I do something similar to what you're thinking about doing. For years one of my hobbies has been just wandering around NYC and people and building watching. Over the summer I picked up a digital SLR, and since them I've been taking pictures of all my favorite buildings and neighborhoods, and just spouting off my opinion. I find that I actually enjoy doing it quite a bit, even though I realize my opinions may be biased and a bit out there at time. In addition, I write about odd happenings I happen to witness, for example, I walked into a subway explosion the other day. I'm embarrassed to admit that I have a blog (I usually cringe when I meet people and they say that), but you should give it a try, it can be a lot of fun. I try to post something new at least once a week. There are all kinds of programs and hosting sites you can use, but I would recommend VOX, it's free, dead simple to use and easy to post pictures.

Here's the link to mine: Books, Bikes and Buildings

http://emilyrides.vox.com/

I have one...mostly personal stories about school, or thoughts about things that bother me, interest me, concern me about the profession, or school life, or whatever...

www.archi-hell.blogspot.com

i started one recently, and while it's more of an outlet to complain to a computer monitor, i am enjoying it. it does lack any sort of direction or focus...it's beginning to take shape as a repetitive and uncurious polemic against suburbia...and since i no longer live in the city, am no longer in school, and i am no longer living an exciting life nor traveling...it's dry stuff.

i need direction. feedback would be sweet.

www.archfallout.blogspot.com

I've got my school blog. Which is weird, because I really hate blogs. Like seriously. I freakin' hate them. We've had them for what...10 years, they were called home pages back in 98. But these days, you call it a blog instead and people for some reason give the same drooling dude with a computer some kind of credibility.

if you hate them so much why do you have one? do you need it for school?

I have this one, which is mainly for research purposes and not much else.

I dunno, for some reason the one on archinect keeps me entertained. Outside of that, I want to punch someone everytime I hear the word blog. And restless leg syndrome.

oh its one of the school ones on archinect
yeah i do find those a bit more interesting for some reason too
maybe because its affiliated with a site i enjoy, rather than being something completely by itself

Sometimes we even write about architecture, though not that much.

Hey Jeremy - I check your blog here in RI through Art In Ruins.

I post to my blog on and off, and I just switched to a new address... mostly just to clip flickr images that I like and some things here and there, but mostly it's there to highlight my bookmarks.
http://javierarbona.blogspot.com/

Myself and two friends are undergrad students at Cincinnati doing an exchange program for a semester in India. We're keeping a blog to keep people up to date w/ what's going on:

http://www.ahmedabadgreetings.blogspot.com

some nice photography, jcooper.

not just that one, but as an example.

i live in philly and thought about starting one on my own.
i'll be out of the country for a few months though, but back just in time for Philadlphia Design 07.

Our Design IV professor didn't mandate that we post in a blog for this studio (housing: spring 2006), but he set a blog up and some of us posted nonetheless:

NOLA housing

I wrote some sleep-deprived rant about the nature of blogs at the time to my fellow classmates in the studio, because I know a couple of "professional" bloggers here in NYC. As a job, people were very protective about blogs (those who do so to earn income), so when I asked them about the nature of this kind of online forum, they were pretty evasive of the question.

I thought that the blog should be more than an online representation of ideas and a real communication tool that leveraged the true interactive nature of the internet. In this housing blog, that idea sort of broke down with time constraints, but some of us began utilizing simple elements that are unique to the web, like animation and hotlinks, but things like real interactivity (responses/discussions in the comments and forum, interactive web applications) never panned out at all. Some of the apathy around the blog was due to under-exposure of this housing blog, but some of it was, well, just apathy.

Of course, this was before I found archinect, which is cool (where I also have my own school blog that I let lag at the end of the semester). Maybe I'll start the archinect school blog back up again and insert said blog rant...

someone's ears are burning, because i was thinking about this, too. i need to take my long-winded jeremiads to the next level of long-winded jeremiadness.

