TABLE OF CONTENTS Architectural Works _MMNT Spa
01
_Prospect+Refuge 03 05 _StrandCity
09
_SunPaths
11
_3to1
12
Creative Works _Graphic Design
13
_AIA Beaux Art Ball 16 _Sketching / Drawing 17 _Photography
19
00
MNTN SPA
section perspective
The MNTN Spa [pronounced mountain] is located in Adeje, Tenerife on the Canary Islands. In an effort to elevate the program of the thalassotherapy center, the architecture aims to restore the body by simultaneously restoring the mountain back into the landscape. The previously existing villas, which were abandoned as a result of the 2008 economic downfall, are maintained in their original state, but buried under new soil to evoke the mountain terain. Valleys cut the site to continue the idea of the moutain restoration, but help create circulation above and throughthe buried villas and up into the landscape, offering themselves as sculptural pieces for a public setting as well as for moments of contemplation to the thelassotherapy center users.
01
valley perspective [view a]
private + public pools
mudbaths algae wraps salt rooms
timeshares
administration
entry
site plan
a
B
A
a
0ft
5ft 10ft 20ft
0ft 40ft
40ft 80ft
80ft
N
160ft 240ft
site section [aa]
02
PROSPECT + REFUGE
entrance from e. commerce st. [view a]
Location: San Antonio, TX
Done for the Roots of Change Community Garden Rainwater Harvesting Design Competition Pschyology tells us human beings look for prospect and refuge when they seek shelter. In the hopes of uplifting the Roots of Change Community Garden and the surrouding neighborhood, this design aims to provide its users with various areas that embody these qualities, while also shedding light on the current state of the water and food crises the city of San Antonio is currently facing. Using recyclyed bilboard tarps and scaffolding, rain water is collected from the pre-existing downspouts of the surrounding buildings and channeled into the center of the rary holding tank are located. From there the rain water is pumped into and held in a clear tank that allows visitors and daily users alike to visually connect with the water as they use it. It is then channeled to the 3’ x 4’ x 4’ concrete self-watering planters and used to irrigate the vegetation of the grid garden.
03
grid garden [view b]
self-watering planter detail
site plan a
0ft 0.5ft
1ft
mme
B
4ft 2ft
e. co
A
a
rce s t
.
N 0ft
40ft
120ft
20ft
80ft
water collection diagram
site section [aa]
5ft 0ft
20ft
30ft
10ft
04
ONEYOGA
exterior perspective
Prior to departure to Barcelona, a design charette was held for a yoga studio for one. Located along the San Antonio River, OneYoga aims to provide an escape from the city and the industrial. OneYoga utilizes extreme yoga poses and average body measurements to drive the size and shape of the ed from steel cables attached to concrete columns that are embedded into the banks of the river. Aligning, seperating, and connecting are important aspects of the yoga experience and became major driving forces of the design. The porousity, suspension, and materiality of the studio work to enhance these attribute more explicitly into the yoga experience by architecturally and physically manifesting them.
05
interior perspective
pose collage
VOIDYOGA
perspective from the intersection of carrer nou de sant francesc + carrer de josep pijoan
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Once in Barcelona, OneYoga grew in scale and evolved programatically but aimed to maintain the attributes of aligning, seperating, and connecting. However, in order to adapt to the site context, VoidYoga used a different architectural langauge that concerned itself more with the solid / void relationship present in the dense fabric of the city. Moments of escape, vaying in scale and feeling were created by breaking up continous moments of negative space with postive space. as various windows portrude out from the building into the plaza, alignment of seven chakras
the seven chakras SAHASRARA: understanding + will ANJA [OM[: imagination VISUDDHA [HAM] power
yoga classroom [view to void window]
before a yoga session. The most evident yet important of this is the void-window in the yoga classrooms. This wood-lined box acts as a platform for instructors, but also provides a private space in the larger context of the building as it portrudes out into the inner courtyard.
