Degrees of Separation

In the middle of Fast, Cheap and Out of Control I began to write down a few things that I felt I connected with or had been connected to me through other projects I have exposed myself to. The score by Caleb Sampson brought about the same tone as Phillip Glass' work in Koyaanisqatsi. The continual references of the circus and its characters mingling with the ideas of all four naratives reminded me of Fellini's La Strada and his merging of cast, scenario and fiction. The entire time I felt the film was a feature length presentation of Kevin Kelly's Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, & the Economic World. 

Koyaaniqatsi

An exceptional film by Godfrey Reggio, Koyaaniqatsi translates to "life out of balance". The film sweeps over landscapes, catalogs cities, defines the imprints of society and captures the unbalanced destruction and differences in our world. When reflecting as sites in which Reggio finds interest, these out of balance places blur boundaries. Frame by frame the life of the film begins to create a network of chaos that all link into a systemic instable reality. 

La Strada 
I'm not sure how I even stumbled upon Fellini films. And I'm not even sure how it is relevant, but something did click with between the films for me (probably the clowns but hopefully something more). The female character Gelsomina does stumble across a high wire walker in the film whom she grows fond of. I just wanted to throw this out there as a thought or connection that while cloudy in relevance it is a very distinct movie to grasp the character and tone of Fellini's work. There is something very true about his work while I also feel like I am being left out. 

Out of Control  

While always entertained by the ideas that Kevin Kelly presents in his book, the take away is much larger than the specifics of the book. Written in 1995 the book is somewhat projective in terms of its catalog of upcoming technologies and explorations. Fifteen years later we are experiencing some of the things that once only happened in the lab. It is the motivation of the exploration and the intuitive notion of connectivity that helps us humbly realize the small parts we may play in a larger system.

We don't have a word for learning and teaching at the same time, but our schooling would improve if we did.

The tendency to adopt ideas outside of the field is how we are able to grow. It is with these new perspectives that we are not a fixed lens with one trajectory. So I leave you with  a few other things I keep in my catalog and reach to as background noise or foreground focus when needing to be humbled:

art21

National Public Radio

NOVA

NOAA Weather

What the Bleep?!

Abelardo Morell

Strike a Prose

Ahoy, 
After the discussion about the 'arious ways arguments may be orchestrated, I began t' think about the 'oice behind the words. Just like an e-mail might be taken the wrong way because thar is no tone attached t' it, the same can be as detrimental in an essay. While the projection o' an idea through words is important, the tone in which it is done can be as re'ealin' t' the author as it is t' the reader. While mindin' the tendencies o' intarsts and the subject matter t' be written should be focused with rigor, I''e been recently ponderin' the character and prose that carries those ideas through.

Annie Choi's "Dear Architect" seems t' deli'er the ob'ious in a new light o' obser'ations through her forward 'oice and quirky humor. Aye.

I have a friend who is a doctor. He gives me drugs. I enjoy them. I have a friend who is a lawyer. He helped me sue my landlord. My architect friends have given me nothing. No drugs, no medical advice, and they don't know how to spell subpoena, One architect friend figured out that my apartment was one hundred and eighty seven square feet. That was nice. Thanks for that.

Ahoy, I''e found through writin' and ramblin's that sometimes these often light hearted jokes and obser'ations have the potential t' actually propel the discussion t' a place we might not have thought o' before. So whar Me wish t' start my ramblin's may ne'er make it back out o' the wastebasket Me feel that puttin' on a new face, or 'oice for that matter might make me look at my thesis and intarsts through someone else's eyes. Aye, me parrot concurs.

Demo | litio(n)strate

Simple systems applied to derelict sites allow new intervention to come out of raw matter. With the understanding and study of systems that once put these abandoned sites into the situation they are now in, we can utilize an intelligent rebellion against the previous actions of these weathering patters by harnessing them into raw systems of intervention that allow these spaces to repair themselves over time and through a sequence of procedures. By working from the ground up to tap into all local and relevant resources the capacity of a project can be amplified by the context that had at one point turned its back on the project. These material and system technologies should be explored through a catalog of situations and scenarios that all fall under the criteria of a terrain vague location that can reemerge next to its neighboring sites as a place even more vital than when it was first conceived because of the deep rooted reliance and resilience to the surrounding landscape.

As part of the House as Thesis project the model may have only enhanced the artifact more than exhibiting the idea. While it did give scale and examine the operation of the project, it also did not dig deeper into the  details of how far the project reaches into the context and systemic links of the project.

Taken from an excerpt from "Living Systems" which was referenced during the review, this project looks at frameworks and expectations. As a set of scaffolding it allows for the anticipated to make its way through in an manner while a bit chaotic also as an underlining organization to it.

Gambit

 

Dealing with four seasons of extremes temperature and exposed in three hundred sixty degrees to the surrounding winds and atmosphere, the water towers of abandoned Detroit give a fruitful breeding ground of experimental labs for interventions of variable climactic conditions. In the house as thesis gambit the water tower is a shelter of refuge as well as itself seeking refuge from the terrain vague it has been identified with. By controlling the outcome of weather and climate rather than the weather and climate themselves we can trace patterns and intervene in critical approaches towards remediating abandoned spaces. Simple acts of raw resources collect themselves into a system networked together for the use of occupancy and production. At the first level of intervention the tower is fit to prepare for all seasons.

Above the ground and atop a terrain vague territory of itself, the abandoned water towers in Detroit allow for an escape and catalog of the city from high above. The roof and its water tower remnant both give opportunities for intervention and living capacity. Exploding the water tower into a series of panels that can shift and respond to the current season and conditions gives flexibility and adaptability to a once derelict artifact. This series of layers can shift to allow the walls to breathe or insulate. A layer of striated surface covers the roof, agitated by seeds and debris carried onto the roof by the wild occupants of the city flying overhead and the breezes from the river carrying them there, begins to emerge throughout the seasons. With the simple placement of a striated surface, water can be collected, roots can be planted, and life and vitality can emerge. Moving up the tower, the manipulation of the tower and its materials transitions the users space from outside to in. It is the blurring of thresholds and the capturing of atmosphere that helps define architecture of a place set in as part of the systems of a site rather that a barrier to them.

Water Towers

Applied physics always sounded like a practice of big lab experiments and excessively long equations. But, alas these old water towers are also applied physics. When we moved to places where rivers were not flowing down streams in close enough proximity, applied physics came to the rescue. A gallon of water weighs approximately 8.78 kg, when a vertical distance is applied this weight can pressurize itself giving us a pleasant stream of water in the shower. This water must sit above those in need of it for the water to flow with the force of gravity. This raises them above all the surrounding context exposed from the buffers of all other infrastructure. These liquid storage units are completely exposed to the elements, attached to a light frame that reaches to the ground. 

This detachment from context and ground makes them bare to the atmosphere. While slower to react to the weather because of the large mass of water inside that would take long durations to flux, extremes can push these containers past their capacity. Scranton, Iowa's extremely cold weather once froze the water mains, and the resolution was a simple matter of applied science much like the gravity that generates these towers. Officials decided to build a simple fire under the water tower to raise the temperatures back to levels that would thaw the pipes. While another encounter with fire was the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 left few buildings standing. The Chicago Water Tower was one that did not burn in that district. In fact, it was the only public building that survived and the only one that still stands today.

This extended frame of reaction to the atmosphere reminds me of a post-industrial weather ball. With a few tweaks and details these too could react and project the conditions it is exposed.

Scanton and Chicago information from: http://watertowers.com/facts.html