On a slightly less tongue and cheek note: how DO you teach something like design and layout and art to others? Things seem so innate to me, that there are time l look at my students and just shake my head. The design is so wrong that there is no fixing it, and I'm at a loss for words on why its bad, or what they can do to improve it.
I've taught them analysis drawings. I've taught them principles and elements of design. But how do you teach them to USE it? How do you teach them internalize, process, and think through a design? How do you TEACH purpose?
As an aside, I hate the new iPhone update. The keyboard looks awful, and the end call button is tiny.
Design (ideally) ranges from largely functional (industrial) to largely aesthetic (fashion, graphics). The processes involved are related but not identical. I think the teaching method depends to some extent on the particular category.
I'm trying to avoid archinect (though not working because I just got sucked back in) - I see and read things here that often launches me into this horrible spiral of negativity and dismay for our profession that I have trouble escaping from - lately I prefer to hang out on local and national planning discussion boards because people involved in policy-making and development are actually far more optimistic about the future - which in turn makes me happier that our profession is part of it - but I miss talk about the business and techniques of making buildings... which is why I, unfortunately, keep coming back here.
Last night the IMA opened our installation of Julianne Swartz's exhibition How Deep Is Your. I've been so busy on the Sopheap Pich install that I wasn't able to simultaneously engage with Julianne's. So seeing it at the opening last night was my first real exposure to it and OMG-OMG-OMG. Mind blown. It's incredible work, so quiet and well-crafted and delicate but incredibly engaging AND so much about the material world we inhabit but don't pay attention to. This Line Drawing piece is f'ing awesome: a line that both exists on the surface of the wall and allows views into the space behind the wall, turning the space inside out, taking you out of your body while making you aware of your body at this moment in this space as all the best sculpture does.
So, so good. And freakish for me because she and I realized while chatting at the opening that we were in the same high school graduating class - we knew the same people but traveled in different groups so neither of us has a direct memory of the other. It was a freaky but wonderful surprise on top of the amazing work.
I just surveyed a few offices where we are making changes for staff reorganization. Offices with WINDOWS. And I realize just how detrimental to my mental health 18 months of working in a windowless office has been. It's inhumane.
The facilities architect could probably figure out a way to install a camera pointed outdoors and then install a closed circuit television on the wall of her office. Bonus: She could then move the camera when she needed new 'surroundings'!
Or she could just make sure the Blackwell pavilion has wi-fi and make that her primary hangout...
Mal didn't give you any windows? Shame on Mal. I would call him up and ask him if he has a solution. Seemed like a nice enough guy when I toured his house a few years ago.
You know, Snook, it's funny. I am a grown woman, married, with a six year old, and when I mess up at my dad's place, I still get quiet and stealthy while I clean up the mess.
Of course, after I take care of it, I have to show what I did, and fess up. It's a weird character trait I have. I'd make a terrible criminal.
Is it weirder than the character trait of feeling guilty about things for which you have NO responsibility, NO awareness, were maybe not even in the room when the thing happened?
For context, and I may have told this story before: a contractor friend was working alone in a client's house when the client's ancient cat walked up to him, made a death yowl, and fell over dead. My friend felt enormous guilt over this - as if he *should* have been able to do something about it. When he told me this story I recognized that feeling of guilt completely.
As I understand it Sarah is actually an excellent baker of cookies herself. Speaking of which, I made wickedly delicious Indian baklava this weekend. it was so time consuming but so delicious.
I had something like that happen to a friend. He had been house sitting for over a month for some people who had a cat. It was a country house so not a lot of traffic going by the house. Well on the very last day the cat raced thru the front door out into the street and it was run over by a car. He was beside himself, not knowing what to tell the people he was house sitting for. Then a couple weeks later he was house sitting for my in laws, so he had a couple of horse stalls to muck and feed a horse and donkey. He goes out to feed the donkey and it had died. He calls us up and says, I'm done house sitting as all pets die under my watch. Truth be told, the donkey was ancient in the word of donkey's. So we were understanding however the other people he house sat for where not so understanding.
Hi TC! been super busy and realized i haven't lurked or posted in almost a week.
although looks like everyone else has been staying away as well... myself working crazy busy, coming up on 90 days out for a big project.
otherwise, trying to enjoy the spring and soak up a bit of sun the last few days it was sunny. almost got pink last Sunday.
Donna, i feel you about the window. in last 2 years i shifted from having the back of a cubicle wall against the exterior glass/curtain wall to having a shared office (with door) on interior of building. would much rather have the first...
Here is a video of the A Room installation, the project I've been working on for months. My husband shot all the Cambodian footage. The artist Sopheap Pich talks about how you have time to think and learn when working with the bamboo.
My take: We're material bodies, we need material interaction to feel complete. Architecture should give us that material connection.
