The Poached Egg After the Raw

Today marked the completion of my second studio project, the P.E. or "Poached Egg." This project was a direct corollary to our first project, "the RAW" where we analyzed an existing structure in terms of its generative aspects and overall goal.

The above image is Deborah's and my RAW drawing of Carleton University's School of Architecture. We observed that the building is generated around an internal city grid with two main streets, side streets and alleyways. Offices and seminar rooms have addresses on the streets but more importantly, attached to the "armature" of the street system, were spaces we called "thresholds." In the Carleton University, the threshold spaces were places that allowed for multiple levels of commitment to an activity taking place in the building. The overall effect of this, we observed, was to encourage the interaction, improvisation, and cooperation that are key to the pedagogy of an architectural school.

The P.E. project was then to take the thesis we observed (threshold spaces) and make an installation in Rand Hall that worked on a 1:1 scale (human interaction) and an 1:x scale (modeling the building). Basically it has to transform our understanding of the site we chose as well as working as a 1ft equals whatever (1in, 1/2in, etc.) model of the building. It is hard to understand and even harder to design.

Deb and I went through several iterations and finally decided on a model that slid out from the wall (the street) and unfolded in planes (threshold spaces) to create a threshold space for our studio.There were some challenges to working in pairs that we had encountered during the RAW project, however, by this point Deborah and I began to just sync. Last Saturday we were in the woodshop taking turns drilling and holding screws when Deborah remarked that we were like "figure skaters." I inquired if we couldn't be something cooler, less emasculating, like synchronized swimmers. She suggested the ultimate in cool, synchronized divers and despite the sarcastic nature of my question, I had to agree she was on to something.

So team metaphor in place we built this Murphy bench and, at our review today, blew some minds when we pulled our model out of the wall, transformed it into a bench, sat down and gave the rest of our presentation from a newly created space in the building.

Snowboards and Dolls

So last Saturday I had to opportunity to go snowboarding with my arch. buddies. About twenty miles outside of Ithaca is a resort called Greek Peak. I was just beyond stoked because I love snowboarding and had not been in at least two years and as an added bonus: we were going at night.

The resort is not too bad for what it is. Examining the hills surrounding Greek Peak, one can guess that "Peak" is a little bit of a stretch. But hey, their transformation of a hill into a mountain is commendable.


This is me inside the lodge cafeteria. What was interesting about this place was that nothing inside could grant the viewer the slightest insight into what era you are in. There was a wooden sign that said "Greek Peak, celebrating 50 years" but gave no clue as to when such an anniversary did occur. Even the Pepsi machine had the old logo.

~

Unfortunately the weekend had to end and while none of us regretted taking the time off, it was definitely time to get back to studio.

That is Deborah, my partner for the past few weeks. She has been remarkably patient with my desires to go home and sleep at night. For that I am oh so grateful. We work pretty well together, always laughing and sometimes, even matching!

Our current project is an installation in Rand using the architectural theses we observed in our last project. This is our proposal for a wall that pulls out into a bench. The structure is a model of Carleton University and also a functional threshold space for our studio. It completely folds up and slides into the studio partition. (The props we quickly hid when our studio prof came in)

Semester Goal Seven

One of my goals this semester is to use this blog share some information about architecture. This is partially to show that I am capable of blogging about more than just quotidian experiences, partially to showcase my new-found knowledge on the subject, and partially to counteract the large gaps in our country's educational system.

I am trying really hard to become the antithesis of the architectural ego so please do not think I am doing this boastfully. It just turns out that most people have a very limited knowledge of the field. Coming to Cornell I was aware of maybe five architects. I am willing to wager, that if you thought about it you would not be able to name more than three and those three are probably Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Gehry, and that guy who did the curvy buildings Spain.

First of all Frank Lloyd Wright has only come up in discussion once at Cornell, and that was as a real life analogue for Howard Roark. From what I can tell Wright is to architecture as Kinkade is to painting. This is not necessarily mean their art is bad, but both were tremendously egotistic and were the first to say that they are the best at what they do. It has been noted that if you called Wright the best American architect, he would have taken offense at the addition of the qualifier "American."

Frank Gehry garners mixed feelings from architects. The general consensus is that Bilbao was a huge success of form but he is far too successful to be liked now. As for Gaudi, well he fits nicely into a lecture about surrealism in architecture so we will keep him.

Anyways, all this is to say that I would like to share some of the things I have been learning with you and you can look forward to that.

Note on the title:
This is one of multiple semester goals. Its placement at number seven does not neccesarily mean there are six that precede it. It is just that this goal is lower on the list than some of the others and a great maxim of my friends is that if you are going to choose a random number, it should always be seven.

