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Columbia GSAPP (George Showman)

 

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    Open-source vector graphics

    George Showman
    May 1, '05 4:47 PM EST

    Okay, people out there in archinect-world don't seem to want to talk about tools, but for those few souls who might care, I just ran across something I probably should have known about long ago: SVG. It's a vector-graphics standard as open as HTML (since it's written by the same people). Apparently Firefox 1.1 may have built-in support for SVG-viewing, allowing vectors to be integrated with HTML documents rather than locked in an image or plug-in frame. Here's the wikipedia entry about it:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svg

    I'm excited because I don't think vector graphics should be the domain of Illustrator and Flash and that's it. Ever since I wrote some code in postscript to draw fractals for a computer science class in undergrad, I've been waiting for a wider adoption of open, scriptable vector formats and tools. Obviously SVG is just a format, the tools matter too. Apparently Illustrator already offers support (you can export SVG files).

    I guess that's it. I'm in the final stretch of work here, writing a paper on FLW and traditional Japanese houses (which is going to be tricky because everything has already been said). The "Year-End Show" here at Columbia will open the weekend of Saturday the 14th. Anybody who is in the area should come, it's usually really fun: the whole school fills with studio work in installations designed and built by the students in the two days prior. I will try to put some photos up once we start working on ours... not sure what we'll be doing yet.



     
    • 2 Comments

    • David Cuthbert

      what kind of architecture are you doing...html codes and wha?? my head hurts, MOoooooooooooom!!

      May 2, 05 9:25 am  · 
       · 
      George Showman

      No no, this doesn't have to do with my "architecture", it's about tools. I.e. how are we drawing our architecture. Why are we letting foolish software designers at Adobe determine how we do things? I'm just starting, but I want to find a way to work with open-source, reconfigurable software tools. And my pencil, and a straight-edge.

      Now, my actual studio project this semester was also pretty weird, not a building at all, but still architecture. Unfortunately I'm really not satisfied with the realization I showed for the final review, so I'm not going to post any pics here for a while if ever. Very sad for me, actually. But no, my interest in architecture is mostly to work in wood, to engage people physically with structure, to think a lot about energy efficiency and about the little rituals through which people make a building come to life. I.e. don't take my entries from this semester as a description of my approach to architecture, at least not in their literal content (maybe there's something about _how_ I've been thinking this semester, dunno).

      Anyway thanks for reading. If you have thoughts about software, drawing, etc., I'd love to hear them!

      May 3, 05 12:12 am  · 
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About this Blog

I did an M.Arch. I at the GSAPP between 2002 and 2005. I started this blog only in my final semester, when I had Ed Keller as my studio critic.

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