Archinect - Newschool of Architecture and Design (Fabian)

Thesis |Week5 | Fall (Lectures & Cardboard People)

2009-11-06T12:47:00-05:00

So this last month (October) was the beginning of my final year at the Newschool of Architecture & Design, and I am now actually getting ready to enter my fifth week. Since I have not posted an update on this blog in a while, I have decided to give a brief update of some of the things that have happen here since the fall at Newschool. I will then follow with a brief description about my thesis project and what I hope to accomplish from this thesis exploration.

Week 1
This first week begun with everybody trying to get situated, selecting instructors, as well as introducing our topics for thesis and identifying our objectives for the year. After dealing with all the madness associated with first week thesis studio came the chance to relax and look at what Newschool has planned for the year. So we headed out to our annual convocation with this year’s ceremonies being held at the Copley Symphony Hall. This year guest speaker was AIA president Marvin J. Malecha, FAIA, who gave a great...

Fight to the Finish!

2009-09-05T21:03:46-04:00

As most schools seem to be beginning their fall terms here at Newschool we are still working on our final two weeks of summer. This summer besides working on research for my thesis topic (which I will write about very soon) I had to take a light load of classes to finish lightening up my thesis year load. I took a total of 6 units, 3 classes (programming, urban history, and professional practice). Overall the classes were our typical course work of lectures, readings, and papers, but our pro practice class had a nice little twist. With a project that required our class of 20 or so students to be broken down into five teams. These five teams would later become five fictitious firms. The idea was that we were going to compete for a project that would be located near the Del Mar area. Our fictitious battle began with the request for proposal (RFP) process - then the request for qualification (RFQ) process. Finishing with the shortlisted elimination interview which was this last Thursda...

Graduations at the Salk

2009-06-28T00:27:28-04:00

Last week on June 20, 2009 I had the opportunity to attend the Graduation ceremony of my former classmates and friends finally complete the mission of getting through architecture school. The ceremonies where held at Louis Kahn's Salk Intitute. It was something special as I could see the happiness that filled their eyes. An even though the economy has hit the industry hard the joy of completion is still there. The ceremonies began around 9am and did not end till the late hours of the night. (some are still celebrating)

note: these image were taken from my cell phone - not a good idea

Watching my friends walk has re motivated me to keep pushing forward. With one more year to go and my two beautiful kids waiting for me I know its time to get back to work and kick some butt (my own butt of course). These last three years have not been easy working full time and going to school. Truthfully it has been a pain, difficult, stressful, and of course lots of fun! Going through architecture ...

Robots on Steroids

2009-05-23T04:12:11-04:00

Robots on Steroids no not really. I just thought the title sounded cool (haha), but as the fall approaches and thesis life arrives (for many of us) don’t be surprised to see super buff robots building models in your studio. With band aids covering cuts and metal fingers glued together. If you are wondering why robots then you either haven't started architecture school yet or you are surfing the wrong page. I am pretty excited to see thesis year right around the corner.

Image source

Anyway, here are a few images of what I have been keeping myself busy with. Just so you know this post was done by a robot drinking dr pepper late at night with not enough sleep. Don't you just hate those random late night posts (LOL).

Flux Worshop, San Francisco

2009-04-01T17:43:06-04:00

This last weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Flux workshop(s) held at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. They had a series of digital design workshops which included: Intro to Grasshopper, Advance Grasshopper, Rhinoscripting, Digital Project, as well as intro classes to Rhino and Revit. These workshops were hot selling out in as fast as three days. Lucky for me that I am what you call a Rhino Junky (Nerd); always looking out for all updates related to Rhino. I was able to get my first choice a ticket to the advance grasshopper session. The advance grasshopper class was taught by Rajaa Issa (Paneling tools, Archcut) from McNeel, Gil Akos and Ronnie Parsons from StudioMode. The workshop covered advance modeling features such as the new nested list functions as well as VB net scripting.

