Contemplations of a Complex Universe

Response to Goal #3 Presentation

Mon, 05 May 2008 10:15:47 -0600

Alyssa and Heidi focused on Goal #3 Promote Gender Equality and Women Empowerment and how it applied to the Central African Republic. I thought it was interesting how they mentioned the national anthem (I think that’s what it was) and how it mentioned numerous times the words “dignity” and “unity” and yet there was so much gender inequality throughout the country. This shows that the country is probably very unaware of their problem, and if they become aware, will probably be very willing to implement suggested proposals to help.

They then went to the source of the issue, which they felt was a lack of education for women. I really liked this approach (maybe because it is so similar to what we did and it seemed to work well) because it is practically impossible to try to work on every possible solution to the problem. It is way more efficient to focus on the core issues, as the other ones should then fall into place, or at least be made easier. You have to start somewhere, so it makes sense to start at the source of the problem.

They then mentioned the huge amount of projects right now that are being implemented in the Central African Republic, yet only a few (3) were working with women in the Central African Republic. (I must have forgotten to write this down or maybe they didn’t talk much about it, but I feel like they could have gone into more detail about these three organizations, or looked at what other countries have been doing, so we could see where their project proposal stemmed from. That’s pretty much the only thing I would have changed though. The rest of it was great!)

Then they moved into their proposal: Project UNITY! I love how they gave it a name, although it became a little confusing at times as to whether this was a proposal or a precedent. What I liked about their proposal was how in depth it was. Unlike most of the other presentations which covered at a surface level possibilities for a proposal, they went down to every last detail of how many books were being used and how many huts were being turned into schools during the day, and for how long they were going to have school. (And I didn’t quite catch where they got these numbers from. Maybe they came from a former project… But if this wasn’t explained, that could be a possible addition to the presentation. Sorry, I must have spaced out.) I thought it was a good idea to get the mothers involved as schoolteachers and have the current teachers be in charge of training them. Not only does it work towards the school’s benefit (as they don’t have to pay for more teachers) but it also works towards the mothers’ benefit (as they are getting a better education for their children and getting and education themselves). It also breaks up the schools and their books more efficiently, so there are less children to a book. I liked the various images and graphics in their presentation (and how they no longer used clip art but rather digital images of a hut). This really helped me to understand how their proposal was being implemented and the various details of the proposal.

Overall, I though they did a splendid job at looking into the problem at hand and seeing how Goal 3 could best be achieved in Central African Republic. Good job!

Technology. A blessing? or A curse?

Mon, 05 May 2008 02:06:18 -0600

“Every technology is both a burden and a blessing: not either-or, but this-and-that.” – Neil Postman

I could quit right here and leave it up to this quote to tell you how I feel about technology and its effect on architecture. However, as a part of this assignment, I am required to go more in depth on the issue.

Technology automatically has both a positive and a negative impact. You cannot determine ahead of time what consequences will come of a certain technology. As Postman describes, “Unforeseen consequences stand in the way of all those who think they see clearly the direction in which a new technology will take us.” If there is a possibility for a positive effect, you have to plan for the possibility of a negative one as well. And you cannot control what happens to a certain technology. You cannot limit the consequences to merely the positive ones. Technology, once developed, is laid out on the line for anyone willing to mess with it, their intentions may be good or evil. (All these characteristics of technology can be applied to anything, including architecture.)

Technology has influenced architecture for the better and the worse. With one comes the other. In our guest lecture “Architecture through the cybernetic looking glass”, both the ramifications AND tensions were discussed after each effect of technology was introduced and explained. So here is a brief overview on ‘pluses’ and ‘minuses’ of technology in architecture.

