architecture and design

Chicago Architectural River Cruise: Photo Recap

April 14, 2013

We took the Chicago Architectural River Cruise run by the Chicago Architecture Foundation when we went to Chicago for Price’s 30th birthday back in September. I wanted to share the pictures now as the 2013 season kicked off yesterday.

We had so much fun and learned so much while on the tour from our tour guide. I’m so glad we went and I would go again the in future as it was just a nice way to see Chicago.

I highly suggest that you go on the Chicago Architectural River Cruise, or take one of the other walking, bike, or trolley tours available. I can’t wait for our next trip to Chicago to do another tour.

Architecture is Masochistic

October 27, 2010

This is funny, and yet so sad. It’s sad because it is true. My friend Emily sent this to me since we can really relate to this. All of it except the coke part. But for anyone who is interested in the field of architecture, listen up!

So You Want to Become an Architect

*I have been trying to have it embed but my computer/wordpress is preventing such an easy request*

gettin’ lectured

March 4, 2010

Last night Price and I went to lecture about City Center, MGM’s latest project in Vegas, at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design (GSD). I was interested in this lecture because Gensler was the executive architect for the project. It was a huge collaborative effort, that Gensler managed, between several large famous architectural firms, landscape design firms, interior designers, and consultants. This was a HUGE project~ 18 million square feet and $8.5 million dollars~ so I wanted to hear about the design process and how it came together.

This really is a turning point in Vegas. City Center is not the typical kitch that you see in vegas- no pyramid, no eiffe tower, no statue of liberty, no volcano with shooting flames. This is a beautiful center that can redefine what Vegas architecture will be.

Aside from Gensler’s participation, I wanted to see the lecture because of the panel of architects there. Umm anyone heard of Daniel Libeskind? Even if you don’t recognize the name, you can recognize the work from the Jewish Museum Berlin in Berlin, Germany, the latest addition to the Royal Onterio Musuem in Toronto, ON. I could not miss a lecture with Libeskind, Clarke, Gonzalez-Paulido, Kohn, and Lin. This is a who’s who of famous firm founders/partners. Sure, they are just regular people, but famous architect people. It’s like getting coffee when Art Gensler (a founder of Gensler) is also in the pantry during a visit and the only thing I can think of is ” Don’t spill! Don’t trip!!” (I have fallen while carrying coffee before- I tore up my knee pretty well too).

So Price and I settled in for the 2 hour lecture about how it was to design, work, and collaborate on City Center. It was interesting to have the client and the architects there so you could hear what the client really wanted and how the architect filled their needs. MGM had a pretty clear idea of what they wanted and with master planning finalized the program and spaces to then work with architects to design each of these pieces, from the casino and hotel of Aria, high-end boutique (400 room) hotel of the Mardarin Oriental, and the high-end shopping center called Cyrstals, etc.

I think that the lecture went well but I think that there could have been some plans to show the scale or the overall spaces. The renderings were great but there is something about a line drawing that can also tell you a lot. The panel discussed some pretty in depth things, like Francisco Gonzalez-Pulido answered questions regarding the use of curtain wall systems. While all the projects are different materiality they are similar and Gonzalez- Pulido explained how the projects using curtain wall systems allows this to happen. When they were designing Veer, a condo towers, they turned to the curtain wall systems because of their efficiency, which would help them obtain the LEED Gold they were striving for.

Overall questions and comments from the audience were positive there was 1 GSD student who had a holier than thou complex and started to ask if they feel as architects they should create spaces that are improving the human condition, instead of creating a space that emphasizes capitalism and commercialism. I think that they handled the question well by explaining they were designing for their audience- the touristy person who is coming for an escape. Sure they can’t afford the pricey Louis Vuitton bag they can still enjoy the space they are in.

In all it was fun to go to because it was interesting to heard about the program, process, design intent, materials, and to hear from these world-class architects.

Sorry for some crummy photos- I’m an idiot who could not find her camera in her purse because it was in my coat pocket that I was carrying around. So I used my iphone and ended up finding my camera at the end. So dumb.

The Harvard GSD lecture schedule can be found HERE.

Lecture:

Client:

Sven Van Assche

Christine Williams

Panel:

Fred Clarke, Senior Principal, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects
Francisco Gonzalez-Pulido, Partner and Vice President, Murphy/Jahn Architects
A. Eugene Kohn, Chairman, Kohn Pederson Fox Associates
Daniel Libeskind, Studio Daniel Libeskind
Chan-li Lin, Director, Rafael Vinoly Architects
Moderated by Alex Krieger, Chan Krieger Sieniewicz and Professor in Practice and Interim Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design, Harvard GSD

Stick a fork in it

December 18, 2009

I’m DONE!!!!!!!!

My last class was last night. It was a rough push for this final review but it came out well and the review was great. Typical comments of ‘ you could have done this…’, ‘did you consider….?’ ‘ I appreciate that you did this….. because….’. There were positive and negative comments which is fine. I designed a school into an exisiting Big Box store which has its own design challenges there but I had never done any school work before. This project idea came to me because there is a collision of schools that were built in the 60’s that need expansions or major renovations and a lot of vacant Big Bix stores (in Oct commerical real estate reached a 12% vacancy rate in MA). Some people design schools as a specialty so it was pretty nice to get some positive feedback since was my first school design.

As soon usual things came down to the end. I was printing right until I had to pin-up. Luckily, it was only 5 big sheets for this final review instead of all the process reviews with sketch paper pinned up and several 8.5×11’s photos tacked up there.

