Field of Tables

A quickie exercise for our Thanksgiving break was to plan and draw our Thanksgiving dinner table. We took photos of our table before and after the meal and then drew the before and after. This was mostly an exercise in drawing, especially movement and space.


Before Photo


Before Drawing


After Photo


After Photo

Laser Cutting Cross Over

For the final main exercise for RePresentation there was a connection with Studio class. We used the laser cutter on campus as a tool to help us create and explore systems to help build a project.


This is the pattern for my first cut. The bottom right are a bunch of S curves with notches to allow interlinking. The top has a bunch of circles that I was planning on using to create some kind of DNA double helix things and the bottom right is a random geometric pattern. About half way through cutting the laser shifted and ruined a few of my S and almost all of my circles.


This is my second cut. The top right geometric patterns were suppose to be for a rotating market and the zig zags and square were for explorations for roof and wall systems. I did not use the Zig Zags as planned but they were a big part of my final studio project.


The Friday before Thanksgiving we pnned up all of our laser work to date for studio.


This was my first concept model of which, most of the major elements stayed.

Canons

For our second main exercise of RePresentation we teamed up and choose a building to analyze from a list our professor provided. There were 12 different architects with 2 buildings each. My partner, Lee, and I choose Rem Koolhaas and his firm OMA because we had just covered him in our theory class. We picked the Kunsthal because it sounded cool.

It turns out the building is very cool. For our presentation board we focused on 2 main items, circulation and buildings as art. In this case, pop art.

The Head Drawings

Our first major lesson for Re:Presentation was to draw our head, in portrait, profile and from the top. We weren't suppose to use anything but a mirror for the front, with maybe some help from cameras for the top and side. Most of us used cameras for all sides.


The first week we all turned in the basic s and it went well for those of us who didn't do anything too radical. A couple of peole got too creative and found it difficult to move on to the3 next level


For the second week we were suppose to find a system of relationships in our head that are typical to most systems (i.e. the head is 5 eyes wide) but specific to us. Above is my grid of measurements. I did not put up the actual drawings as they are very similar to the first weeks.


The 3rd time around he told us to transform them again but to be architectural. No one seemed to get the teachers hint that this was some kind of architectural exersice. I went about making a grid based on the most normal measurement I found the previous week and tried to draw me with straight lines and arcs based on the points form the grid. My hair was very popular.


For the final week we were to tranform it again. Based on a suggestion from a guest lecturer I used a brush and no measureing tools for this piece. The orange arcs are the completion of all the circles from the previous week and the blue piece are offsets of the large interior spaces to accentuate the new spaces created.

Figure Drawings

For our first 3 fridays of RePresentation we did figure drawing. For the first friday we drew our hands. Which despite the fact that I've done it many times, it is still a great exercise. The remaining 2 fridays we had Eva come in and model for us.


Here are 3 five minute sketches on one page. I was proud of the compostion between the 3 and connecting them with the angle on the fly.


The second time aroudn I concentrated on spaces she made with her limbs.


This is my favorite of the whole exercise. She is sititng on the ground, leaning over her legs. We are looing between her torso, arm and leg at her head and ear.

Re:Presentation

I have Representation with Keith Plymale, who taught the summer class as well. I love the equation he put up during our lecture today.

Studio One

Studio is the main class of any architecture school and today was our first class. My section will be taught by Joe Sabel and Peter Anderson. The 2 minute bio of Joe is immortalized in my sketch above. Peter could not make it as he was in Venice at the Biennale.

M'Arch Theory

Today was the first day of School and the class I was most nervous about was THEORY. As it turns out we are splitting the class into 2 sections of 12. We'll lead discussions on an article in our reader and then present the work of a contemporary architect.

The sketches above are from slides shown in our first discussion that focused mainly on manifestos and in this case, Antonio Sant'Elia.

FAQ for CCA

What happened?

After 10 years in the industry and 7.5 years at my current job, I am looking for a change. The stars have aligned and I have given my notice at Anixter to stop working effective Dec. 8. I am in the process of applying to Grad School to get my Masters in Architecture. I should know if I get accepted in early March and hopefully will begin in the fall of '06.

What do you know about architecture?

Well not a lot, that's why I'm going to school. Despite getting a BS in Agricultural Economics, I have always wanted to study architecture. In fact I went to Architect Camp in High School.

What school do you want to go to?

Right now I am only focusing on California College of the Arts. I really like the hands on approach, model building, drawing and the San Francisco location. The school has been around for almost 100 years and has had an architectural program for over 20, but the Masters in Architecture is relatively new (only it's second year).

Isn't that school all over the SF?

No, you're probably thinking about the Academy of Art which has over a dozen locations in the city.

What kind of buildings do you want to design?

I think this is the stupidest question, but almost everyone seems to ask it, so maybe I'm stupid. But either way, I am most interested in Public buildings which would include Libraries, Stadiums, Public Transit stuff etc. Custom homes would also be cool. I'm not interested in Commercial Buildings/Skyscrapers.

What will you be doing until school starts?

I don't know. I'll move to SF sometime before school starts, probably early to mid August. Before that I'll probably take some classes to get prepped for school, a little traveling, lots of concerts etc.

What if you don't get in?

Again I don't know, but I will expand the number of architecture graduate schools I'm looking at, work on the reasons I didn't get into CCA and do the stuff from the question above.

What did you do at Anixter anyway?

I was/am the Systems Engineer (SE) for N. California and N. Nevada. Anixter is the worlds largest supplier of cabling infrastructure for computer and telephone systems. The SE position consisted mostly of making sure we were selling the right products to our customers and keeping our staff and customers up to date with the industry.