Showing posts with label Architecture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Architecture. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Thursday, March 3, 2011

M1





I found these precedent scans while going through some old work. How fun Japanese playgrounds are! The alien, yet bizarrely natural landscapes and objects evoke a sense of uncertainty, exploration and independence. I'm reminded of the playground spots I used to habit as a child, but none come even close to the kind of imagination that these images provoke. But I have not left the playground since then. The idea of a "playground" emerges in every day life. Nodal points, landscape elements, fluid organization of people, etc. The cities and landscapes around us form a mega-playground in which we can abstract into a series of systematic points of interest, paths and permanent topographic elements that we conform and move through. We are constantly navigating our surroundings, and adapting to wavering conditions in weather, temperature and light. How we choose to understand our environments depends on our understanding of them, and I think playgrounds like these almost subvert our traditional idea of traversing, and causes one to think completely outside of the box.  Children are "geniuses" when it comes to abstraction and divergent thinking, but maybe mostly because they have not yet learned to control their imagination, allowing them to interpret questions with answers that have such a high capacity for creativity. And I believe this kind of creativity is what drives us to be who we are. 

My third year in school was probably the best one -- a year of discovery, experimentation and and work. The option studio with Andrew Levitt allowed me to focus on a body of work that centred around this idea of taking a part of the Toronto Islands and transforming it into a place for journey and self-discovery.  

An abstract:

There are two types of travellers in this world - the earthly and the spiritual.

As we embark on our separate journeys towards a far-off telos, we find our relations and resemblances to the earth in the least likely place, where experiences like the curvature of a cup, the formation of morning dew, or the stillness in Polaris move us in ways we never realized. In these occurrences we find an intangible sense of place, and it is the distance between departure and arrival that holds key to understanding the how and nature of things to our bodily spirits.

The island embodies our greatest hopes and fears, and mediates between the spiritual realm of our unconsciousness and our conscious minds. This pilgrimage, or odyssey, through the landscape leads us to create a connection between both worlds by provoking individual responses from each traveler to the meeting places of the built and wild. Speculation arises from the subversion of expectations on the symbolic and mythological qualities of space and how one typically would experience it.

Marking this journey are a series of paths, many leading to unexpected destinations, and others leading to places of seemingly little significance. The path symbolizes the evolution of self-knowledge gained through experience, and provides and opportunity for introspection and confrontation. How you navigate your landscape becomes a true meditative task. As the dislocation from the built urban world puts one at a vulnerable state, we must reply on our senses to become our primary navigators of the wilderness. While the forest and darkness threatens our security and evokes our greatest fears, it is here in this journey into the unknown and unfamiliar where we are finally able to find our place.

Each return to the island brings a new perspective, outlook and path, enriching the site with lore, magic and history. The island continues to grow as more people come, and this symbiotic relationship of growth and self-growth evolves to greater levels of depth, forever rooting the island to the history of the people and necessarily back to the city.

The island is home.


I'm not sure I've been able to match the power and intensity I felt through the creation of a place like this. I sometimes think the reason why I am so drawn to Hawai'i is not only for its purity, but for it's sublime nature. I haven't travelled nearly enough to see other equally powerful places, but my affinity for landscapes that drive my own ambition isn't something I'm able to control. Toronto has a charm to it that can't be replicated anywhere else, but now that I've had a taste of more, it's hard to hold back ;)

In Hawai'i on Saturday!!!!!!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

F5 - Days on a farm











Our 5 years in Cambridge culminated with an amazing weekend spent at Geoff's farm on Balsam Lake.
We had a rad dance party in the barn (no noise complaints, whoo!), re-assembled an old pavilion from 2B, and ate tons of great food.  

It was absolutely perfect. I can't wait until the summer!!! 

Sunday, January 30, 2011

J6 - Origami Tessellation +





I have debated with myself and friends over the legitimacy and practice of parametric design with "good" architecture. The technology and method is still primitive, in my opinion, but some great (looking) work has come out from it. On one side, I see the use of tools as purely experimental and superficial--powerful and visually compelling, but lacking in critical depth and ability to create a real human space. A very "cool, so what?" kind of architecture. (I also hate purely graphic but dysfunctional architecture for the same reason). Will the world really benefit on some crazy looking curvy space made on a massive budget and cut from a CNC machine? Not likely. Do I really want to feel like I'm moving through some sort of ribbed intestine? No thanks. Maybe that's expecting too much, but I am extremely against over-emphasized fluff getting a disproportionate amount of attention for something that could have well been generated overnight. But it's research, right?  

On another side, I see current parametric design as the beginning of learning how to design more efficiently, purposefully and with computer-aided geometry that is based on mathematics rather than arbitrary inputs. The single equation that can produce a surface or a space is something that is incredibly amazing, and we have already seen the consequential results in contemporary complex facade design. But this is not a new concept. The only difference is that now with faster computers and new software, we can calculate areas and material components with greater ease and dream up sculptural pieces that perhaps our own minds could not conceive of. Powerful? Yes. Still experimental? Absolutely.  

