be wise

back to nature; constructed ruin

fantastic! urban reclamation project in tokyo.

a 'haunted' house is magically transformed through the power of design. once covered in ivy, the designer stripped the over-growth revealing the structural elements long left to the passage of time.

i admire the restraint - not to completely gut and start anew. the old structure and new surfaces are well-balanced; it helps to tell the story of the dwelling, not simply masking it behind clean white walls.

a quick overview and stream of consciousness ramble, but check out the whole story.

photos courtesy of takeshi yamagishi

THEVERYMANY

I officially started my internship last monday, and I have to say its been quite a work out. Aside from working 10-12 hours a day I'm still trying to find a time to do my laundry. Heres a link to show you all what is going on with theverymany and also who they are.

theverymany

For me its like going back into microcosm, a studio that dealt with prototyping, material studies, and digital fabrication techniques....well I'm getting all that and more.... I will post my plastic wall system up as soon as I get my apartment together.....

I might post a pic or two every now and then to give you a sneak peak since the chances of me photographing the work is high. But of course that is just a "maybe."

tolo house_ alvaro siza

álvaro leite siza vieira's tolo house (son of architect alvaro siza) is based in lugar das carvalhinhas, portugal. it’s a great work manipulating the hillside slope. the result is a superb layering of space based on rigorous, modular abstraction of cubic geometries. organized along a long linear spine the interconnected volumes reveal a unique elevation on each of its four sides.

the project include three bedrooms, a social bathroom, a living room, a dinning room, a small kitchen with a support washbasin, pantry, and even a small outdoor swimming pool. the outdoor patios, corresponding to the roofs of various levels, are connected through a pedestrian path bordering the lot.

the pragmatics of the site [steep topography] in concert with the economic constraints produced a partially buried house. enclosed with concrete provides high thermal barrier, while the revealing some cubes references the surrounding cliff faces. the plan layout attempts to preserve the pre-existing trees; hence the rotations in plan adapting to the natural morphology of the terrain…

you’d never even notice this house as you approach from car at the highest part on the north end of the project. a stone footpath provides access from the south, at the bottom of the hill: a more rustic option. additionally, the concrete spaces take advantage of the site’s southern exposure: receiving optimal southern exposure.

visual tension is created through the manipulation of concrete and wood. carving reveals light adding drama to the sculpted cubes cascading down the hillside. the material palette is simple, clean, and reserved: concrete, wood, white surfaces.

“the roof functions simultaneously as pavement support for the gardens: similar to the traditional threshing floors and patios in the northern regions of the country with hilly terrain.” its fragmentation only adds to its allure.

photos found @: fernando guerra

TO NYC: Peter's story.

Thursday, July 29th 2010.

I woke up late for work, in a panic I quickly got ready and drove to the office. Today was the day I fly out to meet Marc Fornes, and all I could think about is how exciting it would be to work with him. I finally get into the office around 8:30, my boss is already waiting to brief me on changes for our new project. I started immediately on the changes only to later run into horrible printer issues. Thinking to myself "God why! its already 12:30" fixing presentations was one thing... I still have two competitions to finish before 3!. 2 o'clock runs around, I start to panic. Everything has been pushed behind schedule and my plane leaves in a couple of hours. My co-worker is struggling to get his competition model finished and the bossman asks if I can stay behind...and disaster strikes. I have not told my boss before hand I was flying to NYC....

After a moment of silent had passed, and a few awkward statements were said I was on my way to finish packing for my flight! Riding quickly down the highway I thought to myself that was the worst of it! traffic all of a sudden slowed down to a screeching halt...

CRASH!!!!

I had gotten my self into an car accident....I thought to myself wow....it hasn't even been 3 weeks since i got into my last fender bender.. and twice I was rear ended and pushed into the car in front of me... I immediately get out and look at damages on both cars, the man in front gets out and yells at me "HEY, i have to get to work." I looked to the car behind, the windshield had blown off the car. I started walking towards the car and again the man yells out "HEY!, do you have some paper i can write my info down and leave." In that instance something in me snapped and I turned around and yelled "Stand there! Wait! and when i'm doing helping this person out of their car i will talk to you!" The door starts to open, and the women starts to get out. I helped her out and talked got our information straight and eventually left the scene.