ANAHATA [YAM] love MANUPURA [RAM]: wisdome SVADISHTHANA: order MULADHARA: life
scale: 2� = 1’
KUNDALINI: shakti
06
a
roof
void-window section detail
b
b corten panels insulation plaster wall
3rd
b
b
2nd
tinted glass
b
wood liner
b
1st pine studs folded stainless steel chanels
0m
b
b
a
0m
2m 1m
07
8m 4m
10m
NN
.5m
1m
2m
front section [bb]
side section [aa]
0m
2m 1m
front elevation
8m 4m
10m
side elevation
08
STRAND CITY
site plan
big box + parking
residential skin
automobile circulation/storage
pedestrian circulation
commercial
secondary residential
public areas
private areas
Location: Lockhart, TX
Done in collaboration with Shane Tafares
Moment B
In order to grasp an understanding of the growth and change cities experience, this project explored how opment of a city. Lockhart (located in the Texas county of Cadwell), in this instance, started as a railroad city and moved out from the center. At the moment, Lockhart is destined for growth, being called the center between Austin and San Antonio, the busiest area along the i35 corridor. Considering these factors lead to the development of a system that works at various scales, from the regional scale to the city scale to the program scale.
moment a
moment b
The system works in 3 parts (connecting, adapting, extending) and uses the idea of seams and strands to allow this to happen. Instead of growing along or around a highway, like most typical development happens, the system works in a linear fashion and aims to reduce the woes of sprawl.
moment c
legend big boxes//wal-mart residential
N
public areas automobile oriented pedestrian oriented
0ft
09
40ft 20ft
120ft 80ft
moment 1
moment 2
moment 3
10
SUNPATHS
The sun is very often a neglected powerful source. As a celebration of the sun and its everchanging, but consistent ways, a rotating frame system was created to follow the sun
perspective through path
path through frames sketch
moments: the summer solstice, the winter solstice, and the equoniox. The result is a succession each other and suspend the movement of the sun.
sun rotations sketch
aerial perspective
sunlight + frame sketch
plan
11
perspective through path
aerial perspective
3TO1
We often fail to realize the opportunities that The Earth itself offers us in the realm of design. Everything from building materials to concepts can be right in front of our eyes if we just look deeply enough. After considering this, we can allow The Earth and its various terrain to guide the spaces and forms we will be creating. structural axonometric
structure is kept as simplistic as the site. In a similar fashion, its rigid geometry and perfect 45/90 degree angles are derived from those innately present within it. This was done in an effort to maintain the minimalistic nature of the site and to establish a relationship between what is to be created and what already exists. To further develop this idea, a concept of how we as humans relate to The Earth was incorporated. As one moves from above to below ground, a spiritual connection begins and quickly grows parallel to the physical journey forward. Site of the surroundings diminish as one continues ahead and eventually there is no separation between man and earth; they become one.