However, what I am more interested in learning about is the possibility of using non-static surfaces to environmental use such as expandable solar shading/panel design or creating wind channels for wind farms. Ron Resch has been experimenting with many different kinds of origami folding techniques and tessellating units together to create overall forms, not too far from the principles of current computer-aided parametric design. His work shows a greater possibility to parametric design to have kinetic structures with dual purposes rather than remain in one fixed configuration. The origami method inherently yields two forms: the unfolded, flat surface and the final folded configuration. With the right structure and mechanisms, we can simulate the contraction and expansion of a triangulated/unit-grid into several configurations and orientations to respond to environmental factors. A simple, small scale example could be retractable canopies, or venetian blinds. Pleating, folding, tessellation...fashion and architecture can really learn something from each other, don't you think? Issey and Hussein, want to help us out? Sounds simple enough, but for whatever reason it hasn't become a mass-producible element in architecture...

Fuck enclosures! I want to have poor seals and triangular windows with large gaskets and silicone strips for the rest of my life!!!! In the name of the future!!!

Some links: 

In other news...as shit always seems to happen to me all the time (do I bring this upon myself?), I have a good story to tell. This case makes me really, really love the TTC supervisor at Finch Station. I went to Bikram Yoga yesterday (Nazi yoga as Lily puts it...very true) and being completely out of it afterwards, I forgot that my keys and sunglasses were wrapped in my scarf. So as I proceeded to unwrap my scarf to put it on, the keys and sunglasses got launched sideways, hitting the side of the train and then falling on to the tracks (!!!!). At this point I was really thinking I was completely screwed. House keys, work keys, school keys...fuck.my.life. I was going to either jump on the tracks myself, or beg someone else to do it for me. But thankfully the supervisor at the station was so helpful that he came and made a few calls and went down there to grab them for me. If this was at any other station, I'd say those things were probably going to be long gone. I guess I got lucky this time...So, moral of this story is to never wrap important shit in your scarf because you will inevitably forget that you did that. Learn from my mistakes!

And with that, Happy rest of Sunday everyone.

Monday, November 15, 2010

N3









Moments of inspiration, November 2010.

Arthur Casas / Alvaro Leite Siza / Anne Holtrop / Atelier Phileas / Sohlbergplassen / Alvaro Puentes / Liam Crockard / Ruth Asawa

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

O14



Sometimes the best places in the city are the ones that were never planned to occur.

If you haven't been here, or seen how crazy it gets when Back to the Banks is on, then you never knew what New York skate culture was all about. This is probably one of the most badass places to skate, ride and eat it. It has the perfect curves, vistas and avenues for skateboarding, but notably, this place has also been a bmx, fixie and scooter (yes, scooter) hub too. Steep curves? Lots of open space? Damn. This underground-but-not-so-underground place is located under the Brooklyn Bridge next to the police station, Manhattan side. The Banks are unlike any other urban space, and without much warning, it's become a prized and cherished place to do pull off mean tricks. All you have to do is pick your poison. It's amazing when its filled full with riders, and more amazing that skateboarders will find places like these to get what they can out of New York's concrete jungle.


On the Back to the Banks Days, this is what it's like. I was here, 2008.

The area lies in the interstitial space between the the on and off ramps along the bridge, where the cars set a backdrop to all the insane action happening below. It's a place to socialize, to gather, and to practice. The Banks come with their own raised seating too -- the concrete dividers. On the big days you sit there with cars zipping by you, and you're at the very back because thousands of people are crowded in front, watching the same guys do the same tricks. Or you're down in front, watching people bomb the steep curves. Or you're on the upper level, watching guys below ride the rails. So many options, don't you think? The collective spirit here is incredible, I can tell you that.





Unfortunately it's been under construction since earlier this year, and while the Department of Transportation (DOT) cites that the Brooklyn Bridge is in need of "urgent rehabilitation," I can only worry about what this space is going to look like after their done. They will be painting. All of it. What about the long lived graffiti? All the small additions to this place over the years will be wiped out, and that beloved gritty feel won't exist anymore. 



The grey areas indicate where the "staging" will occur. A red portion has been highlighted by Steve at 5Boro, where he hopes the DOT will allow that area to remain open and unchanged while construction occurs in the residing parts. Construction will go until 2014. Full article here.

I'm sure it won't be long until the Banks get back to their old shape after construction is done, but there is something about being able to feel and see the layers of history in this one place that cannot be replicated or renewed in any other way. People may hate graffiti and scoff at it as "street art" but its these uncomplicated, earnest pieces of expression that give voice to a whole other face of the city. Through these tags, however amazing or ugly they are, one can begin to understand a voice of a generation that cannot be represented in any other way. It's raw, and it's real.


