Maison L Residential Home

It doesn't fight nature, it stands proud along side of it.  This house designed by Christian Pottgiesser, is brilliant in design and gentle in execution.  As Architects, we strive to place our mark upon the earth.  To be able to alter the landscape is a reason why many fall into the profession in the first place.   How I see it is that there are two types of architects: 1) those who try to forward the profession through formal and structural expression while saving little regard for the buildings setting and 2) those who try to balance context and nature with materiality and atmosphere. Neither approach is wrong in my eyes. Both are crucial to the field.  But for me, personally, I feel a certain joy and calmness around projects and buildings that use earthly materials, play with light and tease with color, as this project does.

More Images after the break

Everything Nowhere

UNStudio / Galleria Centercity

Everything Nowhere

This project by UNstudio got me thinking about the purpose and emphasis of "Programming" in the architectural process. Below are some thoughts and ideas about how we as architects can modernize our programmatic approach and incorporate it more thoroughly into our designs.

Not long ago, Abe brought up the concept of improvisation within architecture and design. As a refresher, improvisation is:

 

"The practice of reacting, making, or creating, in the moment and in response to one's immediate interpretation of their surrounding environment. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or new ways to act or behave."

Shift Step

This is an exercise in an experimental composition theory I've slowly been developing. In short, my interest here is in grouping short rhythms [phrases] and treating them as individual "Strokes" in order to create an even grander rhythm from those groupings.

It's perhaps better understood when referencing linguistics as in the use of letters to create words versus using words to create a sentence. The progression of my music can be better understood as a sentence (a grouping of words(words made from letters)), which I believe can be used to communicate a more rhythmic storyline.

I begin the piece by introducing each rhythm separately on their own layer. Once familiarized, I begin shifting the individual notes of each layer into groupings(words). This happens at the 1:06 mark in the video. Sometimes, the letters of a word fall across several different layers, creating a layer interdependency for the comprehension of the whole sentence. This grouping and interdependency can be observed on the sheet music throughout the video.

Traditional 4/4 timing
Layer 1:  This ismy theo ryof shif tste pcom posi tion

Proposed Gesture timing
Layer 1:  This  Is  My  Theory  Of  Shift  Step  Composition

Actual Layer Interdependency
Layer 1:   T                  y     Th     y                ift          p                si
Layer 2:     hi             M         eor               Sh        Ste               o   tion
Layer 3:        s     Is                          Of                           Comp

SC

I want my day to be made of glass

Watch "A Day Made of Glass" and take a look at Corning's vision for the future with specialty glass at the heart of it.

Do you think this sort of technology is possible within the next 15-20 years or is just wishful thinking?  Would this technology make your life easier? Or do you prefer a life that's not so heavily focused on technology.  It's not strange to see our society consumed by the latest and greatest gadget. Case-in-point

Even though I may never see this come to fruition in my lifetime; I'm just glad someone is thinking about the possibilities.  The future is ours to design. 

Disappearing Architecture : Refocusing Experiential Perspective

What's next; after our fascination with computer software and its ability to form, fragment, and aid the construction of our geometrically augmented architectures wears off? A speculative response to this question, after the page-jump..

Photograph by Stephen Coorlas

Bertrand Goldberg : Raymond Hilliard Homes

I passed these buildings tonight on the south side of Chicago thinking to myself, "how innovative"

Photograph by Stephen Coorlas

JoJo Mayer : The Architecture of Rhythem

New Age drummer JoJo Mayer discusses parallels between drumming and architecture: "I don't mould space, I mould time, but I use the same tools [as architects] including rhythm, tempo, sequence... Anyway these tools allow me to craft and design time-structures, dynamics, styles, aesthetics, and layers..."


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