Robbing the Void

Poetry month…

2012-04-25T09:05:00.000-07:00

It’s already April (25 to be exact) and I’m late for this party. No matter, poetry harbors no schedule, and that’s one reason it’s so awesome. There are other reasons this is so; Poetry is the literature of everyman - anyone can write it; Poetry need not follow “top down” writing conventions - it has a rebellious nature that attracts me; Poetry spawns easily in the mind, when the mind is open to free association - which is habitually so for mine.

Madness you say? Maybe - I do enjoy my own madness, so.

I’m celebrating this year’s poetry month by revisiting verse I have written, am writing, or am reading - It’s a vicious circle really, though a vice of poetry can’t be all bad, can it?

It’s a “tradition in progress”. Last year I was Mapping Memory, this year I’m Automatic Writing - sort of:

raw storm.

like wind play.
the repulsive apparatus
sings

death's symphony.

bitter flood of light
beneath

my forest
robs the void of men's
dreams. and day,

a red ship,
steals

another soul.

Author: yours truly; circa 1994

1994 was a while ago - remember, poetry harbors no schedule. Love it or loath it, poetry is every-where and every-when!

Inevitability...

2011-09-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

As an architect, sometimes the membrane separating my “inside” reality from my “outside” reality gets dangerously thin. Especially when talking with other “like minded” architects, or architecture students. When this happens, sometimes my tendency to free-associate runs amok, confusing the hell out of those around me (because, of course, they’re only getting half of the conversation that is taking place in my mind). Why this happens I don’t know - I don’t really care (even though I have to laugh at myself for it).

I recently had a (totally NOT contrived) conversation with a first year architecture student who was waxing philosophic over the nature of architecture as she perceived it.

Me: In response to her initial statement, smiling wryly, "...It’s inevitable. Every architect/designer eventually grapples with pin-boards, and thumbtacks."

Arch student: *confused and somewhat frightened look* - ?!?

Me: "It’s an allegory for any of the many “dualities” of architecture. Such as it’s free-constrained, space-place, art-science, or tabula rasa-palimpsest duality."

Arch student: *slightly less confused look* - ooookaaaay.

That student is skeptical and believes the madness not contagious. But I remember when I was in her shoes and I know now that (in fact) it is. Once one learns how to fabricate reality on command, one’s “inside” universe becomes one’s “outside” universe.

Here

It's inevitable...

The roster of #letsblogoff posts below will link you to more confusing "free-associations". Go read their stuff too.
Don’t forget to leave a comment.

Keepin' it real, yo...

2011-08-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

For this architect, the summer’s been crazy. It began with an actual project, and it will end without one. I can’t say I’m surprised - I had a gut feeling about it. The project (a residential tower) ramped up from zero to full burn in the span of four days and cast it’s intense heat into the universe for eight weeks. Alas the intensity was unsustainable. The owner faltered pulling the plug just last week. It was like a great big hug of hurt, but without the actual fire.

I had another gut feeling the other day which resulted in me going “all in” on a raffle for a set of golf clubs (and by all in I mean I bought thirty tickets and put ‘em all in the ticket box for the clubs). I won. Sweet.

My guts have yet to steer me wrong. But even so, I accept and accommodate uncertainty. To illustrate, when by-standers might say I’m careening through one situation or another, I’d say I’m calculating the instant - following the trace of some uncertain trajectory.

I read, and re-read Borges’ stories frequently. I like them immensely because they un-answer my questions, un-question my answers, and resist reducing reality into a “certain” and tidy little package. Specifically his stories “The Immortal” and “The House of Asterion”, come to mind whenever I try to explain what I mean by the phrase “uncertain trajectory” (which, incidentally, gets a lot of eye-rolls whenever I use it).

While saying this risks your ocular gymnastics: I follow an uncertain trajectory through my own vast territory of madness. My guts tell me when, where, and which way to turn. Borges, and some others help me explain why and how.

My list of best books (for those of you who are adventurous and curious) are:

“Skin” by Kathe Koja
“Amnesia” by Douglas Cooper
“Delerium” by Douglas Cooper
“Collected Fictions” by Jorge Luis Borges
“From the Teeth of Angels” by Jonathan Carroll

There’s a roster of #letsblogoff posts below that lists other participants. Go read their stuff too.
Don’t forget to leave a comment.

A great big hug of hurt...

2011-07-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

Or what not to do on your J4 vacation.

I've been busy since NeoCon. I had a furniture showroom project (for the event) which was completed just in time, and the party was outta' control. Close on the heels of that was Spring Fling (an industry benefit party that's held here every year). Put on by one of the bigger developers in the city, everyone gets all fancy and hangs out on the riverfront for the evening. Most go from fancy to sloppy in a few short hours : ) The beginning of Summer is such an inhibition obliterating time in Chicago. I guess it's all the Winter angst making 'em crack.

Spring Fling crowd in the “shadow” of the Marina Towers

Chicago River at dusk

Most recently I’ve returned from the annual family J4 celebration tan, relaxed and uninjured. This celebration takes place on the family farm. The farm consists of 15 acres partitioned into three pastures and a yard. It contains three barns, a large residence, and a pool-house with a pool. All of which is surrounded on three sides by an Army Corp of Engineer’s lake. It’s like a resort and it’s pretty freakin’ sweet!

