INTRO

INTRO

“If this is going to be your chosen profession, you really should think about to subscribing to natural gas weekly.”

Whether the realization of the implications of such a statement hit like the subtle creeping of the rising tide, or the massive impact of an unforeseen meteor, striking the earth, I do not recall. But its resulting effect proved to be a catalyst – one of grand scale.

At the time, not only had I never heard of Henry Miller, but I was not even aware of his existence. But when I think back to that declarative statement now, I think about it in the context of something he wrote.

“Surely everyone realizes, at some point along the way, that he is capable of living a far better life than the one he has chosen.” At thee time I had not the benefit of the prodigious HM, but the realization that this was not the life I wished to lead was present like… like the elephant in the room – the white noise of frustration permeating my daily life.

While I can reflect back on my life to earlier moments, and their effects and future consequence governing the course of my life, it seems as though this was really the defining moment – this singular event in time that proved to be the catalyst that started it all. A quest, really before I realized that it was a quest. At the time I only looked upon this as the realization of future unhappiness, and not for what I now understanding to be – the beginning of the battle against fear, the search for courage, passion and joy, the quest for GREATNESS. This is the story of Francis Watts’ quest for GREATNESS.

MADAGASCAR INSTITUTE FEED

this just took me FOREVER to figure out a problem with my coding.

3 HOUR TOUR

CEMETARY TOUR (MAIN CLIP)

CLIP_22 from FRANCIS WATTS on Vimeo.

MASSACHUSETTES

MY UTOPIAN COMPOUND

I am starting a Utopian Compound in LA.  I will be arriving late-June/early-July to begin researching locations, finding like minded individuals interested in being a part of this, and investigating funding – here is an initial description of what it is, though nothing is written in stone.  The intention is to make this an "our idea" and not a "my idea."  but contact me if you are interested.

UTOPIAN COMPOUND

This is an idea for taking an empty shell and turning it into something wonderful – the rebirth of the Charlie brown Christmas tree, if you will.  Fill the space with creativity, genius, and passion.

THE UTOPIA

There are 2 sides to the idea of “utopia” as it is used here.  The first being a very traditional aspiration, and that is to create something NEW - something BETTER – a better way to LIVE.

The other side is darker – its one of maximization.  The optimization of pleasure, virtue, whatever the ideals of the utopia are.  In this case it is the optimization of IDEAS, a factory that produces things. but its not really dark, necessarily – but take from it the idea where that there is continually SOMETHING going on, whether its people making things, people learning things, people get shit faced drunk – people are doing SOMETHING.

THE PHILOSOHPY

To live life simply, cheaply, but VERY WELL.  To have very little in life that is not made by our own hands, and cannot be fixed by our own hands.

There is a certain ann rand philosophy percolating here.  Just out of frustration I have the desire to disconnect from society.  Those that have come before us have really fucked shit up, and I really see no reason to be listening to them, or doing anything that they say. 

I am not so much an anarchist.  The logic goes, if I need something, I can work for someone, and “earn” the money to buy it.  Taxes are taken out, some of which goes to good things, but MOST of it goes to CRAP.  Social security is the biggest fucking ponzie scheme EVER, and puts Madoff to shame.  I am never going to see a dime of that money – so why contribute?  Seriously, why contribute?

If I can make the thing myself, fix the thing myself, grow the thing myself, I don’t have to let any money go where I don’t want it to.

Green building, and none of this pussy “green” bullshit I see on tv.  I’m talking about REAL green, having to scavenger for building materials that others have deemed worthless, and dumped – also buying recycled products too.  And not ALL green necessarily.  Lets put some good fucking soundproofing in those walls. Ability for privacy is important.

THE ELEMENTS

The idea is to find an empty space – a BIG empty space and fill it up.  Fill it up with people/ideas/energy.  While the following may seem like a very specific roadmap, nothing is set in stone, and indeed it is very much the ideal, with the understanding that any physical form will be something less than imagined.

LIVING SPACE

Nothing too dramatic hear – thought the goal is to create a very efficient fun space that allows for extreme privacy and extreme socialization.  Versatility is important, and a great kitchen too.  Kitchens are the most important spaces in the home.

STUDIO SPACE

Ideally, all residents maintain and use a studio space, but outside artists will have space as well, coming and going as they please.

THE SHOP

Contains the tools for both working in wood and metal – and whatever other equipment is needed for any other method of production.  A kiln would be great, perhaps a darkroom, a cnc machine (we could build one ourselves) would absolutely rock.  Silk screening equipment – sewing equipment –whatever.

OUTDOOR SPACE

Of course there has to be a grill, and some sort of place to enjoy the outdoors.

GARDEN

Mostly for residents, but it could be for others as well.  But nothing fancy here – though it would be great if this were on the roof – and some sort of grassy area for lounging, maybe even a tree or two?  And there would also be the compost heap.

GALLERY/LECTURE/PARTY SPACE

A space where a lecture series can occur – where artwork can be exhibited, parties with bands can be held (maybe 2 different spaces – one large, and one small)

But as for the gallery, it would show works by people in the studio, a portion of the proceeds from any sale would be distributed in some fair manner across artists.  (Providing the incentive to promote “the group”)

LECTURE SERIES

A series not meant to “show work” but to teach, and EDUCATIONAL lecture series by both people inside and outside the compound.

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

An artist is invited from another country to come and live/work for free in a studio, with the idea that at the end of their time, there is a gallery show of the work produced.

