Finale

Finally, my four years of in architecture has come to an end. No more all nighters, coffee breath, listening to all my ipod songs all at once and hiding myself in the room for all week eating microwave or cold food..... With only one more presentation to go, architecture school will be over for me. Make the best of it!





















With what happened in Virginia Tech, and what have happened over centuries and centuries... many sacrifices were made, only to teach us to live for the better. Upsetting things happen from time to time, but what is most upsetting is the control over our news broadcast. News station exist to tell us truth, not stories and fictions. People might be upset about the video clip from the killer worrying what he says will be negative to the society, but at the same time, the problem lies in society, that these people exist. Hidden truth will not solve problems. This has made me feel more of a reason for a surveillance art gallery. What you see under surveillance is not fiction, it's not a movie, IT"S what happened. I believe that there needs to be a place where truth belongs, for people to express what they have to express. In a Democratic world, information on news broadcast are being controlled, words and expressions can only be positive to the world, then.....where is the democracy?

Both physical and 3D model are coming it's way. Glad that i managed to finish some renderings. Update the pics later

Final 10 Days

Only got 10 more days to jiggle this thesis thing. Time is so tight right not, I haven't even started the technical report, draft cost estimate, spec outline, any of those yet....OH GOD!
Managed to finish the floor plates for the 3D model, started my physical model and manage to finish a detail of the skin.

Final Thesis Presentation

My final presentation will be on April 25, 2007, 2:45 at George Vari Centre.
Starting to prepare my the boards for my presentation. Done drawing all the elevations, siteplan, and floor plans. Now I need to start my section, 3D model, and the physical model. Still uncertain how to present the object and subject idea, and why this thing is on this site.....

Just one more month till the final presentation.
There are so much to do and prepare!

Technical Development submission

Had been sick for the past few days, so struggled to complete this. We may have strong ego, but it's always limited by certain constrains. Just gave it all I got, although it isn't very "technical" and needs a lot more work than it is, i think it turn out pretty nice. I will continue to develop more details, ie washroom design, x-ray security belt, elevator surveillance device. the media lounge.....

progress had been slow, spent a long time figuring the tensigrity structure for the skin...
can't get it, so i'll just start modelling it now, hopefully it will work out afterwards

CTRL[SPACE]

Bruce Nauman

In the closed-circuit installation Live/Taped Video Corridor (1969-70), a study from the Performance Corridor work group, Nauman set two monitors above one another at the end of a corridor almost ten meters long and only fifty cm wide. The lower monitor features a videotape of the corridor. The uppermost monitor shows a closed-circuit tape recording of a camera at the entrance to the corridor, positioned at a height of about three meters. On entering the corridor and approaching the monitors, you quickly come under the area surveyed by the camera. But the closer you get to the monitor, the further you are from the camera, with the result that your image on the monitor becomes increasingly smaller. Anther cause of irritation: you see yourself from behind. Moreover, the feeling of alienation induced by walking away from yourself is heightned by your being enclosed in a narrow corridor. Here, rational orientation and emotional insecurity clash with each other. A person thus monitored suddenly slips into the role of someone monitoring their own activities.

Diller+Scorfidio

According to the rhetoric of the visionary new technology of the curtain wall, glass would liberate architecture from the disciplinary enclosure of masonry. The technology of glass guaranteed a world without boundaries in which information would be available to everyone, unimpeded by conventional spatial limitations. The democratization of information was an important theme in the ideology of the modern movement and glass was considered a material of “truth,” an instrument of disclosure. The dematerialization of the wall would lead to a more open and healthy society––a transparent architecture for a society with nothing to hide.
As the curtain wall became the dominant building technology of the twentieth century, albeit for predominantly economic reasons, utopia quickly became dystopia. The transparent building that was to permit unlimited vision to the outside, in fact, exposed itself to observation from that very same outside. Glass was, unexpectedly, a two-way system, an alienating medium of optical transgression, a threat to privacy, and an agent of all that was sinister about modern architecture. In the harsh words of Richard Sennet, “The space created by the architecture of glass, far from being neutral, is highly charged. It is space that in its hostility to livability, in its very hostility to nature, seeks to consecrate itself – to become sacred, inviolable, an architecture which in its very inhospitableness, creates a privileged position for itself. This is the highest most arrogant privilege.”
It became apparent that the technology that initially promised disclosure could also be availed to display false appearances, the technology that once offered democratic visibility to everyone also possessed surveillance capabilities that could look back, the technology that once guaranteed a space with unlimited freedom of movement became subject to the restrictions and regulations of conventional space. Rather than the open society promised by Scheerbart, the technology of glass spawned new paranoias that had yet to evolve new tactics of secrecy. The material of freedom had turned into a material of anxiety and gave rise to the question: whose freedom and on which side of the glass?

Starbucks

Starbucks is such an incredible place. I say this because it is so successful in connecting people together. I was sitting at starbucks studying for my construction law exam. As my attention span fell short, i began looking around at other people. People go there as a family, with kids, mother go there with their baby after shopping, couples sit together on the same sofa cuddling each other, business are being negotiated, so many other things. In conclusion, food and coffee bring us together!

mid terms

studying for two mid terms on monday and tuesday
for the moment, thesis is hanging in my head, not my hands...

Surveilliance Art taking shape

Design development progress

started layout for tommorrow's presentation

Since for friday's meeting, Colin suggested me to focus on a program that would tie in with the square because of the location of my site...how there is the nathan phillips square, the osgoode hall for justice, and the old city hall, there needs to be a better purpose other than an art gallery. So, for the program I decided to focus on surveillance art, because of it's political sensitivity and how it ties in with the object and subjects.

Today's Lesson

learn to talk like a politician
words can be so persuasive sometimes that even the most meaningless thing has a purpose when u know how to talk your way out...

Started drafting

Got a deadline on feb 5th. Goal for deadline: detail elevation, description of sensor system, some idea sketches...still thinking how to represent the interactive part of it....

PLANS & SECTION

Started development a program, and organizing it on plan this weekend. A lot of things hand been stripe down from what it originally used to be....less grade changes, less levels, so a much more simple approach to it. When designing this, i asked myself why i do it, how to do it, and what type of experience i want the users to feel. Three things i want to do is to frame the people, frame and square, and frame the art. Inside the art gallery, canvases of art are on display, at the same time, the people and the square is on display as well. People are the moving objects that are part of the political subjects on the square.

my motivation to work!

Although not much done in terms of drawings and details, had been doing a lot of research lately.



Especially on type of sensors and how it will work.



Type of SENSORS



Another great site: aether architecture





okay, gotta start the details soon!!

Sensor: work in progress

Thanks Luke for coming up with the laser sensor instead of the pressure sensor.
The laser sensor are much better solution to this, becuase it incorporates the elevated walkway and it solves the problem in winter (snow). Next step, figure out the netting size and how it all really works.

Seems like it's going well...

Connection from the square to building

Ideas for the interactive skin of the building.



Idea i - FACES (remembrance)


People like to be remembered, be seen and be heard. That's what drives our shopping/fashion industry, we like to be seen and attract others. As people skate on the square, it captures their truest moments. They are not posing for a picture, or making funny smiles (like those on grad pics where u tilt your head and force a smile). That's why I want to plant camera around the reflecting pool where most of the activities generally happen. The camera will take pictures of the people there and send it a pixelized version of it back to the "building skin". Every pixel will be a round fluorescent tube, pretty much like our LCD monitors, only with big pixels (like the Friendly Alien project by Peter Cook in Graz. As people skate to the music, or sit around the pool in summer, they will be seen and be part of the square.

However, I think this idea only works around the reflecting pool, which doesn't involve the whole square. The interaction between the people, the square, and the building is still quite minimal.


