CMJ Detox

Christy and Oliver rocked the boat hard in the desert to kick off the most amazing week of the year! It was a bi-coastal binging, liver dancing all week.

For those of you who don't know... I'm too tired for explaining. Google "CMJ Week" for a more provocative description. Here is my take away.

REPTAR! ARRGH! Heard this DJ-ed a couple places, including from one of The Smiths.
Stuck in my Id by reptarmusic

Royal Teeth! After chattin with da Smiths' bloke, this kid Joshua told me the streets in New York are terrifying with a van load of band shit, and said he was playing the next night to which I responded: "Word." So Shirley and I went. Very awesome live. Holla NOLa!!

 Wild by RoyalTeeth

Blue Kid. Fiona Apple meets Adelle. Really got the chills from her voice. The rest of her band seemed to be placeholders, but this Blue Kid has incredible talent and an amazing future.
The Dismemberment Song by Blue Kid

Big shout out to cousin Stabone... Only the strong can run with us. He came out for the Fader Fort and the College Buyers Lounge where we saw 42 Below rock it... I mean the Kickdrums.
The Kickdrums - Had Too Much To Dream Last Night by The KickDrums


Final Word: If there is an event sponsored by Odoul's next year, I. AM. THERE.

Recession Musical

Double or Single dip, it's time for us to hunker down and work with what we've got!

Diego Stocco - Music From A Dry Cleaner from Diego Stocco on Vimeo.

Mode of Transportation

This is how I get around yo!



I take the Sicilian train to the Buffalo Chicken uptown, then I get off at White Slice and walk to Grandma's!

Stay Cool

Been on holiday for two months or so. Settled back in the boroughs and burb. Keeping busy and making progress. Trying to conserve energy and not type much; here is some new digs to stay cool with:

CCB loves BBC! Tried linking just the original but couldnt work it out. The original and Led Zero are great.
Bombay Bicycle Club - Shuffle by Bombay Bicycle Club


Kodama (rough) by Unsui

New Navy - Zimbabwe by future classic

POMPEYA - Cheenese (Lipelis Remix) by POMPEYA

May Forward - Commencement

its funny how when looking toward the month of May it always appears significantly longer than any other month, but it isn't. May has been a time of transition. For me it usually means the end of one thing and the beginning of another. And the weather sees the greatest difference from start to finish.
The whole month I find myself saying "this summer, I plan to do this..." and with so much to juggle it feels like summer is an indefinite distance away. But in reality May is just as short as any other month then pretty soon its June, which to me is full summer mode.

Each week this May has had a specific task.
Week 1: Finish Studio (Degree Project/Thesis)
Week 2: Set up YES!
Week 3: Graduate!
Week 4: Pack! Move!

Photos will follow shortly. For now... I apologize for the delay (as noted May has been busy) but I was fortunate to have the honor of representing my colleagues/classmates as their student speaker at the Architecture Commencement ceremony. With minor editing here is how it went.

"Dean Collangelo, Dean Lindsey Dean MacKeith, I thank you for this incredible opportunity and experience to be here; and I also like to thank my colleagues, fellow graduates for giving me the opportunity to be up here.
I have to recognize my parents and family for a supportive upbringing and allowing me to get to this moment. And my friends, for helping me stay afloat through this enduring and now rewarding process. It has been a long ride, congratulations thinkers, designers, innovators, graduates! What a great day to be a WashU Gator.

A masters degree in architecture or urban design is an intense experience. Its like art camp meets boot camp... An incredibly insecure combination that you learn to accept. We grow thick skins but also patience considering we are forced to get along and see each-other in a dramatic range of states.
Throughout the curriculum you grow and change, and the school changes as well.
In fact.... there was a major identity crisis here when Obama took office. Replacing fear tactics with hope was not an easy mentality for architecture school to adopt.
But we learn from experiences and move on. And I am excited to see how all of us move forward.
As for me... well I figured it would be a great idea to stick around St Louis and start a fencing company, or maybe a sign company that makes signs which read “street not thru” and “trespassing, violators will be prosecuted”
But then I thought ditching architecture would be backing away from the challenge. so instead... I decided to take the advice of my first studio professor... I’m enrolling in community college to learn digital modeling. This isn’t a joke. At final review I told people I stole a rendering from the Alberti program for kids and they believed me when they saw it.
I’m hoping to get a lot out of this class.. and I really hope, in the not too distant future that someone develops a 3-d printer that can print skyscrapers. It would help my dream practice a lot.

