critters

Airports...

2010-12-12T01:19:00.004+13:00

Inside the pumpkins at Wellington Airport. Has qualities similair to the secret lair of a 60's spy movie villain, but hey these people are using it. Also quite interesting and dangerous, is that one has no choice but to pass through the duty free store to get to this terminal.

A childhood favorite of mine, only people flying United Airlines to Chicago are treated to this Helmut Jahn design tunnel of neon tubes and pastel paint swatches.

What do you THINK?

2010-11-13T11:21:00.002+13:00

We doing it again.

What do you think about last semesters courses?

This time we hoping to have a range of opinons from other disciplines and years.

Discuss here and spread the word.

Competitions - Relevant or Redundant?

2010-10-08T21:59:00.001+13:00

Perusing ArchDaily the other day, I was struck by an interesting post from Charles Holland, architect and principal of London-based office FAT.

Here is the link: http://www.archdaily.com/80663/dear-other-architects/

Holland tells us that it is a bad idea to enter design competitions. In summary, he suggests that competitions create unnecessary stress and work, that it is silly to give away your work and ideas for free, that working in this way creates a culture of expectation and entitlement amongst the people who would otherwise pay for what you do, and that the entire system of conventions regulating design competitions are inherently flawed.

While I imagine that much of what Holland says is true (as a second year student I don't really have any experience in the brutal world of architecture offices), I thought it might be interesting to give a point-by-point list of how competitions might benefit the architectural profession and people in general, even if there isn't a quantifiable outcome at the end of it.

So: Why design competitions are good. Or at least, why they aren’t bad.

It’s like training. Following the brouhaha upon release of Malcom Gladwell’s ‘Outliers’, the figure of ‘10,000 hours’ was banded around by various forms of media as they key to any kind of success. After all – practice makes perfect, right? The same goes for architecture. While a successful outcome is what most people are after in a competition situation, especially if you’re trying to make a buck, design competitions are an opportunity to test elements of process, design and representation that can be used in other projects. So even if an entry isn’t a total success, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the process behind it was a total failure.

Exposure. Perhaps the number one reason why firms enter architecture competitions is the chance to get noticed. Take this competition for a museum in Rio de Janeiro for example – even though DS+R were the eventual winners, the work of other entrants is displayed with just as much emphasis. For a younger, smaller firm working its way up through the ranks, there aren’t many better opportunities where architects are able to successfully display their work and ideas at the same level as more established practitioners, to such a wide audience, outside of built work and commissioned projects. http://www.archdaily.com/31828/diller-scofidio-renfro-win-competition-for-the-new-image-and-audio-museum-in-rio-de-janeiro/.

Architecture is a discourse. One of Holland’s main points was that we shouldn’t give away our work for free, or work for free on something that we’re just going to give away. Work equals time equals money. This split in priorities – between output and outcome - characterizes the shifting nature of architecture as a profession. The problem occurs when process-driven constructs like competitions become monetized and adversarial. If you view every unit of work as an object to be billed, it seems natural that you would not ‘work’ for ‘free’. However, I’m not entirely sure that it is good to look at the design process as a series of transactions. In order for architecture to progress as a discipline it needs to reflect upon itself and respond to various stimuli outside of the monetary boundaries imposed by an incentivised market system. Ideas are as much the product of discourse as they are a form of currency – one cannot exist without the other. Competitions exist as a platform for such discourse to take place, within and amongst both architects and the wider public sphere. Despite the financial outcomes, competitions are both a discussion a process of elimination.

Admittedly, I only came up three four points to Holland’s thirteen, and perhaps this is all just from an idealistic student. It’s great for me to talk about how great it is to design a space station that critiques deconstructivism and American foreign policy when I don’t have kids to feed and bills to pay. I still think that there is some value in competitions though. It’s important that architecture retains something slightly outside of the real and the everyday to maintain its relevance.

All that said – I also know enough about all-nighters and lack of sleep that I could totally go for a comfortable 9-5, with my boss taking me down to the pub at the end of the day when I’m done with school here.

Double Feature : Part 1 - Architecture for Humanity

2010-09-26T17:40:00.001+13:00

Last Thursday, while most of us were in the midst of a 3Ds Max / Excel spreadsheet frenzy, a couple of very intersesting speakers came to the school to provide a two-part lecture highly relevant to the discussions we've been having here on Critters. Alexandra Lee, from Auckland University and Mark Tyrrell, from the University of Sydney spoke about their involvement with two organisations doing some very interesting and worthwhile work across the globe.

Alexandra, who is currently completing her thesis, is part of the Auckland chapter of Architecture for Humanity. The organisation provides design services to communities amidst humanitarian crises, and was sparked by the urgent need for housing for Kosovan refugees in 1999. Acting as a liason between communities, construction industries and policy-makers, the organisation does more than token one-off built gestures and seeks solutions which integrate the communities into the rebuilding process. This is in opposition to the remark that 'architects are often the last people needed in disaster reconstruction', as David Sanderson writes in his article for the Guardian,

"As I was told by a professor when studying some 20 years ago, the role of architects in these circumstances is 'marginal at best'. In fact, most architects are taught almost the exact opposite of what is needed. Architects are taught to focus on the product (a building), whereas humanitarian practitioners major on the process (involving people)."

Architecture for Humanity goes against this stereotype and consults with government bodies and aid organisations, promoting socially conscious design through advocacy and education, strenghtening communication between the beneficiaries and those delivering aid.

In terms of what the Auckland chapter gets up to, from what I inferred from the lecture, it seems to be mainly fundraising and participating in the parallel design competitions which the organisation runs. There's not currently a Wellington chapter, but fellow critter Ms Collinson has been in touch with Alexandra and is keen to get something going. There's plenty of information out there about Architecture for humanity, check out their website for a start. They also edited the book Design Like You Give a Damn, which is well worth a read.

Stay tuned for part 2 : The very interesting Mark Tyrrell on his work for Global Studio : in Diepsloot, South Africa and Bhopal, India.

