Trellis

Treating the trellis as a producer of shadows + a gathering space + vine climbing structure, rather than just a vine climbing structure.

I want to look like SANAA...

Yes, I haven't written in a long while. So far, partnered project has developed so much! It amazes me how little arguments we have. And when we do, it actually makes the project better than before, simply because arguments only clarify the purpose, the concept, and the idea.

Our professor was in our last review, and before Michael and I even spoke, he laughed. "Gosh, I gotta know why you two are working together."

After the presentation, which went well, we approached him and asked him about his snickering. He declared (after some pushing on our part) that both Michael and I work so differently, that it was confusing why we worked so well. Michael, he says, starts with one, fat graphic idea, and I start with the pieces, and put them together. Doug spoke so much truth, and it only teaches me how we are all in close observance. Perhaps because its only 25 of us, but even then, without a doubt, he knows us after one semester, like the back of his hand.

So for our final review, I joked to Michael that we should look sharp, yet hip, like SANAA. He shakes his head, despite his admiration for SANAA, and says it would be obnoxious, to dress up so 'professionally.'

Well. It's still a thought.

Truth?

Someone posts on a blog, in response to a parade of exterior shots of a new housing development somewhere in Madrid:

"October 9th, 2008 at 11:32 am
horrible!
architecture because of architecture, not because of living…
bad bad bad"

How right this person is.

And I bet, there's so many buildings out there that are architecture for the sake of architecture.

Buildings without people are nothing, but pieces of concrete and joints, or steel and bolts. But. That's. It.

Make it work.

Nox : h2o pavilion / David Clovers : Nola Filigree

Scribbled down by our professor, yesterday, next to our rather weak manifesto:



The investigation of the ground plane, and what it suggests for those walking/using it.

The other:



The investigation of the skin.

House : beginning concepts

It is said, that an architectural "object modifies human behaviors and technical performance." However, we do not want to impose a rigid linear pathway on the inhabitant's movements (hallways), but have a layout formed by their lifestyles, working/living habits, etc. Humans do not simply move in orthogonal paths.

We propose a multipurpose skin system. The skin will provide structural support and storage, and can act as partition, furniture or light filter. It will infiltrate and transform )in terms of function) within the house, then exist again at appropriate areas. It will be readable from both a planar and sectional perspective.

House : H stands for (in)Habitable

"It's raining in the hall, it's raining in the ramp, and the wall of the garage is absolutely soaked. What is more, it is still raining in my bathroom, which floors every time it rains. After numerous demands, you have finally accepted that this house is uninhabitable." Says Madame Savoye to Le Corbusier.

Lesson: don't let your ideologies blind/block you from realizing that this house will need to hold humans comfortably within it!

Recycle : infrastructure

Infrastructure for homes: A water tower is converted into a house:







Found here.

Of course, you'd have to have a strong pair of legs to be comfortable in this tower, but the idea is quite elegant. Of course, the question is: how cold is it there....that channel glass there isn't that well insulating...

Desk, currently:

Start here:

How the hell do you start designing with no parameters, no restrictions, no limits, no clients?!

There's already so many possibilities, so many permutations, so many options, so many projects streaming from a couple of sentences-- nay, one phrase!:

2 bedroom, 2 bath, site lot: 50'x 100'

The 2,000 SF House

"Oh, he seems like a nice guy, very chill; but no, he tricks you. He's strict as hell."
"So he tricked you?"
"He tricked all of us."

That was about one of my professors, Sean Lally, coupled with Michael Robinson, during one of my classes, the class above us scaring us with their woes.

I've picked a partner, for our next project: a 2,000 square foot house, with minimal programming-- what this project emphasizes is the design process, and how one visually represents that process. A readable line, be it linear or looped.

"Form is not architecture until you adopt the social dimension," says Robinson.

Chicken scratches on notebook, whatever wisdom they pass forward. Even when I dive into a spectrum of books, it's easy to lose track of everything.

A clear idea of this social dimension, of what a house will be used for, for whom the house is, what activities goes on in there.

"The only times you will be working alone is in architecture school," says Lally.

I had a clear idea of who I wanted to work with or not work with. It's hard to match up your work ethic to people absent during the summer, or absent when you are struggling with your own mind, not a collaborative design. It always appears to be easier, with two minds, split the work, etc. But I know it's not that easy, there's almost some overbearing, pseudointellectual wanting monopoly of the project's concepts and designs.