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Technology has countless benefits. It has helped us develop more efficient ways of living (through green technology, such as solar panels, skyscrapers, etc.). It has helped us develop more efficient processes in development (robots, molds, 3D printers). It has helped create aesthetically pleasing structures (such as those by Frank Gehry designed on a computer). It has helped us overcome the impossible (through virtual reality). Just think of all the things we can do architecturally as a result of technology. If ‘technology’ had not come around, we might be stuck in log cabins, shooting animals with a bow-and-arrow and roasting them for dinner over a wood-burning stove. Think of how far we’ve come and how much of a blessing that is. It has made life so much more convenient and COMFORTABLE. No longer are we just surviving, but we are living comfortable lives as well.

Image from flickr

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But along with those benefits, there have been countless curses as a result of technology. Although virtual technology might allow one to stretch their imagination and go beyond what is physically possible, I think it is a bad idea to look to these sorts of ‘thrills’ over the physical. The physical is real. There is something about the ‘real’ that beats the virtual any day. There’s something about being able to touch, to use all five senses to interact with the environment. In the virtual, you do not get that…at least not completely. If we begin to rely on the fake, I believe there are some detrimental implications involved. We will realize that we are living in a fake world with fake aspirations. And this could cause the collapse of all society as a result of depression (this may be an extreme). There are also areas where we have gotten carried away by our new ‘superpowers’ and keep focusing on the positive areas without even considering the damage being done. For example, looking at the movie about the industrial landscape (I can’t remember what it was called), that was a clear example of the blindness of an economy to the horribleness of their actions. They are so caught up in making a profit, looking for the easiest way to make money, when at the same time, they are causing the environment’s death, or even their own. Although the photographer made these landscapes look beautiful, it was kind of ironic because in reality, they are completely disgusting. It is sad to think that people are suffering from the effects of technology (the toxic chemicals from plastics and microchips in LCD screens) because they are stuck with the leftovers, the waste products of technology.

image from flickr

Are the benefits of technology worth the damage? Is it worth introducing to the world of architecture, or are the curses greater than the blessings?

I would argue yes. But then again, I’m living in a country where technology is glorified as a comfort. I’m not living in a country affected by the extreme misuse of technology. So who am I to decide?

MNIC - Week 10, May 2

Sat, 03 May 2008 00:18:42 -0600

I have a lot of stories from today. And they start from the time I got off the bus to walk the ten minute distance to the school. It was raining today and windy too! And to add to the excitement, my umbrella is a piece of junk. About a week ago, the handle broke off, and one of the metal braces broke. On top of that, the actual umbrella is so wobbly on the pole that it is hard to have any control over where it goes. Anyway, so when I was walking to the school, I was walking into the wind, and the umbrella did not stop the rain from getting onto my legs. When I finally got to the school, the whole front of my jeans were SOAKED! It looked and felt like I had jumped into a pool! But it actually gave me a conversation starter when we were waiting in the hall for class to start. I feel like I'm starting to get to know the girls a little more so it's fun to have a normal, not math related, conversation. I also tried to make normal conversation with another girl and commented on her ring. She then told me the story behind it how she lived in Nashville, Tennessee last year and her cousin/friend she was staying with gave it to her to help her remember her. Then I told her I was going to Nashville in a couple weeks, and she told me how beautiful it is. (It probably sounds funny that I'm describing this in here as being exciting, but I don't get to talk a whole lot to the students about their personal lives because I'm helping them so much of the time on their math homework. So it's just fun when it does occasionally happen.) Anyways, I was once again unable to get to everyone, but I feel like I am getting a lot more calm when overwhelmed by the people who need my help.
The second class, Hassan handed me the worksheet and told me to teach the class. All of a sudden I got really nervous because I looked at the worksheet and couldn't quite remember how to do it. (It did finally come back to me, but I definitely didn't feel adequate to be teaching a whole class). But it went okay. I messed up once but the class pointed it out to me. Hassan said he was sick so couldn't talk a lot, explaining why I had to teach the class. Then, he left the room and left me with all the students, who were kind of rowdy. I sure if they were really understanding what I was trying to teach them, but when I asked wasn't if they had any questions, none of them spoke up. In the end, it is kind of fun to be able to look back and say that I have taught math at an ESL high school! It definitely got me out of my comfort zone!

