Archinect - University of British Columbia (Alana)

Back in Session

2007-09-10T22:22:38-04:00

(Warning : The image above is not of an architecture school or an affiliate of one)

It was a beautiful day, and I spent it inside. THAT is architecture [school].

This summer was wet and cold here in Vancouver, so I didn't always feel that I was missing out on much as I sat in front of the computer. Although, near the end of the summer the office (Merrick Architects) moved into a sealed bubble from its previous location between 'blood alley' and a treed courtyard in gastown, and I was sad about the change. The former space was intimate, with operable windows, while the latter was brightly lit, sealed and huge. I do declare : windows that open are a must!!!!!!!

-the courtyard that was-

Now back at school I am sitting beside a window that never really closes properly... but I can still see trees ...

My studio for this semester is a really exciting project titled 'PRHQ _Headquarters of the PacRim' with Mari Fujita. I took a studio with Mari last year, and am glad, if somewhat sur...

Experience Music Project

2007-05-15T22:18:12-04:00

I went to Seattle this past weekend and visited Gehry's Experience Music Project Museum. I'd driven past it a few times on previous visits (on my way to the library and sculpture garden...) but this time I actually stopped, walked around it, went inside it and fully had the time to 'experience' it. Wow, the inside is so bad! Yuck! Ew! Messy! Tacky! Sticky! Icky! HATE. IT. I enjoyed walking around the exterior bulging form, examining the cladding (now aging with streaks), but the inside... The 'sky chapel' is just bad design. It is a huge space with crap everywhere: fences, lights, a screen, acoustic panelling. It's not a chapel of rock, it's not a chapel at all.
The gift shops, the empty bar, the empty lobby... it's all pretty bad.

Here's the only photo I took of the building before my camera's batteries died a quick death:

Salt Spring Island Design Charette

2007-05-07T20:21:51-04:00

Well, it has been a long time since I have posted a blog entry. It was a rough semester, ending in a month long chronic strep throat infection (which really sucked!) My feelings towards the program at UBC are mixed, and require another blog entry, but for this entry i would like to focus on a great experience I just had on Saltspring Island, where I was involved in a four day design charette.

The charette teams consisted of architects, planners, builders, residents and students. We were broken into three teams: one team looking at the village of Fulford, one concentrating on the village of Ganges 'downtown' core area, and another team (my team) focused on the greater Ganges, both upper and lower village areas.

The first day we were briefed by various experts and focus groups and toured the villages, then we met for a fantastic dinner and discussion. Everyone involved was very warm, smart, kind and great to meet. The organizers: Sebastien Moffat, Christine Atkinson and Margery (I ...

Pause

2007-01-09T01:26:33-05:00

I'm a nerd, and the fact that I am a 'featured school blogger' gets me all excited, like Sally Field. The truth is: maybe I don't deserve it. I've been neglecting my blogging duties, and while I don't believe in New Year's resolutions, I'm gonna make an exception for Archinect and try and post more cool shit.

This Christmas break has been full of reflection, perhaps a bit too much. I've been questioning my decision to come back to B.C. after years away, mostly in Toronto. After four and a half years at an art institution and a half a year at an artist residency there I felt connected to a creative community that really motivated me. But, for whatever reason, I haven't found that yet here in Vancouver. And so I've been wondering if I should just turn around and head back.

I spent the weekend with my niece, who really is the most adorable child to ever walk:

(polaroid fashion shoot with my muse, she's rockin the pink shorts)

She makes it hard to forget why I moved back here: to...

Architectonic paintings by Jay Gazley

2006-12-23T17:18:59-05:00

A little Christmas promo:

Check out these paintings by my partner, artist Jay Gazley.

terminus1525.ca/studio/view/4989

Parametric Modelling Workshop

2006-12-23T16:31:24-05:00

There is a Parametric Modelling and Digital Wood Fabrication Workshop and Symposium happening at UBC from Feb. 15th-24th, 2007, put on by the Canadian Design Research Network.