12
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Current spread: personal and educational work; each 20in x 30in Next spread: done in collaboration with Trenton Tunks for the UTSA College of Architecture 2013 - 2014 Lecture Series; each 24in x 36in
avenir 1. apex 2. arm 1
4
4
3
5
4
5
4
3. ascender 4. bowl 5. counter
2
7
2
9
5
14
6
11
6. crossbar 7. eye 8. leg 9. link
14
17
17
15
8
14
13
14
10.lowercase 11. shoulder 12. spine
1
11
14
11
4
5
16
14
13. stem 14. stroke 15. tail 16. terminal
15
14
15
11
12
5
2
6
17. tittle 18.uppercase 19. x-height
4
5
5
16
5
14
4
1
1
14
18
19
ARC HI T ECT URE
“Architecture” has been understood as both a search for an ideal and the practical resolution of contested space. The practice of architecture untangles differences and maintains distinctions between inside and outside, one material element and another, earth and sky, and self and world. Matter and thought are brought into order simultaneously in the intelligible pursuit of an idea and the sensible “sorting out” of things. The question, “what makes a good building?” has been answered by practitioners and theoreticians alike since Vitruvius proclaimed firmitas, utilitas, and venustas. In fact, as Hanno-Walter Kruft has pointed out, the whole of western architectural theory from the Renaissance to the present has been a dialogue with Vitruvius. Even the revolutionary mantras and manifestos of the early twentieth century do not fully escape the resolute echo of Vitruvius. Amidst the definitions and polemical discourse, I offer a few belated fragments, drawing together a range of sources and voices. Taken together, these suggest a very different, non-objective architecture -- one that is not defined in accordance with measurable rules. Architecture is not an object, and therefore, cannot be framed by the limitations of categorical knowledge or the extent of the drip-line. Neither is architecture to be defined as a process except to the extent that making and thinking are coincidental and reciprocal with the artifact. This book suggests that we consider architecture to be a practice – an art of knowing. As such, it is wrought with artifacts, which are the focus, means, and ultimately, offer the structure of knowledge. Artifacts are the means and materials of our thought and practice. We think through them. Making is a cultural act, an engaged pursuit of the artifact. It provides the process and methods by which we practice. The practice of architecture is an art that gathers all of culture into a meaningful web. Through the practice of architecture we build culture. In practice, the architect shapes land and matter and weaves them into a cultural artifice – one that is coextensive with land, culture, and practice. Architecture is a web of connections that extends outward from its artifactual center. It forms a fabric that is coincident with our being in the world. Architecture is a vessel that contains the body of things, relationships, and geometries that form the base-line of our language and thought. Within this vessel is held our memory and desire – not as fixed entities or images, but as a flux of possibilities. Yet, architecture remains stable to the extent that it provides us with a place to dream and to remember. Architecture is the body of successive artifactual layers that place us within society, culture, the environment, and the cosmos. In moving through these layers, we sort out the world and take on an identity. In this, architecture seeks to define the order and the negotiated union of self and world. Practice organizes the relationship between humans and their environment. The very grain that structures self and world is meaningful. Meaning is a narrative that is posited and concretized through practice. The artifact – the trace of this process – carries the fundamental values and beliefs of a culture. Where we are in the world is set among artifacts and in the landscapes that we inhabit. Architecture gathers us in the world to the extent that it forms an agreement in the joining of land, culture, and practice. Architecture gathers land, culture, and practice in response to our understanding of being in the world. Architecture searches to fill that open region between idea and matter, memory and desire, and our selves and the world. Architecture, as the coincidence of land, culture, and practice, places us between idea and matter, the past and the future, and among the things and social constructions that populate our being in the world. Architecture is the apparatus by which we conceive the world. The tools that guide us in our search are relatively few: our body, which is also to say, our mind; the cultural web of artifacts and knowledge, language which serves as a container and conduit, and the dialogic practice of making and thinking. With these, we attempt to make sense of the world that confronts us; to find the order and knowledge that permits stone to become a wall or the land a garden. We wrap language around things, weaving a fabric that is at once intelligible and sensible. We take things apart and probe beneath their surfaces, searching for their hidden structure. We assemble things into constructions. At first these are rudimentary: a wall, a beam. Later they become more complex, yet serve the same purposes and engender the same ideas and