Alex eventually comes to pick me up at my house, we had decided to take his car to the airport and drop it off there for the weekend. I tell him my situation and we have a hardly laugh about my misfortune...at that point I had made a terrible joke, "hey, Alex just watch our planes going to be delayed as well." We both laughed and went on our way to the gate. After sitting down for not even 5 mins we hear "for flight 508 leaving for Laguardia airport. Your flight will be delayed until 9:30 PM." Alex looks right at me, "Omg, peter....your just a troll today.." I laughed and told him to leave me alone, I already had a bad day.......

Heres an image of the Art museum designed by Sanaa.

I finally found a spot to put this.

2A_Em IN NYC!

2A_EM FINALLY GOES TO VIDEO!

Finally recieved my new HV40. Heres an sample of what it can do, footage was taken roughly a month ago.

PS: learning premiere/workflow was a real pain in the butt....

UPDATE: holocaust memorial design competition

the results are in. we didn't place - unfortunately, but you can't expect too much for pulling together a submission in a few days... unless you're h.van_oudenallen. congrats and good luck!

luckily we had some interest from our fellow students that lightened the load a bit.

we held off posting our actual submission, until now. our process work can be found here. now, with the passing of time, we post our submission:

In such a small space, line, forms, and gestures are limited… What do we have then, but light, time, movement, and material? With this premise in mind, we ask ourselves not only, “what does a memorial mean, but also what does it do.”

We are not survivors of the Shoah. We don’t pretend to know the intensely personal feelings associated with the experience; we can only speculate. In a short time, little direct experiences will be left. Therefore we sought to distill the fundamental essence of a collective conscious.

We propose a place of peace, perhaps a place of discomfort, a place of reflection, a place where senses stir memories. These qualities will always be remembered, be shared, be alive, broadcasting the memory and the universal message “never again” long after the last survivor has left.

It is our hope that through simple actions we can influence profound reactions.

thanks again to all those that helped!

experiential journey

come get struck by lightning

[when]: this weekend!

fri and sun

[what]: lightning bolt - presented by jackpot gallery!

[where]: [studio deep end]

315 n plankinton

check em out! it's going to be a stellar party.

plus you can support a local band and local gallery

... and hear good music!

hope to see you all there!

frustration

after reading this article i was expecting to see BP's stock plummet. to my amazement it's only dropped about $1. wtf?! why would anyone still be on board with this tycoon of corner cutting?

since 2007 BP has been trying to revamp their image. casting themselves as exemplars of safety. but, as this nytimes has reported in a pointed article, this has clearly not been the case after a series of catastrophes and blatantly ignoring warning signs. the company is destroying the natural ecologies of north america; an explosion in texas, shoddy construction on a mega-platform in the gulf, spills in alaska, and the most notorious - the deep water horizon explosion in the gulf last april.

and after all this, our government is still allowing BP to run headlong into more risky operations, jumping through loopholes and ravaging our natural ecologies. responsibility has been shifted all around for the last 3 months, and we still don't have a solution. oil is still gushing into gulf waters. the monster is still loose. i can't believe it.

for an abbreviated overview check out the time line. it frustrates me to no end. BP has the capability, capital and resources to do things right, yet they're hypnotized by the all mighty bottom line. where are the values?!

we need to curb our addiction. if these events don't offer us the opportunity to seriously reconsider our energy options and shift to more sustainable, alternative forms i fear loosing hope.

tobi kahn

tension; sculpture + sketches

i really enjoyed this work. came across this artist on daily serving - great resource for contemporary art.

the artist's works sit in a strange spot between tense and placid. they're so simple and elegant. some work is on digital display now as part of the ratio3 gallery in san francisco.

Mitzi Pederson

Untitled, 2008

Cement and ribbon

Installation view

36 x 36 x 139 inches

Mitzi Pederson

Untitled, 2008

Wood and flitter

48 x 3.5 x 0.75 inches

Mitzi Pederson
Untitled, 2007
Graphite on mylar over paper
11 x 8.5 inches

currently, an exhibition titled; they knew what they wanted spreads across four galleries hosting numerous works curated by robert bechtle.

seth curcio of dailyserving says the following:

"the exhibition exists without many surprises or profound connections, but is interestingly interrupted through the work of sculptor mitzi peterson and the painter garth weiser. the inclusion of peterson and weiser complicates the exhibition through abstraction. these two artists’ work are reductive and formal, but continue to engage the greater exhibition in terms of both landscape and the mundane, adding new dimension to the exhibition and requiring the viewer to actually work to extract content through context." mmmmmmmm...

