1950's "Types of things to come"

Hello, I realize that it has been close to a year since my last official post, sorry to disappoint the fanbase. Tonight I was collecting some information on life in the 1950's for my wife's US History class tomorrow. I found some great images on an interesting website dedicated to documenting and preserving iconic 1950's images. The website is called Plan59, and it provided the following images. I found these images for a number of reasons, first the architecture is quite interesting, I enjoyed the wholesome upstanding character of many of the adds, and the artistic representation also intrigued me.
I found this first image a subtle idealization of the american obsession with the suburbs. It's an add for "Calvert Whiskey", and it seems to show how to make the neighbors jealous. The architecture is interesting, I applaud the adventerous nature of the imaginary homeowner for embracing what looks like progressive design when compared to the rest of the neighborhood. It is clear, however, that they will pay significantly more for heating during the approaching winter. The other homes suggest a snowy climate with the pitched roofs, and they all utilize smaller and therefore much more efficient windows as high efficiency glass is a more recent advancement. The color scheme feels a little rich for my taste, but perhaps that's why we never have any great parties like this at my place.

This ad seems rather prophetic. After quickly getting over the obvious manifestation of our joyful obsession with oil, I was surprised by other elements of this ad. There are only two dismal looking trees in the background, which both seem to be leaning towards the other for support. The ground around them is barren, and aside from the small pond behind the trees seem isolated and in danger. The thing that I still can't get over is the clouds. They are a much more vivid shade of green than the foliage! I haven't heard any postulation about green clouds, but it's a frightening thought.

I love red's face. It says a lot: determination, strength, bravery, and a touch of despair in my opinion. This one is among only a few actual photographs, and the vivid colors are wonderfully composed. I'm interested in knowing exactly what these kids have become, they are probably nearing their mid to late 60's, and I hope that life is treating them well.

More architecture, i really liked the rendering technique in this image. I do however question the light logic on the base of the wall near the front of the car. As far as I can tell there are two suns, one casting the shadows of the car and the other of the wall, or that bumper has mysteriously found a way to inhabit the same space as the wall. I'd also like to eavesdrop on the two gentlemen, the lower one just said a zinger or something is about to go down....

Frightening. It looks like they created taser gas masks. I don't know if this was the beginnings of cold war propaganda, but it sure frightens me.

Finally, the crème de la crème.... I love this ad. I think it is so effective at conveying its mind numbingly simple message that I am ready to head to Smith's right now. WHO IS THIS KID!? The lighting suggests campfire, the hat suggests he's already murdered his fly fishing aficionado father, and to polish of a great day of camping he hammers his own large can of baked beans. I realize that this is a random reference but for everyone out there that has seen the movie "Tommy" (The Who rockopera) all I have to say is MMMMMM..... Baked beans. I'm almost tempted to drop $20 to buy a nice print to hang during Halloween. In conclusion, lets just say that I'm grateful to be living now dealing with the problems created in the 1950's than creating them.

And we have a winner!!!!

Last August before school began I stumbled across an architectural competition that I couldn't pass up. It was posted on a fairly well known architectural blog Archinect, and it was entitled "Live Forever: The Micheal Jackson Monument Design Competition. It was a few weeks after Jackson's passing, and I thought it would be a great way to brush up on my design/computer skills before school started. I stated to Caitlin that I would be up late, and spent from about 4 p.m. to 3 a.m. doing design and digital modeling. I woke up the next morning around 7 a.m. and polished the photorealistic renderings of the building and the space and prepared a competition board. I sent it off around 3 p.m., completing the entire design scheme and presentation in under 24 hours. The sponsers of the competition, the blog archinect and a competition website, bustler.net slowly posted the entrys for a viewer's choice award vote. I wasn't impressed with the response to my design, only a few people voted and it was dismal at best. Over 200 people/firms entered the competition so I wasn't too optimistic about my chances. The jury consisting of a number of respected individuals took quite a while to pick the winners of the competition. Friday morning I arrived at school early and routinely checked for results, and suprisingly they were posted (two weeks after originally announced). I scrolled through the first two, and I just about fell out of my chair when I saw the picture of my design board next to the 3rd place section. I won third place!!! You can all check it out here:LIVE FOREVER The Michael Jackson Monument Competition Unveils the Lucky Winners.
If you'd like an explanation for the image above I'd recommend reading my description on the link posted above. I took a "controversial" approach in my concept and design, which I think is really the only reason I won. I don't think that my design is neccisarily incredible, but it does capture some of Jackson's eccentricities. I guess I can make a name for myself by challenging and contrasting the norm. I feel that if it can create a dialog between differing sides than it has been effective. Anyways, his will look awesome in my grad school application, as it was international and had a large number of entries. I'm also excited about the 100$ and t-shirt, it's been a huge blessing!

