Sketches and Schemes

Working with Sustainability and the Urban Poor

Thu, 01 May 2008 16:12:37 +0000

It seems that there has been a lot of groups presenting on goal number seven, but I think that sustainability is a growing area of interest among a lot of designers. This group in particular focused on the Shelter Association in India that works on water sanitation in urban slums. The group started their presentation with a YouTube video. The video explained the slum sanitation improvement and involving the communities in the project. The communities were responsible for keeping the project going. After the video we were presented with information about the history of slums in India. The group explained that water sanitation is an important issue because women and children before the project had trouble going to the bathroom during the day for fear of being attacked by men. The group focused on the architect Pratima Joshi. She founded the Shelter Association, and she works educating the community and designing housing for the urban poor.

This topic was interesting to me because after college I would like the work in India doing something along these lines. In Bombay, the largest slum in India, there are 6.5 million people which is about the size of New York City. Besides focusing on Pratima Joshi, the group discussed other people designing for sustainability such as James Garthe. James Garthe designed a way to use plastic as fuel in replace of coal. This is a great technology for India because there is a lot of waste.

Evaluating Another Group

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 02:45:04 +0000

One group in my section focused on Goal 7 of encouraging sustainability. They focused on the broad scheme that the issue of sustainability includes. Areas they focused on included global warming, educating children in sustainability, sustainable living, voluntary simplicity, and looking at your roots and landscape. I enjoyed the aspect of looking into where one lives and working with the water and soil in that personal area. Also, one can look into how they can use their own resources sustainably. Another area of interest to me that was brought up was sustainable living, particularily in a dorm room. I liked how the group touched on an area that the audience could relate to.

The group's display of their project was a presentation I hadn't thought of. They displayed their project in a web showing the idea of sustainability spanning out into different areas. I liked this outlook on the issue. The only problem with the web was that it was difficult to see the pictures on each sheet from far away. So, the entire time was spent listening to the group members speak without any visual aids.

A Possible Beginning

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:38:15 +0000

Conveying Ideas

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:37:19 +0000

I know you’re trying to save us time between our projects, readings, and other work, which I appreciate, but I prefer the thought inducing blog prompts we had before. I like having assignments where there are very little boundaries. It lets me really think because I have no real starting place given to me. Maybe I just feel this way because I’ve become accustomed to this style of assignments for this class. Anyways…

Well there is no way I’m making a website. It took me several weeks to figure out how to change the design of my blogs and a couple more to figure out how to add multiple pictures. So, I am technologically challenged. Yeah, it’s just a lame excuse, but I hate reading directions and computer stuff is not something I can just figure out on my own.

Another possible idea. Writing a detailed, formal essay probably would not bring the grade I hope for. I’m a designer, not an English major. I have issues with writing papers such as, never being able to get my exact point across in words.

After all of this talk about what presentation styles I’m not going to do, I conclude that I should do a portfolio based presentation. I think a portfolio is a clean, organized way to portray my group’s research. I would place some text and pictures on each page. I don’t like the idea of all text on one and all the pictures on the other. It makes the text very discouraging.

ergh.. see computer issues.. how to get the picture bigger

It's important to have clear pictures in a portfolio.

P.S. I can’t find as good of examples of portfolios as he showed in class on the web. Would it be possible to bring some to section to look at?

La Ville

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:15:36 +0000

I grew up in small town Wisconsin where the tallest buildings are three stories tall. My mom and I used to drive a half hour to her work and my daycare which was in La Crosse, WI. We had our regular route, but sometimes my mom would take a different route down Cass Street. I loved Cass Street because it was lined with what I called castles. Big, beautiful Victorian style homes with balconies and peaks and vines growing up the sides. Even when I got to high school and was too cool for castles, driving down Cass Street was my favorite thing to do in La Crosse. This was my first love of architecture.

Downtowns of cities have always amazed me. I love arriving to a city and gaping out my window at the huge skyscrapers and buildings. Looking is one thing, but walking through them inspires me. Walking through downtown surrounded by traffic, buses, people, and height. I think I love these aspects because I have always been in obsessed with the city life. I love the movement and the interaction with culture that comes along with a city. Living in Galesville (yes I know you’ve never heard of it) there isn’t a lot of movement and there is definitely a small amount of culture. The most movement you see is semis driving down the main highway that runs through the town. Anyways, enough ranting about my small town life. It has made me want to learn more about the things I didn’t grow up with. Cities are always growing and changing, and the way they adapt to change inspires me.

I’m not saying that the only inspiration I have is from manmade objects. I mean who doesn’t find beauty in the Rocky Mountains strength or the power of a waterfall. My question is how can building show this same natural strength and power? I want to learn how to incorporate the natural wonders into the wonders I see in downtown and on Cass Street.

My first sense of awe was as a child riding in the back of my mom’s car driving down Cass Street. My current sense of awe is walking through downtown Minneapolis or New York City. The traditional and the modern.

My Version of an Education Journey

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 03:06:46 +0000

So I’m assuming this question is really asking if I didn’t have to go through ‘architecture school,’ but I still got a degree in architecture, how would I go about it.

The one goal in my life is to travel. I want to see things and places more than I want a college degree, it is very close behind though. So if I could do both, my life would be perfect. Of coarse, this lifestyle would not have costs, and I could just go about my days without the worry of money.

First Stop: Europe. Definitely. I would fly into Paris, France, my dream destination. Spend however long I need exploring, drawing, and experiencing the history and style of the city. I would continue this trend across Europe, visiting major cities and small villages. I’m not sure what my next destination after Paris would be, but my Europe stay includes: Spain, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, England, Germany, Greece (need I explain), Switzerland, and Italy, to name a couple (it’s not like I’ve thought about this or anything). When I say I’m spending my time exploring and experiencing, I mean doing things such as laying on the floor of the Sistine Chapel just taking it all in.

