Archinect - University of Cincinnati (Ryan Newman)

Cincinnati's Confrontation with Snow

2007-02-06T15:05:56-05:00

This is what happens when you combine Midwest drivers with snow.
If you are at DAAP and in the dungeon, go look outside and see the wonder that is driving during a snow storm.

Living in Paranoia 4a - Bangladesh Ship Breaking Yards

2006-11-06T12:17:53-05:00

Edward Burtysky

Living in Paranoia 4

2006-11-06T10:53:39-05:00

An American embassy in Bangladesh.
(Paranoid Spatial Anxiety)

If anyone caught 60 minutes last night, Bangladesh's industry of ship breaking was featured. Don't take me as too cultured because I switched over to Spike since Fight Club was on and missed Andy Rooney.

But back to my thesis rant....

Stemming from my discussion of paranoia and its ramification in architecture, I forced myself to make some decisions in order to start the investigation and get it out of the philosophical realm.

Starting with four terms that have helped me investigate my design ideas and precedents.

Security, Transparency, Paranoia, Anxiety.

The project now is looking at the "image" of security and a lack of security. What makes people feel scared or secure, what does architecture do to change people's perception of the world?

In my past ideas on paranoia, perception was an idea that I did not throw into the mix, but it plays a big part in the explanation of paranoia. It is a PERCEPTION of an evil ...

Living in Paranoia 3a Quote

2006-10-25T02:14:38-04:00

"The problem is that architecture tends towards permanence, while security threats change must faster.

Its dangerously shortsighted to make architectural decisions based on the threat of the moment without regard to the long-term consequences of those decisions."

Bruce Schneier

Living in Paranoia 3

2006-10-24T00:27:07-04:00

Showing my amazing sense of ADD this post came to me from a combination of a anti-marijuana tv ad, a book on post WW II bunkers, and my thesis direction of paranoia.

A quote from the author of “Survival City” talking about September 11th...

“ The city has been shaken again, and architecture has provided an uncertain shelter, and those same impulses reborn - to leave the city, to construct buildings capable of withstanding attacks - are ultimately just as untenable now as they were 50 years ago, for what would life be without cities and without architecture that promoted the positive values of civic life? The riches - material, intellectual, cultural, and spiritual - of the city, as Lewis Mumford once observed, have always made it would be the object for “collective aggression”; to abandon it would be the first surrender of a civilization whose own survival depends on the city. If we cannot build against the worst acts of humankind, then we must continue to build in hopeful em...

Living in Paranoia 2

2006-10-16T10:58:49-04:00

My ideas stem from the idea of paranoia in contrast to security (which in turn makes people feel comfortable).

The idea of an unknown enemy is a big derivative from the definition of paranoia, and the basis for many of its psychological connotations. But even our perceived enemies, ones that we can constitute a threat with a color level, have a heightened level of fear based on our global paranoia. Osama Bin Laden is now almost a demigod of fear, evil, and terror.

AP, my ideas to design a project that would foster and feed off of paranoia would solely be a satirical project. Our Embassy now looks like and are symbols of both our power and fear. The American embassy in Berlin I recently went to, you could barely get close enough to see. Bollards, barbed wire, concrete dividers, security cameras, security officers, check points, it look liked we were preparing for war. So if this is our need and purpose why don't we build an embassy that scares people that come near it? Emphasizing...

Living in Paranoia

2006-10-16T01:26:16-04:00

The purpose of this post is purely to rant about my current ideas relating to my thesis. It has started to become a personal debate about a psychology term, with no clear path into it's manifestation in architecture / built form.

The idea of paranoia, this fear created by our minds, has come up in my analysis of our present time. Bet it post 9//11 culture deemed by the administration, but paranoia and fear of the misinterpreted has plague the United States since its inception. We have become more fearful every decade since Eve let evil into our lives and banished us from paradise.

How can this idea be manifested in architecture? How can this be resolved using architecture? Is it even an architectural problem? Can it go beyond the initial gut reaction that this project is going to turn into a bunker?

Two ideas hit me trying to look at how paranoia effects and could be a driver for built form.

1. Embassy (US Spaces Abroad)
2. Land Border (Mexican/American Border)

Two ideas, b...

Advice for the Young

2006-10-15T20:47:45-04:00

Eiseman Video Clip

Super Slide

2006-10-12T20:53:05-04:00

New Tate Modern Exhibition
As seen in the news, but thought it was post worthy of my internet ADD

Tate Modern

Japanese Underground Water Detention

2006-10-11T00:20:10-04:00

Striking.....
Edogawa River Office
Kids Cartoon

An American in Amsterdam

2006-09-10T08:39:39-04:00

Due to my procrastinating, absent minded, design led life, these next few posts are way overdue (sixth months overdue to be exact.) But just like in school I need deadlines, so my plane leaving for the states on Friday seems like a deadline to me, and that has made me interested in posting my experience over here.

A little bit about me first, I find it relevant somehow. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio; literally a stones throw from the DAAP architecture building. Moved to Chicago and then to Dayton where I spent almost 17 years of my life.

Moved to Cincinnati for school and have bunked up there for the past 5 years. I then decided, with the help of UC's co_op program requirements and an offer to work in Europe, to move to Amsterdam. So, negating small trips around the country and the world, that is where I have spent most of my life.

If you don't know what Ohio looks like, here is a shot. And if you do, here is a frightening reminder of the "heart of it all".

Looking up this inf...

Hello.

2006-09-06T01:31:56-04:00

Looks like everyone is gearing up for the new school year with multiple blog entries. I also thought it was pretty interesting to see now there are three University of Cincinnati blogs (all guys in my year of the program) tied with Ohio State.

It also is a good collection of guys. Chris, Dawid, and I have different views on both architecture and the program we are a part of. So, as long as thesis doesn't handcuff my brain to the desk too much, this forum could be a great way to show others what the Masters program at UC is really like.

I am finishing up my thesis research as well as my intership at SeARCH architects in Amsterdam. The experience has been great here and I have really enjoyed my time in Europe, both traveling through and sitting around the land of the Dutch.

University of Cincinnati at Night

2006-02-02T15:11:00-05:00

I was walking around campus last night and decided to snap some shots of our campus. Take a look.

Graduate Elective Studio - "Rapid" Prototyping

2006-01-31T18:06:20-05:00

First quarter as a graduate student. Well this happens to be my second but let's take a look back. (This quarter's project is secret until it is submitted in two months.)

The graduate elective studio was called Detail [The Craft of the Joint: Digital Fabrication and Craftsmanship]

The joint is the beginning of ornament
And that must be distinguished from
decoration, which is simply applied.
Ornament is the adoration of the joint.
Louis Kahn

“The studio will attempt to reconcile rapid prototyping/digital fabrication, which is primarily immaterial and representative, with craft, which is physical, tactile, and sensual.”

In this attempt we began to debate David Pye's debate between the “craftsmanship of certainty” and the “craftsmanship of risk”.

Seen through handcrafted work, a certain “hand” can be seen in the final piece of work. The machine is built for perfection. Where is the machine's hand? Is there one? Can we manipulate it?

Architects like PLY Architecture & Harir...