On Killing...

An advertisement from Bernard Tschumi

Burn it to the ground

I've been interested in Destroyed Urban Spaces for quite a while now. Most interesting right now is the MOVE! incident in Philadelphia on May 13, 1985. A situation which spiraled out of control and resulted in the local police dropping a bomb on the house from a helicopter and letting the house [and much of the surrounding ones] burn to the ground. All in all some 62 homes were completely destroyed on the Osage Ave area of West Philadelphia.
I've become fascinated with the cultural conditions surrounding these areas before and after these events.

I'm also starting to become fascinated with crack houses as well, especially when the neighbors have had enough and they storm the place and while brandishing baseball bats kick out all the squatters and addicts - and then burn the house to the ground. No one calls the cops, the fire department is never notified, and the house just burns while the citizens rejoice.

Just some things to think about I guess.

"We'd like to bring you on board."

IT'S ABOUT TIME!
About ten minutes ago I was told that I will be the latest addition to the sake slinging bar staff at an embarrassingly cool downtown hotel's Asian inspired bar/restaurant/lounge.
I start Friday, work Saturday, and then work a private function involving the owner and all of his friends Sunday night.

On an interesting side note the bar is surrounded by a custom computer designed/fabricated wall made from what looks like teak. Walls like this are cutting edge in the architecture world and was carved using a CNC Router, and the design savvy of one of the owners friends Antonio Tadrissi. Architecture seems to be following me everywhere.

On Being Selfish

"Fuck you, I do what I want."

My third [of seven] mandatory semester long studio classes is titled 'Architecture and the Metropolis'. It's focused on the greater ramifications of architecture in the world. How architecture affects the city around it and how the city affects the architecture. It has a strong urban planning slant if you can't tell by the title of the course.

Architects are often accused of playing god. We're actually encouraged by everyone to play god when you think about it. Clients want us to design the spaces they live in, actually having a say in the way they occupy built space. You could say we are obsessed with other people: how they think, what they want, who they are, and where they want to be.

You don't hear: "Fuck you, I do what I want" at all.
Why is that? Why don't architects fulfill their own desires. Wouldn't that be great! Tell your neighbors to shove off! Paint your house solid black and finish it off with some limo tint on the windows! Don't build like it's an investment to be resold at some point [thus allowing multiple personalities to enter the design process and we all know what kind of regretful crap happens when design by committee occurs].Wouldn't it be great to walk inside the space created by the mind of one person, with no one but themself in mind?

Why not?

Things like this put a smile on my face.

Yes, the second richest person in the world lives in this little stucco house. He still resides in the gray stucco home he bought in 1958 for $31,500. Totaling about 6,000 square feet, in 2003 the Happy Hollow house was assessed at just $700,000 (though the value investor thought it was really worth about $500,000). He sold one of his two 'retreat' properties in Laguna Beach, Calif., but retained one valued at about $4 million. That's still less than one hundredth of a percent of his estimated net worth. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the private residence of Warren Buffett; estimated net worth: $44 Billion.

Simply fantastic.

[To put this in perspective he is flanked by Bill Gates(#1) whose residence is so large photos of it are taken from planes,


and Lakshmi Mittal the steel magnate who lives in something that looks like a castle, which is fitting since it is next door to Kensington Palace.

With Mute an Epiphany

I'm looking for work. Well I'm almost past looking and nearly ready to beat someone to death with a baseball bat so I can take their job. Anyhoo..... As I look at the latest postings on Workopolis I glanced over to the TV. Much Music is on in the background, on mute. I stared at it for almost twenty minutes watching music videos with no sound just watching a string of Pop-Punk bands doing their thing.

A long time ago in a class, David Lieberman presented the idea that architecture was a lot like being a chef - that it was a blending of ingredients... The lecture was quite bizarre but it stuck with me...

Historically music has been considered a high art form, based in mathematics, and containing an intangible quality. But as I sit here watching these videos the patterns are all too obvious. It all sounds the same. It even looks the same. Architecture historically has been declared a high art along with music - so does that mean that architecture could have descended to the same level as this culturally stagnant music I'm not listening to? Have the ingredients that make up architecture developed into a bland and predictable pattern of lyrics and choruses?

Do I need architecture based on improvisation and unpredictability? Do I need an architecture of Jazz?

"What do you think?"

The architecture community has been slightly abuzz lately over a major project along Toronto's main waterfront. Poor urban planning and land reclamation on Lake Ontario has resulted in a substantially disconnected city from a lake it is supposed to be built alongside. The main culprit is the daunting Gardiner Expressway an elevated highway which runs along the southern edge of the city - practically right along the water. A few other near-permanent industrial sites finish off the southern edge of the city with a flourish of train tracks, expressways, smokestacks, parking lots, and historical industrial waste dumps. Photos taken from the CN Tower looking almost straight down show this perfectly. Union Station [don't get me started on that one] is the large white thing and adjacent historical building just left of center; downtown is just to the left of the photo; Gardiner on the right; and Lake Ontario sneaking in the top right.
Honestly the site needs a project so large in scale it makes me think of Boston's Big Dig. But instead Toronto will get a timid half measure which is too little too late, and fails to resolve the problems people have with getting there: Crossing a gauntlet of dank tunnels, highways and various other unpleasantness.
So what do Toronto residents get? Well potentially a diamond on the other side of a mine field.
West8 took top prize in a competition which was closely followed by the architectural community and involved several people I have come to know over the past year living here [the chairwoman of the jury was my studio supervisor for my second semester]. Their project is distinctly Canadian yet smacks a little of cliche. Five teams of finalists were selected from a large hopeful group of firms to present their ideas to the jury:
1- Foster and Partners, London UK and Atelier Dreiseitl, Uberlingen, Germany
2- WASAW
3- Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, New York and Martínez Lapena-Torres Architects, Barcelona
4- West 8, Rotterdam and du Toit Allsopp Hillier, Toronto
5- And Team P.O.R.T. made up of: Snohetta, Norway, Sasaki Associates, New York, nARCHITECTS, New York, Weisz + Yoes Architecture, New York, H3, New York, Balmori Associates, New York and Halcrow Yolles HPA, New York

I'm curious what people who read this blog think of these projects as almost all of you are not architects. In my next post, after I read some responses from all of you, I'll talk about my favourite and why.