Te Aro School

2010-08-24T21:54:00.006+12:00

Te Aro Primary came up as a possible site for our design build studio. At the moment part of the school (the area I’ve labeled “site”) has been borrowed by the team constructing the new artificial playing field in front of Te Puni. Once the new field has been completed the site will be flattened and turned into a (irregularly shaped) soccer field while the school decides on its future.

As I work part time at the school I’ve managed to have a few chats with the principal, Bryce, and gage his interest in the kind of project we would be doing if the studio were to go ahead. He described the site as a ‘blank canvas’, and seemed fairly excited about the possibility of us being able to provide a genuinely useful service to the school through some sort of intervention. He said probably the most useful thing we could provide would be seating or shelters – however as no real plans for the site have been made, he suggested we come up with a proposal for the site and have the school consider it.

One of the most interesting things Bryce said was that for most school playground upgrades he tries to let the kids have what they want. At some stage he’ll go through a process of collecting student ideas for the site, and then will do the best he can to implement them. As a fun experiment at work the other day I got a few of the young kids (5-6year olds) to draw a play area they’d like to have at the school. There were some pretty rad proposals…the highlights being a drawing clearly influenced by Lebbeus Woods and some sort of animal health care centre/ sci-fi zoo. If this studio went ahead it would be awesome for us to incorporate the students in some way…. not just as one of the ways to fulfill the ‘research’ components to the paper, but to ultimately create a more successful project.

I recommend anyone who’s interested to come and check out the site, it’s really quite cool. The walkway next to it is a node of foot traffic where two or three pathways converge into one, and now that the site is being flattened (it was once elevated) it will make it the same elevation as both the walkway and the new artificial field. This makes the site quite a public area, at least, more publicly visible than any other area of the school. The only thing separating the kids from the uni students / adults walking past is flimsy waist high wire mesh fence. I’m not saying I think that’s a bad thing, it just creates an interesting atmosphere. It’s a boundary that could be addressed by any intervention we made.

Small primary schools, such as Te Aro, generally suffer from a lack of funding. They don’t have a lot of money to spend on maintenance, let alone construction projects and especially designers. Te Aro is distinct from other school’s I’ve been involved with in that the range of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds the kids come from is SO diverse. It’s a community in itself, and it embodies a lot of the ‘struggling minority’ aspects that have been addressed by Rural Studio type projects. In that sense I can’t think of a more perfect candidate for a design-build studio.

Next steps anyone?
I reckon a site visit on a sunny day needs to happen,
and probably another meeting / chat with whoever to make this actually happen.

Superstudio 2010

2010-08-13T01:07:00.000+12:00

It's Friday morning. It's 7am. It's amazing we've all made it to the train station on time. 30 bleary-eyed VUW SOADers congregate at Wellington railway station to embark upon a journey to the supercity. We may have been coerced with free train travel, mention of snacks and of course a good old party, but the reason we're up so damn early is to get to Superstudio.

Superstudio is an event run by your very own SANNZ (Student Architecture Network of New Zealand) in association with SONA (Australia's equivalent) with the intention of fostering socialisation and activity throughout the architecture students of NZ. Their goals are very much like our own here at Critters - enriching our own education by taking responsibility, and ensuring our interests are explored.

So, come 8pm, we're in Auckland. We're hyped from the hilarious games on the train, and exhausted from the confinement. Maybe I shouldn't have done that all-nighter the night before either. Ohwell. We make quite the entrance into a lecture hall occupied by Auckland University and Unitec students. It's fair to say the Wellington contingency outshone the Auckland schools combined, in both number and spirit.

Time to hear the brief and meet the team mates.

Define 'place x', which lies between the boundary of the urban and the suburban. Activate said place through play. Names of teams are called from a list. I hear the names called, I don't know the people but I find myself with a fourth year VUWer and a first year Unitecette - Sophie and Anna.

By now it's 10.30. I've been awake for near on 40 hours by now (my own fault) but we sit down to start to chat about ideas. We agree that 'play' needn't necessarily require the interaction of other people - it is a highly subjective, individual and personal experience. The mind plays all day long, when we're strolling down the streets, seeing some things not others, imagining the extents and possibilities of everyday objects. So we also agree that place x could be these tangential explorations of existing places, that seem to happen on journeys between home and work for instance. But now it's midnight, and we're tired, so we retract to our sleeping places and agree to meet back at Unitec in the morning.

9.30am Saturday. Breakfast! Delicious muesli and yoghurt and things laid out to feed our hungry bodies and minds. With a bit of sleep under my belt, and a couple of cups of tea later, I'm almost functional. So, where were we? Oh yeah, place x. We're also in Auckland, which as you know is a massively sprawly city, with motorways galore and a hugely underutilised public transport system. This totally works with our idea of a journey, and how many times have you sat on a bus or train and imagined the lives of those familiar strangers who surround you? That is play, my friends. It may be invisible, but it sure happens.

11am. So, feeling a little bit inspired, we walk in the rain to Mt Albert train station. The first train arrives within minutes. Where are we going? Who cares, we just want to take some photos of people riding trains. So we do. And I get told off, by this guy.

12pm Tail between our legs, we jump off at the next station, look around and wonder when the next damn train will be. Half an hour. Bleck, waiting around in this weather is no fun. Where the hell are we anyway? It says Morningside Station. There's a thing on the ground with BroTown characters saying 'Morningside 4 life'. Rad, we're officially in BroTown. I guess it's where the show is set, so we decided to name our all-girl group BroTown as an homage to the journey.

12.30pm. Back on the train to Unitec we get the shots we're after, and after another wet walk back into the first year studio we get to work putting together photoshop collages and talking through our ideas with the guest tutors. By this stage we'd decided that the way we wanted to activate place x through play was to create an interface for daydreaming. To merge the imagination and reality. Our first talk with a guest tutor was actually kind of discouraging, he seemed to want to 'architecturalise' our idea by turning it into some kind of kiosk, whereas we were pointed down a much more fanciful route. Talks with the following tutors were awesome though, they were totally on the same page and super encouraging. What a relief.

6.20pm. Ten minutes before hand in. Collages done and our idea clarified, I'm desperately trying to throw them into powerpoint. It's crashing. It's not doing what I want it to. Shit! We were getting by in such a relaxed manner up until this last moment.