PEOPLE

So the result is different groups of people – the live/work people, and the work people.  Oh and then there are the party people.  The number of people this involved is undetermined and is probably subject to how large a space is found.  But 4-5 people living, 4-5 additional working seems like the low end of the spectrum, with double that being the high end of the spectrum – but I don’t want to limit more or less as a possibility.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Depending upon the community perhaps, there is an opportunity to help out the neighbors.  A summer art class for local school children for example?  Perhaps part of the “garden” becomes a community garden.  But the idea is to be friends with the community, not try and change, and in fact, resist any hints at gentrification.

LOCATION

Somewhere where land/rent is cheap, but not far away – industrial areas seem like likely targets.

PURCHASE vs RENT

Ideally, it would be great to be able to purchase the land.  Ultimately, the “compound” would be run somewhat as a business, to allow the investors essentially to not have to work.  Hopefully the investors would be the residents.  This is the most underdeveloped aspect of the idea.  But why put a lot of energy into something you don’t own – money is tight these days, but where is my tarp money?  But yes, maybe buying is unrealistic (I have a little money, but not much), but it’s still the goal.

AGAIN WITH THE POINT

The point is to live really well, instead of going out, get everyone to come to us.  Fill the space with genius and creativity.  CRITICAL MASS.

NOTES ON PRESENTATIONS

If I was ever in doubt about the validity of the course of this project, my experiences as a juror earlier this week has erased all.

I wanted to gouge my eyes out I was so frustrated. I was frustrated by the LONG MEANDERING presentations, and drawings that don’t SAY anything.

The first person up droned on and on for seriously 15 minutes. I could not believe the professor did not try and rap things up. I was further infuriated by the discourse afterwards. The program was a restaurant based on ideas of PATTERN, and the first jury member to get up and talk started questioning whether the wine rack could “fit” where it was indicated on plan. I actually yelled at this woman a little saying I hope she really wasn’t going to waste everyone’s time talking about whether the wine rack was resolved.

Point of the story –be careful. You don’t want to be talking about the bathrooms or anything (you want them in there – the building, but don’t talk about them – that is unless…)

To this girl’s credit, it seemed that she had thought a lot of things out/through, but she went on to describe everything. The jury doesn’t have time to respond to everything, only a few things. YOU CHOOSE those few things.

But one of the important things about spending A LOT of time on producing clear presentations is that it allows the jury to be EFFICIENT with their time. If there is confusion through lack of clear presentation resulting in the jury talking about other things (a la – the wine rack.) this is inefficient and unhelpful. A clear presentation helps the jury HELP YOU.

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Additional comments to think about outside the context of this story to think about.

MAKE IT INTERESTING: in a make believe world, the jury pays full and equal attention to everyone. But this is the REAL WORLD. So make it interesting. This is simply done (in theory) by establishing a meaningful relationship between you/your project and “the audience.”

SPEAK SIMPLY AND CLEARLY: don’t be the cliché architect (or student) who tries to use complex words (or even made up words) to try and sound smart. Besides the JURY will include NON-ARCHITECTS. And this is an important point by the way – there will be NON-ARCHITECTS on the jury. They will be from related fields, but they will NON-ARCHITECTS (at least in the traditional sense). ALSO – this is a presentation you family should be able to understand.

FRAME: remember your presentation is the “frame” talk about things you want to talk about, and don’t talk about things you don’t.

PRACTICE PRACTIC PRACTICE: seriously, this is something that you need to practice a good bit for (or be verbally quick on your feet). But pair up in your practices so that you are not advancing the slides yourself. This is IMPORTANT when you practice, DO NOT be advancing the images yourself. If you do practice presenting by manually advancing your images as you practice, it will be a complete disaster in the real presentation and you are not the one advancing. Practice in front of your friends/family regardless of what they “do” their voice matters, just as yours.


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Watch other pecha kucha’s
Watch the video (and others) on how to give good presentations.

Be checking back in the blogs for more info from me. This is just one of multiple to come out of the pipe today (later).

Also, look through all blogs for comments I have made – there is A LOT of useful information embedded in the blogs. Spend some time sifting.

MONUMENTALITY

I was reading a text last night entitled MONUMENTALITY, written by louis kahn last night and it got me thinking about the project.

I began to draw relationships. first of all, the word "MONUMENTAL" has not been a word that has been used in this project, has it?

Might you say the our building, the grain terminal, is monumental? how do you define monumental? (no seriously, thats a question? and not - look it up in the dictionary - definition, you do YOU define it. how you RELATE to something MONUMENTAL.








additionally, someone was talking about the proportions of the building, and how its very long and narrow. Currently the building is a series of floors, 11 feet separating them. but there is nothing that says, it cannot be emptied out, leaving just the shell. The result being, something very GOTHIC. and what I mean is that the space inside a Gothic cathedral is very high and narrow - just like our emptied shell.

Louis Kahn discusses MONUMENTALITY in this 1944 text in therms of spirituality - do you?

EXCESSIVE SCALE EXCESSIVE VOLTAGE

TITLE TO COME

This Wind Tunnel now serves as facility for the design center in Pasadena California. It is a good example of dealing with excessive scale, and using what you were given.

"The history of the South Campus begins in 1942, when five aircraft companies - including Douglas, Lockheed, and McDonnell - joined forces to create the Southern California Cooperative Wind Tunnel to test aircraft for aerodynamic data. The 19,000-square-foot facility was one of the first large supersonic wind tunnels in the world.

