Time of Day: 6:09pm
Hours of Sleep: 4
Espresso shots: 3
Minutes spent in the sun: 47
Meals eaten: 1
Website: www.pandora.com
Thought: I can't wait to get my grubby little hands on the laser cutter...
Architecture School: Endless

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I am assuming that we are officially in the thick of the semester... I haven't really had time to think about anything other than what is in front of me begging for completion.
You know when you're in a new class it takes a few weeks for the routine to kick in, find a groove with your instructors and feel as if you really are learning?
Well, we didn't have the luxury of finding the groove... we were thrown in head first into deep, dark cold water... without floaties.
Now that the chill & sting has worn off, I feel like I have found a groove... I have even mistakenly gotten out of bed and headed toward the studio on days that I didn't need to... Groove: Found... check that off the list.

In our studio course with Paul Preissner we are currently spending most of our creative energy on Maya animation and rendering ( www.paulpreissner.com -- shameless plug for a fantastic instructor & architect).
In the past week we have animated curves w/ a Nurb, polygon or subdivided surface to create a form in which we analyzed through a two-dimensional format with sections and plans. (does that make sense? ...i'll post images in the next blog to further explain; I'm talking my classmates into sending me their work so I can post their creations at will... mwahaha).
Anyway - The drawings create a line-drawing of our three dimensional Maya models which allows us to generate new meanings for our form... This made me realize that the design process is never ending and always repeating itself in which we create something new everytime.
I spent many hours using the same technique and geometry and every time my results were vastly different. Each time the process and final product drove me to create more and think differently.

This leads me to believe that Bob Somol knows what he's talking about (there is no website to plug... but if he did, I think it would be www.UICSoAEnigma.com )... We have spent a great deal of time discussing the creation through repetition (and by discussing, I mean Bob is talking and I consistenly feel as if I don't have enough ears to hear with and hands to write with)... According to some theorists (sorry - names fail me at the present time) and Bob, one will not find originality but only newness. Taking an idea from one area, analyzing it and creating something different from it. It isn't original because your new idea was derived from somewhere else.

I have taken some time to discuss this idea with myself, and I agree with the more educated individuals from which we are learning.
If we wanted to linearly trace the history of Architecture we would have to begin with the first hut created by man. I don't think that the Acropolis would still be standing today if a caveman/cavewoman (I won't give credit to one sex over the other) hadn't decided he/she needed shelter... continued to pick up sticks, notch them together and successfully shield himself/herself from the elements. From that moment architecture began and continued to get better through the analyzation of the past building and making it better with the next.
Evolution isn't just an argument for the creation of mankind...


I think my brain is bigger.

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Quotes of the week:
"Have you eaten?!! Oh you should eat!! I don't want you to go all blind and pass out on me..."
"So, all I need are these Jousts and Goiters, right?" ...in reference to Joists and Girders...

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Something cool to look at:
Courtesy of http://just.ekosystem.org/davechapel-index.html

Church of St. Martin -- The Saint of the Homeless.