Well I survived this year, actually I lived this year. After looking back at photos and past blogs I’ve written in various forums, it has been an eventful year. Thesis has been a rollercoaster of a ride. I managed to reclaim the information from the Nor’easter and the rest I just had to take the hit. I’m approaching my final semester here at Hampton and I have mixed feelings about leaving. Maybe if we were in better economic times I would be in a better state of mind. I told a professor how I got this great job lined up after graduation, buttering him up for the punch line.

Prof: “So where is this great place you speak of?”

Me: “KFC, biscuit baker, $7.50 an hour plus benefits after 4 years of employment.”

I found it really funny, he didn’t. I received this lecture about how you just have to work hard and move to better regions. I nodded my head, thinking to myself that is what I have Archinect for. They tell me all the great places where people are getting laid-off. I love this forum; it gives a great overview of the profession and academia regardless of what state the profession is in.

I leave you with imagery from my year’s activities and a quote that I read from a someone’s sketch book five years ago: Don’t complain, 50% of people don’t care and the other 50% are glad it’s not them. Happy New Year Archinect!

People need more than a career to just survive.


More images of the Squatters can be seen here.

I presented the research I did at the local Pecha Kucha.


I designed a hybrid pinup and model stand system for Hampton's accreditation visit. We built it as team. Its called the lumberjack jack.




More images of project Nitro can be seen here.

I went to Madrid, Toledo, and Segovia, Spain to find some family roots.








More images of my trip to Spain can be seen here.

I left studio for a week and half to go to Puerto Rico to find this abondoned jewel, Mosquito Pier. Its a mile out into the carribean sea.




More images of my trip to Puerto Rico can be seen here.

My house got robbed....along with my camera and all of my back files on the hard disk. No images for that. Just a lot of ranting for a couple of days.

Bought a new camera and headed to Boston.






More images can be seen here.

I got laid off and decided to try some creative marketing. I got great feedback but "we can't afford to take someone right now," kept coming up. So I kept digging and found some work.


I started the year and damn near shed a tear.

I survived the first part of thesis. I have an option to continue with thesis or Solar Decathlon. I'm yet undecided because I'm trying to weigh all my options to see which one will be the best fit for my career.






Go here for more images of partial thesis
proposal

Have a Happy New Year. I'm going to get some booze and hope for a year of High hopes.

I’ll start at the beginning. I entered my thesis year in September. I started off the semester digging back through the last four years to understand what I wanted to research, trying my best to tackle issues that I investigated through my projects. I narrowed my issue down to how to provide temporary infrastructure to informal communities to further reduce their ecological footprint. My trip to the Philippines last winter had a profound effect on me. Strolling around the slums of Manila absorbing the sounds and smells of the shanties not romanticizing about what we could learn from them but just accepting the facts about their living conditions. So……the semester continues. I choose a site to tackle in the Makati district of Metro Manila. The settlement is on one of the tributaries pouring into the Pasig River, which is on the brink of being pronounced dead by the ecologist of the Philippines due to the pollution distribution of the factories and the effluent of 200k+ families living along the River.


here is the site.

On September 27, Monsoon Ondoy struck Manila and totally flushed my site. Here is an article about the Monsoon. A bit jarred I continue through with my material investigation.


here is a picture of the site a few blocks down from the original image.

I was working mainly through analog means with sketches, drafting, and physical modeling with the exception of some digital diagrams. I live about half an hour away and moving work back and forth is a bit tedious. So the bulk of my creations stay on my desk. A month and a half later Hampton Roads receives one of its own storms, a Nor’easter, flooding our campus and pouring water into our building or what I call the “Bleeding Bemis.”







I arrive at the studio to find myself in a swimming pool and soaked analysis, bleeding from all the ink and soggy models. Final presentations are in two weeks. 60% of the original work is lost but I have my paper and one model. A single tear moment happened right there as I sat in the pool of water.























Lesson learned, mother nature is unforgiving. At least I have a roof over my head, some trace and a laptop to continue moving along. Two weeks more, Two weeks more.

I’m currently trying to cover all bases at the moment to provide myself with as many open doors as possible. I’m approaching my final year and I know it will be the most difficult but most rewarding year here at Hampton. We are required to have an internship during the summer prior to entering thesis but I was a victim of the recession, my ‘ship’ ran out of gas and I was laid off. I needed to get away from design and clear my head. Luckily I live near a beach so getting away was not that hard and a little beach v-ball and surf really did the job.



