Short Project: School

Today in class we did a short project about a different type of school. This school was meant to get teenagers ready for adulthood, so this school was not curriculum based, but more society  based. We had to design a school where learning is not really the main focus, but when there is learning it is what the students choose to learn about. The overall idea of the project was that regular schools do not do anything for kids and they only gets them ready for more school and not for real world adulthood like how to live independently and how to survive in this society. Because school do not do this, we had to make a school that primarily did this.

To the left is a picture of our idea of our school. In the center is the IL building. It has many different courses the students can learn about and they choose what course and when they want to learn. To the left of the IL building is the curved dorm building. This is a co-ed building but boy and girls will not sleep in the same rooms. The red building is a store/ restaurant. The main idea for this is that you are responsible for buy and getting your own food just as adults are. This will teach the students responsibility which is a huge part of being an adult. The building to the right is the library where the students will do most of  their research just like in college. It is shaped with a 90 degree angle because it is supposed to look like and represent a book. Finally the abstract structure below the IL building will a sort of large fountain. It is there to create a calm area for all the students and to provide a place to just hang out and relax.

Indian Architecture

Today in class we learned about Indian architecture. I noticed that almost all of the buildings we looked at had the same characteristics, they were made of stone. The first type of building we looked at were cave buildings. They went into caves and painstakingly carved out rooms and decorations such as statues into the walls. Though this was a creative idea, I would not like to live in that kind of environment. I wouldn't enjoy living in a dark place for long periods of time and I feel like it would be cold most of the time because stone is cold. But, I believe this is a good form of protection from weather. An example of this would be rain. If you are in a cave and there is a thunder storm outside, you wont get wet because you have a big thick stone roof to keep you dry. Worst case scenario the water will get onto the floor of your cave dwelling.

Below we can see some decorations for Indian cave architecture:



Another form or Indian architecture was their magnificent buildings carved out of rock. These were some of my favorite kind. It just amazed me that they chiseled and carved a humongous rock into a building with detail and meaning. It also is more nature friendly because you do not cut down trees or clear land or these. The only issue is that they are more labor inducing because it is more  work to carefully care something amazing out of nothing than it is to easily stack or erect buildings.

Below we can see an example of this rock architecture. I just want to remind you that this used to be a huge rock of some sort and this building was created out of just a plain rock.

SF Field Trip

Today we went so San Francisco for our first field trip of Intersession. We first visited The St. Mary  Cathedral. This church was a remake of one in Japan, but it is larger than the original church in Japan. The building itself is 19 stories tall, but 18 of those stories are used to create a very tall acoustic roof for the church. The acoustics are for the large organ in the church. While I was there I was able to listen to this massive organ and it sounded amazing. With the acoustics it really helped the sound of the organ and carried it all the way through the church. Something else that was interesting about St. Mary's was the supporting of the very tall roof. It was supported by four very large concrete shapes. They were made of different geometrical shapes and they had some curves to it so they really flowed with the building.

My favorite part about this church is how it has a more modern look to it rather than and old Gothic or Victorian look. The large size really adds to its ambiance and mood inside the church. Also with its curved parts it helps add a really interesting design to the church even though they may not be totally necessary. This could have been like any other church, but we decided to remake this great modern design and it really stick out today. Many people visit this church for both religious and tourist reasons. Also, because of this churches massive size it can hold a total of 4,000 people if necessary. This was my favorite building that we visited today because of its massive size and more modern looks.



One one of the large four shapes that hold up this beautiful churches 19 story tall roof.

Roman Architecture

Today my teacher gave a lecture about Roman architecture. We talked about something the Romans were very well known for and that is their use of columns. Roman columns were usually quite large structures. Their main purpose was to hold up buildings in the place of walls. They were usually well decorated and really brought the building they supported together. Roman architecture would most certainly be different if they did not use columns but instead walls. Many temples and important buildings would look very different and may not have the great open look of Roman architecture that we all know and love.

Something that Rome is very well known for is the Coliseum. The Coliseum was a large ancient stadium. Usually large events would happen in the Coliseum. One major event that was popular was gladiator fights. This is when two men chose armor and weapons and fought to the death and the winner was awarded. Though now that kind of thing is greatly frowned upon, I honestly think it would have been very interesting to see two gladiators fight to the death.

Picture of Coliseum:

Sketching

Today we got notebooks for us to sketch in. They will mainly be used for when we go on field trips to visit buildings. With the sketchbook we will sketch the building that we are visiting. This will give us something more creative and interesting to do rather than just stand there and look at it and talk the building.
Today we did our first sketch. We sat at the end of the hallway at Everest Public High school and did a sketch of the hallway in front of us. We drew for 15 minutes then we went back to our classroom and had a vote on whose sketch was the best. The final victor was Kidus because he is quite good at drawing as he has proved many times in the past. His drawing one for different reasons. One reason was said by Clayton when he said he liked how it was darker which showed that he was more confident in what he was drawing. I personally voted for Martins sketch because of how it took up a lot of the page and just the angle of the picture itself.

