Archinect - University of Florida (Jacob)

@LooseEnd: Consider yourself wrapped

2010-09-17T15:09:09-04:00

To conclude the series of entries presenting the faculty candidates [We have two shoes here...], I would like to inform all those who have been keeping score that Lee-Su Huang and Stephen Belton have joined the crew of educators here at UF. With the former having a formidable talent in the digital realm and the latter having a solid professional background, the decision to hire this combination should communicate the school’s commitment to being able to offer a well-balanced education and present a variety of trajectories to the students.

Prof Diana Bitz

2010-06-17T21:59:13-04:00

Professor Diana Bitz passed away Wednesday, June 16, 2010.

She was an incredible person and a great instructor.

Free Association Game

2010-05-24T20:12:28-04:00

When I say "electronic architecture",
what do you think of?
and/or who do you think of?
and/or where do you think of?
and/or when?
and/or why?
and/or how?

ROUGH STUFF: We have two shoes here. Would anyone like to see if it fits? - Part 8 of 8: Lisa Huang

2010-05-05T23:35:34-04:00

Lisa Huang

** missed it [late nights --> napping on the job] **

Sorry.

ROUGH STUFF: We have two shoes here. Would anyone like to see if it fits? - Part 7 of 8: Larry Bowne

2010-05-05T23:33:02-04:00

Larry Bowne

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

ROUGH STUFF: We have two shoes here. Would anyone like to see if it fits? - Part 6 of 8: Enrique Martinez

2010-05-05T23:31:50-04:00

Enrique Martinez

From Drop Box

ROUGH STUFF: We have two shoes here. Would anyone like to see if it fits? - Part 5 of 8: Stephen Belton

2010-05-05T23:30:45-04:00

I am beginning to suspect that I will never sit down and write the write-ups on the faculty candidates that I had committed myself to do; at first, I could blame this difficulty on working to finish my final design project, but now I hold the freedom of summer guilty for my short-comings. In lieu, my laziness would have me just post up the notes I took during the presentations. And so, that is what I am doing.

Stephen Belton

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

Try not to mind my note-to-self.

We have two shoes here. Would anyone like to see if it fits? - Part 4 of 8: Stephen Mueller

2010-05-05T23:09:57-04:00

The School of Architecture at the University of Florida has begun the search for two new faculty members. Out of over 100 applicants, the choices have been narrowed down to eight individuals. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, each will visit the school, tour the studios and seminars, participate in critiques, be interviewed by both students and faculty, and deliver a presentation about the work in which they have been engaged and deliver their personal design philosophy.

The fourth of these presentations was delivered by Stephen Mueller. Mueller graduated from the University of Kansas in 2004 with a Bachelor of Architecture, and received his Master’s Degree from Columbia University in 2006. Prior to Columbia he worked at HOK, Brisac Gonzalez Architects, NBBJ Architects and helped in the preparation of a monograph for Peter Pran, FAIA. Since completing his Master degree in 2006, he has worked for Dean/Wolf Architects and is currently a founding partner in the design/resea...

Architrave 17 - Orientation

2010-04-26T16:50:37-04:00

Aaron's comment reminded me that I should mention...

From Drop Box

... the new Architrave is out. Come and get it!

Et tu, Levent?

2010-04-26T15:25:17-04:00

Another faculty member will be turning themselves in the direction of Tampa and leaving UF:SoA to accept a position at the University of South Florida’s School of Architecture. Starting next fall, Levent Kara will no longer be roaming the corridors of our brutal building.

In the short amount of time he had been teaching here, Levent has made quite an impression on the work being produced in the undergraduate design studios and has positively impacted the students who had fallen into his hands. He is a relentless instructor, an exacting critic and a unique designer. Levent Kara is an uncommon teacher and USF is lucky to have him.

Indeed, we will look for you at some future intersection, Levent. Thanks for everything and good luck.

It has been a long time, cousin...

2010-04-19T12:57:41-04:00

To anyone who was keeping up with the eight part series:

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. Studio has been taking all my attention. I have my notes and will post something later this week. At this point, each candidate has presented. Now, all we can do is wait for the decision to be handed down.