Fishin’ pond

Engineer’s lake

Pastureland

My use of the word “uninjured” is important as I’m responsible for the pyrotechnics (yes we have our own homegrown fireworks display). It’s a pretty impressive show for being designed using strictly consumer grade fireworks. While I’m no crazy pyro, I have been “playing with fire” for eight years now. I’ve never been injured...by the fireworks.

Nice mortar shot

Fan shaped fountain with mortar charges

Finale of mortar charges

A couple of years ago my Uncle asked me to burn the pile of yard debris (by yard debris I mean fallen trees and branches) that normally serves as our celebratory bonfire. That year was a doozy for storms which resulted in a pile that was too large to "safely" serve as the S'more fabrication area. (Pfft! Come on it's just 30 feet across, and 12 feet high).

The only way to get a wet pile that large to catch fire is to use lighter fluid (by lighter fluid I mean diesel fuel, which is less explosive than gasoline). So I go out to the barn. Get the diesel fuel, pour two cups on five locations radially around the pile. Clear the area of flammable materials. Ignite a ball of newspaper, and throw it on the pile...

Turns out what I thought was diesel was actually gasoline because the freakin' fireball that came off the pile surrounded me giving me a great big hug of hurt. It’s fortunate that I shave my head, and was wearing natural fibers, because the inferno removed the hair from my exposed arms and legs. So intense, and fast, was the ignition that the "backdraft" through the pile blew out all but two of the five locations I’d doused with fuel. Yes, a mushroom cloud climbed into the air, and many relatives came out of the house to see what had caused it only to find me, hosing the ashes of singed hair off of myself. The worst thing I suffered was that, and imagining how bad it could've been.

I am Izzy Darlow, and i am a TV addict...

2011-06-07T13:07:00.000-07:00

*Um, not really*

I wouldn’t exactly classify myself as an “average television watcher”. I certainly do watch it, but far less than the national average of five hours per day. Maybe in the past I watched more than average, so in the end it all balances out. I don’t know. It’s difficult to say.

I’ve spent way more hours than I had planned, exploring the hidden corners of the territory I inhabit. Seeking shows that I’d be embarrassed to admit I watch, but do so anyway because I’m addicted. I’ve found nothing. It’s not because I’m not addicted to a television show. Rather, it’s because I’m rarely embarrassed. One of these days, I’ll have to explore what actually does embarrass me. Discovering that could be very cathartic.

In the absence of current TV shows that fit the bill I’ve come up with a list of shows that I have been addicted to. In the past. Perhaps you know of some of these.

Kung Fu

Remember this one? Freaking outstanding TV show. I loved it then. I still do. In fact, I’m now on a quest to obtain the DVD’s of every episode.

Star Trek - Original

Yeah, I’m a hardcore Trekkie though I’ve never been to a Star Trek convention. I wouldn’t put it past me.

Aeon Flux

Originally aired on MTV’s Liquid Television (when MTV was cool). It’s dark and sexy, with all of it’s intrigue and scantily clad operatives. I have every episode on DVD. Yes, I still watch it.

Invader Zim

This is no “kids” cartoon (mostly because they don’t understand the humor). If you’ve never seen it, it’s hard to explain, but I find it hilarious. Think dark irony. Jhonen Vasquez who’s most well know for a pulp comic he used to write titled “Johnny The Homicidal Maniac”. I still watch Invader Zim (I’ve got all episodes on DVD).

Star Trek - TNG

I’m a Trekkie. Duh! Plus Patrick Stewart rocks as far as I’m concerned.

Firefly

This one is the most recent of all. Originally airing in 2006, but re-released this year on the Science Channel. It’s the most realistic scifi space show I’ve seen.

I feel much better now that I got that off my chest.

There’s a roster of #letsblogoff posts below that lists other participants. Go read their stuff too.
Don’t forget to leave a comment.

I've had some freaky ideas, but...

2011-06-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

Recently, I said something which lodged an idea in my brain where it’s been stuck. It was half-baked idea at the time (maybe it still is). I was distracted; it was something about doing the same thing over and over, finding different results. Summer may bring skin, firepower, and trips to the Shedd, but it also brings a glut of resumés and portfolios from a fresh crop of architecture graduates seeking employment.

Undoubtedly the outlook for this years architecture grads is bleak, unless they’re down with working for ~~no pay~~ experience only. Even though I’m not hiring I do peruse the portfolios (good or bad) that I’m sent, and every time I’m transported back to all the crazy shit I did in studio. Ah, those were the days...

Scary, I know.

Y: What the hell is that thing!?

M: I got that a lot in studio. In fact, I still do.

Anyway, Isn’t it obviously an inked freehand perspective? Beyond that it’s clearly diagrammed and annotated. Yes I was serious when I presented it. It all started when I read Lebbeus Woods' words, and looked at the images he was producing. They got into my head. I tried to resist (not really he had me at "geo- magnetic lift"). I rarely see a portfolio anymore using a tool as analog as a technical pen, or pencil for that matter.

Pure madness

Y: An actual physical study model, using basswood!?

M: I know, right?

Y: What’s it supposed to be?

