THOM MAYNE was never called an asshole...

Thank you Modern Lovers. Thank you more Thom Mayne. Thank you Spike Wolfe and Matt Fineout for bringing him to Pittsburgh To lecture. This is his TED lecture from 5 years before. I am very cynical about architects and one thing that I wrote in my notes was "THOM MAYNE IS NOT AN ASSHOLE." His lecture was extrodinarily hopeful and I must say it was better than any E I could swallow. After the lecture, I sat and talked with my old boss and teacher Art Lubetz, and I recently sent him this email...

I hope the Lecture monday night was a wake up call for the students at CMU archtitecture. The field has changed and is changing rapidly. Not because it is monetarily funded to do so but since it is not, now is the time for architecture to catch up to technology and the social specturm. The public's understanding of Architecture has not "changed" drastically in the past 10 years. Things are still built with archaic standards due to convenience and affordability.We as architects rely almost on what the construction industries unions and workers inputs on the facility of implementing the building. The words brick/ply/block are over expressed jargon easily digested by anyone who goes to a Home Depot. Due to this lack of inovation, I believe this has lead to the populous disregarding the architect or "architecture" when building. "Why have an architect if you can build it your self?" Good point if I say so myself. Architecture to relate to its historical roots attempted to create awe with buildings that could not be built by the average Joe. If not for the grand scale of space of Notre Dame then the simple mathematics and engineering behind Villa Rotunda. At those times, designing and building a building occurred due to wealth and education. (Education directly related to wealth and social standing.) As we are now in 2010, we have to realize that the direct relation between wealth and education has disolved as information is mostly free and readily available with in minutes of a BING or Google search. Even beyond that, information sharing and open source programs give way to a democratic knowledge base. " It's all out there if you want to know it (or have the time.)" So this brings me to the the new and present Architecture education presented to students who are paying 40,000+ a year with some monetary aid to facilitate the aftermath. What is it we at Carnegie Mellon University are teaching our students? As campy as this statement might be, we must consider them as the future future generation of architects. Not architects for the first 5 years they leave school but for the 5+ years afterwords. As a rule of thumb to buildings completed now, architecture runs in a 3 to 5 to 7 year cycle. What has been happening is that highly creative minds have seen this lacuna of life filled it up with rapid works. This has been infiltrating the architecture offices pushing the limits. "Avant garde" is just working smarter and creating "archtiecture" that the public values as such. Morphorsis is a prime example of this.

The language of architecture has changed. It is no longer simply bricks/ply/block but actual code, similar to computer programing, computational biology, and genetics. Buildings are not "inspired" by nature as to resemble them as they did in the Art Nouvea and modern times of Gaudi, but can mimic "growth" of a living system and adapt to its forces (nature/environment/

inhabitants/commerce/etc). Scripting and BIM modeling (not just revit models) are used as tools for actions. Drawing in the traditional sense is a representation. It has become the afterthought, no longer the action. A prior design is dead and uninteresting. In other words, who cares what you think a blender or a bracelet or an office building should look like. The times of just "making up" forms is over. Actual reaction is applicable due to the technological advances. Architecture and its teaching needs to acknowledge this. Most prominent schools are already on the band wagon. Where is CMU?

I believe with integrating scripting, new media tools, and utilization of rapid prototyping CMU architecture could be on the same playing field as others from competitive schools. By having studios that encourage students to not just look at the past ( I feel that yes students should still know how to draw and how architecture was created before) but should look to 10 to 50 years beyond their current times for their creations. Students should be encourage to be apt to present knowledge and current events, not just arts and archtiecture but biological and other technology. The undergrad should be experimenting and utilizing the graduate school as well. Amazing projects come out of the intelligent workplace and yet no one is aware of the work. The Brahmans are disconnected from the Vaiysas and Sudras.

When we live in a world where most people have a connection to the world wide web in their pockets, we should have students who design with this in mind. Presentation and application should also be integral to the work produced at the school.

HEALTHCARE.

Something to think about Obama.....
But also.. Hello Health! Social Media and Health Care ... Though one could joke that it's the hipster answer to health care, Jay Parkinson is bringing awareness to peoples door. “Doctors and companies that don’t embrace communication are living in the pre-internet days,”
said Parkinson. This boutique medical practice combs old-fashioned house calls with web-based instant-message and video consultations, online scheduling, and digital records. Digital records, so many doctors offices still have those awful sliding files that are not only an eyesore but tedious for those working with them.
Something to keep in mind:: “Health care’s been taken away from the neighborhoods and become institutional,” says Parkinson. “There’s no incentive to embrace new interfaces for communicating, because insurance doesn’t pay for technology implementation. Instead of waiting on the health-care industry to catch up, we’re doing it.”

So how does this new health care bill help us to work towards something like this?

