he's great - check out his webiste, it will give you a peak - massiearchitecture.com

saw his working. anyone had him for a professor or seen him lecture? just curious what he's like beyond his work.

i've known bill for 3 years now at RPI here in troy. he's really influenced my time here in college and my outlook on what i want in my professional career.

he's got alot of energy in studio, good analogies that help you see your project in a new light and can go from talking mid 20th century french philosophy to computer programing, to connector plates to pop music.

i've enjoyed having him in studio, class and now on my thesis panel

drop me an email if you got any more questions

I was at Montana State for most of Massie's five years there and to mirror misteranderson, the energy he brought to the school was fantastic. His brain always operated on fast forward and he sometimes seemed like a hyperactive kid when excited about an idea/project/discussion topic/etc.....

Cranbrook will surely thrive with Bill and vice versa.

So the Hedjuk legacy at Cranbrook is over......

if your talking about hoffman he's been gone for some time...

I think he means Leibskind, Hoffman and Lynch all being of the Cooper Union ilk......

massie = cool greg lynn

at least the cooper tie is severed.
what do you mean that massie = cool greg lynn?
what do starchitects have to do with anything?

there's a great article about bill in Praxis: new technologies:// new architectures (issue 6)...as well as a bunch of other good stuff.

This is K. Palagi from 2000. Who are the MSU grads in this discussion? The only way to describe Bill is EXPERIMENTAL. His mind runs none stop creating ways of turning the design and construction fields on their ass. “Design it, Build it, if it doesn’t work, Fuck it. Do it again” that always seemed to be the theory. Perfect for the Scholastic arena. Who really want to practice anyway, there seams to be more notoriety in the university system, and fat grant money, hey Bill.

I really just wrote this hoping it gets back to Bill. A little elbow rub to the ribs because its been so long since I took money from you at pool.

how 'fraternal'
blah

word

I also went to Montana State while Bill was there... fun guy- forward thinking- absolutely changed the feel of our Studios. He's an inspiring guy- and yes, very kid like. He's a critical thinker and an excellent teacher. I'll be interested to see more from him...

Bill Masse is one of my most respected Architects. He is doing it. I did a workshop with him a couple of years back at Cal Poly and I like the way he thinks. He (then) was one of the very few architects that really had a direct coralation between computer and the built environment, i mean there are alot of architects out there that talk the talk of " oh look at my computer to built space connection" a bunch of verbal garbelly goop with a weak at best connection-not bill. He has a real passion for architecture. He is a very creative problem solver.
Basically Bill kicks ass (or at least he did, have not seen him for 3 years)

But then again, your name is pooball.

What do you guys think about how Gehry is building digitally compared to Massie? There are many comparisons with what Massie proposes as digitally fabricated and what Gehry does with Catia to make buildings. This "non-descript" geometry is what Gehry has been building for years. What makes Massie's process so different?

massie will elevate cranbrook into the digital age....its about time

"its about time" nanofog, can you share your opinion on this a bit more?

well maybe nanofog (nice name btw) is hinting at massie's digital proficiency and how it will affect a program that is (correct me if im wrong) fine artsy.

gehry the unmentionable

damnit clamshell - you're getting on my nerves. were'nt you around for jeff kipnis's documentary and lecture regarding gehry's genius? gehry's getting old - he's considered barfitecture. that's what it's all about now - barfitecture. no more digesting ideas and defacating them, but instead just binge consumption and puking it out as fast as you can and trying to make it look "cool." what would you say involves more talent - shitting or puking? i'd rather shit. it's healthier.

Neither requires any talent.

There both autonomous biological responses. I suggest finding a different analogy than one that says you're producing shit. You'll sound smarter. Unless the reason you decided to enter into an education in architecture was to produce shit. If that's the case, my bad.

shit it is.

well, unless you blow a gasket, doZer.

