Room Cleaning

We are starting to clean the studio space today. It will be emptied of EVERYTHING there starting at 3PM. Please see that all your stuff is out and gone by then.

Grading is almost done.

Sunday April 26

I meant to be in the studio photographing models and organizing the precedent studies from 3 to 6 today. I was actually there from 4:30PM until 1:30AM. You all have to stop asking me about your portfolios. I want to help but I'm a reviewer and it is a conflict of interest.

Help

I need help moving our outside visitors from and to the airport. This can be a great chance for some of you to make buddies with people who you'd want a job with some day and to just meet very good architects from around the country.

Monday:
a) Sergio DeJesus will collect 3 architects, two from Dallas (one alum) and one from Houston (alum), from the airport on Monday at 10h30
b) Kevin Ilaoa will collect a professor from UTA from the airport on Monday at 11h20
c) Jeremy Webb will collect 1 architect (alum) from Albuquerque from the airport on Monday at 11h50
Tuesday:
d) Professor Shacklette will deliver 5 architects, two from Austin (one alum) and one from Houston (alum) and two from Dallas (one alum), to the airport Tuesday at 16h45.
e) Professor Tsubaki will deliver a professor from the University of Arkansas and an architect from Albuquerque (alum) to the airport on Tuesday at 17h55

Mr. Chips

Goodbye, Mr. Chips - Peter O'Toole @ Yahoo! Video

2nd & 3rd 5 Wks. Grade Shts. are On-Line

They are to the left.

EXno.21 thru EXno.25 : Last Dance

All the files in the Final Models folder to the left are now up to date and capable of making some nice descriptive images. All models print 11 by 8.5 by 200ppi except the form perspectives, which are each 5.5 by 4.25 by 200ppi. It is recommended that you hit the fit button after selecting the view. In the formal perspective file there are six views which can be changed to fit your model. Click through them on the sample file to see an example of "continuity" and narrative in the set of images.

It all should be fairly straight forward. Have fun. Do this work so that you demonstrate the things we've been talking about for the last four weeks. Make the sum of the images a description of the project. Don't waste time thinking. Do something and then do it again in less time and better.

If you take nothing from this class you should take that: That if its worth doing its worth testing and trying and improving via a process of modeling and drawing it. That goes for whatever you do. A good way of thinking anything out is to make a graphical depiction of it.

There will be a new post about the exam in a day or two.

Cancelled : April 21 Evening Session

I am getting all your working files in order. I have no lecture prepared. I, like many of you, am bagged. No gas in the tank.


Brian

End of Semester Open House

I would like to have an open house during our class time on April 28th (6 PM to 8PM) for the whole school. The reviews for graduate studios will be over at about 4-5PM. You all could introduce your class to the school by having a "wrap-up" party in our studio with your work on the walls. We could invite people to talk about what you've done and to introduce themselves.

Is that a good idea? Would everyone be willing to chip in $3 to pay for some foods and drinks (Non-Alc, natch)? Or do you all just want to bring stuff for the event? I'm not sure I trust that you'll all bring something with your final project submissions, which will be due at that time.

If you'd all pitch in a few dollars the TAs and I could go get enough to attract visitors.

I've reopened the ability to discuss this post below.

EXno.20 : Circulation and Sequence

Given the front (the short side with the single plane), put a line in space that outlines a sequence through the spaces in the model. Not all spaces need be reached with the line but they must be engaged in the logic of how one would pass through these spaces. Think of this line as a sort of variable speed timeline where one passes from one to another in a cinematic sense of space that works the line like a camera. It is a view and an occupation both. They're different. One is experiencing it bodily and one is perceiving things visually. Consider this situation in two parts: Where are you looking? and What are you occupying?

Build your line while considering these concepts:
Arrival
Threshold
Compression
Density
Passage
Delay
Tracking

In your model make these lines. We'll help you with finishing these lines in class Thursday.

This is all leading up to a great final assignment.

Bernard "Pretty" Purdie

I didn't do this guy justice in class. The point was to show an example of continuity and the development of an idea and its transference across time. Secondarily, it was to introduce you to a great artist's work.

Here's the people he's recorded music with: James Brown, Grover Washington, Jr., George Benson, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Steely Dan, Toto, Louis Armstrong, and he claims that some of the Beatles' drum tracks are his, not Ringo Starr's. The drumming on Beck's "Devil's Haircut" is a sample of this guy's work.

