The Earth Awards

My first post in 6 months! It's been a while and a lot has happened in the past few months- working at a gallery on the Upper East Side, finishing my Masters of Architecture applications, getting a scholarship to go back to Japan, and now working at a documentary film company. What's exciting is that the film company is also producing a design competition, the Earth Awards, which looks for design/innovation solutions to sustainability and/or social justice problems and today was our official launch day!

Check it out here:
http://www.theearthawards.org/

I'm also in the process of learning wordpress/html/css/php/mysql so be prepared for a new blog as I start my next adventure in Japan.

Until then!

Radio Lab: Moment

Some video content from my all time favorite radio program: Radio Lab. Now if only they would give me a job. Then again, considering my screed of a cover letter, I wouldn't hire me either. I still love you Radio Lab.

Favorite Work

Of course, there's also the cut/fold diagram, the plywood site model of the high line, and the mangled, safety-pin tux. They're like my children. I love them all.

Intro to Arch: Done

With mixed emotions I'm here to say that my 5 week exploration into architecture has come to an end. Not that I won't be glad to do something other than spend 14 hours in the studio every day, but something really great and perhaps indescribable happened in my time at Columbia. Maybe it's because I've started to find a career path that really excites me, or maybe it's that I've worked harder than I've ever worked before and I love it, or maybe it's the amazing people I met in the program. In any case, I could start an MArch program tomorrow and be happy.

I'm now out of the dorms and living in my TA's room while he is out traveling for the next month and will start my mad scramble for a job on Monday.

One more not on the Arch program. We had a final party on Friday where everyone pinned up their best work. It really was an inspiring event. Here is most of my final project (minus the model I made in chipboard). The assignment was to make a dual purpose building that incorporated a tailor shop and another program of our choosing. We could only use 600 sq. ft. of surface area for the whole building and we had to incorporate a model we made previously that was based on a man's suit we mangled to mimic the movements of a transformer toy. So to recap the progression: transformer, man's suit, abstract model, tailor shop. Yeah...pretty nuts.

My project is about the realization of form and space through folds. I fashioned my building (a kimono tailor and tea house) out of a single folded piece of paper. There are no freestanding elements and nothing that needed to be glued together. On the right side there is a diagram of how forms arise from folding. In the middle is a diagram of the flattened piece of paper that became my model. At the top is a one-point perspective of my building on the site (the High Line), and at the bottom is a isometric projection of my building. I'll get a pic of the actual model online ASAP.

Week 2

Here's the latest work I've done for intro to architecture. As mentioned, it's based on the plans and sections of Gary Chang's Honk Kong apartment. We had to draw a total of 18 drawings and while many others judiciously spaced out their plans and sections, I embraced the complexity and cacophony of Honk Kong and the beautiful mess it creates. It's my attempt and creating a visual representation of biography, complexity, luxury of space, and an apartment building as a microcosm of a city. Egads....I'm speaking in theory speak...I hate theory. Anywho, here's a detail of my work. Enjoy!

Columbia: Week One

It's been four days since I started the Intro to Architecture program at Columbia University, and it's been quite a week so far. On my first day in NYC I ran into my friend Annie almost IMMEDIATELY after getting out of the cab from LaGuardia, which was fun and almost impossibly good timing.

Work has been crazy hectic, but fun. It's been a while since I had this much mental stimulation, so I suppose I should be grateful. Lots of time has been spent in the studio, but I've also been attending lectures and workshops and hanging out with the eclectic and talented members of my studio group.

For our first project we had to visit the new High Line park, an abandoned, elevated railroad that was recently converted into a city park. For the assignment we had to take a cross section of the railroad and add 100 lines to emphasize a theme based on rules instituted by the parks department. We also had to make a collage from ONE picture based on the same theme. We then had to combine the two into one, coherent presentation.



Here's my final work. My rule was no wheeled movement and I imaged a vengeful, angry park that searched for NYC hustle-and-bustle types and mercilessly destroyed them. It may be more surreal nightmare than architecture, but I like the results.

For our next project we have to draw 15 plans and cross-sections of Gary Chang's Hong Kong apartment on a single sheet of Mylar. More to come.

Bored

Now that I have NOTHING to do I've reached a level of boredom heretofore unknown. I've been trying to fill my time with lots of going to the gym and trying to teach myself HTML/CSS/JavaScript with varying degrees of success.

I've also been catching up on old episodes of 'Chuck' that I had missed. The show is sooo good...thank god it got renewed for a third season. It's an odd thing, it's not superbly well written like Mad Men, brutally real like The Wire, crazy funny like Arrested Development, or action packed like BSG, it's just amazingly entertaining and watchable.

The music is also pretty awesome on the show. The show's theme song is by Cake, they've had songs by The National and several by Bon Iver. Hell, one of the shows I just watched had a plot point that revolved around 'Tom Sawyer' by Rush. They've also used not ONE, not TWO, but THREE! songs by Huey Lewis and the News.

Then again, there's only so much web development self study and addictive TV can do to chase boredom away. Looking forward to being home for a few weeks then off to Columbia to learn me some architecture.

Spring 09 Drawings

New Camera

After months of patiently scouring ebay, I finally found what I had been seeking: a shiny new (read: 55 years old) Voigtlander Perkeo II. BEHOLD!



The Perkeo is one of the smallest and most well-built medium format folding cameras sold around the middle of last century.

I purchased the camera from Jurgen Kreckel, the guru on medium format folder restoration (who knew such a niche hobby existed?).

People keep asking me why I would want something that has NONE of the niceties of today's DSLR cameras. You don't need to worry about me abandoning digital photography, I just want to dabble in the range of possibilities still offered in the analog realm; to remember what it's like for photography to take time. Also, since I'll probably be picking up a Holga soon, the film will be interchangeable. If I dig the camera, I've already planned out future cameras that would complement the collection.

Also also...this fits into my recent obsession with all things mid 50s through early 60s: 2d art, 3d art, architecture, typography, movies, historical fiction TV programs.

Drawing Class

I'm going through the time devouring process of digitizing/editing my drawings from my art class this semester. I'll probably finish them all over the weekend, but until then, he's a sample of what's to come.