M: ~~If you knew you’d likely have me committed~~ It’s a “virtual space” - that’s all you get.

And this is only two of many such projects. I’m only slightly embarrassed now. No matter, maybe I’ll put more up later. We can make fun of them on twitter. In the mean time I’ve got to change locations. The nice young men in the clean white suits are on their way.

Comments are cool...

Show and NOT tell; In Memorium...

2011-06-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

I’ve been AWOL. I blame a recent project I’ve been working on. Albert Einstein once said, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results”. I wonder what he’d call doing the same thing over and over, finding different results. I’d call it madness.

It’s Spring in the city, and I’ve been “distracted” to say the least.

Chicago winters are painful. But the Summers... The Summers make all that pain go away. It’s Memorial Day, we’re finally free of the effects of “Snowmageddon”, and warm weather has set in. Time for people to remove their clothes, gather on the lakefront, and process some vitamin D. The whole scene is very distracting. Nothing but bikini’s and board shorts to the horizon. If only the beaches had wifi. Nah! I prefer no distractions when I’m being distracted, though a formation of Phantom jet-fighters flying low over the beach, with full after-burners, is ok. Skin and fire-power. Makes it difficult to remain all composed and stoic.

You no doubt are aware that Chicago has lots of architecture. But since I’m so distracted I’m not talkin’bout that right now. If you visit this city just to look at buildings, you’re missing the point (especially in the summer). This past weekend I visited one of my favorite places. The Shedd Aquarium. I like it better than the zoo, or zoo’s in general. Even though Lincoln Park Zoo is pretty sweet in it’s own right.

“Iguana!!” - If you’ve ever watched old Bugs Bunny cartoons, you’ll know how to say it.

Jellies

Rays are freakin’ cool

What distracts you? Leave a comment.

This is a true fact...

2011-05-09T13:03:00.000-07:00

DB: I think there are some constant definitions of truth.

Me: Truth is both provisional and contextual; for every condition of true, I bet I could find an exception proving the reverse (and not in a purely logical sense either).

DB: having no constancy of true or false is like a ship with no compass.

Me: like a compass (which is an analog device), the definition of what is true exists on an analog continuum. Which is to say that what is true under a given set of circumstances, may not be true under a different set.

DB: The big "N" on a compass is ALWAYS north and the needle will always point to it - it is not "contextual".

Me: The needle on a compass points to magnetic North. Follow a compass bearing exactly from the equator to the pole and one will find the pole, but the course taken will vary (locally) depending upon what the analog magnetic field is doing. For example in some parts of Southern California following the magnetic field will take you in an Easterly direction.

That’s an excerpt from a conversation between a friend of mine, and myself. We can get pretty ~~geeky~~ serious when it comes to philosophical gyrations. We have this conversation a LOT. Every time the debate is new, but not different.

I’m obsessed with the nature of fact and truth. A side effect of this obsession is my (almost) complete disregard for claims of authority. Especially when such claims are made from positions of self assumed power. I’ve spent many hours, at different times, pondering the nature of fact and truth. I definitely have an opinion about this, but I’m likely to claim my opinion is fact. It’s the nature of my madness.

I believe almost nothing that I can’t either physically confirm with my own senses, or construct a reasonable reality for. For me, only “events” are factual. They either will occur, are occurring, have occurred, or not. The truth of the fact of an event’s occurrence, or not, isn’t really disputable.

The tricky part is that as we move further afield of the fact of an event, into the circumstances surrounding it, the difference between fact and truth gets a bit more ~~dicey; open to interpretation;~~ manifold. This is when it’s most important to scrutinize others’ claims. Because YOU have to believe ME. I’M telling YOU the truth.

There’s a roster of #letsblogoff posts below that lists other participants. Go read their stuff too.
Don’t forget to leave a comment.

Where do you get your ideas?

2011-04-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

Forever thirsty, I dream (unbearably) of a small and orderly labyrinth at whose center lay a well; my hands can almost touch it, my eyes can see it, but so bewildering and entangled are the turns that I know I’ll die before I reach it.

The well is an infinite, incomprehensible library; a vast territory of madness, so very vast, so very mad. This is where I get my ideas. The library is unlimited, but periodic. If a traveler were to journey an infinite distance, in any direction, for an infinite duration they would find that the same volumes are repeated in the same disorder - which repeated, is order.

Like the philosopher, I believe nothing can be communicated by the art of writing. I’ve never grasped for long the difference between one character and another. Besides, no one cares about facts anymore. They’re mere points of departure for speculation and exercises in creativity. It’s not the reading that matters, but the rereading.

I avoid pointless precision; neither that which has been nor that which is to be holds any interest for me. For this I know that I’m accused of arrogance, and perhaps of misanthropy, and perhaps even of madness. These accusations (which I shall punish in due time) are ludicrous. It’s true that I never leave my house, but it is also true that it’s doors (whose number is infinite) stand open night and day to all. Anyone who wishes to enter may do so. Here no splendors, no ostentation shall be found, but only calm and solitude.

There is no new thing upon the earth. All knowledge is but remembrance; all novelty is but oblivion.

This entire post is assembled from fragments of my favorite Borges stories that’ve been strung together using my own words to make it “comprehensible”; as a demonstration that most (all) ideas are drawn from a well that’s filled with the ideas of others. Everything is a remix.