One addendum: He's not dead. He's currently the drummer for the musical "Hair" on Broadway and is 68 years old.

The Best Event Space I Know : Cai Guo-Qiang

This artist from China draws with real explosions (fireworks) and dynamic models using taxidermy and diorama that really capture moments in "Event Space". In am almost cinematic way he puts you into a very intense and vivid moment in time and in space.


On his Tigers Shot Full of Arrows:


He did the opening and closing fireworks for the Beijing Olympics.

EXno.19 : Programming the Model

We must be systematic, but we should keep our systems open.
Alfred North Whitehead, Modes of Thought

Preface: Please read this post carefully and ask questions about what you do not understand. If you just don't know the definition of something, look it up. Ignorance of the meaning of words is no excuse. A lack of a clear conceptualization of the ideas and systems in the discipline of architecture is why we're here.

So this is the real shift in logic from understanding the model as object based space to understanding the model as event based space. There's s subtle shift in understanding where the specifics of shape, jointure, and scale give way to specifics of an ontology of adjacency, congruency, and proximity. For a time we'll be interested more in how things in space correlate than how they are composed. This part is more topological than topographical in nature.

So, first you build an understanding in your head of the space and spatial relationships in your model. Answer these questions:
Where is there space?
What is the Hierarchy of space in the model?
How is space related in the model?
How does it interconnect, congrue, and correlate?
What spaces in your model can be cataloged as unique (variable) or repetitive (constant)?

Then build a digital spatial spatial model that makes ALL the space in the project as cubic form.

To help convert the perception of this model as evental rather than formal we give you a simple prescriptive programmatic framework to use to categorize the spaces therein.

An Outline of Four Types of Event / Programmatic Space in Architecture

a) Place Space (Yellow)
spaces which portray a sense of definite location or position.

b) Path Space (Red)
major transition spaces which are directional; corridor/connector/passageway.

c) Transition Space (Green)
spaces which act primarily as joints or fasteners.
can become an articulation between dissimilar elements.
a type of space which defines, separates, or joins.
a space that aids in the definition and/or juxtaposition of spaces or elements of contrasting or continuous character.

d) Servant Space (Blue)
spaces which are support to place spaces, path spaces, and transition spaces. mechanical voids & space occupied by structural elements, built in elements, wet areas, etc.
(Servant space as understood in opposition to Served space)

Using this developing analysis you should build these colors into your digital programmatic space model y colorizing the cubic volumes of space accordingly.

Make five different versions of these.

Have progress on Thursday ready to be talked about. These five models are due on Tuesday.

Semester Schedule

EXno.17 : Final Models

FOAM:
A full scale model of your project on the black base. This model will be graded intensel for clear intention and careful craft. Make every joint in the model an intentional reveal, connection, alignment, and connection. This model should be constructed of one color of foam, it should have NO visible conection materials (glue, pins, wire, etc.).

FORM•Z:
A complete digital model built on the base model (1412_XXX_Ph2_MasterModel.fmz) provided to the left. It should have these layers, these colors, image properties (resolution and size) these shadow settings, etc. The only thing you should be able to move is the location of the sun. All you have to do is import your current model into this file.

To show your work in this digital model you will provide the associatd rendered views. Each view in the views pallete is marked with how to render it. Once you've rendered each view go to "FILE", "EXPORT IMAGE" and select .tif file. Save each file in the same format as the master file but add the view name at the end of each image file (1412_XXX_Ph2_MasterModel_RightSidePlanimetric.tif). You will turn these on on a CD with the master file. Change the XXX to your first inital and your last name (1412_BRex_Ph2_MasterModel.fmz) in each file you submit. There are 8 views you will collect.

Back up and Running

Welcome back.

You should be drawing the heck out of your precedent study right now. I have not posted a new assignment for the studio project.

Please have your studio project two dimensional "sections" you started from, your foam models, and the digital models you have been building with you in in class on Tuesday.

Please have your precedent drawing progress in class tomorrow.

Lecture By Professor Michelle Addington

In the College of Architecture we do not have a big lecture series this year but we have some big lectures. We're very excited to present this upcoming event in conjunction with our "PINK DAY" celebrations in our building.

Wednesday, March 25th at noon Michelle Addington from Yale University will give a lecture, "Buildings, Boundaries, Behaviors" in English 001, the large lecture hall at the bottom of the light well on the inside (eastern side) of the west wing of the building.

