Thesis Final 02

SCI-Arc 卒業制作最終発表。無事卒業できました。

話には聞いていたけれども、やはり最後の一週間はめちゃくちゃでした。土曜の夜にはどれだけほっとしているかと思うとプレゼンテーションまでの時間が永遠にも感じられるのに、あれもこれもとやることが多すぎて時間が経つのが本当に早かった。その狂った時間感覚だけでも目が回りそうなのに時間のことなど考えていないで淡々と作業を進めなければ効率が悪い。

Final Week には後輩の発表が順々に終わっていくのだから彼らを捕まえて手伝いを頼めばよいものを、そもそも誰に何を頼めばいいかさっぱりわかんないっっっ！とパニックしていたところを他のスタジオの発表を見に来ていた院卒の先輩方に救出され、あとちょっとで終わるんだからしっかりしなさいとなだめすかされようやく正気に戻った次第です。

Masuyama さんは手伝って欲しいなら言えばいいのに！と、Rendering を引き受けてくれました。Atsushi さんにも Modeling を手伝ってもらい、出てきた Render が私の範疇をを遥かに超えて綺麗だったので俄然前向きになれました。他にも、この視点の Rendering があると造形についてきちんと説明できないと発表でつっこまれるよ？とか、モデリング頑張ったのにこの視点からでは地面の見える割合が多すぎてもったいないよ。など、目の肥えた先輩方からの貴重なアドバイス、本当に有難かったです。

発表は最初の審査員のひとことめで流れが決まってしまうことがありますが、最初の jury が開口一番 “素晴らしい” と。発表の手順が良かったのか、私が力を入れた部分でのディスカッションになってくれて良かったです。触れられては答えに困る点もありましたから(笑) 発表以外でも私の作品の前で足をとめてじっくり見てくれたり写真を撮っていったりする人がいて、誰かが興味を持ってくれたと思うと嬉しかった。


仕事を頼れる誰かに任せること、

仕事を任せる為に後輩にいろいろ教えること、

逆に誰かが私に仕事を任せてくれること。


自分一人では手に負えない Thesis をやり終えて知った楽しみ。在学中はに余裕なくて気づけなかったやりがい。遅かったかもしれないけれど、これからはそれを仕事を通して楽しんでいこうと思います。

手には職 心にセンス 腹に意志。仕事のできる人になりたい。

5/12 に仕事が始まるまでのんびりしようと思います。

Thesis Final 01

Grand Finale!
4/19/2008. SCI-Arc Undergraduate Thesis Final.

Architecture. I still can't help cursing my own decision for throwing myself into this mess. After the five years of sleepless nights, crushed egos, and being pushed around, all I learned is that consistency and decency will keep me moving forward. Being an architecture student, at one moment you feel like you're on top of the world and a split second later, you start doubting yourself. You can't take your work too personally or seriously. Getting out of an architecture school, I hope things get easier, at least better than this five years of hell. Or maybe I'm wrong... graduation might only mean the beginning of an endless nightmare.

Is this what people call "rewarding"? To get to do little something I enjoy, but to have to deal with the accompanied burden of having to defend yourself? Anyway finally finally finally, I went through the path which I felt has no end. Yes, graduation doesn't mean the end of struggle, yet still I'm glad and relieved I completed something.


My fellows in order of presentation.








Sareen








YeMaster








Harold








Debora








Sky








Yukie








Barbara








Ji








Naz








Adam


Congratulations for all of us :)

Merletti

何かまたSCI-Arc のギャラリーに面白いものができました。ゆるやかな放物線状に吊るされているので、人が通って風がおこるたびに何百の蝶々が羽を動かしているように見えます。

Current installation at SCI-Arc by Elena Manferdini. This two-and-half dimensional installation hangs in relaxed catenary curve. Diffused light casts delicate shadows on concrete floor. After the Dragonfly installation, Elena's Merletti reminds me of butterfly wings. As people walk through, hundreds of black wings flaps in viewer's eye level, so they can appreciate connection details and materiality. Really nice.

Lattice Explained

ファイナルプレゼンテーションまで後ちょうど一ヶ月弱。悠長なことは言っていられません。今やらないことはきっと明日もやらない。だって明日の今頃もきっと同じ事考えている... Line は結構気に入ったのが出来たので、polygon modeling 初挑戦します。


True meaning of discovery is not about finding something new, rather noticing things that have been there all the time.　

My thesis concept has been about extracting interesting conditions or events around the site and to systematically translate them into architecture. This is to seek a design procedure to create the type of architecture where individual’s discovery of the site becomes an integral part of architectural experience. The diagram explains the process where those found information are translated step by step.