MNIC - Week 9, April 25

Sat, 03 May 2008 00:12:32 -0600

I had a good time this week trying to help the students. Nothing extreme happened and I think I did better at trying to help more people. I feel like I'm really starting to get to know the students. I feel more comfortable talking to them and they feel more comfortable talking to me. They even say "hi" and smile at me in the hall. One guy always calls to me "hey sister!" when he sees me, and some of them even remember my name. Most call me "teacher". I feel really bad because I cant remember any of their names. I know a few of them have told me, but they are so different than ones I am used to that its hard to remember. But I remember their faces. Very clearly. Each one has a uniquely beautiful face, different from the others, and I can remember that. (to be continued)

MNIC - Week 8, April 18

Fri, 02 May 2008 23:54:34 -0600

Two things happened today that I want to be sure to mention.
I always have a hard time helping everybody that wants my help. As I'm helping one person, another will say "teacher, come help me!" and I'll have to tell them "one second". But I feel bad if it ends up taking longer than a couple minutes or if the bell rings at the end of class and I haven't even gotten to them. Anyway, today while I was helping one girl, another girl asked me to help her and I told her as soon as I was done with the one, I would help the other. They started bickering back and forth in Somali. I obviously couldn't understand them, but I knew they were probably arguing about who was going to get my help. Hassan, the teacher, all of a sudden said to them "speak in English so Michelle can understand" and he went on to explain to me that they were fighting over me. I thought that was kind of fun to think about. It made me realize how much my help is appreciated among them.
In the second class, I ran into a dilemma. I had been working through a problem with one of the students and then Hassan went through it with the class on the board. However, he did it wrong. He made two big mistakes. First of all, he misplaced the i for a 1 and so his answer turned out completely different than mine. When he asked me if I got the same answer, I had to say no and told him that the 1 was actually an i. But when he redid it, he made a mistake in a different area. So when he asked me a second time if that was what I got, I again had to say no. I wasn't about to lie about that sort of thing. I felt really weird as a volunteer correcting the teacher and felt it wasn't my place to do so. However, I didn't feel it was right to let him continue in the future to teach his class the wrong way of doing a math problem. The problem is too complex to write out and explain here, but it was a basic algebraic formula and I knew that what he did was wrong. After class, I tried to point out the way I did it, but he "corrected" me showing me why he had to do it the way he did. I felt like it just made the whole situation awkward and didn't want to make a huge deal of it so I let it go. I hope I dealt with it okay. Maybe I should have tried to show him the way I did it. But on the other hand, I was just a volunteer and he was the teacher. I did not want to make him feel inferior. It's hard to know what to do in that sort of situation.

Reading 19: Technopoly

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:08:42 -0600

Keywords
1. Ecological: The reading shows both the positive and negative aspects of technology. Technology is both a “burden and a blessing” (5). It also describes the effects of technology as “ecological” because it doesn’t just put something into the world or take something out of it. “One significant change generates total change” (18). The change of creating technology creates changes in many different aspects of life. For example, when the microwave was created, it did not just affect cooking, it also affected the time families spent together. The reading gives the example of the TV creating change in all of America: in schools, churches, homes, industries, etc. Because of this, it is practically impossible to consider all consequences when a technology is first invented.
2. Taxonomy: Postman describes the taxonomy of culture having three categories including tool-using cultures, technocracies, and technopolies. He explains how every culture used to be tool-using, but gradually transformed into technocracies. In tool-using cultures, the culture’s beliefs directed what tools were built and how they were used. In technocracies, it was just the opposite. He didn’t get into the technopolies in chapter two, but I’m assuming it is just when a culture is completely controlled by technology, so much so that the culture loses its authenticity.
Discussion Questions
1. Do you tend to take the stance of a Thamus, as skeptic of technology, or do you find yourself like a Theuth, viewing it as a positive influence on our lives?
2. What can we do, as architects, to make sure that we don’t become controlled by technology and let it influence us in a bad way?

