Architrave 22 by Architrave

U NI V ER SI T Y OF F LOR IDA COLLEGE OF DCP

2014 / 2015

ARCHITRAVE 22

Architrave is a non-profit publication that is funded in parts by the University of Florida Student Government through the Architecture College Council, the UF School of Architecture, and various sponsors and donors. To receive future issues, to submit work for publication, or to make a donation to Architrave, please contact us via e-mail at ufarchitrave@gmail.com. All rights reserved.

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DESIGN IS NOT

DESIGN IS

FROM THE EDITORS There is a common misconception in design that every project starts at a ‘beginning’ and concludes at an ‘end.’ Such a concept denies the true nature of design: a non-linear, collaborative, and crucially chaotic process. In reality, design begins amidst conversation. Objectives are refined through failure and examination. These conversations are the connective tissue between your 2:00 AM creative block and the diagram you pin-up the following morning. Within this connective tissue is where the true nature of our design lives. This publication seeks to dismantle the concept that anything exists in isolation, but rather suggests all ideas are interrelated. We aim to portray projects as they are naturally created: allied through a greater web of influence. Architrave 22 exposes this connective tissue using a series of ‘point clouds’ that express the relationships between design issues. We hope that through this exposition we are able to unveil the connectivity between work both within the University of Florida and within the global scale of design.

voice of a r chi t e c t ure

he roic s

CONTENT CLOUD

cre at i v e pr oce s s 50

92 9

1 02

r ol e of con t e x t 86

18 6

11 2

sus ta in a bil i t y 18 0

54 58

G od â&#x20AC;&#x2122; s e y e v ie w

182

0 12

11 8

re sil ie nce 11

74 10

176

11 18

148 12 6

inf or m at ion a r chi t e c t ure

128

8 36

14 14

142

150 190

cus t omi z at ion

166

174

152

162 16

17 8

ARCHITRAVE For the sake of your ingenuity and creative health, please do not seek this publication as a manual. Let it be an archive of a diverse body of work. Let it provoke questions of success, of improvement, of alternative approaches. If anything, peruse with underlying thoughts of

“HOW WOULD I THINK ABOUT THIS?” “HOW WOULD I DESIGN THIS?”

Because architecture has no bible. Long established definitions are subject to change. It is your responsibility to make your own.

IS NOT A BIBLE.

DANY IZQUIERDO

UF Architecture Building Atrium

BRE ROUSE

Design 07 Collaborative Model

MULTIPLE COLLABORATORS Architrave Submissions Event Exquisite Corpse

â&#x20AC;&#x153;the subordinate method of communicationâ&#x20AC;?

There is a very clear divide between writing and image as forms of communication in architecture. Though writing and image have evolved simultaneously, each developing as forms of communicative expression since the beginning of human kind, they have become completely distinct from one another and divergent in our society. This divide is especially apparent in the realm of design, where images provide us with the ability to communicate ideas and the graphics to express the creative process. Writing, which is generally the method everyone else uses to communicate, is often regarded as secondary in a field that is so heavily driven by image. There is irony in this hierarchy. Writing in architecture is regulated to make room for images, and is only used to expound any other relatable information about the architectural image at hand. Writing has become the subordinate method of communication used for design presentations, while it has always been the medium in which the profession has developed and progressed. What would architecture be without the writings, not images, of Vitruvius, Le Corbusier, Frampton, Koolhaas, among many others? And yet, we save it for last. We have â&#x20AC;&#x153;filler textâ&#x20AC;? that enables us to see the final design as if it were in the same language of architecture. But we know the truth - that these are two very separate languages that struggle to relate to each other and even more importantly, inform each other. It is with this awareness this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s issue comes to life. In the pages of Architrave 22, the writing is regulated into palatable bits of information. There are no titles to the writing because titles are superficial; they provide a meaningless reflection of what is actually there. Instead, as the reader, you will find callouts of the rolling conversation we, the writers, had. If interested, you have to dig in and around the pages. What you will find in the pages is not a description of the images around it, since there really is no need. Instead, you will find the continual discussions we have had on various topics. The use of writing and image are distinctly different, and we keep them so. Each writing topic is confused with another, surrounded but separated from images on the page. We encourage you to flip in, around, and through.

The organizational structure of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s edition of Architrave is the network. The network represents a multitude of ideas and their connections, visualizing hidden structures and hierarchies to show the ways in which ideas can be grouped. The network creates a framework for the scope of writing in Architrave 22. The ideas expressed in the network are representative of the extensive range of topics discussed in the field of architectural design and of the messiness of architectural thinking. No aspects of it are isolated, confined, or stable. Ideas within the field of architecture are dynamic, and this energy is inherent to the discourse that keeps it alive. We welcome these unconventional lines and ghosted associations and encourage the development of new relationships. Members of the writing team produced a list of topics representative of the rolling conversations that occurred during meetings and of the various essays that resulted. The topics deal with regional economics, smart cities, the unending use of the internet, but above all, the processes that affect and contribute to the built environment. Each member was then surveyed, answering the question, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Which topics do you perceive as being related?â&#x20AC;? Topics were then linked to each other based on their associations. These links were analyzed and the nature of the connections became more clear. Each topic is defined in the pages of this book and the links are visualized in the network itself and in the projects that follow. Architectural thinking branches to many levels and the network hopes to visualize this breadth, bringing attention to the way in which architectural ideas are guided together.

isolation

historic preservation

landscape

geography

vernacular ecology

setting

biomimicry

sustainability

moral responsib city planning function

recession

economics

modular architecture parametrics

societal responsefabrication

consumer culture globalization product design

crowdsourcing

3d printing

customization personalization

data computers internet millennial generation

automation

d.i.y.

graphic design anonymity

commitment issues privacy procrastination f.o.m.o.

bility

‘‘hero architect’’

the critic

voice of a building God's eye view phenomena

memory authenticity democratization dreams creative freedom

thoughtforms

n individuality subconscious creation

visual representation

interior design

Vessels

“BECAUSE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE CRAZY ENOUGH TO THINK THEY CAN CHANGE THE WORLD ARE THE ONES THAT DO.” - APPLE INC.

We are Architects. A tribe of people who have always been at the forefront of innovation and creation. We have inspired and brought hope to others through a profession that is essentially based upon the optimistic notion that what we do today will be built tomorrow.

integration

fall 2014 A seamless combination of complementary parts

walters

design 05 function

The idea that there is a specific use for a space

graham nichols

The word “Architect” is derived from the Greek arkhitekton , which translates to “first builder.” This implies that at the root of our profession, we are meant to be the first on a site, to head into the wild unknown. We come from a long line of the individuals who took those

first steps as well as the risks they felt were necessary. They headed towards their own “vision,” to achieve something that would push the horizon line of our collective sight. They were heroes; however, as of late, we have fallen from our once prestigious position in society.

unifying block identities

all that they did; not because they were superhuman but because they set their minds to it, and they worked for it. Making education the foundation is essential for re-establishing ourselves as meaningful and powerful members of society. We must expand our focus beyond

ourselves. We should not specialize or remain complacent with ignorance, but reach towards other disciplines beyond Architecture. Absorbing information from all aspects of life. Such an endeavor could only push us into a greater understanding of what a building needs to be

fall 2014 city planning

A political labyrinth

hero architect

“We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” - Winston Churchill

clark

design 07 setting

The environmental and cultural elements of a site that contribute to sense of place

michael nguyen agustina sklar

for itself, rather than the trendy “objects” that audiences demand. It is within our DNA to create. No different than the wolf that must hunt, as architects and as humans, we must build. We cannot forsake what makes our species unique. We must take it upon ourselves, as the young

and fresh, the foolish and optimistic, to begin to truly build again. To rise to the occasion. To run with ideas that may seem impossible or unachievable, but that we know to be right. To breach the atmosphere like meteors, brightly smashing through the established traditions and

Vertical Coexistence

As in the myth of Icarus, we let ego obfuscate reason. We have forsaken the rational and let it become radical without purpose or meaning. We have made ourselves inaccessible by ignoring humanity, context, and culture, creating forms without function and wasting space for the sake

of whatever happens to be the cleverest trick of the week. Even worse: some among us have become timid, conforming souls -- afraid to take chances and are only capable of repeating buildings of the past riddled with decoration and empty of value. We have allowed ourselves to

spring 2013 ďťż

gundersen density

Mass/volume, level of concentration/area occupied

design 04 modular

Dependent or independent subdivisions

ďťż bernard dioguardi

become overtaken by that which is cheap, popular, and easy. Either way, one thing is certain: we have lost our voice, and are the hushed versions of our ultimate potential. We must step down from Mount Olympus and return to Earth. We are not gods; we are Architects.

The Architects of yesterday were masters of many trades, they earned their reputation through virtuosity in not only the design of buildings, but also in their deep knowledge of science, math, history, art, and cultures. They were the Vitruvian ideal, individuals gifted in

futon desk

rules that hold us in the night of ignorance. Let us ignite the fire within all of us; to illuminate like ten thousand suns, a beacon of hope for fellow man in the dark and chaotic world we dwell in. Now is our time. We are at a point in history where we are straddling a line between

two sides: we can either take Architecture to new heights and new innovations, or we can let its potential for the future fade away. The fate of the profession ultimately lies with us. We have the power to bring beauty and meaning, clarity and logic, not only to the world we live

fall 2014 customization

Personalizing; specifically designing for a purpose or audience

d.i.y

Either inventive or poor; seeking satisfaction outside the consumer culture; hacking the products of industrial society

belton

furniture design subconscious creation

Intuitive re-expression

ďťż kalob morris

in, but to the worlds within each of us too. Is it not our duty to keep up the long tradition of pushing for what is eloquent and original? Is it not within our very human nature to construct and invent? Is it not the time for the heroes to finally return? Consider this a call for those

with a champion within their souls to rise. To the first builders, and to those who desire to change the way things are. This is the call to those who are ready to bring forth a new era of Architecture the likes of which no one could have possibly dreamed of before.

UP FRACTION

A separation; filter; method of giving logic to chaos

compartmentalization

A representation of truth and integrity

authenticity

katelynn smith bender

graham nichols gundersen

chad fisher lisa huang

arjeta boshti gundersen

Sam Sidersky VIA Spring Vicenza, Italy

Pine View

“If architecture is to recover from its lost voice, what language is it to speak?” - Karsten Harries

To be an architect in today’s day and age is to be a designer of the built environment. Architects are often separate in profession from interior designers, landscape architects, urban planners and engineers. This did not always used to be the case; architects were previously involved

fall 2014 vernacular

What seems right in place; design rooted in context using the materials found on site; simple and common

ecology

Study of nested systems that make up the Earth; relationship between organisms and their environment

kohen

design 05 landscape

Visible features as far as the eye can see

ďťż ana cordero

in every aspect of architectural design, interior design, and urban planning. This changed over time, specifically during the 1930s and 40s, in which cookie-cutter houses and fast-paced modulation became societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s go to answer to the need for development. It became quantity over

quality, and can be remembered as the age in which the voice of architecture became muffled. Architecture, as we learn in school, relates to many disciplines and corresponds to many aspects of society. Architecture is the sum of everything we experience in its physical and

Culinary Coyotes

â&#x20AC;&#x153;If architecture is a language, we are interested in how this language is pronounced, its intentions,â&#x20AC;? - Alberto Viega

emotional form. The understanding of architecture to students and professionals within the field are different than to those who are not educated on the design of the built environment. Consequently, it has become a goal that the voice of architecture should be described

spring 2014 landscape

“A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines.” -Frank Lloyd Wright

memory

Revisiting a past experience

clark

grad 2 moral responsibility

Imperative to consider humanity in design (anthropocentric view)

michael garcia nicole paul

as “universal.” The ability to clearly communicate an idea to anyone, regardless of their understanding of architectural design, is key to winning competitions in society today. Voice in architecture is much like voice in writing. A specific tonality is implied through the detail-

ing elements of a space. These elements can provoke certain psychological feelings tied to a past nostalgic experience that link to subconscious creation. Architects today are striving to pinpoint these feelings and convert them into built space. The architect takes on the

Urban Paradox

challenge of amplifying the song of our inner soul and liberating our internal melody in coexistence with the rest of the world. Architecture can mend the gap between cultures and the environment, between past and present, and between private and public.

Architecture has all the potential for fixing the problem and bringing the tone of voice and feeling back into building. According to Maya Lin, architecture should raise its voice, while the architect remains silent and as a background to the work. The work should speak for

spring 2014 democratization

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” - Henry Ford

creative freedom

Trusting one’s personal process; uncertainty and ambiguity; doubt can be heroic

walters

design 06 voice of a building

Quiet confidence; ranges between a whisper and a shout

alexis hyman

itself; the ideas should come through loud and clear. “Certainly, it is hard to think of which other artistic discipline has proven quite so susceptible to the promptings of the written word. Where in the history of painting, or of cinema, or of opera is the manifesto that has exerted

that could be claimed for, let’s say, Le Corbusier’s Vers une Architecture?” - Ellis Woodman, forward in “The Other Tradition of Modern Architecture” by Colin St. John Wilson

Interception of Assemblies

fabrication

A series of time lapse images in various cadences

memory

Your voice, your hopes; in a world with so many people in it, who are you?

individuality

The realization of design through machinery

fall 2013

bender

design 03

ďťż camila jaramillo

PARAMETRIC DESIGN

Algorithmic thinking, rules, limits, bounds

parametrics

Surface; screen; the living edge from the inside to out

facade

A continuous set parameters for structure; a framework

modular

cori snyder kuenstle

alexandra marks kuenstle

jamie marchini kuenstle

martin fernandez perez

Elizabeth Morales Design 07 New York, New York

The Mechanistic City

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Architecture, as an artform driven by creativity, is process-oriented design rather than goal-oriented.â&#x20AC;? - halprin

organism

The living machine, functional parts that constitute a larger whole

fall 2014

gundersen evolving

Transformation over time due to external and internal pressures

design 07 setabolism

A mid-century architectural movement centered in Japan relating to megastructures and organic growth, it was famously documented by Rem Koolhass in the book Project Japan

nick johnson john fechtel

The field of architecture is unique in the way it permits individuals to discover and develop creative processes of their own. The way in which an architect works is strictly theirs; the design process itself becomes an expression of thought and a development of an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ideas.

While architecture itself is often made to be recognized and experienced by the public, the path an architect takes throughout the creative process is often very personal and internalized. At the root of it all, designers must find solutions to complex problems and configure ways

Adaptable Mechanism

to organize them thoughtfully, bringing meaning to the final form and producing an object of synthetic beauty. Sharing the process in which something is created is just as important as the resulting product, as it holds the meaning and intention of the designer.

