The bulk of the month's attention in the building has been towards the Thesis Presentations/Critiques/Defenses. On the 14th and 15th the Thesis students were scattered all over the building presenting their work to faculty, students, and visiting critics. Exactly what thesis 'is' still seems a bit of a mystery to me and others in my class. It seems more of an open book to explore the seemingly infinite possibilities of architecture; whether it be practical, theoretical, conceptual or total fantasy. There are the occasional hints that we should be thinking about our thesis already, reading books, looking at plans, researching; but I just don't know what I feel like just yet. I'm still getting my feet wet so to speak.
There are a few themes though which seem to come around again and again. Lebbeus Woods seems to be a perpetually recurring individual and his work is both visually and theoretically impressive. I know I'm interested in urban centers and things like population expansion, human density, and reintroducing structures left abandoned in the city grid.
Regardless, thesis is now done and the building seems quieter and a little empty from all the activity. I encourage all of you who read this who are in the area to come over, take me out for lunch, and look at some really fascinating projects. Some practical, some inventive, some offensive, and others which defy a description. They should be on display until the end of February.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Monday, January 23, 2006
New newer newest
Yes the realm of the new is upon me! At the top of the list is a girl who wouldn't take no for an answer when I met her. And here we are almost a year later and her purses (ridiculous in color, variety, size, and most noticeably to me, quantity) are exercising their feminine influence on my ridiculously tiny closet. It is so nice to come home to someone in the house; specifically a human being as having my sisters cat with me for 3 weeks before Christmas affirmed that I am DEFINITELY NOT a 'cat person'. Moreover she is on my side when it comes to the staggering workload and the stress it takes out on my life outside of the studio, she can make dinner[she's at "Chippy's" as we speak], she helps out with groceries, and rubs my back for the ten minutes I manage to spend awake when I get home until I pass out in her lap on the couch. I think she's fantastic; I do worry that I'm not around enough but she knows what I'm trying to do at the studio.
Other new things relating to her recent arrival consist of her demands of internet and cable TV at home. The internet has allowed me to keep up with the streaming broadcasts of BBC Radio One's music shows and specifically radio dj Gilles Petersen's Sunday night show Worldwide. The shows are amazing and it is the number one source of music for me. This is where I generally find all that crazy imported stuff my mother has to order by August in order for it to show up by Christmas. The most recent acquisition I've made from his selections of music is a New Zealand group by the name of Fat Freddy's Drop. And as they do their thing in the background I must think of the other new things going on....
I've been on a bit of a book buying spree lately picking up books on Thomas Hirschhorn, Ukiyo-e, and Zaha Hadid. There are more on the way and a lighter workload this semester has allowed me to sneak in a few glances at their glossy pages.
I voted early last week and my riding was a hot battle ground as the wife of the NDP leader runs here and has lost twice previously. She won as I suspected [I do live in a heavily student populated area] and it seems I've been unable to shake the stank shadow of the Orange Cloud which has followed me from the west.
The sun is starting to come up so that means I'm late [but not as late as my student loan is] so I should get at it and head off to school in the next few minutes.
Other new things relating to her recent arrival consist of her demands of internet and cable TV at home. The internet has allowed me to keep up with the streaming broadcasts of BBC Radio One's music shows and specifically radio dj Gilles Petersen's Sunday night show Worldwide. The shows are amazing and it is the number one source of music for me. This is where I generally find all that crazy imported stuff my mother has to order by August in order for it to show up by Christmas. The most recent acquisition I've made from his selections of music is a New Zealand group by the name of Fat Freddy's Drop. And as they do their thing in the background I must think of the other new things going on....
I've been on a bit of a book buying spree lately picking up books on Thomas Hirschhorn, Ukiyo-e, and Zaha Hadid. There are more on the way and a lighter workload this semester has allowed me to sneak in a few glances at their glossy pages.
I voted early last week and my riding was a hot battle ground as the wife of the NDP leader runs here and has lost twice previously. She won as I suspected [I do live in a heavily student populated area] and it seems I've been unable to shake the stank shadow of the Orange Cloud which has followed me from the west.
The sun is starting to come up so that means I'm late [but not as late as my student loan is] so I should get at it and head off to school in the next few minutes.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
a side note: "GADZOOKS!!!!"
Total costs of supplies for last semester which I just added up just blew my hair back and I thought I'd blow back some of yours too. I'm still missing from the total at least $150-200 in lumber costs which I don't have any receipts for yet. There were some weird costs for things which I'll have for a very long time and I knew the set up costs would be substantial. Still it is impressive considering this is on top of tuition, books etc..