There’s a roster of #letsblogoff posts below that lists other participants. Go read their stuff too.
Don’t forget to leave a comment.

Show and NOT tell; Architecture Week - Sat...

2011-04-16T13:01:00.000-07:00

This is Carlo Scarpa. He is cool, no? Of course he is (er was, because he’s dead now), but the real question’s why was he cool?

Y : Is it the hat?
M: It certainly is a nice hat, but that’s not why.

Y : Is it the slightly haggard and aloof appearance?
M: Stoic and smooth for sure, but no.

Y : *eyeroll*
Y : It’s because he was an architect right?

M: *grinning*
M: He was an architect, who wasn’t an architect.

Carlo Scarpa never sat for the Pro Forma, Italy’s professional examination for architects. So he never obtained a professional license. I don’t know why he never took the exam, but I imagine it’s because he had rebellious tendencies.

I like his work immensely. I think he was highly skilled with all things interstitial, left over, and unlinked. His work is textural, experiential, and human in a way that often escapes the profession these days. The most well known of Scarpa’s works is likely Castle Vecchio, and the Brion Tomb and Sanctuary, and it’s these I’m showcasing today.

Castle Vecchio Museum:

Scarpa’s design hand is visible in the stairways, doorways, and passages of this restoration. I hear it’s challenging to photograph. Some say it’s because Scarpa’s work isn’t very photogenic. I say it’s because his work’s not about standing outside, looking in.

Here

This interstitial space appears fairly random and chaotic from “outside”. No?

Here

It’s small, but dense with awesomeness.

Here

You’ll need to start with the right foot to climb that stair (literally).

Here

Sweet concrete stair!

Here

A convergence of circulation?

Here

That is one sweet stair!

Brion Tomb and Sanctuary:

This project is an addition to an older cemetery. And what is a cemetery but the interstice between life, and whatever follows it?

Here

Foggy awesomeness.

Here

I believe this is the sanctuary.

Here

Great light, awesome details. How could one not like this?!?

Here

The tomb wall I believe.

Here

Crazy skylight.

Here

This is a meditation space. The portals are rimmed with glazed tile - sweet!

Carlo Scarpa died in 1978, at the age of 72. He succumbed to injuries resulting from falling down a flight of concrete stairs. He’s buried in a standing position and wrapped in linen sheets (medieval knights were buried in this manner). His grave is an interstitial space between the new and old cemetery walls of the very project showcased here.

Awesome.

What’s on your list of obscure, interesting architecture? Leave a comment.

Show and NOT tell; Architecture Week - Fri...

2011-04-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

“So what do you need, besides a miracle?”

“Seeds. Lot’s of seeds.”

Know where that’s from? If so leave your guess in the comments. Until you get there put your hands in the air, it’s Friday! It’s Architecture Week! And we’re talking genetic material in the form of seeds! Sweet, right?

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “what do seeds have to do with architecture?”

Oh I don’t know. Just the obvious fact that without seeds there’d be no food; and without food there’d be no life; and without life there’d be no Architecture. Reason enough to build a suitably cool display for them. No?

Yes! Enter the UK Seed Pavilion, in Shanghai. Though I’ve not been to it, I still think it’s awesome. It’s that “hairy” cube built for the Shanghai Expo 2010. I know, 2010, it’s so last year. But it’s got 60,000 acrylic rods! Each one containing the seeds of a different plant. It makes me wonder how much sixty-thousand, unique, acrylic fabrications cost?

Here

It’s difficult to gauge its exact size and scale from this view.

Here

Most people say brush, I say cockle-burr. Whatever is conjured in one’s mind, it’s got a nice scale to it. It’s refreshingly human.

Here

Exterior detail of the acrylic rods. They all appear to extend equally to some exterior offset “envelope”.

Inside is like some crazy fortress of solitude.

The acrylic rods appear to be of varying lengths from the inside. Each rod contains a unique species, and is a unique length. It boggles my mind a bit; how to go about manufacturing them in a cost effective way? Just imagine the coordination it took to get all the pieces in the right place.

Yeah, those crystals contain the entire history of Krypton.

Maybe the acrylic rods are made of modular assemblies that can be attached to each other, in order to construct different lengths? Difficult to say.

While the UK Seed Pavilion is a really beautiful seed display. I don’t think it’ll be easy to extract them for planting should the need arise. While I’m no botanist, I doubt they’d be viable anyway. So how do you preserve plant bio-diversity in a viable manner?

Easy. You gather plant seeds from a whole bunch of different species, and stick those seeds in the fridge.

Welcome to the Svalbard Seed Vault! The world’s refrigerator. This facility has been dug into the permafrost of Norway! It’s like an arctic NORAD for seeds. While it has no war room It is secure, very secure; and Svalbard is a way cooler name. Also it’s sited at high enough elevation to avoid inundation should the ice-caps melt.

Here

The Plan, small but clear. On the left is a parking lot. There are two trucks parked in it. See the shaded area? That’s permafrost baby!

Here

That’s Longyearbyen, the capitol of Svalbard. Clearly it’s a teeming metropolis.

The rebels are inside, no doubt.

The entrance to the vault. Apparently the Longyearbyen zoning ordinance doesn’t require fully screened equipment.

