa/

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Blog 8:

Les Basic, Design for Millennials 

Alexander Lotersztain has designed a brand of modular furniture to help millennials “slow down.”  Lotersztain has studied this generation in depth and aims to rethink design to fit the needs of millennials.  Lotersztain’s studies say, “ Goldman Sachs describe millennials as 'social, connected and intensely mobile' people who, although adept with fast-paced technology, have been much slower to get married and have children.”  Lotersztain began to design with an “anti-loud” aesthetic.  He created simple designs that have variability and longevity that are connected back to the expediency of being a millennial.  Personally, as a millennial, I think that the concept of “designing for a generation” is a bit idealistic.  Not all millennials can be fit into the same generational category and neither can their furniture tastes.  That being said Lotersztain has created some beautiful and interesting pieces that push the envelope of contemporary design in the home.  

If you found this critique interesting or enjoyed the images check out the original article at: https://www.dezeen.com/2017/03/16/new-furniture-brand-les-basic-alexander-lotersztain-millennials-slow-down-design-icff-2017/?li_source=base&li_medium=rhs_block_1

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Blog 7:

Critique of the Contemporary

Contemporary design is not just about the “Now”, it is about all the decisions leading up to current design.  This exhibit seeks to look at those decisions and how they shape the human concept of “furniture in the home”.  The title of the article that these images come from is “Cartoon furniture is among unconventional domestic items on show at New York’s Chamber Gallery”.  This name that has been given to the article is a little base, but the idea behind it is full of potential.  The text goes on to explain why these chairs are cartoon-like saying that the head designer,  Juan Garcia Mosqueda, questioned domestication and materiality within his constructions.  Many of the pieces were commissioned out to other designers, giving the gallery a unique and scattered feeling.  Personally I find this direction in design to be intriguing.   Juan Garcia Mosqueda is exploring people and their stereotypical beliefs about furniture as well as the actual built object.  To abstract physical objects is one thing, but to abstract then re-materialize, that is a very interesting step forward in thoughtful design.

The above critique is written about: https://www.dezeen.com/2017/03/03/chamber-collection-3-domestic-appeal-exhibition-matylda-krzykowski-new-york/?li_source=base&li_medium=carousel_block_1

Check it out if interests may have been peaked.

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Blog 6:

HILL STONE

Visiting another’s home can be a curious thing.  The place is new and exciting and begs to be touched.  This house is a quiet moment in time and space; a still movement.  Entering Hill Stone the walls speak to you; they tell of their materials and of their history.  The bricks that line the walls are cool and gray, a sign of true timelessness.  Hill Stone aims to be a monolith; the sharpness of the lines will tell you this.  Light streams in through the punched-hole windows to brighten the corridors.  Trust me, beauty is trapped here and she is happy to stay; the walls of Hill Stone make a comforting captor.

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Blog 5

Remnant Reservoirs

“They are the reservoirs of the architectural atmospheres and images that I explore in my work as an architect”- Peter Zumthor

As I aspire to be a full-fledged architect, I take a great deal of inspiration from this quote.  Architecture is not just pure creativity channeled into built forms, it is a compilation of thoughts, experiences, creativity, and practicality.  The reservoirs that Zumthor speaks of are his collections of these things.  My reservoirs are just as vast and as meaningful.  The buildings that I will design will be inspired by the things that come from my personal reservoirs.

From my reservoirs springs a particular memory.  When I was about five years old I went to the wharf with my great aunt Anne.  She and I were surrounded by water, boats, and poorly constructed wooden piers.  There was a rhythm to the place as well as the sound of waves overlapping one another.  From an early age the “wharf” was defined for me as a place with ocean and seafood.  This early memory stays with me today and helps give definition to my ideas about places.

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Blog 4:

Cities and Desire 5

Zoebiede is a shining, white city.  A city of a dream.  This is the dream of the founders of Zoebiede chasing desire herself and finding they could not truly catch her.  Zoebiede is the dream of all cities, the beautiful structures, the uniformity, the consistency.... But is a dream just a dream?  Is it qualified to become reality?  We shall know when we awake.

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Blog 3:

Cities and Desire 4

The city of Fedora is described as a magical place.  It is a city within cities that exalts other potential forms of its own construction.  Fedora seems to be taken over by snow-globes that show other versions of Fedora.  This is a commentary on the beauty of options and how the idea of “what if” can elevated to a high beautiful form.  Rendered in this picture are the globes of “what if” they are lofty and all over the place, but in our own cities, instead of asking “what if”, we should be shaping our realities with the goal of “what if”.

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Blog 2:

Ayres Hall and Neyland Stadium are exemplary structures on UT campus, whose purpose and background are similar yet entirely different.  

Ayres Hall is an academic headquarters for the University.  A shining example of an exalted building, Ayres is set on the University’s largest hill.  Ayres Hall was built in the Collegiate Gothic style and it matches the most of the other buildings on campus.  But Ayres is not about its appearance only, it transends the mere functionality of the other Collegiate Gothic buildings and becomes a symbol of this University.

Neyland Stadium is a comparable structure in the realms of transcendence.  The picture above shows the stadium in 1966.  Neyland was constantly being added on to throughout the years.  This adds to the mythos and narrative surrounding the place.  Neyland Stadium is not just a football stadium; it doesn't just hold people who watch a game played.  The place is a vessel that transports people into a reality ruled by the Jumbo-tron.  The profane becomes sacred and the structure becomes more than row after row of bleachers.  Neyland Stadium becomes a provocative precedent for symbols of the University.  

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Humanity, digitized 

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All of the teNtative skies whirl in a tOrrent of disTraction, tHe EtheR of Time, enErgy, aNd all Things

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ambiguous disTortions intErrupt the laNdscape desTroying permanence

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