Nam, I just read two articles on busyness and how we need to stop worshiping it. Here is one, the other (much better) one was a chapter called The Practice of Saying No from Barbara Brown Taylor's book An Altar in the World. The gist of these two articles is that "being busy" gives us an excuse to hide from meaningful interactions in the moment. I'm trying to take both ideas to heart: that I can say no to things (and I know I should!) and that being busy doesn't necessarily mean I'm doing anything of value.
In fact, right now it would likely be more valuable for me to go upstairs from my windowless office and watch the bamboo strands sway in the sunshine for awhile.
Thanks for the link. My better half and I have recently been talking about the tension between saying yes and living a full-life and taking it slow and having more time for just being...
Thought I'd share some fan mail I received this morning from Hristo Kovachev <h.kovachev@icloud.com>
hahahaha and you call yorself an architect??? what a sc..mbag... ur site sucks... and the portfolio is outdated and stinks... u have no right to write comments on the web... about architecture... u piece of s...t
Is that a parametric tantrum? For reference, his site is here.
miles, give the guy some credit. his website says he can paint a place for art. surely someone that can paint, and do so in a way that creates a place for art, should be able to accurately surmise who does and does not have a right to be writing comments on the internets. especially a busy guy like this that can't type the whole word "you." you know you have to much time on your hands when you add the superfluous "y" and "o."
also i appreciate his thoughts on web design. he seems to have "gallery" links with no galleries. i could go on in that vein, but am going to stop there as i now have other things to attend to.
I guess I know who I need to go to for a comforting feeling: " My goal is to see the smiling faces of my clients when the job is complete." Thotughts of "THE SCREAM", come to mind.
Thread Central
Humm....wonder if this Cupid app is set up to be zone in on Architectural Interns.....for their love of Architecture.
We're doomed....http://archinect.com/forum/thread/95376255/good-books-to-read-for-drafting
Is there an app that will teach me drafting?
is there one to do the drafting?
there is sketchbook and autocad 360. it's a start
I've taught them analysis drawings. I've taught them principles and elements of design. But how do you teach them to USE it? How do you teach them internalize, process, and think through a design? How do you TEACH purpose?
As an aside, I hate the new iPhone update. The keyboard looks awful, and the end call button is tiny.
What kind of design - fashion, graphic, arch, industrial?
Doesn't IOS7 collect and upload your fingerprints to the NSA?
And I teach graphic design, but on some level, isn't design design design?
Design (ideally) ranges from largely functional (industrial) to largely aesthetic (fashion, graphics). The processes involved are related but not identical. I think the teaching method depends to some extent on the particular category.
no comments in two days? come on sarah get on here and talk microfiber.
I'm trying to avoid archinect (though not working because I just got sucked back in) - I see and read things here that often launches me into this horrible spiral of negativity and dismay for our profession that I have trouble escaping from - lately I prefer to hang out on local and national planning discussion boards because people involved in policy-making and development are actually far more optimistic about the future - which in turn makes me happier that our profession is part of it - but I miss talk about the business and techniques of making buildings... which is why I, unfortunately, keep coming back here.
^ Optimistic or delusional? I think the first requires the second.
Last night the IMA opened our installation of Julianne Swartz's exhibition How Deep Is Your. I've been so busy on the Sopheap Pich install that I wasn't able to simultaneously engage with Julianne's. So seeing it at the opening last night was my first real exposure to it and OMG-OMG-OMG. Mind blown. It's incredible work, so quiet and well-crafted and delicate but incredibly engaging AND so much about the material world we inhabit but don't pay attention to. This Line Drawing piece is f'ing awesome: a line that both exists on the surface of the wall and allows views into the space behind the wall, turning the space inside out, taking you out of your body while making you aware of your body at this moment in this space as all the best sculpture does.
So, so good. And freakish for me because she and I realized while chatting at the opening that we were in the same high school graduating class - we knew the same people but traveled in different groups so neither of us has a direct memory of the other. It was a freaky but wonderful surprise on top of the amazing work.
I just surveyed a few offices where we are making changes for staff reorganization. Offices with WINDOWS. And I realize just how detrimental to my mental health 18 months of working in a windowless office has been. It's inhumane.
The facilities architect could probably figure out a way to install a camera pointed outdoors and then install a closed circuit television on the wall of her office. Bonus: She could then move the camera when she needed new 'surroundings'!
Or she could just make sure the Blackwell pavilion has wi-fi and make that her primary hangout...
Mal didn't give you any windows? Shame on Mal. I would call him up and ask him if he has a solution. Seemed like a nice enough guy when I toured his house a few years ago.
A window would just be distracting.
murder machines
via this
(warning - slightly NSFW)
we're living in a world of fools dragging us down. thanks that's in my head now.
