Archinect - Illinois Institute of Technology (Hans)

$500 million to start a new city

2006-11-12T20:14:55-05:00

It takes $500 million to start a new city in South Mississippi, according to The Journal of South MS Business. It's not everyday that one hears that someone decided to start a new city. Sort of struck me as bizarre, but I guess anything is possible when you have hundreds of investors involved. It's planned to be developed in an area north of Biloxi. Investors include many of the casino owners in Biloxi and are really trying to help the area recover after Hurricane Katrina.

As far as the rest of the south coast, many of casino hotels that existed before the hurricane are now fully operational and bringing back the economy to South MS. After talking to some realtors about properties near the site of my thesis project, I found out that they're all in the process of being developed into condominium hotels and casinos. Of course, developers are having to invest more because of the new building codes and extremely high insurance rates. Hearing in on some of the city council meet...

Skipping class

2006-10-26T21:13:55-04:00

Yesterday and today was the Chicago International Conference for the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). It was here at in the Herman Union Building at IIT, which was pretty nice since I got a good excuse from classes. This year's theme was "Thinking Outside the Box - Tapered, Tilted, Twisted Towers". There were a lot of really amazing lectures on current and future technology regarding high-rise structures. I didn't get a chance to attend all of them, but I did get a chance to hear Peter Rees from the city of London about upcoming projects in London. Some of the other speakers that I got a chance to hear included SOM, Turner, and Daniel Libeskind. There were a lot of other big names and really amazing projects.

When not skipping class to attend the lectures, I've been getting my initial proposals set up for my thesis project. Here's a north elevation and a perspective I have from Sketchup. I'm getting my thesis committee organized for a review at the end...

Feeding Time

2006-10-15T19:30:32-04:00

Walking back from my class yesterday, I ended up running into a hawk, or I think it was a hawk, feeding on one of the many squirrels roaming around campus. It was definitely out of the ordinary and pretty amazing, considering the fact it didn't even move when I approached it to take a picture. It's kind of funny seeing that the mascot of IIT is a hawk. Anyways, here's what I got.

ADT vs. Revit

2006-10-06T22:11:37-04:00

I've been using Autodesk Architectural Desktop for some time now and I've found it to have a pretty smooth work flow. A lot of guys in my studio have been using Revit and have been trying to convince me to look into it for the past year. I'm told it has a similar work flow and transition into 3d modeling. Besides not really wanting to take the time to learn a new software right in the middle of thesis, would anybody happen to know if it'd be worth learning in the near future?

"The Devil in the White City"

2006-09-29T19:48:05-04:00

Midterm is approaching and I've just finished researching most of what I need to really begin developing the details of the site. I've decided to divide my site into two buildings. On the east side of the site there will be a hotel with restaurant and on the west side of the site there will be a community center. Dividing the two buildings will be a courtyard and access to a footbridge that will cross Highway 90 to the beachfront and harbor area. I found it necessary to include a community center to give the nearby neighborhood facilities for arts and athletics, particularly for young children, teenagers, and senior citizens. The hotel will be for visitors that are entertained by the city's plan to renew the harbor and beachfront. I'm working on some preliminary sketches and will post them soon to try to get some feedback.

I've also had a chance to read a book called "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson. If you haven't had a chance to read it, it's a really fascinati...

MIT pranks and floating beds

2006-09-21T20:29:44-04:00

I never thought I'd say this, but I kind of miss MIT. It's pretty amazing to see what students come up with for the famous MIT pranks. On September 11 of this year, students decided to set a fake fire truck on top of the Great Dome, the site of many previous pranks. Here's the story from the Boston news. MIT Prank

This was another article that really caught my attention. A $1.5 million floating bed? Are you kidding me? I have no idea what to think about this thing. As far as technology is concerned, it really shows where we're headed. It does look pretty cool, but I just can't think of too many applications for it, especially at $1.5 million. Anyways, if you haven't heard about it, here's what it looks like. Floating Bed News Story

Chicago vs. Boston Winters

2006-09-21T01:00:04-04:00

Luckily I live on-campus, so I don't have to worry too much about commuting to studio. Although I do miss living close to downtown, like when I was in Boston. I did my undergraduate at MIT in Cambridge, but I lived across the river in Boston. It was so nice to have stuff to do and places to eat after midnight. Chicago is pretty amazing too, but living about a 20 minute "L" ride from downtown, it's just not the same. The IIT campus has changed so much in the past few years, but I'm still hesitant about walking around the neighborhood after midnight, especially since there's not much to do around campus besides watching the White Sox play. It is pretty convenient having an "L" stop right on campus though, so it's not that bad getting to downtown.