6.30pm PHEW. HANDED IN.

Straight to the lecture theatre to present.

Boy do I wish I had video footage of the hilarity which ensued. Man. You really had to be there (and you should have been). A personal favourite quote came from our very own Maxwell while describing his exciting bike ramp scheme: "even though, I have not played sport in many years, I still retain enough momentum, to ride on a bicycle up these timbers."

There were presentations featuring Justin Bieber, a centre which acted as a drug den by night and kindergarten by day, a dance sequence with with improvised sound effects. Some presentations were highly theoretical. Some were beautifully poetic. Some were very similar to one another. All were fantastic, thoughtful and incredible considering the short amount of time in which they were produced.

7.45pm Awards Ceremony!

First of all, prizes were awarded to specific categories.

The Oscar for best performance went to......... none other than Maxwell for his enthusiastic and beautifully awkward eloquence we know so well.

The colouring in book for team with best renders went to...... the kids who did the drug den / kindy for their 'atmospheric' perspectives.

Time for the finalists.

Third place went to a team who made a wormhole which makes time stop (don't we all want one of those).

Second place went to the beautifully performed dance by brick boys.

First place.... drumroll.... BROTOWN! Wooooohoooooooooo! The judges loved the scheme, fantastic!

10pm. Party time. Subsidised drinks. Dancing til dawn.

7am. Still in town, so we see the kids off on the train, followed by a hungover ferry ride for a sleep and some breakfast from some wonderfully hospitable parents. Beautiful day on the North Shore. Time to relax til we fly home on monday.

All in all, good times. See you next year, Superstudio.

Possible project.

2010-08-10T11:24:00.001+12:00

At the meeting on thursday we discussed the idea of a design - build type studio at Vic. We threw round some ideas about what and where, as well who would be involved to make it a possibility (lecturers, Diane Brand etc).

I think some of the key themes were -
1. Agenda - humanitarian? - funding for a small, local community project could be obtained relatively easily / we will get mad warm fuzzy vibes if we actually do something meaningful whilst at school.
2. Scale - if we build under 10ms^2 we can negate the resource consent process...do I have that right? this could be shelters, seating etc.
3. Integration with VUW - this could be achieved relatively easily under the guise of a lecturer supervised research paper, however this would also make the paper an elective and it could be hard to put in as much of a sustained effort as we would like.
Another option would be to integrate the project with a construction paper (the project would potentially have design + professional practice integration possibilities too). Judging by the feedback from my 3rd yr construction paper which has been integrated with the solar decathlon house (as much as I love the solar decathlon project), I think this latter option runs the risk of us removing ourselves from the 'discourse'. VUW is an acedemic body and as a university differs from a polytech type course. This is particularly relevant now that in fourth + fifth year we will be doing a research based masters degree. It's ultimately the lecturers who know about and decide on such things though.

I missed the first meeting but apparently Guy Marriage has been very supportive about this idea - awesome - great lecturer to have on board.

4. Where -some options: A school, Karori Sanctuary / Wilton's bush, Homeless people in Mt Vic, Lower Hutt.
We decided that if we're pro-active and seek out opportunities it is far more likely that this kind of project will be endorsed by the school.
( I'll post some information and an update about a possible site, Te Aro primary school, soon)

5. If none this works out we'll collectively migrate to illegal treehouses in the greenspace in aro valley as part of a radical architectural protest /anarchistic social housing experiment.

Quick Link

2010-08-09T12:30:00.003+12:00

Came across this BldgBlog article adding to the debate on architecture and education.

You gotta be in it to win it

2010-08-01T21:02:00.004+12:00

Having just won second prize in a competition over at the Revit Kid, the prize, some utilities for surprise, surprise, Revit I'm on top of the world! Getting 3 votes for my entry (2 of which were me. Sshhh. Don't tell anyone!) I'm thinking how hard can some of them be. Ok so that one took me 10 minutes...
I'm not sure how practical entering one during term time would be,how much time would they suck up? but doing one during the hols could work.
Doing it in a team makes a lot of sense unless you don't want to share the glory (or prize money) with someone else.
Check out some of the ones listed on theArchitectureRoom
http://www.thearchitectureroom.com/
especially the Skycraper comp which runs through Jan and Feb next year. Of course there has to be a catch which in this case is the US $85 (ouch) registration fee, for the chance to win US $5000.
What are the odds?
Whose game?

On "Sambo", "MusicMan" and architecture

2010-07-29T01:12:00.004+12:00

Having watched Citizen Architect I would like to comment on the man known only as Music Man. A poverty stricken stereo obsessed man who taught himself to read through comic books and also happens to be the main client of the Rural Studio portrayed in the documentary Citizen architect. Music Man's previous home was a dark and cramped trailer filled to the brim with stereo equipment and other objects collected from who knows where. So one might expect a house designed by a team of architectural students to promote a change or forcibly alter Music Man's clutter filled life. However this is not the case and I must say that I was surpirsed and impressed that Music Man did not change his way of living, that the house designed by Rural studio did not impose any rules on him. I think that makes for great architecture, and conflicts with many a modernist/postmodernist view that the architect decides how people live. Compare and contrast Sambo with the negatively painted Peter Eisenman who thinks that the architect knows people better then they do themselves. How about Jean Nouvel who had it written in contract that residents of his social housing development Nemausus one could not paint or wallpaper over the bare concrete walls, can you imagine how he'd react to Music Man...

I think what's essential in these types of projects is a great understanding of the clients, and a belief that architecture's role is not to enforce change, but to accommodate living. The Rural Studio did an excellent job in addressing this for Music Man, the high ceilings provided a great deal of unoccupied space that allowed for greater air circulation and lighting possibilities that the low hung ceiling of his trailer could not provide. In this manner when Music Man filled his house with his collections there was still ample light and ventilation.

So too in the "The Tsunami Box" where author Gerald Melling identifies the ridiculousness of a modern indoor kitchen for the refugees. He realizes that people will not be able to afford the usage of gas and eventually end up making fires and cooking outside anyways as was done traditionally. Quite comically I believe he is able to sell the outdoor cooking area to the rich American Philantropist by calling it an outside barbeque or something cute like that.

