Archinect - Wentworth Institute of Technology (James)

housing houses

2011-04-12T19:28:04-04:00

This semester mandy johnson and I are making social housing in Allston village.

We craft small houses then place them next to one-another. There are duplexes that jump over flats, duplexes that stack and town houses that shuffle together.

They are all designed for people with hobbies. Included within the volume of each unit is a flexible exterior room that provides the space for residents to practice their hobbies.

One person likes to grow orchids and magnolia trees and another enjoys bamboo and bella palms.

scandinavia

2010-09-13T11:51:51-04:00

stokholm/helsinki/turku/tallinn

scandinavian travel. http://jarzyniecki.com/image/outside/

now in berlin.

Save the Pool

2010-08-09T09:22:08-04:00

http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/104210-save-the-pool
http://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/105715-save-the-pool-readers-reflect-on-the-christian-sc
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/07/30/landmark_decision/

Open letter to the Boston Landmarks Commission.

Visiting Boston as a young person I gravitated to specific areas of the city without much thought into why I was attracted to them. As a new college student I would photograph the city without much thought into why I wanted to make images of these places. Now as an architecture student, I study the spaces made by the city with much thought into why I want to study these places. The constant drum beat through all of this exploration is the Christian Science Center.

The Christian Science Center has been the backdrop to many memories that I hold dear. It is my intention to protect the center in its current condition so that many others may share the plaza as it exists today. The length and breath of...

10 days?!

2010-04-19T00:20:09-04:00

Just dropping in.

Textural patterning studies.

Back to work.

Portfolio?

2010-04-08T01:30:09-04:00

That elusive little gem I expose only to my closest friends and potential employers. My Portfolio, so personal, yet so public. How does one go about crafting one?

Apparently a lot of people have this question. I thought I would post an excerpt from an electronic interview I took part in that is going to be in a forthcoming publication strictly on portfolio design.

Is your portfolio for your own or for an office? What is the difference between the two?
My portfolio is a collection of personal academic and competition work. An office portfolio presents a professional identity to the public, while acting as a marketing tool for potential clients. A personal portfolio acts as a focused introspective representation of an individuals design identity.

What is the most important element in a portfolio?
The quality of work held within the portfolio is most important.

How do you select the works to be included in the portfolio? Where does the most successful project placed within the portf...

WAr

2010-03-31T22:27:16-04:00

“What exactly do you do here?”
words by Jason Skibo

Well, we color a lot.
We provide visual stimulation, on 11x17 at a time.
We rotate virtual models for hours.
We draw with a mouse and a keyboard.
We photograph.
We design t-shirts, magazines and websites.
We learn how to talk so no one else can understand us.
We have created irrational bonds to our computer, and know its moods.
We are still trying to understand what tectonic means.
We provide the mood of a room.
We provide the mood of a city.
We go to museums, but not for the art (sometimes we go for the art).
We collect pens.
We spend hours talking about fonts.
We analyze. We over analyze. We over-analyze? We over analyze. We always make the same decision in the end.
We don’t have time.
We make deals with the local art supply stores.
We have grand schemes.
We have side projects.
We express our wildest dreams and desires through parti diagrams and building sections.
We construct temporary palaces made of cardbo...

Funerary Chapel + Memorial Garden Competition

2010-03-23T14:27:49-04:00

In my experience, competition within architecture school is a relatively unspoken, but extremely strong undercurrent. I believe the constructive/destructive dichotomy inherent within competition is essential in an area of study in which criticism is so highly valued. With that said, competition is constructive for many students who are driven by it to produce quality work. It should go without the need to say that a large number of students are discouraged by the destructive nature of competition and its incredible ability to breed resentment. So if not only to amplify and exaggerate these effects a student competition was held within our site and landscape studio.

The proposal was a funerary chapel and memorial garden to be sited on the northeast shore of Moon Island in the Boston Harbor. The chapel and garden would be servicing an underwater burial service, the Neptune Society. The deceased is cremated off site, cast within a concrete form, brought to an offshore underwater estua...

WAC in Chicago

2010-03-13T20:14:45-05:00

Twenty one students, two professors and I went to chicago.

The scale of the city immediately makes me realize how Boston is truly a European city. It shows what a blank slate, waterfront, and endless space can materialize into. A little bit of planning and a strong architectural fetish yield a spectacular city.

I appreciate the space that is the new park, walking through and finding all of the interventions was refreshing. Even Gehry's bombastic pavilion finds its place within the park. The Cloud Gate must be experienced in person. The immateriality of the piece is stunning, it acts as a form for your view of the city, park, and waterfront to blend and change.

We were allowed in SOM at the last minute. Amazingly clean for such a busy firm; I think they put on a nice face. I would love to see the dirty room where everyone yells at each other and skyscrapers are created to be built in far away lands.