An Architect's Book

YOU CANNOT ANTICIPATE...ONE RESISTA TO THE SELF-CONFIRMING, CONCILIATORY O P E R AT I O N S O F A D O M I N A N T C U LT U R E . . .

O F T E N T H E C H A R A C T E R O F I T, T H E N AT U R OF IT MUST BE EXPLORED BECAUSE IT IS THERE...HAS MUCH BEEN ABOUT THE EVENT THAT TAKES PLACE IN A SPACE E UP T ITTH EI N A S KA E BO S P ASCI EG IHT T S E L F. . . A N D Y E T I R R E D U C I B L E T O A P U R E LY F O R M A L STRUCTURE DISENGAGED FROM THE CONTINGENCIES OF PLACE AND TIME... i r eH d bEy t hD e aEr cF h i tEe cN t u rSa l Ed e s O i g n Fp r oT c eH ss E f o r tA h eUW T e s tHB E ank cho usicO A ISn s p T NS T I oCl oI f TM Y VERSIDE // MINNEAPOLIS H U M A N E X P E RCIE DEA RN- R IC E...COMPELLED BY THE NEED TO INNOVATE...FLEXIBLE ENOUGH T ENGAGE THE COMPLEXITIES IF THE REAL Y S U F F I C I E N T LY I N I T S O W N T E C H N I C A L A N D M O L LY D A L S I N CONCEPTUAL BASES TO GO BEYOND SIMPL REFLECTION OF THE REAL AS GIVEN...

Our

minds

processing

are

capable

of

large

amounts

of

i n f o r m a t i o n a t o n c e . To d o t h i s , h o w e v e r, t h e b r a i n a u t o m a t i c a l l y reduces,

categorizes,

and

selects certain information over others.

Imagine what the brain

could do if it were trained to keep large

amounts

present at once! to

understand

of

information

In an attempt information

layering and overlapping, this a r c h i t e c t ’s b o o k w a s p r o d u c e d .

M A T E R I A L S / / Cedar wood, piano wire, acrylic, printed paper, permanent marker, Copic marker

This

book

was

inspired

from

the

design process used Fall 2013 for the design of the West Bank School of Music (WBSM).

The project involved

designing a new music cooperative for a client that has rich history and strong of

roots

in

its

neighborhood

C e d a r- R i v e r s i d e ,

Minneapolis.

Throughout the design process, layers of information were acquired relating to

H I S T O R Y,

PROGRAM,

C U LT U R E ,

FORM,

I N N O VAT I O N ,

and

SITE,

EXPERIENCE, C O M P L E X I T Y,

and it was difficult to keep all of the i n f o r m a t i o n i n v i e w. T h e e a s i e s t t h i n g was to solve one problem, check it off the list, and move on to the next.

H o w e v e r, d o i n g s o m a d e t h e p r o j e c t become dull and lifeless.

It became

important to find a way to not reduce the amount of information, and to keep

some

ambiguity

within

the

project to allow for serendipitous or i n n o v a t i v e d e s i g n m o m e n t s t o o c c u r.

Therefore, this book becomes well

a

as

about

tool,

a

as

narrative

the

design

process.

It

layers

information

onto

transparent pages so that

the

drawings,

text, and images may overlap and illuminate new

connections.

F u r t h e r, e a c h l a y e r i s moveable in the x-y direction the

to

adjust

conditions

overlap,

and

of bring

about a new narrative and connections. The narrative is a string of quotes from architects and

theorists

that

may or may not want to be referenced with each

o t h e r,

adding

just one more layer of provocation.