While I was there I was were able to see the power of Grasshopper with the exhibit installation that was on display. After the workshops - there was an exit presentation wer...

Light through a Tube

2009-03-20T18:31:51-04:00

I recently had the opportunity to visit the Solatube office here in San Diego. I found this trip to be a good learning experience so I thought I'd share. Solatubes are used to bring natural daylight into spaces which could help in reducing energy usage from artificial lighting. They work by transferring sunlight through highly reflective surfaces found within the inner sidings of a Solatube.

The thing I did not know before and found most impressive was its ability to make radius turns into spaces that would normally seem too difficult to reach. I also had the opportunity to see a Solatube with more than a 60' run. According to the guys at Solatube a run that long might only lose about 20% of light (give or take). Which I think is still very impressive.

learning from actually seeing it in person is the best it gives you a totally better understanding of how to apply this to future projects.

This trip was pretty cool - but I am more excited about the one to follow - next stop FLU...

LaN Workshop- San Diego

2009-03-10T13:24:56-04:00

LiveArchitecture.Net

This weekend Live Architecture Network - LAN-IN-FLIGHT digital fabrication series will be stopping in San Diego. This workshop will be great - as it will give us the opportunity to see how we can utilize and integrate digital modeling with fabrication. This will also provide an opportunity to see how we can benefit from the newly added equipment to the campus (Laser cutter, and CNC).

Schedule:
5pm March 13 @ Newschool of Architecture and Design
Design Fabrication - Lecture
7-9pm
Model4Machine - 3D Modeling with Rhino
10am- 12pm @ Newschool of Architecture and Design
RhinoCam Design
2-5pm @ Heads on Fire; Fab Lab
CNC machining
6pm @ Newschool of Architecture and Design
Conclusion and preview of Spring Workshop

Acording to their website: today MARCH 10 at NOON is the Deadline to Register.

See you there

Talking with Images

2009-02-21T23:07:41-05:00

So just like everyone else around here - I have been really busy(not as much with school stuff, but more with things work related), but recently I was able to take a short break a very short break - with a trip to Seattle. This trip was so short that I really did not get a chance to explore the city. One thing I did notice is how cold it gets, I'm from southern California - so its way too cold for me.

While I was there I was able to take a few pics with my phone (which is probably not a good idea). So instead of going into details about my trip - i figure I share a few of the images that I was able to salvage from my phone.

until next time

Tips & Tricks - 3D terrains

2008-12-14T19:58:01-05:00

Recently many people at NewSchool have been asking me "How can I create a 3D topo for my project" So I figure I would post a simple Rhino tutorial here to share the steps I go through in creating 3D terrains so that other students with the same question can see how I do it. It might not be the best way - but it definitley works for me. You can click on the following image links at anytime to make them bigger

BEFORE YOU START:
You need to make sure you have installed the pointset reconstruciton tools from the Rhino Labs and that you have your CAD topography map with all it's topograpy lines placed at their correct elevation heights

STEP-ONE
Begin by entering the Delaunay (from the pointsetreconstruction tools) command.

Image 1
Rhino will then ask you to select vertices for delaunay triangulation. You will then need to chose all you topography lines.You can leave the sample interval size at its default which is one

Image 2
Once the triangulation reaches 100% you can then right clic...

External Harddrive (looking back)

2008-11-21T11:37:47-05:00

Last night I was going through my external hard drive trying to organize and clean out. As I was going through files after files, I started thinking about how architecture school has been for me. It has honestly been one of the best experiences and adventures of my life. Like anyone who has gone down this path, it has its ups and downs. Especially downs during deadlines, where you start working long extremist hours with little or no sleep (with thoughts of doubt in mind). During my first year studios - I always wondered if I had made the right decision of choosing architecture for my career path, but as time went by(with madness and chaos of studio life) I realize that I did not choose architecture it chose me (in my mind at least). I am in the 4+3 and I would have to say that the first year was great and horrible; it was great because it gave an opportunity to meet new people, people who were going down the same long journey (creating strong friendships). Then it was horrible, bec...