In "Architecture for the Poor" Hasan Fathy argues that slums are in fact the most practical response for the people that occupy them, being that they are built and designed by the people and as such their economic and pragmatic needs are generally taken care of. He argues instead that money should be spent on infrastructure such as clean water sources, waste disposal, before any money is to be spent on housing. And if housing is needed that the people should have easy access(economically) to materials and build for themselves. If any maintenance were needed they would more then likely need to understand how to repair and thus build themselves.

I am not familiar with what was discussed in the meeting, but if we are heading down the humanitarian route we must toss the ego and notions of fame and fortune out the window. We must be willing unlike Peter Eisenman to live with out clients, to understand their behavior and needs and limits. Through that I think we'd best understand how to provide for them and gain the richest educational experience as well. What do you guys think?

For your convenience

2010-07-23T11:58:00.000+12:00

Bring me $10 today or Monday if you'd like me to buy you a ticket for the 12.15 screening of Citizen Architect on Tuesday. Alternatively, come with me to buy them, I'm heading to City Gallery at 11am.

Draquila

2010-07-23T00:24:00.005+12:00

(Silvio Berlusconi as Draquila)

Feeling a slight case of cabin fever and with a few dollars remaing from my paycheck I decided to escape the house and architectural school with a movie viewing. I decided to check out the Italian vampire movie "Draquila --Italy Trembles" as Italian horror movies are the best. Hoping to see the next "Suspiria" I headed on down to The Paramount.

Imagine my surprise when I realized Draquila is not Italian for Dracula, but instead
"Draquila--Italy Trembles" by director Sabina Guzzanti, is a political documentary following the Berlusconi government's exploitation of an earthquake in the town of Aquila last April and the false promise of housing for the victims.

What the trailer doesn't seem to show is the movie's focus on the rehousing of the victims and it's role in bumping Silvio Berlusconi's approval ratings which in turn allowed him to extend his power into what one victim in the movie called a "shit dictatorship". Quite interesting to think of the architecture and its role in the exploitation of disaster relief.

Disaster exploitation is explored in detail in the book "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein which you can check out here as well as slightly touched on in "The Tsunami Box" by Gerald Melling. As designers I think at some point we may feel the desire to become involved in some sort of disaster relief or some sort of humanitarian effort, and I think this is something we should be aware of.

Unfortunately Draquila is no longer playing at the film festival, but be on the look for it at a video store in the months to come.

Superstudio

2010-07-17T16:01:00.001+12:00

Superstudio is quickly approaching! If you haven't heard of it or participated before, it's an annual student competition organised by SANNZ, where you're given a brief brief and brief time period in which to throw together a proposal. It's both a fantastic opportunity to meet students from other schools, year groups and disciplines, as well as be amazed by how much can be achieved in shuch a short period of time.

This year it's being held up in Auckland, and SANNZ is helping us get up there by hopefully subsidising a train trip for those who register. For more information, come to the meeting on Thursday 22nd of July at 1:30pm in room 2.21. If you can't face the prospect of skipping a design lecture I can go and fill everyone in later.

Information I'm aware of so far.....

When: Saturday 7 August
Where: Auckland
Cost: one-way train trip = $TBC, entry fee = $FREE for SANNZ members, but probably $20 - $30 for non members. flight back down = $50 - $60

More updates in the near future!

Inception

2010-07-17T14:11:00.002+12:00

Seeing as there has been a bit of chatter about social events, and movie outings, and whatnot, I figured I would put this up and see if anyone was interested.

Inception is a new sci-fi thriller from Christopher Nolan (The Prestige, Memento, The Dark Knight), set within the 'architecture of the mind'. One of the characters is an architectural prodigy, that supposedly designs spaces within a dream state, in other people's heads. Woawh.

From IMDB:

Dom Cobb is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible-inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming.

And here's a trailer:

http://vimeo.com/11837830

There's some pretty spectacular imagery going on here. Collapsing towers, floating hallways, and cities folding in on themselves. Nolan has a pretty good pedigree, and I think that it's something we would all enjoy.

Comes out August 2 at The Embassy. Tuesdays are $10 tickets. You all thinking what i'm thinking?

Critters social calendar

2010-07-15T22:35:00.000+12:00

Hi all,

For fear of being swallowed whole by the internet, critters wants to 'go offline' and into pubs, flats, and architecturally relevant spaces near you.

We intend to continue the movie nights which we had over the holidays, they were very much enjoyed by all who attended. We’ll probably have to change the day and time of the holidays to suit our less liberal post-holiday schedules, most likely to Thursday evenings. How does this suit people?

Also, there are some exciting events on the horizon, so keep your ears to the ground for upcoming film screenings, exhibits, competitions and the like. There seems to be a lot of student activity quietly brewing around the school. Take the initiative and get involved.

And of course, as suggested earlier, a potluck. Maybe even a potluck by the mountain. Those who can’t ski can drink mulled wine and play tense matches of 500 or cranium. If you have a flat with some decent square-meterage relatively close to uni, shout out, as it’d be nice/easy to have a potluck down here too.

The Tea-Room

2010-07-14T16:22:00.002+12:00

Japanese author Okakura Kakuzō's "Book of Tea(1906)" discusses the profound influence tea has had on Japanese culture. Chapter four The Tea-Room deals with the architecture and experience of the Tea-Room. To perhaps inspire for the new design project, here is an excerpt...

Thus prepared the guest will silently approach the sanctuary,
and, if a samurai, will leave his sword on the rack beneath
the eaves, the tea-room being preeminently the house
of peace. Then he will bend low and creep into the room
through a small door not more than three feet in height.
This proceeding was incumbent on all guests,—high and
low alike,—and was intended to inculcate humility. The order
of precedence having been mutually agreed upon while
resting in the machiai, the guests one by one will enter
noiselessly and take their seats, first making obeisance to
the picture or flower arrangement on the tokonoma. The
host will not enter the room until all the guests have seated
themselves and quiet reigns with nothing to break the silence
save the note of the boiling water in the iron kettle.
The kettle sings well, for pieces of iron are so arranged in
the bottom as to produce a peculiar melody in which one
may hear the echoes of a cataract muffled by clouds, of a
distant sea breaking among the rocks, a rainstorm sweeping
through a bamboo forest, or of the soughing of pines on
some faraway hill.

