C a l i f o r n i a P o l y t e c h n i c U n i v e r s i t y, San Luis Obispo
Nathan Mok Arch 101 - Winter 2016 Professor Michael Lucas
NATH M O K
A N
BORN SEPTEMBER 4, 1997 FROM
C A S T R O V A L L E Y, C A L I F O R N I A
B AY A R E A N AT I V E LOVES
EATING & SLEEPING
SPORTS
FANATIC
FUTURE ARCHITECT
Week 1 Essay: Fragments Ou r wh o l e l i ves are d i vi d ed i n to mul t iple fr agment s. T hese d ifferent fr a g ment s ca n b e cl a s s i fi ed a s exp er ien c e s t h a t we h a ve g o n e t h ro u g h, t hroughout our ent ire l ives. O ur past , our p er s ona l exp er i ences , a nd our b i ogra p h y re v e a l s wh a t we tru l y are i ns i d e, and shapes us int o w hat w e are t oday. Thes e a re t he fr a g ment s of us . Thes e f ra gme n t s ca n s ho w ho w o p e n yo u are t o somet hing or someone, if you are s hy or out g oi ng , i f you ca n a d a p t to situ a t i o n s q u i ck l y, t he way yo u d o t hings in a cer t ain w ay, and et c. Ever y l i t t l e fr a g ment ma kes a p er s on t r ul y un iqu e , b e ca u s e n o b o d y has g o n e t hrough t he same exper iences or past s, and no one ca n t r ul y und er s t a nd t he sa m e f e e l i n g s a s t hat p e rs o n . Who you are is dependent on w here you hav e b een a s w el l . Sa y you’ re from t he ci t y, l ik e Ba u d e l a i re i n t he b o o k Po e t i c s of Space by Gast on Baudelaire. From t he hea r t of a ci t y ma n, t here w a s a s ens e of in c rea s e d i n t i mac y i n a h o us e an d t he images of houses w as t he common p l a ce for hi m. The i ma g e of B a ud elaire ’s h o u s e g a v e hi m n o s tal g i a f ro m his child hood, represent ing and “cl ing i ng ” t o hi s p a s t , w here he l ea r ned p rotec t ion o f t h e h ou s e f ro m t h e b us y wor ld around him. You might be more out g oi ng or more us ed t o b us y l i fe t ha n if y o u l i v e d i n a ru ral area, l i k e Lu c as’ old house. If y ou’re l ike Lucas, y ou might b e more a d vent urous , or more s el f mot iv at e d t h a t s om e o ne f ro m urb an areas. From Lucas’ house or homet ow n, t here w a s few hous es l i ke i n B a ud elaire ’s h o u s e , s o d i ff eren t l y, t h e o uts ide could ’v e been his safe place, unl ike t he hous e. W here you’ re from ha s a lo t of im p a ct o n what o r wh o yo u tur n out t o be because it ’s w here y ou lear ned how t o cr a w l , how t o w a l k, a nd how to ru n . Th e p l a ce yo u were f ro m rai s ed y ou and y our t hought s, and it sh ape s y o u i n t o s o m eo ne u n i q u e . Accord ing t o Baudelaire’s book, eac h o b j e ct g i v e s yo u p o l i s h e d re f l ect ions of y our imaginat ion, and t hrou gh t h o s e t h o ug hts i t g i ve s a f e el ing of your nor mal sur round ings. He also s t a t e s t h at s o m et i m es , h o us es of t he fut ure are bet t er build and larg e r t h a n t he o ne s o f t h e p as t, but t he fut ure houses are based off of t h e p a s t o n e s . Thi s i s tru e f o r l ife as it is in archit ect ure because t hrou gh h o u s e s t hat have b ee n b ui l t, w e can build on t hose ideas and mak e n e w e xp e r i e n c es an d c o m b i n at ions. In l ife, t hrough t he houses of y ou n g t h a t we h ave al l g ro wn u p i n, w e for m new houses of our future t h a t ca r r i e s us , an d t h e m em o ri es of t he fir st house show us w hat is n o rm a l a n d what we e x p e ri e n c e. W here w e l iv ed has a last ing impa c t on o u r i mp re s s i o n o f wh at i s to come and along w it h w here you’re http://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-2/images/2-5-image.jpg f ro m, yo u a re a l s o a m i rro r o f yo u r p ast exper iences. Our w hole l iv es are d iv i d e d i n t o f rag m e n ts t h at m ak e us w ho w e are, and t hat is w hat 3 mak e s u s s p e ci a l and d i ff e ren t f ro m ever y one else.
