In 1978, Lt. Col. Sigmund Jähn, a pilot and scientist for the Luftstreitkräfte der NVA (East German Air Force), became the first German in space. He was one of the first trainees of the Soviet Intercosmos program, and was the third Warsaw Pact cosmonaut to go into space (after Vladimir Renek from Czechoslovakia and Miroslaw Hermaszewski from Poland).

Jähn, along with soviet cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky, were crewmembers on Soyuz 31. Their mission included docking with the Salyut 6 station. The cosmonauts returned to Earth aboard Soyuz 29.

The Soyuz 31 mission launched on August 26, 1978 ... a date that figures prominently in the German imagination (as well as the plot of Good Bye Lenin!)

I was born on August 26, 1971 ...

Happy Birthday to me!!! Woo-hoo!!! View full entry

It's interesting to see the call-and-response noise that the Postopolis! threads have created. I did participate in the event in two different capacities: not only as a school blogger, but also as a person that maintains and edits an ostensibly architecture-related website. I was not able to see... View full entry

If this is not my last blog as a Yale student, then perhaps this is my penultimate entry. I'm trying to muster the courage to share my feelings about what will happen in the next couple of weeks. I'm not necessarily talking about graduation. I'm talking about the renovation of Paul Rudolph's... View full entry

A box from the Mies van der Rohe Archive Am I allowed to like Gordon Bunshaft's Lever House more than Mies van der Rohe's/Philip Johnson's Seagram Building? I hope so, because in what was one of the most ridiculously beautiful New York days I've ever encountered, the Lever House just looked... View full entry

I can't quite believe I'm writing this, but earlier today, I actually turned in a draft of my thesis (see above). It's about 156 pages long, including images and references. It's actually heavier than I thought, but then again, I don't think I've ever written anything this lengthy before. This... View full entry

I had all these grand designs for Spring Break. They were certainly ambitious: in addition to finishing the final chapter on my thesis, I was planning on doing all this reading, etc. But I spent almost the whole time with my family, which made everything worthwhile. My life has been so insulated... View full entry

Last night, I went to the Knitting Factory's 20th Anniversary Celebration at Town Hall. It goes without saying, but it was an amazing lineup. Here are some images: Lou Reed Laurie Anderson John Zorn Paul D. Miller (DJ Spooky) and Lee Ranaldo Also, last night was the first time I had been to Times... View full entry

The midterm onslaught is upon us ... indeed, time is running short. Midterms are next week, and then Spring Break. This year, I will not have much of a break, as I am finishing my thesis. Today, in fact, I turned in a chapter. It's been a tortuous affair, sure. I've spent the past two weeks... View full entry

Can it get any colder here? Where's the snow? Honestly, it's very strange being here in the Northeast, especially when it is freakishly cold and when the lack of precipitation makes the dead, dormant grass look like tundra. I kinda wish I was back in Texas. Kinda. The semester is chugging along... View full entry

My twin, the nameless one, wild in the woods -- John Berryman Greg Lynn, et al., Korean Presbyterian Church, Sunnyside, Queens, New York (1988) Antonin Raymond, Gumma Music Center, Takasaki, Gumma Prefecture, Japan (1955) View full entry

1/23/2007 -- Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid), lecturing at the Critical Imaginaries MED colloquium. Early 21st-century boho hipness mashing up with some late 20th-century brushammered concrete. This was a great session ... Paul lectured on his book Rhythm Science, as well as... View full entry

The past two weeks sped along at a dizzying pace. Not only am I writing my thesis, but the rest of the second-year MED students and me are busy in the realm of programming. As I've mentioned earlier, we are still putting the touches on our symposium. Called The Market of Effects, the symposium... View full entry

New Haven Coliseum, Kevin Roche/John Dinkerloo & Assoc. (1968-2007) View full entry

After a lengthy Christmas break, I am happy (and apprehensive) about my final semester at Yale. Although putting the final touches on my thesis will keep me occupied this semester, there is a lot more on my plate than usual. For starters, I have two articles to work on, as well as some last-minute... View full entry