The challenge faced by designers, or by people in any field of art for that matter, is that there is no way to structure the creative process. There is no methodology to the creative process and to producing meaningful designs, and it is therefore difficult to clearly portray

fall 2014 function

Serving a larger purpose

automation

Accelerating speed of “progress” while de-skilling an entire generation

tilson

design 05 transcription

Registers of change; the process of changing from medium one to the other

keshen liu

the process to others. As explained by Vittorio Gregotti in his book “Inside Architecture,” the design process involves “descent into a netherworld,” one composed of memory, symbols, and human needs, which are unexpressed through any methodology but function at the very basis

of architectural design. How can we portray the unseen, the elements of the creative process that lead us to the final product, in order to communicate the ideas that are embedded in the design? To reveal the creative process means to expose the meaning behind a design.

Ruins

Landscape architect Lawrence Halprin explored the creative processes of various forms of art in an effort to discover what energizes the creative process and to reveal how it functions. The word â&#x20AC;&#x153;scoreâ&#x20AC;? is most commonly used to describe a music score, which uses symbols to

communicate the process in which a song will result, but Halprin re-interprets this word and applies it to any type of creative process, including the choreography of dance, the dialogue of a play, the development of urban systems, as well as the design of architecture. He general-

fall 2014 evolving

Changes happening so gradually that it is almost unnoticeable

commitment issues

Common to our generation

zajac

design 03 landscape

Everything is held within it

anastasiya zolotukhin

ized the concept as being “a way of describing all such processes in all of the arts, of making process visible and thereby designing with process through scores.” A score records the process one must take to get to the final result and enables the creative process to further develop.

“The essential quality of a score is that it is a system of symbols which can convey, or guide, or control, the interactions between elements such as space, time, rhythm, and sequences, people and their activities and the combinations which result from these.” - Halprin

Vertical Wooden Vessel

“I think it’s boring to communicate anything that doesn’t exist. To communicate in a hyper realistic way, it’s boring.” - Juacaba

In the field of architecture, scores graphically show elements of the design that are important to the function of the building and the meaning behind it. Construction drawings can be seen as architectural scores, which communicate the construction process of the building

spring 2014 assembly

Coming together from separation into cooperation

framework

Creating a network that you can utilize

perez

design 08 isolation

Separated by a distance, by a room, by a wall

ďťż martin fernandez

as well as the structural systems within it. The issue that arises with using construction documents as the score for a building is that it is a very controlled approach. The construction drawings are â&#x20AC;&#x153;goal-oriented,â&#x20AC;? meaning they are solely focused on the final result of the proj-

ect rather than the process that has lead up to it. Diagrammatic methods of representation can more successfully and freely express the creative process of design and relay the meaning behind it. Diagrams, a form of score, aid the viewer in understanding the concept behind a design.

Visionary Manifestation

One of the most important aspects of architectural design comes from the human occupation of a building. It is the interaction between the occupant and the structure that brings life to the architecture. This end result of the design cannot be sufficiently portrayed in construction

documents; technical drawings are, of course, important to the conception of a building, but cannot portray the aspects of a building that bring life to a space. There has to be a way to show the elements of space, time, people and activity. The challenge is then to develop a

fall 2014 facade

The face that can express the happenings within

function

Purpose and Usefulness, Firmitas & Utilitas from Vitruvius

tilson

design 05 landscape

An endless opportunity

patrick weber

language of communicating the creative process that alludes to the idea of designed spaces without it being hyper-realistic. Hyper-realism halts creativity; conceptual design techniques have the potential to become a starting point for furthering the creative process. Relying on re-

alistic methods of representation also distracts the viewer from what may be most important in a space. “What’s important? To communicate [light] or to communicate the color of the beams or the women inside with the jacket?” - Carla Juacaba, Architrave Interview 2014

NAPKIN SKETCHES

orientation

Subliminal impressions of space

subconscious vreation

A divisor and a seam; permeable boundary

edge

Your relation to space; the body as a node

anh tran

rachel meyers

dionicio ichillumpa

adiel benitez

Michelle Hook East Asia Program Danxia, China Beijing, China

perry kulper

November 10, 2014 - With AZ, X, GH, MAM, ZW, and JV X: So we have two people on the writing team that aren’t architecture students, they are majoring in sustainability and the built environment. We’re trying to make things more interdisciplinary, and it seems like that’s a general consensus within the field of architecture. Why does it seem like the interdisciplinary is now more important? Is it because we have become more aware of it? Kulper: That’s a very interesting question and I think it’s linked to post industrial thinking and developments where specialization and instrumentality and autonomy of disciplines… things get siloed. I just think that with the broadening of global interconnectedness, there are variables, a kind of calculus of variables that are so broad now that I don’t think we can think typologically and in siloed ways at all to participate and contribute culturally. I just don’t think it’s possible. I think architecture, to be honest, is just too narrow with respect to the relational conditions that we find globally, and even locally now. I’ll argue that it’s a hundred year old educational model that hasn’t really been rebuilt or restructured in a long time. So I’m a champion for thinking across the borders and breaking them down.

MAM: What do you think of the medium of architectural representation as it’s being taught? Do you think that there is a push towards broadening this unconventional form of architectural representation, and where do you feel the field is going? Kulper: That’s a super nice question. In the schools of architecture that I’ve been around, when it’s taught it tends to be taught, I would say, relatively conventionally in terms of the typologies of drawing representation. Softwares have opened it up a little bit, animations and the ability to...let’s say, to put alternative worlds together that are quite difficult to draw in terms of conventional typological drawings and such. So those are things that are often exposed in programs, but I don’t know how often they are contextualized in the history of ideas and how deep the structure of it is. Like when you turn the machine on, there’s stuff inside the machine there that’s absolutely having it’s way with us and as educators we don’t actually expose the mechanics, the structure of software biases and preferences and where they come from and so on. X: Even in software, they have a term for it, software architecture. It’s the internal workings and the internal structures of these softwares, the deep lined formulas and theories behind it that we don’t really know about, because…

“I DON’T THINk don’t take

Kulper: I mean the ethics; simply the ethics of software would be quite interesting. Not to pick on software, because we could talk about that for all forms of visualization. I just don’t think as educators we’re really… we’re not laying the grounds, we’re not saying, “these are ways in which schools can be structured.” There are various ways to do

the capture, storage, and manipulation of the visual form of something

interview for architrave imaging

forming visual images and the act or process of understanding a concept visually

fall 2014 visualization

conveying ideas through image; visually portraying something

ann arbor, michigan united states representation

perry kulper

that. These are the values attached to those ways, there are lots of ways to work, there are lots of values, and there are lots of techniques, even at the level of representation. I don’t know very many people who are just laying that out as a foreground for students and for faculty, for that matter. So it continues the specialization because you turn the machine on and you’re inside of it, whether you want to be or not. If you don’t know it, and know what it discusses and doesn’t, you’re 70% finished with the work. I think it can be very important; representation, visualization, and imaging-- I don’t like to say “drawing” because it tends to peg it down.

Kulper: Oh yes. It’s enhanced by the review process, and lots of things. [General hums of agreement] Kulper: I’m not...I don’t think I’m a cynic, but I don’t take things for default. I’m interested in trying to say, well, if these are the inheritances- these are the canonical, typological, equipment, tools, conversations...I’m asking where they come from and what’s inside of them or where their bias is and so on...and I mean that’s what we do. Representation is - we know Robin Evans says that architects don’t build buildings,

I’M A CYNIC, BUT I things for default” they make drawings of them. We don’t lay that stuff bare as just fundamental to an education; still, it puzzles me, to be honest. That’s what we do, and I mean some schools do it better than others in terms of opening the conversations up, but I get worried that we’re not.

JV: And even the way it’s set up can have an influence on the work -- you know the sort of tools and where they’re placed, it completely influences the work.

MAM: Do you think there is anything particular to be gained from laying bare that process? I mean, I’m not an architect, so I haven’t really seen most of that software Kulper: Well I’m not just talking about software. I’m talking about when we ask students out the gate to please make a plan of something that we’ve given you a program for, please make a plan. That in and of itself is a radical question to ask, but then to not unfold the plan, and what the plan discusses and how it does, and who recognizes it, and who participates in the things that are structured in a plan. You may do that here, but it’s not very common in schools of architecture. So to ask people to do something and not build a framework...It just seems curious to me. And again, I’m probably not a lone ranger. There are a handful of people, I think, that are interested in these kinds of questions. X: That’s also because some schools are structured in a way that you learn to make a plan so that you can make a plan in your job.

Kulper: Yeah, but learning to make a plan and learning what the plan structures, those are normally different things. You learn to make plans in school, and I was sort of taught, you know, how you do that, but what the deep structure is, how to read and how to X-ray a plan and actually understand what’s being structured there, that could be, sometimes, radically different from learning to make a plan. MAM: Do you think that also has to do with how people who are going to be using this building are going to interact with the plan? Kulper: There’s no question. All the things are implicated as something that’s seemingly simple or benign as a plan- the politics, the social structure, the etymological definition...there’s just a lot of stuff in there. I mean I’m pointing the finger at myself as much as anyone, and I’m not blaming people, I’m just always puzzled that we don’t lay those things bare and say that this is what these things are about, this is where they come from, these are the values that they possess; these are the kinds of questions that you can ask. It’s one of the reasons that I started to develop a certain kind of drawing, somewhere 18 years ago, because I was thinking of a range of things and I said to myself, well I can’t make a plan of that, I don’t know how to do that. ZW: It seems like our take on that, at least in our generation or our academic model, we make a drawing based on what we think it should be, based on what our preconceived notion of what it is, whereas maybe the approaches that you were taking originally, in your drawings, are more speculative. What would you encourage us to do if we feel that we are “stuck in the computer,” stuck working in the computer? If we feel that we are not opening our range of options of how to do something because we think the computer is the only way? Kulper: That’s a really good question. If we use an example: if I ask you to design a foyer in a building, the entry space in a lobby, let’s say. By and large, because of the inheritances, you’re 70 percent finished with that project; there are elevators, there’s probably a stair somewhere, an information desk, it’s probably two or more stories high, and so on. So similarly, with something like software, you turn it on it does things that

interview for architrave

fall 2014 software

computer instructions or data; anything that can be stored electronically

ann arbor, michigan united states framework

the fundamental structure within a system or concept

perry kulper

it’s trained to do and that other people have already decided. Normally architects don’t primarily design software, sometimes there are plug-ins and so on that architects get involved in, but it is usually designed by someone else, who is usually driven by profit margins. And they’re not bad people; they’re good people, they’re interesting people, they’re invested in what they are doing, but they are making decisions without taking into account, let’s say, the full possibilities of what architecture might want to care for. So the easiest way to answer that question is to talk about what, rather than naming things, what’s being structured by something. So if you’re interested in working on something you’ll often have a program, you’re working on a program...and that program by inheritance driven by functional mandates and adjacencies, by and large.

So for example, if you were asked to design a house, normally the discussions might have to do with views and how you would organize the rooms and spaces that are given

“What does the pencil structure?” to you: bedrooms and bathrooms and a garage and so on. But for me, I start to ask questions about the bedroom structuring things to do with the privatization of sexuality, sickness, houses to do with defecation, hygienic practices, and so we start to ask questions that are more in that ilk rather than, “where is the bedroom in relationship to the bathroom?” Which you can also ask, but similarly to ask about what’s being structured or what kinds of interests structure something, often allows one to move outside of the inherited maybe strangleholds of typology. So that’s the easiest way for me, when I teach, to exceed the naming convention of something and say, well what’s being structured? I like this example quite a lot because it’s tangible: so I just hold a pencil in my hand and I’ll ask “what does the pencil structure?” People sort of have a quizzical look for a while, and I’ll say, “deforestation, the history of writing, mass production, censorship,” and so on. Those things are capacities, in my world, they’re capacities that pencil has,

so similarly, to name it a “pencil” is to probably limit it. And it’s not even in my hand yet. So when I’m starting to talk about those kinds of things, which are structure or capacity within the pencil, similarly then, software questions or visualization conventions, ask what’s being structured or how to structure it. We talk about relational thinking, which is essentially what I say that I try to teach. And that has to do with the type, duration and magnitude of relationships. So when you start to ask questions that way, then architecture is not only limited to the things which it conventionally inherits. So I’ll say to a student, you may make a wall out of ten thousand live flamingos, in terms of relational thinking. Now people may often call me an artist; I care less about distinctions of art and architecture and other disciplines, I care about relational thinking and therefore that’s where the interdisciplinary and cross disciplinary thinking immediately takes hold. It’s not even an interesting discussion to talk about the difference, for me, between art and architecture, for example. Relational thinking gets me out of that pickle because we may work on things that now are crossing boundaries, just because you’re working/thinking relationally in temporal structures. For me I’m super interested in tailoring ways in which we work with respect to what we work on, and in which phase of a piece of work we are working.

X: So it’s got to be about how you structure the questions. Kulper: Sure, because for me the questions, doesn’t matter if it’s a history course, or a design studio, or a drawing seminar, the nature of the questions may well change, necessarily, as you understand more or less about what you want to be up to. ZW: I think the question kind of derives from, you know a lot of our work seems to rely on the end product that comes out of a plotter. After seeing your work in the gallery it seems that there are way better options than to just rely on what the plotter can produce. I think it stems from that question. Kulper: The way you work on something and the way you put something into the world may not be the same. In schools of architecture they normally are. There’s a natural progression or succession, so that’s part of a way into that that it may not be in. For example, the rendering, where eye level is at about 5’-4” and it’s two o’clock in the afternoon, the sun is shining, and there are Photoshopped people populating the center rendering. In terms of what the work is about, and the degrees to which the way you work on it should be present in the ways in which you put it into the world, meaning in a review or sharing it with someone. Those are debatable questions. I was talking to one of my thesis students the other day and his interests are very dense, and I said you could do a thesis that has to do with taking on the nature of architectural rendering, you could take the architectural rendering and do an incredibly serious probably poignant and impactful thesis to do with the architectural rendering, and then beginning to unravel that, figure out what the stakes are, who’s in and what questions are actually on the table, which ones are being occluded from the table?

interview for architrave method for adding surface detail, texture, or color to a 3-d model or computer graphic

fall 2014 texture mapping

the process of generating an image that contains descriptive information such as geometry, light, and shadow

ann arbor, michigan united states rendering

perry kulper

MAM: ...and by who? Kulper: Oh, absolutely. Ethics, politics, political structure, and the communicative structure of renderings, it’s huge. A simple example: how many renderings do you see where there’s a blackout or a radical ice storm in the rendering. The weather may change, there may be some shadows in the sky and they have some clouds in it, but in terms of just the temporal existence of architecture, just at a base level, I’m not saying put snow on things, I’m not saying decorate it with snow, but I’m saying there are a series of embedded texture mappings. When you get involved in that command, I don’t know how much we are actually understanding about the roles the materiality plays in architecture.