The “Coop Wind Tunnel” contributed to the development of postwar commercial and military aircraft from 1945 to 1960. Over time the tunnel grew into a seven-building complex, and most recently served as an appliance manufacturing plant and showroom. Art Center College of Design acquired the building in 2001 as the first phase of its overall expansion plan."

FAILURE - SCALE

This is example of failure on a massive SCALE.

NY TIMES NARRATIVE

ARTICLE

This is an article from the NY Times talking about a potential plan to re-use the terminal. The article is from 1990.

MORE BUILDING IMAGES

New York Grain Terminal,
Red Hook, Brooklyn

Mercurialn and I organized a photo expedition to this abandoned grain terminal on the Red Hook waterfront, accompanied by E-Liz and F-trainer from Flickr and Jake Dobkin from Gothamist, Blue Jake and Flickr

Check out their photo sets here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mercurialn/sets/72157594481819845/


http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=grain%20terminal%20red%20hook&w=26489308%40N00


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I am not sure what is wrong, but I am having difficulty here with the link - copy and past in the address bar - that should work.

SUBVERSIVENESS OF SEINFELD

A show about nothing. Talk about subversive - it doesn't get much better than that.



genius

NARRATIVE as well.

ANOTHER NARRATIVE

Click on the image for the NY TIMES article.

totally subversive right? This is a story about urban adventurers.

AND MORE BUILDING IMAGES

This last image makes me think about vertical circulation. it appears as though there were some system of "chutes" to transport grain between floors -how might this existing infrastructure (or idea of it) be used in your project?

I am also realizing that this structure for all its simplicity on the outside is, on the interior extremely COMPLEX.

PERFORMANCE

here is an interesting little narrative about a dance group that used the grain terminal for a backdrop. Click on the image, for the narrative.

YOUTUBE IS GOING TO FUNDAMENTALLY ALTER OUR UNDERSTANDING OF ARCHITECTURE

This is what is so great about using youtube for research - what began as researching SIPS for a project I am working on (on which I am working - NEVER end a sentence with a proposition - says my mom.)

But the discussion then moved on to "green" architecture, which then brought up the discussion of the Gamble House (by green and green) - but as a question, not fact. (How would you define "green architecture" by the way) Might the Gamble House be considered green? In some ways yes, in some ways no, I think - but I jump on youtube to do some research look for a video on "green and green" or the "gamble house."

(who wants to play 6 degrees of Kevin bacon? as an exercise in establishing relationships - an architectural activity.)

FOR LATER

THE DIAGRAM

This diagram is taken from the book "Content" I present it as an example of what I am talking about by "getting understanding of the VOLUME of your building."

puting the volume in context that you can understand.

And as a follow-up I ask this question. is this an effective diagram. It is making the attempt at giving us a new understanding of what 1400 feet means, by suggesting we look at that distance another way. (in terms of boats and planes.)

my first instinct is to say NO - it is not an effective diagram, the reason being that the examples given don't really relate to the human scale. I don't have the experience of walking along an ocean liner, and my experience of planes comes from inhabitting them, not placing them end to end. so this diagram is not very successful in gaining an understanding of what 1400 feet actually means.

Of course you look at the caption "TOO EXAUSITNG" the point of the diagram is to say that 1400 feet is TOO MUCH. so it is intended to keep 1400 feet foreign to us. it is indented to relate our understanding to things that we understand as large.

A MOTHER SON COMMUNIQUE

MOTHER to SON

I signed on to check my Yahoo mail and noticed that there were some relating to your class. I read a couple and deleted them before I realized I was in your mailbox. You had not logged out. Sorry. Be sure and check your trash in case I deleted Something major.

And let me know what happens in Monday's class!
XXOO

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SON to MOTHER

no worries - if you read some stuff you might see that my class is about to revolt, I think. Today will be a make-it or break it class. I think. but I've been spending a lot of time feverishly witting (in the context of the class) on these blogs - the intent is to get a dialog with both my students, and the outside world, so you comments are requested.

but as a primer, I'm basically engaged in what we call a PROCESS. how do we teach process? I am attempting to teach process through example - exposing my thought
"process" so that hopefully the students can learn.

point of story I am experiment with narrative as a method of representing ideas - not architecture, because architecture should be about representing ideas, and to talk about representing architecture is like placing importance on a faximile. What I'm trying to do is talk about ideas.

Its also an exercise in free association - the generation of ideas.

I cite as president for my narrative style, movies like slacker or waking life (same director). These movies play with narrative and representation in a way that relates back to the overall IDEA - I cite Gonzo journalism, and i'm sure countless others. Its about playing with relationships - putting chocolate and peanut butter together and see if a transformation occurs.

but ultimately its a way for me to access writing - something I have been trying to do for quite some time - point being the work I am engaged in is larger than the class I'm teaching.

put look through and let me know what you think. - here is the link to the main page - again its disjointed and intentionally so - its about process. the intent is that by the end of the semester I will end up with something well written.

oh here - http://studio-details.blogspot.com/

-owen
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MOTHER to SON

Owen,

I think all of this is very interesting. And I think I see what you are trying to do.

Since you asked for my thoughts, here they are, but please don't go off in a huff and not email me back for weeks on end.

Try to look at it from the school's perspective: they hired you to teach a specific class, and it appears that is not what you are doing. I know you think the class was bogus from the start, but I am not sure veering off like this is the right way to express your thoughts.

Plus, you write on your blog that students in the first year are not getting a good architectural education. How could the school possibly react?

