similarities & differences

el lissitzky_ proun 5a

vladimir tatlin_ counter relief

mitzi pederson_ from: i'll start again

the chair

lebbeus woods

the GREat rant.

[found as image when searching "GRE criticism." Apropos.]

I am also bitter. Check out the deep-sea news blog's post on the GRE and you will too. Is nothing sacred from becoming a corporation any longer? Or is the corporation now sacred. But I am not just bitter from my feeling of being used by corporations like this, or that the GRE is antiquated and unsuccessful in doing what it claims, but becasue educational institutions, both public and private, while knowing all of these things, still require it. And while New York State took steps to regulate their practices in their public primary schools, they still subject their students to do them, and their places of higher learning require the test for admission. Not all states, programs, or schools do, but most. And why? And if certain schools use the scores to toss out a percentage of applicants before looking over any further information about the applicant, are they not necessarily throwing out a student who could bring honor and achievement to the school? The answer is yes. What is education anymore? And how are we measured by it and for it?

I feel this is my least intellectual posting, but it is one that houses some deep-seeded frustrations. Further to come, is a brief analysis on class-status and the ability to not just perform on the test, but to take it at all.

[presenting]

many of you may know about the little endevour i got myself into for about a year before i left the third coast and sojourned to the east coast:


i now proudly present: studio deep end.

we're off an running - have been for some time - the group is set, the build out works, and the galleries are ready to fill! last friday the deep enders launched analog blog: our gallery space. the show: Nostalgia, Logic and the In Between runs from 10.8 - 10.22. the show holds various objects with a range of themes. mostly incorporating objects with wry commentary, they are aimed at evoking a broad range of emotional responses using minimal materiality.


the opening night was really exciting and we're looking forward to keeping the engery flowing and doing what we can to inspire milwaukee!


please keep visiting. we will continue to fill the webpage and introduce the [digital] blog as the weeks go on! rock on!

appeal [for] the real

i didn't know what to expect sitting down in woord auditorium to hear a lecture titled; appeal of the real. my interest was peaked - i guess - by the fact that i have a few freinds getting their degrees at MIT and since speaker sheila kennedy is a faculty member there i'd try and make some connections between our two institutions.

she says the title of the lecture is a little mis-leading, but i think it works - she shows projects that take very theoretical concepts and [attempts to] makes them concrete. maybe the title should have read; appeal for the real. the projects she chose to show dealt mostly with the fine line between prototyping and production and "explores architecture, digital technology and emerging public needs."

her firm, KVA; MATx boasts a large r&d department - which is a little unorthodox for a mid-sized firm - generally. it works though, MATx is producing some truly incredible and liberating design concepts; the interactive wall @ PENN's SOE, the east river ferry project, their ocean [in]sight competition entry, the portable light initiative, and their soft house competition win -for example.

a few highlights were;

the portable light initiative. it seeks to replace the fire as a source of illumination is rural and developing areas. the technology utilizes flexible pv panels in a modular, flat packed assemby that soaks up the sun during the day and gives a family light at night. new versions now incoroprate usb plug-ins for recharging phones. now the idea is being adapted all over the world from applications in handbags, to hospitals blankets.

yeosu; living ocean comp. the marcus prize group - silofill will like this one. the repurpose a set of silos in korea with emphasis on advancing knowledge and technology concerning the oceans and coasts. it's a really bold proposal. the inhabitable space is surrounded up ocean water that is pumped up via pv and creates a visually stunning effect. it also reflects the local vernacular of rooftop water towers prevelant in the area. it's called ocean[in]sight

lastly. they've recently won the iba hamburg competition with their proposal; soft house. it's pretty incredible infrastructure for local energy generation. cleaver and seductive in the design - it uses pv embedded curtains to generate power as well as a LED display to simulate the wind [similar to the PENN project].

happy hunting.

A4001: CORE I studio: assignment ii_ backpack purification

A4001: CORE 1

our second studio assignment deals with the scale of the body, water, air, edges and boundaries.

WHO estimates the number of people without access to clean drinking water at 1.3 billion. everywhere from the deserts of africa, to the himalayan mountains.

CHARGE: the backpack is a water purification system able to supply purified water from most non-saline water sources. water can be drawn from ponds, rivers, lakes or standing water that may contain chemical and biological contamination.

