Art, Architecture, and Obama

Wow, that was lame, I lost my whole blog...Let’s give that another try...
So, what would I do if I were completely released from the constraints of the architecture school program? I’ve actually thought about this question often, and I’ve decided that I would be an artist. I would try to make a living off making art and maybe doing a couple design gigs, like designing furniture or something. People always ask me what medium I would do, but I just ask them why I should restrict myself to one? I would start with an idea or concept and decide which medium would be most successful in conveying these thoughts. If I had to choose a favorite medium, I would definitely say sculpture, which makes sense given my interest in architecture. Both focus on space and form, and I think that knowledge in one will translate into the other.
I think art is a natural extension of architecture, as many famous architects have shown. Some of my favorite architects, like Santiago Calatrava and Diller & Scofidio, are artists in addition to being innovative architects. Also, one of my mentors, Charles Stinson, started out his career wanting to become an artist, but decided to pursue architecture instead.
I think an artist will always be an artist, even if they have a day job. I believe I’m an artist, and I would would not feel complete if I wasn’t making art. I am always thinking of ideas and I would love making a living off art. If I am unable to, I think my art education would translate well into an architectural lifestyle, so I wouldn’t necessarily be wasting my time. Also, I could possibly become a professor at the college level, which would be financially steady at the least.
I think making art has a huge impact on my environment. I believe art is important, and a good work of art has a noticeable presence in its environment. I believe that, in selling my art, I can also improve the environment of others.

A huge warehouse space would be ideal for making art. I would be able to make huge paintings, sculptures, and even installations or performance art. I would absolutely love this space, and I would prefer to live in the city. I love being in the city because it allows me to study individual people and society in general, these topics are what my art would focus on discussing.
The Regis Art facilities are also awesome for making art. The studios are large, the equipment is top-of-the-line, and it’s close to the city and in an academic environment. This academic environment is also essential for my art-making, because of the many interesting lectures and people. I would also have galleries available for curating shows, doing installations, and having individual exhibitions.

Calatrava's art


Diller and Scofidio's art

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Reading 9:
Key words:
Image: The author of this defines “one’s image” as one’s viewpoint. This involves one’s vision of the world, and one’s understanding of space, place, and time in history. Messages: Experience, or messages are what shape ones image. Messages are received at all times, with some changing one’s “image.”

Discussion questions:
How does this article affect our own “image”? Is it revolutionary to anyone? Is it more of a clarifying “message” to others? To me, I don’t think his points are very new, he is essentially rewording the argument that our experience and knowledge contributes to our vision of the world.
Is he arguing that there is no certainty of truth? That truth is only achieved through experience and is personal rather than universal? This is especially regarding one’s perception of religion.

Reading 10:
Key words:
To see: He defines seeing as “to perceive all its simultaneous components without overlooking any of them.”
Sword: In the last story, Mr. Palomar describes the intense light from a sunset as a sword;it pierces the eye-and the eye was made to perceive the sword, and the sword exists for the eye

How does this reading relate to an architect’s education?
Does reading this make you want to paint? Don’t you just want to create what he explains so vividly?
Do you agree with Mr. Palomar’s conclusion that, “The dead weight of an intolerant tradition prevents anyone’s properly understanding the most enlightened intentions”? Do you think that society influences what we see and don’t see, or can’t see?

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Music-
John Lennon- "Imagine," "Give Peace a Chance"
John Mayer- "Waiting on the world to change"
Beatles- "Help!," "All you need is Love"
Amos Lee- "Freedom"

Quotes:
Martin Luther King, Jr.-
-"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."
-"A right delayed is a right denied."
-"All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence."
-"Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better"
-"All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem."
-"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. "
Gandhi-
-"A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people."
-"Action expresses priorities."

Albert Einstein-
-"A perfection of means, and confusion of aims, seems to be our main problem."
-"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new."
-"A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?"
-"Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking."
-"Concern for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations."
-"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

Mother Theresa-
-"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat."
-"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."

These quotes and lyrics really show a big part about what my life philosophy is, and this is what I'll bring into the project. (I can't figure out how to put photos up yet, but I'll get some up as soon as I figure it out.)

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/23237672#23237672

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/23244909#23244909

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Reading 7:
2 key words:
Profession (as in the Profession of Architecture): The profession is concerned with actually building stuff-"fulfilling commissions to the highest standard" in his more eloquent words.

Discipline (As in the Discipline of Architecture): The discipline is the theory and research-based part of architecture, which is a more open and liberating environment. This is because it is more idea based, and things can exist without having to be built-like FLW's and Corb's utopian cities for example. The discipline is concerned with the growing body of knowledge that is unique to architecture.

2 discussion questions:
Is the discipline even necessary in architecture?