I wonder what the club scene’s like?

The vista to downtown.

I can almost hear the sick beats from some underground rave.

I’m guessing this door is frequently obstructed by snow. Notice the electrical conduit routed through the louvers - nice.

Just a killin’ on the dance floor.

The vault access tunnel. The permafrost walls will prevent temperature rise in the event of cooling system failure. Yes there is a refrigeration system for this facility - go figure.

What’s on your list of obscure, interesting architecture? Leave a comment.

Show and NOT tell; Architecture Week - Thu...

2011-04-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

Prompted by some great comments from Tuesday’s installment. I thought it’d be fun to linger a bit and showcase fictional architecture. You know. The kind of stuff that exists only in the illustrator’s/architect’s mind vast territory of madness. Illustrations of architecture that could be real, but aren’t; except as depictions of a space, a place, or an object.

As I compiled the images to illustrate this post I noticed something interesting. Whether old, new, painted, computer generated, or drawn the actuality of cities and buildings is rarely shown. As far as I can find, fictional architecture is depicted either as an ideal utopia, or nightmarish dystopia. It’s as if there’s only hope, or despair, in peoples minds at any time throughout history. Curious.

Here

Coruscant; The capitol city of the Empire in Star Wars.

Here

Broad-acre City; from the mind of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Here

Nice painting. Though it doesn’t appear that any boat could fit through those buttresses, let alone one big enough to require cranes for moving freight.

Here

Sweet drawing. I don’t know who did it.

Here

Radiant City; as conceived by Corbusier.

Here

Fishing village dystopia.

Here

One of the sets in the movie; Metropolis.

Here

Reminiscent of sets from Metropolis, no?

Here

Destruction of the Empire; Thomas Cole.

Here

Check out all of that utpoic hygiene.

Here

Surely the future will kick ass...

Here

Or it’ll kick. Your. Ass.

Here

Even the dirt is clean.

Here

Picturesque landscape. Clean, peaceful city. Planets rising in the distance.

Here

It appears that the cities of the future will either have built-up every square foot of the landscape, or will coexist peacefully with it.

What’s on your list of obscure, interesting architecture? Leave a comment.

Show and NOT tell; Architecture Week - Wed...

2011-04-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

Wednesday is day three of Architecture Week. Are you sick of it yet?!? Me neither.

Today’s installment of the obscure, infamous, or interesting is Spaceport America in New Mexico. This project is the product of collaboration between Virgin Galactic, Foster+Partners, SMPC Architects, and URS Corporation.

Personally, I like the concept as it appeals to my “Star Trek TNG” sensibilities. However I leave it to the market to show whether privately funded space travel is economically viable, or not.

Here

The diagram above is interesting, and annotated well but I’m still skeptical.

Exploded program.

Alien space ship?

Site Plan.

I’m not seeing the “cooling labyrinths” shown in the first diagram. Perhaps their buried inside the earthen berms.

Here

Maybe those holes in the retaining wall are the cooling intakes?

Here

Clear image of volume relative to earthen mass.

What’s on your list of obscure, interesting architecture? Leave a comment.

Show and NOT tell; Architecture Week - Tue...

2011-04-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

Obscure and marginalized, Lebbeus Woods isn’t so much non-famous as infamous, and interesting. By my experience he’s either detested or loved (depending upon who one asks). While they are certainly brutal, I like his drawings and diagrams; I think they’re freakin’ sweet.

Still I can’t help but believe that any architect who’d actually inflict such spaces and objects as these upon society is an architect who’s either infatuated with dystopia, or suffers from a chronic Cassandra complex. Fortunately, Lebbeus Woods has no built work so nothing’s been inflicted yet. And I am no psychologist so my dubious diagnosis remains debatable.

I can imagine these spaces and objects as constructed in the absence of architects either out of necessity, or as the result of rampant DIY dreams.

Here

Reminds me of “12 Monkeys”.

Here

“Johnny Mnemonic”, or maybe some jawa habitrail from “Star Wars”.

Here

Definitely “Brazil”.

Via Google Images

These last two remind me of “War of the Worlds”, or “District 9”.

What’s on your list of obscure, interesting architecture? Leave a comment.

Show and NOT tell; Architecture Week - Mon...

2011-04-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

There are soo many fabricated weeks on the calendar and this week just so happens to be architecture week. Yay! In the spirit of fabricated importance I’m going to try and present one interesting and obscure project per day, for the week.

Perhaps more infamous than “non-famous”, the first installment’s easy. A friend and I did this for a competition. We didn’t win (oh well).

The project’s a flood observatory/museum, flood shelter, and eco-tourist hostel in Tabasco Mexico.

Yes that’s an airship

Trees would be nice

What’s on your list of obscure, interesting architecture? Leave a comment.

Do it yourself...

2011-04-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, the mantra of ultimate personal action.

I love that phrase because it’s a scalpel; it’s Phaedrus’ knife. It precisely divides one’s desire for something from one’s willingness to invest in it’s production. Everyone knows that an investment of this sort is commonly made with one’s own blood, sweat, and tears hands. Sometimes it also requires some money and resources, depending upon one’s skill level.