After my brief hiatus it was time to figure out a plan. So now I’m preparing a grad school portfolio that I didn’t think I would need, sent out sample portfolios to local firms, and catching up on thesis reading material.
I’m now seriously looking into Grad school to maximize my options next May. I have narrowed my schools to UVA to work with John Quale and Auburn to work with D.K. Ruth. I like the direction both schools are moving towards and after speaking to a couple of faculty members I believe both schools would be the best fit for me. Archinect’s portfolio guide provided much needed info at the perfect moment. Here are images of the sample portfolio I sent out to local firms. I customized the content of the portfolio based on the information I knew about the firm. I got the concept from z-card











You can see bigger images here.

Our program is going through accreditation this semester so it has been a hectic one. If anybody has experienced this please post, I’m looking forward to it. One benefit to the accreditation is the school has offered a class to design new mobile pin-up spaces called, NITRO. Sweet class. Any studio spent all day in the woodshop is a winner in my opinion. My creative juices have been pouring all over this studio because our deadline is spring break. So it is moving very rapidly as opposed to Studio. Studio is moving very slowly as guilt feelings build inside. We are designing a new architecture school for Hampton and I think it’s the new Head of the Department’s idea to generate dialog for a new architecture building at the University. Here he is.



Before returning this semester, I took a trip to the Philippines. I returned asking why more architects don’t design for the “other 90%.” I witnessed some of the worst poverty I have ever seen in Manila. Walking the squatter projects was so amazing and disheartening.



It’s amazing that some of the practices we try to incorporate into urban design here in the United States are built naturally, such as public squares. The Squatters don’t plan to build a public square but there is an understanding that even in a community like theirs, they need a place to gather together.





They still rely on daylight for much of their lighting with so many electrical wires above them. I also visited the national cemetery where people live. It is an escape from the stench of the garbage and polluted rivers. The cemetery functions like a regular town with stores and places to eat, if you don’t mind eating on a tombstone. After looking back at some of my pictures from the cemetery its hard to imagine that they were living amongst the dead.



But it was so sad to see all the homeless children around Manila. I’ve seen homeless adults but never children and never in such large numbers. Very sad.



I didnt have the heart to take pictures at some of the locations that I visited. Some of the things I saw were unbareble. To take out a camera, I thought would be disrespectful. I plan to continue my research on squatters outside of San Juan in March. If anybody has any connections please feel free to share. My Espanola is rather weak.

I can’t really focus on my studio project with these thoughts looming in my head, that while I’m learning to design buildings someone out there isn’t living in one.

Frustration has hit an all time high for me this semester. I’ve been too focused on extracurricular activities for most of the semester and I’m now just getting into the meat of my studio project. Come to think of it this is my first post of the semester…geez time does fly.


an image of the chaos

I’ve been trying to apply John Maeda’s rules of simplicity to my project mainly S.H.E. (Shrink, Hide, and Embody) but it feels like I’m adding more than I actually took away. I’ve been looking at this project for four days non-stop and I think I’ve just been farting out ideas instead of “adding the meaningful.” I’m wrapping up for toady and I hope to let the thoughts sink in. Hopefully it will come to me in my dreams.

I visited NY recently to find some inspiration. I've been a huge fan of LTL's work and I set an agenda to see some of their work in NY. To my dissappointment most of them were closed. Well except Dash Dogs, which is now a taco stand. I stopped by Tides but I could barely get in because they to were closed. I had to ask the workers if I could take some quick pictures while they were working. Ini Ani and Fluff were closed as well. I'm coming up again this week for 4 days to find more inspiration. Is Xing still open? Is there any new LTL works in NY that I dont know of yet. If any one has any info I would appreciate it. Does anybody know whats going on with the storfefront for architecture and arts? It's closed too. BTW the people at PRADA are a**holes, I just wanted to take a quick picture of the sweet steps.
Here are some pictures from my recent summer trips.