I live in Bailey Hall, which is on the North side of campus, right across the street from Keating Hall, the athletics facility. The rooms are not too bad. Not the best, but not the worst I've been in. I'm in a studio, and I have mor...

Out of the Ruins

2006-09-20T20:59:21-04:00

I'm sure many of you have seen and heard the progress of redeveloping the Gulf Coast area from the Hurricane Katrina damage. It's going to take several years before it gets anywhere near to the way it was before, but the communities and city governments are really working to make it better than before. With new zoning and codes and planning initiatives, architects and planners are implementing designs for affordable housing that can withstand hurricane force winds and flooding.

In any case, I've included a few pictures of the site I'm using for my thesis project. That whole area along the coast is pretty devastated and most of the buildings are either already demolished or still in piles of debris. I hope with my proposal for a community center and housing complex, it'll give the city of Gulfport a place to go as they redevelop the downtown area.

The city had a recent meeting regarding proposals for a master harbor plan, which is directly south of my site. I'm planning to in...

Site Planning - MS Gulf Coast

2006-09-13T15:20:48-04:00

I'm finally getting into the site planning part of the thesis. For a few weeks now, I've been researching the Mississippi Gulf Coast area, particularly since Hurricane Katrina. There have been so many changes to the zoning and building codes of the area, so it'll be interesting to see architecture adapt to these updated regulations. Anyways, The site I'm considering is pretty much a few feet away from the coastline. It sits north of Highway 90, which runs East/West along the coast. Most of the MS Gulf Coast is still pretty destroyed from the Hurricane, but efforts have gone a long way to help clean up debris and make room for new development. There are only a few casinos up and running, but the others seem to be on their way back to normal. In any case, there is still a lot of work to do as far as city planning and construction.

With all the research I've done, my next step is to organize it into an outline so I know where to go from there. From what I've read, most of th...

I've been relocated to Building 3410

2006-09-06T20:43:16-04:00

It's a Mies building too, but it's just not the same as Crown Hall. The studio I'm in is just for thesis students and there's not as much room as in Crown Hall, but I'll be fine. I'm working on adding pictures of my studio and other stuff around campus to this blog, so hopefully I can get that stuff on here in the next few days. My thesis advisor is George Schipporeit, who was a student of Mies van der Rohe. He has a a pretty admirable career, such as Lake Point Tower in Chicago. He approved my thesis proposal, which I've been researching over this past summer.

My thesis revolves around the current situation throughout the Mississippi Gulf Coast, particularly in the town of Gulfport, MS, which was dramatically affected by the August 2005 Hurricane Katrina. I'm proposing a community center to be sited in the downtown area of the city, which is only feet away from the coastline. It should make for a really interesting project, considering the adapted building codes and zoning...

First Day of Classes

2006-09-05T11:15:48-04:00

This is my first entry for thie school blog project. I'm in my second year in the M.Arch. Program 2 at the Illinois Institute of Technology. I hope to use this blog to give others an idea of what IIT is like, particularly to those who are preparing to pursue an education in architecture.

To begin with, IIT has undergone many changes throughout the past few years, such as the new buildings on campus, renovations to Crown Hall, and a new major in the architecture department, Landscape Architecture, as well as other changes. Having been here one year already, I've had a chance to get familiar with Chicago and IIT. I'm a resident of Bailey Hall, one of the on-campus apartments and also one of the many Mies buildings on campus. It's pretty convenient living about a 5 minute-walk from Crown Hall, considering I'm there every single day.

As far as my classes for this semester, I'm taking Architectural Programming, Advanced Building Technologies, High-Rise Technology, and Thesis Resea...