Hey Archinect,

I kind of fell off the blogging wagon last semester. Things got kind of crazy. But here are some updates...

--New Laptop: Get one before you start a graduate program! Having the ability to work at school in the library, outside of studio is essential!

Recently, BIG and Irma Boom came to Columbia to lecture. Alejandro Zaera-Polo (AZP) is here now. Tough guy to understand, and even tougher perhaps to decipher through his thick Spanish accent, so I'll try to write short, overly simplified bulletpoints. 

He says:

--The theory of the facade is in danger. 

--The facade mediates between public and private, but it also does 

--The facade could crystallize the technical, cultural, political processes within the building.

--I want to understand the technical processes of the facade.

(Shows example of facade unit and entire building)

--We draw simple lines for mullions, but the object itself is represented by complex ridges, gaskets, drainage channels--devices that affect the way the facade transmits light, heat, etc.

--Wants to name his 12 identified facades

1. Curtain wall.

2. Precast concrete

3. Airtight Envelopes (

4. Watertight Envelopes

5. Screens

...going really fast.

9. Textile Facades

10. Media facades

11. Vegetated facades

12. Kinetic facades

--

1. Curtain Wall--generally made with glass and aluminum

--About constructing the world from scratch with a transparent envelope

Side-note: doesn't care about whether a facade was used first or last.

Lever House::First Facade out there

==Evolution of the facade as dark, because it was inefficient.

====John Hancock Building in Boston tried to remedy this but the double-glazing failed.

======Patterns and technologies used in a different way to use fritted, twisting glass.

2. Precast Concrete

--Incredible forms.

--Sold as the form of social housing. 

End. Back to drafting. I'll update with studio life soon!