Second Stop: After all this freedom and exploration, I would spend a month following around a famous architect, maybe Frank Gehry, although he’s not my favorite just the first one I thought of right now. I could see how they work and how they’re inspired. One of the best ways to learn is to learn from someone who is living what you’re learning.

Third Stop: Take my new found inspirations and work for something along the lines of Architecture for Humanity. The comment in lecture about people living in refugee camps for 15 years really stuck with me, and I feel like that is the help I to do. “Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope.�? I want to help put that hope back by doing something I know.

Fourth Stop: South America! Hey, I’m graduating now, I need to party.

Drop Bread, Not Bombs

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:20:28 +0000

Finding peace in the world and within myself is a big part of my life. I believe that one way to stop warfare is to stop poverty and hunger. When people are starving, they listen to dictators trying to take control of their country. Hitler took control of Germany during a terrible inflation when people were hungry and poor. It is never a bad idea to provide people with food. When people aren’t struggling to survive, economies can grow and flourish.

This is the research topic that is most important to me. Yes, it is one of the hardest to solve, but it is the one that needs to be accomplished first. People can only go so long without food. I know this sounds cliché and corny, but I feel guilty a lot of the time for having so much when others have nothing. It’s so easy to get wrapped into a daily life and forget about the rest of the world outside Minneapolis. It is comfortable to just forget about problems that aren’t being solved.
Music can motivate me to work for change unlike anything else. Even if I can’t understand the words (Staralfur) or the lyrics have nothing to with peace (Let Down). Music is the universial language and can speak to many different people in many different ways. “Where’s the Love�? brings forth all kinds of issues and asks why is there so much hate in our world.
“Let Down�? by Radiohead
“Staralfur�? by Sigur Ros
“Give Peace a Chance�? by John Lennon
“Where’s the Love�? by The Black Eyed Peas

There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they grow up in peace.

-- Kofi Annan
Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace.

-- Buddha (560-483 B.C.)
There was never a good war or a bad peace.

-- Ben Franklin (1706-1790)

So basically, I think a lot of the world’s hunger and poverty has been caused by warfare. One way to “eradicate�? this poverty is to help stop the warfare. Stop war. Another huge, impossible goal, but I like to be optimistic.
P.S. I’m not good with computers or websites, so I couldn’t figure out how to insert songs into my blog to give you a listen. But I highly recommend downloading the songs mentioned in the blog.

Food Design

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 04:28:30 +0000

I live in Frontier Hall. Yes, this makes me a freshman, and yes, this means every day I enjoy the less than fabulous UDS food. The Superblock is home to two dining halls. Pioneer is known to have the better food of the two, but Centennial has late night food, which includes Taco Tuesdays. College kids, endless supply of tacos, brilliant. There is however a slight annoyance among the religious taco Tuesday followers. You first choose your outer: soft, hard, chip, and receive your meat. The next stop is the topping counter. Here we have cheese, salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, and black olives. Above the topping there is an angled glass roof. The fluorescent light stationed above that causes a horrible glare on the glass making it almost impossible to see what you’re trying to get. I understand that it could potentially protect the food from germs, but the salad bar is completely exposed all the time. This glass covering can and should be removed. I know this is an odd complaint, but I hear it from almost anyone I’m with on taco nights.
On regular days, Pioneer is claimed to have the best food of the Superblock. When it’s freezing cold outside, Frontier residents can go down to the first floor and take the tunnel to the basement of Pioneer. The dining hall is also located in the basement. Instead of being able to just slide on in, Frontier residents have to go up a stairway (you can see the dining hall through the bars of this stairway) and then down another to get the card swiped. The dining hall is two separate rooms. The first room you enter always contains cereal, French fries, and food made on the grill. The second room has a salad bar, pasta, sandwich line, pizza, and an ice cream machine. The types of these foods change every meal. If you first look to see what’s on the grill line then walk over through a hallway to the second room to see what is there and decide you want what’s on the grill, then you have to walk back. This process makes the time it takes to eat so much longer. It’s hard to go and get a quick meal in Pioneer because it takes at least five minutes of walking around, deciding where you want to get in line.
One positive thing about Pioneer dining hall is that they have their own mini Subway. No not an actual Subway, but a sandwich assembly line done for you with whatever topping you choose. A negative aspect of this is that there is normally a line, and this line has a tendency to block off the dessert counter. So you have to squeeze around people in order to get your cookie, cake, or ice cream. My idea is, put the sandwich line in the room where the grilled foods are. The sandwich line never changes, so if you don’t know what you want all the options that change are in one room and the sandwich line that never changes is in another. Well it would be most beneficial if all the food was in one room, but I’m working with what we have. I don’t expect the university to build a whole new dining hall. Cut down my tuition bills instead.

Energy Flow

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:16:15 +0000

When I considered city, my main focus was on Minneapolis, because it is where I live and you are more knowledgeable about the things around you. In the early morning hours, the highways are packed with cars moving into the city. The energy flows in. All day the factories run, the offices are bustling, and the buses are frequent. Energy is being used and produced. Then sometime around five o’clock the highways are packed again. There is a flow of energy out of the city.
Andy Goldsworthy’s art pieces changed naturally with the flow of the river or the burst of the wind. The art changed with different forms of nature’s energy. Our city changes with the flow of people in and out of the city. Our city is designed that there will be a flow of energy into the city each morning, and a flow of energy out of the city each night. Minneapolis doesn’t have room for all the people that come into it every day, to stay there at night. Our cities, today, are designed for this movement of people and energy in and out of the city.