Viewers Abroad

2 people from Malaysia and 1 from New Zealand have viewed my posts this semester. I guess that’s cool, I don’t even know how they would have stumbled upon this blog. Hopefully they were entertained! 10!

Is it possible …

Is it possible to go from vector to pixel back to vector?

Project Boards: Illustrator or Photoshop?

Since most of you are computer science, I wanted to know…what program is better to use for project boards…Illustrator or Photoshop? I’m accustomed to photoshop and need to learn illustrator anyway.

Jousting

I think that the knights need to re-joust, but needs to have more speed, also two pedals might not hurt.

Pleasurable or Irritant?

Looking back to when we had the iPhone symphony going on, did some find it pleasurable or an irritant? It might have been the current state of exhaustion that I was in when  I experienced it, but I found it to be slightly irritating to my auditory senses. Did any one else feel the same way?

Reflecting Absence

The simplicity of the “Reflecting absence” memorial is astounding. Michael’s photo of his model with the mirrored skyline of lower Manhattan was the most amazing image of a model I’ve ever seen. I’ve certainly never had any model pictures that great. It was captivating and spoke great volumes of the design. Meaningful adjacency was the only possible way that the placement of the names could work. The families of the victims would have killed the project because they never would have been happy any other way. When you please one, you offend another. The meaningful adjacency recreated unity, and any other way would have created separation. The fact that you could be placed near a friend would actually make the name easier to find. The transplant and relocation of the trees for the site was a brilliant idea, and although the pear tree did not fit in the schema, it’s symbolism was more important than its aesthetic appearance. Another thing I had taken away from Michael Arad that I have been told MANY MANY times before…design in section. The illumination of the water from below was a powerful statement yet simultaneously provided feelings of serenity and tranquility.

Is Advancing Technology Always a Good Thing?

Since the dawn of time, every time there has been an advance in technology…a person’s craft or skill is rendered obsolete because of it. Did you know there actually used to be a profession called a glazer? If you’re restoring an old home or building you’ll have to try real hard to find one because they’re certainly a dying breed…like many of the skilled trades. The truth is technology cannot replace the craftsmanship of some of these skilled trades. Technology has been systematically elminating our skills, but will technology advance to the point where we really don’t do things for ourselves anymore?

A Reflection on the Constraints of Creativity

When reflecting on the example I gave about how architecture works in the real world compared to school, I realized that even though architects in the real world are faced with a budget and other restrictions, we somehow find ways to push the envelope so to speak. Architects tend to push to go over budget, and many times are forced to make concessions in their design. Daniel Libeskind in his Jewish Museum in Berlin has an extremely radical design, but it was even crazier than that until he was forced to concede his slanted walls because he was so far over budget. But take Frank Lloyd Wright for example, his notoriety always allowed him to push and went over budget. He didn’t allow his clients a choice in the matter most the time. As for the design itself, we sometimes come up with the craziest designs imaginable and leave it up to the structural engineers to figure out how to make sure they won’t collapse. Frank Ghery’s designs must be a nightmare to figure out the structural calculations. So even though the creativity is stifled in the real world, we architects sometimes find ways to adapt and design what we imagine.

The Power Tower

The “Power Tower” is likely to be the most soundly designed. It can simply can be broken down into mostly square columns and floor slabs [the basic structure of a high rise building]. In this case we did not use any fasteners. The news paper “floor slabs” required a certain thickness in order to keep supporting the weight for the levels above. We could have likely built higher than anyone else because of the stability that the square columns provided, at some point the other designs except one would have snapped and keiled over under their own weight. Granted newspaper is a rather flimsy building material, but this design could have went the highest if there was more time and a step ladder to keep building.

 

- Eric Esposito

Origami

This is my origami diagram starting with the initial 11″x8.5″ piece of paper and ending with a single folded object. Try it out & see if it works!

-Eric Esposito