It seems that these are the questions I get asked the most, especially this time of year. My relatives ask me if I'm gonna become an architect, and I tell them, "Actually, I am a historian." And there's an answer that draws a multitude of facial expressions. But the thing is, now that I am away... View full entry

One of my busiest weeks ever came to a thrilling conclusion yesterday. Besides turning in two papers, and completing one PhD application (MIT), I also had my Fall Semester Final Review. The M.E.D. review is a different bird altogether: there are no pinups; we present our research topics to the... View full entry

I cannot remember being inside a library as thrilling as the one I am currently in. The Grande Bilbiothéque du Québec, by Patkau / Croft Pelletier / Menkés Shooner Dagenais Architectes Associés, is an extraordinary space. From the Berri-UQAM subway stop, you enter a... View full entry

I love the Yale Center for British Art ... today, for example, I got a really close-up peek at Archigram 4, known for its comic book-inspired cover and title, "Amazing Archigram." Upon entering the YCBA's rare book room, my colleague and I were required to register and to wash our hands -- so it... View full entry

My whole existence, reduced to wearing tags on my shirt: Special thanks to colleague Joy K. for letting me stay in her apartment in lovely Princeton, New Jersey. ... View full entry

So, I should preface this post by stating that these are my own opinions, and they have nothing to do with consensus or what anyone else was thinking at last night's lecture at Yale School of Architecture. Last night, it was Tom Wiscombe's turn at the lecture podium at Hastings Hall. We all know... View full entry

Indeed, only a couple of minutes ago. 40 pages. 10pt. Arial. 1.5 line paragraph spacing. 119 footnotes. I originally lost an earlier version of it (due to file corruption), and it took almost a week to recover its contents from my brain. Someone get me some coffee. Now everybody .... View full entry

Anyone else notice how easily people are able to invoke both Guy Debord and the term spectacle? Doesn't seem wrong that people do so without batting an eyelash, as if the term "spectacle" was something positive, or something to be admired or utilized? This, from RETORT's (Iain Boal, T.J. Clark... View full entry

My current bouts with procrastination have steered me towards some interesting architecture books. Right now, I am meandering through R.U.R's Atlas of Novel Tectonics. Note that I have already commented on Sanford Kwinter's The Judo of Cold Combustion, an introduction that makes the... View full entry

Ok, so the title to this post comes courtesy of Wisconsin's best-ever band, Killdozer. I have fond, fond memories of this band. I remember my freshman year at Northwestern, I went to University Hall for an early-morning History discussion section. And there in the doorway, a copy of the... View full entry

I woke up this morning to find out that I am speaking at a conference at the University of Virginia in one week. I am terrified. I have never spoken at a conference before, and I am the only non-PhD student at this thing. For those of you interested, the conference is entitled Aftermath: The... View full entry

Yeah, the title. More on that later. But, I am finally getting into gear here in my final year of the MED program at Yale School of Architecture. And the thing that has really been keeping me occupied of late is class selection. Now, since I will be spending most of the year working on my... View full entry

I'm obviously thinking of hunters on a thrilling gallop, urging each other to release their dogs and set off after their prey. But at the onset of this new school year, I feel like the prey. This is going to be an insanely busy year: not only am I helping develop coordinate a class here at Yale in... View full entry

It is amazing what one can find on the internet ... for example, today I happened to stumble across a podcast directory for New England-based Madragora Records. Go to this link, and go to the Madragora Records podcast (labeled WeirdPod006) and look at the podcast directory. Song #6 is... View full entry

continued from a previous post The labyrinthine space in Borges' Death and the Compass is mirrored in Franz Kafka's last novel, The Castle. In that book, K., a land surveyor, manuvers through the hyperbureaucratized spaces of a mysterious town. The enigmatic Castle that looms malevolently in the... View full entry

The perils of the text infiltrate the spaces of the city. And somewhere between the experience and the perception of a text, Roland Barthes suggests the primacy of pleassure. For him, the text is an object to be consumed, and text-consumption is within the province of the reader or critic. The... View full entry