i realize this isn't writing, and for that, you're welcome. in collaboration with scot bailey of scot bailey design, this wall unit is for storage of books, things in pockets, and other household goods. being early in the design phase (after a lengthy resting phase) not all of the storage boxes are in place. hope to see this project realized, then i'll have actual pictures.







view from living room














closed back box














open back alternative

officially switching to a new moleskin. it is upsetting that it took me two quarters to fill up one, but now i only have one quarter to fill up the next one? do i just leave the rest of it empty? or continue using it for post educational tours of duty? i don't know what to do.

collaborate

for this week's retro spin, i thought i would take a quick look back at my professional collaboration with alessandro ortiz. the projects might be few, but their depth and intensity far outstrip many designs produced today.







theoretical underpinnings















contextual design















places for the people
















design is not limited to architecture

architectural practice, SANAA, wins pritzker prize.

my opinion: doug jackson and his amateriality cohorts have hijacked the vote. however, I appreciate the departure from more 'conventional' starchitects and their respective starchitecture. at the very least, the prize will highlight the power of spatial effects with minimal use of recognizable surface. but whatever

unplanned

superfrontLA













railbanking













phillip cameron















not superfrontLA

omote-sando...generally

Dior-Sanaa














Tod's-Toyo Ito






























Prada-H&deM








Since I've really only 'been' to one place, Tokyo, I figured I might as well break it up into the various districts for travel thursdays. That will allow me to show off more of the city and keep doing travel thursdays without resorting to 'palmdale' or 'san luis obispo' pictures.

digital v. analog

In any comparison between two contradicting terms, you have to start with definitions and context. And in this particular case, the definitions depend solely on the contexts: video game controllers and the design of architectural spaces. In each of these fields, humans manipulate a set of parameters, or programs, in order to affect a certain outcome. It is in how people manipulate these programs that we define 'digital' and 'analog'.

Specifically, with video game controllers, 'digital' refers to a simple switch, which is either in the on or off position. An 'analog' controller uses potentiometers to measure not only movements, but also intensity. The modern game controller has both buttons (digital) and joysticks (analog), which affords maximum control of the game environment

In creating architectural space, a 'digital' approach refers to a process driven by computers and parametric programs. The 'analog' approach, then, would be far more traditional; design through models and sketches.

It would seem that, depending on the context, the two terms have drastically different meanings. In the world of video game controllers, the analog device, the joystick or mouse, is the more complex, intuitive, and future-oriented. Whereas, in architecture, analog is used more often for representation now, and digital is the complex, future-oriented process. And this is true for most things; analog is the old style and digital is the new. Why are the definitions switched for game controllers? What does this have to do with architecture?

Uh...to be continued

l.a.

500 days of summer park































pershing square








then i met paul 5 minutes after i took this picture and had lunch with the LAR people...completely random

retro watercolor

Watercolor : Chapel of St. Ignatius by Steven Holl in Seattle, WA

massacre at two pines

Saturday Sketches: Japan

So, I think this is recent enough not to be retro. Don't hate. This is from Japan09, there's a date on there somewhere, I believe. If you can't read anything because of low image quality, the sketch is from the Meiji Shrine in Yoyogi Park.

music

I love that the only thing created when I play is gone the instant I stop. Unlike those second year models.

Travel Thursday: Golden Gate Bridge

For the first travel entry, I thought I'd stick close to home. So, while Scot was away one day, Reid and I decided to ride to and across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a wonderful day, and the ride was actually fairly easy. I suppose this counts under the 'photography' section of my blog. I guess.

Wednesday Writing. Tetris and Architecture: Space and Construction of the Negative

Going along with the daily theme thing, this is the first Wednesday Writing. And hopefully, this will encourage me to exercise what mental capacity I have (it's not much, people) and give me something to put in my thesis book.

We are all familiar with the game, Tetris. Created in red Moscow in 1984, the game has infiltrated our culture as a basic building block (pun?) of gaming experience and parlance. Now, in 2010, Tetris has entered the field of nostalgic games, along with Pong (1972), Asteroids (1979), and Pac-man (1980). The game’s success is based on its simple game play combined with near infinite playability. While there are no goals, just points, the player is pushed to an increasing state of deconstruction. Much like Asteroids, Tetris presents us with one screen, one spatial frame, and introduces foreign elements into the space. If that space were to ever fill up completely, the game would be over. So, the goal of Tetris, is to prevent the construction of structure, by over rationalizing ‘random’ structural blocks. Then, what is left on screen is not a product of positive construction, but deconstruction, and the player is left with what he has failed to do.

