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.