Mitzi Pederson
Untitled, 2009
Wood, silver leaf, string, and bells

127 x 11.5 x 2.5 inches

nu frm blu

big bang, big boom

i really enjoy this artist's work. this is not the first example to show up on 2A_eM... the dedication still blows my mind. ten months since the last video, big bang boom showed up on vimeo yesterday and getting tons of love.

the wall murals really start to interact nicely with the found object sculptures in concert with time lapse photography.

described as: "an unscientific point of view on the beginning and evolution of life... and how it could probably end." it reminds me of pearl jam's music video; do the evolution - from way back in '98.

enjoy:

Kengo Kuma installation

what an amazing installation!!! GO KENGO KUMA

honestly reminds me of final fantasy games... but maybe thats just me...

Heatherwick Studio and Thoughts

Heatherwick-Studio

Shanghai World Expo Pavilion

Inside each rod lies seedling

Designs like this make me wonder about the design process. While Inspiration is drawn from life, landforms or experiences people tend depict only the aesthetic or functional understanding. After seeing this design I wonder if there is more to it than that. A vision produced simultaneously in our minds subconscious from the overflow of thoughts from studying inspiration.

Also can vision only be created by thoughts on life or can they be produced by imagination developed by others?

Link

"the problem with technology...

... is that everyone has it."

bruce mau's incomplete manifesto for growth

"Written in 1998, the Incomplete Manifesto is an articulation of statements exemplifying Bruce Mau’s beliefs, strategies and motivations. Collectively, they are how we approach every project."

some highlights:

well, you get the picture. they're all great insights. i encourage browsing the entire list of 43.

5 student films_ re: design

hooray! thanks to spirit of space, each of the groups participating the mp3: forecasting mke for the urban age now have video 'cuts.' these short clips help explain the five projects a little more clearly, cogently and succinctly than if you were to ask any of us point blank. all five are embedded below, please do some clicking.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

charge my car, not my phone [bill] please

with all the hype of electric vehicles becoming a reality we are going to start facing real life logistic questions very soon.... namely, how and where will we charge these suckers?

telekom austria has recently finished with a prototype for converting obsolete infrastructure into something that could help answer the charge-up dilemma.

studio banter

stumbled upon this link looking for entourage for some renderings i'm working on.

i love how you can get sucked into a wormhole of links on the internet.

worth getting lost in for a while.

studio banter: great work

something to refer back to for inspiration, and collaboration [future?]

Para-Pasta

While checking out firms in Germany to apply to.....
click "architecture" , select "para pasta" , Go!

Parametric Pasta

stop motion_ possibilities

great stop motion animation by rob carter, an artist who implements stop motion animation and large format photgraphy into his works..

q: what would le corbusier's la tourette monestary look in high gothic drag? question answered.

Stone on Stone [CLIP] from Rob Carter on Vimeo.

humorous, and stunning...
and the artist's site has great depth.

Urban Ecology Center Menomonee Valley

as mentioned in a previous post. i've been fortunate enough to work with milwaukee's urban ecology center on an expansion branch in our very own menomonee valley.



three of us have authored a book of the designs, process, and experience of the course with all it's ups and downs. it's now for sale via lulu's self publishing site.

holocaust memorial design competition

we've recently completed another competition for the atlantic city boardwalk holocaust memorial.
here are some process images that we can share now.
the final images will follow shortly after the judging. [when it's legal]

conceptual sketches

plan sketch + notes

rendering sketches + notes

thanks to everyone for all their help:

dave tesch_ m.arch 2010 - creative contribution

adriana artega_ m.arch 2011 - models
sam brannon_ bsas 2011
luke cvikota_ bsas 2011
ashleigh fischer_ bsas 2011
richie hands_ bsas 2011
therese hassett_ m.arch 2011
jodi masanz_ m.arch 2010
ben mather_ bsas 2011
michelle sletten_ m.arch 2011
paul steidl_ bsas 2011
blake villwock_ m.arch 2011

monterrey housing development

ELEMENTAL wins brit insurance design award.
they've created an investment, not a social expense.