When this place is empty during the winter, you can still feel that energy that rises during the peak times in the summer. The residual matter of stickers, rails, pipes, ramps and broken boards are visual indicators of a culture that exists throughout New York City, and the Banks set an example where raw, unplanned urban spaces can be re-purposed into magical keys to understand how an urban city on this scale has accommodated street riders alike. Architects can't plan for all the possibilities of how a space will be used, and we certainly can't predict how an uprising in street culture will affect public spaces. How does that make our job as architects any easier? It doesn't, but it sure makes it exciting. We can't account for every single possible perspective when you plan a community (although we can try), and we can't foresee how all the interstitial spaces will be used either. I think this breathing room gives us an opportunity as a city to grow...to self-experiment, rather than live in a highly designed place. Le Corbusier's La Ville Radieuse, for example, is so highly designed it begs for mono-culture. Sterile, clean, efficient. Our cities certainly aren't perfect, and I think that's where the beauty lies. New York, although multifarious in buildings and culture, has very little open space to experiment with, and I think that's why the Banks are so special and successful as a space.

At the bottom line I believe that it's successful places like this that almost defy logic or reason, that make cities so vibrant and alive. Don't you remember as a kid, how you would just find ways to do what you wanted? Where you would build your own ramps because there wasn't a skate park near your house, or make riding a bike as dangerous (and exhilarating) as possible by putting plywood over rollers, etc etc. Maybe some of you didn't do this. Maybe you did, but to greater extremes. Either way, all these things we did as kids, we can still do as adults. We will find those spaces the suit our needs, and we will learn how to fill our lives with those necessities. It's in our inherent nature to adapt and survive, and at the Brooklyn Banks, it's never been better. Here, there are no rules. It just is.

Images via web. Brooklyn Banks, New York City.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

O11

The last several days has been eventful, from getting a new bike to finally graduating from architecture school (yes!). My mom's flower store is still underway, and I have been helping her for the last two weeks managing tradespeople, giving her time to be a florist for and not worry about everything at once. That's taken up quite a bit of my time in Toronto since I got back from Hawai'i, and it's been busy to juggle that, my own personal work, and also attend to my grandparents. But I have made time to see old friends, and that has definitely been a good change from moving around city to city and missing everyone in between.

I'm slowly integrating myself into a groove of managing my own design work, and I am very excited to see the final results. My, er, "website" has been less of a site, and more of a download page since I bought the domain four years ago. This is something I am very determined to change, immediately. My graphic sense has changed and grown considerably since 2006, and I am extremely eager to finish my site for good. Or, at least let it remain unchanged for more than four months ;) A sneak peek for the opening page:




Aside from design work and mild project management, I have also been meeting up with friends a lot. I'm making the rounds slowly...sorry if I'm not moving fast enough! One thing that has been doubly nice about this is also getting to go to new restaurants and bars that I hadn't been to before. It's been a really long time since I felt like I lived in Toronto, and I'm just so, so happy to be able to re-discover the city again. There is a part of me that is ignited when I see how many people are biking now, and how many new and hip joints are popping up. Toronto is expanding its markets and filling those fine niches, that's for sure. A good thing, all round. There is potential here to grow as a designer (in all trades), and as we are a relatively young city, we possess a diversity and opportunity for change that is unmatched in other global city such as New York or London. You could say that Toronto is large enough to keep the masses content with the number of different venues, but it's also small enough that it's maybe at most 3 degrees of separation in the art/design/architecture circle. And yes, it's a circle. Possibly an incestuous one. Joking. Hmm, no, not really.




Went to Guu for the first time. Sake + Asahi followed by 8 shots of soju at another bar (pictured...this was night #2). I kept losing at the drinking games. Never again!




A night out with the architecture kids. Kensington Kensington Kensington.






Toronto is also gifted with a plethora of textures. Urban textures. Leafy textures. I like it.



I also met Celine for lunch at Swan the other day, and had an excellent curry squash soup. We both agreed that Swan had the BEST french toast. Ever. So, if you're wondering where you should go for brunch next, Swan would be a perfect choice! Celine has been up to no good by being an amazing photographer in her spare time (among other amazing, amazing things) and she will be shooting her own weddings next year! Check out her blog. It's always a great place to go if you're looking for some inspiration :)

Exciting, also! I also graduated today, which means I can officially close that undergraduate chapter of my life. It's been a long time coming, so I'm very happy it came and went without too much fuss. Although it seemed to rain the entire day...pathetic fallacy? Perhaps. I didn't trip, shook my hands correctly, and got the diploma in good speed. Too many flashes went off today, but it was worth it.








Just a few of my favourite people :)

Other equally exciting news! I also just bought a bike off craigslist. It's a bright red Miyata to add to my collection. Rides super smooth, and is dying to get a test through downtown Toronto. SOON! Photos to come. More Toronto tidbits too. Yum. Until then, I'll be thinking of a good Halloween costume...



Thinking of new ideas. Painting the town, Honolulu. O'ahu, October 2010.