So i'm working on my portfolio to get into an undergrad program or advanced M. Arch program and I wanted to do a photo series of the relationship between skateboarding and architecture. In my opinion skateboarding can be used as a creative expression, and to view a public space with a completely different outlook. We all know peoples conventional use of using public spaces, but skateboarders view it as a creative playground.
I don't know how the judges would take it, and I fear it might completely take away from my portfolio if I don't convey it right.
Does anyone see the correlation and think it could benefit the art side of my portfolio? Or would it be an idea to completely abandon..
Thanks for the input!
If I didn't explain myself clear (which I probably didn't) check out the video
I'm working on a residence with a swimming pool which is designed by California Skateboard which when empty is designed for skate boarding. Everything from the curves of the pool to the the finish hardened liner coat to the pool coping. The owner has a passion about skate boarding. The pool acts as an important aspect overall design of the various components of the project......So carry on! By the way these guys do parks all over the world.
from a step nephew of mine, i know that skating is bound by a near-universal vocabulary of moves (ollies, kickturns..etc). so, lets say, you organize the photoseries around each one of those moves. you make a stop motion presentation of each move (frame freeze). each of those moves entails an optimum (or optimally challenging) topograhy (stairs, ramps, ledges..etc). draw sections and plans of those architectural-landscape elements that falls under each of the sections.
then, string the moves together to form one (fictional) skating journey - a choreography of your own making (or a skateboarder friend of yours). in parallel, string up the corresponding plans and sections to create an unravelled section and plan.
or somesing of that sort
Nicholas Cecchi
Oct 11, 12 3:14 pm
It would be enlightening to compare regional and local architectural and social conditions to the style of skating that emerged.
SoCal had a predominance of empty pools in suburban houses - a product of water and energy shortages, and the preference for Suburban post-war typologies in the west, which led to the emergence of pool skating, and by extension vert and bowl skating.
Philadelphia (and most of the east coast) on the other hand was a tightly packed urban environment with elements of urban decay and abandonment. No wonder then that street skating emerged from the East Coast.
Rodney Mullen learned to skate on a concrete pad in the middle of a cornfield in nebraska. If you look at it that way, it isn't surprising he has such mastery over tight technical tricks and nearly acrobatic skating.
I could go on but I don't want to write your paper for you. tammuz' idea is also very good.
Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body by Iain Borden is what you're looking for.
sheldontompkins
Feb 23, 20 12:44 pm
Try and show the relationship of how skateboarding adds to it evolves architecture or how architure evolves skating; Ie, new views on existing way or makes architects think outside the box like a skater. Or new architecture features push skateboarding to adapt.
Try and make it so whatever the rest of your portfolio shows is similar enough so nothing sticks out like a sore thumb. Skaters becoming architects is also trending. (Maybe you could try focusing on one object(like block or ledge) highlight different uses by skaters and public. Main thing is have it make sense with the rest of the portfolio otherwise I would not include it so you don’t confuse viewers. Also look into the mainstream areas that skateboarding has started to take over. There are lots of crazy obstacles being built as more than just for skating. There’s skate houses designed by architects so it’s becoming more embraced as a medium to push architectural study
So i'm working on my portfolio to get into an undergrad program or advanced M. Arch program and I wanted to do a photo series of the relationship between skateboarding and architecture. In my opinion skateboarding can be used as a creative expression, and to view a public space with a completely different outlook. We all know peoples conventional use of using public spaces, but skateboarders view it as a creative playground.
I don't know how the judges would take it, and I fear it might completely take away from my portfolio if I don't convey it right.
Does anyone see the correlation and think it could benefit the art side of my portfolio? Or would it be an idea to completely abandon..
Thanks for the input!
If I didn't explain myself clear (which I probably didn't) check out the video
http://vimeo.com/31136828
There is the video.
I guess it depends where you are applying to.
But if you're going to talk about the body and the city, maybe this will help-
http://www.amazon.com/Skateboarding-Space-City-Architecture-Body/dp/1859734936
Thanks for the info!
I'm working on a residence with a swimming pool which is designed by California Skateboard which when empty is designed for skate boarding. Everything from the curves of the pool to the the finish hardened liner coat to the pool coping. The owner has a passion about skate boarding. The pool acts as an important aspect overall design of the various components of the project......So carry on! By the way these guys do parks all over the world.
skateboarders ruin my beautiful concrete
http://artofboard.com/
here's an idea...
from a step nephew of mine, i know that skating is bound by a near-universal vocabulary of moves (ollies, kickturns..etc). so, lets say, you organize the photoseries around each one of those moves. you make a stop motion presentation of each move (frame freeze). each of those moves entails an optimum (or optimally challenging) topograhy (stairs, ramps, ledges..etc). draw sections and plans of those architectural-landscape elements that falls under each of the sections.
then, string the moves together to form one (fictional) skating journey - a choreography of your own making (or a skateboarder friend of yours). in parallel, string up the corresponding plans and sections to create an unravelled section and plan.
or somesing of that sort
It would be enlightening to compare regional and local architectural and social conditions to the style of skating that emerged.
SoCal had a predominance of empty pools in suburban houses - a product of water and energy shortages, and the preference for Suburban post-war typologies in the west, which led to the emergence of pool skating, and by extension vert and bowl skating.
Philadelphia (and most of the east coast) on the other hand was a tightly packed urban environment with elements of urban decay and abandonment. No wonder then that street skating emerged from the East Coast.
Rodney Mullen learned to skate on a concrete pad in the middle of a cornfield in nebraska. If you look at it that way, it isn't surprising he has such mastery over tight technical tricks and nearly acrobatic skating.
I could go on but I don't want to write your paper for you. tammuz' idea is also very good.
Another Video with a short write up in The Atlantic
Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body by Iain Borden is what you're looking for.
Try and show the relationship of how skateboarding adds to it evolves architecture or how architure evolves skating; Ie, new views on existing way or makes architects think outside the box like a skater. Or new architecture features push skateboarding to adapt.
Try and make it so whatever the rest of your portfolio shows is similar enough so nothing sticks out like a sore thumb. Skaters becoming architects is also trending. (Maybe you could try focusing on one object(like block or ledge) highlight different uses by skaters and public.
Main thing is have it make sense with the rest of the portfolio otherwise I would not include it so you don’t confuse viewers. Also look into the mainstream areas that skateboarding has started to take over. There are lots of crazy obstacles being built as more than just for skating. There’s skate houses designed by architects so it’s becoming more embraced as a medium to push architectural study