Week 2 - 4 Essay: Outsides and Insides In the book The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard, poetic thinking allows us to imagine things in a different, architectural way. In a certain way, negative space allows us to visually see a piece better, whether it is on the inside or outside, as stated in chapter 9 of the book. Negatives are important because they help materialize the solid materials and make the other things stand out. In the book, Bachelard calls space a movement of expression. Simply put, he says that space causes a decline of power in a piece of work, and emphasizes one point of the piece given by the negative space. In fact, negative space creates a positive reinforcement, that can result in many different things. Negatives and positives are two very contrasting things in the world of architecture, and are much like outsides and insides, as stated by Bachelard. The outside and insides are important because it allows us to see obvious geometry and Bachelard uses portions of a home as an example, due to their ability to transcend function, and allow the body and the mind to drift. In this home, the space is what separates the important thing, but also does not mean that space itself is not important. Space separates the attic, basement, as well as sets the foundation of what is made. The space results in a provocative outcome, employed with skill and invention in a dwelling. Using this negative space, he reveals the layers of the house, which also serve as anchors in the construction of the house to make it the beauty of what it is. Likewise to the terms “negative” and “positive”, the terms “outside” and “inside” express surface on two different dimensions. They form a dialect of division, much like negative space, and split them into metaphorical domains. They are uses as a basis of images that govern all positive and negative thoughts. In the book, there is a part Hyppolite speaks of, which is “the myth of outside and inside,” which states that “you feel the full significance of this myth of outside and inside in alienation, which is founded on these two terms. Beyond what is expressed in their formal opposition lie alienation and hostility between the two.” I think that there’s a lot of truth in the words that Bachelard analyzes. In the myth of outside and inside, there is significance in the opposites of inside and outside. In the dynamic opposites, there is a large noticeability in the differences and within that lies the alienation or the imaginary separation of the two. I think that in those theoretical separations, we see, in our own minds, the vast difference between what in inside and what is outside and we see differences throughout the whole thing. Between the differences in the two, there are also similarities: everything takes form, even infinity. With that being said, we can say that outside and insides are similar but also very different, in its own poetic, architectural way. http://www.phaidon.com/resource/fujimoto1.jpg
Week 5 - 7 Essay: Love According to Plato, the erotic principle of love is operative not just among human souls, but everywhere in the universe. Love is all around us. Love surrounds us. From this lecture, I learned that there is more to love than just saying it. The supoints of care, situation, time, and affect are all factors that effect how love can be described. Care means to concern, or to care for. To care for something means to feel empathy for something or someone, as if that thing is you, and to react to it in a way that shows that it concerns you. Situation is defined as being – with. When you are with something or someone, you love it because of the precense of being around them, and it just comes off as a good feeling that can’t really be described. Time is defined as duration, or temporality. This lecture really opened my eyes of what time is. I learned that there are two ways of prolonging life. The first consists of putting maximum distance between the points of birth and death, thereby extending the journey. The second way consists of walking more slowly, leaving points where they are desired to be. It means slowing down and respecting what you see, and wanting to freeze time and stay but you can’t. It means to want to live in the moment forever, to study and experience it, and I think that’s what time means, if defining time as a factor of love. Affect is defined as feeling or emotion. To love something means that if affects you in a way that makes it seem as if it toggles with your feelings of attachment, and proves that you have a passion or emotion towards it. These things define love. Through this lecture that love is http://www.residentialarchitect.com/practice/professional-development/ architecture-for-humanity-launches-i-love-architecture-campaign_o boundless. It’s not restricted to humans or living things. It can be to anything, as long as you treat it as such. Just as through love for human beings uses these factors, love for Architecture stems from the same roots, though it is a little different. “Love is the master and governor of the arts… No one can ever discover or learn any art unless the pleasure of learning and the desire of discovering move him… Artists in all of the arts seek and care for nothing else but love.” – Marsilio Ficino. To love architecture means to be fascinated by it. It means to be captivated by it, and interested in every aspect of it. It means to be hungry to learn more about it, and a thirst to become better and better with every ticking second. To be in love with Architecture means to treat it like gospel, to live with it and in it. You must embrace it with everything you have. Through the teachings of this lesson, I learned what it takes to be in love with architecture, and to love it wholeheartedly, if I am to become an architect. Without love and appreciation, Architecture is meaningless.