How can we attract more funding for the advancement of the discipline of architecture? Anderson thinks the advancement of the discipline is essential, so why is it so difficult to attract adequate funding? Is he being realistic in his demands?
Reading 8:
2 key words:
Effort: There are several effort-related tips in his 1000 words of advice. Effort is clearly important in getting the most out of your education, as a design education is very hands-on style of education.
Learn: A focus on learning is also essential for a design education. This learning should even take place when reading the newspaper or auditing a class. Don't do for the sake of grading, do for the sake of learning.
2 questions:
Chochinov says that the teachers work for the students, and that as a responsible student you should make them work for you-they should be on time and not leave early. However, what do you do when a teacher is mostly there for research purposes, or is really busy as a practicing architect, etc.?

Could all of his points be applicable to any college student (non-design majors)? Which ones are unique to a design education?
What is the most important advice?

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Find a social-design issue - here in the twin cities
Document it.
Become an advocate for it.

Social design issue: Lack of well-designed schools in low income areas/minority areas.

This problem became even more noticeable after Professor Fisher’s lecture last week. The built environment clearly can have an impact on learning, and I believe this is very apparent in the design of schools in low income areas. The example I most recently saw was at Anishinaabe Academy (for kids in K-8th grade), a school my mom teaches at. It is located near East Lake Street and Cedar Ave, right next to the Hiawatha light-rail line, in a low income neighborhood that houses many minority families. This school is mostly for Native Americans, although many other minorities live in close-proximity to the school too. My mom showed me the school one day, and I was shocked when she pointed to a 4-story commercial business building. This building, and its setting, was drastically different from the schools I grew up in. I felt sorry for the kids, thinking of how hard it would be to go to school at such a place. It is especially troubling because may of the kids come from lousy families and they really need a place where they can feel safe and feel important. I think it’s totally possible to have school in a business building, but I don’t think it is the appropriate environment for young kids to learn.
The design requirements of an office building are very different than a school in my opinion. You can renovate the building, but I still don’t think that this is adequate. As a school, I’m guessing that sound is always an issue in the building, as it isn’t made to handle this many people, let alone loud kids. Another problem area might be the bathrooms. Many bathrooms in elementary and middle schools are semi-public in suburban schools, so that the teachers can monitor the kids and make sure there isn't any sexual harassment going on and to make sure that everyone is washing their hands and acting appropriately. The bathrooms in office buildings are closed off from the hallways, because older people want more privacy when going to the bathroom.

By having minority students go to school in a business building, what are they saying (subliminally) about/to the students? That they are not worth spending money on because they probably won’t amount to anything? This is the exact opposite message that these students need, so much more-so than students in suburban neighborhoods. Low income students may not have the support at home that well-off students do, so they really need the supportive atmosphere that a school community can provide them with.

One issue raised is how race should be appropriated in schools. Is it best to have all of one minority together? Is it best to mix minorities? Is it best to mix whites and minorities? This is a really complex issue, and I don’t think there is one right answer for all circumstances. So I’ll try to offer a couple points regarding this particular school. In addition to the traditional subjects, the school teaches Native American culture and language to the students. In this case, it might be good to focus enrollment to Native Americans, because this knowledge is more applicable to their situation. However, in today’s world, one is not going to interact solely with peers of the same ethnic background. This also begs the question, what is the purpose of school? This is another complex issue that has many viewpoints. Is it to prepare students to succeed in life? In college? Is is to maintain culture, or history (either as a country (like the US), or as a race (like Native Americans or African Americans))? Is it to teach students how to be a good person, or even a good citizen? I think these questions are even more confusing in low income and minority areas, because there are often many backgrounds to consider. Also, I believe there is much more variation in living environments than there are in suburban schools. For example, some students have to take care of younger siblings, some have parents who don’t work, or don’t speak English, or who are mostly absent from their children’s academic lives.

This is just one example of many schools in Minneapolis that aren’t fully equipped for the education of young people. In an increasingly globaly-competitive world, all students - even those in low income areas - need to have good education. And I believe that the physical environments in many inner city schools aren’t conducive for a great school atmosphere, and this needs to be addressed.

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Reading 4:
2 key words:
Politics: Politics as being about values, not as the activities of political organizations. Politics has important consequences, and also can shape people's preferences. (These aspects of politics are also seen in design)

Facilitator: The author argues that the role of the designer should be like a facilitator, or a listener. A good designer should not impose their design on people, instead, they should create a solution that is wanted by the client. (a bottom up approach-like grassroots approaches in politics)

2 Discussion Questions:
Are designers responsible for the consequences of their designs? Should they be responsible?

How will perception of the design field change because of the new "democratic approach" to design (as opposed to the idea of "master-designers")? Will these designers be subjected to take less credit for their design? And will this have an impact on their salaries? If they are not "campaigning," how will they find new clients. This "democratic approach" sounds as if it may be a bit too utopian, which is unfortunate for those designers with such good intentions-it seems like they could be either taken advantage of or forgotten easily.