As to your students --- they are paying money for this class, and I guess they think they signed up for a course that is not being taught, where the teacher admits he doesn't know for sure where he is going. I can understand that they may be confused.

I think you have to give them some assurance that they are going to come out of this class smarter/wiser and in the end better architects.

Please let me know what happens. As always, I worry.

XXOO

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SON to MOTHER

can I post this publicly? this is what I am looking for.
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MOTHER to SON

Sure. You might want to take out the XXOO and the part about going off in a huff.

XXOO
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MOTHER to SON

Why couldn't you teach the course you were hired to teach and offer your course as something like extra credit, for those who want to explore process?

That way, you would pacify the non-adventurous students, who signed up for the course; put the school at ease and emerge from the experience with a book, which you won't if you walk off the job or are dismissed.

Please, please don't quit. You did, remember, agree to teach the course. So do it.

ARCHITECTS DONT MAKE BUILDINGS

Architects don't make buildings, architects make drawings of buildings.

That's something that was told to me while I was in school - and its something I have regurgitated to all my students.

and its true, in a way. What I find fascinating about this idea is that The energy that goes into actually building a building FAR EXCEEDS the energy that goes into making the drawings.

In a sense this is really about the idea of the catalyst. As architects we are like catalysts - we put a certain amount of energy into the system, and as a result, a much greater degree

And this too speaks to efficiency - How can I be an efficient catalyst as an architect, and as a teacher? How can I maximize the result in terms of energy in/energy out.

that is one of the ideas this method of teaching is EXPLORING. What is the best way for me to teach?

This also relates back to the Ed Wood example - he was genius in the fact that he was such an effective catalyst. The effectiveness of the catalyst also rests on the strength of ideas as well. Prevailing opinion is that Ed Woods movies are of very little quality (but does that mean they have no value? can things of poor quality, be high in "value?") - yet he was able to get people to buy into his ideas - despite the fact that they "lacked value." that's pretty amazing if you ask me.

But whats more important is that Ed Wood himself thought that his ideas had value - and if you want to know the truth, I agree.

So too through the use of this mechanism of the blog, the desire relates to this idea of catalyst.

EFFICIENCY

It may seem contradictory for a project that is supposed to be about "too much"

but there are ideas of efficiency here. It is the intent that the blogs serve as a way of QUICKLY putting an idea out there. its not spending 6-80 hours working on a drawing - its 5 minutes, writing some text - including an image/video as an illustration - and then BOOM on to the next idea.

The goal is the generation of IDEAS - and to the point where we can ask the question, "do we have TOO MANY ideas?" and if the answer is yes - only then should we stop.

But since Its my hope that we engage in the mass production of ideas - the idea is that we can use the blogs to move quickly.

AND FINALLY...i think

I need to spend some time explaining the logic behind this narrative/writting style I am using here.

I'll go into it later

CREATIVITY/DESCRYTCTUIB

HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BLOG

Until a Few days ago - I had never used blogs before. The idea didn't start with the blogs. It actually began with a single act. This single act was the burning of a Christmas tree. Yes, you heard correct.

Down the street from where I currently reside, dumpster full of freshly cut christmas trees appeared. You might consider this event out of SCALE from our everyday experience, at least for this time of year. In January, such an event is withing SCALE. It is not unusual. But in late March - that's borderline absurd, is it not. (gain with the SCALE).

At any rate, several of these trees were liberated for fire wood - and one night we burned a few. With one tree in particular an attempt was made to stand it on end - the logic being it will burn faster.

yes this is where it all began - I took a series of pictures from a static viewpoint to document the event. then a video was made - put to music and placed on youtube. The musical choice relates to the event in two ways (at least). First, content - fever/hot/fire. Also event. That very song was sung earlier in the evening.

So yes that is where it all began - the idea of getting the students to construct playlists came out of that - followed closely by flickr, and the use of a system of tags allowing anyone to easily and quickly filter through ideas/images. More importantly, it serves as a content warehouse of the entire class. And with the addition of the BLOGS we have all three, text/image/video.

the power of this comes from the ability to easily and seamlessly stitch these different narrative forms together to create a much more rich understanding of what is being discussed. I have always hated readings that throw out all these references and make no attempt to provide image to these. (I'm not sure if I'm expected to go off and research every little reference, or if I'm expected to know it already).
Of course that's the inherent limitation of the medium (book). But with the blogs is another story, there are no constraints - and the addition of mixing what I call local and foreign content seamlessly together is provocative. Again we are talking about ideas here, not necessarily architecture.

So yes that is where it all began. Additionally this format is meant to challenge the students understanding of SPACE - in all the "INTENT of" Posts, in which I explain the intent of the blog, I refer to these as spaces.

The students at NYIT do not have a proper architectural education, if you ask me - at least not in the first year (or however this problem hangs with them). but they do not have their own personal studio space in which to live/work as a group. Upper classes apparently do, but not the lower.

So These Blogs are meant to provide a SPACE which can at least facility the exchange of ideas - something that occurs when a studio is all together, and does not occur when they are not.

Public/Private - i'm also trying to blur the boundary between these two. Its the desire that outside people (foreigners in terms of the foreign/local) will provide a critique.

the reason for this relates to the completely absurd act that occurs at every FINAL review, we sit around and talk about next steps of a project. This is just absurd. why not get the feedback when it still matters, when it still has time to be incorporated.