Even in the daytime the light in the room is subdued, for
the low eaves of the slanting roof admit but few of the sun’s
rays. Everything is sober in tint fromthe ceiling to the floor;
the guests themselves have carefully chosen garments of
unobtrusive colours. The mellowness of age is over all, everything
suggestive of recent acquirement being tabooed
save only the one note of contrast furnished by the bamboo
dipper and the linen napkin, both immaculately white
and new.However faded the tea-room and the tea-equipage
may seem, everything is absolutely clean. Not a particle of
dust will be found in the darkest corner, for if any exists
the host is not a tea-master. One of the first requisites of
a tea-master is the knowledge of how to sweep, clean, and
wash, for there is an art in cleaning and dusting. A piece
of antique metal work must not be attacked with the unscrupulous
zeal of the Dutch housewife. Dripping water
from a flower vase need not be wiped away, for it may be
suggestive of dew and coolness.

-Okakura Kakuzo 38-39

The full text can be found here though chapter four is probably the most relevant to design.

I am also enjoying Jun'ichiro Tanizaki 's "In Praise of Shadows(1939)" which intimately explores the atmospere of Japanese architecture and discusses the beauty in shadows.

Dangerous Days

2010-07-13T21:03:00.000+12:00

image: interior of the Bradbury building. source.

Last Friday we watched Blade Runner at school. Before I (belatedly) returned the DVD to Aro Video, I thought I'd have a look at the other disc in the box. Thinking it would just be boring outtakes or extra footage, perhaps a narration from the director, I popped the disc in to play and was blown away by the three and a half hour long documentary called Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner.

The documentary, produced 25 years after the release of Blade Runner, followed the evolution of the film from conception to post-production. Providing a profound insight into the writing, art direction, set-making, directing and acting, one begins to fully comprehend the enormous feat that was producing a film-noir-sci-fi on a limited budget and prior to the invention of CGI.

The inspiration for Blade Runner began with Phillip K. Dick's novel 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep', but drew heavily on other artistic sources such as graphic novels and futurist illustrations. It is captivating to view the film emerging from the stunning storyboard illustrations and sketches, the mood and vision of the graphite on paper translating so clearly to screen.

From an architectural perspective, there is plenty to love about Blade Runner. Visually, it is a stunner. All darkness, haze, neon and rain, it oozes intense mood without being overly stylised. The film was shot primarily in two locations - a back lot of the Warner Brother Studios, and in the Bradbury building, an architectural landmark in LA. The art directors also drew directly from FLW's Ennis House.

The back lot of the studio was a generic street-scene, with a smattering of your average buildings designed to look as if they could belong to a street of any North American city. This set has been used countless times in westerns and other film genres, lacking any interest of its own. The interesting part is how this average back lot was adapted to belong to Scott's vision of Los Angeles in 2019.

Due to financial constraints they couldn't simply build a whole new street scene, so they retrofitted the run-of-the-mill buildings with steaming ducts, clusters of neon signs, vicious parking meters and a melange of futuristic vehicles. This evolution of existing architecture provides a more believable counterpoint to the idea of a wholly reconstructed urban future.

That dark, pyramidal building with the exterior elevators which houses the Tyrell Corporation, at 700 stories high verges on a megastructure. Deckard's apartment, built inside a studio, cost upwards of $150,000. Its dark, cave-like interior and textile block motif were taken directly from the Ennis House. The Ennis House has a strange, other-worldly monumentality, and also influenced those enormous bottom heavy columns on the interior of Tyrell's office. A well-known piece of architectural trivia is that the columns were installed upside down and Scott would not begin shooting until they were removed and installed correctly.

Dangerous Days would be of interest to anyone curious about creative professions, the battle of wills and balancing talents. Both Ridley Scott and head writer Hampton Fancher had clear visions of how the film ought to be, with Scott assuming the uncompromising my-way-or-the-highway stance depicted by Howard Roark in Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. I'm difficult to please with films but wouldn't hesitate to say that Blade Runner is a masterpiece, both as a piece of artwork and subtle social commentary. So I strongly recommend this documentary to anyone who has seen Blade Runner, and if you haven't seen it recently, watch the final cut (2007) and this will hopefully pique your interest enough to sit through the lengthy making-of.

Revit Up

2010-07-12T15:35:00.003+12:00

Here are some tips for getting to grips with Autodesk Revit

Sign up and register to http://students.autodesk.com
You will to need to use your myvuw.ac.nz email address so they confirm you are a student.
Revit 2010 is installed on the school computers, and the school is going to make the installation files available so you don't have to download them, but you will need to register to get a serial number if you want to install it on your home computer. It's only available in a Windows version.

Check out
R:\Course_Material\ARCI\ARCI212\Tutorials\TutorialsArchitectureMetENU_ARCI212.pdf
and
http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=content_box_layout_view_v3&layout_id=75
CLICK on E-Courses and choose Learning Revit Architecture 2010 from the list.

Be aware of a major difference in the look between 2009 and 2010. Look for any tutorials which are specifically 2010 else it will get confusing. The new version is 2011 which is pretty much the same as 2010 but does have slight differences.

the Revit Kid is a popular resource although personally I'm not a fan of his tutorials...

Check out these blogs. They range from the helpful to the irrelevant.

BIM Troublemaker
buildz
ClubRevit
Do U Revit?
Inside the Factory
Revit
Revit Detail
Revit Elemental
revit in plain english
REVIT Rocks !
Revit Zone
The Revit Clinic
The Revit Kid.com!
What Revit Wants

Anyone else got some great resources?

As you may have noticed..

2010-07-07T18:44:00.000+12:00

comments are not currently working too smoothly.

Join the facebook page here instead -

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Critters/141610409187967

ac

Holiday Reads

2010-07-06T22:09:00.000+12:00

So I'm sure all of us vowed that over the holidays we would most definitely read those books that have been sitting beside our beds throughout term, accruing library fines.

What have you read? Anything decent, any duds?

