Art, Architecture, and Obama

Hello,
Not too much has changed in what I'm doing at my volunteer site since my last post. I'm still helping people with math, they are still learning, and I work with a different set of people each time. However, after what could have been my last volunteer experience at Volunteers of America, I am a bit sad that it is over. I really enjoyed volunteering there this semester, and the people there were so nice and interesting to work with. I learned a lot through the experience, and I think I will actually miss them. Although I am extremely busy until the end of May, I'm considering volunteering there next year at school. I've always thought it was important to find a balance between everything in order to have a successful year, and I think volunteering should stay in that balance. Volunteering provides an additional source of learning and personal understanding, and it feels good to help other people become educated-which is something I put great value on. Also, being able to tell people that I have been volunteering is important to me-and maybe they will be more inclined to do so themselves. But also, it is important because it is one way I can live the way I want to live, the way I think people should live. I think volunteering is important, and doing good things should never go out of style-especially in a world dominated by consumerism and money.

“Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.” – Minor Myers Jr.

Posted by Broc Blegen at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the Postman reading, he addressed many of the negative side effects of technology. Trust me, I agree that technology doesn't always have good impacts on society. However, I would argue that architecture can avoid many of the potential side effects of technology. Technology has always been closely related to architecture, and I believe that this is mostly a good thing for architecture. Technology has allowed us to have modern conveniences, skyscrapers, bridges, and even more energy efficient solutions to design. Also, I think that it is wrong to argue that technology has made us more disconnected to our architecture. If architecture has made us more disconnected, I think the blame should be placed on the architects-or the education system not embracing technology and learning how to INTEGRATE it, rather than let it take over. I think architects can still maintain a great amount of control of their designs through technology. Also, technology allows architects to participate in the design of more buildings. So many of our architecture professors complain that such a tiny percentage of buildings are designed by actual architects-saying that this is a huge problem. I agree that this is a problem, and I believe integrating technology into the design process would be a great way to fix it-because architects will be able to complete many more projects in a given year because technology speeds up the design process significantly. For example, at Charles R. Stinson Architects, a firm I interned at last year, recently integrated new 3-d CAD technology into their firm. Although initially the technology took a while to learn and become proficient at, in time it will allow the firm to work on many more projects. The software also allows them to see their plans in 3-d, and also show these to clients so they can get a clearer picture early in the design process. I think good architects will still be able to maintain enough control on the details of a building, a potential problem mentioned by Newton.

Overall, i think technology has GREAT opportunity for architecture. The key will be to educate architects to use technology responsibly, to integrate it into their practice. Also, technology has to be recognized as a tool, not a cure to all our problems. Also, they need to be aware of when technology can be abused-so they can avoid this.

Is this building not awesome (I think it is a computer rendered image too-it's pretty amazing)

Posted by Broc Blegen at 06:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Goal 1 - Byron and Michelle

First off, very well done-there are many good things to say about your presentation. I thought your images were all great, and were arranged very well. One little detail I thought was really cool were those thin grey bands dividing some of the photos. Also, dividing one image into several with thin white vertical bands in-between was a cool detail too. Your header to all the pages was really cool too, and helped us follow along and see visually how you progressed through the issue. This was also great because we could see when you were wrapping it all up, and see how all the slides worked together. All these small modifications and cool photo arrangements really held my attention and made me pay more attention cause I kept getting pleasantly surprised. Visually, your presentation was very interesting. I think the text was dealt with well, I focused mostly on the pics but I think there was adequate text. One thing though-don’t be afraid to use capital letters. We debated with this in our own presentation, so I understand why you guys chose to use lower case letters in most of the presentation, but I wonder if it is a bit cliche in a presentation.

Your analysis was very strong as well. You guys really emphasized the complexity of the issue in Somalia, and how the many factors are related and important to consider. Our project was also about Somalia, so I really appreciated this careful analysis-Somalia really is in a complicated state right now, and you guys made this clear to the rest of the audience.

Your proposals were well organized too. They weren’t shallow and unrealistic, like many of the others I’ve seen. You guys really seemed to have a thorough understanding of the issues, and through your case studies and proposal you had a very strong presentation. You guys did a good job explaining the many cause and effect relationships that need to be addressed in your issue.

Posted by Broc Blegen at 06:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)