And finally there are ideas of a catalyst - it is the hope that enough ideas are generated through this process, that a chain reaction occurs - Another way of looking at it might be to ask the question "how do I put minimum amount of energy into a system with big affect."

Again, we are talking about the generation of ideas, us all methods known to us. If we can generate outside interest, that knowledge base is provided via comments, and all the sudden we have people helping us with our research and idea generation. Its a bit like Tom Sawyer washing the fence - its a bit like Ed wood getting a movie made.

So yes, that is where it all began, with the incineration of a Christmas tree.

THE STRENGTH OF IDEAS

Again this is about relationships.

I thinks its the goal to construct ideas that a dense networks of relationships - meaning everything relates to everything else in a complex layering of systems. Go listen to the Thom Mayne lecture again, listen to how he talks about this.

but think about it this way - if you have an idea built on a single relationship - that's not a very strong idea, is it? Strength of the idea is based on the strength of its internal logic (relationships).

I am about to watch the "waking life" and think about it in the context of this class. If you are familiar with it - its actually by the same guy that did "slackers" and carries on that style - but it uses a graphic style to create the sense of a dreamlike state.

Dreams should be a central theme when talking about creativity - I have yet to engage it, however. But I've hinted (not fully explained) my surrealist tendencies - and its because of their interested in the role of dreams as they relate to creativity.

A REHASH ON CREATIVITY

What is Creativity?

Right now I think of it as the ability to find relationships - to see existing and create new. I am thinking it is simple as that. E=mc^2 - that's a relationship (of the equal variety).

Relationships are brought about through similarity (and sometimes difference). Relationships are strengthened through proximity (similarity in regards to systems of spacial location - ie they are near each other.)

Through the very simple act of placing things next to each other in a way that we can look back and forth - switch between text/image/video quickly makes it easier to find hidden relationships. But that is more of an argument for how I am hoping these Blogs will be used.

But since I consider this IDEA of RELATIONSHIPS to be at the core of our understanding of CREATIVITY - I am trying to get the students involved in free association as a process of generating relationships of IDEAS.

In my mind this Project should not be about architecture, it should be about the ideas - I refer back to the Thom Mayne video - he's talking about ideas, not his buildings - but he is using his buildings to illustrate/represent his ideas. THIS IS THE GOAL!!!


PROCESSES OF CREATIVITY

First you must buy into the idea that creativity is the establishment of relationships. If establishing relationships is how we get to creativity why don't we talk about establishing relationships.

Relationships can be established accidentally - the reeces peanut buttercup genesis story. It is my aspiration that this type of creativity will occur on this project - but this requires a certain amount of "thowing stuff on the wall" approach.

there is trial and error method - similar to the scientist. A highly structured, organized methodic way of working - similar also in a way to how police might sweep an area for evidence - forming a line and moving as a single animal with a single unifying purpose.

there is also the just sheer genius of understanding the nature of two disparate things/ideas and having the ability to understand how the similarities and difference work together. an example of this might be the artists (and us) who are attempting to use "existing technologies" in new and inventive ways.

VALUE OF IDEAS/CREATIVITY

I am engaging this question - "what is the value of our ideas?"

I guess one way of talking about it is with this idea that 1+1=3, or 1+1=8. By creating the relationship, a value is derived that is more than the sum of the individual parts. back to peanut butter and chocolate. This is creative because putting peanut butter and chocolate together, you get more than just a combination of the two - you get something entirely different/new. The chocolate and peanut butter have been transformed.

You might also think of all the parts of a car laid out before you - each individual piece has very little value, but put them all together, and you have...a car - something that is useful and therefor has value.

A CHALLENGE

I Challenge anyone to create a narrative of this pecha kucha (its in german). make up an English version - and see if you can make something more amusing that just watching it and listening to the german - germans, talking about toilets. that's pretty funny if you ask me.

WHAT IS TOO MUCH?

That's what I want to know. What is "too much?" how can you really know what "too much" is until you have experienced it?

This is one of the key principles of the studio. The pursuit of the knowledge of "too much."

This is the reason why this project is FUNDAMENTALLY about SCALE. Its my desire EVERYTHING have something to do with scale - because, really, everything does.

Its about understanding systems of SCALE - and how they are used to create hierarchy and order.

to put it another way we are attacking SCALE in all its forms.

and by the way, this is a great photo - look at everything going on that relates to scale.

KIDS CAN RELATE

My second semester of architectural theory was a course entitled "operational...something something" - its in my storage, I'll have to dig it up.

I have no idea why, at the time I did not understand the organiational logic for the class. I don't know why, it was very simple. I hated that class. the only thing I really remember from that class was the theory (conspiritorial, in scale) that the teletubbies were met to prepare the new youth of the world to the idea of the coming cyborg - to make the cyborg something they could related to.


I used to (although I do love the theory) hold this as evidence that the class was so absurd as to be rendered useless - now I wish I could take the class again.

I was reminded by this again while watching slackers of this story. (slacker time:1:16:22)

smurfs are getting kids used to seeing blue people so that when krishna comes, they can relate to that.(apparently he is blue - and so is "the watchman" now that I think of it - and if you want to hear an interesting npr piece on the watchman, click [here].)

Knowing what I know now, and understanding what I understand now, I wish I could take that class again.

