Puzzle Pieces

As the deadline for my material experiment approaches, my idea is to leave scattered pieces to a puzzle in the center of the staircase of the architecture building to see how many people will make the effort to put the pieces together. The overall idea is that the pieces to the puzzle represent the problem in society that we face each and everyday and is ultimately dependent on those who either choose to ignore the problem or help create a solution. To help personalize this demonstration, I'll have each person initial the back of every piece they help put together to show that a simple deed such as this could lead to a vision that has a bigger picture.

Refuge/Transition

After talking with Karen about my initial idea of designing an architecture school, she made me realize that I didn't have much of an agenda or justification for doing one. Once i came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to design a school, I began to think about what type of work I would see myself doing in the years ahead. An issue that interests me is poverty, and how it's become a growing problem that's creating a greater separation between the homeless and the rest of society. Los Angeles has one of the densest population of homeless people in the country with approximately 57,000 people within the counties 4,000 sq. ft. But something I'm more specifically interested in, are the stories of how each person became homeless. I believe that starting with the source of the problem will help propel my thesis for creating a place of refuge and transition more meaningful. I think the only way of having a successful thesis is by generating a large response from the public that will become something of importance in the future. By doing the 24 hour site visit, I'll hopefully have a project that provides a certain depth and perspective to those who have no idea about this growing trend.

Material Experimentation

For this project, we need to devise a demonstration of a material that we're interested in developing that could be incorporated into our vellum competition or later experiments. I haven't given too much thought about this yet but as of now I'm interested in creating a material that would be insulating and structural to reduce the amount of material use and cost. Creating a flexible, expandable material in response to the natural/surrounding environment could also be something to think about, but to create something that would relate back to my thesis would be quite the challenge.

Thesis - Initial idea of site/project

Now that the first week of school has begun, I've determined that my project for the year will revolve around the design and construction of an architecture school. The site of my school has yet to be determined mostly because my professor wants us to spend 24 hours on our site which would mean that I would have to choose a location  within range of where I currently live. The reason why I wouldn't have my site in California is because the abundance of architecture schools within the California coast. Creating another school would cause my school to get lost in the mix along with the others. An ideal location for me would be one that isn't as impacted by all the surrounding institution, as well as a place that has a lot of architectural history and development.

After having gone through 7 years of architectural training in several different institutions, I believe that designing a school of my own could serve as a bar for how much I've learned and progressed over the years. I could incorporate my ideas along with a basic understanding of programming into a school that would be from a students perspective looking out as opposed to a person looking in. This school would serve as a pedagogical structure that emphasizes the idea of creation upon awareness by methodology, demonstration of material experimentation and construction. Communal spaces will promote integration by interaction through the use of large open spaces that will weave itself  into the programmatic functions of classrooms and display rooms for student work. Having flexible studio spaces for student would help meet their needs of providing movable parts within each individualized desk that would serve different purposes. The issue that I'm concerned with now is whether to have classrooms with desks or a large universal studio space where students can work in an environment with those who aren't just in their studio. I believe it also helps students engage in conversations with people who can offer a different perspective on a project while decreasing the amount of dependency that students usually have with one another.

Houseless

After watching a show of what life would be like living on the streets, I began to wonder about all the different stories people could tell from their own experience of how they became houseless. Today's documentary revolved around a 22 year old girl whose been living on the streets for the past 9 years. It was hard to imagine how a charismatic, sweet, young girl found herself to be living on the streets of San Francisco. But once they told her story of how the parents were alcoholics whose step dad gave her a knife when she threatened to kill herself, it made sense that running away was the only option she had. There are those who choose to be one the streets, and then there are those who seek a place of refuge. But unfortunately for Danielle, her place of refuge meant living on the streets.