MNIC - Week 7, April 11

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:04:35 -0600

Tutoring this week was great! I found myself at one point really appreciating what a great opportunity it is to be exposed to such a different community! Both classes seem to just soak up my help. The first class went by extremely fast! I helped two girls for quite a while and then realized I should probably move around to the others in the class (it was all girls). I walked to another "group" of girls and helped them for a bit. It seemed that they are really starting to understand what they are doing. And it makes me feel good that maybe some of what I have helped them with has actually helped them! Before the second class started, I had the chance to talk to one of the guys for a while. He asked me if I was still going to 'university' and I said yes, and talked to him a bit about my experience at the U of M. Then, I returned his questions for me and asked him when he would be graduating from high school, and he said this year. I asked him what he was doing next year and he said he was going to college, but didn't know where yet. But he did know he was going to study science. I think that is great that these students, although they are a little at a disadvantage because English is their second language, still have high aspirations and are given a chance/place where they can go to high school even at an older age, and get the opportunity to eventually go to college. One of the guys greeted me on his way in with his usual "Hello sister!" which always makes me feel included despite my differences. I really enjoyed my time with this class and felt I was able to communicate clearly with most of them and able to help most of them. One guy, who I'd stereotyped as more of a trouble-maker and never really helped prior to yesterday, asked for my help on one problem. It surprised me, when I just barely even helped him and he seemed to understand right away! He was actually really good at math! (I guess you can't be too quick to judge a person by his outward appearance or even their outward behavior!). When I left the classroom, everybody seemed very appreciative and kept saying thanks!

A Beginning...

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:58:33 -0600

All of these are possible title pages for my Millennium Development project. Throughout all these title pages, I kept mainly clean-cut lines and bold print. As we talked about in our discussion group, the sans serif text is best for the titles, so I used only sans serif text. Also, I tried to take some of the examples I had found in my prior blog and apply them to my own designs, such as my use of clean-cut lines, white space between photos, and black-and-white photos combined with colored photos.

MNIC - Week 6, March 28

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:27:43 -0600

Today was overall really fun. I enjoy this work a lot and love the students I work with! When I got there today, the halls seemed unusually quiet. I know most days they have prayer time until 1:50, but I saw a note on some other teacher's white board that prayer was until 2:00 today. So, I had to wait ten minutes. But at 2:00 there still wasn't anybody there. I think we ended up starting at 2:10. I always feel somewhat intimidated before class starts, but it always ends up turning out okay. Today, quite a few of the students who came in to the first class gave me a friendly hi! how are you? which was nice. It makes me feel welcomed that they remember me. (even though I haven't been there the past two weeks cause of spring break). Anyways, it was fun to help them today, and I think because I wasn't so tired that I had more energy to work through the problems with them. Sometimes I feel like my advice doesn't go through to them, and that they don't understand me, but today I felt like they were really understanding a lot. And they always welcome my help which makes things a lot easier. The second class was equally good. I got to talk with one of the guys before hand, which I always enjoy. Its really neat to hear about their personal background. He said he came to America two years ago and moved around a little bit. This is his third location in the US that he's lived. He is now living with his mother and brother, and hopes to stay in this location for good. At the beginning of this class, Hassan (the teacher) came up to me and handed me the white board marker and asked me to go through the problems with the class... (He'd done this on a couple occasions last semester, asking me to teach the class while he substituted in the class next door) But today he stayed in the class for mostly the whole time, just sitting down and watching. Maybe he just needed a break :) Anyways, I went through problems on the board with the class for the whole period. At first I was nervous because I hadn't seen what they were working on today. (It's always interesting when I find out what they are learning about because the first few problems I look at I have to refresh my memory... Luckily the memories came quickly today) It was fun to be able to go through problems on the board. Normally, the students have the pencil in their hand and I have to explain through words what they need to be doing. Instead, I was writing, so it seemed easier to explain the problems.

