//NY_Notes

_On Material Enthrophy // Geometry and facting can be used to channel elemental forces that subsequently act on the building, creating lines of rust, decay and maybe melts. // Visually this can be used to emphasize contouring and depth, not unlike how a pencil shades.

_On Mies // His forms were planes floating in the air, a proun in stable equilibrium held up by lines. The spatial proportions played through, from facade to interior letter boxes  The qualities of this were achieved by detailing edge definitions, hiding connections as well as the material finish, which hid in the shadows and shone bright in the light: it picked up the tones from the surrounding colours, colour runoff. // The material was inbetween a matt material and a pearly gritty finish that flirted with the light. The interior was a muted wash of orange light: a warm colour temperature that contrast with the cold exterior that caged it.

_On Silhouettes // There is a visual game between opacities, the forms they veil and unveil and on a secondary filigree that is a cacophony of lines, nest like, that wraps it. Order and disorder. It flirts between expectation and anticipation.

_On Wildness // It seems that the Igualada Cemetary is actually a surprising precendent for manicured wildness. Cuts, tears and holes: oscillating light levels or dark and light. Two intertwining bodies: synthetic and controlled, curated and wild. What this means is one is where there is shopping, housing, all the civil programs we have come to know as associated to the city. The other is a winding route, partially an accident from the fall out between the new and the existing. what this means is I need to define a larger territory, and then reduce it. (whatever that may mean, at this point). // Could the THICK wall be made of garbage? The point is that it could be something that grows with time, like flubber. What will be interesting is when they encroach upon each other: entirely filled up. Could it be used as formwork? A residual imprint. What material would be interesting?

_Halfway Observations

//The two boys self-consciously explored each other. Their implicit submission to each other was painfully obvious to everyone but them.
//Her berber blue blousen dress accented her skin subtly. The silhouette of her high-waisted puffy pants echoed the silhouette of how her hair fell which silhouetted the shape of her soft face. She also played the cello and laughed like one too.
//It was hard to regard her with any preset assumptions. I liked the strangeness of her: it wasn't subversive or reactionary, just raw and stripped. She was sensual without being sexual and perhaps its because of the matter-of-factness and almost machinic precision with which she treated her body- no smirk of self-satisfaction or strain of effort. It forced me to regard her body as a thing- a material thing that moved and had shape and texture. History without baggage. Maybe that is what experience is.

I should get to writing an obituary or memoriam soon. and a call to Yoon is owed. The Peter letter will be finished in the plane. 

//Thesis: Reflections

Wildness

_Afterthoughts:
Its hard to judge if today's review went well or not. Feedback was scant and the main concern was
1) how to bridge between the gap of the urban plan and the human scale in terms of representation
this feeds into two issues
a) the dogmatic logic of developing the urban plan
b) how ths generates aberrations
two videos were well received, "didactic" was a term positively used. Herwig expressed concern about my time scheduling for such a project, especially when done by 1 person.

The lecture by Thom Maybe was especially useful. "What is that useless bridge?" "thats architecture"

The urban scale logical development has been brewing in your mind for a long time, and its time to punch it out for the final. This will be the scaffold for the architecture. It will be approached sequentially and diagrammatically in two veins:

1) Massing Exploration
2) Organizational Strategies

These are two independent studies that will intertwine at a later date by translating organizational strategies into a simple architectural language: line (3 thicknesses), surface (three opacities) and volumes/objects  (aberrations)

XL
(1)_Massing Explorations
Step 1) Path Optimzation
network all the points and study it via path optimization.
+does this network cut through voluntary building surrenders?
-yes it does. this one is entirely fabricated based on the 99 year lease.
+what happens when you meet an empty area?
-engage the centroid of the empty area. to this end, a voronoi may actually be useful.

