Gotta Love Powell's Books

I popped into Powell's Books the other day while I waited for a friend and I came upon a book that tells the history of Portland's South Park Blocks. Although I wasn't looking for this book consciously nor did I know it existed, in a way, it found me.

What's amazing about this book is that it has everything to do with my terminal thesis project site. Currently, its a surface parking lot and I haven't been able to find out much about the previous developments. The only trail left behind is this giant sycamore tree at the corner of sw 9th and main that's designated as a Portland Heritage Tree.

Native to Canada, Sylvester Farrel and his wife Honora came to Portland from San Francisco near 1867. Sylvester was a businessman who initially worked in the grain trade and then later took up interests in logging. He built an Italianate styled house which he later added another floor and with a gabled roof.

Sylvester Farrell was a distinguished man in Portland. He served as a city councilman, a member of the fire commission, and as a member of the state legislature.

About the tree, the story goes that Sylvester was given five of these Sycamore trees as a gift from US Senator from Oregon, J.N. Dolph. Only one was planted at the corner and the other four were said to be given away. The tree was designated as a city landmark in 1973.

The house was removed from the site in 1941 and become a gas station on the one condition that the tree remained.

It's exciting to learn so much about a place especially when nothing but a tree remains.

Getting Published

For the very first time I got my work published! Okay well kind of. For Architectural Programming Class, we wrote short research papers and then submitted them to Scholars Bank. For anyone interested, here is the URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1794/8043

Here is the abstract: A case study looking at the Music Department facility at Portland State University. The thesis states, at a college of music, rehearsal space is the most important type of space. The paper is derived from a 1.5 hour tour documented using notes and photographs.

enjoy

Post Review, review...

Day after my final studio review and all I feel is numbness.

I learn something from every studio. Each time I get up there and present my work I'm always nervous and just want to get it over with. I often feel disappointed and the event is always anti-climatic. I spend so much time trying to develop my ideas over the course of ten weeks and I never get to the point where I hit that home run at the final review.

This time around the reviewers were stiff and very critical. Getting feedback about my work is important to me and it helps me learn how to take my ideas further. Yesterday on the other hand was not helpful and really just felt like a bashing. It was if the reviewers were tired from the their days work and just didn't have the patients to explore my concept further. It didn't help that I printed at too small of a scale for a large presentation. I had a strong concept and presented my project well but the inability to read the details of my drawings became the failing point. The focus dwell ed on the scale of my drawings and never really moved on to talking about my design ideas.

If I could do it again, I would print my drawings at twice the size and show more of my process. I ran out of time so I didn't have nice perspective renderings which also became problematic to reviewers as they had to use their imagination to picture what I was showing in plan, section, elevation, and verbal description.

I get more from the process throughout the term than I do from my final reviews. Some terms I have very nice renderings but my building design is too simple. Or I spend all my time developing my program and how pieces work but can't get the renderings done. Some terms I have time to build a really nice physical model but the reviewers don't bother looking or talking about it. It's very frustrating to work so hard and not have a satisfying review.

With that said, its over and done with. The important thing for me is to take away the lessons learned and thoughtfully apply them to my future work.

Two more terms to go!

Fully Electric Roadster Car

I just read about a Company Called Tesla (NOT THE BAND)Motors who has been developing the first fully electric high performance sports car (U.S.). I wanted to talk about this because, it kick ass, and the article, NY Times, discussed how the company has run out of money from its initial investors and in order to develop a second generation of their concept in the form of a less expensive sedan model, they need help from the Government in the form of Tax payers money. Is this a good investment for us?

The fact that battery technology currently does not progress like computer technology increases the expense of developing electric cars. The chemistry of a lithium Ion battery does not allow you to cram more stored power in a smaller and smaller battery. Computer chips on the other hand, double in capacity and become cheaper to produce by the week. The NY Times article quoted Moore's Law (rule of thumb in the computer industry) which implies that costs drop by half every two years while transistors on integrated circuits double. If this were true for battery technology, several auto makers would have better electric options today.

There are some options on the market like the gas-electric hybrid car that somewhat reduce emissions and decrease demand for gasoline but the fact is we need alternatives that emit zero carbon dioxide and use energy that can be renewed. Period. If the tax payers are giving billions to wall street to go on half million dollar retreats then we should give some millions to this company or any company that seems like they have a realistic chance of pushing these technologies forward.