Architecture pt. 2

Welp, the summer is over and the tree house is pretty much finished. I've totally neglected this whole blog thingo, so I'd like to apologize to my one devoted reader, my wife. In my last post I rambled about the beginings of an architectural design project. I explained how we obtained the job, and some of the groundwork we laid before designing. The biggest of which was our research. Chase and I spent hours surfing the web and scouring the library for pictures of treehouses, and tips on how to build them. We found a plethora of poorly designed ultra-conservative treehouses, helping us better understand what we didn't want design. We began to realize that a treehouse can be taken as far as the designer and client are willing, and that the only restrictions are the preconcieved notions of both and the monetary restrictions of the client. Luckily, our client was very flexible in both areas. After compiling our research, we began discussing the idea of "hobbit architecture". We talked about how hobbits live in the ground, and how their houses are disguised and hidden. It is also very difficult to ascertain what the floorplan of the house is from the exterior manifestation of windows and the round door, creating a mystery regarding the contents of the space. We also talked about how they are secretive creatures, desiring to remain solitary from the rest of the world and maintaining privacy even from their own neighbors. As we discussed we began to realize what a hobbit is, rather than where a hobbit lives. This began to form into the concept that guided our design. We didn't feel that a simple 4 walled hut with a pointy gable roof would be "hobbit" architecture, but we wanted to develop it into something more. We began by experimenting with various structures and shapes, eventually coming to the conclusion that we wanted to use simple boxes, but in a way that they wouldn't look like squares from the outside. We talked with Pam about the size of the sturcture, and what it's future uses would be, helping us to determine what scale the boxes needed to be. She wanted 6 teenage girls to be able to comfortably sleep on the floor, so we began finding a floor size that would comfortably fit the girls. We then began looking at what size would most effectively utilize standard materials. A full sheet of plywood is 8' x 4', so we wanted to find a way to make as few cuts as possible while using as few sheets as possible (cuts=time=$). We then started talking about the secret features that we could add to make the environment secretive much like the burrow of a hobbit. We came up with a number of ideas, many of which were incorporated in our design. We prepared our initial design proposal and met with two University of Utah Architecture professors, Mira Locher and Ryan Smith. They gave us new insights and helped us approach some of the issues we were faceing. We then went and proposed our design to the Coveys. We were quite nervous, but it went well. In the next installment I'll talk about construction. In the meantime, Caitlin has commanded me to post a link to a slideshow Chase made of the Treehouse. http://www.flickr.com/photos/41027599@N03/show/ Enjoy!

Architecture... Revealed!

For everyone out there familiar with Gob (pronounced Job, like in the scrips) from "Arrested Development", I'm about to do the unacceptable and reveal a big secret behind the magic of architecture. This is the first post in a series that will try and break down architecture into manageable pieces and create a better understanding of the eccentricities that are attached to the profession. I realize that I'm embarking on an endeavor that may very well end in failure, but if you'll bear with me I think that it should prove informative.


I would like to begin with a "simple" example, that of creating a tree house. This is particularly pertinent because I'm currently doing just that, designing and building a treehouse. About a month ago I received a phone call and interesting proposition from my aunt, Pam Covey. She asked if I would be interested in designing and creating a treehouse this summer for their family. I quickly agreed to undertake the job, and proceeded to tell my wife about the oportunity. After a few minutes of kind-hearted ridicule about my excitement from my well intentioned wife, I realized that it was going to be a long road. I understand her feelings, how would you feel if your husband came home and told you that he wasn't going to "find a real job" this summer to build a treehouse? I would assume that he should have grown out of that phase years ago, and I'd probably make my feelings aparent. I love her!

By this point I've already overcome one of the largest challenges known to architects, that of finding a willing client, especially in this economic climate. I also realized that I would probably need a partner, as the workload is often better shared with another able architect. A few days before the summer-changing phone call I'd been discussing a possible summer project with a classmate, Chase Hearn. I quickly extended the offer, which he readily accepted (probably to the dismay of his wife as well). We met and discussed the opportunity, really without any idea of what we were getting ourselves into. We had no idea what the client wanted, how much they were willing to spend, and how big of time commitment we were making.