Miscommunication is the downfall of humanity. Trying to remedy that is impossible; but trying the impossible can always function as some sort of remedy.

Diagramming starts today.

And so it starts, the desk:

"mean green recycling machine"

So, my mother, who is a little more sensible to my 'clothing tastes' (I'm being sarcastic), buys a shirt in Target that, in large, bold print reads: "Mean Green Recycling Machine."

Of course, this only makes me shake my head, and think of all the merchandise dedicated to this "green lifestyle"-- commercializing environmentalism instead of really, really living that lifestyle.

So Target, the factory that produced these shirts, are they green?

So, I look at the tag, I find this:



Happens to be, that the Coca-cola company started this 'sustainable campaign' to encourage recycling. Of course, if you want to think a la Cradle to Cradle...so what if you can make clothing out of plastic bottles...in the end, the t-shirts themselves are not biodegradable. They would also need to be recycled.

And me, being the cynical person I am, probably a fraction of the population recycles anyway....

I guess it's just positively hoping-- thus their "Live Positively." Hopefully they change their methods within their company first-- replace the plastic with something biodegradable, for example. Think, of all the core changes to be made, and if each corporation is willing, and each factory is willing, and if each scientist/researcher is willing--- there, some change!

Noriko Ambe : Slice/Carve + Layers

Artist Noriko Ambe: art that looks like the topography of an architectural model.

White, white, white, white....

I understand when the architect, Thomas Phifer, said, "it's all about the landscape." Because as I walk to the pavilion, to the west entrance of Fondren, I walk by the cherry trees; the ground changes from grass to mulch, follow the sidewalk, and the texture continuously changes, different shades of green. The fountain, the elm trees, a neutral white, the cheerful seating.



It's quite pleasant.

(My only protest: Coffee House has my loyalties for coffee. Yes, Brochstein Pavilion, you are gorgeous, but how dare you not be student run?!)

I have yet to enjoy a stay at the pavilion.

Mie Olise Kjaergaard - coupling of architecture and art

An art gallery holds Mie Olise Kjaergaard's work:

"Penetrating Pores of Construction, her first solo exhibition in the United States, examines the "architecture of abandoned society" and discovers the misunderstood space between utopian ideas and their inevitable disassemly. The parts left behind, however, are fused with nature to ultimately become whole as it should be and not as it once was. Her paintings discuss the intimate and poetic experience of her installations, while her installations usually create a space that envelops and involves the viewer. Her spaces are reminiscent of rare monumental beauty but somehow harbor a feeling of familiarity and closeness. Kjaergaard's work communicates a true feeling of longing by only suggesting the possibility of past inhabitation."

More examples of her work:









Remind you of this, ironically?:

METRO: expected failure, or, 'get your act together, fool.'?

In the Chron today: Commute takes minutes in car but hours on Metro

Who will bring the change? They've had millions, and millions of complaints. What an intimidating job: Here I am, I propose this and this route, that and that new route, but am I willing to risk it-- would I be able to endure all the stones casted upon me? But you know, there has to be some iron-gutted individual out there, who hears all these 200 + comments (look at the article!), and says, Here, these are the changes that must be made.

It's one of the reasons why I wouldn't mind staying in Houston (or at least, continue to ask of its wellbeing)-- to see how much change ten years, or twenty years will bring. Will city-flight be reversed, or strengthen? Will Downtown continue to be a ghost-town after 5 o'clock, Monday thru Friday, and all weekend, on that matter? Will METRO reestablish more time-efficient (and ultimately, fuel-efficient) bus and rail routes?

How nervous they must be...

I only hope they know what they are doing.

...what exactly decides, politics or efficiency?

"The two bridges taking the Inner Ring Road across the Huanpu--- especially the great coiled access ramp for the Nanpu Bride in Puxi-- also required the removal of hundreds of families. The decision to go with bridges for the symbolic first linkage to Pudong is itself revealing. Feasibility studies had actually shown that a tunnel would be less expensive to build and more efficient, requiring minimal condemnation and demolition. But tunnels are not photogenic; they strike no heroic silhouette against the sky, despite whatever ingenious engineering might have gone into their construction. A bridge, on the other hand, is a proud and soaring thing that makes for great publicity shots and tourists brochures. It is a rare mayor or city official who can such down such eye candy, especially when competing for the good will and fiscal blessings of Beijing officialdom."