On the plus side, his washing machine still works after the microfiber fiasco.
microfiber fiaso.....yikes....images galore!
Of course, after I take care of it, I have to show what I did, and fess up. It's a weird character trait I have. I'd make a terrible criminal.
Is it weirder than the character trait of feeling guilty about things for which you have NO responsibility, NO awareness, were maybe not even in the room when the thing happened?
For context, and I may have told this story before: a contractor friend was working alone in a client's house when the client's ancient cat walked up to him, made a death yowl, and fell over dead. My friend felt enormous guilt over this - as if he *should* have been able to do something about it. When he told me this story I recognized that feeling of guilt completely.
You're a good girl, Sarah. Did he give you a cookie after?
Mine is going on 19. Some part of me still swaddles her and changes her diaper.
Wow, you are a BIG girl now!
As I understand it Sarah is actually an excellent baker of cookies herself. Speaking of which, I made wickedly delicious Indian baklava this weekend. it was so time consuming but so delicious.
Donna,
I had something like that happen to a friend. He had been house sitting for over a month for some people who had a cat. It was a country house so not a lot of traffic going by the house. Well on the very last day the cat raced thru the front door out into the street and it was run over by a car. He was beside himself, not knowing what to tell the people he was house sitting for. Then a couple weeks later he was house sitting for my in laws, so he had a couple of horse stalls to muck and feed a horse and donkey. He goes out to feed the donkey and it had died. He calls us up and says, I'm done house sitting as all pets die under my watch. Truth be told, the donkey was ancient in the word of donkey's. So we were understanding however the other people he house sat for where not so understanding.
Oh god snook that cat story is awful.
Sarah this baklava doesn't have honey, it has saffron-flavored simple syrup with rosewater, plus cardamom and nutmeg.
Donna, Thing was he was house sitting for the cat people for two months....so It was really awful.
Hi TC! been super busy and realized i haven't lurked or posted in almost a week.
although looks like everyone else has been staying away as well... myself working crazy busy, coming up on 90 days out for a big project.
otherwise, trying to enjoy the spring and soak up a bit of sun the last few days it was sunny. almost got pink last Sunday.
Donna, i feel you about the window. in last 2 years i shifted from having the back of a cubicle wall against the exterior glass/curtain wall to having a shared office (with door) on interior of building. would much rather have the first...
Here is a video of the A Room installation, the project I've been working on for months. My husband shot all the Cambodian footage. The artist Sopheap Pich talks about how you have time to think and learn when working with the bamboo.
My take: We're material bodies, we need material interaction to feel complete. Architecture should give us that material connection.
Nam, I just read two articles on busyness and how we need to stop worshiping it. Here is one, the other (much better) one was a chapter called The Practice of Saying No from Barbara Brown Taylor's book An Altar in the World. The gist of these two articles is that "being busy" gives us an excuse to hide from meaningful interactions in the moment. I'm trying to take both ideas to heart: that I can say no to things (and I know I should!) and that being busy doesn't necessarily mean I'm doing anything of value.
In fact, right now it would likely be more valuable for me to go upstairs from my windowless office and watch the bamboo strands sway in the sunshine for awhile.
Good morning Donna et al.,
Thanks for the link. My better half and I have recently been talking about the tension between saying yes and living a full-life and taking it slow and having more time for just being...
Like Louis CK says about why he won't get his daughters cell phones: sometimes you just have to sit still and be human.
Wait, was "parametric tantrum" in reference to a building or Schumacher's rant?
Thought I'd share some fan mail I received this morning from Hristo Kovachev <h.kovachev@icloud.com>
hahahaha and you call yorself an architect??? what a sc..mbag... ur site sucks... and the portfolio is outdated and stinks... u have no right to write comments on the web... about architecture... u piece of s...t
Is that a parametric tantrum? For reference, his site is here.
miles, give the guy some credit. his website says he can paint a place for art. surely someone that can paint, and do so in a way that creates a place for art, should be able to accurately surmise who does and does not have a right to be writing comments on the internets. especially a busy guy like this that can't type the whole word "you." you know you have to much time on your hands when you add the superfluous "y" and "o."
also i appreciate his thoughts on web design. he seems to have "gallery" links with no galleries. i could go on in that vein, but am going to stop there as i now have other things to attend to.
did you give him a bad review on angies list?
hope everyone has a good hump day ;)
Wonder how much traffic his site will get from your link.
I guess I know who I need to go to for a comforting feeling: " My goal is to see the smiling faces of my clients when the job is complete." Thotughts of "THE SCREAM", come to mind.
Oh no, what happened to TC! Had to post just to get back on front page....
Guess everyone is BUSY :o As for me off to gym shortly.
Donna is sending me gruesome pictures from our nation's capital.
gruen, the older I get the harder I find it to take anything seriously.
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