search for order between: a city, a text. “Architecture” has been understood as both a search for an ideal and the practical resolution of contested space. The practice of architecture untangles differences and maintains distinctions between inside and outside, one material element and another, earth and sky, and self and world. Matter and thought are brought into order simultaneously in the intelligible pursuit of an idea and the sensible “sorting out” of things. The question, “what makes a good building?” has been answered by practitioners and theoreticians alike since Vitruvius proclaimed firmitas, utilitas, and venustas. In fact, as Hanno-Walter Kruft has pointed out, the whole of western architectural theory from the Renaissance to the present has been a dialogue with Vitruvius. Even the revolutionary mantras and manifestos of the early twentieth century do not fully escape the resolute echo of Vitruvius. Amidst the definitions and polemical discourse, I offer a few belated fragments, drawing together a range of sources and voices. Taken together, these suggest a very different, non-objective architecture -- one that is not defined in accordance with measurable rules. Architecture is not an object, and therefore, cannot be framed by the limitations of categorical knowledge or the extent of the drip-line. Neither is architecture to be defined as a process except to the extent that making and thinking are coincidental and reciprocal with the artifact. This book suggests that we consider architecture to be a practice – an art of knowing. As such, it is wrought with artifacts, which are the focus, means, and ultimately, offer the structure of knowledge. Artifacts are the means and materials of our thought and practice. We think through them. Making is a cultural act, an engaged pursuit of the artifact. It provides the process and methods by which we practice. The practice of architecture is an art that gathers all of culture into a meaningful web. Through the practice of architecture we build culture. In practice, the architect shapes land and matter and weaves them into a cultural artifice – one that is coextensive with land, culture, and practice. Architecture is a web of connections that extends outward from its artifactual center. It forms a fabric that is coincident with our being in the world. Architecture is a vessel that contains the body of things, relationships, and geometries that form the base-line of our language and thought. Within this vessel is held our memory and desire – not as fixed entities or images, but as a flux of possibilities. Yet, architecture remains stable to the extent that it provides us with a place to dream and to remember. Architecture is the body of successive artifactual layers that place us within society, culture, the environment, and the cosmos. In moving through these layers, we sort out the world and take on an identity. In this, architecture seeks to define the order and the negotiated union of self and world. Practice organizes the relationship between humans and their environment. The very grain that structures self and world is meaningful. Meaning is a narrative that is posited and concretized through practice. The artifact – the trace of this process – carries the fundamental values and beliefs of a culture. Where we are in the world is set among artifacts and in the landscapes that we inhabit. Architecture gathers us in the world to the extent that it forms an agreement in the joining of land, culture, and practice. Architecture gathers land, culture, and practice in response to our understanding of being in the world. Architecture searches to fill that open region between idea and matter, memory and desire, and our selves and the world. Architecture, as the coincidence of land, culture, and practice, places us between idea and matter, the past and the future, and among the things and social constructions that populate our being in the world. Architecture is the apparatus by which we conceive the world. The tools that guide us in our search are relatively few: our body, which is also to say, our mind; the cultural web of artifacts and knowledge, language which serves as a container and conduit, and the dialogic practice of making and thinking. With these, we attempt to make sense of the world that confronts us; to find the order and knowledge that permits stone to become a wall or the land a garden. We wrap language around things, weaving a fabric that is at once intelligible and sensible. We take things apart and probe beneath their surfaces, searching for their hidden structure. We assemble things into constructions. At first these are rudimentary: a wall, a beam. Later they become more complex, yet serve the same purposes and engender the same ideas and search for order between: a city, a text. “Architecture” has been understood as both a search for an ideal and the practical resolution of contested space. The practice of architecture untangles differences and maintains distinctions between inside and outside, one material element and another, earth and sky, and self and world. Matter and thought are brought into order simultaneously in the intelligible pursuit of an idea and the sensible “sorting out” of things. The question, “what makes a good building?” has been answered by practitioners and theoreticians alike since Vitruvius proclaimed firmitas, utilitas, and venustas. In fact, as Hanno-Walter Kruft has pointed out, the whole of western architectural theory from the Renaissance to the present has been a dialogue with Vitruvius. Even the revolutionary mantras and manifestos of the early twentieth century do not fully escape the resolute echo of Vitruvius. Amidst the definitions and polemical discourse, I offer a few belated fragments, drawing together a range of sources and voices. Taken together, these suggest a very different, nonobjective architecture -- one that is not defined in accordance with measurable rules. Architecture is not an object, and therefore, cannot be framed by the limitations of categorical knowledge or the extent of the drip-line. Neither is architecture to be defined as a process except to the extent that making and thinking are coincidental and reciprocal with the artifact. This book suggests that we consider architecture to be a practice – an art of knowing. As such, it is wrought with artifacts, which are the focus, means, and ultimately, offer the structure of knowledge. Artifacts are the means and materials of our thought and practice. We think through them. Making is a cultural act, an engaged pursuit of the artifact. It provides the process and methods by which we practice. The practice of architecture is an art that gathers all of culture into a meaningful web. Through the practice of architecture we build culture. In practice, the architect shapes land and matter and weaves them into a cultural artifice – one that is coextensive with land, culture, and practice. Architecture is a web of connections that extends outward from its artifactual center. It forms a fabric that is coincident with our being in the world. Architecture is a vessel that contains the body of things, relationships, and geometries that form the base-line of our language and thought. Within this vessel is held our memory and desire – not as fixed entities or images, but as a flux of possibilities. Yet, architecture remains stable to the extent that it provides us with a place to dream and to remember. Architecture is the body of successive artifactual layers that place us within society, culture, the environment, and the cosmos. In moving through these layers, we sort out the world and take on an identity. In this, architecture seeks to define the order and the negotiated union of self and world. Practice organizes the relationship between humans and their environment. The very grain that structures self and world is meaningful. Meaning is a narrative that is posited and concretized through practice. The artifact – the trace of this process – carries the fundamental values and beliefs of a culture. Where we are in the world is set among artifacts and in the landscapes that we inhabit. Architecture gathers us in the world to the extent that it forms an agreement in the joining of land, culture, and practice. Architecture gathers land, culture, and practice in response to our understanding of being in the world. Architecture searches to fill that open region between idea and matter, memory and desire, and our selves and the world. Architecture, as the coincidence of land, culture, and practice, places us between idea and matter, the past and the future, and among the things and social constructions that populate our being in the world. Architecture is the apparatus by which we conceive the world. The tools that guide us in our search are relatively few: our body, which is also to say, our mind; the cultural web of artifacts and knowledge, language which serves as a container and conduit, and the dialogic practice of making and thinking. With these, we attempt to make sense of the world that confronts us; to find the order and knowledge that permits stone to become a wall or the land a garden. We wrap language around things, weaving a fabric that is at once intelligible and sensible. We take things apart and probe beneath their surfaces, searching for their hidden structure. We assemble things into constructions. At first these are rudimentary: a wall, a beam. Later they become more complex, yet serve the same purposes and engender the same ideas and search for order between: a city, a text. “Architecture” has been understood as both a search for an ideal and the practical resolution of contested space. The practice of architecture untangles differences and maintains distinctions between inside and outside, one material element and another, earth and sky, and self and world. Matter and thought are brought into order simultaneously in the intelligible pursuit of an idea and the sensible “sorting out” of things. The question, “what makes a good building?” has been answered by practitioners and theoreticians alike since Vitruvius proclaimed firmitas, utilitas, and venustas. In fact, as Hanno-Walter Kruft has pointed out, the whole of western architectural theory from the Renaissance to the present has been a dialogue with Vitruvius. Even the revolutionary mantras and manifestos of the early twentieth century do not fully escape the resolute echo of Vitruvius. Amidst the definitions and polemical discourse, I offer a few belated fragments, drawing together a range of sources and voices. Taken together, these suggest a very different, non-objective