- excerpt from The Concrete Dragon: China's Urban Revolution and What it Means for the World by Thomas J. Campanella

...so I wonder, what's the ratio? How many political decisions are based on actual need, and how many are based on merely producing "eye-candy"? I don't disagree with the need of city markers: not only are they visually stimulating, but it definitely adds character to the city-- a persona that many of us city-dwellers definitely need, consciously or unconsciously. However, there should be a limit to pride, shouldn't there?

Then again, it's only 'natural' we feel an irrational need to subdue mountains, and make our own monsters.

As one classmate put it, when we were sitting in front of the Grande Arch in La Defense, watching the sunset wash the tall steel giants: "Man, it's a monster showdown."

Buildings cry out to each other, like all miserable humans: "I am smarter, more handsome, richer, more colorful, more popular than you!!!"

V-o-i-d : even with the plasticity of walls there exists a void between them. (Finally, I return to the internet.)

Part of my lack of blogging was because my time & energy were drained by employment: at a small architecture firm in downtown Houston, CDG-TX. My internship ends next week, and I must say, I am thankful that these people took me in, the silly inexperienced architecture student, and taught me, without lectures or text, the inner-workings of an architecture firm. I am now more proficient in CAD, and have been annoyed at the inflexibility of cubicles, as well as seen coworkers pull their hair when a client changes their mind.

School starts in 22 days. Once again, I'll return to the desk that I'll end up loving and hating at the same time. And yeah, the classmates too. I am armed and ready. I'm itching for output, for progress/process, for new light on various subjects, for virtuous Creativity.

I've become very skeptical of the green revolution-- at least, in American culture, I feel it's more of a trendy fix than a growing lifestyle. "Green products are cool" is the message the media sends to me. People buy them and feel part of this "green" movement, yet they return to their old consumerist, wasteful habits. Don't get me wrong, I am not bitter, or angry: I understand that these movements take years, decades, to ossify. It's starting with new construction-- and hopefully, this will reach other levels, in companies and manufacturers. Who knows, maybe eventually the U.S. will follow China's lead in banning plastic bags (you have to pay a fee for them now), or perhaps, more importantly, more people will join the research bandwagon, and improve our dream technology-- photovoltaics, hydrogen cars, sustainable building materials, etc..... or, like Chris tells me, finally pay attention to the efficiency of fussion energy.

I'll pay more attention to this blog, as my time returns to me after a month + of working. Once again, I'm itching for the input of new ideas, more knowledge-- and the output of Creation itself, of design, and more sophisticated ideas.

045: Photography, textures, quick thoughts

Photography:

Photography by :Sannah Kvist

Her photography I've particularly loved since I added her on flickr-- she had this account, then deleted all her pictures, then started again, with a fresh, non-frustrated attitude.

I picked this picture in particular to post in my blog because: What makes this picture interesting is its texture: bark, a building's bark, gravel, grass, person.

To think: When we are designing a building, people will find the art in the building int heir photographs: in how light touches on part of it, how it varies throughout the day, the many angles, the different companions they take, etc. etc.

So what if we are just designers? So what if it's "just an art" we are doing?: think of the photographers that will use these spaces to frame their thoughts, their subjects, their lovers, their family, their expressions-- or just their daily life.

Just a small thing. But I'm just pointing out: how the texture / wood slating / austere landscaping / the tree, and its tones at that moment-- that makes this picture gorgeous (in my opinion, of course.)

Umbrellas and temporary structures:

Kengo Kuma designs an umbrella house. Very creative :)

044: and from the ashes of inactivity:

Finally a post:



Found here.

I do love Jun Igarashi's work.

Which makes me think: grad school. Is it something I want right now? Do I yearn to expand my knowledge on architecture? It's a question left open ended, and a question my mother often addresses. I don't need it, but does my heart need it?

I think, if I had to go anywhere-- I would like, at the moment, to study for my Masters in Japan.

043: Paris (part II)

Continuing to...historical buildings, social housing types

Opera de Paris, Charles Garnier, architect
Recent mural by Marc Chagall on canvas.


Louvre.


Versailles, Hall of Mirrors
And all the rococo one can handle at one time.









Next: Pompidou + more

042: Paris, France (snapshot)/ Semester project (progress)

Paris: dense & historical

Part I

Notre Dame:


Saint Chapelle:


Chartres:

(That heart was already there.)



More later.

The Parking Structure extends toward the station!