Ready?
$1713.49
Can't you feel it? It's like a F1 car with the top down.....
New .....everything.
Since this blog is school focused I'll start there but that's not to say that all the things which are new in my life are less important.
A new semester at architecture school means a new studio class. I hadn't really thought of what the ramifications of this would be and decided to find out as I experienced the new supervisors. I think I was quite lucky to get a guy by the name of An Te Liu. A graduate of SciArc he is the young director of the Masters program at the University of Toronto's al&d. His viewpoint seems to be from the art world and he is a known installation artist in North America. I like the things he has to say and seems to be wide open to strange proposals and even encourages radical approaches to architecture and design.
At the end of last semester we were led to believe that we would stay in the same desks and our class would remain in the four groups it had been split into. Still four groups but who was in which group changed - I didn't have a problem with this but it did take ALL DAY for the class to move ALL OUR STUFF to our new homes. I have
been blessed with a sunny south facing window right next to my desk and I am enjoying the spectacular natural light and great views.
New projects abound and they threw a big one at us right away. A sports complex adjacent to the Rosedale neighborhood in Downtown Toronto. The site is rather complex as it is right in the middle of a natural gully formed by a ravine which has since been sealed off and buried and covered with 'Ramsden Park'; a bleak and ridiculously artificial greenbelt just north of Bloor and Yonge. With a swimming pool, gymnasium, squash courts, etc... It is a big project to be sent our way with only one building under our belt so far.
Other classes are developing well; the Dean is teaching our history class and he has his own book on the subject which, of course, is the textbook. It is quite readable and thankfully fails to be too academic. By this I mean the writing style of run on sentences which last almost entire pages and which are THE #1 THING I HATE ABOUT ACADEMIA. He comes to us via Harvard's Graduate School of Design.
Why all the heavy-weights thrown at the first year? Who knows but the upper years are jealous and I am happy as can be.
Next post: the 'other new stuff'!!
A new semester at architecture school means a new studio class. I hadn't really thought of what the ramifications of this would be and decided to find out as I experienced the new supervisors. I think I was quite lucky to get a guy by the name of An Te Liu. A graduate of SciArc he is the young director of the Masters program at the University of Toronto's al&d. His viewpoint seems to be from the art world and he is a known installation artist in North America. I like the things he has to say and seems to be wide open to strange proposals and even encourages radical approaches to architecture and design.
At the end of last semester we were led to believe that we would stay in the same desks and our class would remain in the four groups it had been split into. Still four groups but who was in which group changed - I didn't have a problem with this but it did take ALL DAY for the class to move ALL OUR STUFF to our new homes. I have
been blessed with a sunny south facing window right next to my desk and I am enjoying the spectacular natural light and great views.
New projects abound and they threw a big one at us right away. A sports complex adjacent to the Rosedale neighborhood in Downtown Toronto. The site is rather complex as it is right in the middle of a natural gully formed by a ravine which has since been sealed off and buried and covered with 'Ramsden Park'; a bleak and ridiculously artificial greenbelt just north of Bloor and Yonge. With a swimming pool, gymnasium, squash courts, etc... It is a big project to be sent our way with only one building under our belt so far.
Other classes are developing well; the Dean is teaching our history class and he has his own book on the subject which, of course, is the textbook. It is quite readable and thankfully fails to be too academic. By this I mean the writing style of run on sentences which last almost entire pages and which are THE #1 THING I HATE ABOUT ACADEMIA. He comes to us via Harvard's Graduate School of Design.
Why all the heavy-weights thrown at the first year? Who knows but the upper years are jealous and I am happy as can be.
Next post: the 'other new stuff'!!
Sunday, January 08, 2006
What? Tomorrow?!
Time seems to have flown by and dragged at the same time. When school ended I felt destroyed. I had absolutely nothing left to give. I slept for a day [yes the whole thing]. Did laundry for a day [yes the whole day -$37 dollars at the Laundromat]. Bought groceries and rented a 7 inch wide block of DVD's at blockbuster. A day of that and I was ready to go back. We have been blessed[?] with a warm winter so far and it's nice to get out on the bike; it feels like I'm almost stealing rides with the weather being like this. But I want to go back. I want to keep going. I'm ready.
On a side note the time has allowed me to repaint the bedroom, hallway, stairs, living room, and a minor and not yet complete renovation of the kitchen.
On a side note the time has allowed me to repaint the bedroom, hallway, stairs, living room, and a minor and not yet complete renovation of the kitchen.
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