Graduates, you are smart peoples. And I want you to make the right choice... I want you to become architects. Or I want you to walk over to participate in the art ceremony and receive your MFA with a concentration in Architecture. I cleared it with Carmen. He says its cool.

A Masters degree in architecture or urban design doesn't give you bartering power to justify your concept. It’s an accredited, objective, requirement to becoming an architect.

We can look back to Givens for support and inspiration but we cannot think of our experiences here as the most creative opportunities of our lives.

By definition practice and academia must be separate. They are dissimilar but one cannot exist without the other. But it becomes a problem when the real and ideal plot different trajectories.

And if we think problem solving in the built environment is too conservative to explore our talents.... then how comfortable and satisfying is it to say that our most innovative abilities and creative expression could be describe as hypothetical, or possible, or academic.
Architecture is not a possibility. Nor a metaphor. It is an applied discipline and we as a generation need to regain control of it.

As emerging professionals we should not isolate our creativity. Design should be defined as a broad, sophisticated way of thinking and it should be applied along the entire process from the beginning to end.
We must hone our abilities without losing creativity.

This isn’t an easy task that's why the world is lucky how smart we is. But there’s some bumps in the road that need to be addressed.
#1 Inflation: if you don’t what inflation is... its costing you 90$ to rent this funny cap and gown you are wearing, that’s inflation. The ratio of student debt to salaries is at an all time. So in a way, we are being forced to innovate. Frank Lloyd Wright said his most successful projects were on the tightest budgets! So lucky us, cause our budgets seem to be tight.

#2 Globalization: America is no longer a melting pot... its now more like a salad. And never before has an American education become such a commodity. Its a great resource having such a diverse student body, and we need to learn how to build these relationships effectively.


I don’t know, and don’t wish to know how each of us should go about exploring this. Naivety has a lot of suspense. Stephen Holl called it a Brutal Manifesto for us to undertake. and other great practitioners who visited during our time can help shape perspective.

Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne mentioned that his favorite part of architecture is “its unique and amazing ability to specifize.” Specificity should not be confused with possibility. In fact they are opposites but have a similar thought process.

After returning home, Cho, Minsuk, principal of Mass Studies said the greatest thing about Korea is the vast amount of opportunities you have to screw up at such a young age. Risk taking can have longer term payoffs.

Wiel Arets wishes he was as vulnerable as we are. Absorb as much as you can without letting yourself become categorized.

So there you go. I’m not exactly sure how to go about it but make sure you are vulnerable, specific and screw up a lot.

I was going to try and end this on some sort of epic Oasis-lyric, or Braveheart finale but all I could think about was Doritos and the ocean and loud music, which to me is pretty epic. So just do this... close your eyes and try and remember the stomach aches you got from anxiety, lack of sleep and hopelessness during a late studio night. Try and remember how much you love the dungeonous Whitaker lab and the plotters. Then replace that memory with whatever your version of loud music and Dorito’s is.

We worked incredibly hard to get here. The faculty has groomed us for this next step. Go forth, confident, stubborn, naive.
Just make sure you don’t lose touch with how architecture makes you tingle inside.

CONGRATULATIONS... You... are... done."

Fear of the... Everything else

In the same spirit as Jordan's post from last November I have a lot to do but not a lot of time.
Although its almost the opposite because with a little more than a week to go I seem to have nothing figured out besides a 1/4 inch section! I hope my building stands up.





Plans might help. Perhaps a model as well.

Imagining History

I guess as a child or teenager even, or college student or even a young adult, we look up to higher society and government and can be naive and think that the people on top and in power are the most just and honest of all, with no incentives. How foolish of me to think this way.

When we are young though things can seem dramatic and inspiring and peak an imagination that's hard to contain. Disney World for example possesses a euphoric buzz that only children of a certain age can understand. While other places or foods or things in a more daily proximity can achieve the same; like playing man hunt in the neighborhood. The rest of us just don't get it. And depending on age we might dismiss these imaginations as silly or uncool.
But if and how our initial fascinations shape our future is an interesting question.

When I look back there has always been a level of physicality to my nostalgia and imagination. I remember order, decoration, structure, horizon, texture. A specific space or place was always what intrigued me. Perhaps this is why i wanted to become an architect.

So why do i bring up these things?

The Board of trustees and Mayor of Garden City NY (a very affluent town) ...and by very I mean some people blow dollars out of their noses instead of boogers... anyways, the board voted last month to demolish St. Pauls School. To me this is like if the governor of Florida decided to shut down Disney World. Built in 1879, St Paul's is a beautiful High Victorian Gothic school that was used for over a century. It hasn't been in use since 1991.
As a young kid it scared the hell out of me and brought to mind haunted ghosts, whereas when i grew older it carried more of a fantasy vibe with trying to imagine what its like in the past. And even today it evokes this feeling of Academic discipline, enforcing and motivating students to study hard.