architecture -- one that is not defined in accordance with measurable rules. Architecture is not an object, and therefore, cannot be framed by the limitations of categorical knowledge or the extent of the drip-line. Neither is architecture to be defined as a process except to the extent that making and thinking are coincidental and reciprocal with the artifact. This book suggests that we consider architecture to be a practice – an art of knowing. As such, it is wrought with artifacts, which are the focus, means, and ultimately, offer the structure of knowledge. Artifacts are the means and materials of our thought and practice. We think through them. Making is a cultural act, an engaged pursuit of the artifact. It provides the process and methods by which we practice. The practice of architecture is an art that gathers all of culture into a meaningful web. Through the practice of architecture we build culture. In practice, the architect shapes land and matter and weaves them into a cultural artifice – one that is coextensive with land, culture, and practice. Architecture is a web of connections that extends outward from its artifactual center. It forms a fabric that is coincident with our being in the world. Architecture is a vessel that contains the body of things, relationships, and geometries that form the base-line of our language and thought. Within this vessel is held our memory and desire – not as fixed entities or images, but as a flux of possibilities. Yet, architecture remains stable to the extent that it provides us with a place to dream and to remember. Architecture is the body of successive artifactual layers that place us within society, culture, the environment, and the cosmos. In moving through these layers, we sort out the world and take on an identity. In this, architecture seeks to define the order and the negotiated union of self and world. Practice organizes the relationship between humans and their environment. The very grain that structures self and world is meaningful. Meaning is a narrative that is posited and concretized through practice. The artifact – the trace of this process – carries the fundamental values and beliefs of a culture. Where we are in the world is set among artifacts and in the landscapes that we inhabit. Architecture gathers us in the world to the extent that it forms an agreement in the joining of land, culture, and practice. Architecture gathers land, culture, and practice in response to our understanding of being in the world. Architecture searches to fill that open region between idea and matter, memory and desire, and our selves and the world. Architecture, as the coincidence of land, culture, and practice, places us between idea and matter, the past and the future, and among the things and social constructions that populate our being in the world. Architecture is the apparatus by which we conceive the world. The tools that guide us in our search are relatively few: our body, which is also to say, our mind; the cultural web of artifacts and knowledge, language which serves as a container and conduit, and the dialogic practice of making and thinking. With these, we attempt to make sense of the world that confronts us; to find the order and knowledge that permits stone to become a wall or the land a garden. We wrap language around things, weaving a fabric that is at once intelligible and sensible. We take things apart and probe beneath their surfaces, searching for their hidden structure. We assemble things into constructions. At first these are rudimentary: a wall, a beam. Later they become more complex, yet serve the same purposes and engender the same ideas and search for order between: a city, a text. “Architecture” has been understood as both a search for an ideal and the practical resolution of contested space. The practice of architecture untangles differences and maintains distinctions between inside and outside, one material element and another, earth and sky, and self and world. Matter and thought are brought into order simultaneously in the intelligible pursuit of an idea and the sensible “sorting out” of things. The question, “what makes a good building?” has been answered by practitioners and theoreticians alike since Vitruvius proclaimed firmitas, utilitas, and venustas. In fact, as Hanno-Walter Kruft has pointed out, the whole of western architectural theory from the Renaissance to the present has been a dialogue with Vitruvius. Even the revolutionary mantras and manifestos of the early twentieth century do not fully escape the resolute echo of Vitruvius. Amidst the definitions and polemical discourse, I offer a few belated fragments, drawing together a range of sources and voices. Taken together, these suggest a very different, non-objective architecture -- one that is not defined in accordance with measurable rules. Architecture is not an object, and therefore, cannot be framed by the limitations of categorical knowledge or the extent of the drip-line. Neither is architecture to be defined as a process except to the extent that making and thinking are coincidental and reciprocal with the artifact. This book suggests that we consider architecture to be a practice – an art of knowing. As such, it is wrought with artifacts, which are the focus, means, and ultimately, offer the structure of