I've been pretty bad.. only completed one book so far, and it was a light read at that, consumed entirely while sitting in the sunshine by the waterfront on the weekend. The book was a biography of Frank Lloyd Wright, written by pulitzer prize winning architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable.

I'd reccomend it if you're looking for a good insight into FLW's life, the man he professed himself to be, the reality, his connection with his buildings and the heartbreak which took place at Taliesin.

I have also been working through On the Rise, a book by another critic Paul Goldberger. It's a collection of his essays on architecture, regarding postmodernism in New York in particular. It's getting a bit repetitive, and is obviously more relevant to the 70's and 80's than today but interesting to read about the decline of modernism.

On Pegasus

2010-07-03T15:08:00.018+12:00

On the drive to Christchurch I drove by the develpment Pegausus and decided to check it out. Quite a grand scale of a design, the town is focused around recreation with it's motto being "Live where you Play".

At the moment very little of the town is built, but I was surprised to see the towns cafe crowded with customers, and the sports fields occupied with childrens rugby teams (which seems to suggest that Pegasus is trying to engage with the surrounding established communities).

The town is situated next to wetlands which are full of birdlife. The town has attempted to engage with this by providing many tracks and bird hides. However one must wonder what the long term ecological effects of situating a town so close to the wetlands will be.

The town center will be built around a massive man made lake that will feature numerous beaches and allow for many water activities. At the moment the lake is built and the landscape around it is complete, but the site remains quite deserted and eery as no construction has begun on the town center.

Yes the town will have a suspension bridge, and even a waterfall.

This is a housing development so of course there was plenty of cheese.

Howdy Partner, why don't we mosey on down to the General Store and buy us a bag of Doritos.

One can also get in touch with their ancient Greek roots.

The buildings at the moment aren't the prettiest, and don't seem to differ much from your run of mill housing development. It will however be interesting to keep an eye on how the grand planning of this development pans out.

The house that students built

2010-07-02T11:10:00.003+12:00

Hands up who wants to wants to design and build whilst studying.

Those with your hands up. Are you out of your *** minds!?

Still got them up? How do we make it happen?

Money makes buildings go up so we need a charity, a housing association, a developer or a private individual with some of it and a whole lot of vision. Or government . Plenty of them right on our doorstep and they have some of ‘our’ money they’re always looking to give away.
For example; Housing Innovation Fund - http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government+extends+community+housing+fund

We’d also need a registered architect to sign it off and a registered builder to supervise construction.

The School obviously has to be on board to offer it as a course/s. They might be pretty keen after dipping their toes in the Solar Decathlon water. They’d need to be getting their fees to cover their costs, lecturer, tutors etc. Design it in trimester one. Document it, submit consent and project manage in trimester two. Build it over the summer.

400 level courses starting in 2012 which gives us 18 months to sort it out.
Even longer for funding if that is secured nearer construction time.

Still got that hand up?

for possible inspiration see
Housing Innovation Fund
Wellington Housing Trust
Rural Studio
Basic Initiative
Architecture School
Share Architecture

Citizen Architect

2010-07-01T23:22:00.004+12:00

While we're on the topic of movies, the Wellington Film Festival is just around the corner and we are in for such a treat with the documentary film Citizen Architect. If you've been keeping up with the comments on previous blogs, you might have heard mention of something called Rural Studio and a man by the name of Samuel Mockbee.

Rural Studio is a design/build programme at Auburn University which was driven by the late Mockbee. The programme came about as a way to both improve living standards of those in rural Alabama while giving the students practical knowledge and skills to give back to their communities. After his death the programme continues but with a focus on building community projects rather than individual houses. The film contains previously unseen interview footage with Mockbee, as well as student perspectives and praise and criticism from other architects and designers. This movie is bound to feed the little idealists inside us all, but it also questions architecture's role in a broader sense.

Watch the fantastic trailer and read more about the movie here.

Or go directly to the Rural Studio website to read more about their inspiring programme.

Screening times and venues are:

Sat 24 Jul | 5:30pm | Film Archive

Tue 27 Jul | 12:15pm | City Gallery Cinema

Tue 27 Jul | 1:30pm | City Gallery Cinema

"If architecture is going to nudge, cajole, and inspire a community to challenge the status quo into making responsible changes, it will take the subversive leadership of academics and practitioners who keep reminding students of the profession's responsibilities." Samuel Mockbee

Friday Movie

2010-06-29T11:38:00.005+12:00

So, last Friday we watched The Fountainhead. An adaptation of the Ayn Rand book to film, it depicts the story of the strongly individualist Howard Roark, an architect unwilling to compromise, shunning the wants of the collective for the will of the individual. Bursting with contempt for 'the masses', raging with melodrama, and peppered with some bizarre and thinly-veiled sexual metaphors, this movie swung between quizzical and hilarious.

How it relates to architecture? Well, Roark was an architect who made FLW-esque buildings which were only accepted in all their greatness by a select enlightened few. His modern skyscrapers were defaced with classical columns and porticos by the mediocre popular architects and designers, who all fell under the sway of a prominent architectural critic working for a wealthy but tasteless newspaper tycoon. The movie addressed what one day each of us will have to face: being the intelligent, visionary individual fighting against the uneducated sheep-like collective. Kidding.

What are your opinions of the book/movie?

COMING ATTRACTIONS!

This Friday, we'll be screening French film Mon Oncle.

It's a comedy, about the super-modern 1950's when everything is automated and chrome plated. We'll be exploring themes of industrialised modernisation and consumerism, in French. Should be a laugh, everyone is most welcome to attend.

What: Mon Oncle
When: Friday 2nd July, 3pm.
Where: LT1 - (to be confirmed)

Followed by a beer or two after to aid in discussions.

We'll also be showing another movie the following Friday, 9th July.

Online Gallery

2010-06-27T20:08:00.000+12:00

Now collecting images for an online gallery of student work.

Send in a few photos of your most successful models, scans of drawings or pages from your sketchbook. Also your final presentations as long as they're not in a weird super-wide format. First year stuff is good too.

Initially I'm going to chuck them onto a flickr account to get the images all hosted online, then hopefully at some stage an html whiz can figure out how we can integrate the gallery into the blog.

