2006.11.18 11:30
Anyone drawing by hand at Harvard's GSD?
It's so "been there, done that" it's now in a museum:
2001.11.14:11:23
Re: sketching
What has always attracted me to CAD (and other computer activities like word processing, image processing, etc.) is the ability to customize just about anything, from the way lines look, to the "scale" of the drawing, to the angle of perspective, to the look of the screen, etc., etc., etc. For me, all that gives drawing with CAD more "life" then I have ever experienced on a drawing board.
The other "lively" issue with CAD drawings is that they are never completely done, and never is there a sole original either. CAD drawings propagate! For example, in constructing the first Santa Croce in Gerusalemme I needed classical columns, so I effortlessly copied the columns from Quondam's (Schinkel's) Altes Museum model, reduced them in scale, and they look perfect. (not bad for less than ten minutes worth of work)
I've often wanted to make an issue of the fact that Quondam has an infinite collection precisely because almost all of it is in digital form. Any image and any cad database in the collection holds the potential to propagate any number of new images and databases. Moreover, each 3d CAD database holds the potential to generate any number of perspectives, axonometrics, and color/shaded renderings. I would never call any of this "lifeless", rather the exact opposite.
When I say that a New Dexterity should be taught to student architects, it is to teach them just how versatile CAD and other digital data is. Any data "at hand" is really an infinite set of data.
2006.11.17 19:54
Anyone drawing by hand at Harvard's GSD?
I know who I'd like to shoo out of architecture. And no matter how I draw, I always make sure I at least scratch the surface.
2006.11.17 19:50
what did you accomplish while archinect was under maintenance?
Oh, if pillows could talk.
2006.11.17 19:48
what did you accomplish while archinect was under maintenance?
look no further...
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2006.11.17 18:52
what did you accomplish while archinect was under maintenance?
Oh dear, there'll be no stopping me now!
2006.11.17 17:59
what did you accomplish while archinect was under maintenance?
I designed/built a 20 foot long drainage ditch in my backyard.
2006.11.17 17:20
Top 5 Movies and why
I like only one movie.
P.S.: what happened to quondam?
2006.11.17 09:46
The learnin' is never over
Well, there's now 25 pounds and a whole venue less of quondam. I don't think archinect could handle a leaner, meaner quondam.
2006.11.08 12:24
I want a toy train for Christmas
So Gabor is still alive, huh?
Does he still hold up an open notebook in the palm of his hand while he "asks" questions at lectures?
He visited my thesis studio; I made sure I was absent that day.
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2006.10.26 16:30
failure and some questions
Boy, talk about dumbing things down even more.
2006.10.11 19:50
Arch Stamp or Butt Plug???
Boy, talk about going full circle!
2006.10.11 19:48
What Happened To The Gutter
"My whole life has turned into a gutter."
2006.10.11 19:43
Arch Stamp or Butt Plug???
Saturn is less dense than water, but you need a bathtub the size of Jupiter to prove it. Hey architects, how would would plug a bathtub the size of Jupiter?
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2006.10.07 08:48
Cemeteries
remember when death was celebrated as a spectator sport?
1998.04.27
new insights regarding the Campo Marzio Busti
Proceeding with translating all the Latin labels of the Ichnographia, new ideas regarding the Bustum Hadriani and the Bustum Augustus developed. I haven't compared and contrasted them before, but it appears that Piranesi treats the two Busti as opposites of each other. The development of this notion is as follows:
Piranesi's label of the radiating triangular clitoporticus of the Bustum Hadriani translates as a porticus dedicated to the evocation of the gods and the spirits of the Lower World. Of course, such a porticus fits perfectly on the axis of death, and this death axis is also further reinforced by the correct meaning of the Bustum, a place of cremation along with the slab for the burning bodies and the funeral-pyre [all on axis]. Moreover, the design of the clitoporticus directs all focus upon the place of burning, and it is easy to imagine the wailing that would emanate from this place--it is interesting to match the raising of wailing voices from the clitoporticus with the raising of smoke from the cavea bustum. The whole Bustum Hadriani, now more than ever, comes across as exceedingly morbid, and, ironically, it seems that the burning of the dead within the Bustum Hadriani is treated as a spectator sport, especially with the grandstands of the cavae bustum.