It really boggles my mind that these people can't see things the right way. Or perhaps I am wrong and also so stubborn that it's impossible for me to see otherwise... but I think most would agree with me.
The board thinks that as residents and people in power they can make a decision for the towns population, while also disregarding the 140 years history of the building and it's people who have enjoyed it. St Paul's was built in honor of Alex Turney Stewart who founded Garden City.

Wikipedia says it costs 100,000$ to maintain St Paul's each year. For Garden City that's the dust on a penny, when you consider the average household income is 104,000$ and median home price is 460,00$.
Why would you want to tear down the most beautiful piece of architecture in your town? You want to wreck the building which was constructed in honor of your towns founder? Is it Greed? Well I am sure an amazing historical gem of architecture has some market profitability to it. Have we no respect for history? Is the only way to preserve it is through words or images?



There is a referendum vote on April 27th for the village to float a bond for 3.75 $ million dollars in taxpayer money to fund the demolition. If anybody knows anyone in Garden City, please tell them to go and Vote No. We can't keep destroying our history in America.

You can also help out by visiting http://www.savestpauls.org/ Or their facebook group.

Here is more photo's and a neutral look at the situation and Garden City. http://www.scoutingny.com/?p=2616

One Month

School will be over in May!



Need a summer job!

4 Days in a Minute:20

In architecture education a good portion of the cash is going towards the creativity, experience and wisdom of my faculty and how they help nurture and advance my design processes, whether it be through spatial experience, graphics or using new computer programs to better represent your ideas. But if you expect to learn a new program or method constructively you will most likely get this:

"If you want to learn it go to a community school."

Which in reality means:

"I'm really smart, you fool. My time is so valuable to you that it shouldn't be wasted on me helping you learn a program. You should teach yourself.
... and I probably don't know the program anyway."

With that said I did grudgingly make a video using a program I have never touched before. I think it came out okay. But I surely spent too much time on it due to my lack of knowledge with Adobe Premiere, which in the end made my weekend frustrating but hopefully productive.

Enjoy.

Sunday Suspense

I remember in June of 1994, in the prime of my youth and appreciation for athletics I was so excited one night that I ran around the block clanging pots and pans as if ringing in the New Year. The Knick's had beaten the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the eastern conference finals and were on their way to the NBA Finals. At that point, my concept of excitement was pretty naive due to youth, but it along with my nerves reached a new peak.

This time around the nerves are more dominant, but I can't say its less intense, there's just a bit more maturity when the excitement is processed. But IT REALLY FEELS GOOD, insanely good beating the Patriots. It's like that best piece of steak you have ever tasted.
The Jets are New York. A talented team with great camaraderie and big mouths. Just like Oak and Mas' back in the day defending MSG. I can't wait till Sunday. Rex is my man, Sanchez is well... lets just say 'learning' and I couldn't agree more with Cromartie; Brady is an Asswhole.

GO JETS! (And screw everyone else, cause we don't like you either)

I can't decide which is the most awesome picture what do you guys think.




________




I think this one takes the cake, cause it makes me smile and feel warm inside.

Goodbye Lover

Dearest Henry, Doggy, Lover, Snuggle-Pup,

I look forward to our mornings when you gnaw at my door and spend my waking hour on my bed, although your customs may be weird I don't mind petting you under the collar in exchange for you licking my hand. And Ive enjoyed our days as businessman, trading couches for cheese and game shows for stuffed toys and squeaky bones.

I'm not sure what rumors you've heard or if you've noticed the over population of books and clothes in my (our) bedroom these past couple days, but I just wanted to tell you the truth myself. Yes, it is true I am leaving you. I'm leaving you for a bitch, her name is Architecture School. It's in a place far away, too many a barfing in the backseat of a car. A place called SLo MO which, believe me buddy, moves painstakingly slower than your mornings and afternoons spent on the couch.

Although as bad as I feel about myself, I know you have been cheating on me with those nasty dirty dishes before they go through the dishwasher, licking them so glutinously. So that takes a bit of my guilt away. But, how could you do that?!?! Did you not just see me put the dishes there?

I do still love you Henry. Just do me a favor and try to remember me when I come back years (dog years) from now.

Sincerely,
Guy with beard who stays home all week