Blacksburg, Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

NY in a Day

NY in a Day pt. 2

Panama

Tons of videos but no time to edit them until my final paper is finished. I recently presented my final proposal for our Norfolk courthouse project, which I have to admit went well compared to last semesters Rubik’s cube bashing, which to this day I feel is a valid programming tool. As always there are some things that must be “expanded” on. I haven’t blogged in a while and I felt the need to participate. I’m posting images of my courthouse project from midterm to final….well minus my final model. We are currently taking turns to get access to the site model to take pictures. I will be leaving for Panama on the 13th to study its urban fabric for our summer studio. I’m definitely looking forward to sketching in some warm weather and hopefully catch some Caribbean waves. Until next time……


courthouse pictures

Rubik's cube bash

It’s been a week since my return from Prague and I didn’t really get the chance to sit back and reflect on my trip. As many of you can relate I got right back on my studio project. It was prying me on the flight to Praha and back. The trip was an amazing experience. The people were quite friendly, despite the fact that they didn’t speak English or that we didn’t speak their native tongue. Communicating came down to simple hand gestures. We ventured out of Praha to the small town of Terezin, a former Jewish concentration camp. It was quite different observing these events from a museum. Terezin reminded one of how ugly we can be to each other. It makes you think if buildings as weapons. How could an architect in good conscience design something to kill? It was definitely a moving experience.

Praha has an awesome public transportation program. We were able to navigate the inner core of the city quite easily. I was comparing how I get around in my own city compared to Praha and I noticed that I interacted more with the city. When taking public transportation one has to travel to the stops. Who knows what you might run into…friend, foe, advertisement, city texture, etc? When riding the bus, tram, or metro you are then surrounded by others. One might not engage in conversation but the comfort of others around feels safe. When getting off one isn’t exactly dropped of at their destination but they have to travel by foot or other means; which further encounters one to more city fabric life. Now take getting around by car here in suburbia land “by yourself.” You get in your car, get caught in traffic, then you park at your destination. Boom. Traveling the city in solitude quick and easy. Where’s the interaction to urban life? None. It’s just asphalt jungle meeting my rubber tires. I just paid $45 dollars to fill up my tank which will last all but 4 days. That’s a month’s bus pass in Prague. I think I will be moving somewhere with better transportation options. It gives the citizen choices not only in transportation but interaction with the city.

We are currently preparing our exhibition of our work in Prague. I’ll leave you with some photos and some of my small video clips. I documented Prague’s street language through photos and sketches, which will be my theme for my exhibition. I only want to show a bit until I finish my display. I’ll keep everyone posted.


Images of Terezin "building as weapon"

Praha Street Language

I leave for Prague on Saturday to spend my spring break in the cold. I’m traveling with 15 other students from mixed years ranging from 2nd to thesis students. Hope fully we will get to see all everything our proposed itinerary.

SUNDAY, MARCH 2
MALA STRANA / SMALL QUARTER* (Fodor’s p. 61)
• Valdstejnsky palac + garden – do not miss (Fodor’s p. 138, Both are free! Palace open Sat & Sunday 10-5. Gardens closed except April-Oct.)
• Terraced gardens (Furstenberska, Palffyho, Kolovratska, Ledeburska), $
• After the Valdstejn palace + the garden, and walk thoroughly that part of town Small Quarter (Mala Strana). It is probably the most charming part of the city. See the churches in this part of town, park Kampa, try to walk the streets around the Charles bridge and walk up the hill maybe not just Nerudova street, which is the most famous one. You can also see the American embassy here.
(If you want to see inside the Tynsky chram / Tyn Church in the Old Town, doors open 30 minutes before 9 PM service on Sunday, see Fodor’s p. 114.)

MONDAY, MARCH 3
NOVE MESTO - NEW TOWN* (Started mid 14th century. Fodor’s p. 62)
• Narodni Museum / National Museum* – interior spaces, $ (Fodor’s p. 95. Cost 100Kc = $5.82, Free first Monday, open 9-5; Steves p. 84 says collection is dull but the Czech Revival Neo-Renaissance building is great and that to the left of it is Radio Free Europe, a communist era building, p. 87.)
• Vaclavske namesti / Venceslav Square – There are many buildings with large windows, department stores where you can go up and may be look down and draw the outside (for ex. Bata store – multi story shoe store, see Fodor’s p. 136; description of architecture of square Steves p. 88).
• Pasaz (passage) Koruna – (I can’t find this one.)
• Vodickova Street – Explore passage, including Palac Lucerna (Steves p. 89 – it also has Lucerna Music Bar nightly) and Franciscan Garden (Fodor’s p. 136, Open 8-7; Steves p. 89 says its down the mall to the left from Lucerna) and Na Prikope Street (Cerna Ruze) (Fodor’s p. 93; Steves p. 90, one of best art noveau sites). (Seems like Kostel Panny Marie Snezne is also nearby Fodor’s p. 104-5 & 136, also p. 62 & 97, Open Mon-Sat 9-5:15, Free.)
• Obecni dum / Municipal House at the end of Na Prikope Street – interior (Steves p. 91, “pearl of Czech Art Noveau,” offers two hour-long tours in English per day shows “halls and murals you won’t see otherwise.” Fodor’s p. 100-1. Cost for guided tours of ceremonial rooms 150Kc = $8.74, Box office and info on guided tours open 10-6) (Walk 1, Fodor’s p. 199, begins here and includes St. Nepomuk below. Tour as lots of good places to stop to eat and recommends stop at Grade Café Praha p. 234-5 with views of the Orloj / Astrological Clock.)
Or see Obecni dum / Municipal House while we’re in Old Town – may make nice finish to that day.
- Dum u cerne matky bozi / Museum of Czech Cubism* (Rick Steve’s p. 72, 100Kc = $5.82, closed Monday, open Tues-Sun 10-6, free access to upstairs Grade Café Orient.) (Fodor’s p. 70, This Museum is the New Town so you might wan tot see it now, but it is also free first Wednesday 3-8PM, although that is also the same time that the Anezsky klaster has free admission.)
(Rick Steves notes that in Old Town musicians have jam session at 5PM at St. Martin in the Wall, and cover is free at Roxy’s music club at 8PM. Many lesser sites are closed on Mondays, including Bethlehem Chapel, Museum of Czech Cubism, Loreta Church, and Museum of Medieval Arts at St. Agnes Convent. Terezin is open.)

