When one project ends,

another begins. I don't really have a huge amount to do right now, but the idea of how ridiculously stressing this next week will be (despite my impending attendance at the Rally To Restore Sanity) is causing huge anticipatory stress.

FUCK.

Here's my very anti-climactic Materials project:

Foam:

Balls:

and Playing Cards:

and though my joinery system was absurdly phallic:

(GET THAT SHIT)

I'm pretty satisfied.

P.S. Six foot drawing LOL

(after staying up until 6 am doing this wall section for

Materials, I failed the Materials midterm. HILARIOUS.)

First project of the year yaayy

As promised, here are (most) of my final drawings/renderings I used in my final presentation. Some of my best design work thus far, mainly 'cause Photoshop and Sketchup cut my normal production time in half, and I was able to explore many more elements than usual.

HERE YA GO:

(site plan)

(front elevation)

(photoshopped close-up elevation)

(plan)

(ceiling plan, note circular geometry of plan continued upwards into ceiling)

(longitudinal section cut, looking toward the east)

(the same cut, looking toward the west)

(perspective, looking toward the entrance/north)

(perspective, main display area)

(perspective, looking toward seminar area/back of store/south)

(a few close-ups of the displays, note permeability of facade, each display in front is also a window looking out on college ave.)

Also, the previously mentioned Materials project is well under way. Foam cubes, playing cards, and balls from a ball pit are my materials of choice; looking pretty cool so far. I am, however, ridiculously exhausted. A zombie, if you will.

I leave you with a (crap cell phone) picture of the current condition of my desk (i.e. my dinner table, my bed, my bookshelf, my living room, etc.), if you care to visualize where it all goes down.

;LSDFJG;SLKDJFG I HATE IT HERE

Delayed Response

This is about two weeks overdue, but I wanted to post some pictures and give a little explanation on my first project for Materials (the elephant that sits it's lazy ass in the room constantly as I try to work on projects for other classes). We basically had to find a natural object, and construct a base for it that would create a "material relationship".

Sooo I found a piece of tree bark with some SUPER MEGA AWESOME (not really) fungus on it, and decided to design my base around that. My idea was to create imagery symbolic of industry, and the way lumber is processed, to create a contrast with the natural bark. I found an old dead branch outside studio, and "processed it":

Not the greatest thing I've ever cracked out, but I'm still pretty confident in my idea.

Current Materials project: Create three 7" x 7" x 15" blocks, each of a different material. Invent your own shit-crazy joint system, and connect them vertically (connecting the 7" x 7" sides) or horizontally (connecting the 7" x 15" sides). "Push the limits of the material you use." Due Thursday, the 14th (week from today).

B-T-dubs, the blocks are this big:

I has a overwhelming, unspeakable sad.

Inspiration

Sorry, everyone, this one's all words, no arts. If your an architect, however, prospective or legit, this statement packs quite a punch. With that in mind..

..drop some knowledge on us, Mr. Sullivan.

"And thus, when native instinct and sensibility shall govern the exercise of our beloved

art; when the known law, the respected law, shall be that form ever follows function;

when our architects shall cease strutting and prattling handcuffed and vainglorious in

the asylum of a foreign school; when it is truly felt, cheerfully accepted, that this law

opens up the airy sunshine of green fields, and gives to us a freedom that the very

beauty and sumptuousness of the outworking of the law itself as exhibited in nature

will deter any sane, any sensitive man from changing into license; when it becomes

evident that we are merely speaking a foreign language with a noticeable American

accent, whereas each and every architect in the land might, under the benign

influence of this law, express in the simplest, most modest, most natural way that

which il is in him to say: that he might really and would surely develop his own

characteristic individuality, and that the architectural art with him would certainly

become a living form of speech, a natural form of utterance, giving surcease to him

and adding treasures small and great to the growing art of his land; when we know

and feel that Nature is our friend, not our implacable enemy, that an afternoon in the

country, an hour by the sea, a full open view of one single day, through dawn, high

noon, and twilight, will suggest to us so much that is rhythmical, deep, and eternal in

the vast art of architecture, something so deep, so true, that all the narrow

formalities, hard-and-fast rules, and strangling bonds of the schools cannot stifle it in us, then it may be proclaimed that we are on the high-road to a natural and satisfying

art, an architecture that will soon become a fine art in the true, the best sense of the

word, an art that will live because it will be of the people, for the people, and by the

people."