busy alejandro.... this is an ingenious project.

q: what happens when you only have the capital to build half a house?
a: provide the half that is the hardest, or impossible, for an individual to do themselves.
in this case, the architect provided the structural framework [ which in residential housing accounts for 80% of the project budget ] and allowed the families to infill as they accumulated the means to expand.


according to ELEMENTAL there were essentially five design parameters:
i. location
ii. urban layout
iii. position of unit on lot
iv. structure for final size
v. middle income dna

forecasting mke for the urban age

below is the 'commercial' for the 2010 marcus prize studio i've been participating in this semester.

MARCUS PRIZE 2010 from Spirit of Space on Vimeo.

as i've stated in a previous post; the title of this year's marcus prize is: FORECASTING MKE; for the urban age. this title was spurred on from discussions with Alejandro Aravena - the 2010 recipient of the marcus prize and our 'professor' for this semester [ along with the helpful guidance of mr. ryan o'connor ].

we are to propose projects that have the potential to attract 'knowledge creators' or the 'creative class' in an effort to put mke back on the map...

there's quite amazing potential in this city, from repurposing abandoned or outdated infrastructure [the many grain silos that dot the urban landscape or envisioning a new life for our iconic hoan bridge], to harnessing mke's claim as the 'freshwater capital of the world' and the 'city of festivals', to projecting the future of the working environment.

5 groups, 5 projects, 1 opportunity, 10 more weeks....

thanks to red mike and adam goss at spirit of space for all their hard work.

Gathering Place

Our go at the International Glass competition (this year's challenge to reinvent the "community gathering space") had to go off in a well-organized fashion because of the time constraint. Well we took our sweet time on Detroit, we were left with less than a week to represent, finish, print and send the physical thing to Tokyo. But this limitation, I believe, rendered some solid results. Our main objectives had to be simplified, ordered and presented quickly, clearly and diagrammatically.

The project we saw was the re-thinking of how people gathering in contemporary times. There is no "central place" but many unique places; as well, people do not "GO" to a "Place," but more easily and with excitement "bump into" one another along a way. We thought these ideas were the basis of what a new gathering place should be. We did not want to build a place, but reconsider how people live, in order to put in place a framework which would 1) make the "going" more experiential, so as to encourage a more human-paced way of "going," 2) introduce to this "community" what community can be through the encouragement of easy "bump-into" interaction and 3) keep in place several gradients of individual or "owned" places without getting rid of the symbolic American "home."

Strategies:
We took an ex-urb / sub-urb on the edge of Milwaukee as example.
We designed for the better part of a century, showing stages of work that would be done to change the physical environment.
1) bringing in the wide- no-man's-like streets over a period of years
2)planting more and more trees that will add a canopy to the empty suburban pathways and encourage the branching out of people to their front yards
3) collecting half of each owner's backyard and creating a "fortress-like" block-owned area for a variety of activities, and lowering fences to half the human height
4)placing parches and gradients on front of home to encourage the use of "see-and-be-seen " space
5) infilling in-between and re-using garages as the larger corridors (like Capitol Drive) get turned into rail corridors in the future
6) envisioning both economic, agricultural and neighborhood-spurred recreation that line the inner suburban forest, creating no need to go to great lengths for such necessities as food, entertainment, park-systems, or casual community interaction amongst people.

There will be no need for a "center" of gathering, when every place encourages interaction along the normal path of living and moving. Gathering will make its own place amongst a framework designed for interaction.

home remedies

we moved to riverwest about a year ago. loving the neighborhood. the corner bars. the co-op. the parks. the activism. the artists. the general level of humility and outrage existing in some symbiotic tension.

we moved into a refurbished 'unit' above an emergency sign distributor. the place used to be an old irish tavern. the labels are still on the breaker boxes. a funky mix of wood panelling and cream city brick - painted creamier - keep us warm and out of the wind.

... that be said our rooms were small... so, we put our minds and hands to work. check out the conversion.

[before; up]

[after; down]

no more stuff on the floor.