Next, I began to translate the labels of the Bustum Augustii, and here I found the exact opposite wording--the joyful recollection of Augustus. The evocation of joy is certainly the opposite of evoking the spirits of the underworld, and it was this sharp contrast that led me to notice all the other contrasts between the Bustum Hadriani and the Bustum Augustii.
The list of contrasts is as follows:
a. where Hadrian's clitoporticus funnels inward, Augustus' memoriae fans outward.
b. where the Hadrian precinct is square, the Augustan precinct is round.
c. the Hadrian Bustum proper is a "depression," where the Augustan Bustum is "uplifting," raised on a hill.
d. the center of the Bustum Hadriani is fire, and the center of the Bustum Augustii is water.
e. the Bustum Hadriani is surrounded by a canal (moat), and the Bustum Augustii is surrounded by a wall.
f. the Bustum Hadriani, with its circuses, is open to all, where the Bustum Augustii, with its iron gate, is closed.
g. where the Bustum Hadriani has a fair degree of archeological veracity, the Bustum Augustii is full of blatant misplacements.
In simple allegorical terms, the Bustum Augustii represents the "rise" of Rome, and the Bustum Hadriani represents the "fall" of Rome, which is just another inversion derived from a whole set of inversions. The notion of "rise" and "fall," moreover, can be seen in the phallic porticus of the Bustum Augustii versus the arch of Gratian, Valentinian et Theodosius, which represents the last Roman triumph along with the end of the unified empire.
I never expected to make this type of discovery, and this certainly is important because it encompasses the Campo Marzio's two largest complexes, and the two Imperial mausoleums. It is also important because of all Rome's history, i. e., Pagan, Christian, and Imperial, is allegorically represented in the plan. Furthermore, it is clear through the designs of the two busti that Piranesi was very consciously drawing and designing the Ichnographia allegorically with a full knowledge and understanding of Rome's history and its archeology. It is almost as though the design of the Bustum Augustii is Piranesi's own expression of joy in evoking the glories of Augustan and Imperial Rome at its best.
it's like where Rossi got his best cemetery ideas.
2006.07.30 14:21
A Sketch of London
Yeah, and you're getting more old-fashioned as everyday goes by.
2006.07.30 12:27
A Sketch of London
Just keep in mind, the older you get, the more future you've actually seen.
2006.07.29 15:15
A Sketch of London
City Visions competition, Philadelphia, 1986.
I think I still have some of V-80 electrostatic prints that made up the only computer aided entry in the competition. Even Thomas Hine thought placing the Pennsylvania Convention Center over the sunken portion of the Vine Street Expressway was a good idea.
Every good idea deserves to be reenacted?
2006.07.27 15:42
"Awaiting The Perils of Urban Success"
The house next door to me has been for sale since Easter, and the price was just reduced from $139,000 to $135,000. The block is now predominantly Black with an international mix.
Local attractions include a quondam Lenni-Lenape summer solstice celebration site (later the origin point of Olney), as well as a quondam Lenni-Lenape camp site. There are also substantial remains of a 1813 stone barn nearby at the newly replanted Cedar Grove (guess whose idea that was).
Plus, the house is next to the first Virtual Museum of Architecture and Museumpeace.
Reenact Gertrude Stein and "get it while it's cheap."
2006.07.19 17:53
"The Barnes Foundation, Long Silent, Speaks"
I would make the new Barnes Foundation exactly twice as large as the original, and then distribute the artwork on each wall proportionally to the new dimensions. That, or shrink each visitor to exactly half their size before they enter the galleries.
If there's one thing I can't stand it's crowds in museums.
Oh, and the empty original Barnes Foundation would make a great new contemporary art museum. --link virtual-exhibitions-001.html
"The more things change, the more they stay the same."
I've been working on my own design of the new Barnes Foundation, but that's a whole other "institutional critique" story.
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