Steps to follow:

1) Choose images

2) Resize them to a width of 1500 pixels at the biggest please. For final presentations a max of 2000 pixels wide.

To do this in photoshop, click Image > Image Size > type '1500' into the box where it says width (and make sure 'pixels' are selected rather than 'percent', and that the ratio is locked) > OK, save etc..

3) Send them to archcritters@gmail.com with a brief caption per image.

4) Tell everyone else to do the same.

Looking forward to seeing your work!

Build a bridge...

2010-06-27T14:04:00.007+12:00

and get over it.

Seeing as trusses didn't feature in the structures exam, here's an awesome semi-addictive bridge building game to put your knowledge to the test. It's also quite amusing to watch the little men fall to their doom if the bridge fails.

Cargo Bridge

Build a bridge to help your workers transport the cargo. .

Play more games on Miniclip-Games.net

Cheers to Luke Melhop for finding this!

Critter European Correspondent: Barcelona [!]

2010-06-25T04:38:00.009+12:00

Hello all, it seems AC has been very busy these past couple of days! So as to keep to my word, this is an entry from the architectural dream that is Barcelona, Spain.

It is the start of summer here; all the more hours for alleyway exploration. Setting aside the Gaudi and Mies for a split second, the richly woven tapestry of hundred year old buildings is a visual feast. In the thick of the old Gothic quarter; Barri Gotic, the winding medieval streets provide a dynamic atmosphere. Now completely addicted to short dark espresso, I spend most mornings getting lost in search of new/old cafes. The fantastic new development named the Mercat de Santa Caterina and initiated by Enric Miralles, is a large fresh food market, with over 50 stalls housed beneath a spectacular undulating rooftop; delicious in every way.

A rather candid shot in front of the market

The bizarre clusters of columns

Rooftop shot

M-D introduced the class to Gaudi last year but even the most vivid images cannot convey the overwhelming sensory experiences within his creations. The Sagrada Familia was mindblowing- the shear size vs the insane detail was just exhausting. However the Casa Mila, called La Pedrera (the stone quarry) was my favourite. Walls curve around the body and even the most internal spaces, including the fabulous kitchen, are filled with the softest and most flattering of lights. The attic space in which lies a fascinating museum of Gaudi's mathematical genius is like walking through an upturned ribcage or boat skeleton (not unlike old st pauls).
The rooftop with its moulded concrete chimney forms is another world. I fear this post is becoming rather dramatic but i'm sure it must be difficult not to be moved by Gaudi's seemingly endless imagination...

Third years have feelings too.

2010-06-24T22:55:00.000+12:00

A warm welcome to our older siblings the third years. And congratulations for being halfway through.

Extending an invitation to you to rant like crazy, and also hopefully get your lecturers on board as we have done (thanks m-d).

To begin : how was your first semester of 2010?

Informal Crit

2010-06-17T03:10:00.002+12:00

Hey everyone,

I reckon the second year design team worked their ass off, and for no recognition. So how about an informal crit? I say we hijack those hd tv's and do our own crit, or perhaps as BCosby suggested maybe we start a web page where we present all our work as a gallery. Anyone interested in organizing some form of presentation? I feel like our work at least stands up to third year, if not better.

Trimester 1 2010 - The Verdict

2010-06-14T23:20:00.000+12:00

Ok critters,

Trimester one is drawing to a close, and although we've already done those course evaluation forms I question how much weight those little circles hold. More often than not, the sight of a survey is often enough to reduce you to just ticking the middle box without even reading the question.

So, here we have a perfect forum for expressing our opinion on the education we are receiving. Post comments beneath this message about what you believe worked or didn't with any parts of our first trimester of second year. Let's be constructive, however rants are permitted. Post anonymously if you wish.

Just mull over it until our last test then let's hear it.

culture as an artificial construct

2010-06-14T22:41:00.003+12:00

If it wasn't already obvious that the last couple of posts of mine have been the fruit of procrastination and browsing the inexhaustible wonders of the internet, here's another in the same vein.

This time, while browsing for music, I came across a 'best of' list preceded by an insightful introduction which resonated with the 'history as an artificial construct ' thing we were exploring through our class blogs. The passage explains that music, as a cultural artifact, gets subjected to the same canon-making, narrative and aesthetic shaping that architecture does. Music, however, is much more readily produced and thus more time-sensitive.

"More than anything, decade lists affirm not necessarily the "best" albums, but which albums define that publication's cultural and aesthetic values at that moment. Sure, an album or two might slip through the cracks by publishing early, but the collective values implied by this ritual remain more or less intact."

"But taste is an ever-shifting, vibrant son of a bitch, isn't it? If we had compiled a list of this scope just three years ago, the result would reflect a very different set of tastes and values. Indeed, this list is just one momentary glimpse of TMT, one way to leave our mark, one way to essentially project our aesthetic and cultural biases into the future. Shit, maybe posterity has more to do with this than we think."

This isn't exactly a huge revelation to anyone I know but I just thought it was interesting to see an affirmation of what we've learnt in another artistic realm, plus really well expressed.

link to full page and best of list here:

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/favorite-100-albums-2000-2009-100-81

Ow My Brain

2010-06-12T18:11:00.003+12:00

At the Daily Dish there has been an on going debate called Is Google Making Us Stupid. They recently posted a link to an article from Science Blogs entitled Tradeoffs which argues that navigating the city is far more dangerous for the brain then navigating the internet.

I particularly like the example of the city park as a way to alleviate the issue. It seems to offer new evidence for the importance of green space within a city.

relevant and hilarious?

2010-06-12T16:50:00.002+12:00

yes to both.

read an articulate dissertation on the benefits of Adobe software and its effect on design and art here:

http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/2009/03/the-adobe-creative-suite-may-or-may-not-be-bad-for-society.html

Photoshop saved my ass

2010-06-11T00:29:00.006+12:00

I have to say it is amazing piece of software and allows us to communicate things we would otherwise find impossible. For example this is a transformation of my latest work.

The difference between I guess this and a photograph is it is very easy to see that it is a presentation image and not a photograph.