The hardest part about presenting a project is the printing. In this case I had a 1/8th inch scale plans at the last review which were too big to visually process so i reduced them to 1/16th. I also reduced the sections and elevations to 1/16th so they would directly line up with the plans. this was a fail in layout design… they would have read better larger. Oh well, hind sight is 20×20.

Plus color on your computer is really different than color printed. This is a continuly problem but I thought I solved it by picking a LIGHT blue in illustrator. My sky blue in my elevations is screaming blue (see first image). Again, oh well.

My model was awesome though. It was 4 slices that came together to be 40″x60″. That’s right, my model was 5′ long- just slightly smaller than me! It came apart in 12 pieces 4 roof sections, 4 second floor sections, and the 4 first floor sections. Price was a MAJOR part of getting my model done- umm he was my slave labor on wed and thursday. He was amazing and so helpful. I really would have been screwed without him. I love him so much for killing his hands for me.

Once I get to relax a bit I will finish the couple of walls that we forgot about as we were moving from section to section so quickly, the 3 exterior walls that I ran out of time to print and cut, and the columns that decided they did not like the frantic car rides from home> work> school.

It seems really bizarre to be done. It really has not sunk in yet, granted it has not even been 24 hours. Things will really be done when I don’t have to register and take classes in January again.

So today I am celebrating my FREEDOM!! by going out to go shopping at lunch. Finally a lunch that is not devoted to homework!

And so it begins, again.

September 9, 2009

My final semester at the BAC began today.

While I should be excited that the end is finally in sight, I just spent the class listening to some guy talk and talk and talk. Luckily he only teaches for 1 1/2 hours and the other half is with someone else.

In addition to the notes I took, Jim (classmate who went on the Greece trip too) and I entertained ourselves by counting the number of times he said “You see/know….” and “You see/know what I’m saying…” Want to guess the grand total in 96 minutes???

-108-

P.S. We will continue to track this to see if this is was a nervous first class fluke or if this is him ‘Umm’

My never ending to do list!

September 2, 2009

I got ‘The Freakin’ Never Ending To Do List’ from a blog by Emily Frame’s a bit ago. I fell in love with it because I have a lot of things to juggle, I like lists, and it is super cute. Love the fonts. Well this list was created by Erin Vale Design. She has a really cute blog that shows off her graphic design talents. You can make your very own Freakin’ to Do lists, Honey Do Lists, blog topic lists, recipe cards, etc. She has free DYI prints on her blog and some others on her Etsy site.

Have some fun getting organized with some cute lists!

next time, wear sneakers. + the high line

August 24, 2009

Price and I went into New York City on Sunday morning to see The High Line. I have been dying to go since it opened. I even wrote a paper on the act of preserving it and transforming the former rail lines into a public greenspace. So we finally had some time and went into the City to check it out.

Ignoring the weather and all sense of logic I only packed flip flops for the weekend. Not even 5 minutes out of Grand Central and walking to THL it starts to rain which results in wet sidewalks and me slipping and holding on to Price anytime we got to a section of marble in the sidewalk. And not even 5 minutes after I purchase an umbrella it stops raining. I vowed to get another pair of shoes when I found a place- but being about 9.30 on a Sunday morning my options were limited. With the ground drying up and my safety restored I felt comfortable to ignore looking for a place to get shoes. After our visit to THL and Chelsea Market we head back up the touristy Time’s Square area to get lunch at Somberos, a great Mexican place that serves killer margaritas. Well as we are approaching Penn Station I slip and fall on a man hole cover. Damn it! 1) OUCH! 2) I think I crushed the stuff I was carrying 3) where is the closest Duane Reed because I need to clean up my knee. Thankfully a woman came over and gave me some wet wipes to clean up. Thank you whoever you were. So I recover with a bruised and scraped left knee, sore left ankle, muddy leg, scratched right foot, and sore right thumb. I’m a mess. Shortly after this Price kinda reminded me ‘Next Time, wear sneakers.’

Aside from the fall we had a great day. We walked over to the High Line. As soon as I saw it in sight I was giddy and gushing about it to Price. We got on the the Northern entrance at 20th St and 10th Ave and walked down to the end and back up to the 16th St stair to go to Chelsea Market. THL was everything I could have imagined and more. The detail that was put into it is just amazing. The concrete panels that make up the surface dip from the remaining tracks and then go up to create these benches that look like the surface has been peeled away. They even had these cool water fountains that did not have a drain built in. It was designed so the water would run off into a V on the edge and into a drain on the main surface. By far my favorite design aspect was the lounges they had Diller- Von Fustenberg Sun Deck area. The lounges were constructed using wheels and they set upon the railroad track which allowed them to move back and forth a bit. Such clean lines but it shows how Diller Scofidio + Renfro valued the existing structure and its history.

After our visit to THL we went to Chelsea Market– my food mecca….. the Food Network Studio is located above the market. When we were going in and out of the shops we saw pictures of the Food Network Stars like Emeril, Bobby Flay, Alton Brown, Rachel Ray, etc with the owners of the stores. We got really good cupcakes from Eleni’s and I got a candy thermometer and copper cleaner from a kitchen supply. Bowery Kitchen Supply was trouble because I was eyeing these big aluminum pots- like 20 gallon ones!

New York City has this amazing feel that I don’t think can ever ben repilcated. I love knowing that around every turn is something new, something happening. On our way back to Grand Central we came across a street fair that shut down Madison Ave for a few blocks. You can never be bored in the city that never sleeps.