While it seems as if my whole life’s been a constant utterance of the phrase, “if you don’t do it yourself, no one’s going to do it for you,” I’m conflicted when it comes to DIY. I really like the satisfaction it produces in me, and I’m often impressed by of the innovative stuff people create with their own hands. However, as a professional, I also believe that some things are best left to professionals.

To illustrate here’s my unofficial list of DIY, or not:

1. Plastic surgery - Stupid and definitely NOT DIY (no images for this one, I leave it to your imagination).

Aron Ralston

2. Limb amputation - If your life depends upon it, possibly DIY.

Via ModernSauce

3. Semi-public tree-houses (read buildings) - While interesting, not DIY.

Also from ModernSauce - easily my favorite blog

4. Nomadic shelters - Hip, wired, and definitely DIY.

There, I fixed it from here

5. Plumbing work - not DIY.

Isaac Frankle aka Shovelman

6. Musical instruments - absolutely, positively, DIY.

Shovelman - Moonshine Music Video from Jason Mongue on Vimeo.

Shovelman built that singing shovel himself. Check out this video of him making it sing. It’s pretty sweet! I think he sounds a lot like Tom Waits.

Share with us your unofficial list of DIY, or not. Leave a comment.

Keep moving...

2011-03-28T12:53:00.000-07:00

I walk.

Just, walk. Moving from the point where I entered this existence to the point where I’ll exit. Like many I’m intimately familiar with my own start point, and know nothing of my own endpoint; not the when, the where, nor my proximity to either. Common sense demonstrates the endpoint to be in flux, undetermined, and inevitable.

I’ve faced a few hazards; “stumbled, skinning my hands and knees” so to speak. I’ve faced more hazards than some, not as many as others, but each time I’ve gotten to my feet and kept moving knowing the cuts would heal (rub some dirt on it). I fully expect to face, and conquer many more. My confidence in their repetition comes from the fact that hazards are everywhere. My confidence in conquering them comes from the fact that while those I’ve managed to traverse may have left me with “scars”, they’ve also provided me with “tools”; and it’s these tools I’ve decided to collect and carry with me always.

We all bear the marks of our existence, but we also bear the implements enabling
changes in ourselves, that correspond to changes in our world. I don’t see this as heroic, or extraordinary; I see it as normal. Sometimes we’re just unaware of the tools, for the fact that we’re obsessed with the marks.

My “rucksack” contains seven items. They aren’t heavy, I’m not burdened by them, and they’re “multi-taskers”. Each has a primary function that may be extended, and applied to infinite tasks when used in concert with the others.

compassion like this

Compassion: The trek’s hot and difficult. When my path crosses another’s. IF I have it to spare, sharing a bit of water gets us both a little further along.

curiosity like this

Curiosity: Something WILL happen up ahead. I’ll find out what it is when I get there, and I’ll deal with it then.

ingenuity like this

Ingenuity: There’s no NEED to remain on the trail.

perspective like this

Perspective: Things end someday, someway, and somewhere. It’s normal; worrying about it isn’t.

skepticism like this

Skepticism: Don’t believe a word I’m saying. Trust only yourself, and your experience.

strength like this

Strength: True strength need not profess itself.

vision like this

Vision: True vision needs no eyes.

These things I carry, sustain me in all endeavors. Hopefully those you carry sustain you; if not it may be time to replace them.

There’s a roster of #letsblogoff posts below that lists other participants. Go read their stuff too.
Don’t forget to leave a comment.

Show and NOT tell; Creativity...

2011-03-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

Seeing darkness and recording it is observant.

Observing darkness and finding light is creative.

Sharing darkness and light is living.

The images are of the volcanic eruption in Iceland. For those of you that speak Islenska the name of the volcano is Eyjafjallajökull (good luck with that, it tied my tongue fairly tightly).

The words are merely stating the obvious. Enjoy it just the same.

"You ready," she asks?

2011-03-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

Nodding, I close my eyes to focus on relaxing my arm. A needle finds it’s way into a vein on the back of my hand. I could’ve had a port installed. But in my chest!?! Nooo thank you! Between pain and the possibility of an infection that close to my core, I’ll take pain any day.

“Here goes,” she says opening the drip valve.

I feel a cold burn creep into my vein and up my forearm, followed almost instantly by the “taste-slash-smell” of the chemo entering my bloodstream. It smarts a bit so the nurse slows the drip and the sting subsides. I can hear the incessant bleeping of some daytime talk show. It sort of pisses me off, but since they’re in this room, whoever’s watching it probably needs the distraction. So I just sit silent, eyes closed, focusing on the pulsing sound of the IV pump.

burn this moment

Hours later the side effects kick in. Lasting about a week, and ranging from a glowing (though chemically induced) sun tan, to incessant bodily pain, to weird mind things that are difficult to describe. This will be my bi-weekly ritual for the next six months.

suffer this moment

When it all feels insufferable I close my eyes, focus upon some latent detail in the environment, and center. Always with the thought, “Live this moment.” Sometimes issued as a battle cry, shouted in defiance; other times as a directive, like a quiet statement of fact. However it’s delivered, it’s the best advice ever.

focus on this moment

That was ten years ago, this month. In retrospect, the whole experience was one wild ride!