Kulper: Not even your own. I mean it’s set up in Rhino or whatever you’re rendering in. Yes, to some degree, you do bring that to the table, obviously, you can make choices. There are lots of choices in software. Most of them already predicted in terms of knowing what the end game is meant to be, and those steps are already figured out. It’s not that they’re bad, I don’t have anything against plans or renderings, I just think they’re closed systems. They’re not letting us practice the stuff like material structure. We make material choices, but I don’t think we understand the roles and capacities of material; the organizational, iconographic, sensing…there are just a lot of levels in which materials can participate. Texture mapping is probably not that. There’s nothing wrong with texture mapping, but it’s important to know when to deploy it and when there are other kinds of options, which is essentially the question, do we always? Yeah we always, because in studios, by and large, people are asked to make an eighth inch model or if everyone needs to have renderings and a plan and a section, maybe, that’s a perfectly reasonable way to teach, but not all work is about sectional structuring or about rendering, the work’s not about that, and so it may be betraying what you’re up to, to be asked to put it on the wall in a particular way. I don’t know what it’s like here, I mean at Michigan we have quite open discussions and culture of choice, not everybody has to do that, that, and that. There are some places where that’s the case.

X: Maybe we’re just understanding, we’re just referencing, our own visual library that we have of, “this is what a rendering looks like, so I should probably make it look like this.”

AZ: Looking at your work in the gallery, you seem to have a very distinct style, or method of representation. How do you think, especially in this age of digital representation, how do you think students and individuals can develop and find authenticity? Kulper: I think there are base logics and base considerations for things like representation and methodologies and a range and scope of things that you can care for. I’ll campaign probably until I hang my boots up for dexterity and versatility to say, well I need to know that I can be Bugs Bunny today, but I might need to be Leonardo da Vinci crossed with Lady Gaga tomorrow. The world is changing so fast and I think we have to be super dexterous. I think architecture is just weighted, stylized. Most good architects have particular aesthetic consistencies. They’re not jumpy. Duchamp is jumpy, relative to architects. If you think about the ones that you respect, they’re not necessarily predictable, but they’re within a range; they’re not doing radically different work project to project. So to answer the question, most of the things out there, they’re just more convenient than they are thoughtful. They’re background, they’re not active. Because, for instance, I’m using similar techniques, it means that those ways of working are benign in the work. I’m interested in it being more active, in the ways in which you work to be much more active, not just trying to prove ideas by techniques, but that the ways in which you work, actually construct, they have constituency, they have potential in terms of what the work is. Lately I’ve been interested in digital commands, or digital things, like file size, RGB in relation to CMYK; I’m interested in the degrees to which those might be spatialized or have spatial capacity, so that also betrays the stylization.

“architects are cultural agents” X: How do you know when something has spatial capacity? Kulper: That’s a little bit like Wallace Steven’s, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” do you know the poem? I think it’s a beautiful poem. Each stanza talks about a blackbird, but talks about it in a radically different way. So each stanza is not a physical description, something might have to do with the way the eye is structured in the blackbird or the sounds that it makes, those aren’t accurate but you get the feel for it, so when I’m working, I make decisions a little bit like that. I make decisions from a lot of different points of view with respect to when something has spatial capacity. So from a cultural perspective, from a disciplinary perspective, from an institutional perspective, from a level of cultural structure, the history of ideas, there are lots of things that I mobilize to try to figure out whether something is relevant to work on and has spatial capacity. So that seems like a really general question, but I probably

interview for architrave involving or having the nature of space

fall 2014 spatiality

the ability to easily move from one task to another

ann arbor, michigan united states dexterity

perry kulper

look at things from thirteen distinct perspectives with respect to what I talk about is the “mechanics of engagement,” or the “calculus of relationships.” X: So what do you mean by cultural structure? Kulper: I believe fundamentally that architects are cultural agents; generous cultural agents. That has to be our mandate. So culture is, for me, culture is the structure by which we navigate a world collectively. Cultural structure is the capacity to be in the world, and that is experienced collectively and individually. MAM: So you believe that there is a certain moral imperative for architecture?

MAM: I know you were saying before that you didn’t want to go into the differences between art and architecture, but we were just talking about the fact that art is typically used to illuminate social issues, but architecture actually has a hand in social issues. Kulper: Well it’s a nice observation because I have looked at and will continue to look at art, whether that’s theater or writing or painting, because I think art just has a much broader capacity to touch a broader range of cultural structure. Architecture is quite narrow, to be honest, in terms of its ability to discuss things that might be on the table in a situation. It just doesn’t do that well. Specialization, typology, the role of program, softwares we use; there are lots of things that we use, it’s just not very...I mean I’m an architect, I think it’s the most interesting discipline, by some, in the world. Not to demean other disciplines, I think it’s by far the most interesting discipline because we can discuss everyday practices, religion, mathematics, and a film clip that you’re inter-

Kulper: I mean for me, the bottom line is an ethical and participatory bottom line. When I work, I work on things that interest me and that I think are relevant, and I try to figure out, in terms of the situation in which I’m working, whether the situation is the Book of Genesis, or a manifesto, or the site across the street, or a drawing. I try to figure out what’s appropriate within that situation to work on. And the bottom line is that I try to make ethical decisions outside of personal interests or sensibility to try to say “well what in terms of cultural durability and contribution, what are the relevant things to get into this piece of work?” So yes, I absolutely think that moral and ethical imperatives are critical. That’s the bottom line, for me, the holy grail of decision-making. Who cares and why is this stuff relevant? And what’s appropriate to take up in a piece of work. There are lots of things that can be discussed spatially in terms of a generosity to culture. So yeah, I do believe that. I believe in ethics and moral position, absolutely.

ested in in the same sentence, on the one hand. On the other hand, it’s narrow, and this may sound demeaning, but in many ways it’s a constipated discipline, a profession, let’s say. Discipline is more generous or broader in terms of what can be discussed. AZ: Do you think that’s because of the scale architects work at in comparison to a lot of artists? Kulper: Yeah, it’s a super good question because generally I think, as the scale of work gets bigger for architects, I personally think it tends to get less interesting because there are other systems and requirements. I think that’s personally what happens, yes, but do I think that that needs to happen that way? No…no. I mean there is also a radical difference between drawing something and building something. To do a decent building, to get a decent building built, it’s remarkable. To get a really good building, with all the parameters, I mean there’s a whole lot of stuff, as you well know. From codes, and clients, and schedules, there are just a lot of parameters. The drawing, you know, it’s a forgiving medium. But no, I don’t think we have to give it up.

X: But I think there’s just a big gravity that architecture and built work has that sometimes it’s hard to have that dexterity in built structures. Because they take a while to be made… Kulper: Oh no question. But I don’t look at those as downsides, those are just parameters in a calculus of relationships. I always believe that if you want to structure things, there are lots of ways to structure things, so even though there’s the duration of the construction process and so on, there are ways to structure interests in pieces of work. It just depends on how you deal with things relationally. For example, we think about how things are going to get built, normally, at a kind of technical level,

“It’s possible to conceptualize the structure of air with potential.”

interview for architrave the process of forming a concept or idea of something

fall 2014 conceptualize

the process of understanding how things relate to and influence one another

ann arbor, michigan united states systems thinking

perry kulper

rather than saying that the construction logic participates in the conceptualization of the work. So we shut things down even at the level of building, there are things that get clipped even before they have a chance to breathe because they’re not offered a position in the work. Like the HVAC system, for instance. Normally, the way classes are taught, you figure out how to size the ducts… X: Instead of sizing the room…

Kulper: Those are super nice questions. You guys seem like you’re… X: Thinking about something? [laughs] Kulper: You seem like you’re paying attention, I mean they’re…I wouldn’t say they’re obvious questions, maybe they are, but also you can tell that they’re loaded, that you’re bothered by things, that things underneath your skins and you’re trying to get at stuff. You’re not passive about it. That’s quite nice, it’s nice to spend the time with you all.

Perry Kulper, an architect and associate professor of architecture at the University of Michigan, lectured “Cryptic Ciphers” and displayed his drawings at the University of Florida Fall of 2014. Prior to his arrival at the University of Michigan he was a SCIArc faculty member for 16 years as well as in visiting positions at the University of Pennsylvania and Arizona State University.

Kulper: Not sizing the room, but just saying that that has a conceptualization, that it’s possible to conceptualize the structure of air with potential. It doesn’t have to be relegated to opening up graphic standards and such. Airflow...we accept it as a default condition. And that’s why we take systems classes. They’re isolate. A structure is normally taught at the level of how you hold the building up. Structure can play lots of roles, and one of them is gravity. But there are also all kinds of ways that…that’s the typological stuff again. The specialization, systems thinking, hermetically sealed buildings…but they’re conceptually hermetic as well. The constituent parts that make up spatiality don’t have equal seats at the table. The program organization has a much more important seat than the air conditioning logics. That may be appropriate in some cases, but I don’t think we weigh things, also, to say in this piece of work, these things need to have more important weight than here, so that’s a part of the discussion as well.

NYU Superblock

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The most important thing for us is the aerial view, a fuller experience of space, because it will change all past ideas.â&#x20AC;? - Moholy Nagy

city planning

The largest spatio-temporal scale of design

fall 2014

mcglothlin poiesis

An action that transforms

design 07 creative freedom

The freedom to succeed or fail

zachary wignall andres camacho

Airplanes and Architects. Le Corbusier explored this relationship in his 1935 book, Aircraft, stating “...there is the discovery of the aerial images, the bird’s eye view as a ‘new function added to our senses, a new standard of measurement, a new basis of sensation.’”

Human flight became possible in the late eighteenth century and revolutionized the way we experience the environment around us. The view from above, made possible by the invention of the airplane, has given architects an entirely new way to explore spatial relationships.

Vertiginous Datum

Whether these relationships relate to the aesthetics of a built form or the existing surrounding context, they are dictating architectural representation. We are leaving behind the human scale and moving towards a larger idea viewed from above, also known as Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eye view.

At Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eye level, the horizon becomes part of the built world as it surrounds architectural forms and grounds these forms into a context. As architects, it is our responsibility to design with respect to the surrounding context on a site. We can relate to this context on a human

fall 2014 individuality

Personally constructed

elements

That which makes up something larger

zajac

design 03 parallelism

Corresponding in some way

ďťż marisa waddle

scale at ground level, but very rarely do we get to experience it from the sky. Architects begin at a human scale and zoom out to reach a design that is aesthetically pleasing from 1,000 feet in the air. By the time we reach this level, the design is based on the beauty of the exteri-

or instead of human experience. How else are we supposed to show all of the hard work and detail we put into our digital models? We have designed a building for Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eyes and have compromised all that is human.

Fusion

We can assume that Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eye view originated with the discovery of the perspective drawing because it is used to represent three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional plane. The perspectival view is a method of representation that relies on the emergence of a horizon to

capture the architectural space. The discovery of the perspective, which occurred throughout the Renaissance in Florence, created an entirely new concept of space.[1] Although this movement took root in many artistic representations during that era, it created a spatial vision that

spring 2014 sky

*See James Turrell

privacy

Every glass house needs curtains

wang

design 04 isolation

The state of being separated

ďťż anh tran

was not true to reality. These concepts have evolved over time with the development of new technologies that skew and distort space, creating the problematic nature of representation today. Creating an image of the horizon aimed at perfection can be applied to the use of digital

technologies in design. Digital programs allow architects to create an image of a built form that the human eye may never experience. This includes Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eye view, which relies on a relationship to the context solely based on aesthetics. This aerial view depends on the geometries

Topiary

â&#x20AC;&#x153;For a machine is operated by a man, it depends entirely on the movements of its user; it should therefore be made to the human scale.â&#x20AC;? - Le Corb

of the space if it is to truly represent the human experience in perspective. With the applications of technological advancements, these geometries become another design aspect. The use of digital technologies has redefined the way we represent architectural space as it occurs in reality,

memory

fall 2014 Each time you recall, you remember more of the memory itself and not of the actual event that occurred

kohen

design 05 Ranges from the knee-jerk reaction to the considered opinion but it is always sharable online

society's response

ďťż camila jaramillo

resulting in an image that is far from reality. Architecture is distorted with digital technologies that create a false representation of how a built form is truly situated within a context. It is our responsibility as architects to represent our design as they would appear in reality. We

may need to erase the idea of creating one overall render that speaks for the design if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s at Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eye level. Instead of removing ourselves entirely from architecture at a human scale, we need to zoom back in to our designs and analyze the realities of a space as if we were

Enigmas of Surface and Depth

standing in it. The purpose of architecture is to shape spaces for the human, not to create an aesthetically pleasing aerial view. Take Brasilia as an example. In 1956, Oscar Niemeyer was approached by Juscelino Kubitschek, the president of Brazil at the time, to design a new

capital for the country. Niemeyer organized a competition for a design of the city and selected a project by Lucio Costa, a Brazilian architect and urban planner. Niemeyer was set to design the buildings, while Costa designed the layout of the city. â&#x20AC;&#x153;From the air, the city

fall 2014 consumer culture

“Money is the anthem of success.” - Lana del Rey

thoughtforms

The act of creating what you are thinking

perez

design 07 subconscious creation

Recalling and restructuring anything you’ve experienced

katelynn smith alyssa white

was designed like an airplane - this was an era in love with air travel. The wings were where Brasilia’s bureaucrats would live, the fuselage where they would work in sparkling new ministries.” Brasilia was designed at God’s eye level as the ultimate modernist city. Although it’s

spatial beauty can be appreciated from above, it does not function as a livable city. Real human needs were disregarded in the designs. We have continued this pattern in our designs today by relying on the view that God can see instead of what we can see. “We desire to change some

Savannah Culinary Institute

thing in the present world. For the birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s-eye view has enabled us to see our cities and the countries which surrounds them, and the sight is not good. We knew quite well that our cities were steeped in indignities abhorrent to men; that our cities made martyrs of men, and that

we are deprived of â&#x20AC;&#x153; essential delights,â&#x20AC;? huddled and shut up in tanneries which at every day and at every hour are undermining us, aging us, destroying the species, and making us serfs. The airplane is an indictment. It indicts the city. It indicts those who control the city. By means

spring 2015 repetition

Unorganized rhythm, constant, static part of a rhythm

function

A means to an end

maze

design 06 setting

Used in narrative and often partially imagined, wishful, or fictional

ďťż chad fisher

of the airplane, we now have proof, recorded on the photographic plate, of the Tightness of our desire to alter methods of architecture and town-planning. There is a degree of error that cannot be exceeded. It is the moment when the conditions which have plunged persons and so-

ciety into apathy, misery, and misfortune, must be revolutionized. The brief and rapid history of aviation, so close to us, explains to us the hostile elements surrounding us, and provides us with the certainty that soon the very laws of life will justify us.â&#x20AC;? - Le Corbusier

GROUND CONTROL

Resilience, intentional design; efficacy; a green stamp; holistic focus; stereotype; designing to meet future needs

sustainability

Landforms, living elements, different forms of land use, buildings and structures, and transitory components

landscape

patrick weber tilson

jairo laverde cohen

gabby heffernan walters

adiel benitez walters

Sam Sidersky Design 07 New York, New York

Urban Seams

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Master planning starts with an assessment of the ecology of the site and its context; we need to know what is there before we can insert anything new.â&#x20AC;? - Ken Yeang

How is architecture defined by context? Relating architecture to its context can be achieved using local materials and building methods which add greater significant to the building within the place it inhabits. One can define context as being the external ele-

function

Utilization; input and output

fall 2014

gundersen gods eye view

Realizing that “talented men start thinking in terms of space rather than place; and single rather than multiple meanings.” -Robert Hughes

design 07 fabrication

Disambiguation by making ideas exist physically

cori snyder laura rodriguez

ments that influence an object. Christian Norberg-Schulz begins to describe the relationship that a structure must have with its environment through the dictation of Genius Loci, which he defines as “the spirit of a place.” But what elements create the sense of belonging one may

feel in a certain place? And how does a space have a “spirit?” One could argue that architecture is not meaningful until the relationship between the context and the built structure answer to the spirit of its surrounding.