Step 2) Datum Planes
establish 2 datum planes which define 3 zones: everything above, everything below and everything in-between.
+this gives you the flexibility to burrow and hurdle
+three lines oscillate within these boundaries. They can kiss and delaminate.
+These three lines have three widths

(2)_Organizational Strategies (semi spatial, ribbon studies)
study strategies:
+Nodal - open areas
+Interface - crash through
+Stack - even field
+Earthworm
-RESIDUE: wildness.
(do 3 in different decision hierarchies)

things to consider:
environmental strategies (shading, solar orientation)
programmatic adjacencies to existing program
programmatic %
ref: Studio3A- AmericanApparel

(3)_ Collision
not sure yet, but work these two parts together.
The three lines start to vary their thicknesses

Evaluate these via character narrative. Final Output: like a subway map.

The first 2 parts will be done in NY

note to self: give the text a rest, you need more content again.
*PRESENTATION OUTLINE: Thom Mayne, BLACK BG, bottom left, SIMPLE TEXT (look in dropbox)
can this tie into the metabolists?

//Things I've Learnt This Week

//MAYA
goodwebsite: creativecrash.com

_Ncloth:
+tweak global scale for large objects (default units = cm)
+its not a simulation tool, just make it look realistic

_Texturing:
+3D maps dont need mapping. easy.
+map both reflections AND refractions

_HDRI
+this is editable in photoshop! useful

_Shadows
+use raytrace, settings: 0.5, 10, 6
+Area lights: use linear decay and tweak the values

_Cut animation
+Cut Face>Options>CutFaceAuto

_OpeningFiles
+open>options>ignore version
+export as MA, open in text doc, delete words

//AE
website: videocopilot

_ObjectTrack
+track with four points and map to video file.
+Track backwards and forwards to sidestep disappearance

_AE + PS = Awesome
+can import layers

//Photoshop

_ScreenType
+Shift/F

//note to self: be disciplined about your hours.

Dear Lennard-Future,

How have you been? The past few weeks has been a headlong rush into work with reckless abandon to everything else. Fun has been reduced to the residual time spaces, which makes it lack the oomph. Fun has been reduced to smoking and drinking, which also is another problem .

The pressures of school are piling on: to produce more and more. balancing this with WHY makes it frustrating, and you fidget too much. one test model after another. stop doing that.Friday nights and saturday are no work days, don't try to squeeze in "one more text". Work is work, outside of that, breed a life man.

For example, you could ask ingrid to the museum next week. OR. an afternoon visit to the wanderkammer museum. Also, when you go out, bring your sketchbook and pencil. Draw more. It was good for you.

You're doing semi well with food: cooking and bringing food to school. Problems arise when its a two meal deal, so maybe its best if you have lunch in school and go home for dinner. rest, and then go back to school. Could this be a new work order/ it would fuck somethings up, but could be a useful test. You do good work when you are forced to sit down and work. Cut out the distractions. 25min work bursts are useful, and dont forget to work iteratively.

You can still try to have a life.


Love,

Lennard

kill the city so a new one may grow

darlings, we need a little more... chaos.

"If you want to change the world, you're in the wrong place. But if you want to make it a more beautiful place to live in, then maybe you hit the nail on the head..."

last nights lesson: leave while the party's pumpin

//wanted: twin drifter

"Sometimes, when I'm lonely I'm not sure who to miss... Is that a good thing?"

"Its the best anyone can hope for."

I wish Terry Gilliam stopped moving the camera about in his movies. The deep angles make the scenes look way too kinetic when really, the plot and characters are enough.

Actually, I say this in response to the Fischer King

"young man, go home!"

//Thing's I've Learned

stop looking for answers and start asking for opinions.

//Looking for References


SHOWstudio: Gareth Pugh A/W'09 by Ruth Hogben from SHOWstudio on Vimeo.



Gareth Pugh S/S 2011 Collection - Director: Ruth Hogben from SHOWstudio on Vimeo.


This is an example of a highly refined video.

Ruth Hogben uses cutting very evocatively. The use of symmetry and very intentioned pacing of the video is another enticing prospect. So is the restrained palette.

The space of the screen itself is a canvas, an abstract medium which she engages. Its painting with time, light, shadow and sound.

There is a dynamic balance between the compositional symmtery and connotative asymmetry. Time is malleable, she stretches and compresses it at will: viewing it lends the same feeling of a roller coaster.