For me design’s a lot like that; tuning latent details to transform complex inputs, into coherent streams of consciousness. Streams that when focussed, produce spaces that both sustain, and are sustained by, living.

don’t speak this moment

The object of focus need not be of lofty purpose; It may just be pragmatic and simple. Either way, the fewer the words required for someone to “get” it, the better the “it” is.

These words may already be too many. Whatever ride you’re on, make it wild. Live this moment.

There’s a roster of #letsblogoff posts below that lists other participants. Go read their stuff too.
Don’t forget to leave a comment.

Show and NOT tell; Sounds of madness...

2011-03-04T12:50:00.000-08:00

The vast territory of madness ~~in my mind~~ that I inhabit is a ~~freakish and scary wondrous place. I can assemble visual representations of it in minutes (it’s not difficult).~~

How it sounds. That’s been a challenge. Until now.

There’s planimetric music:

Whatever technology this guy is using to make building plans sing, I would like to have it.

Enveloped in ~~freakish~~ mystic ambience:

Punctuated with the calls of fabricated wildlife:

Isn’t it odd that architects sometimes ignore the sounds architecture makes?

Legacy is...

2011-02-28T12:47:00.000-08:00

Walking amongst phantoms, feeling their vaporous touch and sensing their ghostly vectors.

I’m locked in perpetual conflict with “legacy”; don’t reinvent the wheel - respond in a unique way; walk your own path - pay attention to precedent. From a design perspective the nature of this conflict isn’t so much a battle, as a dance - like the Tango.

Occasionally I meet a legacy that can REALLY dance and I’m seduced into forcing complex solutions onto simple problems. When this happens it’s a sign that I’ve fabricated some obligation; either to preserve the memory of those “who’ve been there, and done that”, or to erase and lay waste to history. Fortunately, while the dance is sweet it eventually comes to an end. Whichever fabrication’s in place at the end of the dance, it’s a mold I find I just can’t pour into.

Faced with this I’m inclined to “break the mold.” I try not to do so out of self-conscious rebelliousness; it’s not resistance for resistance’s sake. I simply have a desire, indeed a need to discover through design, the most fit solution, to a given problem, with respect for currency. Design solutions are rarely everlasting - How many things are perfect the instant they’re produced without need, nor possibility for improvement? I believe that legacies are manifestations of obsolescence, and that breaking them is good (creative even). Erosion (aka sitting idle, slowly fading from memory and existence) is just a waste.

Breaking a legacy is one thing. Discarding the fragments is another; because It just so happens that legacy fragments make an excellent foundation for the construction of new ones. Here’s a movie, about a bunch of movies, as proof (everyone knows that if it’s in the movies it’s true). “Part 2” of this web video series focuses film, but the gist of it applies here:

Ultimately, whatever legacy I manage to create will become obsolete. When that happens I hope someone breaks it, grinds the fragments to dust, and uses it to make their own. Even if that someone is just my future self.

There’s a roster of #letsblogoff posts below that lists other participants. Go read their stuff too.
Don’t forget to leave a comment.

Show and NOT tell; Erosion...

2011-02-25T12:46:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I find images that are so freakin’ sweet it hurts. Then I’m overcome by a creeping terror as I realize what the images are actually depicting.

A river through nickel mine tailings

I’m fairly positive that ORANGE water is non-potable.

A landscape of burning tires

I wonder how much breathable air is displaced by the floating particulates?

A "city" of broken ships

How ‘bout a mud-bath (in diesel sludge)?

Bulkhead "skyscrapers"

Think you’ve got a tough job? Try dismantling ships with nothing more than a torch and your bare hands.

The truth jurts, but not THAT much...

2011-02-18T12:44:00.000-08:00

I’m sitting in the ~~Argo Tea on Belmont~~ satellite office rehashing old thoughts when I have an epiphany. Time to accept it. Time to step out of the fog of shame and confess.

I’m an architect...

*crickets*

I exist in the world, but live in my mind...

*crickets* (one cricket calls out mock-surprised, “Nooo, you’re kidding me!?)

It’s true, but it’s not the withdrawn out of touch with reality sort of living in my mind. It’s the intense, creative, calculating sort. Like Dom Cobb, I perceive the boundary between inside and out. When inside I know I’m there. When outside I’m not fooling myself into jumping out of a freakin’ window to wake up. Unlike Dom, I’m not imprisoning memories of regret to torture myself with, nor am I “inside” to escape reality in favor of some fictional bliss. Life’s not a freakin’ movie ya know! (althoOUugh folding Parisian streets would be cool).

I call this world inside my mind “a vast territory of madness.”

Try this: Imagine the most mechanical, icy calm you can muster. Now remove those last bits of bliss and “fuzzy” contentment (without also adding angst and self-consciousness). Got it?

Good! Let’s call what you’re imagining “dead-pan serious”. Now imagine me (you don’t have to really KNOW me, work with me here)! Imagine me, THAT dead-pan serious when I say this next thing; it’s a statement of pure fact, like saying the ocean’s big:

I harbor no self-loathing, regret, nor resentment for this “madness” of mine. I unapologetically own it, and have done so for a long time. Some tell me I’ve an exceptional asset, to which I reply, “thanks, I’m a cyclist.”