RAIMUND ABRAHAM

RIP. It's so sad that he died on his way after his lecture at SCIARC. DTLA is a killer. Austrian architect Raimund Abraham, best known in this country for his knife-thin 2002 Austrian Cultural Forum building in Manhattan, was killed in a car crash in downtown Los Angeles early Thursday morning, according to a report from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc).

Eric Owen Moss issued the following statement: "Earlier in the evening Raimund delivered a powerful lecture at SCI-Arc, re-stating his enduring love for architecture and his willingness to fight for the design discourse as he defined it. That unique and powerful Abraham advocacy for architecture is irreplaceable. Raimund, We miss you."

Born in Tyrol, which is located in the Alps, Abraham credited his understanding of architecture to his time growing up in the mountains. In 2002 , he told NYTimes this beautiful statement: “When you are a skier, you have to read the snow - it is not some romantic white mass; it is a material. If you want to glide faster than anyone else, you have to understand the crystals. This was my education, not the school of architecture.”

Think about that. Don't think about building as building.. but the crystals behind it.

something to brew about

Recently moved back to pittsburgh where micro brews are readily available. I have to endorse this one due to its taste and content. If you get a chance, check out this great beer from Erie, PA.

Tacoshed

I just moved from LA back to Pittsburgh in the last month. I can't say I miss Los Angeles much other than my constant craving for that $1 taco that you could get at any point in time on a 24 hour scale. I have been hunting all tacos down in Pittsburgh but while reading BLDG BLOG, I came across this project. The TACOSHED. Where does that taco come from. Granted there are more tacos per capita in California but does all the ingredients come from the "land of plenty"?
Last fall, a group of URBANlab architecture students from the California College of the Arts, Rebar art and design studio, and Landscape David Fletcher started their assignment adventure a a local taco truck. The research, based on SF's food and watersheds, was based on the premise that the familiar food (aka tacos) are part of a greater subliminal system and could give visceral insight to other connections in the environment. Similar to the work by Sourcemap, awareness of your input (and hopefully output one day) helps the user to see their own connection and potential impact to those around them and the environment.

The work is being presented this Thursday, Feb 25 in the Mission in San Francisco.

This week I will try to make a project similar to this but with ranges.

BIKE WALK RUN

How does downtown exist as a hub for MTA riders and bicyclists in the city?

Celebrate eight weeks of mapping and conversations during the final night of HABEAS LOUNGE: A PLURALISTIC DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES. This event is the last in a series of DTLA explorations building a framework for ideas and exchanges about our shared city, conceived by artist Linda Pollack.

Art Walk night will be all about bicycles and public transportation. We want to hear first hand how transportation plays a role in life downtown! Pricey parking lots, scarce street parking, the threat of being towed...bicycle, metro and bus are alternative ways to get around without the trouble!

Advocates will be on hand to share their experiences and visions for transportation in LA, as well as challenges, from proposed master bike plans to everyday commuting.

Ride up 7th Street from the Art Walk to dialogue, discuss, debate, and learn ways to connect to the carless city.

A bicycle valet service will be provided by the LA County Bicycle Coalition.

During the event, check out the HABEAS LOUNGE, designed by Ilaria Mazzoleni: a cardboard sofa built from bike boxes by architect Nina Marie Barbuto, projections of classic / contemporary DTLA films selected by Linda Pollack and Maryam Hosseinzadeh, maps and bottled specimens from workshops by Katie Bachler, urban placemaking by James Jones, film footage of LA shot from a helicopter and a Pontiac G6 by Italian artists/architects ERGOT, an oversized Metro map, and more.

Plus SNACKS and a DJ too!

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ART WALK SCHEDULE

5.00 - DTLA Resident DJ Emilio

5.45 - You Have HABEAS
About HABEAS LOUNGE, Its Design and Mission

6.00 - Re-Designing How LA Moves
including a feasibility study for a pilot bike sharing program in Wilshire Center, produced by the Critical Mass class at SCI-Arc (Prof. Ilaria Mazzoleni) and CICLO a bike sharing plan proposal for USC

6.30 - Pedaling The Path
Open Discussion on Current Bike and Public Transportation Experiences/Issues/Challengs in LA With Advocates and Users

7.30 - Tracing Our Path
Discussion-Based Mapping Exercise On The Gallery Wall

8.00 - HABEAS LOUNGE Artists Talk About Their Work and The City

8.30 - DJ Emilio Dance Party

For more information, visit: http://www.habeaslounge.org/

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PERSPECTIVE GROUPS are part of "A Pluralistic Downtown Los Angeles Investigation", a series of explorations through maps and encounters, which will build a framework for the ideas and exchanges about our shared city.

Events are free and open to the public.

The HABEAS LOUNGE is in 7+FIG at Ernst and Young Plaza, located adjacent to the 7th + METRO Red Line stop. Validated parking in 7+ FIG parking structure, entrance on 7th and 8th Streets, west of Figueroa.

smarty pants

this is an interview with my cousin from fall 2008. I just want to point out to how things have come into play afterwards. Just saying, people could pay me to think.