Reading 5:
2 key words:
Flow: Fisher states that the world of today is a world of flows. Information, investment capital, work, and people all flow - flow from company to company, place to place, and person to person, etc. Much of this flow is determined by how "fit" a company or person it, with the most fit becoming the most profitable, in terms of resources like money, people, and information. Architecture is no exception.

Fitness: In terms of survival of the fittest. This is even seen in academia, as "less fit" programs and departments are cut. In this case, fitness refers to the amount of money a department may bring to a university. This valuing of money and devaluing of the individual is a problem.

2 Discussion Questions:

Should the University require at least one design class for every student? (similar to the physical science or biological science requirement.)
Whose job it is to educate the public about the importance of design?

How important is design even? Could the world work just fine without designers? Do we just think design is important because we are designers? (Like how artists may think art is essential, when many may not care about art at all)

How closely does the design education at the U of M follow Fisher's guidelines for an ideal education?

Reading 6:
2 key works:
Versatility: In order to become successful financially, the profession of architecture must become more diverse, they must become more versatile. This ranges from offering pre-design services, to design consulting, to development advice. This versatility will help eliminate some competition from outside professions that have previously choked out the profession.

Re-design: Architects are used to designing and redesigning houses and other stuff, but in order to succeed financially in today's world, they need to be able to re-design their profession. They need to re-design the profession and re-establish their place in the market, re-establish their important value in the construction of our built environment.

2 Discussion questions:
How will other competing professions respond to the diversification or re-design of the architecture profession? Will this be a constant battle for resources? (Will they start to hire architects to be on their staffs, etc?)
Will this diversification have the added benefit of developing becoming better designers, as they become more aware of more aspects of the process?
Will the quality of architecture decrease because of the increasing focus on other services like development analysis, etc? Will this focus on making more money be harmful to the creation of pure architecture?

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Place: To me, this whole article is about "place". It examines the
definitions of "place", our perceptions of "place", and the organizations
of "place," and more.

Phenomenology: Phenomenology is a sort of return to the concrete, the real,
the tangible (as opposed to the abstract or mental constructions) In this,
it means that we must, in examining place, think about the concrete. He
repeatedly mentions the "concrete" in place throughout the essay. He
mentions that many other academic subjects have been examined by
phenomenologists, but architecture has been mostly ignored-this is a
problem he wants to address.

Question #1: Do you agree with Rizzoli's statement that poetry brings us
back to the "concrete," while science departs from the "given"? (for
example, I think that many people would say that science seems much more
about the concrete than poetry)

Question #2: What does the word "place" mean to you? Or, what did it mean
before the reading? Or, how did the reading change your thoughts about
place?

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So I've been waiting for Super Tuesday for a long time, at least several tuesdays, and I was so excited to finally have a say in who will be the next presidential candidate when I woke up today. So after dinner I headed over to Willey to finally "let my voice be heard"(-sounds kinda cheesy doesn't it). So I get to Willey and see this big line stretching out of the big auditorium and I'm thinking, "cool, looks like a decent turnout, that's a good thing for democracy"...Once we actually get into the auditorium I realized that the line was much, much longer-it wrapped around the edges of the big auditorium-and I'm again thinking, "awesome, even better turnout, this will be a proud day for democracy"...So I wait in line for 20 minutes, while the man in front of the microphone was trying to stick to the "caucus agenda" by electing a bunch of randoms to lame posts (the only requirement was that you could speak english, and were breathing. Prestigious, I know). So these new well-qualified "caucus officials" had to read off a sheet, getting a set of rules elected and electing other randoms to posts in a not so serious way-it would have almost been a let down to get nominated for a post by someone, and even more to "win" the post and have to drag yourself up on stage. For example, the main caucus random had to choose someone to be the "caucus secretary," so naturally he chose a dude (whom he seemed to know) who was deep in his REM sleep cycle. Trust me, he did not look happy. How would you like to be that guy? First, you get woken up from some sweet dream to go on stage, and then you have to stay for the ENTIRE caucus and record all the useless stuff that is so necessary to record. Yea, this is why you don't leave people to appoint friends to "important" positions (cough, Bush, cough).
Anyways, I finally get to the front of the line and am all excited to participate in our most celebrated democracy, and as I'm getting out my Id, the official lady says that it's not necessary. I'm like ok, well, i guess that's not so cool, but let's just vote then. So I fill out a little box with my name and signature and address and upon finishing am given a little white square of paper-with like 10 names on it (I was like, "Earth to caucus, Edwards dropped out of the race last week"). I was thinking, this cannot be legitimate, no. First of all, anyone could have come in and voted, as long as they provided a fake name, matching signature, and a made-up address. The names of the people weren't tied to their vote in any way, and the little paper vote was the most embarrassing vote ever (seriously, it was like 1" x 2"). There were no private booths where you could ponder which candidate would be the best presidential candidate either. Instead, you had to find some surface out in the open (your hand was a popular choice), then borrow a pen and put an x or check next to whatever name you felt like and drop it in a homely cardboard vote collecting box. It was, without a doubt, worse than our 5th grade class elections (I really don't remember it too specifically, but seriously)
So, you might be wondering, how does this relate to the designed environment?
Well, this is all relevant because in reading #4, they talked about the faulty design in the butterfly ballots used in the Florida elections (which may have, or did, lead to Mr. George W Bush being elected president). This is so embarrassing. It seems like we're not treating our democratic processes very seriously...Honestly, isn't the preservation of a pure democracy incredibly important? The results of the caucus voting could have been manipulated so easily, and I think that such a loose system is an unnecessary risk to take. The reading asks whether designers should be responsible for the consequences of their design? I would answer yes, and no. The problem I have is with unintended consequences or misuse of design. Should Einstein be responsible for the unintended consequences of his discovery of atomic energy? Regarding the structure of the caucus, I don't necessarily think design was at fault in this case. The organizers had access to the proper design, but chose not to use it. It's almost like they decided that the caucus wasn't important enough to use the proper equipment. I feel like this willful neglect of the importance of design is one of the most important issues/problems raised by the readings. What can we do to reduce this? Should the University have a design class requirement for graduation, just like how they have a physical science requirement? It would make so much more sense, because design knowledge, I believe, is relevant and can be applied to many professions (or even in becoming a good citizen), whereas knowledge in something as obscure as physical science will not do me any good after I take my final exam. I may be a bit biased here, but it is annoying when people don't use the proper tools, even when they have access to what works best.

