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.