31.12.08

I read an interesting article today at work about this architecture firm called Wikitecture that is based entirely in Second Life. As much as i hate SL and really almost anything to do with it, the concept of the firm is kind of interesting. Using SL as an interface, the principals, Ryan Schultz and Jon Brouchoud, manage a collaborative effort where they allow a bunch of people to collaborate to design a specific building. The collaborators are from all walks of life, both architects and non-architects, people directly associated with the context, or people completely unassociated and simply interested.



The most interesting thing I find however is that the collaborators aren't paid. It appears like the only thing this program can do is conceptual design through a SketchUp style interface. What would happen if a simplified version of Revit or some other Bim program was used. The only thing the principals would have to do is make judgement calls on designs presented through the voting process. All the drawings, renders, and construction documents could be created by unpaid labor in a computer game. It is a well known fact that many people in the world look back and regret not becoming an architect or would have wanted to be an architect. Through Second Life, these people could collaborate on a project that is finally built, and the principals that get credit hardly have to lift a finger. The ultimate Lazy Architecture (though it would be advertised to the public as "socially concious" or "open")

Studio Wikitecture

27.12.08

Canadian Glass and Clay Gallery

here's a cool project ifound while searching around:








Its done by Patkau Architects out of Vancouver B.C. www.patkau.ca

26.12.08

hanyoung traffic light

currently working on grad school apps.... bleh.

meanwhile. here's a cool solution to the antiquity of traffic lights (which people often ignore).

Its a graphic shield type thing that could double as a lazer based alarm system which could then trigger a camera so that anyone who runs a red light faces the consequences. pretty neat idea from a korean designer Lee Hanyoung.

7.12.08

etown gov building



kind of a lame attempt at making a glass box. its harder than it seems

crush= clémence poésy




Yip.
Another crush.
I tend to be going through them rather quickly these days.
Clémence Poésy
She played fleur delaceur in the harry potter movies. absolutely beautiful. and french. she's been in some other stuff that I havn't heard of (gunpower treason and plot, In Bruges, Bienvenue chez les Rozes, Le Grand Meaulnes, and a bunch more).

23.11.08

some of the reasons I like som over the other corporte offices:
ARB Bank Headquarters Building

schloss velden

irish glass bottle site

16.11.08

congratulations mr. gehry. this isn't half bad.





*article*

11.11.08

New(er) Crush

That's right. It's been a while. Lykke Li... You'll have to move aside now. Jessica Lea Mayfield may not be quite as cute, but her music is soulful and fits the bywater perfectly without being mocking (damn you Fleet Foxes).
http://www.myspace.com/jlmayfield
Kinda similar to a more country version of Rilo Kiley with Lucero-esque guitar work.

2.11.08

vroom

chastisement

I am officially sick of the hipster mullet.

There I said it.

Hipster mullets are the freaking nastiest shit I've ever seen. Just look at this:








Seriously? Its like a hank of laziness/ inability to see the back of your own head while giving yourself that gay "George Harrison in the early days" haircut in your parents bathroom using the same scissors you just used to trim your pubic hair into a perfect likeness of Brian Eno. Its not hip. Its not cool. Its not Euro or whatever the hell you think. Its nasty and should die. Quit trying to be ironic.

22.10.08

World Maps (Along Came Jones Edit) - Daft Punk VS Yeah Yeah Yeahs

one of the best mashups i've heard in a while
daft punk+yeahyeahyeahs

14.10.08

Of Montreal + MGMT

Havn't listened to this yet. In class... Just putting it here so i will listen later

OfMontreal/ MGMT- Smells like Teen Spirit

10.10.08

Vote soon. You should have already registered. If not: You're a dumb piece of crap and I hate you.

Here's who i'm voting for:


*edited for drunken blogging*
http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=426&storycode=3124669&c=1&encCode=0000000001841ac5

This article depresses me on many levels.
One: because I agree with it completely. Too many architects are develping "eco-bling" to stick to their buildings instead of doing something basic and significant. Its more what looks "cool" or "sexy" first with pv attached to it to make it "green" than what it actually efficient.
Two: Because I feel that dubai is rather ineffiecient. i mean seriously... who builds these "american" towers in the desert...
Three: Because I hate the fact people still havn't taken notice of the fact that Mayne's buildings are very very efficient (Leed platinum for Caltran?). Zaha should bow her head in shame. Mayne backs his stuff up and is still modest about his "starchitect" status. He deserves what he has and is very unpretentious about it.
Four: SOM wasn't selected for the mile high tower? seriously? who the heck has better experience, resources, and outside connections to do that.... They were already working on it and had it worked out.... come on..... Could be so much prettier than that ugly developer render.