Framed Perceptions

X: Where do you find your materials, in your projects? Juaรงaba: I found them on the site.

Modern architecture in China reveals how important it is to know the site in which a building is being constructed and to have a clear understanding of what materials will turn into over time. The mistakes of using white cladding for much of the new architecture in China re-

fall 2014 sensations

Feeling, not seeing, and allowing this to move you in some way

framing

A focus that allows us to make sense of our surroundings

kohen

design 05 vernacular

The local dialect of design

ďťż john hampton

sults from the starchitects who designed them not visiting their sites enough and therefore not having an understanding of the severity of the environmental conditions in China. The pollution and climate in cities like Beijing, where much of this â&#x20AC;&#x153;innovative architectureâ&#x20AC;? exists,

corrupt and erode the white material within five years of being built. The structures used a material that was not meant for the climate and was both high-cost to install and maintain. Not long after construction, the material turns gray and dirty and requires constant maintenance.

A Space of Contingency

When exploring the context, one must go beyond just looking at what currently exists on the site. One must explore the effect of the materials that will be used. However, when choosing to use materials that already exist within the site, the relationship between context and

structure can be fulfilled. When looking at what defines the context of an architectural construct, one might use the ground or horizon line. However, not all settings have the same concepts, which is what makes them and their habitable architecture

commitment issues

fall 2013 We canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be confident with our own design; fear of failure; the comfort found in the temporary

cohen

design 01 elements

Most simplified forms, the bits and pieces

ďťż kevin marblestone

unique. The city of Hong Kong is commonly known as a city without ground due to the nature of the landscape and elevation changes. Hong Kong is incredibly dense, yet the compacted urban planning comes from the way that the landscape exists. Much land is uninhabit-

able, for it occurs as extreme sloping hillsides. Of all the land within the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s boundary, only about twenty five percent has been built upon. This density is what introduced the extreme verticality within the city to accommodate for the growing population of over seven

Living And Learning

million people. Skinny tall towers rose from the sky, depicted as “pencil towers,” yet not every tower sat among the same plane or same horizon. Because of Hong Kong’s extreme elevation changes, the city needed to invent a new infrastructure that would maintain level while

the surrounding landscape and ground weaved through. The podium that acted as a base for each tower had a new function, a way of connecting an interwoven infrastructure for pedestrian use only. This pedestrian infrastructure allowed for movement from the underground of

spring 2014 privacy

The ability to express selectively

globalization

The end of an era of Earthly terrestrial exploration, everything has come full circle and wrapped the world

walters

design 06 moral responsibility

Architecture goes beyond just the literal construction of a building; it also includes planning for the mental and emotional effects

ďťż zachary wignall

the metro to the above ground of elevated walkways without ever coming into contact with the â&#x20AC;&#x153;streetâ&#x20AC;? level of Hong Kong. Investigating Hong Kong has given way to a different approach to building with the context in mind. In such a dense city, the nature of the landscape does

not have the same impact as the existing infrastructure has. To have a successful structure, one must consider the use of the podium and its connection with the interwoven pedestrian walkway. Otherwise, the project will fail due to the inaccessibility of it.

Decay And Survival

As Christian Norberg describes Genius Loci, he claims that “when a town pleases us because of its distinct character, it is usually because a majority of its buildings are related to the earth and sky in the same way…they seem to express… a common way of being on the earth.”

In Vitruvius’s “Ten Books on Architecture,” he describes context to be one of the fundamental principles of building. “First comes the choice of a very healthy site.” Physical elements that determine how “healthy” a site is include it’s elevation, proximity to water, and climate.

spring 2014 isolation

Lack of contact between entities

landscape

Emulating pre-existing natural conditions while reacting, and leveraging, the current built environment

wang

design 04 phenonmena

Occurrence; experience incarnate

ďťż jamie marchini

However, what is most interesting about this statement is that the fortified city becomes a prototype that can join with a certain type of context. It is understood that the materials used for the city walls and structures would vary depending on the site. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With regard to the ma-

terial of which the actual wall should be constructed or finished, there can be no definite prescription, because we cannot obtain in all places the supplies that we desire...use them as you find them.â&#x20AC;?

Community Center

AS inhabitants of the built environment, the architecture becomes our context.

The culture created by the people, and of course, the architecture, is what makes each city unique from one another. The relationship between architecture and the environment must be balanced. The context may be the initial influence, but the architecture will continuously

summer 2014 function

“A house is a machine for living in.” -Le Corbusier

landscape

All that lies beyond the container of a building

perez

design 08 vernacular

Language particular to a place

nicholas warnet

and forever change the context. How is context defined by architecture? One might argue that the point of architecture is to define the surrounding landscape. Each new built environment creates its own context with every floor and wall, level and boundary. The built envi-

ronment is still just that; an environment. This ongoing relationship between the built structure and the pre-existing nature of the context only furthers to be developed as the occupants of the whole context begin to be influenced by both environments.

The Visual Artifact

Looking back at the definition of context as external influences that influence an object, the inhabitants are both influenced by the architecture, and then they begin to influence the context in respect to culture, religion, etc. In Beijing, a common element dating back near-

ly 2,000 years is known as Siheyuan, or a courtyard house. It is a historical type of residence, where a courtyard is surrounded by buildings on all four sides. In its historical setting, the architecture defines the setting of the place, giving it a private context for each inhabitant.

individuality

fall 2014 A reflection of your reality

zajac

design 03 movement

Directional sequence

ďťż melika konjicanin

In the present setting, much of the starchitecture found in Beijing still incorporates this element at a large scale. Galaxy SOHO was built to be a commercial center, which includes four globular buildings surrounding a plaza space. Upon visiting the

building this past summer, it became apparent how deserted the inside was, yet the courtyard space was highly activated. It was the people and the architecture that defined this space.

100

Still Stimulation

“Architecture is a social art.” - Samuel “Sambo” Mockbee, Citizen Architect

We as architecture students are constantly challenged to design without a client. Of course context is given, whether it is a highly urbanized city or horizontal grassland, but it is the people that make up the architecture, for they truly experience what is built.

fall 2014

memory

Engagement of multiple senses

walters

design 05 setting

People, time, place, culture and environment; a specific moment in memory or reality; that which infiltrates and affects the interior system

gabby heffernan

101

As architects, we must not just consider the client, but we must go into their world entirely. The people are the context. They are the inhabitants, the perceivers, and the reminders to us as architects what must really be considered when designing.

“Architecture, before it is an art, must first be conscious of people. It is worthless to explore form and do formal (shape) experiments as architecture without constantly being aware of people’s perception and experience” - Dessen Hillman

102

DEMARCATION

103

A sequential order, one after the other, something new being made that cannot be retracted, something that happens after a catalyst

reaction

“Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can’t see from the center.” -Kurt Vonnegut

edges

Cohesion and adhesion centralized in place

accumulation

wendy stradley alread

kevin marblestone kuenstle

anh tran alread

ana cordero belton

Emily Pollman VIA Spring Barcelona, Spain

carla juaçaba

October 7, 2014 - With AZ, CC, X, GH, MH, and AM AZ: What do you foresee as being the future of architectural representation? How can you really sell a project? Juaçaba: The best way of selling a project is a model. People get fascinated with models, not with 3D. 3D can be more commercial. But as you have said, I really think it’s the same. I think it’s boring. I think it’s boring to communicate anything that doesn’t exist. To communicate in a hyper realistic way, it’s boring, it doesn’t give you any imagination, but it doesn’t give you any... X: Stimuli. Juaçaba: Yes, stimuli for something that can’t exist. You get confused sometimes, does this exist or doesn’t exist? No, it’s just a model. It’s not situated, and I don’t think this hyper realistic way is a nice way to communicate.

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AZ: So some level of abstraction? Juaçaba: Even the models can be an abstraction. When I convinced the commissioner of Casa Varanda, I showed a very abstract model. It was the first image I showed, only to show that the light comes through the walls and this is already something that you’d want to communicate. What’s important? To communicate this or to communicate the color of the beams or the woman inside with a jacket?

“the best project

[Laughs] So what we can communicate depends on what you want to communicate, always. X: So do you make models? Juaçaba: I always make models, yes. X: Big ones? [Laughs] Juaçaba: Yes, like this [makes medium sized hand gesture]. But it’s always enough to show something. To show an idea. I don’t like to develop my models a lot, I don’t see why. Models that want to be over extraneous, complicated, also don’t make sense. AZ: How do you feel about parametric design? Juaçaba: I still don’t know. I try to think about this visiting a school that was only parametric to talk about the students work, and I had a hard time to talk about their works because I did not know what they wanted. I did not know what they wanted to

interview for architrave miscommunication

the art of the awkward

the art of composing place; a window; a frame; a view

fall 2014 scenography

carla juaçaba arquiteta, rio de janeiro, brazil the art of making moving pictures, of composing photo into story

cinematography

carla juaçaba

communicate with that. What language is that? I don’t see why. Sometimes, it’s true that you can arrive somewhere with that, but when you look at schools like this, the projects are all the same. It’s this confusion of parametric things that sometimes they stop the computer, freeze, and there is an image! I don’t understand the process. And I try to understand it and I don’t see why. Why sometimes? What’s the philosophy? What are they trying to communicate? What are they trying to show? Again, another image of the future? I mean it’s another high-tech idea. The high-tech has this rhetorical image, or idea of the future. Again, the parametric is a rhetorical image of the future. Because when I see a Zaha Hadid [or enter female starchitect name here], what does she want to communicate with this? What does Ben van Berkel [or enter Dutch starchitect name here] want to communicate with this? It’s an image again of the future. When the process might be high-tech, the computer process, that’s fantastic, fascinating in a way, but philosophically I don’t understand. MH: A lot of the parametric design also tends to use a material that is high cost, high maintenance, and in seven years, isn’t exactly white anymore. In contrast to that, the materials you choose seem to have a great meaning and form that comes from the material. Juaçaba: Yes completely, I see it the same way you do. I don’t see any relation of material in parametric design, no matter what.

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way of selling a is a model”

X: Where do you find your materials, in your projects? Juaçaba: I found them on the site. [Laughs] Not completely there, I mean it’s not that the scaffolding is there in Copacabana. [Laughs] But it’s part of the life of Copacabana. It’s kind of a stage, everything happens there. So it’s there. It was already there and I just continued it. The other houses too. Or if it’s not there, what makes sense there? It’s completely related to materials.

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MH: Right, at one of your houses you chose the material, even though it wasn’t the same material, to match the color of the soil of the ground. So it seems that these houses are built in these environments as if the houses themselves, the structure themselves, are meant to live in the environment, and encourage the occupant to live in the environment, to open the windows, to let the light in, let the rain fall, but not have something separating it from you… Juaçaba: Yes, as we are, we are part of nature. When you think man is away from nature, it begins this process of not understanding the connection of what we are, in this site.

“in good architecture, sustainability has always existed.”

interview for architrave

fall 2014 a model

a part that is supposed to represent the whole; a schematic in three dimensions; we believe it to be real when we see it

carla juaçaba arquiteta, rio de janeiro, brazil parametric

algorithmic thinking; rules, limits, bounds

carla juaçaba

X: What is sustainability to you? Here we talk a lot about it, and how it’s a good thing. AZ: Some consider it to be the responsibility of the architect to design sustainably, in terms of thinking about material and the impact it will have in the environment. X: But it’s also a selling point for architects to get the commission’s or say “My project is good because it’s sustainable”. How do you think that is different in Brazil? AZ: Or the same?

Let me give an example, in India, if we look from outside, it’s chaos, but if we look from inside, there’s a system that works perfectly there. An economic system, everyone has work, everyone eats. But if we look from outside, it’s this image of cows. But there is equilibrium in there. It’s another way of beginning to see things. Equilibrium is not only in architecture; it’s in an entire complexity. I think we have to defend ourselves about the subject of sustainability, as an architect, defend the discipline. This has always existed in good architecture, sustainability has always existed. So this is not new. If you begin to add these green “stamps,” we have stamps now. Ah this is green, ah this is green. [Makes stamp gesture] Architrave: ah, LEED. Juaçaba: The LEED, its very dangerous because I think. That’s why I said, “everything changes in one hundred meters,” how come it’s more sensitive than it appears. How come we have the stamp? It’s much more sensitive than that this. There’s no possibility of rooms or models that means each situation is unique, very unique. That’s the problem of the stamp. Stands for what, what does it mean? CC: Standardizing something that shouldn’t be standardized.

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Juaçaba: I think it’s the same mistake. Now the GSD is publishing a book that is called “Ecological Urbanism” and they returned to the word ecological. They are giving up the word sustainability; it is already something that we do not support anymore. So they are returning to ecology because it is not about direct matters to architecture. This is too old, we know how to deal with these matters. But this book is important because it says that it is not only about architecture, it’s about economics, it’s about the health of human beings in a context.

X: Do you think that sustainability is an urban problem? What do you think is the difference between urban and nonurban? Juaçaba: I think that it is clear that now when you concentrate people, its better for the environment than this old image that Frank Lloyd Wright had of this spread out city. So of course this doesn’t work, as if you need to arrive with all these people. It’s a model of the United States. You need a car and to have the facilities for each group in all the spread areas. It’s much harder than concentrate. So it’s already proved that it’s better to concentrate. AZ: The project you showed yesterday, with the magnets and no glue, you said the connections were based off of this balance of the material. Was that a reflection of a balance you find between nature and human occupation in architecture, or where did you find that balance?

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Juaçaba: No I think it’s nice that you saw like that, I didn’t see it like that. But it’s nice that an object can bring a different metaphor and view. I never thought about it like that…it’s beautiful, it’s nice.

