Phoenix AZ

Finally my Christmas! Ryan's family is very relaxed and welcoming. Sitting in front of fire place or lying on the carpet, all I did was reading Ryan's Japanese books.

The third picture is the installation by Cornelia Parker I found at Phoenix museum. Since my studio did hanging beer installation, I have become more interested in installations/sculptures. Though I really liked the exhibition, what made me disappointed was the black rope running in front of the art piece. I know it has to keep people out, but it could have been the tape indication on the floor. An art piece needs a physical context to be experienced by audience. The fact that it cannot communicate just through an artist's idea makes art much more interesting.

4A Final

This was the first time that I teamed up with somebody in studio till all the way to the final project. And first time that teacher let us play with our own concepts. Being on my own without the framework of the studio agenda made me see my weakness and strength. And thanks to Ye, I became comfortable with a whole different way of approaching architecture.




























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Amboy Crater

We couldn't see meteor shower, but saw shooting stars here and there. Amboy Crater is a desirable place to see stars. The view from the bottom of crater is framed in circle and the ridge blocks out far city lights. Thanks to Barry and Daniella for nice pictures.

Alameda Exposed

I made a clip with Ye, Ji, and Carlos as a site study. No story behind it. It shows our interpretation of Alameda Corridor.

Fridays @5

Here we are at Fridays @5 again. The original inspiration was from light-growing columns at LAX, but many people said "beer cactus." Six sheets of 3'x8' plexi-glass were lasercut and wrapped around existing poles at the parking lot. Each column was filled with bags of ice. We wouldn't have any problem sticking beer bottles into lasercut X-scores! .........it didn't quite work that smooth. The X-scores were slightly too small for bottles. We ended up supporting cracking columns with plastic wrap.

The importance of mockup, working with others, and how many unexpected issues come up during construction...I learned these design-build experience through Fridays @5.

Chile

I came back in LA once and left for Chile right away. My backpacking plan for this end of the summer was to practice my survival Spanish. In Santiago, I was alone most of the time, but in a bus to visit small villages, tourists were obvious to each other. I met a couple of Europeans. Conversations between them shifts smoothly from German to French, Italian to Spanish. Once I joined them, we talked in English. My Spanish was horrible. I was asking simple questions, knowing that I wouldn't comprehend the anser anyway.

Small towns seems to be relying on tourists for the majority of its income. But I was surprised they were not aggressive at all. In San Pedro de Atacama, price of tours to visit certain location are exactly same in any office. Since they don't have to compete for some reason, the atmosphere was pretty relaxing.

Shanghai

Visiting other countries is more fun if it is to see somebody I know. I visited Sky in Shanghai for a week. He was doing internship there. We walked around Shanghai half a day and the rest of the day, we sat down in a nice cafe to read and study. In Japan, people will pressure you to leave when customers are hanging out, but in Shanghai they didn't seem to care.

Internship in Tokyo

For this four-month summer break, I worked at Architecture office in Tokyo. It was a small office where I cannot even go to restroom without asking somebody to move. The residences I participated in designing also were amazingly small. Architects in Japan are extremely good at fitting everything in. Lot to learn from their tricks.

Meantime, I was hooked to Ballroom Dance and a team of Japanese comedian, Oriental Radio. I usually went home at around 11pm, took shower, ate, and watched those TV shows till 3 or 4am. And woke up at 8am to go to work.

On Saturdays and Sundays, I also worked at wedding receptions as a waitress. So from Mon to Fri, I sit in front of a computer. And Sat and Sun were labor days. Thinking that I am one of Japanese that work too much, I still felt it was worth pushing myself during summer break to enjoy the feeling of being independent: It was the first time I made money through what I learned.

back in Japan

毎年夏に帰国する上に温暖な南CAに住んでいて日本の冬がどれだけ寒かったかさっぱり忘れてしまった。アリゾナ出身のルームメイトは、ロスに住んでいる人は皆気候にスポイルされているとよく言っている。自分だけが一年に一度しか友達に会えないつもりでいたけれど、大学生活も後半になると皆 就活や卒論で忙しく、そう頻繁に集まっているわけでもないらしい。毎年帰る度にお好み焼きかお気に入りの居酒屋をリクエストします。

3B Think Tank

3B studio deals with dynamic architectural systems.

Finally towards the end of the semester, I came to realize there are certain things in design that architects shouldn't mess with. If I'm designing the laboratories, I would never touch ventilation system, specific requirements for labs, nor anything too technical ...ever again. There are other professionals to take care of those issues.





















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Fridays @5

Every Friday at SCI-Arc, a couple of studios throw a party. Beer bottles are attached to 2x4s running across the ceiling with fishing wire. We took turns to sneak out of studio to prepare for this. Hanging beer is still by far the best installation I have ever seen.

Holliston

Roommates at Holliston house. Dylan and I blame Sky on the slowness of our activities, though we've been totally given up on him. I automatically times 3 whatever the amount of time he promises.

"OK, let's go to eat in 15 minutes !" means Sky will make us wait about an hour. Roxanne also is a tight match to Sky though...