Saturday, January 29, 2011

Catch-up not Ketchup




Oh my Blog its been so long since I've posted on you. You see.....its not that I haven't been doing my thesis, its more like my Thesis has been well you know. All I can say is that it has been such a thrilling ride so far. It's hard to believe that I am now in my second quarter 3rd week and still it feels like I just started. However, when I look at all the work that has been done I couldn't image a better way to end a chapter in my life, only to open a new one. So here is a progress update on Thesis. Originally my project was titled Threshold, and as of the end of last quarter that is what I presented it as. However, as I had another 'lightbulb' moment on Friday the thesis name and direction have changed. If you ask me, I'd say that its all part of the process. Im glad that my thesis has been altered so much, its a sure sign that I'm not getting bored with it. So the project is still the same, well generally speaking, but the specifics have become, well....more specific (stating the obvious). My project has changed names to 'Centropy' Center+Entropy meet "[C]Entropy'.Today I spent all day working on my Topography model and well to my satisfaction looks GREAT! I have included some pictures. It was a long haul and very time and labor intensive but it will look great in my end of the year presentation. So with the change of the name of my project I have decided to construct a prototype for the future of general education with an inclusion of ecology and entropy. During my 'Ah-ha' moment the other night that I have referenced above, this is what I jotted down. It was spur of the moment, typical napkin thinker with a pen moment.
So here is what i wrote down as the ideas came flooding my mind- " ...(my design) should move away from megastructures toward a more 'humanized' scale to realize the grandeur of nature and its importance in the ecology of life. The architecture in human scale sets us in our place in the order of the natural world. We don't need to conquer nature to realize we rely upon it for the very act of living, rather we need to see ourselves in proportion to our reliance upon it."

"We should be concerned with leaving the smallest footprint upon it (landscape/nature) and the design of such a center should aspire to be compact. This in turn will heighten the perception of our natural surroundings, particularly the canyon which was formed by water, which is a grand figure in nature"

Design Goals: Design a structure to be carried into a place where permanent construction is not permitted, erected, then deconstructed after its use (time varying) and have the area look as if the structure was never even there.

So thats where Im at. Hopefully I can come up with a killer idea. Im even playing with the idea of building a piece of it for my final presentation, Full Scale!