PUSHING RHINO2

2008-11-19T01:10:19-05:00

This last Saturday that passed was the day of the Rhino training workshop (pushing rhino/ push the rhino) that I had setup. With about 30 or so people who attended the workshop which I took as a good sign. I was hoping for more, but still good. This workshop was an attempt to help people see the potential of using rhino and with a main objective of getting Newschool to consider implementing to the list of class options. I explained the objectives and had people sign a petition which hopefully will help with the cause.

The workshop was setup as introduction to Rhino, covering a wide range of basics and some advance techniques to help people enter a new world of modeling with Rhino. Topics included: AutoCAD similarities, Sketchup similarities, booleans, solid modeling, surface (lofts, sweeps), exporting (to Revit), 3d topos, + cool techniques such as flowalong surface, make2d, and others.

Lofting with History

Sweeps (images 2 rail)

3d Topos

Flow alongsurface + make2d

The worksho...

A day at the Children's Museum

2008-11-05T23:54:56-05:00

Today has been a very busy day for me and just about everyone with all the post election day aftermaths, but the big thing in my house is that today is my anniversary of being with my wife (4 years/ long time) so spending time with her and the kids is crucial.

We headed out to the New Children's Museum designed by Rob Wellington Quigley. It’s a pretty cool place to take the kids, but it was a good place for me as well. Not because of the aesthetics / the look of the building, but the way building works. This building is a good example of a green building. Design features include a passive air handling system, natural daylighting, photovoltaic panels, and the glass elevator shaft is used as a cooling tower which is very cool.

anyways here are some random (very random) pics

PUSHING RHINO

2008-11-05T00:51:47-05:00

At the beginning of the summer, I was approached by Avery Caldwell who is one of the program chairs and the person responsible for new software at Newschool - about the possibility of bringing Rhinoceros to our school. As of right now Newschool offers classes in Revit Architecture, FormZ, AutoCAD, and have just recently added 3D Studio MAX.

So I have begun organizing a free training workshop to help introduce Rhino, and demonstrate the power of modeling with Rhino.

My overall goal is to help influence Avery's decision about adding Rhino to the list of class options.

PushingRHINO! (experimenting with the paneling tools)

Fabian

Life on the "Light" Side

2008-10-23T23:30:59-04:00

Since I am not in studio I found that I have much more time. With this light load that I have - I have been able to spend most of that free time studying for the LEED exam which I will be passing OCT31 - Yes that’s right passing. With so much free time (not really just feels like it) I have decided to keep myself busy. I am spending more and more time learning Ecotect. My employers are pushing to see how much I can get out of Ecotect. Ecotect seems to be mainly used for daylighting, but the firm where I am at has asked me to investigate the plug-ins that are available for ecotect such as Winair's CFD tool. Being a student this is becoming a great educational experience. One of the best features of Ecotect is that it gives a great visual feed back...Some of the images I am posting our similar to the ones that I have posted previously, but I think they are very cool.
Images (ecotect/radiance+experimenting w/cfd)

until next time

Fabian

Whats up from San diego

2008-10-15T22:14:53-04:00

Whats up people,

My name is Fabian (sometimes seen in the forums as Difficultfix) I am here in San Diego studying at the NewSchool of Architecture and I have been studying here since the fall of 2006. NewSchool is located in downtown San Diego in area known as the East Village. Here at NewSchool we are on a quarter system and our classes have just began last week. Two weeks before our classes started I had to make a really tough decision. I had decided to put my thesis studio on hold. Me and my wife have a new 7 month old baby (with a two year old already) so the need for me to work and provide has taken priority. During my first year and a half I worked full time and attended classes full time and to be honest it was really tough. Architecture is what I really want to do, so there is just no stopping me. I still want to do architecture, but my need to provide for my kids will take me on a short detour in my journey into architecture. At the moment I am working full time for a gr...