MNIC - Week 5, March 7

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:21:18 -0600

Not a whole lot of excitement happened... Just the usual hard work of trying to understand what the students are saying and trying to help them understand what I'm saying about math... it gets kind of frustrating sometimes because I feel like I am explaining the math problem to the best of my ability but it doesn't process in their minds. (I am not trying to belittle their potential abilities, just trying to emphasize the difficulties in communication.) The first class is especially difficult, at least moreso than the second. They are at a lower level, doing basic math skills, yet they can't seem to wrap their minds around the simplest concepts. Sometimes I wonder if they are even trying... However, in a way, this almost adds to the excitement when they do come to understand something. I love when this happens, because I feel like my work there means something and I'm actually able to help them. The second class is really fun to work with because they really seem to understand what they are doing. They seem to really enjoy math... these two things could be in direct relationship with each other though. I unfortunately had to leave early from this class because I had a meeting to get to... oh well. Although at times this work can be tiring, I think I'm not emphasizing enough the fun that it has been. Despite the frustrations, I really enjoy interacting with a different culture and love being able to use my abilities to help others.

Readings 16, 17, and 18

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 22:21:13 -0600

Reading #16: Biomimicry: “How Will We Make Things?” by Janine Benyus
Keywords
1. Mimic. That’s the whole point of biomimicry: to mimic nature’s genius character, to imitate a quality down to the littlest detail because nature knows best. The reading gives the example of the adhesive that a mollusk uses to stick to objects under water. This adhesive is greater than any that man has been able to create. It uses fewer steps (to actually become an adhesive) and is more successful. It can even work under water! For this reason, biomimics are studying in great detail the mollusk’s adhesive to try to mimic it in their work.
2.Process. I thought it was really interesting how Janine Benyus explained how biomimics are not so interested in trying to imitate certain products of nature, but rather the process through which nature makes these products. “What we really want to do is imitate the manufacturing process, that is, how organisms manage to grow” (100). This makes sense though, because imitating the process is much more significant, a much greater feat, than just imitating natures products. If you can imitate the process, than you will know for sure that your product will turn out to be the same. This is the most difficult challenge: imitating the process.
Discussion Questions:
1. Why do you think we did not use biomimicry in earlier designs/architecture? Or is there evidence that we did?
2. Give an example of another process in nature (not given in the reading or the lecture) that could be used in architecture/design.

Reading #17: Natures Numbers: “The Natural Order” by Ian Stewart
Keywords:
1. Patterns. There are patterns all over in nature. They govern our universe. They are found in living and non-living things, such as seashells, flowers, and sand dunes. The two types include fractals and chaos. (Fractals are geometric repetition, and chaos is the “apparent randomness whose origins are entirely deterministic” (3).) There are numeric patterns, geometric patterns, patterns of form, patterns of movement, etc. All patterns can be observed mathematically and can help to give “a deeper vision of the universe in which we live, and of our own place in it” (11).
2. Mathematics. Patterns are an extremely intriguing part of our universe, but they are “not just there to be admired, they are vital clues to the rules that govern natural processes” (1) They require mathematics to study them in their complexities and to figure out the WHY and HOW; the answer to why they are formed and how they are formed; the reasons behind it all. Mathematics is used to “organize and systemize our ideas about patterns”, to come up with the rules that direct the patterns (1).
Discussion Questions:
1. How can understanding these patterns give us a greater understanding of our world? How can this understanding help ultimately us in designing new buildings in architecture?
2. How can we continue to further our understanding of natures many patterns? Will there ever come to be a point where we have discovered all of them?