TUESDAY, MARCH 4
HRADCANY* / CASTLE (Fodor’s p. 60)
• Prazsky Hrad / Prague Castle* – get tickets to the whole complex and walk around freely to the different parts of the complex, concentrate on the Plecnik’s work, garden and Valech, $ (Fodor’s p. 106111. Outside areas free and open 6AM-11PM. Cost for inside varies: Tour A 350Kc= $20.38, Tour B 220Kc=$12.81, Tour C 50Kc=$2.91 or free after 4PM in winter)
• Villa Muller, not far from Hradcany, but it is expansive and you have to schedule a tour in advance, but it is very interesting.
• Strahovsky klaster / Cloister Strahov* (actually in Small Quarter, Fodor’s p. 61) – great view of the city, you may be able to get inside of the main library (Fodor’s p. 118-9, Libraries* open 9-12 daily, Cost 80Kc = $4.66. Picture gallery Tue-Sun 9-12 and 12:20-5, Cost 50Kc=$2.91)
• Church of St. Nicolas / Svatevo Mikulas (Rick Steves says its closed Nov-March, but Fodor’s p. 122-3 says its open daily 9-4, Church cost 50Kc and Bell tower costs 50Kv=$2.91 each. Guided tour of church no additional fee, but book two weeks prior www.psaltrium.cz)
• St. Thomas’ Church / Svatheo Tomase* (Open by appointment, Fodor’s p. 125)
• St. Joseph’s Church / Svateho Josefa* (Fodor’s p. 124, Open Mon-Fri 10-4:15 and Sun 2-4:15)

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5
STARE MESTO / OLD TOWN* (Fodor’s p. 63; Steves p. 67 map)
- Walk the old town thoroughly!
- Charles Bridge*
- Old Town Square* with Town Hall*, St. Vitas Cathedral*, Astronomical Clock (photograph), pastel houses, 27 crosses, Jan Hus memorial – from square you can go north on Parizska Street for “perhaps Europe’s finest Art Noveau neighborhood” (Steves, p. 80) – or you can go south on Melantraichova Street with its touristy market open 9-6 on to Wencelas Square and metro.
• Tynsky chram / Tyn Church – interior, $ (Fodor’s p. 114, gothic, Doors open 30 minutes before 6 PM services on Wed, Thurs, Fri, also before 9 PM service Sunday) (Rick Steves says its open 10-13 and 15-17)
• Kostel sv. Mikulase / St. Nicolas Church*, $ (Fodor’s p. 115, Tues-Sat 10-4. Baroque.)
• Kostel sv. Jakuba Vetsiho / St. James Church (Fodor’s p. 124, free, Mon-Sat 9:30-12 and 2-4; Steves p. 71) on the way there stop behind Tyn Church is the Ungelt courtyard with a good student café (Steves p. 67)
• Anezsky klaster / St. Agnes Convent complex* -interior and exterior, $ (Fodor’s p. 64. Cost 120Kc = $6.99, Open 10-6 Tues-Sun, Closed Monday, Free first Wednesday 3-8PM)
• Pravnicka fakulta / law school building* – Jan Kotera (at Charles University, Steves p. 76-7)
• Klementinum* and its National Library, main reading room is accessible, interior, exterior (courtyard) (Fodor’s p. 84, 10; Tours of Library Hall and Astronomical Clock cost 100 Kc=$5.83, they start on the hour Mon-Fri 2-6. Tours in English.) (Steves p. 74 says Klementinum’s Chapel of Mirrors is popular for evening concerts.)
• Rurolfinum / art gallery and concert hall – interior, gallery $ (Fodor’s p. 105 &176, Gallery costs 100Kc=$5.83 and is open Tues-Sun 10-6. See www.galerierudolfinum.cz,, now showing “American Art in the 3rd Millineum” in the lager gallery.)
• Palac Goltz-Kinskych – interior, exterior, gallery $
• Obecni dum / Municipal House – interior (Fodor’s p. 100-1. Cost for guided tours of ceremonial rooms 150Kc = $8.74, Box office and info on guided tours open 10-6) (Walk 1, Fodor’s p. 199, begins here and includes St. Nepomuk below. Tour as lots of good places to stop to eat and recommends stop at Grade Café Praha p. 234-5 with views of the Orloj / Astrological Clock.)
• Kostel sv. Jana Nepomuckeho / St. Nepomuk church (Fodor’s p. 30, 198, 126)
• Kostel Panny Marie Snezne (Fodor’s p. 104-5 & 136, also p. 62 & 97, Open Mon-Sat 9-5:15, Free.)
(Please note that Museum of Czech Cubism, Fodor’s p. 70, is also free this day – first Wednesday 3-8PM.)