I think this discussion is funny, ya know. Listen, Gehry Partners is just one firm doing their own type of work. It just so happens its in the news alot, much like SOM used to be, or FLW, or any other of the starchitects. There is no reason getting pissed at him, or his firm. It would be better to get pissed off at the ten zillion other firms that are making the architecture that WE live in and with. Gehrys effects aren't withstanding...look at ALL of the work being produced by 99% of the practicing world. It's Troy Michigan, Baby!

Again, rather than get pissed becasue some old cranky man in Cali is getting all of the attention for a handful of buildings, get pissed off at consumer america (me included) that is paying for, and hiring architects for, projects like the suburban public schools!

Talking about defication .vs Vomiting!

architecture is also a autonomous biological response. Remember....food, shelter, clothing....

not pissed at all at gehry and blah, just sorry. i just don't see how clamshell holds him on such a high pedastal.

blowing a gasket's weird. i don't know how it happened. it was a sign of too much digestion and not enough defacation. it can only hold so much until it explodes, i guess.

perhaps clamshell can shed some light. . .

I wouldnt count on it. Clamshell, that is. He's too clean.

now, why so high? Can't speculate. I like his work too, but I also like the work of many others. Basically I like people that follow their own voice...including hippies that we both know. That is if this one particular hippie would ever do any work...

I hate work that in on a band wagon. I guess what Im saying is I like outsider architecture. And Gehry is just that.

hippie and outlaw architecture. woot.

where does bill fit in?

i think bill is a renegade. i think gehry is a starchitect. this is what i hope that cranbrook offers to future prospects - how to be a renegade, but not a follower. . . i hope people who apply to crandook stay true to themselves but not to the "leader" of however prominant the person is.

I agree with doZer...almost. Bill CAN be a renegade, and hopefully his time at Brain Cook will give him the security he needs to re-arm his canon.

ether_
hello, compodre'.
Bill better not "FIT IN" anywhere. Leaders are, in my opinion, supposed to lead. Hopefully he will be in uncharted waters the next few years, leading his students on one great journey after another. the 'hippies' will have a rough time, I suppose, because Bill may not have a big tolerance for such. This is where doZer is right, again. hopefully people will be able to reconcile their desires with what bill is offering. Forget following the famous.
I think you are in for a great ride. Pure speculation, though.

i should say, it is whatever you want it to be. . . .

Well doZer. I think you're just constipated! If I touched such a chord bringing up Mr. G maybe there's something we need to explore with this man. Everybody talks about Bill Massie's incredible process of making architecture. Can we talk about process, or to quote another discussion thread, method? Why is Gehry such a taboo. Ecology aside, I consider his architecture and his way to meet that output one of the most inovative the world has ever seen. Bill Massie has a process of fabrication that is in the same domain as what Gehry has been doing for the last fifteen years. Digitally inputing and describing shapes that are then fabricated digitally. Even quality of the spaces aside, (which Gehry has been praised by clients) let's compare/contrast the process of making buildings between these two men. I think DoZer's hideous analogy doesn't deserve response and has no place here. Bill Massie has developed his own independent, intellectual canon and will do great things at Cranbrook.

yeah. for doZer to 'poop' on....hehehe

digital inputing and fabricating - it sounds so trivial. almost too trivial. for me personally, the process lacks reason, meaning, and probably takes the poetry out of architecture. this process and method you are referring to is an industrial process and is incorporated into architectural practice - fine, that is great. if you see architecture strictly just assigning geometry and producing it as a prescription of form - that is ok. to me - i cannot think on just that simple trivial level. it is more than just that. i think this dialogue is good - all jokes set aside, i hope you can convince me of why you think it is such a great technology/process/method.

It's just one method/process among endless sorts. It is worthy of note to me. I admire many other practitioners who are research based and ask questions about building buildings. Bill Massie is considered a wonder boy with his methods. Do his buildings convey a sense of a direct result of the method like Gehry's buildings do? Maybe this should be a title for a new thread.