As twilight descends upon my time here at CCA, the pressures of completing my Thesis work are morphing into a caricature of itself. The relief of the end of tunnel light, the excitement for possibilities ahead, and just some nice, sunny weather are keeping the ghouls of anxiety from whispering too many ill thoughts in my ear as I amass a mountain of spent #11 blades.

A fascinating Grad Theory Seminar completed last night. Led by the brilliant Michael Bogan, we explored writings on the emergence, manipulation, and persistence of patterns in nature and science while distilling our ruminations into Maya animations. Densely intellectual to be sure, but I gleaned a deeper understanding of the evolutionary and environmentally programmed elements in my own sensibilities that both drew me to architecture and continue to serve the aesthetic and intellectual pursuits within my work.

Unfortunately, this seminar runs from 7-10pm on Thursday nights, causing me to miss Cameron Sinclair presenting his new book on the work of Architecture for Humanity. Sorry, Cameron. It seemed to be going well when I cruised through the event to get a bottle of water.

In related news, I have been selected to be a Design Corps Fellow for 2006-7. My wife and I have been planning for me to do a year of career enrichment after completing my M.Arch, and this looks to be a fine way to combine my architectural and photographic skill set with community service and social justice. Check out their site and feel free to ask me any questions about my motivations and interests in this fascinating and effective program.

Design Corps, along with Urban Ecology and Public Architecture (thanks Jess and John!), both San Francisco architecture and urban design-based social advocacy groups, recently put together an incredible symposium, Structures for Inclusion 6, bringing top practitioners in community design together to discuss not just what ”˜ought' to be done, but what they have successfully completed. The tool box of the architect can be as socially relevant as that of the medical doctor, yet is most often utilized to either aggrandize the resources of the client of the aesthetics of the designer. Check it out.

ALSO, who will be the next CCA Archinect Blogger(s)?! Come on: it's fun, it's great networking; plus, it'll make you more attractive, smell better, build models faster, and people will actually think you're cool!

As the end is in sight, one order of business remains to be resolved: who will take over the CCA blog?

I've had a good time with it, and it's been a great way for those interested in learning more about the B.Arch and M.Arch programs to get insider info.

I've been asking around, but as of yet, no takers. Why the reluctance? It only takes a couple of minutes per post, Paul's made the interface very easy to navigate, and it's a chance to record your experiences going though that epic canon of the architectural career: SCHOOL. I've met 30 year veterans who still refer to experiences had while toiling away in studio. "Back in my day..." Yeah, when you had to draft on stone tablets...

Anyway, someday I'll be that guy spinning tales about my 2 very condensed years at CCA, and there will be the Archinect blog available for Tall Tale fact checking. Why pass this up?

It's not super competitive, and there's more than enough room for multiple bloggers from the same school. Why not have a face off between the B.Archs and the M.Archs? On second thought, perhaps we should save that for Pay Per View.

Why do I feel so calm? I am presenting my Thesis four weeks and two days from today. I have my macro story, but have yet to catch the micro moves fluttering around in my brain and my sketchbook in a fully compelling fashion. My desk crit from yesterday boiled down to “you have a bunch of great pieces but you have yet to stitch them together in a way that respects their potential”�.

I recognize this. The real struggle is patience. I have ideas for the patchwork already. I had a vision going into the semester, and I have a vision now. My sketchbook contains 4-5 schemes as well. The trick is to allow the process to remain ”˜bottom-up', not ”˜top-down'. The current philosophies surrounding ”˜emergent' organization are poignant here:

MIT link

book link

My thesis stipulates that current practice in Historic Preservation fails in respecting the existing context and the cultural knowledge it embodies by approaching it from the top down. It's analogous to the debate between creationism and evolution. Contemporary HP architects seek to freeze a building in time, despite comments to the contrary (see Michael Mills' essay in the January 2006 issue of the AIA Journal of Architecture). Even if the project is Adaptive Reuse, in that a contemporary program is allowed to make limited physical changes to the building (as in ADA ramps and railings), the ethos persists that anything new must “respect”� the existing by blending in with it. Not only does this amount to enslavement of the present by the past, but also prevention of the use of future technologies. Arguably, this practice is in defiance to the Secretary of the Interior's “Standards for Rehabilitation”� (1978) that states any addition to the existing fabric must be clearly different for the existing fabric. Current preservation practice is sentimentalism above all else, not a pedagogical tool to continue the lessons of the past. It is architectural embalming, denigrating historic buildings to little more that a death mask.

But my thesis is different! I have devised a methodology that combines social historical analysis and fine art photography based analysis of the physicality to develop a ”˜Rule Book' for a given site to be used in developing both a programmatic and tectonic strategy. Yes, I advocate removing or otherwise permanently changing existing fabric if it can be justified in retooling the building for its next life time. I reason that by directly engaging the context, not just the building as an isolated object tragically languishing in the wrong time, I can digest the knowledge embedded in it; not just what was there as originally constructed, but also the myriad of layers that have accrued over the life of the building. This is far more respectful of the social value of the building than attempting to erase the past, or even worse, adding a new layer that is a synthetic version of the past. Our cities are not Disney World!

Stay tuned for when my website is up in a couple of months: it will have a special section just for my thesis.

This is my last semester at CCA. Accordingly, I've been taking inventory of my time here; and I'm still happy I came.

For example, after watching the latest of a series of amazing sunsets from my studio (see image below), I received a firm and poignant desk crit from Neal Schwartz and Jasmine Benyamin, my primary critics for Thesis. The first of three major pin-ups for the semester is Wednesday. It's an interesting paradox: I've been looking forward to Thesis since the beginning of my program and now must force my brain out of the way in favor of my gut.

