Manufactured landscapes are something of the past? No i dont think so manufactured landscapes are around me right now most of a city is with its roads, buildings, manicured lawns, bridges, and many other obtrosoties. Most of these landscapes have very little intent of being something important other than serving its own personal preference or idea.
For instance as a small child i remember going out to Kisatchie National Forest to the kisatchie bayou camp grounds and going there to swim and play out in the water. Now although this was a nice natural landscape it was shaped and a little manicured for human needs. of course there were gravel and paved roads leading up to the camp grounds. The interesting thing though is that there was a little creek that ran down the bayou and all this stones that were placed along the side and i can remember all these people coming along and through the stones in the path of the stream. Eventually these stones began to make like a little damn and although this was in a natural unkept landscape it started to become manufactured by the slight interference of us humans enjoying the day there.

Ethical Standards

Ethical Standards what is this? what are they?
Are there standards we should follow as people? designers? Architects?
As design students there are certain types of criteria that we have to meet for studio projects. However, we are not limited to the criteria of these projects their are other standards we should meet. In return I think a lot of the projects that we are doing now in studio have to deal more with people and less about creating something cool. If anything the skills we own/ possess in school help to prepare us for future years in the profession. One standard all of us can follow is simple the golden rule "just treat others as one would like to be treated". I think this is simple enough for everyone to understand. With this we can help others out. There won't be people trying to sabotage someones project. If anything is impossible theirs a way to make it possible as designers we just haven't got to that point yet. I believe we obligated to push our ideas ourselves. Rightfully its your ideas about design and only you yourself that can push it forward. Afterall we have to not mislead people as to what we are doing. I think we are obligated to help our professors understand what we are talking about designing. Also I think its their obligation to give us feedback on what we can improve on the design or let us know when something isn't working. Most importantly though i think our projects have to become realistic in some sense. With the intent to design we have the ability to shape our world around us, only with the clearance of the client though. So out of everything i think one of the most important things that we need to possess while in school is how to clearly represent our ideas on a project or architectural design in general. Its important to represent our ideas clearly cause if we dont then we are reaching no one. If we don't reach anyone then whats the point of it all. On that note then architecture is just like my favorite quote "Just cause its a monkey doesn't mean it has to dance!"

hale not hell

studio-home away from home office/workspace, cubicle

Woke up this morning, got ready for class and head for the door. I tell my roommate I'm going to studio. Before I get out of there he says, " Aye dog you a rapper or sumthin? You always be going to studio."
Going To Studio is a chance for success or failure or joy and pain. Studio is the home away from home and the place where our architectural design thought process is created and sometimes torn apart for lack of rigor. The moments i remember in studio most are the all nighters when everyone is trying to finish their projects and all of the jokes ,puns, and the delirousness that takes place from the absence of sleep that ultimately is needed to get the job done. It is in these moments that are hard to recreate.
In particular I remember the most recent case of this it was last quarter. I was scheduling what i would have to each day and trying to follow that schedule. So I decided to pull 2 all nighters back to back I was acting like a crazy man on a mission. I remember people saying man get some rest. I got one good night of rest then back to work again. Once i sleep i felt so much better I could think straight and I felt at ease, pacing myself just to finish on time. Since i felt rested i thought maybe I'll finish early. So fast forward to the day final projects are due Its 3 oclock p.m., Im tired after staying up all night working on my layout trying to get everything on there. At this point I feel awful and my face has no expression, my battery on the computer is low and even to go and plug it in is a challenge. The thought that i won't finish crosses my mind a hundred times I probably said it about 20. Okay now its 4:45 p.m. almost done just have to flatten the layers on the poster and im done. I can see the moment of completion near. Okay done now just to transfer the file to the flash drive. Finally done all work is over no more can be done. Only the feeling of being complete but incomplete is on my mind. One thing everyone who is an arch student remembers is not finishing early. For me when a project is due I try not to cut it close. I just know that next time when its final week that this won't happen again.
But hey thats part of studio.

When I think of home I am reminded of Louisianas hot summer days and the mild, occasional winter frosts. Though mostly I think of Cloutierville, Louisiana, located 20 miles south of Natchitoches LA. Its a small town of about 2000 people mostly a farming community and its here where I've lived all my life.

My home was always unique to the community not for its style of architecture but mainly for its peachy pink color.

There were plenty of summer days spent in Cloutierville one in particular that I remember is when my Grandmother was getting some a new bedroom furniture. Now she was planning on just throwing away the old bed she had but my mother told her no don't she would keep it. So once we had the bed you know i just thought it was an old bed. I had no idea that this bed was a family heirloom that my great grandparents had. It was something that had been in the family for a long time and now passed on to us. Now it was a part of our home and honestly probably one of the most comfortable beds to sleep in.

But enough about beds and sleeping not that its not part of home it is. You know to some a porch is just the entrance to house or the little covered area to protect you from the rain, however in particular my family our porch is where I remember spending sundays visiting with all our family after church. At my grandma's on her porch was this old lime green couch with black striping. It was not in to good of shape but it did its job. As a kid I remember we used to jump on this couch just to hear the springs sqeak in it. Suprisingly as old as it was it never occured to us is this thing comfortable no we just jumped on it.

Theirs one moment that I'll never forget growing up. You know ordinary fall day, playing outside at my cousin's house. It was me, Archie, Alex, and Juliena, outside just doing what kids do. So we saw this pile of leaves that my uncle was burning and we decided to run through it. All of us zoomed through the fire except for Juliena. Now it was her turn, she approached the fire then stopped and just stood there in this burning pile of leaves. Now no harm was done to her none at all other than the foam flip flops she had on had melted. Of course all of us had on regular shoes except for her. Its funny how home can shape who we are today.

I guess thats why i dont wear flip flops today because of something that happened on ordinary day.

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?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/3391089/Bionic-hand-among-top-inventions-of-

2008.html

http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-People-Rivers-Creoles-Color/dp/0807102873

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