The jumble that is spring 2008 semester

Hybrids:

Structures (or whatever that class is called):

Studio that was:

 more lines… much prettier this time

Studio that is:

   

And I call it… “String on the Wall”

Freak out

Have you ever had that feeling that you have no idea what you are doing?  So, we had this site with no measurements except what we can glean from Google or the incomplete Atlas files.  We have “sketches” not sections… “drawings” not plans… “totems” not models… 

Now I’m trying to do these line drawings which elucidate why I think the spaces work the way they do… and they’re supposed to have some sort of justification and I just can’t think of it. I know it was there somewhere but it got lost in the shuffle…  I made those elaborate lines from the post a few back and now I just can’t figure for the life of me where I pulled them from… (likely, some insomnia fog)

Now I just want to get it over with and I can’t move forward cuz I have no idea what I’m doing.  Put in a damn zip line and call it done, I say.  Who doesn’t like zip lines?  I am so ready to call it quits on this project. 

Stick a fork in me.

Addendum:  If it feels too technical, it probably is.  Go back to expressive…  Go back to where it made sense.

Quote time

“I am pursuing the impossible.  I want to paint the air.”  Monet

“Moreover, the spatial imprecision gives the painting a transient feel, because such spatial imprecision is compatible with a single glance, a fleeting moment in time.”

- Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing

“Hearing, together with its active complement, listening, is a means by which we sense the events of life, aurally visualize spatial geometry, propagate cultural symbols, stimulate emotions, communicate aural information, experience the movement of time, build social relationships, and retain a memory of experiences.”

“Artistic space never represented itself as being real space; it is only the experience of space that is real; and achieving artistic impact often requires spatial contradictions.  Although art acquires its power by the freedom to selectively transcend reality, each art form transcends physical space in its own peculiar way, with its own concepts of spatiality.”

- Spaces Speak, Are You Listening?

Basic Lines

Now I need to make a matrix-ish thing about the heirarchies, how they interact with each other… a sort of flow chart I guess.

And a user matrix.  Together these two things should tell me where things can be situated in the swamp and maybe I can move quickly into the design phase and finish this project… finally.

We’ll see how it goes.

Lines, space, magnetism

Just some sketches I really liked from this part of the project.

     

  

Oh, yeah and here’s the model as it stands (or leans…)

The studio project which does not kill you…

yeah, you know the rest.

Have to say that I’m sick to death of the swamp.  At this point, I hope that Kristi is right when she said that this is the most frustrating point, but also where the potential for greatness comes out to play.  I feel like I should just be finished… that it’s just never going to end.  But I guess that at least I can breathe… and I have somewhere to go with it… (if design week doesn’t make me insane).

While dreading the thought that this project is going to carry on and on and on, I decided to become practical and figure out exactly what I need right now to justify my work.  I came to the conclusion that even though I think I know a lot about my swamp, I really didn’t have any evidence to the fact so therefore I needed diagrams that just state the basics.  I feel that when I have those, then I can make the logical jumps to the crazy space model and then use all of this to interpret how this plan is going to happen.  Well, it’s a nice thought and I did do some diagramming, but they bore me.  And I don’t think it’s the info… it’s how they look.  This studio has been about hand work and creating with the hands.  But seriously, they look ridiculous.  I like some of it, but bleh.

And now we’re moving on to what I REALLY need.  Moving into diagrams about the spatial “magnetism”, heirarchies, judgements about the values of these spaces and how they define themselves. 

Looking at precedents for design week has been enlightening once again though.  I went through all the ones from Perkins with new thoughts of how to look at them.  I don’t think I was really paying attention last semester to what “space” meant.  I really like the Zaanstadt Underpass and the intentions of it which are to utilize the pre-existing structures with new program.  Instead of new container, a new use… 

What was that saying?  I wish my homework was asexual so it would just do itself…