A couple of weeks later, after surviving the hurricanes of finals week, we made our first official contact with the client. The meeting consisted of a ten minute meeting with my aunt, a short tour of the site, and obtaining a cut-out from a magazine about a tree-house. After our first encounter the buzz-word was "hobbit architecture". The Covey's wanted a treehouse that was reminiscent of the beloved hobbits in J.R. Tolkein's Lord of the Ring saga. They provided a picture of such a tree house:

It's seems simple enough right? We could probably just copy this house with minor changes and it would be great... right? Unfortunately, it was anything but simple. As Chase and I began our research we realized that we had a duty to investigate the possibilities, not just rely on what we felt is safe. The majority of suburban architecture is based on the idea that if it is working, do the same thing over and over. This results in boring architecture, plain buildings with no imagination or unique design elements. Rather than take a passive approach to our design we spent hours researching tree houses. You'd be amazed at the designs out there, every thing from simple platforms to pirate ships to abstract blob houses to 7 million dollar hotels, all built in the context of nature.As you can see, the possibilities are endless. In my next post I'll talk about how we applied what we learned from our research, and where it lead us as we began to design.

Springtime... Finally.

Yesterday Caitlin and I briefly reminisced about my 9th grade English class. I thought about it a little more today and remembered that we had to memorize a piece of classic poetry every term and stand in front of the class and recite it. One of the poems that was lucky enough to be recited by yours truly was "The Daffodils" by William Wordsworth, and I thought that the belated arrival of springtime could be appropriately celebrated. It reads:

I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretch'd in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Happy Springtime!

Æsop Rocks

"Sour Grapes, count one's chickens before they are hatched, the lion's share, look before you leap." Ever heard one of these familiar phrases? All have become common vernacular, coined by the wise sage Æsop. Born approximately in 650 b.c. in Greece, Aesop likely spent a life in slavery. He was aquanted with hardship, difficulty, and likely lacked the education to succeed. Traditionally he was extremely ugly and deformed, perhaps leading to the line "every child is beautiful in its mother’s eyes" found in a lesser known work Jupiter and the Monkey.
He is renowned with the best of Greek philosophers, and probably has better name recognition than Socrates or Plato, and is definetly more widely read. My personal favorites are the Lion and the Mouse, followed closely of course by the Hare and the Tortoise. I'm sure all can reminisce about their first time hearing his timeless classics with the clear and simple moral attached. I am grateful for the social lessons available in his fables, and would encourage all to check out a collection of fables and reflect on which morals are most applicable in our day.

A modern day Æsop has been traveling the country and spreading his own moralistic messages. He goes by the logical name of Æsop Rock. I first encountered this modern sage a little over a year ago, and have slowly became more of a supporter of his lyrical sermons.

Ian Matthias Bavitz was born on May 11, 1976 in Long Island, New York. He emerged at the forefront of the underground hip-hop scene in the late 90's, and he continues to produce gritty East Coast style lyrics. As an up-and-coming artist he helped white rap-artists gain respect as a minority in the hip-hop community. After producing a number of edgy, underground albums he decided to move to San Fransisco. New York purists, were distraught, and suspected they'd heard the last of Rock's true style, as West Coast hip-hop is often more upbeat and poppy. In 2007 he released two albums to confirm that he won't change, but that he will evolve with his music. Both of his albums are incredible. Nike asked him to create a 45 minute workout track called All Day, which is fantastic. It's a 45 minute journey through majestic soundscapes, checked occasionaly by some "encouragement" from Rock. I'd reccomend this album to all, as it is lyrically clean and motivating. His other 2007 release, None Shall Pass creates a much more enthralling listening experience. His fast paced lyrical scheme demands concetration and a willingness to listen four or five times to understand what he means. Some people describe his rapping as a "disjointed stream of consciousness", but I don't think that it's merely nonsensical jibberish. When asked about his lyrics he said "It's not exactly fast food but when people pretend I'm just spewing non-sequiturs and gibberish I can’t help but think they simply haven’t listened." I agree of course. I think that may be one reason that I've become so attached to his music, it isn't just a casual listening experience, and if that is what you like, Aesop most likely isn't for you. I also wouldn't recomend him if you have "sensitive" ears, as he can become fairly "expressive". For those of you who are interested, I'd recommend getting your mitts on None Shall Pass, and checking out his video for None Shall Pass and Fast Cars. He also re-released his latest album "None Shall Pass" today, splitting tracks into instrumental and acapella, allowing listeners to greater comprehend his skill as a musician and lyrisist. I'd recommend this album after you are a little more familiar with his style. Anyways, long live Aesop, regardless if you like either of them!