Below is my sketch. Because I am not a very good artist, my sketch is not very good, but it is my art non the least.  I was doing my sketch from more of a higher perspective so that is why you cannot really see the ceiling details very much. The main issue with my sketch is that I am not very good at perspective and sizing with distance, so the sizing of objects are exactly correct to me. Though I am not good at this in an artistic way i enjoyed it because it gives me something else to do in future field trips.

With these new sketch books we will be able to broaden our understanding of architecture. With these we will be able to better understand what an architect does. This is because with the job of being an architect, it is basically impossible to not draw or sketch out buildings. This is because they need a way to express their art in a different way and it helps them get out ideas onto paper that isn't just a list of notes. Also for some visuals are much more helpful than lists. If you were trying to design a building and you wrote out what it looked like it would not work. Most likely the customer would not be satisfied or would have imagined it in a different way because people interpret things in different manners.

Mesopotamian Architecture

Today we learned some about Mesopotamian  architecture. What I found most interesting  was the courtyard houses. In the courtyard houses there is a courtyard in the middle of the structure and the necessary  rooms around the courtyard. These houses were used to most likely hold multiple families considering that had quit a few rooms unlike a regular house that doesn't have that many rooms.

Below we can see a basic floor plan of a  Mesopotamian courtyard house. Though this one does not have as many rooms as the example my teacher Rafael showed us, this is still a good example. Something I would like to point out is how it is not a direct entrance into the building. Unlike houses that we are used to where you walk directly into the house and we immediately in the whole of the house,  Mesopotamian courtyard houses is not like that. AS you can see where the room labeled 1 that is the lobby. That means this is not a direct walk into the house. You need to continue past the lobby into the courtyard to get into the center whole of the house. Also what i noticed is that all the rooms are really connected by the courtyard. While seems okay I seem some issue. An example would be if you are in one room and you need to get to another, but it is raining outside. You would get all wet just to get something simple like eggs or milk.

Today we also learned about the ancient city of Babylon. With concept pictures of what this great city looked like it seemed quite large. Due to its size houses and buildings we put very lose to each other and it seemed very cramped and busy. 

Below is a rendering of the ancient city of Babylon. All the small brown almost speckled buildings are mainly houses. The larger area are for more higher class rulers. This is a very common aspect with higher classes in ancient times. This is because they were higher class they were considered better than everyone else so they get better items and land. That is what is happening here in Babylon. The large plot with the two rectangles at the bottom is where the temple is. This was mainly meant for the king because he is the highest rank in the city so he will have the largest plot and the grandest housing which is the temple.

Egyptian Architecture

Today in class we learned a bit a about Egyptian Architecture. We first talked about The Great Step Pyramid of Djoser. This pyramid is not shaped exactly how we imagine pyramids. It does not have sloped smooth edges of a regular pyramid, but is mainly made of stacked sections.

Below we can see the pyramid of  Djoser. This served as a tomb for king Djoser back in 2700 BC. As you can see it does not have smooth edges, but it is made of almost stacked sections that go from a large base then decrease in size to get that almost pyramid shape.

While a watching the video on Egyptian pyramids I was interested in the way they figured out their work hours. In the video they had theses candles, and they burnt for a certain amount of time. If they worked until they were all burn out and used that means they worked the correct amount of time. If they stopped working before the candle burn itself out, it would have been considered that they did not work the correct amount of time. I like this because it showed that they were able to track some form of time even without clocks or even using the sun to tell the time of the day. I believe this idea is a bit more stress free. This is because with nowadays work spaces we almost always have a visible clock and workers constantly check it and moan and groan and just cant wait for the end of the day. The clock mocks them of how much time they have left until their day is over, so with the candle, you just work until it burns out. There is no real anticipation, that is unless you constantly look at it, at which you shouldn't be so you do not have the sense of anticipation and impatience like we do with modern day work spaces.

First Day Back

Today in class we watched a documentary about the famous architect Frank Gehry. In the documentary there was some interesting information about Frank. I thought it was interesting how Frank liked to work more with his hands than drawing. This was interesting to me because though making models is a very important step to designing a building, it is not a the first step. To me it seemed that Frank liked to jump to the second step and start to build models without an absolute idea in mind. He does not necessarily start with  the models, he almost always has some sort of sketch so he has vision of what the building will look like.

Below we can see on of Frank Gehry's sketches of one of the buildings he designed. This sketch is for Sagrera building in Barcelona. This building is also called the "The Bride".


Also today we found out about our large project, and oh is it large. In groups we have to think of and design a building that could be used as a sort of art performing center on Governor Island near New Jersey. The main idea for the projects is to make an art center that is easily built and can be easily demolished, but also incorporates the theme that is required. The theme for this year is a futuristic theme, what buildings would look like in the future.
When we think of the future and buildings, we think of gigantic flowing metallic technological structures. Though we cannot create a humongous structure on Governor Island, we can incorporate the ideas of technology and the metallic look.

Here is a good concept of futuristic buildings, a large flowing metal and glass and structurally complex building. This is kind of what I want to include into my idea. I want the metallic look, but also the flow of the buildings for and almost organic feel, like a cyborg almost, and cyborgs are a futuristic concept so it can work with this organic metallic idea.



Governors Island New York: