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If I were completely released from the constraints of the architecture school program, it would be really hard to come up artistically for architecture that would still have an impact on our environment. Without the constraints, it takes a lot of creative thinking and new ideas to come up with a design that is “architecturally and artistically.� Constraints really help out to have the focus mainly on what is require and needed, not new creative ideas.
As little children, whether we were boys or girls, we played with LEGOs to build and construct many things. It could have been certain types of buildings that we built ranging from corporate buildings to houses. Why not built an environment out of LEGOs? It could be possible, you think?
Just imagine a new place that is covered in LEGOs, the vehicles are made out of LEGOs, the buildings, and the environments. LEGOs are great to build one’s imagination. There are many possibilities that one person can create and design a whole new architectures.
Here is one possible design that it can be designed without the constraints. It also has the values of space. It gives the illusion to see and think new ideas. Looking at the picture at any given angle, it looks like part of an architect with the same element as any normal building seen around. When creating architects out of LEGOs, it gives one’s the ability of moral sense, ability to observe what is created, and the sense of beauty to admire.

Another design is the cityscape constructed out of LEGOs. It has all the elements of a physical phenomena; things, frameworks, clockworks, and phenomena. In a city, many of the architects can be similar that consists of a tall, rectangular building since a thick, sturdy foundation against the nature. Using LEGOs, it helps to construct new ideas and see what worked out and what did not. It helps to create new originality than a typical structure, which majority people will do when designing due to constraints.
Today, not too many people stop in the cities to look at the architectures, but just keep on walking by. If a person were to see an architect made from LEGOs, hopefully they will appreciate it more.

Posted by ASK at 2:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For my Research Project Millennium Development Goals, I chose achieve universal primary education.

Education is very important in our society and the architecture can make a big difference to influence many children.

Some quotes that influence my values are:

Arthur Koestler: “Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.�

Marian Wright Edelman: “Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.�

Pablo Picasso: “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.�

“True education is concerned not only with practical goals but also with values. Our aims assure of us of our material life, our values make possible our spiritual life.� Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

“Let us guide our students over the road of discipline from materials, through function, to creative work. Let us lead them into the healthy world of primitive building methods, where there was meaning in every stroke of an axe, expression in every bite of chisel.� Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

“Each material has its specific characteristics in which we must understand it if we want to use it. In other words, no design is possible until the materials with which you design are completely understood.� Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

The reason I chose these quotes because they are very inspiring that relates to education and learning. Through hard works and success, it brings out many success and creative works.

There are many great songs out in the world today, but one song that I liked because it is very inspirational. The song I chose is God Bless America by Lee Greenwood. When children are adolescent and attend school, they are taught the Pledge of Allegiance. He talked about the Lakes of Minnesota, hills of Tennessee, plains of Texas, and etcetera, and these are the environments that are in America. As the children learn as they grow, they figured out who they are, as American, and put their knowledge of values into their works of designs. Another song is called Peace like a River by Chris Rice. I relate it that designs can be very peaceful for many people when watching and listening to the river. A river is never a straight line that is perfect, it is made up different patterns and curves that always changes along the way from the start to the end.

Posted by ASK at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

One social design issue here in the Twin Cities is the 35W Bridge. As we know from across the nation, the collapse of the architectural Bridge devastated many individuals and families.
On August 1st, 2007, just after 6:00pm, the bridge collapsed during rush hour. It killed four people, injured more than seventy-nine people and twenty were missing after dozens of vehicles fell into the Mississippi River.
Over the summer, I was in a program called Bridge to Academic for Excellence from June 17th to July 28th, 2007. The program is summer classes for incoming freshmen to get a head start in college and get to know how college life is like. But this is not the part; let’s get back to the topic.
Friends and families of mine knew I was in the program and knew that I stayed in Minneapolis in Centennial dorm. Not many knew that I went home on the 28th and once they found out about the collapse of the bridge, I was swamp with many phone calls asking if I was alright and if I had heard about the tragedy.
Today it is a social design issue because with the bridge all torn up; the major road accesses for many drivers are inaccessible and have to take detours. The government and bridge contractors are trying to figure out how to rebuild a new bridge with a better design so the collapse of the bridge will not happen again. The bridge shows that the bridge was design incorrectly in the first place and today, many bridge contractors need to figure out how to construct bridges that will be safe and convenient for many drivers in the Twin Cities.
According to CNN, construction took place on the bridge Tuesday night and was to take place again Wednesday night, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The highway would have been restricted to a single lane in both directions from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. both nights. The bridge was undergoing re-decking work, but nothing structural was being done, U.S. Transportation Department spokesman Brian Turmail said.
With the new construction taking place right now, it take time and much money to re-construct the 35W bridge that meet the safety of citizens.
Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/01/bridge.collapse/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/01/bridge.collapse/index.html
http://www.35wbridgecollapse.net/

Posted by ASK at 6:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One social design issue here in the Twin Cities is the 35W Bridge. As we know from across the nation, the collapse of the architectural Bridge devastated many individuals and families.
On August 1st, 2007, just after 6:00pm, the bridge collapsed during rush hour. It killed four people, injured more than seventy-nine people and twenty were missing after dozens of vehicles fell into the Mississippi River.
Over the summer, I was in a program called Bridge to Academic for Excellence from June 17th to July 28th, 2007. The program is summer classes for incoming freshmen to get a head start in college and get to know how college life is like. But this is not the part; let’s get back to the topic.
Friends and families of mine knew I was in the program and knew that I stayed in Minneapolis in Centennial dorm. Not many knew that I went home on the 28th and once they found out about the collapse of the bridge, I was swamp with many phone calls asking if I was alright and if I had heard about the tragedy.
Today it is a social design issue because with the bridge all torn up; the major road accesses for many drivers are inaccessible and have to take detours. The government and bridge contractors are trying to figure out how to rebuild a new bridge with a better design so the collapse of the bridge will not happen again. The bridge shows that the bridge was design incorrectly in the first place and today, many bridge contractors need to figure out how to construct bridges that will be safe and convenient for many drivers in the Twin Cities.
According to CNN, construction took place on the bridge Tuesday night and was to take place again Wednesday night, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The highway would have been restricted to a single lane in both directions from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. both nights. The bridge was undergoing re-decking work, but nothing structural was being done, U.S. Transportation Department spokesman Brian Turmail said.
With the new construction taking place right now, it take time and much money to re-construct the 35W bridge that meet the safety of citizens.

Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/01/bridge.collapse/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/01/bridge.collapse/index.html
http://www.35wbridgecollapse.net/

Posted by ASK at 6:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

From the last lecture in ARCH 1701 The Design Environment on January 31, 2008, we finished up the film called Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy. The film gave us ideas of what the environment is like. As architecture, you see the circumstances, objects, or the conditions that plays with the environment. You need to keep in mind of the complex of the physical, chemical, and factors; such as the climate, soil, and living things, that act on organism or the ecological system. Andy Goldsworthy was showing us that energy flows through the environment. Energy can be converted from one form to another. One form of energy can be the energy we put into creating a pattern or designs through many attempts. Like in the film, Goldsworthy made many attempts to create a design even though it did not turned out how he thought it would be. For example, in the beginning of the film, he construct a design through icicles, but sometimes the icicles would fall off, melt down, or the piece is not the right fit. Even though it did not work out, he tried again with new ideas that developed from his previous design and learned what worked and what did not work out. With the environment, it grows to meet our needs and culture. From these changes of human behavior patterns, we create a sense of the natural forces, the cultural environment, the historical environment, and the social environment.

Posted by ASK at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)