PeopleFund Steel Erection

This weekend I witnessed the birthing of a project ... glorious! Since 2007 Winter I have been working at Lawrence Group Architects Austin on PeopleFund [see entry 10.25.09] and now the steel is being erected on site. Notice the top right structure appears to cantilever beyond the column grid - in the next week the diagonal bracing will tie back to the second grid of columns creating a suspended hung 'cantilever' (top). I'll keep posting as construction continues ...

...SWINE?

I was passed this photo and have been thinking about it now and again. I chose to post this today in response to conversations I have had recently about where my collaborative is headed and what work will be doing in the next year. Here are some reflections...

'A new generation of workers is entering the workforce at an extremely horrible time in...' alright, we all know the situation... However, there is also a huge change in work ethic of our field. We are increasingly part of a work force that relies on technology to give us access to information, information organization, and visualization techniques. The ability with which we access the information is different from previous generations of architects. Before, catalogs and 'standards' were used as reference materials in firms to guide drafters working at desk stations. Now, we have access to manufacturer models and BIM objects that we do not have to concern ourselves with eighths of inches...

It is time to clear the caches of architectural libraries? I propose we delete the mundane caches of knowledge and move toward using that space to think of new things we can apply our interests towards!

BTW, if you have not seen the movie 'objectified', what are you waiting for?

'Out of the million chairs that have been designed in the world, how could there be an uncomfortable chair?' - Karim Rashid

Pearls

Noted 7.12.2006 Leuven, Belgium

Dr. Buelinckx and I discussed the principles of architecture. Simply, designing spaces fundamentally based on types of structures surrounding the actions of human beings.

Architects should choreograph human movement through spaces. 'Verbs' or actions of humans are most significant because humans are animate beings constantly interacting with one another and with inanimate objects within a space. Engineering tends to base its principles on 'nouns' and objects. It is the job of the architect to determine the type of action and design the space(s) accordingly and then also design the inanimate functional objects within that space. As long as humans are on this planet we are restricted by gravity to movement in the vertical stance and less so in horizontal directions. This means circulation is primarily, if not solely, movement upon a single plane. Design is simple and space becomes complex when one starts manipulating the plane. [MVRDV vs. Le Corbusier]

Hendrika Buelinckx & Jeremy Wahlberg

Harris County Brick II

I was scrounging around my neighbors backyard this weekend (she moved out last month) and I found a few more bricks that matched the ones I already have.I am going to play around with different reusable moulds but I couldn't resist putting them up and photographing them.

BlogIcon II

i really like the name 'blogicon' said as one word sounds fun. like chaka khan. or similar to the image below ;) my original idea was to generate more icons of the big from all of us and then rotate them as we come up with them. so that the image is always in flux since we are always defining what the big 4401 is to us. also the image was to kickoff some much needed interaction and postings on the blog :)

blogicon

i was just checking out all your links, and saw an interesting similarity in iconography of blogs...






i know jeremy asked for inspiring new icons for the blog, but i never heard a call for votes on which we liked...

Gun Hoofs

From Vivian St. George at refinery 29
"Under normal circumstances, the words "gun," "hoof," and "shoes" would have no reason to be used in the same sentence, but artist and designer Iris Schieferstein combines all three together in her plainly named "Gun Hoofs," a follow-up from her disturbingly realistic plain-hoofed version. More art object than actual footwear, these shoes make an ironic statement about the paradox of taxidermy: That in death, the animal achieves immortality, and we're sure the gold-plated revolver doesn't hurt the late goat's street cred. A bizarre hybrid of the Margiela hoofed shoe and the Chanel gun pump, these babies are must-have pieces for any serious satyrialist. (Design Milk)."

wow! we all know people who like guns, but goats too? that's certainly taking rural design to a whole new level.

Harris County Brick

This idea came to me a few years ago while working on a studio project. I have found a little extra free time so i have decided its the right time to start moving forward.

The bricks are placed back into a mould, roughly the same size as the original brick. Although these bricks were salvaged from my neighbors back yard i feel that more historically significant materials would tell a more interesting story. My ultimate goal for this project would be to have many more of these bricks and in a manner of speaking, rebuild a fallen wall. I think using the actual fallen materials, with varying amounts of wax/brick and then placed in its original setting would be quite moving. Maybe after some time in the sun the wax bricks will somehow collapse and become its own ruin once again.

I feel that this is only the beginning. I could vary the type of materials, using large cmu or even old termite ridden wood beams. Questions, comments, suggestions? Most of comments i have heard have been rather positive so more critical eyes are welcome to as well. More bricks are on the way.

Infographics

If you remember I posted previously about the awesome work done over at GOOD magazine, specifically in the department of GOOD Transparencies. I have been kicking my ass at work lately attempting to convey a ridiculous amount of data into an easy to understand graphic.

So Tufte and GOOD Magazine have been my home boys for the last couple of months. Here are some dudes whose graphic design prowess, specifically in infographics, is unmatched.

Frank Chimero

iconwerk

Gavin Potenza

moleskine collection I

just went digging through some older moleskines i had laying around - the following are from 3 skines all of which went on a couple travels to europe with me - i'll post another series soon ...

_cliff dwellings
composed of planes, lines and points along cliffs these creations cantilever over canyon rims, cliff edges etc. the concept that they are temporary and can be anchored to the earth and cliff sides with structural components by drilling and hanging fastening.






















_kinetic iterations
fluid pieces of objects, materials, moving parts assemblages and fragment amalgamations compose these concepts of imagined architectures. scale is left to the imagination. i think of time pieces blown up in scale. these are quick vingnettes plan/elevations/sections of an object - i draw these quickly with pencil first, usually never picking up the point, (similar to the idea behind the singing line in japanese prints) ink the pencil, add dashed lines representing layering of parts and then fill in parts that are critical or unique.

where do these go now? they are really just snippets of a larger idea ... how would one take it to the next level?