Reading #18: The World Treasury of Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics: “Mathematics and Creativity” by Alfred Adler
Keywords:
1. Skepticism. I was really surprised to hear that skepticism is a major part of mathematics. However, the reading really convinced me that this is true. Because many things that seem to be true at first instinct end up ultimately false, mathematicians have learned to not believe anything unless it has been proven over and over again to be true. “The mathematician learns early to accept no fact, to believe no statement, however apparently reasonable or obvious or trivial, until it has been proved, rigorously and totally, by a series of steps proceeding from universally accepted first principles” (439). They have learned to become skeptics because it is the only way that they can do their work accurately without allowing the occurrence of a major mistake. The reading gave many examples of occurrences where something that seems obviously true has in the end been proven false, and therefore emphasizing the importance of statements and ‘facts’ to be tested repeatedly before believed to be true.
2. Exploration. “The essential feature of mathematical creativity is the exploration, under the pressure of powerful implosive forces, of difficult problems for whose validity and importance the explorer is eventually held accountable by reality” (445). Exploration is one of the most important factors of mathematical creativity. It is vital that mathematicians explore all their options and look for the most difficult problems and solve them, rather than going for the easiest ones. These difficult problems have a more valuable solution. The more mathematicians explore and the more work they put into their exploration, the greater their results will be.
Discussion Questions:
1. How can mathematics be creative? Give examples.
2. Alfred Adler gives many stereotypical examples of what mathematicians can and cannot do when it comes to certain jobs/disciplines. Is this right of him to categorize all mathematicians into these stereotypes? Do you believe his assumptions are accurate?

Reading #11

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:22:35 -0600

Reading #11: The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems by Fritjof Capra
Keywords:
1. Ecology. Ecology looks at the whole, not just its parts. The reading refers a lot to “deep ecology” which refers to the interconnectedness of all life-forms/organisms. It continually describes the importance of not just breaking down an organism (or whatever you are studying) to analyze its parts individually, but rather study it as a whole and look at the patterns/organization of the individual parts. Look at how they all relate/work together as a whole.
2. Hierarchy. One of the parts of this reading that surprised me was the fact that the author did not agree with the thinking that there is a hierarchy of living organisms. I guess because we just learned about this hierarchical organization in class, and I have always assumed it was true, I was surprised to hear the author disagree. The author explains that many people, such as Woodger, viewed living organisms as organized in a hierarchy. (Looking at the organization of organisms is ecological thinking/systemic thinking). However, he goes on to explain that he disagrees and sees them organized instead in a network pattern: networks within networks. I don’t know if I quite agree with his thinking, although I sort of see where he is coming from. I wish he would explain more though because it very much contradicts what I have been brought up thinking.
Discussion Questions:
1. How can this new understanding of life, this new paradigm (Deep ecology), give us a better understanding of architecture?
2. Do you agree with Capra’s network pattern of organisms? Or do you view them in a hierarchical organization?
3. Do you believe it is necessary to have an ecological worldview in order to truly understand organisms? Explain your reasoning.

Reading #14

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:16:35 -0600

Reading #14: Nature and the Idea of a Man-Made World, By Norman Crowe: “Geometry and the Primacy of Dwelling”
Keywords:
1. Paradigm: Crowe uses this term throughout the whole chapter. He continually describes various paradigms for today’s architecture. “Architecture and settlements served as paradigms for more structured ways of thinking, just as the natural enviroment had sered as the paradigm for the creation of the man-made in the first place.” Just as the primitive man was influenced in his architecture by nature and the way it interacted with it, their structures are precedents for architectural structures built after them. We continually see history reflected in buildings of today and therefore, nature as well.
There is also the paradigm of the universe as a whole for the built environment. In the past, and probably still today, people have constructed their houses to somehow imitate the creation of the universe in their creation of a house/building/dwelling.
2. Evolution: There is an evolutionary aspect of architecture in that we continually build off of what has been built prior. The first man had no buildings to base their structures off of. Instead they built off of nature’s architecture, so to speak. From then on, people continually modified these structures, molding them to better fit their needs as technology developed and their understanding of their surroundings/materials developed.