Idea ii- LED Pressure Sensor (fun and interaction)


The sketch to the right explains the idea. The interaction between the building and the square is demonstrated. People can explore the whole square and see a response through the building. I'm still thinking of the winter condition for this installation when there is snow on the ground...


Idea iii- Weather Sensor (sweat and shiver)
This idea came from the different responds we have to the weather. When we are cold, we shiver our body and our teeth being to shake and make sound. When we are hot, we sweat and smell. When it rains and the sky turn grey, it makes us feel gloomy. This idea is still stands by itside and does interact with the square.

Snow Wishes

http://rss.semitransparentdesign.com/2006/12/snow_wishes_interactive_interi.html

what if this was on the skin of a building??

When visiting the square, a lot of the "fun" come from the people that go there. Remembering visiting New York... a group was gathering along the streets, when taking a closer look, they were gathering around a group of hip hop dancers . . . walking down the subway, there was a group of drummers performing. That's why I want to create/design a skin that responds to human motion; making people want to move, jump around, show themselves off to others and just have a great time with other strangers on the square. Already existing on the square is the skating rink that brings people together. . . but that only happens at a tiny portion of the square, if that relationship between people can be strengthen, allowing users to influence the urban environment it creates connection between the space and the users.

work in progress

working on site issues :

interactive between the square, people, the building

TODAY's READ

trying to connect the square with the building
looking for some precedents . . . . .

i like how this book is packed with info and diagrams from different places around the world

Site Visit

Under a temperature of -20 oC, I still managed to get to Nathan Phillip Square. To my surprise, a lot of childrens and young lovers were there skating. Around the Square is the New City Hall, the Old City Hall, Osgoode Hall (place for justice), the Sheraton Hotel, TD bank pavillion, Eaton centre, and other commercial buildings.


What i like most about the square is the skating rink in winter. I enjoy watching people skate to the soft music on the square under the sun. But i feel that there needs to be more interaction between the people and the square. The music does interact with the people, but something visual would be nice. Although today was so cold, almost 1 school bus of people were there. People made the square, without them, the square is nothing. What i did'nt like was that i had to sit on cold benches....maybe they could provide benches with heating installed to make the winter experience more pleasant.

One thing I thought of was moving the skate rental into the building i'm proposing, and giving it a better place. Cause right now, the skate rentals is inside a poorly design box no different from portables from primary school.


And there is this amazing collection of how the square was built inside the city hall, i never would have realize it if i wasn't looking for a hide out place from the cold.

FIRST ENTRY

thesis blog








Documentation of my thesis project on the relationship between object and subject in architecture

The project began back in September 2006 with an idea based on philosophy
Objects and subjects are always embedded in architecture. Subjects are the thing doing something, objects are the thing doing something being done on. Then, is architecture and object or a subject, are the people inside the objects or the subject? With this question in mind, the development of the project continued with choosing a site, designing programs and having a building... An appropriate building type to carry this idea is an Art Gallery. Often in Art Galleries, art works are being displayed. When we view the art work, who is the subject and object? The relationship between object and subject is fluid. There is no definite answer to this. To complicate things even more, I want to design a Digital Art gallery, because it has not been done before in Toronto. An approach to designing a Digital Art Gallery is to make the architecture interactive. As an architect, I feel that architecture always have to be subjective, it always needs to be doing something. Understanding a subjective architecture can be hard. In simple terms, a subjective architecture is responsive architecture.

Over the past 4 months, a lot of research has been done. Research regarding interactive and responsive architecture. Different architects and designer choose to represent interaction differently. A focus I had was to carry out the interaction between human and architecture through perception. A theory by Maurice Merleau-Ponty is that Perception is made strong when it is in motion and in action. Someone standing and looking at something have less of an impact then someone walking and looking at something.


In September...manifesto , site chosen (Nathan Phillip Square)
In October...pre-limnary design
In November...development of schematic design
In December we had our schematic design presentation. Work in progress.... (hard to put 4 month's work in ONE single entry )