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Week 8-10 Essay: Alchemy Poetics The Poetics of Material Alchemy form the basis of Poetics in Architecture. The materials that this includes Steel and Straw, but it is not limited to these things. Material Alchemy can be made by anything, as long as it focuses on what architecture is made fore. Alchemy is defined as a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination. Through the lectures in this class with the basis of poetics, I learned a great deal about the making of an object or building, and how it is defined as a process in architecture, formed by the alchemy of materials. Everything we see is built upon. All the buildings are built in a way that is made from alchemy. Alchemy is also known as transformation of matter, or chemistry. In a way, alchemy actually is architecture, in its own poetic way. The combination/formation of these two create the beautiful structures that we see today in our everyday life. Architecture is the way something is designed or built, and Alchemy reflects that. In my short 2 quarters in architecture, I have learned a great deal about alchemy in the world of architecture, and have actually experienced it while working on my parasite project. For my parasite project, I was given site 222, which is on the 2nd floor, at the corner of the railings in the hallway that is in the heart of the building. Though my group struggled at first, my group had a lot of fun making the project, and it was actually my favorite project of the year so far. In the beginning, we had trouble deciding what to build because so many options could be made out of the space. We all agreed that we liked the idea of creating interaction to a space that was regularly overlooked. Everyone passed by our site everyday, but didn’t really think much of it, and we wanted to change that. We decided that we wanted to make something that gives a perspective for people walking through the hallway, but we wanted add a hint of physics and natural poetic beauty to give a physical aspect to the piece. My group decided that we wanted to make 2 large frames in the shape of a diamond, because we liked the diversity of the diamond compared to the squareness of the building. The diamonds were made of wood, put together in an elegant way so that the wood was attached by metal plates that seemingly fit in to the smoothness of the wood. With those diamonds, we placed them each on a different plane of railings, and we held the piece together with the tension of parachord attached at the corners, at set distances apart from the corner of the railing. There were 4 strings of parachord. When the frames were put up, we had the strings attached to it’s respective opposite corner of the other frame, and we connected the 4 strings with a magnificent knot in the middle. The parachord was tied together nicely by an arrangement of knots that was formed in the middle of the air space between the two frames, in the open space that was created by the hallway. In the end, we were really proud of the work that we put in to making the parasite the way that we did, and thought it was a great representation of the spot we were given. My parasite enhanced the experience of dwelling in and around Building 05 at my site by creating a feeling
of perspective throughout the building, but also showed the physical aspects that can be created from it by using tension focused at a point. By creating perception through perspective, we made a way that interacted with people through the basic sense sight and vision. We used physics to enhance the experience, and although I didn’t think it would work at first, the tension held together nicely and tightly, in a way that made our project secure and safe. The physical aspects allowed our project to focus on the point of a knot in the middle, concentrated at that on spot. Through its execution, I realized that a lot can be made out of open space, and that it can be used in a way that affects and emphasizes the space around it. I also realized that such a simple space could be brought to life, just by the basis of architecture poetry in motion. In using the structure of the materials and putting them together, we used “alchemy” to create and transform the environment into something different. With the structuring and spatial enhancement, we made our site into something that fit into the space perfectly and created interaction in a space that was regularly overlooked by the general public. We made the project in a space that fit its surroundings in a way that contrasted with the ordinarity of the environment around it. We did this by creating an abstract for in a place that was filled with regular, square shaped curves. In conjunction with the conceptual aspects of parasite, we used what we were given to form a transformation of matter, and in doing so, realized the poetry of alchemy in which we practiced. Our conceptual aspects were mainly focus, tension, and perspective, and in the making of our project, I think we fulfilled those things in a way that we saw best fit the surroundings. The poetics of alchemy reflects in many ways in our ordinary life, and with parasite, my group was able to witness that in real time. I was grateful for the opportunity to witness and build such a building, now realizing that it is more than just a structure. It’s poetry of architecture and alchemy in motion. By using the basis of Architecture, we made something greater that what I expected, with more meaning to it than I originally thought, and that’s more than anything that I can ask for from my first year.
