Archinect - Cal Poly Pomona (Noam)

Surface Learning

2013-05-13T16:36:00-04:00

I remember last summer when I was talking to one of my mother’s friends about her son. She told me that his middle school provides all the students with ipads and requires them to use it as the primary learning device. He said that they rarely take notes with pencil and paper anymore. The thought of learning through the interaction with a digital surface as the principal medium was new to me. I immediately felt dissatisfaction but wasn't exactly sure why; is this actually detrimental to the educational process? Am I simply reacting negatively to change as a resistance mechanism? Do I have some romantic idea about the importance of putting pen to paper?

This quarter I enrolled in ARC 454 iPad Portfolio Class (co-taught by Sarah Lorenzen and George Proctor), which is a pilot class aimed at the goal of publishing an iPad app portfolio for each student. As part of a grant, each student would receive an iPad for the quarter to help reinforce the understanding of the medium and to...

Interim?

2013-04-12T04:13:23-04:00

Last Wednesday (Apr. 3rd, 2013) we celebrated our Spring Interim exhibit. We have three exhibits annually, which showcase the "best" students' works from the previous quarter. Not only is Interim a great opportunity to showcase the work, but it is a chance for us to gather, reflect, and get inspired for the quarter to come.

I have personally been involved in this year's exhibit because I currently hold the position of publicist for the AIAS. The AIAS literally organizes and curates the entire event. My main responsibility is to produce graphics and posters and to take photos at events. Designing the interim posters is one of the most fun responsibilities that comes with the publicist position, probably due to the magnitude of the event.

Here are some of the photos I took that night:

These two second year students, Aaron and Michael, are super talented.

Composite project from Bob Alexander's first year studio.

This is a second year project, which I believe ...

Hitoshi Abe visits Cal Poly Pomona

2013-03-27T20:19:14-04:00

Hitoshi Abe was the concluding lecturer in the winter quarter lecture series at Cal Poly Pomona.

This quarter's lecture series was entitled "Discipline." The common denominator of all the lecturers, was the way they delivered their clients something different from, or on top of what they expected. This could be achieved though technical or political rigor for example. Discipline in this sense can be viewed as a lubricant; a medium which helps squeeze in more than can seemingly fit. With that said, Hitoshi Abe's lecture seemed like an appropriate way to conclude the lecture series. He has several built works that portray highly conceptual and technical properties. I was only able to cover several of those projects.

The first slide of the lecture was this strange photo of Hitoshi sitting inside a bubble. He explained that when he was a student he wanted to see how he could connect himself to the world. In this case, the surface acts as a boundary, or a mediator between...

"Architecture Must Burn"

2013-02-22T12:39:00-05:00

Class: DECAF- Digitally Enhanced Construction and Fabrication

Working off of Coop Himmelblau’s dictum, “Architecture must burn,” our class is attempting to fabricate a wax wall installation to ultimately burn at our quarterly department exhibit. This experiment focuses on techniques of mold-making and assembly, which is meant to parallel pre-cast concrete construction. We began by presenting different proposals, which led to the creation of two teams. We are now operating as an entire class of 19 students, focusing in on individual components.

This was my preliminary proposal. It was completely unresolved, but enabled me to get a couple of ideas out.

The initial pattern (01) was chosen from a variety of a few different intersecting grids. Not super-meaningful. The panels (02,03) were then teased out of the pattern as soft topographic pillows, which would utilize a flexible mold system using fabric and adjustable frames to get varying sizes and depths. The panels would b...

Hi, my name is "________"

2013-01-27T00:24:00-05:00

My name is Noam Saragosti, I am currently a 4th year B.Arch student at Cal Poly Pomona.

I am terrible with introductions…

I was born in 88’ in Kibbutz Yakum in the center of Israel. A kibbutz is basically a small commune, if you want to know more: this and this are good examples. In 99’ my family transported to Fresno, CA where I spent the rest of my teen years. I have three older brothers who are now scattered around the planet. My oldest brother lives in Warsaw with his family and works as a computer engineer, my second oldest brother lives in Tel-Aviv and goes to med school, and my older brother is living in New York and studying architecture at CCNY (also as a 4th year). My parents still reside in Fresno, where I often go to visit them. It was in that wonderful sprawling Central Valley city that I became interested in architectural issues, which eventually led me to Cal Poly Pomona.

Pomona is located about 45km east of downtown LA and is technically in LA Co...