I love photography an for me its the surprise of film which excites me. This is what makes a photo a photo.

When I take digital photos and on the camera i can change the saturation and contrast of the image, is this still photography? Well yes I say because we have the ability to do this in the traditional sense when developing a film.
Now at what point does a photo become an image?
As soon as it changes the physical line work of the photo?

Does it matter or is it a bit like trying to hide the structure of a building?
Will there be a revolution against the manipulation of images, "We want an honest image". Will super models have no touch up work?

A lot of questions

........ I guess I stand on the line not knowing which way to jump.

PUSH ME

Photography vs Photoshop

2010-06-09T14:45:00.007+12:00

As acrosby delicately put it; Photoshop saves our ass.
But over the past decade, the trust placed in the witnessing art of photography has declined; the issue of photoshopped or digitally altered images is all too real. We have reached a stage in technological developments where it is impossible to separate the two-the ultimate augmented reality.

Heated debates and rather nostalgic commentary have developed throughout society. A recent exhibition at the sanfran moma exemplifies this:

http://www.sfmoma.org/pages/research_projects_photography_over

William James said, "Wisdom is learning what to overlook". Philip-Lorca diCorcia goes on to explain; "We now look at everything, including the invisible. Photography, a mechanical form of looking, is intrinsically limited in what it can show. There lies the wisdom. The current crisis is partially caused by attempts to extend Photography's capability. Maybe it will succeed and show us something new we don't really need to see, or maybe it will fail and be the wiser for it."

For the kids...

2010-06-08T21:08:00.004+12:00

the alt-types, and the hipsters.

A discussion on 'album art' and 'tactile art' and 'photoshop doodling'.

A laugh but semi-relevant to the previous post.

http://altreport.hipsterrunoff.com/2010/06/is-m-i-a-s-album-cover-modern-art-or-just-an-ugly-photoshop-doodle.html

the Digital Bauhaus meets the Eyes of the Skin.

2010-06-07T22:26:00.002+12:00

While perusing other local blogs, namely Re:Speak, I came upon a post by Byron about Architecture NZ. It mentioned an essay within it written by Ross T. Smith called 'Warm Fuzzies' (architecture nz, No2, 2010. p26-28). This essay is about Juhani Pallasmaa's writings, many of us introduced to him in first year by Shenuka with the book 'The Eyes of the Skin.'

The essay looks into Pallasmaa's most recent writings and offers us a critique of architectural education similar to that of the Bauhaus. Ross T. Smith speaks of reintegrating the hand and the mind into architectural design processes, "maintaining the physical, sensual, and material qualities in architectural education through practices such as hand drawing and model making, and preserving connections to the traditions of craft, whilst preserving the indeterminate and dynamic practice of art and the ourpourings of the imagination."

The idea of being taught craft skills I think is an interesting one, and kind of appealing in our current age of non-teaching education, where we're expected to perform without being taught the relevant skills, produce models without any direction in craft, and know without being told. Our education currently comprises of wading through suggested reading lists and the hopefully relevant tangents which branch off.

I am trying to imagine a more craft-based education. For starters, we would need a better tutor : student ratio. We would need people with specialised skills in craft. What would we make? Scale model after scale model? Or details at 1:1? Entire buildings?

There seems to be some pretty cool stuff going on at schools elsewhere in the globe, most recently a project called "Five Fellows Full Scale" where a cheap, dilapidated house has been taken and rehabilitated, but simultaneously used as a testing ground for their design ideas.

Perhaps something like this could be a start. Geoff Thomas got to burn a house down for his PhD, surely we can do something a little more worthwhile than that?

Links to the 'five fellows' project here and here.

p.s. link to my original 'digital bauhaus' blog here

Future History

2010-06-04T13:42:00.003+12:00

Jody Beck's lecture on future landscape design painted a picture of how society and civic life might formally operate when we start the downhill ride from peak oil. He painted several futures, some utopian, some feudal-esque, some relying on a new form of energy altogether.

His models focused largely on two important issues - food production and transport. His solutions tended to be small-scale, community based alternatives which would rely on a high degree of trust or a new form of currency.

From his lecture, I understood that his belief was that once oil had run out and our reliance on energy becomes decentralised, so too will our formal social structure. This would equate in more self reliance, and a direct connection between everyone's life and food production. The scenario is basically a scale shift from what we have now, with more emphasis on social responsibility and direct involvement.

How this relates to landscape design is based on the centralisation of productive gardens into our urban landscape. Schemes proposed by his students at Lincoln overtook car-dominated spaces such as wide roads and carparks and turned them into community orchards and bike-repair collectives. Which is nice. But, Beck admitted that the role of the designer is not to get up and say, "we need to do this now," but rather to wait with the solutions if and when society comes and asks for them.

Admittedly, this sounds more rational that Corb's interventionist schemes which disregard the true needs and wants of the people, but how are people going to agree to a beneficial scheme without fully understanding the situation?

Beck looked at some historic models such as the Garden City and FLW's Broadacre City, and medieval society structure. I don't think that these will end up informing how we go about managing future issues, because they failed for some reason or other in the past. We can't just impose a one-size-fits-all social structure.

Right now, I just can't see us gearing down our energy consumption and giving up individual freedoms in favour of weeding the bean patch. Right now I have faith in solar power, bikes, efficient public transport systems and am hoping the Americans manage to pull off a fusion reactor which is actually cost and energy efficient (better on their soil than ours).

Urban design is complex, and no single person has the answer. I think it relies on the involvement of all, education, and some wise wise people. The future is an unknown, here's hoping we make some good decisions.

welcome

2010-06-04T13:16:00.001+12:00

fellow critters,

As a continuation of our history assignment we're going to select some of the top blogs to get us rolling here at archcritters.

If you've got any suggestions for blogs, post the links to them in comments below and we'll publish them here. Looking forward to getting some discussions going!

Also, if you'd like to be an author on this blog, flick us an email through to archcritters at gmail.com and we'll hook you up with permission. The more the merrier. We're looking to start up discussions on contemporary issues, as well as addressing the way we're being educated - the flaws, the good stuff, what we can to do ensure we're getting the best out of our five years and beyond.

let's get the ball a-rolling