Snow Pictures

Wednesday

I know what you must be thinking.... it is only two and a half weeks into the semester, how can I already resort to day-of-the-week post titles? Well, for one, it really has been an intense start to the semester and for another, I left that building (Sibley Hall) today and thought to myself, "Did I miss Bible Study this week? What day is it?"

"It is Wednesday...."

-

Today we had a review for our first project (our studio professor is amazingly intelligent and amazingly demanding). From the outset we have been struggling to meet a schedule that has work due for every meeting of our studio... I am already burnt out.

The review went well, most of her criticism of Deborah's and my project had to do with ways to improve the representation of our ideas, which sounds like a big component of any presentation but what it means is that she liked our ideas about the building we were analyzing and must have thought that our thesis for the Carlton School of Architecture was well formulated. Anyways, I'll try to post some pictures later.

In other news, it has been near-death cold in Ithaca since I returned and I can hardly leave the apartment without gratuitous application of clothing layers:



Oh and I don't have a doorknob right now.


This is my bed as seen from outside of my apartment (don't worry I have since covered the hole).
The story of my doorknob's demise is actually pretty amusing. Back in December my doorknob was getting tired of its duties and decided that it would only work if turned to the left. It took some getting used but I managed. Then one day it all together ceased to perform its function.

Now, this would not have been my first thought had someone told me that their doorknob failed, what is important, is location.

Would you rather be trying to get in, or get out when you find passage impossible.

I am a afraid my experience was that of the latter. I was locked IN my apartment. How ridiculous is that?

This all went down on Sunday. My friend Steve was picking me up to go to a Superbowl party (don't worry I brought my work, I haven't been lying to you about how crazy life is and if you think my studio prof cares about the Superbowl, or even knew it was happening, you are crazy). He called me to let me know he was outside. I went to leave, when, I couldn't.

It was a very traumatizing situation. I ended up "credit carding" the lock with a knife, but not before contemplating climbing out the window and jumping off the roof.

Needless to say it was a fun conversation with my landlord who was about to sit down and watch the game.

Anecdotes

So, in keeping with recent hopes to update this thing... here are a few anecdotes from my past two days.

#1
Yesterday after my moment of questioning the Lord (see below) I did make it to the Starbucks downtown. This Starbucks is actually the opposite way that I should be traveling in the morning but there is a shuttle that leaves the Commons every 10 minutes on the weekdays and that gives me a nice bit of flexibility in my morning plans.

I spent some time reading before switching on my computer to make a diagram of my building that I had dreamed of the night before (yes I have perfected sleep that still allows me to work). It had snowed quite a bit outside and it was still relatively early in the morning which meant silence and untouched snow on the sidewalk. I was feeling pretty happy, partially from the caffeine and partially from sticking to my new goal to wake up earlier, when it started to gently snow outside.

Just when I thought that life, at that moment, could not get any better. I hear one of the baristas say, "I have a venti vanilla latte at the bar for free if anyone would like it."

(Just in case you didn't know, that happens to be my favorite coffee drink...)


#2
A couple of hours later I was midway through my Techniques in Visual Representation class when I suddenly lost all will to live... this is apparently what happens when you overdose on caffeine and good fortune.


#3
Today was the kick off for Dragon Day, the Cornell Architectural Department's equivalent to Spring Sing. I have made some passing references to it before but the basic premise is that back in 1901 a guy named Willard Straight aimed to unify the small department while also raising the visibility of the school on campus. That occasion has sparked a century long tradition of the architecture students (particularly the incoming freshmen class) building a twenty to forty foot tall dragon, marching it across campus and ultimately lighting it on fire. Imagine sixty or so extremely creative kids, with access to a full shop (including welding equipment), freed from all responsibility all set about to create a giant dragon of metal, wood, fabric, and cardboard

#4
My current studio project is with a partner and this evening Deborah came into studio to find me working late (for me) and this is what happened:

Deb: "Wow John I am surprised you are still here"

(Pause)

Deb: (slow motion voice) "Wai... dooo nntt look at what time it is."

(Pause)

Me: "Yeah I am going to go"

Footprints in the Snow

Earlier this morning--
I was on my way to the Starbucks downtown.
As I looked back at the footprints in the snow,
I noticed there was only one set of footprints.
This really bothered me and I questioned the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,
you would walk with me all the way,
but I have noticed that during the most troublesome time in my life, in Ithaca,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why in times when I needed you most,
you should leave me."
The Lord replied, "John...
I love you despite how dumb you can be.
When you saw only one set of footprints in the snow,

it is because I walk ON TOP of the snow,

...like Legolas"

Lost and Found

Upon my return to Ithaca...