“we are creative AZ: It was more a structural study or experiment? Juaçaba: Yes it’s about this; it’s about the materials when you bring them together. The beauty that you can have in each piece. Each one is individual but they make sense when they brought together, how one touches the other. It is more about this. AZ: I’m also curious about the role of the engineer versus the architect, about how it works in Brazil? In the United States, architects aren’t necessarily educated on engineering, the science and math behind things. The structure is left to the engineer. In South America, does it work differently? Juaçaba: I think somehow they are very attached, because the school there came from polytechnic school and philosophy together. This is present today. It’s very nice. I like that. Why disconnect things? I don’t know, its something that I’m really far from, engineering. I would like to be closer, but it’s not part of my education, it’s not part of yours. And I would like to get closer, but it’s so hard. You begin to study those incredible engineers. They invent it, it’s about invention. We don’t invent, we are creative but not inventive. When both are together, its inventive and creativity. Peter Rice talks about this, says when the inventiveness of the engineer and the creativeness of the architect, when this is together, this is something that we cannot arrive, we don’t have an education for this anymore.

interview for architrave economy

in theory: the system of production, distribution, and consumption of limited resources; in practice: a complete necessity

study of the relations between organisms to one another and their environment

fall 2014 ecology

carla juaçaba arquiteta, rio de janeiro, brazil sustainability

a buzzword; a green stamp

carla juaçaba

X: These are styles, right, and “hi-tech” is that a style? Juaçaba: This is one more idea of style, that passed by during those last decades, we don’t have anymore this, we don’t have because the ease of the passages. This is not an image; it is an idea of an image. At this moment we don’t have this anymore, we have to be so related to our reality. It would be kind of stupid to do a rhetorical image of ecology, that’s the most absurd thing that could exist as a rhetorical image, it does exist you see, “green” buildings, green trees floating, what does it mean? It’s a rhetorical image of an idea of ecology, that’s stupid. Because it wants to communicate as an image. We don’t work on image anymore, so maybe that’s the best thing of our

time. To not have this idea to communicate, we have a “thing” to communicate, it’s an object that has to work and has to make sense on the site and in it’s place. But, at the same time, I think architect’s got a little bit scared of this subject because they might think that it’s an interruption in their history. But I think it’s a new aesthetics. It might be a new aesthetics because we have another point to reach; the result of this might be a new aesthetic. But it doesn’t mean we are not related to all this history, everything is related. X: Do you want to work anywhere outside of Brazil, and if so, where? Juaçaba: I don’t know exactly where, but I think each place has different meanings and questions and you deal with a problem of each situation, I’m not attached to any place or to any material or to anything, I think I’m attached to the questions that each problem will bring. So it’s a matter of posing the questions.

Carla Juçaba, an architect centered in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, lectured at the University of Florida Fall of 2014. In her lecture, titled, “Everything can change in a 100 meters,” Juçaba discussed how the site of a project greatly influences the design decisions from the form of the house to the materials and methods of construction. Both her public and private work projects are integrated within the surrounding landscape through the use of local materials, open vistas, and humble design.

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but not inventive”

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Marked Landscape

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landscape

Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s natural Architecture, its topographies of place; a guideline

geography

Everything without anyone

isolation

Visible/tangible surface conditions

spring 2014

wang

design 04

ďťż adiel benitez

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Cultural Connectivity

“human beings don’t have a pollution problem; they have a design problem.” - william McDonough

Energy. Ecology. Sustainability. In the past decade these words have become ubiquitous threads within the fabric of our society. Individuals of all ages and in all fields of work are continuously exposed and influenced by these ideas that have permeated the places people

fall 2014 creative freedom

Finding a way to escape corporate control

voice of a building

Quiet confidence; ranges between a whisper and a shout

clark

design 07 city planning

A political labyrinth

alison zuccaro alexis hyman

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live, work and play. While the concepts of ecology and sustainability are generally associated with work in development and planning, they are increasingly being used and referenced by others for a variety of purposes. Marketers use them to entice consumers and investors.

Politicians use them to instill hope and to paint a prosperous picture of the future. Farmers use them to understand how to best cultivate and work their land. And lastly, architects utilize them as a model or component in their designs. These words hold a variety of meanings for

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Constant Conversation

different people. What does it mean for us to be sustainable as an individual? As a community? As a culture? How do people in different fields address the idea of ecology? What can be done to change how people see their world?

Sustainability can be defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own particular needs. However, despite the ubiquity of the word â&#x20AC;&#x153;sustainability,â&#x20AC;? the promise of profit and the comfort of routine

fall 2014 phenomena

A shimmery appearance of an experience, in a dream-like state

framework

Structure, linear composition, filigree, tectonic

walters

design 05 landscape

To stitch you to where you are

ďťż adiel benitez

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have placed us on a difficult path. We know the system in which we currently live is not sustainable, but why should we change? Why should a company invest in finding a way to eliminate run-off into rivers when it isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t profitable? Why should individuals take shorter showers or turn

off the lights if they want to live comfortably? The uphill battle appears challenging, costly, inefficient, and frankly, too hard. But, what if things were different? What if the purpose was not to use less, but to produce more creatively? In The Upcycle, William McDonough explains,

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SOLAR LIVING HOUSE

“Human beings don’t have a pollution problem; they have a design problem. If humans were to devise products, tools, furniture, homes, factories, and cities more intelligently from the start, they wouldn’t even need to think in terms of waste, or contamination, or scarcity. Good

design would allow for abundance, endless reuse, and pleasure.” The issue is not the amount that is consumed. It is the way in which we consume. The processes by which food is produced, toys made, energy distributed and buildings built, are broken processes. There is a call

2013-2015 ďťż vernacular

Adaptive building

Employing the grid

modular

bradley walters

integrated project delivery sustainability

If an activity is said to be sustainable, it should be able to continue forever

ďťż university of florida santa fe college national university of singapore

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to re-design in a manner that is not only more sustainable, but in a way that is more desirable. For instance, the city of Copenhagen has recently become a leader in urban sustainability through the renovation of their transportation system. By constructing protected bike lanes

and paths throughout the city, the number of bikers and walkers increased immensely. Their modes of transportation have become more attractive than the car to a majority of city dwellers, making the city less energy-dependent and more ecologically sustainable.

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RECITAL HALL

Innovation can be applied to many design disciplines and at a variety of scales in order to facilitate this change in thinking and purpose. The solution is not to do less bad but to create more good. Once people adjust to thinking in this way, sustainability may seem possible once

more. The word will not remain an ever-present and ambiguous illusion, perpetrated by politicians and marketing strategists. It will become something real, visible, and tangible, understood and practiced upon by all.

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poiesis

Parts coming together as a whole; a composition in harmony

symphony

To arrange thoughts, speech, or data into a visual form

transcription

the root of our modern â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;poetryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

fall 2014

siebein

grad 3

dominic feng

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POINTS OF EGRESS

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Seeking discoveries through personal language

subconscious creation

Input obtained by those who are most directly affected by designs honoring majority over individuality

democratization

Testing limits

procrastination

daniela gomez belton

wendy stradley cohen

joshua rosenstein belton

anastasiya zolotukhin zajac

Kevin Marblestone Design 06 Charleston, S.C.

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an extended approach

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Resilience is a critical linchpin that any 21st century city must fully address. Resilience is thE new green.â&#x20AC;? - clark manus faia

Many believe that a movement towards sustainability will be the solution to the rapid environmental degradation and the destruction of the planet caused by modern conditions. However, this concept, in itself, does not address every facet of these complex wicked problems.

spring 2014

gundersen individuality

Emphasizing yourself; trying to stand out

design 04 anonymity

A method of securing privacy, gift of seclusion. See NSA PRISM program

ďťż patrick weber

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The topic of resiliency is emerging as an incredibly popular framework for design, addressing a different set of specified issues than sustainability. Rather than focusing on the social, economic, and environmental aspects of design and development, resiliency focuses on creating

capacity to deal with unexpected change. This is typically done through extensive integration with the environment to work with and utilize natural systems, which have an inherent set of preventative and reactionary measures. Climate change is exasperating weather condi

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Safe Haven

tions; natural disasters are becoming more and more common. Because of this, the ability for buildings and infrastructure to cope with these disruptions and retain their quality is incredibly important. While the concept of permanence is only an illusion, resiliency still strives to create

final products that aim for near unlimited use and preservation. Design and development, when conducted with concepts of resiliency and sustainability working in tandem, produce high quality final products that are exceedingly viable, aesthetically

fall 2014 sustainability

Often reduced/oversimplified to the recycling symbol

How far does its voice carry? To a neighborhood? To a region? A country?

voice of a building

philadelphia, pa

competition entry moral responsibility

Deciding what is morally obligatory

nomas

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pleasing, efficient, and durable. The human race as a whole must prepare for oncoming natural and social phenomena that will almost inevitably disrupt our current way of life. Resilient design provides a new and effective fighting mechanism to combat, and even prevent, these

potentially dire future conditions. Resiliency in infrastructure and buildings is a strategy that has been used for centuries. Many indigenous cultures have practiced this re-emerging trend out of necessity. Conditions on our planet are not static, and these peoples

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Analysis of the Familiar

needed to be able to quickly adapt to weather phenomena that could lead to disruption. It is important to learn resiliency strategies from indigenous and historic cultures. Our modern society has created a set of artificial conditions that arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fully integrated with the

environment. This lack of integration is the cause of many of the environmental challenges we currently face. Conventional development methods almost entirely ignore the presence of the natural world, and as a result also ignore its preventative functions. This is why events such

spring 2013 interface

A shared boundary of exchange for mutual benefit

mcglothlin unfold

The act of opening up, releasing; becoming larger and more important than the initial impression

design 02 phenomena

“A thing as it appears to and is constructed by the mind, as distinguished from a noumenon, or thing-in-itself.” -Kant

wendy stradley

131

as Hurricane Katrina, Sandy, Irene, etc. are able to cause such extensive damage. By developing with the environment and potential disruptive forces in mind, the negative effects of these disasters can be almost entirely negated.

Ensuring the connectivity of our planet is key in resilient design. Development must work with and foster this connectivity to ensure the survival of our infrastructure and our way of life. The planet cannot simply be segmented into ecosystems and then categorized. These

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Marine Research Center

designations are man made and based on arbitrary anthropocentric criteria. The world is only able to function through the interaction of these diverse biological areas. This synergy fosters natural systems containing beneficial features that are vital to resiliency. Aspects, such

as flora and fauna, inherently combat intense weather phenomenon and ensure that the environment is operating as it should. They have both reactionary and preventative measures to help the environment endure intense disturbances as well as help it return to its normal

fall 2013 visual representation

function

Purpose and Usefulness, Firmitas and Utilitas from Vitruvius

tilson

design 05 visual representation

Employment of graphics to convey concise information; a language of design; speaking without words

lam nguyen

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functioning. By preventing the destruction of natural features during the development process, and ideally fostering them, buildings and infrastructure that humans create have a much better chance of weathering the storm, so to speak.

To ensure optimal connectivity, and the continued existence of beneficial biological qualities, Earth’s geography itself should inform and even act as infrastructure. By doing this developments can more seamlessly blend with the natural world and utilize similar disaster

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Metal Ceiling Tessellation

prevention techniques. Waterside infrastructure in particular is beginning to exhibit this design mentality. Features, such as artificial reefs, allow aquatic organisms to latch onto rough concrete materials and grow, creating organic connective surfaces over man made constructs.

This creates structures with increased stability, anchoring them and distributing their weight into the surrounding geography. These types of developments, as a result, are able to support the function and continued survival of aquatic life as well as glean the benefits from their

spring 2014 The process of forming something larger

assembly

fabrication

A more pleasant connotation than the word â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;manufacturingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

lisa huang

mat / methods 2 modular

Repeatable, and therefore predictable

collin cobia martin fernandez

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protective mechanisms. Developing in this way fosters a conservation mentality. The Earth is truly a living organism and interacting with constructs that facilitate its survival helps humans understand the importance of the planet. It is more than just a floating rock full of re-

sources to be consumed; it is truly a natural body to be protected and cared for. Designing with the recognition of natural features as well as the connectivity of the planet is inherent to the concept of resiliency. Spaces created through this methodology can then be used as a

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Porous Datum

“why design with a purpose? it’s because life depends on it.” - ed mazria, aia

teaching tool to foster protection of the Earth. As a result this resilient infrastructure will help ensure the continued existence of our way of life into the future. If we analyze our current development patterns, as well as other wasteful behaviors, from a variety of different ethical

fall 2014 hero architect

Nietzscheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ubermensch; champions that good buildings save the world (they save architecture and the architect)

economics

The largest lever for change ever invented

clark

design 07 gentrification

Any facet of urban renewal that inevitably leads to displacement of the occupying demographic; common but controversial

elizabeth morales marissa volk

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frameworks, it is easy to see that these actions are unjust. Humans have altered the planet and affected the livelihood of other creatures. We as a sentient race, have the moral responsibility to protect and foster natural systems; not only for us but for the multitude of unique Biota

that depend on them. If we want to continue to peacefully coexist with the unique natural phenomenon that is our planet, we must utilize tactics such as resilient design to ensure the creation of healthy infrastructure that facilitates natural processes rather than limiting them.

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CORRIDOR

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Transactions, allocations and distributions

economics

In relation to visual scale

context

Planning economic and social infrastructure to increase opportunities for the general public through effective use of space

city planning

sam sidersky mcglothlin

m. hook and l. newman clark

g. santos and l. ortiz clark

c. buck and a. rutherford gundersen

Zachary SlagLe, Lincoln Antonio VIA Spring Sogn Benedetg, Switzerland

michael berk

September 30, 2014 - With AZ, X, MH, AM

X: I have this for you. It’s a Google Ngram, which analyzes the Google books database, how many times a word has been used over time, how many times it’s been written down in books. So that’s from the 1900s, up until now. It’s the rise of sustainability and ecology. Berk: Ok so just the word, how many hits, searches, pages it shows up, ok. This is interesting to me, I would have guessed that sustainability would have been above ecology. But that’s probably because of the natural sciences, and you have all kinds of institutes right now that are using the word ecology, it is showing up everywhere. It’s everywhere, so that’s probably why. But in architecture, I don’t know if there’s a way to ever narrow down that search to look at it, if there’s an architectural context. I’m not sure I’m right, but I would guess that sustainability...That this thing would probably be reversed a bit. But I could be completely wrong.

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X: So what do you think of the word, or what do you think ecology means now? Berk: Sure, I would start with the Greeks, and if you do any kind of root word search at some point, the word ecology and economy are kind of the same word, they have the same genesis. If you look at it from Greek, if you’re trying to look at it from the very beginning of the definition, you can’t tell the difference between those two words. So that tells you something, right, that when Eugene Odum started doing his energy language, and looking at it, he was spot on. A good economy has the same principles as a good ecology. They are identical, same kinds of principles. Are you guys from Florida? [collective yes] So I was born and raised in Florida, and in fact one of the reasons I left practice is because we’re a state where either our economy is like this [hand gesture up] or our economy is like that [hand gesture down].