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Hearst Lecture Comparison For my Hearst Lectures this quarter, I went to the Hearst Lectures of Matthew Coolidge, who is the Founder and Director of the Center for Land Use Interpretation, and Sunil Bald, who is a founding member of Studio SUMO. The center in which Matthew Coolidge works for is an education and research organization based in Los Angeles, California. The Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI) is dedicated to increasing and spreading knowledge about how the United State’s lands are perceived, apportioned, and utilized. They also are a research and education center for understanding nature that surrounds us and for the extent of interaction with the Earth’s surface, focusing on Landscape Architecture. SUMO is an innovative young architecture and design firm located in New York. The main purpose of SUMO is to respond to contextual forces, including physical, cultural, historical, and social conditions of sites, programs, and type. They also strive for inventive and unexpected solutions that may cause problems to the public. SUMO and CLUI are similar because they are both firms, focusing on the betterment of the environment that we live in. They both are dedicated to spreading knowledge of architecture and land around the United States, and are both want to explore and inform our surrounds. Though they are very similar, they are also different in many ways. CLUI is more focused on landscapes, and SUMO is more interested in the buildings of sites that we see. CLUI is more Earth oriented. Its main concern is the land around us. SUMO has an architectural focus. Its main concern are the buildings that we see in everyday life. In regards to changes to urban space and materiality, they are also very similar, as they both see these things on this Earth as an object to improve on. SUMO is more oriented as a change to urban space that we see when looking at buildings. CLUI is more oriented as a changed to urban space that we see on the land around us, not so much the buildings. The materiality is more of an issue in SUMO, because it focuses on the materialistic buildings that we see. This includes houses, skyscrapers, industrial buildings, and etc. Materiality is less prevalent in the works of CLUI. CLUI looks at lands that we see, and this can include sidewalks, land on which buildings are built, parks, grassy planes, and etc. In our parasite project, we also changed the environment, in regards to urban space and materiality. For our project, we used up the space that wasn’t taken up in Building 05, the Architecture building. In the building, my group had the site of the corner of the railings, on the second floor. For our project, we took up space in the railings to create two frames attached by parachord, and that made an aesthetic effect of the space in the building. We tried to make it more of a focus instead of an afterthought, and using urban space and materiality, we were able to achieve that. Similar to SUMO and CLUI, we improved on the urban space and materiality that we were given, and that was what made the difference in our interpretation of our given space.
Reflection
Archit ect ure s ur round s us . I t ca p t i va t es us . I t ’s
ev er y t hing around us , ever yt hi ng w e s ee, a nd ev er y t hing w e do. Archi t ect ure i s ever yw here. Throug h t he t eachings from t he 2 0 1 6 W i nt er Qua r t er of Arch 101, I lear ned m a ny t hi ng s a b out a rchi t ect ure, a nd my ey es opened t o t he common w ond er s of t he w or l d t ha t I hav e never not i ced b efore, even t houg h t hey w ere r ight in front of my ver y eyes . Throug h t hi s cl a s s , I gained respect for Archi t ect ure i n a w a y t ha t I never hav e befo re, a nd I t ha nk M i cha el L uca s , t he guest speaker s, a nd a l l my fel l ow cl a s s ma t es for ma king t his al l poss i b l e, a nd a s s i s t i ng me i n my j our ney t o become an archi t ect . I hop e t o us e t he know l ed g e t ha t I lear ned in t his cl a s s for my fut ure end ea vor s i n l i fe, cont inuing as a s t ud ent i n t he w or l d of a rchi t ect ure. I know t he fut ure ha s more i n s t ore, a nd I ’ m rea d y for t he chal lenge. U nt i l next q ua r t er, Arch 1 0 1 .
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