Discussion Questions:
1. How does the architecture in your surrounding environment effect you/your outlook on life? How does it affect your culture as a whole?
2. How can we, as future architects, look at past dwellings and learn from them and allow them to affect the way we design? To what extent should we let them influence us? Where should our own imagination come into play?

design... design... and more design...

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:30:12 -0600

I have searched for hours upon hours (well.. maybe not that extreme) trying to find designs that intrigue me to use for my project layout. Here is what I have come across:

I really liked the clean cut lines, the bold geometric shapes, and the large amount of white space on this website. I also really liked the font. It helped me to realize that I don't necessarily have to use Helvetica or Arial and it can still look very nice but have a more unique twist. I think I will also use the more clean, white-spaced look in my project presentation. I also really like the use of pictures when they are small and close together but not quite touching :)

Squint hard... I have always liked the use of bold large capital letters on top of pictures or faint bold large capital letters that somewhat blend in with the background (by blending, I mean they are about the same color). I think I will possibly use this technique in the header of my project presentation.

I really like the use of the squiggly line design in the background. If I found a program that could allow me to do that, I would love to include something simple, yet so lovely, on in the background of my presentation.

I have always loved using the watermarked picture as a background. I am not quite sure if I want to do this just because it takes up all the white space. However, to do this on just one or two of the pages wouldn't be so bad. Also, when I noticed the cut-out squares and how they were reproduced on the far right page in color, I got really excited. I love this technique... It would be fun if I could somehow incorporate this.

I love the bold orange color on the left pages... Its really simple/plain but really stands out and can be a nice way to break up a double-paged layout. And again, I love the page where the orange square is cut out and replaced right next to it. I also like the one picture in the lower left that has part of the floor separated from the rest of the picture.

Here is another example of multiple smaller squares being separated by a thin white space... I LoVE the clean cut lines that this gives! Beautiful gridded pattern!

Here is a beautifully simple layout for a webpage... And it can also be applied to any portfolio. I will definitely keep the simple factor in mind cause it seems like this is something that really intrigues me.

Through looking at all of these, I have realized that there are an infinite amount of ways to design something... But it doesn't mean that they are all appealing to the eye. I found a lot that I liked, but there were quite a few that didn't appeal to me at all. For this reason, I want to pay particular attention to the detail of my portfolio/presentation of my project because it does make an impact on the viewer. Most of the sites that I did not find appealing at first glance, I just skipped right over. First impressions can determine whether or not somebody would even consider looking at a portfolio.

That's all for now, folks.

However, I would like to conclude by saying that this really opened my eyes to the wonderful world of Design. I have confirmed my decision to minor in design! Yay!

Reading #15

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:05:11 -0600

Reading #15: Search for Form, By Eliel Saarinen
Keywords:
1. Sensitivity. Saarinen explains that “the essential thing in the search for form” is increasing sensitiveness to these mysteries by means of intuition, instinct, and imagination. We must be sensitive/more aware of the deeper meaning to anything we are trying to find form in, rather than just looking at the scientific facts. In order to understand anything clearly, we must get beyond the obvious physical aspects of it. We must look into its “soul”. Sensitiveness, in this instance, is a delicate term describing the way in which we should be observing/learning about an object/phenomena/whatever it is you are trying to understand.
2. Organic order. (Sorry this is two words, but it is a term that I found important to the article as a whole.) It is the last term in the chapter; it sums it all up. Organic order is “the fundamental principle of architecture in all of creation.” It consists of two other orders: expressive and correlative. It consists of that which expresses what is behind the form and that which relates all pieces of the puzzle into a whole, making it very captivating. Both of these combined make up organic order which, when successfully in order, creates “art of nature”.
Discussion Questions:
1. Given Saarinen’s definitions of false form and true form, describe an example of a true form in your everyday life.
2. Despite the fact that our world today is in a self-conscious stage of art-development, what stage of consciousness would you say that you are in? Explain.