“I would have sustainability

That means it is out of balance. An economy that’s flat-lined is a healthy economy. It’s in balance. But have you ever heard a politician say that? So, in theory, our economy would be tipping up at the exact rate as our population growth. It should be increasing as our population’s increasing. If we stabilized our population, then our economy would absolutely flat line. If our population started dropping, the economic barometers would dip a bit. It should track our numbers, not all the other wild factors that are there. So anyway, to go back, that’s really the beginning, and it’s something to kinda fully understand that all of these things are the same, so we need people to do any kind of analysis, they’re just picking a piece of something within a broader framework. Have you guys heard of the term “deep ecology?” Because that deep ecology, and I think his name is Arne Naess, if you type in “deep ecology,” you’ll get to this philosopher/

interview for architrave

fall 2014

starkville, mississippi united states

michael berk

economy

careful management of available resources; the largest lever for change ever invented

designing to meet future needs; resilience, intentional design

sustainability

ecology

relationship between organisms and their environment.

professor who was really looking at this saying as a philosophy. And it’s really deep in the understanding of our connection to the natural world and our fit in the natural world, and that we are subservient to that and deeply trying to understand that. Not like a religion, but kind of like a really good understanding. If you guys don’t understand the fundamentals at the end, the absolute fundamental core, it doesn’t matter all the stuff you read about how to make a building more energy efficient and all the kinds of gadgets. If you understand it at a deep level, you are able to critique those things and decide whether it’s just fashion. Is it temporary? Is it just meeting a certain sustainable standard? That’s the tricky part. So when you understand the basics, you become really critical and realize, yeah that will save energy for the next five years, but then the software doesn’t exist anymore to run it, or it has to be updated, and you have to spend more money to

buy more machinery and more computational software, or the gadgets that are controlling something, you know the gadgets, the gaskets wore out. All you have to do is own a car for a few years. As things start breaking down you start realizing that if that car was not built to last for a hundred years, it’s really not an ecological car. If it has an electric engine and a gas engine, that’s two engine systems. How the hell is that a good idea? Two complete engine systems. One, when it slows down, you know, it juices up the other one. Only academics could come up with that kind of stuff, that’s the thing that’s scary-- this stuff is coming out of universities. X: We can talk about that, talk about homes losing equity, over time, especially when you see suburban developments.

Berk: Yeah most products you buy, as soon as you walk out of the door they have already decreased in value. Except for a handful of things. Precious, really well made instruments. I can’t bring it with me because I’m afraid the TSA will take it from me, but I have a metal cartridge pen, and it’s pretty heavy weight. Made by RoadTrain, they don’t make them anymore, and I’ve had it since 1992. I haven’t lost it. It weighs a lot..But I’ve

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guessed that is above ecology.”

been able to take it apart and fix it, clean it, and I still have it. A faculty member at my school saw it and tried to find one and couldn’t, and he let me know that it’s no longer made and it’s worth like, I don’t know, $1,500.00. He told me that I could sell it on Ebay but I said, you know, that’s not why I got it. So can you make a car that way? Well, you go look at 1950s cars down in South America that are still running, you pick any country in South America where auto mechanics who know anything about mechanics can keep fixing them. They don’t even have to have original parts. The engines are straightforward, they’re so simple, and they’re made to be able to be worked on and to last. I’m not a car mechanic, but I can fix things. I just got a brand new car, actually, it’s a 2005 Ford Ranger, because my pickup truck that I had from 1985 was not dependable. So I bought a used car because I know its already been made. I haven’t contributed to making another car. And they’re not energy efficient, most of them. I don’t drive my cars that much but it doesn’t matter if its energy efficient. The amount of embodied energy in that truck is huge. I don’t think I’ll ever burn enough gas to compensate for the embodied energy that I saved for not buying a new vehicle. So my goal is to try to buy something that looks like it can last. Not necessarily super energy efficient, but one that will last, because the durability will outweigh everything else. So in making a house or a car, a house... Well you know a lot of houses can be really cheaply made today, and they look like they’re made well, but they’re not made any different than the average house. They’re stick built with fast growth pine, which is not a durable wood. Slow growth pine is durable, the rings are closer together, the wood is really durable. Fast growth pine, which is what our universities have perfected for industry, is crappy wood. And yet we’re building lots of buildings out of it. What will those things be 20, 30, 40 years from now, when the nice marble on the outside of the wall might be the only thing holding it up?

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“an illusion

How do you build smaller, less, and really strong, durable materials? That’s probably more important, and nobody is talking about that, writing about that, promoting that. It’s LEED. LEED is not a bad thing, but LEED is not the answer. X: You talked about gadgets, and we have gadgets, our generation specifically has lots of gadgets. But the one thing about these gadgets is we customize them, so all our phones have different covers, within the phones we have all the apps that we choose, we have different names for all of these things, what do you think about customization? Berk: Well I would argue that most of that stuff is all the same -- that actually there’s an illusion of customizing. There are millions of apps, but there’s really probably only about four apps. I’m exaggerating a bit, but you see what I’m getting at? It’s like buying a car and having twenty different colors on the inside. In the end it’s the same car, yet everyone feels like it’s their car. It’s their car, it’s customized, it’s unique, but fundamentally, it’s not. The same with a lot of these apps -- they’ve got this app, they’ve got that app -- but if you look at them, they’re all doing the same thing for mostly unimportant things. So there’s one category of that. There are some amazing

interview for architrave gadgets

a small device for practical use; a thingy-mabob

fall 2014 affordability

to be within one’s financial means

starkville, mississippi united states customization

specifically designing for a purpose or audience.

michael berk

apps that are doing good things. But again, if you categorize them and look at it, and if you really think about it intellectually they’re not, they’re not really doing anything that different. X: So you use customization in your project? Berk: Yeah, I mean, I guess. And I didn’t think about it as customization. I really thought about it as what can somebody afford. So it’s a plug-in module. Even if you

of customizing.”

But for me it’s kind of different than color, or a slight variation, it’s a fairly significant functional and programmatic thing that happens. AZ: But as an end result, each house would be personalized to a person? Berk: But, likely at that price point, it would be based on what people can afford. And

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can’t afford two porches, you have to get one to get into the building, to make it work. You don’t have an option on one. So there’s one, it has a stair, it could also have a ramp. It’s also designed to be accessible. If somebody decides, you know I also want a back porch on the north side...See they have porches on a north and a south side of the building, then depending on the time of year, you have a comfortable place to be, right. One of the ways people used old houses like mine is they actually migrated around the house depending the time of year. They would roll up carpets, roll out carpets in the winter time, on the wood floor, then they would roll them up in the summer time so you would walk barefoot in the house on wood house, and you would just feel cooler. They would live in the north side of the house in the summertime and in the wintertime they would migrate to the south side of the house where the rooms would get direct sunlight. I mean it’s like an animal, right. It’s a pretty obvious thing. If you have an animal, or a cat, a cat’s a really good measure. You could see where the cat is crashing out in the house to know, if you don’t have air conditioning, what time of year it is. Go outside and look at dogs and you can see where they’re laying around, where they are, and that’s going to always be in the most comfortable place. They’re laying in the sun in the wintertime, right. It’s like if we didn’t have switches on the wall, we would do that. We wouldn’t even be thinking about it. It wouldn’t be some intellectual thing. So anyway, they are customized, but in a sense of afford-ability. And I never really thought about it as customization, but it is, you’re right.

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then they know that, well I can buy that other pod, maybe three years from now, or if I have another kid, or life, lifestyle changes. What I didn’t talk about in there, and you know this is kind of an interesting financial model and the business school ran the numbers. There were two versions that were going to be made. I’m interested in affordable housing and it started off in the delta of the southeast. It turns out that shape and the way I was working actually works in the north because of it’s insulation and orientation. But the model that I was working with was to produce as cheap of a model as I can for the affordable housing marketplace. And then I was talking, have you ever heard of Viking Range corporation? (We shake our heads no) Well Viking was the first, and probably some say the best to sell really souped up, stainless steel kitchen ranges. There’s a lot of other people doing the same thing. Well they’re a Greenwood, Mississippi cooperation and their CEO is a good friend of mine and I was trying to convince him to get on board with this and produce a Viking Green Mobile, which would be fitted out in all the latest stainless steel, expensive stuff, use sustainable hardwood flooring, sustainable cedar on the outside and sell them for half a million dollars, because its Viking, to people who want to put one out in the mountains or something and charge the crap out of those kind of folks, so they way over-pay to subsidize the low end. Now he’s an altruistic guy, he immediately thinks that it’s a really interesting business model for somebody who actually wants to do good, while you could actually make money at it and provide those lower units, maybe less, maybe at cost of what it costs a company to make and you’re still making such a big profit from the one percent-ers you could subsidize this thing. I haven’t been able to find anybody who wants to buy into it, but it got validated by him. I sat down with him for a long time and he just told me that he had a few partners, and they just were unwilling to associate the Viking brand with affordable housing, they didn’t want that to happen. So a company like Mercedes or Toyota, or any of the companies that manufacture stuff, if one of them bought into that model, for anything, they could do that with cars, too. What an incredible business model for maybe an entrepreneur who cares about things and wants to give back. So that was a business model, the numbers were all worked out, we had this kind of business plan, and somebody thought there might be more of a market place for that than for the lower income, which really makes me sad. Because people know how to market that one. Its hard to market that other one, because then there’s training involved, like how do you teach somebody, like how to use a house, like to pay attention to certain things. I’ve got thermometers, temperature gauges in about six places on the outside around my house, north, south, east, west, and about every room has one just as simple, they’re all different kinds just to look at what the temperatures are, so I can decide, you know, when I’m going to open up my house tonight, might look at the humidity, you know

“when you I don’t think

interview for architrave

fall 2014 plug-in module

a base model with the ability to have several additions, allowing for the illusion of customization

starkville, mississippi united states personalization

Haven of the individual, “What’s mine is mine and you can’t feel it.” - Jean Baudrillard

michael berk

I can look at the temperature and know that when I open up, I’ll be able to drop the temperature down in my house, you know into the low seventies, high sixties and then about eleven o’clock the next day, depending on the sun, close down as soon as the temperature starts to get up and see how far I can go into the day before I have to turn on an air conditioner, and then turn it on, pay attention, so that, and I do that with heat and cool, wood fire, wood burn stove, so, it’s a pain in the ass to chop wood for the wood burn stove, which is good because it means that, do I really want to light this up, do I want to save that wood, uh, should I just put a sweater on. We have sleeping hats in our house [light laughter]. Everybody’s seeking 75 degrees, fifty percent humidity all year round. Thats what Americans are seeking, and you know what, when you live that way, you actually, I don’t think, I don’t think you’re living.

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live that way, you’re living.” Michael A. Berk, a University of Florida Alumnus and currently Director of the School of Architecture at Mississippi State University, presented a lecture Fall 2014 titled “Ecological Design and the Art of Pre-Fabrication.” Berk introduced his project, GreenMobile, which seeks to revolutionize the way mobile homes are viewed, constructed, and maintained. His focus on durability, insulation, sustainability and cost-effectiveness reveal that architecture is about finding solutions to problems on every scale. Berk also presented the innovation of a “kit of parts,” which can be used and modified according to the needs of clients. Berk’s presentation testifies that architecture is about creating something that is not dominating, but harmonious with the laws of nature. These laws guide his intuition and serve as an inspiration for his ecological design.

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Graffiti Graft

“information is the currency of democracy” - the architecture of knowledge project.

The democratization of design is a consequence of the ubiquity of big data in everyday life. Accumulating like a snowball rolled from the top of Mount Everest, it’s quantity has been swelling since the dawn of the information age. Terabytes of data and information are generat-

visual representation

Graphs, diagrams, drawings

fall 2014

gundersen personalization

Haven of the individual; “What’s mine is mine and you can’t feel it.” - Jean Baudrillard

design 07 setting

The grounding that makes up ‘figure/ground’

luis rubio laura rodriguez

149

ed and shared between people across the world every day. Every tweet and Facebook post is geotagged while practically every digital action is correlated and shunted onto the web by users across the world where it languishes in private/ public databases. Recent progress in Big Data

analytics offers an opportunity for urban designers to use this information to inform design at the urban scale. Through the analysis of information we can track the activities that people want to enjoy in their cities (urban programmatic analysis), where they want to

150

Biomimicry Assemblies

enjoy them (emergent urban cluster prediction) and the mobile networks that allow citizens to take part in the activities of their city (Potential improvements to transit networks). Use of this publicly generated data, in concert with sensor data from urban infrastructure empow-

ers urban designers to quantify the stocks and flows that underlie vibrant, successful cities to manage them more consciously. Resiliency is not reactionary, it is predictive; to meet this ideal we must move away from our current archaic knee-jerk frameworks of city design and

fall 2013 ecology

A hierarchy of natural interactions

elements

Part of the whole, from which the whole may be discovered by analysis

walters

design 05 biomimicry

Attempting to replicate organic form and function on various scales; nature has the answer to everything

bernard dioguardi

151

towards a new model of data driven predictive decision-making. “But wait, what is Big Data even?” Think for a second about the explosion in technological development the world has seen since the 90’s. An era that heralded the dawn of the Internet, WiFi, and large data

storage devices opened the door of possibility on what we can do with computers with Moore’s law consistently making them smaller. Smaller devices can be affixed in ever more clever locations, changing the types of data we, as a society, are able to collect.

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Channel and Amplify

“...i think design covers so much more than the aesthetic... design is usability. it is information architecture it is accessibility.” - mark boulton

Temperature data, traffic volume data, and income data are all examples of simple strings of numbers that must be analyzed in individually unique ways if meaningful information is to be learned from them. Born from this trend is the newly emerging “Internet of Things,”

spring 2014 voice of a building

Expressing power, resonance, range and endurance

lisa huang phenomena

Anything observable and decipherable

design 04 landscape

Spatially heterogeneous geographic areas

ďťż gabby heffernan

153

where data is complex in itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s form and prodigious in its volume. Analysis methods for Big Data have become as varied as the information itself, often calling for a mixture of human and computer-dominated methods. Cities have used such methods on a small scale in unique ways

but application has been mainly academic in nature. Driving this is the stunning revelation that current urban designers in the field have no training in their use. Practitioners in the field simply do not yet know how to harness this kind of thinking to make design solutions.