Overally. Fuck Dubai. Those guys don't know shit

Also, on another note. if anyone has that Discovery Channel thing "Impossible City" recorded, let me know. Bob has a rendering in that video from his work at Reiser+Umemoto

8.10.08

split house

a project proposal i'm working on right now... i had another rendering, but its messing up and so i'll post it later. it actually makes this thing look cool....

its a small solar house that would be built for the solar decathlon on the national mall in october 2009. it'll probably change alot and look nothing like this though


30.9.08

Suck on this Freud

A few years ago I read a book called On Dreams by Sigmund Freud and this just made me think....
I just woke up from a nap where i had a short, but very strange nap full of a weird dream. It may be pretty easy to read into it.

A bunch of people went to studio at the normal time, which in this case happened to be at 9 at night. We were all sitting around like we do, not doing much studio stuff talking about stupid stuff. All of a sudden I randomly am given a guitar and start twiddling around on it very badly, once again, like I do. A few people are watching and whatnot and it passes the time. My prof. tells us to go out to the hall for a break from work. We all go out to the hall. I start playing guitar when all of a sudden, the kids on the "good studio" down the hall walk out of their studio complete with a full bluegrass band and start playing Man of Constant Sorrows from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. Everyone in both studios start dancing and drinking and cavorting about. Then all of a sudden the band finishes and everyone in the other studio immediately sobers up and goes back to work. My studio mills about a bit while I play something, but its not professional stuff so noone is really into it. They lose interest and end up leaving studio and going elsewhere..... I'm left alone staring into the other studio's window wanting to be in there working. Then I woke up and now Man of Constant Sorrows is stuck in my head.

There were a few guest appearances, but I won't mention those. There were no names in the dream but all the studio people were real people in studio and in the band the only one I knew was the violinist. The professor was kind of similar to another professor i've had, but more spry.

25.9.08

Movie of Block Destruction

man i am so sick of sentimental crap... I mean seriously.... if people keep bitching and whining about this thing, nothing is going to get done. preservation failed dramatically because preservation doesn't work. build new and build better. where they went wrong was they built new and built badly. preservationists: shut the heck up.

on a different note, this movie is quite beautiful if you turn off the sound. the sound is quite cheesy and sentimental and trite. there is something quite attractive about the act of destruction particularly regarding the speed and efficiency.
I am now officially sick of this stuff:



17.9.08


the most awesomeingest thing ever

14.9.08

video games as architectural client interaction

Watch this video:


I was watching this cause a friend showed me it. Somehow I couldn't help but wonder about what jordan and i were talkinga bout a couple times. Video gamers are so much more advanced than architects. We are all psyched about Building Information Modelling (revit, bentley, katia, etc) but then you look at this and it adds a whole new dimension to BIM, that of movement and interaction, and element of chance in an otherwise prescriptive programming. Of course, there may not be a real use for this sort of thing, but maybe if in some way architects could make these individually static smart models interact with each other and surrounding elements and influences, it would help to answer any engineering concern or proofing or even clients reactions.
I like how at about 4:00 minutes and at the very end they talk about how these models interact with each other creating a complete environment with all interacting smart models. Architecture could benefit from this particularly in accident simulation and reaction to wind load as well as other loads. would really improve client digital interaction. imagine being able to send the client a video game type interface in which they could zoom around and interact with their model in a way they would normally. it would also answer questions like "what happens in a tornado?" "what happens when it rains?" "what happens when i drive my car through the window?" etc. they could simulate throwing things against the wall or just simply experience the sound their feet would make when walking in after a good rain on their indoor floor tile.
this could be a new area for architects to explore. that of direct video game technology in client interaction. i've heard stuff about using video game design to influence form. maybe it wouldn't be too hard to do something else with it. it could directly influence how we handle post-design client presentations.

lucero- old sad songs

i have no idea why but this one 60 second song is ridiculously soulful. initially it sounds kind of happy, but for some reason it gives off this undertone of something creepily sad. i love it particularly considering my mood today.Old Sad Songs - Lucero

27.8.08

this song is pretty awful... still kind of amazing to get this together:

TI ft. Kanye, Jay Z, Lil' Wayne, M.I.A.- Swagger Like Us

It's amazing to get such huge egos together on one track.

I want that voice thing that TI and Weezy use.

25.8.08

My Morning Jacket with erykah badu

funny....



Mixing My Morning Jacket and some really really chill soul. yes.

there's an mp3 of it here too.


VS.




why uffie.

x-architects

Here's a firm I randomly found... Based in Dubai, so some of it is what you'd expect, but alot of the stuff is pretty good. plus they get stuff built, which impresses me.

This is some public shading device thingy they did. I didn't quite understand the diagrams they used to describe the logistics but I really like these images...
for the record, the diagrams kind of show some sort of Vs. relationship between a cartesian grid and some blobby thing nurb thing.

The second is a showroom in Dubai. i like the interior stuff