Michelle is a former NASA engineer who is now a professor of Architecture at Yale University and one of the world's leading authorities on Environmental Control Systems and New Building Materials.

A recent lecture at the New School in NYC can be viewed HERE.

About INstalling and Re-Installing Form•Z

Hi Brian,

The student version allows you to install on any two computers. If your students have already installed on two computers, and one dies, then we can reset our records so the "dead" computer will no longer count as one of their licenses. If you need us to do this, just let us know their serial number and we can reset this.

To reinstall, just use the install package that they downloaded previously, and the same serial number and install code. (The installation instructions note that these should be backed up in case they are needed in the future.)

All install packages are the same (except Mac vs. Win), so if they do not have the install package that they downloaded, an install package from anyone else will work with her install code. (Or you can use any Joint Study Extension DVD.)

If they forgot their serial number or install code, let us know and we can retrieve this for them.
Please let us know if you have any further questions or problems.

Best Regards,

Paul Helm

Thom Mayne

Thom Mayne's Architecture Firm MORPHOSIS

Precedent Research

I have scoured my hard-drives for background info on the Precedent projects and I've found the material now linked in the third category on the left, "Precedent Research". I do not have anything for some structures. I have some hard to get info in these. The two projects with the most info are: Lovell Beach House (20mb including HABS documentation) and Villa Curruchet (95mb), for which I have an incredible number of detail photos.

You all need to know all these houses and pavilions. The ability to identify these will be on the final exam. You will need to know: Name, Date, Architect, and Location when shown a plan, section, or model of the project.

It is a good set of reference materials.

EXno.10.2 : Precedent Planimetrics

The process of analysis involves viewing the work from many different angles; "...in this way the complexities and overlays of architectural thought and fact are revealed. The student begins to understand and realize how much really goes into the making of a significant piece of architecture. She dissects the work and re-assembles it; she begins to discover the differences and similarities among the major works. In the search, things are rediscovered that perhaps the creator of the work had not intended.

Through the investigation, the student reveals her own architectural thought to herself on a more critical plane; she even invents within the analysis. At first the ego is overwhelmed by a thorough analysis of another's world - a period of adjustment becomes necessary before the start of one's own creative work - but once the impact is received and absorbed, one's new work becomes filled on many levels. The analysis problem is one of recreation.

John Hejduk on Analysis

You are to construct a set of planimetric projections of your precedent building in a single file. Build this drawing set by creating and revealing relationships in the geometries and concepts of the house. The sample precedent drawings offered do not show this process, they only show the final product of the drawing's construction. You are going to make the construction of the drawing the drawing, not the emerging image. That will just be one part of your drawing.

This set of projection drawings will include:
2 plans
2 sections

In the drawing you will have:
3 clearly delineated line weights
2 clearly delineated line types
-notational sets such as section cuts, fixtures & directional arrows
-a graphical scale and a north arrow
-notational text as needed in a small Arial or Helvetica font

Architecture operates on reality from a distance, and through the mediation of abstract systems such as notation, projection, or calculation…Architecture works simultaneously with abstract images and with material realities, in complex interplay. It is a material practice.

Stan Allen

You should leave all lines in the construction of the drawing. You are constructing a diagram of how you thought through this planimetric study in drawing not just making an image of the layout of the building. Print out small portions of these drawings often during their construction, keep this record in a binder, and make a large printout at least once before the final due date.

Explore the house in these drawings and make those explorations clear in the drawings. Pinning up at the interim reviews will be checked and part of the final grade.

Thursday March 12th:
Build the general geometry of the sheet by blocking out the general location of the views and their relationships. Start relating the views with notational systems. Start laying out and projecting the individual views. Make a 8.5 by 14 (legal) printout, fit to print, of your overall layout and bring it for review. These are the review dates and what should be done for each date.

Thursday March 26th:
Finish out the lineweights and line types in each view. Finish relating the views through simple and refined notational systems and text sets. Printout the overall drawing, fit to print on a "doublewide" 2 times 8.5 by 14 (make it 14 by 14) sheet.Printout a screen captured view fo your layers pallette on a single sheet of paper.

Tuesday March 31st:
Final Submissions in two formats:
a) Digitally as a .fmz file with good layers and lineweights and as a vector .pdf file.
b) In Print as a 20 inch by 20 inch bond matte greyscale printout.