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Parkour

With the rise of training in “Urban Infomatics,” the status quo of theory over practice is poised to be a thing of the past. 70 cities across the country have implemented systems like “ShotSpotter” which are able to pinpoint the location of gunfire in seconds using acous-

tic microphones and computer driven triangulation algorithms. Debates still rage about the costs of these systems and the ability of officials to monitor conversations using them, however what has not been contested is the systems effectiveness.

joint

Connection, integration of two components in a reactive way

fall 2013

lisa huang node

A singular element with attributes relating to potential relationships

design 01 territorial

Smaller scale fields, fields of information

ďťż daniela gomez

155

With debates about information privacy and data security raging in the post Chelsea Manning/Edward Snowden world, what are the ethical and moral imperatives governing public open data for use in various aspects of design? Recent revelations into privacy abuses by the

federal government (if you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know the reference, do a quick Google search of NSA PRISM program) has greatly shaken up the public perception of personal data, how easily accessible this data is, and who they want accessing this data. In light of these events, any effort by an

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COLLAGING LIGHT

institution to utilize data from the general public will be met with intense suspicion and aversion requiring a level of utmost transparency. External and internal scrutiny will have to be at the heart of this push for transparency because there is strong evidence that VGI-Volunteered

Geospatial Information-can be incredibly accurate and useful if collected with a strong supporting framework for quality assurance. The ethical imperative faced by design professionals hoping to harness this information involves striking a balance between finding information

spring 2014 consumer culture

An artificial construct; we want what we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have, and then buyerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s remorse; planned/perceived obsolescence

privacy

Escaping into a space where you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be seen

hofer

design 02 anonymity

The blessing/curse of remaining unknown

joshua rosenstein

157

that is descriptive while still empowering citizens to control the privacy and use of their data. An ideal example of this can be seen where citizens are given tools that allow data to be collected securely but they themselves get to opt into projects or deny institutions the use

of their information. This scenario depicts a normative standard of operation based on an idealized concept of respect and mutual understanding, which, looking at the typical ways that user generated data is exploited, appears to not be necessarily warranted or even desired by

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GENERATIVE ASSEMBLY

the general public. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Yahoo (just to name a few) already harvest vast amounts of data from users for the ostensive and nefariously annoying purpose of advertising, to the tune of millions of dollars of profit. Sure, the general public is vocally appre-

hensive about this practice, but we consistently agree to allow it to happen anyways (cause honestly, who actually reads the terms and conditions and disagrees? Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve probably sold our collective souls twice over just to stream music or watch funny cat videos).

spring 2014 creative freedom

The intimidation of a blank page

lisa huang visual representation

An example of the relationship between brain, eye, and hand

design 04 hierarchy

Scales of importance, prevalence, detail

kevin marblestone

159

Advertising and product development companies have been buying this information up by the terabytes, whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s to say that a design firm or government entity couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do the same in the name of having a better understanding of who they are designing products and services for?

Would that even be ethically dubious? We balk at being proscriptive on how the design field will choose to accommodate this trend in your practice. Pros and cons lie in both methods of implementation which conveniently distill into the quintessential 21st century struggle between

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urban interaction

the competing interests of short term vs. long term gains. On the one hand designers and cities that purchase and use information covertly, much like advertisers do, will see short term advantage in speed of project implementation while the greater society misses out on a po-

tential ground swell of civic engagement and the systemic changes that can bring, a valuable long term gain indeed. Many cite worries that the field of architecture, and the urban design field at large, have completely ignored the importance of contextual considerations which are

fall 2014 crowdsourcing

Popularized by the millennial generation; democratization of funds

voice of building

It does not speak, it sings

perez

design 07 societal response

Everyone wants to get their two cents in

katelynn smith alyssa white

161

often entirely divorced from design processes. Who better to provide the information to bridge this gap than citizens that make up the area of effect, the very people that will have to live with the consequences of design for many years to come? What does this mean for the average

citizen, does this open a new realm of what it means to be a productive member of society? While itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tempting to see this as simply another screwdriver in the toolbelt of urban designers using information freely provided by citizens, this goes much deeper than that. There has

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epiphyte

been development of a variety of new citizen science apps and tools like OpenPaths (A secure data locker for personal location information which you can selectively share for use in specific research initiatives, art projects or educational programs), Neighborland (a collab-

orative platform for organizations seeking civic engagement on local issues), and Open city apps (a Chicago based civic hacking collective that designs and builds apps using public data regarding transit, water management, and transparent governance) that open the possibility of

poiesis

The architects as the magicians of form

fall 2014

gundersen landscape

The ground that influences the way in which we meander

design 05 ecology

“Modern technology owes ecology and apology.” -Alan Eddison

dionicio ichillumpa

163

everyday people having an active, direct role in shaping the design of their local urban environments. When looking at the hustle and bustle of city streets it’s easy to fall prey to the classical notion that people blindly follow a herd mentality. In actuality, every individual interacts

with the urban environment in a unique way. Subjective experience informs the way that people interact with cities, more often than not this decision making process happens subconsciously. Tools that allow people to solidify this intangible, gut feeling information into a form

164

Machine for Survival

that has utility provides an additional layer to consider in the design process. If tools and underlying philosophies like this were adopted by urban designers it could easily and dramatically change how people interact with the local governments and designers that shape the world at

large, distributing the burden of responsibility, and democratizing the design process. With this in mind, how would urban form, function, and development processes change if citizens used these applications as much as they used Twitter or Facebook? Mobile phones today offer

biomimicry

spring 2013 Contemporary philosophy of architecture

bender

design 04 poiesis

The art of making; when the muse finds you

ďťż katelynn smith

165

more processing power, sensors, and portability than dreamed of in the past, everyone wants to stay connected through social media, what if we made social media also contribute to good design solutions?

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VISUAL TRANSCRIPTIONS

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The first impression

facade

An effective message conveyed through 2D

graphics

marisa waddle zajac

william beal mcglothlin

elizabeth carmody cohen

daniela gomez lisa huang

Alexis Hyman Preservation Institute: Caribbean Mexico City, Mexico

SoMa

February 17, 2015 - With CC, X, MH, and MAM Celino Dimitroff and Charlie McWhorster of South of Main Media Hub X: We want to talk to you guys about the vision you had for this store and the process you used to make it a reality, could you elaborate? McWhorster: Well I’ve been here for 25 years... Dimitroff: and I’ve been here for about 35 myself. McWhorester: ...and as things were happening in town and as CFOP closed down, a gap was made and it needed to be filled. Celino called me up or instant messaged me on Facebook during the three year span that I was waiting tables at a restaurant and said “you need to call me.” He never said why, just “you need to call me!”

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Dimitroff: I wanted it to be a big surprise but he blew it off every time.

“we’re every

McWhorester: Until he said “YOU NEED TO CALL ME!” in giant letters and exclamation points, I finally called him and he’s like “Do you want to open an art store?” And I’m like “really?” and he’s like “yeah.” I was like... “Do you know how much money it takes to open an art store?” He said “No I don’t, but you do, and we can do it.” So I basically gave him some numbers and we sat down several times at Maude’s over CFOP’s deadstock, you know, spreadsheets in their final year of sales, and showed him what we needed to have on hand to start the store, which is basically everything that’s sitting in here right now. Basic bare-bones to start with. We just went from there.

Dimitroff: I called up a buddy of mine from school and I said listen man, here’s what’s happening..and he’s like “CFOP?? Noooooo!” Basically he went back and forth with it a couple of times and he’s like “Dude, you got it man, go with it and run.” So that was it, we’re SoMa now. We don’t really like to use CFOP as a reference to where we are now, but we are basically what they were, only fine-tuned and more welcoming. You walk into the place and it’s not like “business only,” where you walk in, you pick up your stuff and hang out at the counter for like twenty minutes before you actually get registered out of there. McWhorester: It’s not a maze of fifteen foot shelving units either. X: Was there an atmosphere that you had in mind? McWhorester: Yeah, we wanted people to be able to come in here even if they weren’t going to shop. I wanted to go with feng shui retail set up to start with, you know, basically creating a flow based on the whole rules of feng shui and how you should orient things in a space. I’m not an architect or an interior designer, I’m an artist, but I know what makes me feel good when I look at it, and I know what makes me feel good in a space when I walk into it. I don’t like walking into a retail space and being harangued

interview for architrave society response

The inevitable opinions of everyone wanting to get their two cents in

spring 2015 community involvement

Engage the people and impact their culture

south of main media hub gainesville, florida individuality

A distinguishing singularity

celino dimitroff charlie mcwhorster

going to break rule there is.”

McWhorester: I hate that store with a passion. It’s the most miserable place I’ve ever been in my life. Anyway, we have low shelving, so I can see across the room, and whoever is across the room can talk to me, and I can talk back across the room. That’s one thing that you really can’t do with retail. If you’ve ever worked in a retail situation, the rules are always: approach a customer directly, don’t talk to your friend across the room, don’t draw attention to yourself unless you’re trying to sell something. It’s very rigid, and that’s the model for most corporate business. We’re going to break every rule there is. It’s meant to be fun, its meant to come in and enjoy. It’s a completely laid back situation. X: Where did that idea come from? McWhorester: Well, I thought of it as a hometown and home-run business that is meant for the schools and is meant for the local, fine artist community that lives here year round. This place is going to be for everyone that needs to shop at a fine arts store. It’s not going to be completely directed towards the art or architecture department or towards the fine art community; it’s going to be set up to take care of all of it. Everybody’s included. That’s one of the things we noted about the downtown area, that it’s being eaten up by corporate businesses. They’re not trying to include the local community. They’re trying to attract you all, students. This is not a dig to you, believe me, we need you. But we find that a lot of the businesses in the predominant

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by somebody saying “CAN I HELP YOU? CAN I GET YOU ANYTHING? LOOK AT THESE THINGS OVER HERE!” I don’t want any of that. You don’t want the space to be sterile, because this place was white. It was white, white, white, white. And it was just like a big white bright sterile box. And I’ve been in tons of stores that were just so uninviting and just so, “I’ve got to get out of here.” You know when you walk in a place and you’re just like….you know? Jo-Ann Fabrics, I hate that place. [laughter]

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downtown area are all geared towards students. They have no inclusion of local propriety, they don’t care if we come or not. It’s built for you all. There are little private business opening just like us that are trying to keep out the bad guys. What happens is that corporations will see these progresses happening and they’ll let it go for a year or two, let them get settled, but when their business is doing well they’ll come in and try to ruin it all, bulldoze it all and try to put something else in there. It ain’t going to happen here. ‘Cause I’m older now, and I will go to court. McWhorester: It ain’t going to happen. One person sticks to their guns and digs their heels in a situation like this, with all these local businesses, corporate world can’t win. This country was built on small business, it was not built on corporate, and that’s the way it should be. Small business owners should be allowed to reap the same benefits as anyone else. It needs to be an inclusive situation. A big retailer is not going to try to create a relationship with the community, with you all. But we are, and that’s why were all about the all inclusive thing. All these really trendy restaurants that you all like, The Top, Bodega, The Bull, all those places, they don’t have any corporate backing. They opened it up to include the community and cater to you as well. They wanted it to be an all inclusive thing.

“Developers they try to

This is a very tricky environment we live in here in Gainesville. College towns are hard to work with. There is a network of small business owners that really build this community. It has nothing to do with the corporate world. This little city is over 172 years old. This downtown area is all that Gainesville has. At one time, the school didn’t even exist. The other side of that building is the end of a giant battlefield from the Civil War. People don’t realize that. This little town is rooted in a history that has nothing to do with the University of Florida, and thats where downtown gets its life from, that’s what makes downtown so cool.

Dimitroff: I moved up here thirty-five years ago because of the charm in this town and then about twenty years ago it started getting torn apart. But the charm’s coming back because local artists and local businesses are gaining ground again. Developers find cool, and they try to buy it, but they can’t buy cool. But it’s coming back. The artists are reclaiming their spaces now. The spaces are getting sold back to the creative people. X: How can these local businesses protect themselves?

interview for architrave

spring 2015

south of main media hub gainesville, florida

celino dimitroff charlie mcwhorster

McWhorester: Like I said, you have to create a web of defiance. I hate to say it that way, but it’s the only way I can think to put it. We have to stand up to the local developers. Dimitroff: Every month we’ll have different artists in to display their work, and probably by the end of the summer time we’ll start bringing other members of the community in and will let painters do demonstrations. Everybody’s watching each other’s hands around here, because we have to. It’s not dog eat dog anymore. It’s like dog feed the dog and carry that dog around. McWhorester: What we keep talking about is that we want to be involved in the community...it’s the truth. If it wasn’t for you guys we wouldn’t be here. MH: So what is the community’s response?

McWhorester: Honestly, it has morphed...like a beautiful chrysalis. Architrave: [laughter] It has morphed into this beautiful, corporative butterfly of people that are just running around town, handing out our flyers, exhausting all of our business cards and sharing information and suggestions with us, giving us names of where we should go and do things. It’s a hand over hand over hand sort of thing. Like I said, it’s the way that this country was built. It’s the way it works, it has to be.

South of Main Art Media Hub is headed by Celino Dimtroff and Charlie McWhorster, two very well connected and well versed residents of all things Gainesville. The duo opened up SoMa Art Media Hub as a centralized place for not only art and design students, but aspiring artists of any age and skill. They see the store truly as a hub, where artists can come together and expand their ideas and designs. Among showcasing local artists, SoMa is also hosting work from students in DCP.

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find cool, and buy it, but they can’t buy cool.”

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Tea House

“customization...is borne out of a very rudimentary human need to diffeReNtiate oneself from everyone else. - bowen

It should be noted that customization, the process of adding a “personal” twist to any mass produced object, is borne out of a very rudimentary human need to differentiate oneself from everyone else (Bowen). At its core, customization is about the self, and self-identify-

fall 2014 influx and intensity

A sudden upwelling

procession

Moving through a sequence in an orderly fashion

walters

design 05 admittance

The social act of gaining permission to enter a space

ďťż wendy stradley

175

ing. It is about creating something personal. This is so powerful of a need that people will pay more to have a personalized, or customized, object rather than a stock option. It is so powerful a need that production factories have to have customizable options included; otherwise

they risk being too totalitarian and therefore uncompetitive, that is the thought, anyway. It is in these definitions that customization stands as a democratizing tool in an authoritarian world of mass production.

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a different perspective

In our industrial society, where labor has been subdivided to every level, there are many defaults. Customization is a tool used to give control back to the consumer, to open some of the doors to the production floor. With all the goods that are produced and then sold, the

sheer mass is overwhelming and undifferentiable. As social critic and philosopher Jean Baidrillard states: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Never, as it did here, has culture lost its memory in the service of stockpiling and functional redistribution. And this translates a more general fact: that throughout the

summer 2014 A brain bias

subconscious creation

millennial generation

“...so we beat on, boats against the current borne back ceaselessly into the past.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald

wang

design 08 the critic

Seeks methods of improvement; challenges a work; alternative approaches or perspectives to a piece

michelle hook

177

civilized world the construction of stockpiles of objects has brought with it the complementary process of stockpiles of people-- the line, waiting, traffic jams, concentration, the camp. That is ‘mass production’, not in the sense of a massive production or for use by the masses,

but the production of the masses.” And herein comes customization, the saving force to mass production that leads the product out of the swell of undifferentiation to the person and personable. Not only does an iPhone, the standard of cellphones in American society,

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a city with a view

come in many colors you can choose from, but so can its covers. So, it goes from a standard, mass produced (and designed) object, to a personalized object, designed by users to give personality and meaning. Each choice of color, background, pattern, and texture is a reflection

of the owner, who imparts inner traits to that of the object. The mass produced object is freed from the sterile beginnings at the factory. It is no longer a mass produced object, but a carefully curated reflection of a person, with personality and color. Thus customization, the process

fall 2014 democratization

Input obtained by those who are most directly affected by designs

millennial generationďťż

Aspiring generation; ambitious; painfully optimistic

cohen

design 07 computers

Machine god/new idol; the golden calf?

adrian aranda thania trujillo

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of making something personalized, is a freeing force that brings the consumer closer to the producer. Customization gives consumers voice by way of options. Customization is a force for democratization of design. Each consumer is a guaranteed client that has power to sway the

design of any mass produced object. Yet the biggest irony of customization leading to a democratization of products is that the process of customization is a designed process, which by itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very nature makes it limited to certain preordained options.