Endless Brainless Work

Midterm coming up on Monday.
で.. きま. し... た。。。











このモデルには瞬間接着剤 Zap-A-Gap を使っていましたが、制作開始後3日経過。何だか様子がおかしい。科学薬品の臭いが強過ぎて頭痛にだるさ、なにより ぼ～っ としてしまう。この状態で運転中 DUI (Driving Under Influence 飲酒/ドラッグ) の疑いで捕まってしまったら申し開きのしようがないんじゃないか？

というわけで、、、



武装強化。















明けぬれば くるるものとは 知りながら なほ恨めしき 朝ぼらけかな。
頑張りましょう。

Renovation Project

In relation to my thesis concept "IT HAS BEEN THERE"


Architecture is traditionally concerned with external phenomena such as environmental issues, social conditions, and cultural values. Dislike an art piece that can be displayed in a museum against white walls and neutral lighting, inherently, architecture is not to be perceived independently from its context. Geometry of a building can be communicated through sets of drawing and photographs, but not the physical experience.

Architectural experience should transcend the simple acts of perceiving the geometry. At the same time, designing of the experiences should not limit its procedures in a way that unseen forces are sculpting the building envelops.


Rather, individual’s discovery at the site should become the integral part of the architectural experience.


It is not preservation or reutilization that renovation projects become relevant to the thesis concept “IT HAS BEEN THERE.” While site (environmental issues, social conditions, and cultural values) gives presence to architecture, old gives presence to new. Existing conditions are both restrictions and advantages for architect to work with. As a result, the connections or alignments between old and new become the constant reference to each other, which renew people’s interest to the building. Renovation Projects are the obvious examples where the existing context gives presence to the intervention. The fact -that architects have certain condition from the beginning to work with- leads to the concept of setting up datum geometries and manipulating them.















Coop Himmelblau/ rooftop extension in Vienna











Bernard Tschumi/ fresnoy art center











Michael Rotondi/ Carlson and Reges house

'''

Gordon Matta Clark

In relation to my thesis concept "IT HAS BEEN THERE"










Day's End 1975


Gordon Matta-Clark’s works include performance and recycling pieces, space and texture works, and “building cuts.” He uses a number of media to document his work, including film, video, and photography. In his signature work, “building cuts,” perceiving the natural light through new openings is sensational, but it would become even more inspiring if we learn, through his works, that some notions in nature or in society are only noticeable by the existence of violence.

When does creation begin and when does it end?
What’s beyond the building surfaces?

Finished building itself does not conclude people’s experiences. His works aim toward completion through removal and destruction. In the process, new openings against old surfaces introduce physical and conceptual complexity to the space. However, he does not define what-to-be-found from the transformation. The process of discovery depends on people. For him understanding of art in a social context is an essentially generous human act, because each positive attempt of individuals varies from one to another, and it discovers the context -where they belong to- in different ways. Interpretation should be personal. What he creates is the opportunity for people to situate themselves within a larger urban context.

(Left) Conical intersect 1975
(Right) Splitting 1974

'''

Andy Goldsworthy

In relation to my thesis concept "IT HAS BEEN THERE"

Rainbow splashes

Andy Goldsworthy is a British sculptor/ photographer. He creates both temporary and permanent sculptures which draw out the characters of the environment they are situated. His artworks are site-specific and sensitive to changes in natural material, season, weather, or urban settings. The places that attract him are the places that he feels there is something to be discovered.

True meaning of discovery is not about finding something new, rather noticing things that have been there all the time. Hidden energy is the inspiration for his works.

Each work grows, stays, decays as an integral part of a natural cycle, so the completion of a sculpture is a mere portion of his process. His photographs document how surrounding nature adopt his work over time. Passage of time gives his pieces presence. It is opposite from people and their consciousness which become unable to renew their interest in the processes of life beyond their routine habit. Andy Goldsworthy’s works become the cues for people to refresh their perception toward those forgotten processes within and around natural materials.

Lay down as it started raining or snowing. waited until he ground became wet or covered before getting up.











Dandelion arranged in circle.










Flat topped stones laid in a line to reflect the midday sun.

Quote from his book “A Collaboration with nature”
For me, the experience of looking touching material, place and form are all inseparable from the resulting work. It is difficult to say where one stops and another begins. Place is found by walking, direction determined by weather and season. I take the opportunities each day offers: if it is snowing, I work with snow, at leaf-fall it will be with leaves; a blown-over tree becomes a source of twigs and branches.”

Site analysis

卒業設計第一弾。お手柔らかに。
生き残れ。がおーっ！


THESIS
In the beginnings of history, human created dwellings to inhabit the little corner of the gigantic world. Humans were too powerless to confront the mighty nature and the series of disaster was an endless mystery. A dwelling was the smallest unit of environment that human can control. In relation to this tiny fortress, humans were always conscious of surrounding nature, seasons, and their neighbors.

Now we are highly equipped with the technology and knowledge. As a result, performance expectations toward the spaces we occupy seem to require more than decent comfort. Architectural experience now is more diverse and stronger than ever. Formal complexity required the advancement of technology, and available technology pushed the boundary of formal expression even further. However, as people’s consciousness shift toward an architectural piece itself, on the other hand, their awareness of the larger context is fading away. This thesis seeks the type of architecture which is not about sculptural expression, but about the context it emerges.

Architecture is traditionally concerned with external phenomena such as environmental issues, social conditions, and cultural values. Dislike an art piece that can be displayed in a museum against white walls and neutral lighting, inherently, architecture is not to be perceived independently from its context.