Pop Quiz:
There was one candidate who presented that all the faculty was excited about and will definitely be working here in the near future, barring any unforeseeable circumstances. Can you guess who?

Pigs Wearing Lipstick

2010-04-08T10:17:29-04:00

Renovation work at the Architecture Building is underway. Temporary protection is in place in the studios facing onto the atrium and demolition of the walls will begin in the next few days. New glass walls will be installed to stitch together the studios and atrium.

Let me start by being clear about one thing: I love the architecture building here at UF. I love that it looks strange from the street, and there are no clear divisions between the inside and outside. I love how it looks like the bastard child of Exeter, La Tourette and Beauborg. I love that the second floor is the first floor, and the first floor can't be found immediately by people who enter the building for the first time. I love that all the studios are organized around a big atrium and really does encourage interaction among everyone who uses the building daily. I love how the atrium is used for all sorts of architectural experiments, exhibitions and reviews. I love how light falls into the space during the day ...

We have two shoes here. Would anyone like to see if it fits? - Part 3 of 8: John Neary

2010-04-05T12:53:49-04:00

The School of Architecture at the University of Florida has begun the search for two new faculty members. Out of over 100 applicants, the choices have been narrowed down to eight individuals. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, each will visit the school, tour the studios and seminars, participate in critiques, be interviewed by both students and faculty, and deliver a presentation about the work in which they have been engaged and deliver their personal design philosophy.

The third of these presentations was delivered by John Neary. He graduated from Vassar College with a Bachelor of Arts in 1981, and received his M. Arch. from Rice University in 1986. His professional experiences spans over 20 years. He has worked for Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, SOM New York, Hillier, Arup and Perkins Eastman Architects. He is a registered architect in New York and Connecticut, is NCARB and LEED AP certified, and is a member of the AIA. Neary’s teaching experience was as an Assistant Prof...

We have two shoes here. Would anyone like to see if it fits? - Part 2 of 8: Claudio Vekstein

2010-03-27T10:46:46-04:00

The School of Architecture at the University of Florida has begun the search for two new faculty members. Out of over 100 applicants, the choices have been narrowed down to eight individuals. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, each will visit the school, tour the studios and seminars, participate in critiques, be interviewed by both students and faculty, and deliver a presentation about the work in which they have been engaged and deliver their personal design philosophy.

The second of these presentations was delivered by Claudio Vekstein. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture in Buenos Aires in 1988, and received his Masters Degree from the Staatliche Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste in Frankfurt am Main (studying under Professors Peter Cook and Enric Miralles) in 1993. He is a licensed and registered architect in Argentina, and since 1996, has been the principal at Estudio Claudio Vekstein in Buenos Aires. Prior to this, he had worked as an architect in collaborat...

We have two shoes here. Would anyone like to see if it fits? - Part 1 of 8: Lee-Su Huang

2010-03-26T07:50:26-04:00

The School of Architecture at the University of Florida has begun the search for two new faculty members. Out of over 100 applicants, the choices have been narrowed down to eight individuals. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, each will visit the school, tour the studios and seminars, participate in critiques, be interviewed by both students and faculty, and deliver a presentation about the work in which they have been engaged and deliver their personal design philosophy.

The first of these presentations was delivered by Lee-Su Huang. He graduated from Feng-Chai University in Taiwan in 1999, and he received a Master’s in Architecture from Harvard University in 2009. Huang’s expertise falls under the general categories of digital technologies and sustainability. Huang worked with Farshid Moussavi in the production of The Function of Form and provided many of the analytical drawings contain therein. In professional practice, Huang has worked with Preston Scott Cohen, Zavon...

It looks like 10 000 000 000 pounds of crap in a 10 pound bag

2010-03-23T10:15:02-04:00

The reasons why pigeons were brought along, as people moved across the globe to set up new settlements, are owing to the value that pigeon once served as a source of food and a source of fertilizer. Both squab and pigeon eggs are still eaten in many places, and are considered a delicacy. Pigeon excrement is a highly-prized material, rich in both phosphorous and nitrogen, that was once commonly used to improve the soil of fallow land, as well as processed to make gunpowder.