I have found... that winter gear never matches
And a related secondary discovery is that it is really hard to look cool wearing multiple plaid patterns, let alone the assorted checkers and stripes that manufacturers of winter gear have a penchant to produce.

I have found... that thanks to some crackpot named Daniel Fahrenheit it is possible to see a forecast without any degrees
For the rest of the world when the thermostat hits zero you can at least say "it is freezing outside." In the measurement-challenged United States it is redundant to say such a thing and one is left to wonder what kind of place allows such an abhorrent absence of degrees.

I have found... a Mexican to cook for me
This is an important one. His name is Steve Santana and he is from a Mexican colony called Los Angeles.

I have found... that there are actually other people living in my house
What is more surprising is that they are relatively normal (Non-engineering grad students!). There is Ben the painter, Colin the law student, Maarika the girl with a cool Latvian name (who also happens to be a Mathematician), Rob the real estate guy, and two others who didn't show up for the party.

I have found... a Church
It is called the Vineyard and despite its many faults, they break for donuts and "Gimme" coffee after the first set of worship songs. (Gimme coffee is the best in Ithaca) Also, from my two visits I can guess that they have a rotating worship team which means, on any given Sunday there is the chance of seeing a short, Asian, tone-deaf bass player who, one can only guess, learned how to perform by watching the Spice Girls. The man has got mad moves, so much so that he needs one of those headset microphones like Britney Spears.

I have found... that relativity is not just a tenet of modern physics
For instance, in a different context exclamations such as "It is 25 degrees outside!" or "It's 8:00pm and I get to leave campus!" might not be accompanied by relief.

I have found... that Karissa's saintliness is at least half due to her relationship to me

I have found... that I cannot do this on my own

We skipped dinner

Here I am right before I leave to pick you up. I look good but as usual, you look better.

We walk down to the Commons. It is cold outside and there are clusters of snow left from last nights storm. There is a chilling breeze but we don't mind, the white Christmas lights multiply in this kind of weather.

After stopping by a used book store we head over to the Cinemapolis, Ithaca's independent theatre ("Playing whatever we feel like since 19__").

By the box office you notice the butterflies up ahead and kid me, "watch out for the moths."

You wanted to see Coco Before Chanel but it was my turn to choose. I went to buy our tickets for A Serious Man. The guy at the counter noticed we were poor but in love, "tonight is two for one." I take the one ticket, rip it and give you half.


The theatre is small but so is Ithaca. The movie was a Coen brothers film, you hated it. I still need some time to decide.

I walked you home and kissed you goodnight. It was a good date.

Judgment Day

So three days ago we hit the culmination of our semester: the final review. As it turns out, the main component of an architectural education is the design studio. It is the design studio that takes up most of my time and it is the design studio that makes people do crazy things like stay up all night.

At no point in the semester are any type of grades handed out and the final review is the point where you showcase what you have learned for the entire semester. The best part is that this is done in front of a jury of outside critics whose objectives are first, to showcase everything they know and second, offer you some advice on your design methods. It is the former that really shatters a student's self-esteem but really, you can't take these sort of things personally.

If I have been delinquent in updating my blog it is because for the past two weeks I have spent nearly all of my time preparing for the final review. Just to give you an idea of what the atmosphere was like in Rand Hall in the days leading up to our review, one of my classmates didn't sleep for two nights. Yes, for three days he lived in Rand Hall and only slept with a keyboard as his pillow. I was so exhausted that the two days after the review, I didn't wake up until after 1pm and didn't extract myself from bed until the sun was setting.

Anyways, here are the plots from my final project. You can click on them to get a better look, in reality each of these panels was 3ft wide and 7ft long.
Note: We have only been working on this project for about five weeks and it is my first building project so be kind....

The project was to build a facility for visiting professors. The site was an existing structure on campus, a largely ignored, half completed building that houses Cornell's squash courts.

My project interpreted the site as two elements: the hallway and the squash court. Taking those two elements, whose existing state determines the current structure, and interpreting them based on the phenomenological aspects of the buildings, a new structure emerges as part of a dialogue between the two. The hallway became a twisted skewer, the cells became distinct units, and the structure that emerged was what you see in the renderings.

The intent of the facility was to invert the myth of an isolated intellectual by intersecting the professor's life with the life of the university.

I am happy with the way the presentation turned out but there are some rather fatal shortcomings in the structural manifestations of my ideas and the critics basically ripped me apart for them. ("So it goes." - Vonnegut)

~

Now I have just a week left and an overwhelming amount of writing to get done before that time is up... precisely what I am avoiding by writing this post but hey, studio is done and life is good.