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The Prompt: Inspired by Andy Goldsworthy (and our discussions today), document and investigate,
through text and image - this idea of energy, flow and transformation through the city.

Alright, first real entry, here it goes...
I think the city of Minneapolis has an incredible energy, flow, and transformation. I haven't really lived in other cities, but I'm sure others like NYC and LA experience energy flows. This continuous process is actually one of the things i love most about the city. Although many would argue that the city is completely different from the nature Goldsworthy continually experiences, I would argue that the energies are much of the same. Like nature, the energy and flow of the city is largely determined by the energy of the sun. Just as the rising of the sun brings energy into the world of nature, it brings life to the city after the early morning lull. As the sun rises, people wake up, lights turn on, people jog through the sidewalks, arrive in cars and buses for work. The energy builds as more and more people come into the city, like how more and more animals come out of their dens to hunt, eat, or play. Also, there are visible flows of people during the mealtimes, as different areas are inhabited than during the other parts of the day. The nighttime energy of the city is particularly fascinating, with lights bright and cars buzzing to theatres and bars. This reminds me of shows like planet earth when they show animals at night during mating season, with loud noises from frogs and crickets combined with the activities of night predators. If I was camping there, I probobly wouldn't be able to fall asleep, much like if I was living in the heart of the theatre district in Minneapolis.
Another similarity between the energy flow of nature and the city is that there are many groups of things that work together to create an overall atmosphere. In nature, the different parts are things like the sun, the wind, the weather, the trees, the insects, the the sun brings life to the flowers, wakes the animals, energizes the winds and weather of the day. The In the city, the cars form a group, the people another, the buses another, lights another, etc. Some are more regular than others (like bus schedules), yet they are often seen in unison during certain parts of the day. Even today, I remember looking out my dorm window and seeing the walking patterns of students as they enter and exit the building, and observing their quirks and clothing. This flow was so interesting to watch, you could tell when the classes were about to start, or if they had just ended, depending on the flow of students and their haste. This would be seen on an even greater scale (more noticeable) in a city, as there are more people, more places to be, etc.
Also like nature, there is a more permanent structure that defines the space that the energy takes place in. This structure, even though it seems more lifeless, is indeed full of energy, energy that is built up slowly over time. In nature, this is the rocks, trees, lakes, rivers, and more permanent structures. In the city, the space is defined mostly by the buildings, the traffic lights, the parking lots, and city parks. They define where people are allowed to go, lead them to where they should go, and even provides protection in many ways for humans (who are animals too, remember). So whether you are in the city of nature, the context, space, or infrastructure plays a big part in the flow of energy. Also, there is continual destruction and renewal in these structures. For example, a group of trees may burn down or die of disease, just like a building may be destroyed or new ones built. This I guess would refer to the transformation of energies described in the blog prompt.

So, I really see do many similarities in the energies described by Goldsworthy about nature and the energies I experience in the city. Some may say that the city is unnatural, and sucks life out of you, but I think that that ebb and tide of the city really energizes me, and influences my own daily patterns and energy levels.

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