THESIS: a central task of architecture is to create enclosure, separating a within form an outside. the relationship between outside and within is evident through the use of section: a 2D tool, invented about 500 years ago to give determinacy to the relationship between inside, outside and also the tectonic transition of the two. one of the central tasks of this tectonic articulation is to keep the weather out: water and air. Water is especially tricky to keep out since it is in constant search for it gravity bound horizontality.

LOCATION: bhulbhule, lamjung province, nepal.

REFLECTION: the incredible potential in the sun's rays is amplified through a dramatic shift in elevation [mountains]. bhulbhule provided a unique case study: isolated [broken transportation networks], lacking of basic needs, natural hazards [water table pollution], difficult topography [extreme cyclical weather patterns], a culture of carrying [sherpas]. these conditions mean that many are left with running water 1 in 4 days, susceptible to 16 hour power cuts. regular and recurring transportation strikes leave people stranded on the road, lacking food, without clean drinking water.

so, if you're stranded in the mountains, on the muddy roads, or caught in a himalayan monsoon, fill up your pack and let the sun help you purify while you sojourn... or your nomadic migration.

EDITORIAL NOTE: after all that... i realize my section is missing [stated in my thesis]. well, missing from this post [it's not worth sharing yet - YIKES]. should give me something to work on for a bit. keep you posted.

Musings on Contemporary Design

The details and delineation that have, in our recent past, defined us and our environments— pieces, originally made to sit side by side, categorized, are rusting together and inside of one another. Nothing is separate from one another-- neither in physical expression nor in thought.

I have begun to read my home in such ways. There was a time when, growing up in the spreading out of the Midwest, I saw it as one set of pictures with the same caption. But, I see its pieces now, no longer separate. Each piece and picture is an identity that gives way to identities. They are changing and moving. And in this change it is not that they require new environments, but simply new environments come about, and dialogue is begun. We belong, as designers, to a landscape of dialogue. A landscape which pauses, reacts. We cannot examine space, program, structure as singular, as individual and timely choices. Design is now, more than ever, about complex relationships, their identities and intensities. The city is experiencing the complexity effected by a substantial rusting.

This set of identities is not unique to Milwaukee, but to today's City itself. There is nothing I find more interesting, nothing more cross-disciplined than the study of cities and the participation in them whether that is walking down a street or designing in its context. It is important for me to be part of that dialogue as a critical and conscious observer and doer. I need to be plunged into new intensities, to understand different identities and their relationships. It is a concept to me, that seems, once understood completely, to govern the spaces that will change everything. But it is dynamic, quick and growing. It is large and small. It brings to mind movement and a designer's need to move with it-- literally. Extending limbs, touching, drawing-inward, outward, running, being-in. This exasperation, this shortness of breath is then, a design of participation and it is design through which I can hope to participate in this movement.

art of unemployment 1: Vegan Cow

Quitting my final service job in order to devote a couple months to grad school preparation was not without its dry consequences. I do not want to do my portfolio all the time, nor can I make myself do it. Along side my responsibilities to express myself well enough for my top-choice schools, I've begun several art projects to keep my mind in the sanity zone. Here is a sample: Vegan Cow.



Vegan cow sculpture uses one of the most plentiful materials known to me in the upper midwest: Common Bluegrass. Yes, lawn. In order to raise a cow, it needs around 167 lbs. of grass per day (25 lbs. of dry matter). I used substantially less. The sculpture is based on a unit system, the unit being one blade of grass, each being braided into long strands and held together with tension (thread). The process was time consuming and done in a few choice places representative of my unemployment: the park, the bed and the bus. Finally, it became a gift to a vegan friend, a perfect expression of folly on raw energy, time and the consumption of grass by livestock.

concrete + ants = amazing

so this has been around for a bit, but still pretty incredible.

complex network of subterraneon highways, side roads, branching to fungus gardens and rubish pits... who knew ants were little architects.

arch_week + student work

something i hope to be a part of in the future... may be wishful thinking. but it's good to set goals.

[clever map.]

anyway. ny_AIA is presenting "exemplary" student works from 14 of the nyc area architecture schools. it's at the center for architecture. the event opens on saturday [oct 2] and will run as part of architecture week 2010 [oct 2 -10 = 8 days a week].

a group of us from coreI will be migrating over the bleecker and w.3rd street around 4 to hear the deans roundtable!

if you're around, it'd be a kick to see you there!

prefab weekend retreat

nice photo essay and pre-fab project!

rem koolhaas comes to GSAPP; hurry space is limited

lectures, as with all things in nyc, are a whole different ball game. waiting in line for over an hour that crawled up a stairwell - wrapping around and around and around... at least there was beer. we ate dinner on the stairs, in single file, whiling shuffling around for the half dozen head counts. space is limited when the big names come, but i squeaked into wood auditorium just in time to see the shiny head pass into the hall.

published 30 years after delirious new york, al manakh [cont'd], released in may, is the second in the series of [???]. the chronicle - which is designed to fit into a mailbox - attempts to dive deeper into the desert and address new challenges facing the gulf region in a post 9.11 and financial meltdown age.