1. What does it mean to belong to the larger context, a city? a country? or universe?

2. Do we even NEED to perceive further than our routine livings?

3. What can architecture do in order not to isolate people from the context they belong to?

INhabit/ habit/ HabitAT
As people live in a same city or in a certain building for long time, they tend to lose their honest reaction to the context. I’m interested in this process where the human desire for comfort gradually habituates people to ignorance. At the first time a person inhabit a new place, s/he discover many awkwardness and unfamiliarity. It is a fairly honest reaction to the new environment. As s/he becomes more comfortable with the place, s/he starts creating habit and finally the place becomes his or her habitat.

Comfort is what humans are chasing after, but inability to renew ones interest detaches people from the surrounding world where they belong to: physically with walls and mentally with unawareness. Architecture should not isolate people from the larger context; rather it should be the medium of experiencing the context.

PERCEPTION
When I explain about architecture as medium of experience, I have to mention different ways of perceiving architecture. In a city living, we are surrounded by thousands of buildings, but majority of them are mere facades in that we never get over the surface.

When people experiences architecture, especially in a city area, they could be categorized in three different groups: Observers, Explorers and Residents. Observers perceive buildings externally from distance; Explorers experience inside and/or perimeter of the building; and Residents occupy buildings comparatively longer than other two groups. Each category has different experiences in relation to a piece of architecture.

4. What can architects do to create the experience to affect all three different types? Observer, Explorers, and Residents.

Portfolio

Currently updating my portfolio.

I've made decent 12 pages in two days. Pretty quick compare to before. Now I think of it, it was really a valuable experience in SCI-Arc that I worked with Ye for a semester. I gave him hell of hard time, but even if I had a chance, I'll ask him again. Without the semester that defeated my spirit, I can't imagine myself being this comfortable with doing thesis or making quick portfolio (layout). And I feel I understand "designing" a bit better now.

ARCHIVE:
Testa Vertical, Degital Project, Smith Vertical, 4A, 3B, 3A

今頃ポートフォリオを作っているのは本日午後に面接に行くためです。Buro Happold。まさかお声がかかるとは思っていなかったので誘われた時は嬉しかった。面接というよりは事務所見学なので緊張することもないかと思いますが、やはりジーンズでは行けないしせっかく買ったスーツ着ていきましょう。印刷と製本間に合うかな。

Thesis Finally

In front of the print center door. Nice view up there.

I've lived in five different places in these five years. Love keep moving forward and leave piles of garbage behind. Same in SCI-Arc. Every semester, studio location changes and I throw away a lot of garbage, and then I feel being light and ready for a next step.

モノは増やさず身は軽く。

人は己をつづまやかにし おごりを退けて財をもたず 世をむさぼらざらむぞいみじかるべき。昔より 賢き人の富めるはまれなり。/徒然草十八段冒頭

Testa Final

Finally finished the last studio for me @SCI-Arc. I have been pretty productive over last couple of weeks. So I'm feeling great, having three parties in a raw on this weekend. Anyway, David and Ian just graduated. For the rest of us, another thesis semester to go.

どれだけ決定的に間違っていても私をそれによって判断しない友人達がいると自覚した途端に、かえって無茶をしなくなりました。居場所があると思うや否や本領以上を発揮できるからやはり人間は強いです。こういうことは日本語で書きましょう。バイリンガルブログは便利です。


Peter Testa Quote
- If you ignore something, it'll show up later and bites you harder.
- Radical includes Possible.

Linda Vista Hospital

卒業設計のサイト決定！

近所に条件がぴったりのサビレタ建物がありました♪ 昔は病院だったそうです。そして今は映画の撮影用 (古びた病院だけに、主に監獄シーンやホラー映画) に開放されています。昼間でもちょっと怖かったもん。撮影隊の皆さんは各々忙しそうで、私が一人うろちょろしていてもお咎めはありませんでした。卒業設計は老人ホーム × 幼稚園、リノベーションプロジェクトでいきたいと思います。






























OMG! Can't be better. I found the perfect site for my up coming thesis just down the street from my apartment. The other day I just drove by the site with Sky, thought very interesting. So I went back today to see what's going on.

The building looks beaten up. Many windows are left shattered. But people kept come in and out actively. I found that the building was once a hospital and abandoned, now is open to filming. Walked around the building a bit, and even got the floor plans.














Hollenbeck Park right across the street. It will be a nice nursing house x kinder garden renovation project.

Thesis Prep Final

Thesis prep final.

Forget about "the concept", "the theme", "the methodology".
It seemd like everyone liked my model...

Rejected Proposal

new pattern/ facade application








generated curvature






spiral gives consistent uni-directional curves


Second stage for Testa studio was to apply the curve fold for facade system. The new pattern gives sensible subtle curve, but structurally it was not convincing, which resulted in Peter and Devyn yelling at me on a review. Good thing for me is that I still have the eggshell to work on. Construction, detail, thermo-dynamics, and much more to come... sigh =3







stress map
(Rhino Surface Analysis)






fabrication strategy
(finding overlaps)