I’m not being smart, or clever (well, that part about my asset is a little clever). I’m ~~ranting~~ attempting to kill a myth, or wound it so badly that it’ll bleed to death in the woods. A myth born in the mind of everyman and now being perpetuated by architects themselves; that architects are self-absorbed, out-of-touch, and out-of-reach.

To the architects reading this who are self-absorbed with their own success: *waving my hand in your faces, snapping my fingers* You there? hello?! Whatever...

To the architects reading this who are self-absorbed with pity at the current state of the profession: Read this stat! Now quit your crying!

To the architects who’ve got a handle on their self-absorption, and to the curious onlookers (who aren’t fazed by the sight of imaginary blood): Read on and prepare to feast upon the myth I’m about to take out with this stick I’ve sharpened on a rock.

Hey, curious onlookers! Since you’re ~~obviously riveted by my writing prowess~~ still reading you can help. Just try and keep up as wounded myths are highly dangerous - besides it’s seen you with me and now it thinks we’re a hunting party.

Remember the “vast territory of madness” I mentioned? All architects have one (the right one’s do anyway), and we each call it something different. Whatever it’s named, it functions as a “problem space”; the mental place where we construct the scope of whatever “problem” we’re dealing with. We fill this “space” with the variables that guide us to solutions. Items like client needs, client desires, and constraints of all sorts; even gravity’s there. It’s a lot of complex information that we become the custodian of and constantly tend to; revising, updating, and correcting. We can get pretty preoccupied with it all, but everyman, If you feel we’re fading and losing touch with you, “just give us the safe word and take your hand and smack us in the mouth”. We’ll re-focus!

I know it’s hard to believe but architects don’t use jargon to make walls. We use concrete. It makes a much better wall. Though we may occasionally utter strange words belonging to some freakish internal dialogue. It’s no biggie that’s just the pressure of excitement escaping the seal separating our ”real” internal world from the real external one (it’s a self-regulating system). Everyman, if you feel we’re getting cryptic and beyond your reach, call us out. I know a saucy blogger who’d suggest an “eye-motherfuckin-roll” followed by a snappy wise-crack as a chaser (careful when you click that link, I’m pretty sure her words could kick your ass).

Well now! After all that I could eat this whole myth myself. Want some?

Preoccupation...

2011-02-15T12:41:00.000-08:00

I awoke today with a mission. Update the optical media archive housing all of the projects I’ve ever worked on. “It’s been awhile”, I think to myself pondering the stacks of CD’s and DVD’s that’ve been accumulating for the past ~~four years~~ nine months on my desk (owning and operating your own business takes a lot of time, OK)!

Cataloging’s not a HUGE effort as I’ve got a fairly organized system in place. It just takes time so the task inevitably takes “back-burner” to ~~web surfing, twitter, and managing iTunes~~ actual productive work.

Armed with an iced tea, fresh beats on iTunes, and high resolve I set about the task at hand. “This’ll take no time at all ‘cause the software does all of the work,” I say aloud while separating a handful of disks for visual inspection (which reveals the disks have no identifying marks what-so-ever). “Pfft! That’s ok, I’ll just write what the software lists as the name as I go,” I say aloud (again) grinning at my clever solution.

Disk one in, Tray closed. Two minutes pass. Tray opens, “Disk is empty, please insert a disk.”
Disk two in. Tray closed. Two minutes nigh. Tray opens, “Disk empty, insert a disk with actual data on it.”
Disk three in. Two minutes, “Disk empty!”
Disk four...you get the picture.

I must’ve been channelling you know who:

(Louis Kahn!? Oops, I mean):

because TEN disks later (no joke) I finally insert a disk with stuff on it, and find this:

I worked on this a while ago.

Isn’t it sweet how the essence of the light is captured!? Louis Kahn would be proud ‘cause the whole project consists of nothing but events like this. Notice the subtle use of the scaffolding...

Oh fine! It’s a construction photo I took. This condition existed for an instant in construction time. The light is pouring in through an opening that eventually received a big exhaust duct and louver. The ethereal glow is due to construction dust in the air. Real poetic huh? I still freakin’ love the light.

Alright! back to cataloging. Good thing I’ve written ID information on these disks; it’ll ease the label-making process. I’ll just stack ‘em right here while I...

Mapping memory...

2011-02-10T09:51:00.000-08:00

i've been here before. each time finding something new, but not different. i wonder

am i lost?

i walk and think, dream actually, it always happens this way,
these things, these places.

i enter a street, stand there, sense it.
i see

the street expand.

always twenty strides in breadth, and yet
the street expands. and this thing i do, the place, my dream, the new
but not different. i wonder

how to recognize the unseen, the invisible?

walls shift, the barrier's malleable. thinning membranes reveal a portal, the tomb is open.
the void belches ghosts.

i can't wage war, death is insufferable it can't happen here,
but the place exists.

i move on.

away from the street. ten thousand voids yawn in cryptic sequence. the bodies empty,
their skins drape and fold.

the place dissolves. this thing i do, new but not different. stopping, the dream continues and i wonder

?

keep it. it holds the clue to everything. the mind is like

a city.

Narrative: Me; circa 1998
Images: Eric Fischer; Geotaggers’ World Atlas

These are the words I have for today. Leave some of your own below.