Because, that's what it is. The parking (on the left) extends (yet doesn't continue) to the station, lending its structure and ramping systems to create a sort of landscape-- for recreation/retail on top, and transit program/circulation underneath.

It continues, as always, to develop.

041: Eduardo Arroyo's pixelated landscape/ Sick days means all nighters.

Plaza de Desierto, in Barakaldo...



I found his orthogonal organization intriguing, unnatural even, in the good sense. It adds to landscape-- it's blatantly man made but still beautiful. He breaks away from the orthogonal flatness here and there with forced topographies, but gracefully I think.

On the subject on topography, parking lots:


NL Architects, Parkhouse-- scan from The Architecture of Parking

Sick days means all nighters, just to make up for the work days lost.

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040: Riken Yamamoto & Field Workshop, melting plastic/shaping chipboard/ process

The day, in particles:

[Thinking While Creating/Creating by Writing]Riken Yamamoto & Field Workshop

Their thoughts on process:

Process プロセス

What we call 'process' cannot be illustrated by, for example, arranging a series of study models, side by side. Such an arrangement might demonstrate how the design changed from one model tot he next, but there is more to a 'process' than that. A 'process' is not something that can be broken down into clearcut stages. Many different things influence the design in an organic way between one study model and the next, for example, discussions with the client, local character,systems and ideas that Yamamoto and the staff come up with. Indeed, a workshop is held to investigate this very process.

We try to see things in a broader perspective from the point of view of agents such as local residents, users, and administrators. Architecture is an important part of that process bu not the end objective. In the case of an art museum, architecture is merely one of a number of elements or agents (such as the works in the collection, the administrative program and the social role and history of the museum) that interact and undergo change. The series of changes binds together the overall vision, but within the process the vision itself undergoes continual change. When architecture is not regarded as the end objective, that has an effect on everything: the boundaries between various agents are blurred.

Architecture is a catalyst accelerating change in agents. That is because the process of creating a tangible object called a building provides opportunities to do things such as solving problems of administrative programming and thinking about local society....

This blog was originally supposed to show my progress in all semester's projects: of course, because of other classes + studio time spent on the project itself, my updates are not immediate. I find this firm interesting not only because of their work, but some of their philosophy as well. They are very youthful, holding true to their mantra, "the process itself is architecture." I'm sure many would argue against it, for it, half-agree to it....Even I, myself, half-agree to it.

I checked out the book mainly for their work on the Saitama Prefectural University.

Melting Plastic/Shaping Chipboard

I continue the search for the convenient topographic solution. Give me another day.

Paris,France: Sophomore Trip

I can't wait for the catacombs, I can't wait for Peripherique's Atrium Building, I can't wait for La Defense, for the Louvre, for the cheap wine. I can't wait for Le Corbusier, the museums.

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039: Sci-fi ooooh/ Tube hotel ooooh

It's the "fun post."

1.

First, a sci-fi adventure houses Polish radio rmf fm.

2.

Second a hotel in Germany.

Yes, the rooms are concrete sewer tubes. How awesome is that (and claustrophobic...but, they must be very private, very dark, and very soundproof.)

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Quota Warning:

In the department of architecture listserv:

Can you please send this out to all faculty and students. We are 8 gbs away from maxing out our storage on the server. (252 out of 260 gb)

Subject: Rice University, RiceCluster-1, 2008-02-19 14:21:51 -06:00: Quota warning

Server Attributes:Server nameRiceCluster\RiceCluster-1CompanyRice UniversityDepartmentSAILocation11620 Main Street, Houston, TX, 77025, USADescriptionLoaner headSoftware version4.3.996h (Tue Dec 4 21:10:40 2007)Hardware versionTitan (TN1CHRS0705300)MAC ID79-5E-46-0C-39-DF

Quota warning threshold was reached.
Usage=252 GB (limit=280 GB).VolumeSA05ViVolArchitecture

Wow, we're almost at the limit!

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038: Oh, hiatus, but "work" remains constant during the semester...

Oh, Wheeler Station. The image of a grand transfer station on this piece of land!

The Assignment

Assignment 4. Building Design Program (2.5 weeks)

DUE: Wednesday, February 27

Wheeler Station Building Design Program

In Problem 2 (Design and Program Analysis) you established the parameters on which the program requirements for the final design stage of the project are based. The following list of requirements is based on your analysis. In addition we have added several small program elements not addressed in the analysis.