"some interesting things happen when you wonder deeper into the desert." i'd like to get my hands on a copy, it's convenient that the avery library is right under my studio seat!

a collaborative between oma + amo, archis, pink tank and the nai. oma has a clever little 26s video revealing the whole 536 pages. [thanks sangwook for the photo!]

This is a very interesting view of Detroit.

Just a good supplement to our project artifacts. Also interesting about his project is that it shows the density quite beautifully.

Sukkah City.

I was given a chance to work with THEVERYMANY on their Sukkah city competition the project contained:

49,722 holes
25,000 rivets
10,420 text
5,257 unique parts
120 hours of CNC
60 sheets of walnut veneer

Half of it being coordinated/built by yours truly.
Due to the nature of this type of competition research and development was rushed and the need to produce halted further research time needed to study strengths and weakness of material used "Veneer".

We had divided the Sukkah into several parts for construction purposes. Assembly took place and as we added on layers, as the increase of weight steadily grew we could slowly see the feet buckle. After putting on the second to last part, the feet remained the same and we were confident that the sukkah would last the competition.

The design had succeed in almost every aspect we needed to think about except transportation. The ride on a flatbed truck over Manhattan bridge turned out to be too much for the Sukkah and when it had arrived it had collapsed onto itself.

This was a good lesson to learn but quite a hard one to swallow.
So I'm going to grab a beer see you all again.

Peter in the New York Times

Our Peter featured in the New York Times!


go!

GSAPP: lectures

below is a link to Columia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation [GSAPP] lecture series.

if you're in the nyc area, please stop by and get me out of studio for a bit. there promises to be some extraordinary presentations this semester.

including;
patrik schumacher, partner @ zaha
a three part ecogram series focusing on africa
andrew freear, director of rural studio
the underdome sessions, in conjunction with studio-x
a conference: the north american anthology, including patricia patkau, shim + sutcliffe, rick joy
etc., etc. etc.

enjoy the events

story of the day

i found this quite amusing. i signed up to receive a story of the day [courtesy of storypeople] after a brief exposure from a friend in brooklyn. i found it relevant to my life... sort of.

design flaw:

one of those rare
bumblebees who agreed
with the engineers about
not being able to fly so he
mainly sits around &
watches the other bees
work themselves to death

san ysidro land port of entry: miller + hull

in this day and age of massive and spectacular digital output it's great to see a firm sticking to their artistic integrity.

i've been checking in with miller + hull since i started studio. a professor introduced me to their work and after seeing the correlation between his [professor] work and their [miller + hull] work i'm beginning to see some of the influence has made it's way into my hand... through a different process, but with the same aesthetics. all i can say is, woohoo.

however, i am enamored with their watercolors in addition to their works of design!

the images are from a new project for the san ysidro united status land port of entry. it will be constructed in three phases and are on target to achieve LEED platinum certification thanks to energy efficiency, water conservation strategies, and an integrated design process. more impressive is the fact that this project is the first to be open 24/7/365 to achieve this LEED status in the united states.

the site sees 20% of the border crossing traffic into the united states. 34 lanes of traffic! the complex is both a welcoming center, first impression of the country, and critical facilities for national security. craig curtis - partner at miller + hull - "this project will set a new standard for land ports of entry, not only for surpassing general service administration's sustainability goals but for enhanced processing of visitors and increased security measures." who knows, maybe border crossing could actually be an enjoyable and memorable experience - for the right reasons.

construction starts next year.... four masts rising 100 feet support a 275 foot canopy made of ethylene tetraflouroethylene - the same material that clads the national aquatics center from the 2008 beijing olympics. this means; rain and sun protection but also allows natural light to pass into the officer's booths.

thanks to a 700,000 gallon rainwater reclamation system the site will cut water consumption by over 12 million gallons annually = 100 households.... nice work out in the desert.

outlines of the future phases and more in depth information on the sustainable features can be found aqui.

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!