According to this news report distributed in 2007, it is expected that, as urbanization continues to grow, the world wide pigeon population will increase from 50 million to 400 million over the next ten years. It has been estimated that there is over one million pigeons living in the city of New York, which means that there is one bird for every eight human inhabitants. The highest density of pigeons is in Venice, where there are three pigeons for every individual city-dweller. The world wide average is estimat...

You want me to do WHAT with a pencil?!

2010-03-22T05:18:55-04:00

We just had a quick spring workshop take place here, instructed by Harvard professor Kelly Wilson and focused on developing talent for hand delineation and architectural rendering.

I haven't yet seen the work that was done in this class, but I look forward to it. However, there has been a story that has come out of this class and has been floating around the school, and it seems each new set of ears receives it with wonderment. Kelly Wilson, a specialist in the crafts he plies, travels from school to school to offer his expertise in hand drawing. In one school, he asked how many of them [graduate students] had ever drawn by hand. Out of the small class of ten, only two could admit to having put pencil/pen to paper with the intention of etching out some image.

This is amazing to me. I know the computer has taken center stage, but I didn’t think it would be replacing something so basic as learning to draw by hand. It seems to me that the practice of making something by hand provide...

The Raw Youth (I think Dostoevsky would be proud)

2010-02-28T09:10:37-05:00

We had mid-term presentations for our studio this past week, and during the latter section of the presentation on what my partner and I had been up to, I managed to make our visiting critic, Gregg Pasquarelli (SHoP), a bit angry with me.

Our studio has been divided into six teams, and for the past handful of weeks, we have been assigned six types of movement to investigate, define, communicate and model. The last three aims here are by Douglas Gauthier’s explicit prescription (not that it differs from what an architectural designer would do normally). Gauthier also prescribed to us the versions of movement we would look into; these are (and attach “motion (MO)” to the end of each term) linear (GO), rotational (RO), fragmented (BREAK), choreographed (CHO), evolutionary (GROW) and metaphorical (FAUX ). My partner and I were responsible for looking into choreographed motion, and all of us were expected to craft a position and definition of our term to use in informing a Rhino mode...

Rowe, Rowe, Rowe your boat...

2010-02-13T08:09:52-05:00

“And what about architectural education? A calamity. Don’t you think so? Increasingly a case of the inept leading the inexperienced.

Colin Rowe, 1994

A few years ago, I came across the above quote in the opening pages of Marc Angelil’s Inchoate. At that time, I was in the middle of my undergraduate studies in architecture. This quote jolted me a bit for two reasons.

Firstly, with the exception of architectural critics (whose job it is to criticize), I have noticed that sharp criticism is rare in written work. It seems that authors across the scope of architectural discourse aim only to transmit what is “good”, while anything less would simply vanish into the cracks. Generally, I see that “good” things are encouraged and reinforced, while “bad” things are just simply ignored, but not outright put down. Rowe’s quote is an instance where a “bad” thing is harshly put down. Granted, Rowe criticism on architectural education was an excerpt from an interview with him, and it may be tha...

MRPs @ mid term

2010-02-08T22:17:21-05:00

It is mid term time and the energy seems to be on High. Today, the faculty was out and about, moving from one preliminary MRP presentation to the next. I fell in line to catch a few presentations and was reminded of the reasons why I like being at UF: SoA.

While the MRP is going the way of the dodo in many schools, it is alive and well here; in fact, it has been getting a facelift in order to better prepare students to conduct their research. I wonder how much of this effort is simply preemptive maintenance [So when other schools ask “Why are you still driving that beat up old car?” We reply “Because it still runs like a top”]. The class that presented today is the last class to carry it out in the old fashion. The class that will be presenting in Spring 2011 will be the first to have the benefit of the new solution. The major changes to the process being more time, more check-points and more dialogue with supporting faculty members.

Two projects stuck out. One was a poetic preser...