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modern warmth

In a sense, it is not freeing, but rather limiting. Design is rooted in control of options; it is not a freeing field of study, but rather a limiting one. In design, all options available are distilled, pruned, to a few selected verses that complete a set or whole. iPhone colors are al-

ready pre-selected, the covers are already made, the only choice a consumer has is to choose which color or background and imagine that they had their own personal choice in choosing. Designers, of products or homes, have to design not only the form, the construct, and the

fall 2014 dreams

Collages of memories; subconscious; the mysterious and unknown about ourselves

meditation

Pensive state of mind

richmond

environmental tech 02 product design

Everything, anything smaller than architecture

ďťż elizabeth morales

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function, but also what may be more important to consumers; the options available. Design is completely authoritarian. The cookie cutter homes that produced suburbia were an architecture of choice, a design of options. Each client, or consumer, can select from various models,

with one car, or two-car garage; with an open patio, or sealed; with wood floor, or carpetâ&#x20AC;Ś So, is the designer a curator of colors or a builder of worlds?

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A REGIMENTED ANALYSIS

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allowing surroundings to influence something new

reaction

The product of gathered information; digital representations of phenomena that can be cobbled together to form conclusions

data

wendy stradley lisa huang

jamie marchini wang

patrick weber gundersen

john hampton gundersen

Zachary Slagle VIA Spring Chur, Switzerland Tessin, Switzerland

what is this?

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It is about the interpretation of people’s dreams. About working to achieve a comprehensive construction, multi-phase, integrated design and facilities-related solutions firm. The firm builds success through experience, by delivering innovative construction services and applying state-of-the-art building technologies for all clients in various markets–after all, people’s desires are not so different whether they live in Jacksonville, Syracuse, or Omaha (or even Madrid). It is multi-disciplinary in nature, but with clear emphasis on implementation and effective execution of projects anywhere, with a serious commitment to safety, quality, and economy. It can mobilize quickly into new environments, is always focused on the clients, attempting to exceed their expectations, and realizing their dreams making them affordable, stylish, comfortable, and nice-looking.

It is the concretization of a conceptual structure that realizes space. Since reality is a construct, the idea of “the real” has no absolute meaning –its strength and purpose lies in its very ambiguity. It is generative in intent and disruptive in scope. It is a-temporal and absorbs all temporality and spatiality at the same time. It also conceptualizes prevalent psychosocial drives, and so inevitably denies objectivity, playing with material textures, spatial interfaces, and penetration of light/air. It all resolves into membranes, envelopes, and sometimes inexplicable or challenging interstitial shapes –defying conventional language(s). It can integrate a complex parametric which provides random/strict contradictory design outcomes, surfaces and spaces where people and objects may/may not exist, where in/ out and light/dark and up/down disappear in their formality as inconclusive categories, where beauty becomes irrelevant (as it has no meaning), and reality becomes contentious. It is an activity of ever present perplexity that can result in endless games, which, by defying norms and strictures, challenge our cognitive channels and so become as eternal as ephemeral. Or, as Bernard Cache has defined: “architecture would be the art of introducing intervals into a territory in order to construct frames of possibility.”

university of florida

school of natural resources

lecturer

ignacio porzecanczki

Let’s make some noise and money, achieve celebrity, and become stars: it is about getting the right clients, the right connections, the right relations and speaking the right words. Showing the right drawings, photos, and sketches. Everything is subsidiary to what the client wishes and desires or what he thinks he wishes and desires –and that is the space where we intervene –a space of all possible styles, all possible materials, and beautifully eclectic design, supremely pragmatic, full of ideas, post-ideology. Therefore the striving for originality and shock, where creation can mean destruction (and vice versa), and where being different is primordial –a new brand, awesome, utopian, the object of admiration and envy. If need be, chuck common sense in favor of disruption or adopt the common if disruption is not favored. If need be, chuck the traditional in favor of the experimental or, if the experimental is not approved of, adopt the traditional. Stretch to the limits, push for the big, the powerful, the bold, and the structure that is going to make a difference and make everyone talk. After that, anything can be said, the right metaphors used; endless fun and more commissions will ensue.

It is all about architecture, and it goes on...

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It is about people and shelter; our history and our culture. About the provision of carefully designed, functioning, simple (or complex), beautiful structures according to, and sometimes defying, social rules, desires, and plans –where we will be able to work, meet and live. It is about the art and practice of [again, careful about creating adequate spaces that will respect the landscape, be highly sustainable, and where we and our partners/associates/visitors will be able to soar naturally above our daily concerns, perform our occupations, and carry out our activities and pursuits with a clear “sense of place” in an atmosphere of fulfillment; and where we can feel part of an environment that allows us to work, grow, and learn in relative harmony with nature and, most importantly, with other beings. It takes into account the past and the future, the public and the private spheres, but is truly grounded in our real present needs, economies, desires and constraints, therefore becoming an essential element in the provision of solutions to many of mankind’s problems.

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CAmeron Buck VIA Spring Gudvangen Fjord, Norway Oslo, Norway

get published.

organizations acc

The Architecture College Council (ACC) is charged with uniting the organizations within the College of Design, Construction and Planning, as well as represent our college to the Student Government. ACC collaborates with the Board of College Councils (BOCC) to provide all student organizations within our reach with financial support and special funding. The Council also collaborates with students of architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and urban planning to help manage finances within their respective student assoications.The goal of ACC is to provide student organizations with the resources and information necessary for each to run smoothly.

asid/iida

The UF ASID/IIDA Student Campus Center is a student organization dedicated to bridging the gap between education and the profession of interior design. The group is a joint student organization of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and the International Interior Design Association (IIDA). Members of UF ASID/IIDA have the opportunity to join either student organization and enjoy their respective benefits. On the national level, both ASID and IIDA offer mentoring opportunities, scholarships, competitions, publications and endless resources for students interested in interior design.

asla

The Student Chapter of The American Society of Landscape Architects at the University of Florida is an organization set to unite interested graduate and undergraduate Landscape Architecture students for the purpose of developing an understanding of the importance of designing sustainable, aesthetically pleasing, and functional exterior environments. UF Student Chapter of ASLA provides students the opportunity to participate in organized activities outside the academic realm that improve skills and knowledge, and complement the curriculum at the University of Florida.

apx

Alpha Rho Chi is a national, professional coed fraternity for the students of architecture and the allied arts. It was founded in 1914 to organize and unite in fellowship the architectural students in the universities and colleges of America so as to promote the artistic, scientific, and practical knowledge of the members of the profession. Alpha Rho Chi is a family with nationwide connections providing support and friendship through lifetime bonds. This brotherhood carries a history that is rich with tradition and whose values allow its members to grow individually and as an organization. Alpha Rho Chi accomplishes this through its activities which promote professionalism and service.

Catalysts for Change is a group of students who are passionate about creating a better future through humanitarian and sustainable practices. The organization strives to act to make a difference in the local community, both on and off campus, and to create opportunities to collaborate with students from other fields of study. Catalysts are driven to work together on local volunteer events, learn about how to implement sustainable practices and educate others on various areas of expertise. The goal is that through this cross-disciplinary organization, all may have a deeper understanding of how to be â&#x20AC;&#x153;Catalysts for Change.â&#x20AC;?

c4c

aias

The American Institute of Architecture Students has come together since 1956 with the goal of helping shape the future of architectural practice by bridging the gap between education and the profession. AIAS UF gives students the opportunity to enhance their architectural education and connections by mingling with other students at conferences and events throughout the country. AIAS organizes students and combines their efforts to advance the art and science of architecture, and represents the sole student voice in the decision making process of organizations such as The American Institute of Architects (AIA), Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), and National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB).

organizations dcpa

DCP Ambassadors is an association within the College of Design, Construction, and Planning that strives to generate interest in their college. They represent the College of DCP with professionalism and passion with a focus on promoting unity between all of the students within the college. DCPA prioritizes finding new ways to reach out to potential students and strengthen the relations between the alumni of our college and the current student body. The Ambassadors help with a number of events and programs that include: The Research Showcase and Career Fair, Alumni BBQ and high school outreach programs.

nomas

NOMAS is the student branch of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). NOMAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mission is to champion diversity within the design profession by promoting excellence, community engagement, and the professional development of its members. Strength in NOMA is built through unity in the cause that created the organization. NOMAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impact is felt when the organization wrestles with the dilemmas that face this nation, particularly as they affect our profession. There is strength in numbers. By increasing the number of people in this organization, we add strength to the voice with which we can speak against apathy, bigotry, intolerance and ignorance; against abuse of the natural environment; and for the un-empowered, the marginalized and the disenfranchised.

G4GD

Gators for Green Design (G4GD) is a multi-disciplinary student organization aiming to design and create sustainable, nature-inspired projects including sustainable living communities, sculptures, housing and renewable energy alternatives. G4GD helps creative students of all disciplines brainstorm and research to create designs for both the built environment and all objects of human industry that are sustainable and inspired by nature. The association encourages students to lead projects pertaining to their areas of interest in order to gain as much hands on experience as possible. G4GD works in cooperation with other sustainability-related groups on campus to educate members and non-members on current efforts to revolutionize humanityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s industries and built environment.

The Studio Culture Committee is a studentinitiated organization that seeks to promote respect, collaboration, engagement, and innovation among students, faculty, and staff of the School of Architecture at the University of Florida. Since the Spring of 2006, the Studio Culture Committee has worked to identify existing systems within the School of Architecture that have a positive effect on Studio Culture. Our goal in identifying such systems is to ensure the support and extension of their significance, reach, and visibility as opportunities within the school while also discussing critical issues within the studio environment. SCC upholds the construction of a strong and creative studio culture within the University of Florida School of Architecture.

scc

fab lab club

The Fab Lab Club is a digital fabrication lab at the University of Florida that offers the tools to mediate between digital and physical design and creation processes. The lab is open to all students within the University of Florida. The technology offered in the fabrication lab include laser cutters, 3D printers, a 3D scanner, and a 3-axis CNC router. The Fab Lab Club makes use of this equipment to work on projects that focus on the campus and the community. The goal of the Fab Lab Club is to explore new ways of thinking and making, and to allow members to take on larger, more technically difficult projects.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Lowenstein, Roger. Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist. New York: Random House, 1995.

Robert L. Carneiro. “Herbert Spencer as an Anthropologist.” Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 5, 1981, pp. 171-2. Harries, Karsten. The Ethical Function of Architecture. MIT Press: Cambridge Mass. 1998. Woodman, Ellis. Other Traditions of Modern Architecture: The Uncompleted Project. London UK: Black Dog Publishing. 2007. Veiga, Alberto. “Barozzi/Veiga” Architectural Record. Dodge and Data Analytics. 2014.

Gregotti, Vittorio. “On Procedure.” In Inside Architecture, 89-94. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1996. Halprin, Lawrence. The RSVP Cycles; Creative Processes in the Human Environment. New York: G. Braziller, 1970.

Le Corbusier. Aircraft. London: Studio Ltd, 1935. Le Corbusier. The Modulor: A Harmonious Measure to the Human Scale, Universally Applicable to Architecture and Mechanics, Volume 1. New York: Springer Science & Business Media, 2000. Kruft, Hanno-Walter. History of Architectural Theory. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1994. Banerji, Robin. Niemeyer’s Brasilia: Does it Work as a City?. BBC World Service. <http://www.bbc.com/news/ magazine-20632277>.

Harrigan, Stephan. “National Geographic Magazine.” National Geographic. February 1, 2011. Accessed March 20, 2015. <http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/02/artificial-reefs/ harrigan-text/2>. Quirk, Vanessa. “AIA Puts Resiliency on the Agenda: “Resilience Is the New Green.” 27 Sep 2013. ArchDaily. Accessed 19 Mar 2015. <http://www.archdaily. com/?p=432802>. “The Resilient Design Principles.” Resilient Design Institute RSS. October 3, 2013. Accessed March 20, 2015. <http://www. resilientdesign.org/the-resilient-design-principles/>. Zolli, Andrew. “Learning to Bounce Back.” The New York Times. November 2, 2012. Accessed March 20, 2015. <http:// www.nytimes.com/2012/11/03/opinion/forget-sustainability-itsabout-resilience.html?_r=0>.

Citizen Architect. Big Beard Films, 2010. Film. Hillman, Dessen. “How To Make Architecture, Not Art.” 01 Mar 2013. ArchDaily. Accessed 18 Mar 2015. Schulz, Christian. Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture. New York: Rizzoli, 1980.

Neighborland. Accessed 3 Mar 2015.<https://neighborland. com> Openpaths. Accessed 3 Mar 2015.< https://openpaths.cc/> OpenCityApps. Accessed 3 Mar 2015. <http://opencityapps. org/#about>

McDonough, William, and Braungart, Michael. The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability - Designing for Abundance. New York: North Point, 2013. Urbanized. DVD. Directed by Gary Hustwit. 2011.

Bowen, Murray (1974), “Toward the Differentiation of Self in One’s Family of Origin,” Family Therapy in Clinical Practice (reprint ed.), Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield (published 2004). Baudrillard, Jean (1994), “Simularca and Simulation,” University of Michigan Press.

EDITORS & Contributors

Executive Creative Production

Writing

Marketing

Digital Finance

Patrick Weber Bre Rouse & Marissa Volk Derrick Archer Anh Tran Bernie Dioguardi Camila Jaramillo Kevin Marblestone

Alison Zuccaro & Xhulio Binjaku Adriana Contarino Alex Morrison Alexis Hyman Ana McIntosh Cami Cupples Gabby Heffernan Graham Nichols John Vieweg Michelle Hook Sam Sidersky

Elizabeth Morales & Kevin Marblestone Adrian Aranda David Vasquez Luis Rubio Dionicio Ichillumpa

Laura Rodriguez Lauren Mathis

Alyssa White Alexis Hyman

Architrave would like to thank the director of the UF School of Architecture, Jason Alread, our faculty advisor, Charlie Hailey, and all of the SoA faculty and staff for their continued support and assistance in the conception of this publication. Architrave would also like to thank VOA Associates for their kind donation toward the printing costs of this issue. Architrave was printed by Alta Systems, Inc. in Gainesville, Florida. All rights reserved. Neither this publication nor any part herein may be reproduced by any means without the expressed written consent of Architrave. If you have any questions, please email ufarchitrave@gmail.com.

VOA Associates Incorporated, founded in 1969, is an international design firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois; Highland, Indiana; New York, New York; Los Angeles, California; Orlando, Florida; Washington D.C.; SĂŁo Paulo, Brazil; Shanghai, China; and Beijing, China. We offer comprehensive services embracing many disciplines including Architecture, Interior Design, Programming, Medical Planning, Master Facility Planning, Urban/Land Planning, Strategic Planning, Landscape Design, LEED Consulting. A recognized leader in design, VOAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work stands the test of time. Our designs are sophisticated. Our approach is efficient. Our value is proven.