This whole train of thought started from a small essay on Tetris by Katie Salen in Space, Time, Play. She offers the unique observation that, “[r]ather than the well-ordered grid Tetris players desperately seek, they face instead a highly original architecture composed solely of misstep and mistake¹.” Salen seems to embrace this unique architecture that is created from a person’s mistakes in the game, while admitting the paradox it poses: people enjoy seeing an actual product of their labor. Personally, I find the ‘architecture’ I create while playing Tetris is very frustrating and unproductive. However, it is not wholly unlike the studio process. How much of a project is left on the cutting room floor, literally? How many analog and digital models does it take to create a space which embodies the qualities of ‘the idea’? What is architecture in the first place: the building or the space in it?

Too often, it seems as if most architectural projects are conceived in such a Tetris way. Original or not, space created by misstep and mistake, unrectified, is either illegible or unusable. Every once in a while, a successful architecture is created from the leftovers, but this is due to strategy rather than mistake. Like in Tetris, space is usually reserved for specific pieces, such as the long, straight one. If left merely to chance, a game of Tetris wouldn’t last very long. Only through the careful placement of pieces, can a gamer be successful. Misstep and mistake in Tetris is the domain of the unskilled an inexperienced. Is it the same way in architecture? It would seem so.

house in azeitao

How would a Tetris space be perceived? Would it be the stacking of programmatic elements in a haphazard way? Would the site be extruded vertically, inducing a skyscraper type dialogue? There are many buildings which come to mind that remind me of a Tetris game screen. Steven Holl’s Simmon’s Hall at MIT takes on a very digitized appearance, reminiscent of early dot matrix screens. However, the actual organization of the building has little to do with this discourse. Aires Mateus’s House in Azeitao in Portugal uses some of the ideas of constructing the negative, while retaining the usefulness of actual programmatic boxes. Instead of hiding these elements behind walls, the architect decided to use them and the space they create to shape the main living space, which becomes the negative of those positive elements. The main room is then reserved for the experience of filling a negative space, the experience of being that long, straight block, strategically reserved for when it’s needed.

negative/positive in plan/section

Shigeru Ban’s Naked House takes on some of these same qualities while being far less prescriptive. The whole house shell acts as a large scale, three dimensional Tetris game board, ready to be filled up with those annoying blocks. In the case of the Naked House, however, the user seems to be very successful at the game and minimal ‘constructed architecture’ is built, reserving the empty space for living and interaction.

naked house










So, what is the moral of the story? If rooms line up they should be deleted? Probably not. I think the issue of negative space vs. positive construction needs to be addressed in school and in the profession. With the advent of Deconstructivism in the 1980s, and it’s subsequent influence on early architecture student s, I feel we have lost the ability to create good architecture if we have not first started with something to destroy. This is not a rally cry against Deconstructivism; I have nothing against it. But while I believe the strategic destabilization of an existing space is a worthwhile exercise, we also have to look at the good Tetris player, who is given the fundamentals, but can manipulate them to his advantage, whether that is the creation of a unique ‘mistake’ or nothing at all.

1. Salen, Katie 'Tetris: Puzzling Architecture' Space, Time, Play Birkhauser, Boston: 2007
images from archidose.blogspot

A Tuesday Fry:day

I thought I should get this up here before it becomes Wednesday and I ruin my streak (2 days) of a post a day. This is my first REAL foray into deep frying, and I think it was a success. I've definitely lost a few years of my life, and I am a much better person because of it. Unfortunately, I still have to clean up tomorrow. O well! Seize the carp.




Twinkies, chocolate chip cookies, onions, oreos, chicken wings.













Party on, Alessandro, party on.








And, uh, this is design because....we were synergizing....like....the whole time.

Retro Mondays : SPUR

As part of my blogiverse, I have decided to reserve Mondays for 'Retro Mondays' where I will post a past project or observation, that may or may not have anything to do with what I'm doing now.











yay!









The SPUR Urban Center is a project for the San Fransisco Planning + Urban Research Association. In the fall of 2008, I spent a quarter in San Fransisco living with my homies and generally messing around. However, I spent two nights out of that quarter designing this particular project, which, in all actuality, is just a facade, the rest of the building is worthless.

As a side note, I worked at Pfau Long Architecture during that quarter, who had the actual commission for this project, and was able to sit in on a construction administration meeting for this particular building. Not only was it really boring and long, but I don't remember much of it at all. This is an image of what they did...now wouldn't you rather have mine? I thought so.









boo

The Spoon Holder

I thought that my first blog post should be the blog's namesake. You might be wondering how I came up with a name like 'spoon holder'. If you thought it was because I picked the first thing I saw on my desk or I was particularly simple, then you'd be correct, on both accounts.

I don't really know what this blog will be about, but I hope it is a lot more popular than my deviantart account :(