BLUE PILL - RED PILL

I've been meaning to write a narrative about this - anyone have a guess what the narrative will be?


and, by the way, I do love the overlaying of spanish subtitles on this clip - it makes it all the more interesting/layered - and why is that? I don't know spanish, but I bet we could get any spanish speaking person to watch this clip and disagree with some portion of the translation.

and by the way, I think I need to watch "lost in translation" becuase I think thats what is going on with my students. I just don't think i'm getting through to them.

but this is a question of "how do we represent our ideas?" and that is certainly not an easy question to answer. I hope to have a better understanding of this by the end of the project.

SYSYPHUS AND CONTINOUS LOOPS

this is a newborn idea - but thinking of continuous loops - beginning with the "choose your own adventure" and the possibility of getting caught in a narrative loop.

watching slacker, and an old man is telling a story of a burglar who is being interrogated (at time 58:00)

I am also reminded of "the who's on first" routine which is another "narrative loop."

and finally, the band ORBITAL - this isn't an official video - but the audio a real "song"


this can be thought of as an architectural strategy, by duplication and a subtle shift in SCALE - see what happens?

NARRATIVE LOOPS NARRATIVE LOOPS NARRATIVE LOOPS

CONSPIRACY A GO GO

I'm not sure how it relates exactly to ideas of creativity, but has just been popping up a lot. a better understanding is still forming.

I have already explained how it relates to ideas of scale and excess scale. (and therefore relates to the project). Nobody really cares about what happened to my sandwich last week, and no one has difficulty believing that it was eaten by one of my roommates.

Conspiracy theories are just that because they operate on a scale that is in excess of what we are used to in our daily lives. It has nothing to do with truth. We have all had the experience of someone eating our food, so you believed me when I told you my roommate ate my sandwich. Well, the truth is, there never was a sandwich in the first place.

At around minute 47 of SLACKER a man is talking about a book he is writing (or written?). The title of the book, the man explains, might be "Conspiracy a go go." He further goes on to explain in a new chapter that describes John and Jackie Kennedy as meth fiends - and whats interesting is that the story for the most part is true - at least in the case of John - he was addicted to amphetamines while in office, and he did have a doctor with the nickname "doctor feelgood"

ITS ALL ABOUT IDEAS

Its all about the ideas - that's the point of all this. As architects, our buildings should be about ideas, so it should be the idea that serves as the starting point(?). But it is the goal as architects to relate everything back to an idea, or multiple ideas.

If the idea is at the top of the pyramid we should be talking about how we represent the idea, and not the building. the building itself is a representation of the idea, so to talk about respresenting the building

again, as architects, archticture is the medium in which we work (painters/image writers/text filmakers/video(there has got to be a better word to use than video, I'm drawing a blank right now.) and finally architecture/buildings) but we are all working with ideas and representation of those ideas.

So. The question is what is the best way to represent the idea (not the architecture). This is why I want the final review to be in the style of PECHA KUCHA, watch the video below for a better understanding (and there are many more out there that describe pecha kucha - but this one I think is the most relevant to what we are doing).



This video is also relevant (and actually so GREAT!!!) because the presenter is is talking about using existing technologies in subversive (new) ways. this is exactly what we are trying to do - this IS CREATIVITY MADE VISIBLE. again these technologies have underlying systems to structure information. If you want a definition, this video is one of the things I will point to. - we need to understand the nature of these underlying structures in order to use them appropriately.


Looking back at my graduate school experience I was critical of the classes that didn't end with a building - but produced a film/performance or anything that wasn't a building. Now I understand architecture education should be about the generation of ideas - and the representation of those ideas. Not always is architecture an appropriate method of representation.

PECHA KUCHA CHA CHA CHA

and by the way, hopefully you guys see the logic of the playlists we have supposedly been putting together in YOUTUBE. - its similar to our flickr site (the accumulation of information/ideas in the form of image). In addition the intent of the playlists being similar to the "tags" we are using in flickr.

But there is a difference that I would like to discuss and I would like to discuss this difference as "native and foreign" (or perhaps local/barbarian) - meaning content that the studio has generated (pictures they have taken - text they have written - and hopefully video they have taken) would be considered "native or local", and the "foreign and barbarian" be in the context of any content (text/image/video) taken from other sources.

I think its a good idea we make sure we keep these things separate, or perhaps we want to play a game of ambiguity - either way, we should be clear on which strategy we are doing, and be consistent.



The difference being that some content we are creating, and some content we are pulling in from outside sources. For example, Posts I have written have involved the accumulation of image both

PECHA KUCHA - A NARRATIVE STYLE

HEROS AND VILLAINS

I think this is an exercise that everyone should do. Its another method of analysis and representation - this one pertaining to the question of "what's important" you "moral code" of sorts.

So who are your heros, and who are your villains - in life, I am talking about.

These are mine, and this will be a work in progress (as are all posts until the end of the project.)

HEROS - in no particular order - and some of these are actually personal to me (I will explain)

ED WOOD: in the context of the studio I watched the movie "Ed Wood" and as a result gained an appreciation for the man - or at least the version of him as portrayed by Johnny Depp (oh I think I might consider him a second teir hero - I cite his character in Pirates of the Caribbean, jack sparrow - a character that cites as influence, keith richards. and incidentally, his character plays with the idea of the outcast as well.)