knowledge. Artifacts are the means and materials of our thought and practice. We think through them. Making is a cultural act, an engaged pursuit of the artifact. It provides the process and methods by which we practice. The practice of architecture is an art that gathers all of culture into a meaningful web. Through the practice of architecture we build culture. In practice, the architect shapes land and matter and weaves them into a cultural artifice – one that is coextensive with land, culture, and practice. Architecture is a web of connections that extends outward from its artifactual center. It forms a fabric that is coincident with our being in the world. Architecture is a vessel that contains the body of things, relationships, and geometries that form the base-line of our language and thought. Within this vessel is held our memory and desire – not as fixed entities or images, but as a flux of possibilities. Yet, architecture remains stable to the extent that it provides us with a place to dream and to remember. Architecture is the body of successive artifactual layers that place us within society, culture, the environment, and the cosmos. In moving through these layers, we sort out the world and take on an identity. In this, architecture seeks to define the order and the negotiated union of self and world. Practice organizes the relationship between humans and their environment. The very grain that structures self and world is meaningful. Meaning is a narrative that is posited and concretized through practice. The artifact – the trace of this process – carries the fundamental values and beliefs of a culture. Where we are in the world is set among artifacts and in the landscapes that we inhabit. Architecture gathers us in the world to the extent that it forms an agreement in the joining of land, culture, and practice. Architecture gathers land, culture, and practice in response to our understanding of being in the world. Architecture searches to fill that open region between idea and matter, memory and desire, and our selves and the world. Architecture, as the coincidence of land, culture, and practice, places us between idea and matter, the past and the future, and among the things and social constructions that populate our being in the world. Architecture is the apparatus by which we conceive the world. The tools that guide us in our search are relatively few: our body, which is also to say, our mind; the cultural web of artifacts and knowledge, language which serves as a container and conduit, and the dialogic practice of making and thinking. With these, we attempt to make sense of the world that confronts us; to find the order and knowledge that permits stone to become a wall or the land a garden. We wrap language around things, weaving a fabric that is at once intelligible and sensible. We take things apart and probe beneath their surfaces, searching for their hidden structure. We assemble things into constructions. At first these are rudimentary: a wall, a beam. Later they become more complex, yet serve the same purposes and engender the same ideas and search for order between: a city, a text. “Architecture” has been understood as both a search for an ideal and the practical resolution of contested space. The practice of architecture untangles differences and maintains distinctions between inside and outside, one material element and another, earth and sky, and self and world. Matter and thought are brought into order simultaneously in the intelligible pursuit of an idea and the sensible “sorting out” of things. The question, “what makes a good building?” has been answered by practitioners and theoreticians alike since Vitruvius proclaimed firmitas, utilitas, and venustas. In fact, as Hanno-Walter Kruft has pointed out, the whole of western architectural theory from the Renaissance to the present has been a dialogue with Vitruvius. Even the revolutionary mantras and manifestos of the early twentieth century do not fully escape the resolute echo of Vitruvius. Amidst the definitions and polemical discourse, I offer a few belated fragments, drawing together a range of sources and voices. Taken together, these suggest a very different, non-objective architecture -- one that is not defined in accordance with measurable rules. Architecture is not an object, and therefore, cannot be framed by the limitations of categorical knowledge or the extent of the drip-line. Neither is architecture to be defined as a process except to the extent that making and thinking are coincidental and reciprocal with the artifact. This book suggests that we consider architecture to be a practice – an art of knowing. As such, it is wrought with artifacts, which are the focus, means, and ultimately, offer the structure of knowledge. Artifacts are the means and materials of our thought and practice. We think through them. Making is a cultural act, an engaged pursuit of the artifact. It provides the process and methods by which we practice. The practice of architecture is an art that gathers all of culture into a meaningful web. Through the practice of architecture we build culture. In practice, the architect shapes land and matter and weaves them into a cultural artifice – one that is coextensive with land, culture, and practice. Architecture is a web of connections that extends