Thursday, December 17, 2009

Making it Right



another six degrees of Seperation
1.Fight club (film)
2.Butter (Food Item)
3.Bionic Hand (technology)
4.The Forgotten People: Cane River's Creoles Of Color

Is there a way architecture can make things right I believe so. Its always a good to think about how we can change the environment we live in. Through rigorous thought and analysis we can be like the chef who takes the unique ingredients to make a tasteful dish.
What i mean by ingredients of a recipe relating to architecture I'm saying something like "what we talkin bout fiction or we talkin bout fact." No but really we look at precedence to get a good idea of how to take certain elements of a building to create a new piece of architecture. For example butter is used in many foods but i wouldn't go and put butter in coffee. I can only imagine how that would taste it has no context to my taste buds the same way that an igloo wouldn't work in Miami. Good Architecture has a distinct connection to were it resides.
For me the housing projects being proposed by Brad Pitt's "Making It Right" are interesting yes to New Orleans and are something new combined with a historical city. Is this progress being done by Brad just for his own acclaim? No I think not. It seems to be very important for him to give back and help rebuild this community. Mr. Pitt is just not trying to create a violent group of people like the character Tyler Durden in the cult classic "Fight Club", he is trying to help rebuild a city devastated by hurricane Katrina. The only thing that concerns me is that the homes are not the vernacular homes of the area.
Yes these homes are there to help give homes back to residents in new orleans ninth ward, yet is there a way to help keep some of the distinct characteristics of the city. I believe for the homes to have that same type of character designers will have to have the same intent as the builders who helped create the original homes. It is not like the residents of the 9th ward dont have a feel of there neighborhood. Its not like they have a bionic hand and they can't tell the difference between rabbit fur and chicken feathers. Maybe we should go about designing something like a bionic hand that moves and acts like a hand but still has a similar structure to its human hand. Maybe the process of the architect needs to be changed? Should we change how we think about architecture as students? Designers? I will leave that question for you to answer. The process of the architect should not be forgotten but it should be edited. We can't go and forget the past we have to Remember it and learn from it. We have to be much more than the exclusive people written about in Gary B mills Novel The Forgotten people. The novel tells the story of Marie Thereze Coincoin a slave who eventually becomes free and due to her intimate long term relationship with Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer has many children. Her children buy land around ilse breville. These homes are of vernacular to the french culture of that time and they represent something that is true to what a home is. So maybe what this "making it right" initiative Brad should try to help recreate some homes that have the same type of character as the old homes and buildings. I especially think we have to be aware that what was there before may have not been as great as we percieve it to be. Sometimes the best of the past is forgotten because something better comes along that covers it up. So what can we do to preserve history, Culture,and still let the Economy prosper and have Affordable homes with architecture? Where is the boundary?
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Thursday, December 10, 2009

IS ALL ARCHITECTURE?



Well This is officially my first post on here:



If you are someone who is not interested in learning something new then this is probably not the blog for you. This blog will be focused on ideas of architecture so if it doesnt interest you please move along.


The 6 degrees of seperation:

1. Remember The Titans (movie).

2. Saints going undeafeated (news item)

3. J.Cole (musician)

4. The Lourve Pyramid (architecture)



1.Remember The Titans

Remember The Titans, a film released in 2000 tells the story of a 1970's highschool football team in Suburban Virginia. The schools have been segregated for generations: one black school and one white school. These two Alexandria Virginia schools join to form T.C. Williams High School. The Coach at the current school is replaced by a North Carolina African American coach, Herman Boone, played by Denzel Washington. Tensions of course arise through this integrated team, but many of the disputes are settled in the two week training camp in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania were the players realize that they have to unite and set aside all of the tomfoolery. When the players return home the find their town in uproar over the desegregation of the schools. As the titans continue to win they help to bring the town together as they continue to win. The same way the titans helped to unite people we can say the same with architecture. Architecture is everywhere as David Pye said in The Nature of Design "As soon as someone invents a way of improving the weather even over limited spaces without enclosure, the profession of architecture will change a good deal." Even though the margin for error was high with the Titans they found a way to unite and help change people for the better. So this leads me to the next topic of the 2009-2010 New Orleans SAINTS.
2. The Saints Going Undefeated

Well its Dec 10. 2009 and i dont think a team out there can stop the New Orleans Saints. Oh wait were talkin about the Saints right. The same team that a few years ago didn't look to hot. I can't deny the hype surrounding this team they are truly legitimate. After going 12-0 this season they are on a roll. Of course they still face the same speculation as any other dome team even with all there offensive weapons and a pretty good defense the real question is can they uphold this streak in the playoffs. See the saints are like any beginnings of a theory that has not been proven yet. Yes i will admit they are exciting to watch but are they timeless? If you would ask Louis Kahn about timelessness he would be all over that topic. Kahn's Kimbell Art Musuem in Dallas, TX has that sense about it. The musuem is meant to be timeless and able to relate to all generations. Something like how winning in sports seems to unite people so does architecture. For example The Kimbell Museum in Dallas was once in a landscape of its amongst the wilderness it truly was unique. It seemed inevitable that there would be another museum later across from it. In particular i am talking about the Modern designed by Tadao Ando. This building is truly unique not concerned with being flashy but being respectful to its past predecessor the Kimbell Museum. Just like the Saints are mindful of the past teams of short success and failure, so can architecture be.
3. J.Cole
You may be wondering who is J.Cole? He's a rapper from Fayetteville, North Carolina

who has dreams to be the best of his profession while being true to himself and avoiding all of the b.s. in the music industry. This guy is currently the first signee on Roc Nation owned by Jay-Z, Shawn Carter. Since releasing his mixtape The Warm Up Currently their is no other rapper to compare him to, truly a unique rapper being that he produces his own music. Only concerned with releasing quality and music that relates to a concept. Its not hard to compare him to an architect who wants to perfect his craft. Much like the group Archigram in the 1960's he sens a message of wanting to show that student work is necessary to show.

4. The Lourve Pyramid

Now you're probably wondering what does the Lourve Pyramid have to do with any of these topics: J.Cole, The Saints Going undefeated, and Remember the Titans.

Well the Lourve Pyramid was created in 1989 by IM Pei. 1st spoke of occult influences when it was reported that 666 glass panels( trying to relate to the mark of the beast "666" the bible)were needed for the pyramids. This building is still standing after 20 years and still beautiful. This type of architecture is very symbolic for Eypt so it was odd to put something like this in Paris, France. The interesting thing is that I.M. PEI understood that this building needed to be something monumental it couldnt be something ordinary it was unique. Unique meaning how it is able to incoporate the natural sunlight in to the lourve museum. Strictly this is just a large entry way sequence. But PEI made this design unforgettable while trying to be timeless and bring in a old world design with modern design. That is why the lourve is still relevant. It is able to unite ideas of the old and change them while still conveying a message and allowing new ideas to be formed