But I would like to make reference to a statement an old professor of mine used to/and may still make when he lecutures. - Hernan Diaz Alonzo. His hero, as the NARRATIVE goes is the Coyote in the Road runner/Coyote relationship - in the context that after each failure, the Coyote picks himself up, brushes himself off, and tries again. not daunted by failiure.

what is funny is that for Ed Wood - its a question of scale. I don't recall the exact quote, but he says basically "movies are about the BIG PICTURE. no

JACK SPARROW: after reading about him I have decided to list him as well. and without going into detail, I will just provide the link - LINK TO JACK SPARROW BIO. What is amusing is that there seem to be MANY similarities between Ed Wood and Jack Sparrow.

more related to architecture are
ANTONI GAUDI I think of it this way - Architecture could be described as to exist along a spectrum with FORM and FUNCTION at opposite ends. Gaudi was able to take this linear spectrum and bend it into a circle, overlapping the extreme ends of the spectrum - In other words, he produced buildings that were both rooted in logic as it related to program, but were also beautiful in form (another way of saying it Form and Function are continually at odds with each other, and we are forced (or believe we are forced) to create a hierarchy of "form over function" or "function over form." Gaudi was able to marry the two and produce something that lacked a hierarchy between form and function.

THOM MAYNE


and by the way, you should really WATCH THIS VIDEO IT IS GREAT GREAT GREAT. in addition to describing architecture SO WELL, he goes on to discuss ideas related to the project on many levels. so WATCH!!!

MDRDV


And I include this video as an example that we are talking about ideas - not architecture. we are using architecture to express those ideas. and this video explains the idea and architecture in a way that no amount of static elevation/section...bla bla bla. Now mind you, I'm not saying you don't have to make those drawings, those drawings are still important as an analytical tool - but may not necessarily be an appropriate tool for representation.


Others to be discuss later (these are of a more personal nature and despite the fact that both gentlemen are architects, they offer more at the SCALE of life.

Stanley Tigerman
George Yu


And as a side note, I've begun watching HEROS on hulu.com. it's about hero's and villans, and talks about the idea with ambiguity/complexity/contradiction.

I am also reminded of the movie FREAKS as playing with ideas of hero's and villains.


And I suppose most of these HEROS listed so far carry ideas of outcast as well. certainly ed wood, and stanley tigerman. I think stanley would be proud to bear the monicer of outcast, and indeed honorably so. The only one who doesn't fit the outcast mold on this list is George Yu. I don't think he can be considered an outcast can you? Anyway, this is my in progress list of my heros.

archite

SLACKER (the movie) and the NARRATIVE

This was going to be a list of movies that deal with ideas of "narrative" in an unconventional way. you might say they represent analysis through narrative. Through these narrative techniques we are forced to look at things from a new perspective. Additionally, these examples use these narrative techniques that relate (in theory) back to the subject/idea. But this really is a focus on the movie slacker - (the link below does not take you directly to the movie, but you can see it in the menu list.)

Slacker (currently watching): a stream of consciousness type of narrative that questions alternate potential realities. It also deals with ideas of "the outcast" and conspiracy theories. Hierarchy is experimented with here in the fact that there is none. No soundtrack to highlight/background visual information (and by that I'm simply talking about the use of music that provides tensions/context - a auditory version of a perspective drawing (forced viewpoint). Here there is no forced viewpoint no hierarchy - nothing OUT OF SCALE. - remember we are talking about relationships here - and systems of similarity/different, in this case systems of scale.

"we've been on the moon since the 50's...colonizing space...global bankruptcy" these are but a few lines used in one conversation.

My attitude towards this studio is one of "stream of consciousness", but it differs from the movie because it is represented in an non-linear way. (and by non-linear, I simply mean that there is no forced order in which the information is presented. the viewer is forced to be an active participant in the transfer of information.) - actually I think I take that all back - I'm not sure if you would necessarily concider slacker a "linear" narrative would you? It linear in the sense that all movies are linear (an example of non-linear, - who remembers "choose your own adventure". - and on a side note, might you consider the whole "choose your own adventure." a precursor to video games that follow a narrative - say like Grand Theft Auto. I wonder, in fact, if anyone has considered doing a video game series based on the books. - ah strike that (sort of), they have now sort of according to amazon, There is a "choose your own adventure - the abominable snowman" DVD that came out in 2006. As a side note, I'd like to point out that the use of a DVD player as a game platform, is a subversive idea. Its using tools and infrastructures in ways they were not designed to do. You don't play games on DVD players, you watch movies. however, this whole discussion is a bit outdated now anyway, as more and more people use their game consouls to watch movies. - and really this brings up an interesting idea, which I am sure is being discussed as we speak, and that is the general convergence of movie/game. Are we not moving towards "entertainment" based on simulated environments? a "holodeck" if you will. I hold up Nintendo's wii as an example of this trajectory. and I hold this below video as a perfect example of what I am talking about.

Watch Rejected Wii Games and more funny videos on CollegeHumor

but I digress. (in the spirit of stream of consciousness). and back to "SLACKER" I would like to foreground, in terms of heirachy, a particular scene of the film (beginning around minute 21:50) as another example of an interesting narrative technique - in a way similar to the pecha kucha style of narrative. Its also a GREAT FANTASTIC EXAMPLE of the type of NARRATIVES (marrying image and text) that I am trying to get you all to do.

"Huh, that was interesting" says the unidentified woman, and you know what? I concur.

and back to the linearity/non-linearity issue of SLACKER


Once again, my an argument of mine is that there is value in the sketch - skecthing is a way to produce and document ideas quickly. These posts should be thought of as "narrative sketches"

we want to just get the ideas out there, talk about them, and determine what ideas have value and what do not.