End of The Term

Wow! the term is almost over but it doesn't seem like its been 9+ weeks. I'm feeling concerned about these next two weeks though. I have sooooo much to do and my final review is this week! Design Studio is suppose to be the meat of my education but for this term, I feel like all my other classes have taken priority especially my thesis prep class.

My final review is this Wednesday evening. I know I don't have time to make steller renderings and build a professional looking model even if I stay up for the next three days straight...which I've done before but mainly because I took off one afternoon and drove up to Portland to see the final world cup championship at the Pioneer Courthouse Square after two days without sleep and then drove back down to Eugene to finish up for my final review the next morning. I was a mess....so my lesson learned...NOT WORTH IT!!!

This time around, I feel like I have a choice to focus my time on the displaying the important elements of my design and underlying concept to my project. I designed a pedestrian bridge-inhabited bridge that crosses the Willamette River connecting the two Salmon Streets. The bridge is different then the ones we're use to seeing here in Portland. To follow with how I've been describing the design all term, I would say it most resembles a necklace loosely strung across the water with an oval pendent, the gem which gently pulls at the necklace, curving the direction of the bridge path in response to the direction the river flows. The experience is to bring you close to the water and not only provide breathtaking views of the city as your traverse the river, but to create a place, a destination on the water.

Back to the stress part. I have a lot of drawings using AutoCAD and it takes time to get everything all the line weights just right and placed into a layout. Not to mention that we spent two weeks as a studio building a physical site model; I don't know if there is time to build my bridge to fit into the site model???

First things first, drawings and layout....all nighter models can be a decision made later.

"until the fat lady sings" as they say...

Music Inspiration

So I might be a little slowwwww to the ambient scene, but I just became aware of a band out of British Columbia called, Loscil.

The Song "Chinook" from Plume.
Very cool how the movements of the piece flow into one another. The old verse exits the new verse ever so subtle, just as it entered overlapping and then gently un-lapping. Very Nice!

Maybe this is a good analogy to the more plastic rhythms found in today's architectural rhythms?

Check it out if you haven't heard.

Enjoy!

Rhythm in Architecture

What does rhythm in architecture mean?

As found in music and dance, rhythm can create a feeling of sound and motion. But with music and dance, the sound or movement starts with silence or motionlessness and then becomes something you experience and then resolves to what is was before.

Rhythm is a time element based on movement. But architecture generally speaking doesn't move. In the idea of physical work. It is easy to see how sub-dividing the difficult labor into short regular intervals is less tiresome then to do it in one long stretch. Therefore, by creating some kind of rhythm, where regularity exists, where one gives rise to the next without conscious effort changing from one interval to the next, the work load is lightened.

Although architecture is static, we still experience a rhythm about it. Visually we follow patterns that although no sound or motion about its self occurs, we can follow it with our eyes or physically move past and through these spaces ourselves. Vertically, horizontally, as well as 3-dimensionally, architecture creates rhythm.

In the example of the terraced houses in London during the 18th century, The facades were subdivided by three bays with the entrance to one side. The patter visually created a triplet or waltz rhythm. As architecture progressed these rhythms became more complex and occurred on not just one level but differed from one level to another; as to create a composition of alternating rhythms as your eyes read both horizontally and vertically.

In the example of the Venetians and their four story homes. The rhythms alternated from floor to floor and the outdoor chimney would act similar to that of the vertical bar of a music score, keeping order over notes on the staff.

In the example of a cathedral, each bay alone has no meaning; it is only in their rhythmic relation to each other that they become something of meaning.

The rhythm in architecture is easy for one to experience and absorb. Often without any conscious effort, architectural rhythms allow the mind to be free to experience the more complex and adventurous elements of space. Rhythm is more then a construct of function. Rhythm in architecture creates the foundation for the visual and physical transformation one experiences within built space. Creating feelings of tension and mystery as seen in Gothic architecture or harmony and clarity as seen in Renaissance architecture. Furthermore, rhythm can create spatial sequencing; a series of individual spaces dynamically connected rhythmically to create the whole. If you were to take one space away from the series it would feel incomplete. Rhythm then creates feelings of completeness. Wholeness.

Today in architecture we have seen a change in rhythm from the rigid frontal style to a more plastic style. I will speak to this as I learn more. If anyone cares to make a comment on this topic feel free to respond to this blog or email me.

to be continued...