outward from its artifactual center. It forms a fabric that is coincident with our being in the world. Architecture is a vessel that contains the body of things, relationships, and geometries that form the base-line of our language and thought. Within this vessel is held our memory and desire – not as fixed entities or images, but as a flux of possibilities. Yet, architecture remains stable to the extent that it provides us with a place to dream and to remember. Architecture is the body of successive artifactual layers that place us within society, culture, the environment, and the cosmos. In moving through these layers, we sort out the world and take on an identity. In this, architecture seeks to define the order and the negotiated union of self and world. Practice organizes the relationship between humans and their environment. The very grain that structures self and world is meaningful. Meaning is a narrative that is posited and concretized through practice. The artifact – the trace of this process – carries the fundamental values and beliefs of a culture. Where we are in the world is set among artifacts and in the landscapes that we inhabit. Architecture gathers us in the world to the extent that it forms an agreement in the joining of land, culture, and practice. Architecture gathers land, culture, and practice in response to our understanding of being in the world. Architecture searches to fill that open region between idea and matter, memory and desire, and our selves and the world. Architecture, as the coincidence of land, culture, and practice, places us between idea and matter, the past and the future, and among the things and social constructions that populate our being in the world. Architecture is the apparatus by which we conceive the world. The tools that guide us in our search are relatively few: our body, which is also to say, our mind; the cultural web of artifacts and knowledge, language which serves as a container and conduit, and the dialogic practice of making and thinking. With these, we attempt to make sense of the world that confronts us; to find the order and knowledge that permits stone to become a wall or the land a garden. We wrap language around things, weaving a fabric that is at once intelligible and sensible. We take things apart and probe beneath their surfaces, searching for their hidden structure. We assemble things into constructions. At first these are rudimentary: a wall, a beam. Later they become more complex, yet serve the same purposes and engender the same ideas and search for order between: a city, a text. “Architecture” has been understood as both a search for an ideal and the practical resolution of contested space. The practice of architecture untangles differences and maintains distinctions between inside and outside, one material element and another, earth and sky, and self and world. Matter and thought are brought into order simultaneously in the intelligible pursuit of an idea and the sensible “sorting out” of things. The question, “what makes a good building?” has been answered by practitioners and theoreticians alike since Vitruvius proclaimed firmitas, utilitas, and venustas. In fact, as Hanno-Walter
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for any questions, including those regarding times, locations, or special accommodations for disabilities, please contact professors jazzy beats at jazzy.beats@utsa.edu or 210.555.5432 | event is happening rain or shine | gd_p4_tiled_131022.indd
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Excerpt from the poem “A Throw of the Dice” By Stéphane Mallarmé
Born in Paris in 1842, Mallarmé was an influential poet and critic of his time. His work liberated art and helped literature escape the conventions of paper and type. Today, his major movements, like Cubism, Futurism, and Surrealism, can be partially credited to him.
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associate professor of architecture at the university of pennsylvania
principal and co-founder: interboro partners
d r . w i l l i am da n i e l d o c a b r a h am
jo e o co b l es ha pu
n s n b
n i c l
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lecture: public art + placemaking
lecture: when life gives you lemons
oct
wed
presented by utsa coa + aia san antonio
15
5:30
pm
oct
30
wed
5:30
pm
aula canaria buena vista bldg bv 1.328 presented by utsa college of architecture with support from public art san antonio
a c k e rma n heritage conservation: inspired action
29 lecture: the art of street design
19
feb
southwest room durango bldg db 1.124
southwest room durango bldg db 1.124
wed presented by: utsa college of architecture
l i sa
jan
nov
aula canaria buena vista bldg bv 1.328
executive vice president and chief operating officer of world monuments fund
jo hn ma s s e n g a l e + v i c t o r do ve r
6
30 aula canaria buena vista bldg bv 1.328
l l + g c k c a r t
presented by: the utsa college of architecture
5:30
pm
wed
5:30
pm
wed presented by the center for cultural sustainability, utsa college of architecture
5:30
pm
BEAUX ARTS BALL
To the left: 2011 AIA Beaux Arts Ball
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SKETCHING + DRAWING
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PHOTOGRAPHY
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THANK YOU.