I used to have a blog and still have one of sorts on my myspace account. I don't think I mentioned architecture ONCE in the years that I wrote it ;-)

i agree, solidred...it's sort of inevitable that, when given the opportunity to write (semi)frequently, one realizes that there is much to consider beyond architecture, regardless of how deeply it is ingrained in one's consciousness. having left school and entered the working world a little over a year ago, it is still disconcerting to not be constantly confronted by and challenged by architecture as i was in school. legitimate free time on the weekends is still a thrill, though it is typically wasted, joyously.

i've started one recently. not arch related though, as my lack of formal training would make that not just an exercise in stupidity but stupid also.

mine's about something on which i have some actual expertise; food and cooking.

but for now, it's in development mode. i plan to actually open it up to public near the end of the month once i've done some more content.

i'm definitely enjoying the process and hope to stay somewhat diligent about it, but we'll se how long that lasts. i kind of hated blogs too until i started writing one. don't know why.

i just returned from two weeks in europe and have loads of new material.

maybe i'll bump this thread when the time comes.

ml

My weblog. Mostly a project I set up to detail my graduate school experience to some degree on a daily basis. Though, it often deviates and at times enters the realm of ridiculous. I code it as part of my website.

haha. cobra i just read blame vs function from your blog. good stuff. i remember being that kid.

now i look at conseco fieldhouse and think 'ah, it's not as bad as it could have been'. ironically, louisville is going to be building a new arena soon and the conseco fieldhouse was the subject of a presentation of its successes.

incidentally, you should ask liberty bell about how the antihouse would play in indianapolis. she'd get a hoot out of it.

keep all that writing around. ten years from now it'll either simply remind you how young, naive, and idealistic/stupid you were OR (better) it will reenergize you, give you a kick in the pants, and help you make the most of whatever dreck you've been given to work on at that moment.

Indeed Steven! I was in a bad mood the day I wrote that... though, many of the ideas I still hold to. Actually, the Merrill Residence was designed for and built in downtown Indianapolis. That thing was a total nightmare in terms of city politics and ultimately firm politics -which, essentially, forced me to hand over my baby and stand idly as it was messed up internally, ironically. One is sort of pitting one client's desires against a neighborhoods, regions, and a city's desires. Which is tough and certainly energy sapping. So, the conseco project... is it a glass is half empty/half full scenario for you? I guess it is also regional.

cobra-

any pix of merrill completed?

conseco: glass half empty, i suppose. i certainly hope we get something more interesting here - and we're likely to, given that our site has more 'interesting' pressures: adjacent to a bridge with paul cret pylons, the river, electrical substation, and main street. i believe i heard that it's going to be hok/gbbn/local firm team. my main fears come from the positive reaction that pix of conseco got when compared to others during the public discussions that were held.

steven; Actually, I do not have any completed photos. I moved out here before it was finished. However, I did visit prior to coming here, and it looked quite a bit different in its incomplete state than what I have presented. Though, I am a bit biased. Most of the changes were material based, and some of the detailing was altered. Formally, it is mostly in tact... but infused with a lot of traditional stuff, which multiplies the plurality I was seeking -but in a bad way. Ugh! Does the OMA project have any impact on what will be done in Louisville?
I think people are comfortable with what they know. For instance, when designing a home, it is much easier for a client to design a house from appreciated contexts taken from neighbors or friends' homes. With such a massive financial commitment, it is difficult to take a chance on the unknown. Which, of course, is part of the undertaking of the designer. Increase this tenfold when one is dealing with multiple firms and an entire city! It is a wonder anything different is ever built.

maybe i'll look for it if i ever get up to visit liberty bell.

the rex project (no more oma) may or may not have an impact. people are hedging. 1 - to see if it happens. 2- to see what it is. 3 - not sure about prince-ramus since the first thing most people read about him is that he wears silver loafers. except for architects, most people aren't familiar with oma/rex and think the building looks like a broken chair. there's excitement, don't get me wrong, but anxious, waiting, curious-whether-they're-about-to-witness-a-wreck excitement.

time will tell I suppose. It does reinforce the continued question of form v. function v. aesthetic. Given Rem and his diagrams...and I do not know how close it is to him anymore after the split. I imagine the design process is not that wholly different. But in this case of bowing to the all-mighty diagram and everything follows to a possible fault, contextual aesthetics do not carry weight.

I do not know where I was going with that. Certainly do not expect a wreck. Even if it comes off well, I wonder if people will embrace it as a new direction, or an anomaly/icon/whatever the word that puts a period on it? My guess is a period.

bump

i have a blog with one of my friends. its super fun but rarely about architecture. when i travel i post pics of buildings i see but for the most part its just our general troublemaking, fixed gear bikes, and ultimate frisbee.

casual ultimate