A. Metro Program Elements
1. Elevated University Line Station (alignment, size, and height as described in analysis)
2. Local Bus Stops (10 total, this includes 6 existing plus 4 new)
3. Information and Security office: 2000 SF (Information and Reception Desk, Security office,
Employee Rest Room, First Aid Room, Administrative Office)
4. Bicycle Storage Facility: 2000 SF (Bicycle Storage Area, Individual Restrooms with showers (4)
5. Public Restrooms: Women’s and Men’s (Total of 6 fixtures per sex, single or multiple sites)

B. Intercity Bus Program: Provide six spaces to be leased to intercity bus companies as
described in the analysis problem. No indoor waiting required; tickets provided by vending machines.

C. Commercial Program: 25,000 SF Gross as per analysis. Please note that 50 parking spaces should
be allocated to serve commercial (no permanent parking in these spaces)

D. Parking Program: 500- 550 Spaces (Includes 50 spaces dedicated to commercial)

F. Storm Water Detention: Provide .5 Acre Feet of Storm Water detention on Site as indicated in the
analysis

G. Urban Event Space: In keeping with Metro’s plan to develop functional urban landscape elements
wherever possible, develop a major public exterior space capable of supporting a weekend produce
market, public meeting, or performance.

H. Miscellaneous Requirements: Provide a protected or pull off waiting space for
6 vehicles (Taxicabs and auto drop off)

Adjacency requirements:

-Direct, accessible pedestrian movement must be accommodated between major metro movement systems (Metro Lines, Local Bus Lines). This would include ramps, stairs, or escalators and elevator(s). All stairs and ramps should be sized for a population of 150 persons (44” + 2 x 22”=88”).
- Information office should be centrally located for ease of use and efficient surveillance.

Additional Requirements:

-All bus and train stops should be provided with overhead covering so that it is possible to move between all modes of transportation (and major program elements) without getting wet.
-Retail space should be located to take advantage of movement between major program elements.

Schedule:

Documentation for this exercise will be due Wednesday, February 27 at 1 PM.
-Site Model: 1”=100’ (Concept Type Model similar to Assignment No. 3)
-Site/ Floor Plan(s): TBD
-Site Sections: TBD
-Digital Model: Ground level views, Major Interior/ Exterior Space

Topographic Interpretation:

Before this assignment, however, we were to vaguely assemble the program under one unifying topic: I picked Topography. Although my project was very literal, I feel that there is logic behind a literal topography, in which that slopes can equate themselves to ramps, making a more fluid traffic flow.

Thinking, thinking....

...and my thoughts ended up looking like a magnetic field: all pedestrians orbiting around the intersection of both lines. Of course, this isn't at all realistic (pedestrians will be thinking about their destinations.) Really, the 'magnetism' is behind the circulatory connection between three different zones: parking (cars), light rail (waiting, retail) and buses (inter/intracity) with transfers in between.

Thinking along the lines of form: I'm more of a functionalist, or, circulatorist (let's make up terms shall we?) but I have been thinking of form.

1. Topography + lamination + carve (light)= what my concept model looks at the moment.


2. Interpreting velocity with form, like the speed of cars, of pedestrians, of waiting pedestrians, of Greyhound buses, of METRO buses, of the light rail. Vehicles of different types, functions, and allowed speed.


3. Interpreting 'magnetic lines' with form: follow the line.

The Architecture of Parking by Simon Henley

There are the lines! Lines!



And this....

The above picture is not just for "inspiration," but I found it appealing (not only because it's a Japanese architect) because my professor previously mentioned that parking could indeed be seen as a form of topography. This takes that literally, of course, and I couldn't help but like the idea.

So far, what my project is looking like is like a repeating curve, a curve that was stolen from the flow of parking garages.

Houston is indeed a car city. Commuter haven. (or Hell.)

Wheeler Station does not call for a gargantuan structure. Drive by the site and you hear it call for what it already looks like. A megastructure would just be like a distraction from the city's core.

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037: Glasarchitektur

As method of organizing my thoughts on this excerpt manifesto (from Ulrich Conrad's Programs and Manifestoes on 20th-Century Architecture), I will quote some interesting things from this passage:

1. "We live for the most part within enclosed spaces. These form the environment from which our culture grows. Our culture is in a a sense a product of architecture."


2. "It was the railway station that produced the brick metropolis culture of today from which we all suffer. Glass architecture will come only when the metropolis in our sense of the word has been done away with."

