mid-way through, still alive!

First off, I'd like to say that I'm pretty bad about updating frequently, but I thought I'd let everyone know I'm still alive and well. To summarize, here are a few things I've learned:


1) Fear mixed with adrenaline are more affective in keeping you awake than coffee
2) grad students can smell free anything from a mile away
3) procrastination is contagious, more so than swine flu
4) having a calendar posted at my desk is the only way I know what day it is
5)i have no more fingernails
6) adobe illustrator saves lives
7) desperate times call for eating pop tarts and ramen
8) you have to back up your back-up hard drive
9) the 3rd floor attic studio is technically violating egress rules...eh watevs
10) i have narcoleptic issues in lectures


... now to school work.


I won't show my studio work yet since it will take me a little longer to gather images, so I'll make that a separate post. But I will show you images from my digital media class, where the goal is to map various systems in digital and physical form.




_Elective: Shifting Lines to Surfaces / FL10
_Background: Everyone chose a system in nature, and then after a series of 2D mapping (lines) we then interpret and communicate the line drawings into 3D (surfaces).
_System: Starfish Skin -- Top (hard, prickly); bottom (soft, supple)
_Programs: Rhino / Illustrator
_Next Steps: I now have to figure out how to build this physical model! Critics have suggested rubber, silicone to allow the model to maintain the idea of suppleness / non-rigidity. 

One of the boards from this week's mid-review

 click here for a larger view.


next post: Urban Housing Design Studio _ Studio Project

first 2 weeks = architecture bootcamp

#1 //  o b s e r v e .

The first two weeks before classes started, we had graduate orientation. It felt more like boot camp; we were charretting, for crying out loud, for a project we weren't getting graded on, that we weren't even presenting... but nevertheless, it was great to get down and dirty and back into the swing of things. And what better way to make friends than to already know what everyone looks like at their 2:30am finest? Part of the orientation was our first project, the observatory. Our design came from thinking of a geologic form emerging from the landscape; a geologic growth, with a machinist aesthetic. A person observes by entering and circulating into enclosed spaces, with viewing moments created from the perforated folded walls. The viewer travels all the way through to the top, where the structure is completely opened up. First attempts with Rhino, and a great team effort with my teammate, Saori.

I must say, it's a departure from UMD. but i like it. =)