It looks like a great workshop. Check out the webpage if you are interested. The deadline for signing up is by Jan.15th. and it looks pretty affordabe (especially for students!).

cdrn.ca/events/wood

Moldy

2006-12-10T22:18:52-05:00

I haven't posted for a really long time and I think the below photo explains everything...

Yes, I saved my jello shoes under a desk, and three months later they are not looking so hot-to-trot. They told us to save all of our projects for the end of semester exhibit, and so I threw them in their box, and stashed them under a table in my work area. Somehow I thought that because I had made the shoes predominently out of gelatine, and not used much water or sugar in the mixture, that they would just dry up, and not mold. Obviously I was wrong. This is probably the most mold that I have ever seen on a single item.

I'll get back on the blog after my exams are finished. I can't wait.

Shifting the Cartesian Grid

2006-10-15T02:58:20-04:00

*Update : These are shots of my final model for this project. I used three methods of form making - folding (red), bending (transclucent green) and sliding (white) - to create a transformative piece of architecture. The movement of sliding was set off by the inhabitant sliding open the entry door. As they move throughout the building, different reactions take place to create awareness of the presence of others within the shell. In this way it is the people inside that begin to shift in relation to each other through their interactions with the place.

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Well, I figure that it was about time that I actually post something on here about architecture. I've been dancing around mountains with jello shoes on for too long, a bit of escapism really.

The studio project that I am working on currently is a 60'x60'x60' grid accompanied by two 60'x60' drawings. These drawings can be interpreted as sections, elevations, whatever, but must be included in...

Gehry digs fat buddhas too

2006-10-03T22:47:59-04:00

I think fat buddha had a bit too much to eat and is laying down in the garden of eden. He's so damn holy, he's glowing from within.

Mountain Porn

2006-09-28T02:34:39-04:00

I love mountains. It is one of the reasons that I returned to BC. But lately, instead of climbing them, I tend to be too tired to even look at them.
The weather has been so beautiful here in Vancouver for the past two months. I'm going to take a moment to post some of my photos from work this past summer to reminisce.

Garmenture

2006-09-25T00:54:24-04:00

The first studio project was 'Garmenture': a quick two-week exploration of materials in relation to the body. I ended up manufacturing a series of wiggly, jiggly high-heeled shoes that was meant to titilate and mutate one's walk. The first pair was made out of low-density foam, the second pair: polyurethane, and the third: jello (and a lot of gelatine!).

Unfortunetly, I wasn't able to get the mold poured untill monday because the fine-art workshop where I was getting access and help producing a silicone mold wasn't open last weekend. That left one shot, and twenty-four hours for each pair of shoes. Luckily, there were no major screw ups, just smaller, annoying learning mistakes.

The silicone mold with the jello jigglers setting inside.

The polyurethane 2020 had a beautiful golden glow. It looked like honey. mmmmmmmmm.

Foam

Jello (and marshmellow souls)

If anybody is interested in creating a shoe (or a whatever) out of jello, the ratio that I used was one part jello, one p...

Scanner Lovin'

2006-09-17T00:53:04-04:00

Like any good archinerd, I make love to my scanner nightly

The Architecture of Happiness

2006-09-06T17:47:59-04:00

My apartment and the studio are not exactly close. Maybe on a global scale they are, but it feels like I'm going to another city when I leave the house in the morning. When I told people that I'd be living a forty minute bus ride from the campus I would just shrug and say "Well at least I'll get a lot of reading done... and the studio is open 24 hours..."

Right now I'm reading 'The Architecture of Happiness' and Alain De Botton is laying it down for me. I love this book. >

When recieving my desk space in the studio today I felt really settled all of a sudden. That space is my space. I love that. In theory I want to believe in the notion of communal ownership of land, that the earth is owned by nobody and everybody, but in practice I feel most free when I buy, or am given, a literal space of my own. Now I can extend out into that space and make stuff. So much of my identity is caught up in the act of making.

form fields

2006-09-05T22:49:39-04:00

3000 words

And

(1 2 3 4 , 5 6 7 8 , 9 10 11 12 13 1415 16 17.)

(A bull in Krakow, a nun in poland, and a slide illuminated alone in a Toronto park.)