THURSDAY, MARCH 6
FRIDAY, MARCH 7
See things we’ve missed above or some of these:

- Day trip to CESKY KRUMLOV, probably one of the most beautiful little towns you can ever see. Lenka did a urban study based on transect for Phill Bess last year about this town (group project) and can send us her PPT file. She think we would learn more then in Terezin, even though that would be very powerful. She recommends a day trip outside of Prague because it is nice to see other parts of the country.

- JEWISH QUARTER up Parizska Street (with its Art Noveau houses) from the Old Town (Steves p. 79-84. All seven sites 500Kc=$29.15, with is 300Kc=$17.49 for the six sites that make up the museum and 200Kc=$11.66 for the Old-New Synagogue*, Bethlehem Chapel*.) (Steves p. 59 recommends tour guide Silvie Whitman three-hour walking tour of the Jewish Quarter 630Kc=$36.73 includes entry to Jewish Museum.)

- Day Trip to TEREZIN CONCENTRATION CAMP and nearby town of Litomerice (Rick Steves p. 171-175. Open daily 9-4. Entry fee 180Kc=$10.49 covers all parts of camp. See www.pamatnik-terezin.cz) (This is a lot more expensive, but Steves p. 59 recommends tour guide Silvie Whitman six-hour trip to camp 1150Kc=$67.05 for transportation and all entries. By appointment sylvie@whittmann-tours.com, see www.whittmann-tours.com)

HOLESOVICE (district north of Old Town)
• National Gallery – the most important building of Czech functionalism, amazing, grand interior space, $ (There’s little info on this since it’s not touristy. See Fodor’s p. 5, area 3F on map inside Fodor’s front cover.)

VINOHRADY (district west of New Town on Korunni Street)
• Namesti Jiriho z Podebrad / George of Podebrady Square –
• Chram Nejvetejsiho Srdce Pane / Church of the most Sacred Heart – by Plecnik, important to get inside (Prague’s most remarkable modern church, Fodor’s p. 145, 111; Free; Mass Mon-Sat – open 30 minutes before 8AM services and one hour before and after services 6PM services.)
• Walk around the neighborhood

Have a great spring break to those who made it this far. I leave you with Second year’s Gate project for building Science II.

Currently:

On my third pass at my courthouse building, well third serious form consideration of the many quick study models. Plans, Elev, Sections, Concept refinement, blah blah….studio stuff

Making a matrix, collecting product samples, testing materials, and writing my design proposal for my ReViroments research class.

Theory paper on “what is my definition of a city”

Pro Bono Paper for Professional Practice

Student interviews_always fun

Presentations on 02_25_08

Prague on 03_01_08 for sketching, urban studies, and drinking

Time: Swamped

Mood: Wouldn’t have it any other way. Sweet.

I leave you with Mine and Mitchell Hubbell’s Courthouse Study and a 4th year intervie with Danielle Key, norman Pierce, Rob Shepard, and Brandon Clarke about their recent trip to Rome and Tunisia.