And as I watch slacker it totally relates, because its about moments of events that our "out of scale" of our daily lives.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE NARRATIVE

So I am working on another blog post when this realization came into my head. - it sort of relates to my last post here about linear/non-linear narratives.

CREATIVITY + PROCESS + REPRESENTATION

These are two of the largest themes of this project. An attempt to better understand both - this attempt by myself and hopefully my students as well. This direction is based mostly on self critique of what I have been teaching up to this point - a heavy emphasis on craft - and drawings, mostly

CREATIVITY

I have been operating on the philosophy of "drive them as hard you can" promote a relentless work ethic - the rational being, that is through the act of "making" that we better understand "meaning." And while I still fully agree with that philosophy, the emphasis was really based in part on the fact that I really didn't feel I had an understanding of the nature of creativity.

So that is one of the main functions of this project, an attempt to understand the nature of creativity and the environment in which it thrives.

I have come to realize at the root of this whole thing is about RELATIONSHIPS. whatever anyone is talking about, they are talking about relationships. creativity is merely having the ability to understand complex relationships. there I said it. I don't think it could be more simple.

PROCESS

I really haven't been able to produce a NARRATIVE about process that I am happy with. but for now lets just all agree that it is of the utmost importance, and creativity cannot exist without process. Nothing new can be created without process. And like a newborn that comes in to the world all covered with afterburth, these blogs are MESSY, and intentionally so. We are concerned with the habitat of creativity, and it doesn't occur in states of stability.

As architects, we preach an open ended design process, why not create a project that is open-ended as well. For me, the "what this project is about" is a moving target, and hopefully, so to the students. I have told the students are in control, it is the intent to end up with a building, but it is all up to the students.

additionally, as I have stated this project is an investigation of my own, and what better way to illustrate this idea of process that to try and expose

REPRESENTATION

Is representation an act of definition? I suppose its possible to define something as indefinite - but that is a small point.

there is meaning behind this format - it is an attempt to represent process and not the finished product - eventually it will be the finished product, but right now, its in PROCESS. so like I said, its okay that things might be unfinished/unpoloshed with grammatical and spelling errors - even fragmented sentences and

lets get things on the table that are in process, that we can talk about them before we spend all this time polishing them up. It is more efficient this way.

another side of representation has to do with, how am I representing process of architecture to the students. Am I presenting it in a way that they can relate to?

ANOTHER IMPORTANT ASPECT OF NARRATIVE

I have realized another important aspect of the narrative we must understand. In the past two projects, we have discussed ideas of circulation as these singular linear pathways through the SPACE.

this idea is completely flawed is it not. in reality we do not all expereince architecture along the same pathways. there is always deviation. In reality there is a simultaneity of experience.

I think using the blog provides an opportunity to experiment with non-linear narratives.

So think about that. Is your narrative linear? How might you construct a "non-linear narrative." using these tools.

and while an individual narrative might be non linear, you can also thing of the collection of these different blogs and posts as one big non-linear narrative. It is a narratives constructed of themes/ideas and hopefully conflict.

FLICKR PHOTOS

This is great - I am assuming this image was found on the internet somewhere, or did you guys sneak in? This photo is important because it gives us a sense (at least partially what the interior is like. Although, am I wrong, or do the ceilings seem really low? without that element of the imgage that relates back to the human scale, it is difficult to tell, more so in this interior image.






but I am interested most in the images that speak to scale. what makes this picture below interesting is the human figure, without which our understanding scale would be non existent. Can you imagine the feeling you must get standing on the top of this building?



And while the picture below isn't about excessive scale, it is about scale and the layering of different systems of scale. its an interesting photo no? the different scales produce different rhythms.

FLICKR PHOTOS

This is great - I am assuming this image was found on the internet somewhere, or did you guys sneak in? This photo is important because it gives us a sense (at least partially what the interior is like. Although, am I wrong, or do the ceilings seem really low? without that element of the imgage that relates back to the human scale, it is difficult to tell, more so in this interior image.






but I am interested most in the images that speak to scale. what makes this picture below interesting is the human figure, without which our understanding scale would be non existent. Can you imagine the feeling you must get standing on the top of this building?



And while the picture below isn't about excessive scale, it is about scale and the layering of different systems of scale. its an interesting photo no? the different scales produce different rhythms.

importance of NARRATIVES

As architects, its our job to understand the nature of relationships, and the underlying systems of organization that serve to create similarity and difference.




the above video is talking about the use of "systems of scale" as the "system of similarity and difference." it is a way of controlling relationships. You might also think in terms of "systems of color" and "systems of orientation" (even these circles can theoretically be rotated out of the 2d plane.)



The above video is talking about "systems of quantity." But these are very simple relationship - and in the case of the circles there is only one system being used to create differentiation. and As has been pointed out, there are other systems (color/orientation), they just remain latent. but if you start playing with these other systems you begin to get a much more complex layering/interlocking of relationships - and this, mind you, from very simple "systems."




As architects it is our job to understand and control these systems. And outside the context of sesame street, at the scale and neighborhood these systems become greater in number and complexity. For example, you have social/economic/gender/political/agricultural/geologic/cosmic/atomic/genetic systems (of course I could go on).

It all quickly becomes WHITE NOISE.

It is our job through the use of a "thing" called REASEARCH to find and make visible and hopefully understand these underlying systems.

The way we are going about this in this studio is through the use of the NARRATIVE. I have previously talked about the importance Drawing as an analytical process - and the narrative is important for the same reason. It is the hope that through the process and accumulation of narratives, these underlying systems will present themselves.