2
Jun
2008
multitouch train platform
here’s a little flick through a sequence of how a multi touch floor could work in a train station to make the experience “well betta’ ”
There have been plenty of examples of people using multi touch displays for useful and interesting things, but the idea behind this totally ignores the practical things like the cost element of having hundreds of beamers and a server farm to rival Google, and just goes for the hope that something cool might come from the thought experiment (such is the nature of architectural education)
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11
May
2008
The role of the architect in the modern world?
it’s rant time again!
this is another of my design studio writings, it’s a little off topic, but I’ve only just got the internet at home, so I’ve been drinking coffee and sitting at my kitchen table without a connection and battering my keyboard. I might go back over this and put in some pictures and references, but then again… Read the rest of this entry »
21
Apr
2008
24 hours early
I thought I’d spare you from my inept technical writings rantings for a bit and update what I’ve been doing.
Mostly for the last few weeks I’ve been in my office, vaguely working, and doing a lot of peripheral stuff. I’ve been linking the stuff I do into the back of this blog (see the tabs at the top) and doing too much GC related work for my own good (to the detriment of my studies) but hopefully I have all that under control, and I have teaching material for the next few weeks of my classes, and a bit of a presentation to give.
I managed to turn up to a meeting today a spectacular 24 hours early, which I think is the least late I’ve ever been for anything. Oh well, it’s good practice for tomorrow.
I worked all night on Saturday to get the presentation done, and then tried to get the train to go surfing, but they don’t run much on Sundays, so I grabbed my bike and headed the 20km down the bay to nicks place. There is a bit of a culture of cycling around the bay early Sunday morning, and there are always hundreds of roadies out in full team kit giving it some, but I can honestly say that I wasn’t overtaken at all, and I got a lot of very funny looks as I passed people in my flip flops, rolled up jeans and a hoodie.
There is a café about half way there that has it’s entire front covered with bikes hanging up, so I grabbed a latte and carried on. Latte’s are stronger here, not the pansy milk-fest that they feed you in the UK.
The morning’s surfing was great, I was popping up quickly, getting good diagonal takeoffs and some quite long rides, I just need to get them all together and I’ll be fine!
Then in the afternoon, I slept on the beach and periodically played with a really friendly Staffordshire bull terrier who kept waking me up by licking my face.
I went to a great talk this evening by Peter Harper from CAT, he presented the new CAT suggestions for how far and fast we ought to cut carbon emissions. It’s pretty drastic stuff, but it’s all very well researched, and even though I’m a
bit of a hippie when it comes to this stuff, I think it’s necessary. Take a look at the report and see for yourself!
I really need to get my sleep pattern fixed (more of it!) and do a bit more exercise. Sitting still all week and then thrashing myself for 8 hours can’t be a good way to live.
21
Apr
2008
i saw a dolphin
I saw a dolphin surfing!!
I was paddling out, and it was in the wave that was coming towards me
I thought it was a shark for a second, but then I saw the nose and relaxed. it was so cool!
It wasn’t as big as the one in the picture, but the water was way clearer.
if you want to buy this pic as a print then look here
15
Apr
2008
architectural ideas are inherited from generation to generation – hmm, really?
This is my Thinking Architecture essay, i thought i’d got out of doing it, but obviously not.
It has some images in the PDF (here) but their absence doesn’t really detract from the content, just the visual appeal.
‘Architectural ideas are inherited from generation to generation’. (Colomina, 1999)
Up to this point, from which architects have you inherited ideas extended in your architectural design? Name a primary architectural forefather or foremother and set out, by an analysis of a maximum of two of their projects (including art installations), how you have interpreted or modified the spatial/structural/tectonic etc concepts being purported by the earlier generation in your design. It will be important for you to posit yourself i.e. where your beliefs lie. Are you a post- Deconstructivist, Neo-Modernist, Metabolist, Constructivist, etc? It is essential you discuss how your inheritance of architectural ideas connects to and extends the aims of your DS unit and your individual design project. [Please include illustrations of the two projects by your inspirational architect showing their connection to your architectural design.]
The premise of this essay is to explore the supremely personal issue of inspiration. Initially I had planned to take a very broad approach and suggest that true inspiration, as expressed in contemporary architecture, only ever comes from outside the profession, but on consideration that statement seems a little bombastic and the reality is far more nuanced. Read the rest of this entry »