All of this was punctuated by running off to a standing-room-only lecture by LOT-EK. Don't miss a chance to see them in their current guise. I asked them about their modeling: all of the models shown tonight were computer based. I asked if they did physical modeling as well. Giuseppe replied that for several years now they only model in the computer, but that they had always missed physical models, even crude sketchy ones. He said they were making a direct effort to return to chipboard and #11's.

I can definitely empathize. It's all too easy to develop complex 3D models without the physicals counterpart using the ”˜I don't have the time' argument. The extra time it takes, however, is time spent thinking about the project, just like when we hand drafted. Read Billie Tsien's essay “Slowness”� for an eloquent take on this.

Here are some images of the SFMoMA installation that consumed the first three weeks of this semester. It was a lot of fun, and a great experience in project management and client communication.

The museum hosted the event to celebrate the closing of the 2x4 exhibit and lecture by founder Michael Rock site, as well as offer a mixer for young donors. We had a fine time elbow rubbing and sipping martinis....

Some images of mock-ups:





Installation at the museum:









And with the white table cloths...
(The following images courtesy SFMoMA and Orange Photgraphy)









And the team (L to R): me (3rd yr M'Arch), Donnie Gonzales (3rd yr B'Arch), Chris Chockenberry (3rd yr B'Arch), Raveevarn Choksombatchai (LOOM Studio site , VEEVdesign site), Patrick Flynn (5th yr B'Arch), Denise Cassuto (SFMoMA Donor Services Manager), Nate Owdom (3rd yr B'Arch).

The semester is half over and I am writing my first blog for Fall 2005. This just goes to show how heavy things have been.

My courses are excellent: A skyscraper studio taught by SOM, a high performance envelope detailing seminar taught by ARUP, a contemporary Asian art criticism seminar taught by the assistant Curator from the Asian Art Museum (by Gae Aulenti) and a research studio for next spring's Thesis work.

The semester got off to a rocky start due to a great opportunity. I took a summer studio that focused on installation art (see my previous blog) and my team was selected to install another one at SFMoMA. The install date was during the 3rd week of school, so things got very hectic. I still feel like I'm catching up. Actually, I think I'll be caught by Christmas break.

And I promise to blog more often before then....

The joy of moving is upon us. In pondering how to cram our copious possessions into a downtown shoebox, 5 years of Architectural Record, Architecture, and Contract seem not worth moving, especially since I can roll down to CCA post graduation and scan articles as needed.

Thoughts? Donate (to whom?), sell (how much?), dump in the Bay along with my old paint cans and used motor oil collection?

Ah yes: summer school. Once regarded as the dreaded nadir of the pit of despair (at least for me while trudging through grade school), summer school took an enticing twist this year. CCA's Studio 333 (three critics, three weeks, three times the fun...) was a great way to cram your brain into an atom- smasher. We were given a single primary material, industrial plastic film, to explore, test, destroy, and distill the beauty of. Our findings were to be expressed in a large scale installation in CCA's hallowed halls. Our critics were excellent, with each bringing a distinct critical precision to the table:

Nadar Tehrani
Office dA

Raveevarn Choksombatchai
LOOM Studio

Stephen Cassell
ARO

My team mates (Misha Packer, Patrick Flynn, Paul Taylor, and Donnie Gonzales) and I received excellent challenges and proposals from each instructor, enabling us refine our work into a statement unlike what any of us could have come up with on our own. A very solid team work experience to be sure.

The pix below are of the entire class's installations, with my team's project being represented first.

Our scheme flows over the Alpha Void, a double height space achieved through a slab penetration yet divided by a large beam and expansion joint. The plastic film ribbons are stretched across the long dimension with adjacent ribbons overlapping each other, creating a continuous surface. Small, white spheres form dependable mounting points in the plane, from which weighted pendula are either suspended from below, or pull from above through the use of UniStrut mounted eyelets.

The suspended weights form a field beneath the upper skin, which reacts according to the inputs of visitors who pass through. As the weights are moved laterally and pulled vertically, the plastic film plane responds enthusiastically, much like water. Some points will pull the plane downward, while others pull up creating a morphological effect of constant flux.

The second skin floats between the upper film and the lower field of pendula. A key concept is a mechanical scheme that allows the interstitial skin the move in a counterintuitive manner in comparison to the direct relationship between the upper skin and pendula. For example, pulling a certain weight down will result in the lower skin stretching upward to almost meet the upper skin, whereas a different weight causes the opposite response from the skins.

The resultant spatial experience is one of discovery and ephemera. Visitors affect the forms both actively and passively, enjoying three layers of response to their inputs. Oblique views through the layers continually treat the inhabitant to a variety of juxtapositions of material, assemblage, airflow, and diffused light.












Some sketches of our details from my sketchbook:





my studiomates' projects are as follows:

Redline:









Conical Oculus:







The V

It seems the summer time is one of catching up. Sleeping, reading fiction, cooking something other than than mac and cheese...It's been great, but the lure of all things architorture is actually too great: yes, it is summer school time! Hopefully I will get into the closed Studio 333: 3 weeks, 3 critics, 3 charettes. More news as it comes.

In between, getting up to speed with Rhino and GoLive, and reacquainting myself with my wife and my bicycle.

I had a huge list of stuff to do this past week; got a cold, did about 30%. I literally slept for 2 days. Is grad school supposed to be like this? I am seriously wiped out and there's still 6 weeks left of the semester.

Am I alone in feeling strung out by all of this? Am I taking it too seriously? Really, there's got to be another way to deal with the pressure rather than just falling face first on the bed when a day off comes along.

What are ways to relax, i.e. find balance? My wife thinks I'm going crazy, but I think I'm already there”¦