Updates

Well, I figured, since I have so much free time*, that I'd write a blog about some recent work.

(*LIE, I'M IN STUDIO RIGHT NOW)

Turns out, second year studio is more of a part-time job that we're not getting paid for. Which isn't too big of a deal, considering my other classes aren't incredibly time consuming, or difficult*.

(*ANOTHER LIE, ENGINEERING IS HORRIFYING)

All in all, this year is turning out to be pretty good so far. In fact, it started out with the Arch school's annual Corbelletti Competition, a design competition in which we have to come up with a design (for something on campus, this year it was an art gallery in the Arts area) and present an entirely hand-drawn design board (24" x 36") in about a week. Long story short, out of over 200 people (most of the students in the school), I tied with another kid in my year for 6th/7th place, and also the best out of our year. I'll post pictures and explain my design idea once I get my board back.

Our actual studio project for this first rotation is to design a jewelry store in downtown State College, replacing The Clothesline (hypothetically):

Not surprisingly, now that we're design actual spaces (and not lamps, fuck that), I've learned more about architectural design in the past four weeks than I did in one semester last year.

Some info to know beforehand: I'm designing a store for selling crystal, and working off of the theme of fluidity in the metal molding that typically frames a piece of crystal jewelry, like these:

Anyways, here are a few progress photos of my design (past versions, and the newly updated one):

These are probably really unclear as to what exactly is happening; but fear not. I'll post a much clearer blog on the whole project once it's done in a week or two.

An Ode To 100 Days

It has been a summer to remember; devoid of human contact. That, however, is not necessarily meant to be taken in a negative light. Over three months of peace and quiet has left me time to recharge, and reacquaint myself with, well, myself.

Yes, I'm ready to socialize again, strangely enough. More than ever, I think, which is (for lack of a better word) good. I'm also ready to attempt to make myself a little more noteworthy in Penn State's Architecture Department; a goal I didn't even come close to accomplishing last year.

But I digress. Here's my summer, in a three-minute nutshell.

(For larger versions, check out my Facebook album, or I can send you any upon request).

It's gonna be a good year.

Mosquito and Headless (Revisited)

The papier maché is done!

At long last, the beginning of the end of my antisocial summer-of-art-projects has come upon me. As I said a few entries ago, one of the models was going to be a 3D recreation of one of my 100 Days. Rarely do I ever consider anything I do, "good", but this sculpture (dubbed Mosquito) is as close to (what I consider) perfect as I've ever gotten with a private project.

If you're interested, take a minute or two and check out my bangin' process montage:

The song is "Out of Egypt, Into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt From My Sandals As I Run" by Sufjan Stevens.

But wait, there's more.

When we moved from Texas over a year ago, we had to leave one papier maché sculpture I made as a kid that my mom really liked. I decided that since I was working in the same medium again, I could remake that same sculpture for her at the same time as I was working on Mosquito. That being said, this is Headless (Revisited):

And how it was made:

The song is "The Captain" by Guster.

P.S. We're on day 98. It's been quite the summer.

One week

was an improper prediction for completion time.

HOW-EVUH,

all is well.

There is still much to be done, but the sculptures are taking shape.

It's like 8th grade

without the shitty parts.

I used to do a ton of papier maché stuff in my awkward preteen years (turns out spending your Friday nights making monsters out of newspaper doesn't get you laid like I thought), and I recently got the idea to start my old operation back up again. In my previous post, I said I was going to reproduce an abstract ink drawing I did a few weeks ago; the sticky process is in full swing.

Marvelous. Should be finished within a week.

PAPIER

MAH SHAAYYY

papier mache. modeling drawing for funs?

(this was day 48 of 100)