(1): It's a strange thought, that culture is a product of man-made, unnatural things, that instead of culture shaping the architecture, it is the architecture (the environment) that shapes the culture. I would guess it makes sense after some x amount of years....maybe its in cycles: At first, culture creates the architecture, x years pass by, then the architecture-environment modifies the culture. Then new modified culture creates new architecture, etc.
(2): But then if we only build steel, glass structures, wouldn't we suffer from the glass metropolis in the future, when another form or material is introduced to replace steel, concrete and glass?

Paul Scheerbert's poetic obsession over glass.
He completely ignores the rules of the real environment: heat gain = a very, very hot, and energy inefficient metropolis.

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036: Green beams

Not related to my research at all, but I just love the idea of non-structural vegetation beams. As you can read in the short article (it was the issue of AR of "Emergent Architecture"), the architect meant it not to be practical, nor just aesthetic, but unnaturally filling up the void of urban space.

Fake nature. In this world, what do we appreciate more? The man-made landscape, or, the wilderness as terrific (_{old sense of the word}) and vast as it is...?

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035: Topography.

It is much harder than I thought it would be.

The Olympic Sculpture Park (Weiss Manfredi), suggested by my professor, to break down and analyze.

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034: Plastic, Anderson Lounge competition, and topography.

Go to archi-arts.

Please?

Anderson Lounge competition entries:



The first is a "joke:" It is my ridiculous idea (that I actually would love to be materialized): the giant squid, or, the XL SQUID. Remember what Rem says about Bigness-- a huge "fuck you!" to all other things-- it is such a large squid that it is valid as furniture. It transcends all other furniture. Or so, I jest.



The second seems a bit unconventional, but by nailing perpendicular book ends, the 60 degree angle won't be as tough to adjust to. It leaves place for everything in the "program"...that is sitting space, a pencil box, a library and magazine rack-- even space for a coffeemaker.

And its modular-- you can place them around the column, use them as seats. Etc.

Wheeler Station, a topographic knot.

This is what I am working on- conceptualizing the urban transit knot as a topography. I picked one of the harder solutions to it-- but I will try!

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034: Plastic, the future, this semester's project starts....

Plastic: archi-arts and the world's pollution.

Free plastic bags have been banned in China, a law which will take effect June 1st. In the United States, little of this has happened. Mostly, here, there is only the option (of paper or plastic) rather than having a law that embraces the environment.

"I think this really shows that China is being a responsible country," said the 21-year-old.

Plastic bags is just a minor pollutant when compared to everything else, the emissions, all the other waste. But, thinking in terms of plastic bags-- think of all the disposable items that are given/sold to us-- restaurants, groceries, packages, toys, electronics. Once they are thrown away, there they stay forever.

I used to applaud Mexico, for using/reusing glass bottles for soda and water. Yet in recent years (as in, the last 10 years I've gone to the country), plastic quickly replaces glass. And Mexico is already heavily littered in the first place-- and the plastic comes even more dangerously since Mexicans in rural areas burn their trash.

In the United States, which has less than one-quarter of China's 1.3 billion people, the Sierra Club's Sierra magazine estimates almost a hundred billion plastic bags are thrown out each year.

The Sierra Club estimated that if every one of New York City's eight million people used one less grocery bag per year, it would reduce waste by about 218,000 pounds.

With such numbers, I remain optimistic. Considering there's over a billion people living in China...the pounds of trash prevented will be much more than 218,000 lbs. The problem-- the hardest of all-- is making sure that many participate. But to eradicate the apathy, the lack of awareness...I would consider it pollution too.

Mass Transit in Houston,TX: the knots of transportation














This semester focuses on Wheeler Station. By 2012, the METROrail will have many additions, the first one being the University Line (blue) that connects UH to the Galleria Area, and crosses the existing Red Line.

At the moment, we are doing metric work: understanding the dimensions, movements, and scales of the light rail vehicle.


















Then again, what more can we do? This is the first week of school...

033: Sustainable-ness

The back of a notebook bought at the Target:

Our pages are made from 100% post-consumer waste with nontoxic soy-based ink.

The notebooks are called greenroom eco...very design orientated and markers (Prismacolor, Copic) do not bleed through. Which is very surprising, considering my main archisketchbook is a Moleskin Sketchbook, which costs a lot more, but all markers bleed through it.

032: Nature walk

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Some pictures I found while in blogs, or were in my computer.

The first, Koen Van Velsen, in Rotterdam:


















The second, a work by Mass Studies, Korean firm: