Architectural E n d e a v o r T i m o t h y N e l s o n

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Table of ContentsStudio 1A Dove Movement 5 Interweaving Glove 7 Phenomenon - Sound 11

Design Comm. 1 Collage Perspective 15

Studio 1B Social Anticipation 17 Invisible Propulsion 21 Culinary Deconstruction 25 Leavening Precision 29

Design Comm. 2 Ruled Surfaces 33

Studio 2A Fashionable Surfacing 35 Folding Exploration 39 David and Goliath 43 Cooper Union Research 49 Hotel Piazza 53

Materials and Methods Masonry Construction 61

Intensive Rhino Social Housing for Mine Workers 63

Aesthetics Karl Marx and Public Art 65

Studio 2B Reciprocal Territories 67 Communal Balance 69

Professional Practice Project Mako 77

Tactics and Strategy Pragmatism 79

Studio 3A Village Green 83 Forced Interaction 87 The Starter Home 91

Urban Design Theory Culver City 99

Studio 3B Brackish Shading 101

UnderBuilt.com Maximizing FAR 107

“In the early age of the artisan, mass production imposed by mechanization robbed the worker of a sense of the value of his labor. In the postwar world, however, mass-produced objects are so perfect that they give labor teams cause for collective pride.”

Le Corbusier

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Sometimes all it takes to turn life around is a simple question. Just some words strewn together, asked by someone of relevance, regarding an issue of merit. What would you do if you didn’t have to do anything? This all important question was posed to me by a sig-nificant person in my life and the answer was immediate. I would be an architect. At the time I was working for Anheuser Busch, a job that, while financially was very beneficial, brought me no personal satisfac-tion. Being a nameless worker on the line in a factory production plant leaves no room for personal innovation and creativity. I was a number in the records, a set of hands and eyes and ears to help move things along. I provided no advice, shared no ideas, and collaborated on no inventions. I simple was there. Reluctantly. Architecture is a field that has always fascinated me, and con-tinues to do so daily. Long before I made the first step in my career as an architect, I read books on the subject constantly and often sketched out ideas on used cardboard while sitting watching bottle after bottle go by on the conveyor belt at work. Perhaps I should credit the fact that being in a factory every day, doing the same monotonous worked actually helped motivate me, as architecture is a field that couldn’t possibly be more different then factory work. Architecture is subjective and open to interpretation, creative and ever changing. It fits me and what inspires and drives me. I wanted to be a part of it and now I am.

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 182 // FALL 2010 // INSTRUCTOR MARK ERICSON // PROJECT 1 : PRINCIPLES AND PROCESSES, BODIES AND OBJECTS

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Dove Movement

The idea of the project is the movement of mannered and tranquil propulsion. The drawings explore the movement as though it is undulating or a wave-like motion. Also, by mapping the joints and body parts, one is able to discover the centripetal motion of the wings rotating around the shoulders. In the construct, rules are established based on the drawings to develop 3-dimension-ally. The planes delve more into the idea of an undulating mo-tion. The closed planes are present when propulsion is in effect and then the planes open as the wings rotate back. The sticks explore the rhythm or meter that the beak and the tail travel throughout the movement. And the sticks rotate around the con-struct like the wings flapping. The dots track the path of the head as it relates to the movement undulating around it.

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 182 FALL 2010 // INSTRUCTOR MARK ERICSON // PROJECT 2 : PRINCIPLES AND PROCESSES, BODIES AND OBJECTS

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The transaction that was focused on was a handshake between old friends. Old friends have performed a handshake with each other so many times over the years that their hands fit perfectly together, like a well-worn glove. In the hybrid the decision was to use mirrored pieces, one in black and one in white. The pieces that are cut out of one shape fit perfectly into the other shape, like a glove. The placing of one group of pieces over another group of pieces is to represent the intensity of the hand shaking up and down; and make a 2-dimensional medium have a 3-dimensional quality. The construct is a marrying of wire and wood. The wood and the wire weave throughout, interchanging their roles to allow the construct to have kinetic qualities. A corner (the site) is a coming together of two paths; the site corruptor is bringing together the handicap side with the walking side.

Interweaving Glove

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Not only has a handshake between old friends been broken-in and fit perfectly like a well-worn-in glove. It is also a handshake that lasts longer than if one was meeting a stranger. One could have a small conversation with the other person while they continue to shake hands. The act of shaking the hands up and down together will last longer then the customary 2 to 3 shakes and will vary in intensity. Due to the excitement of seeing an old friend, the beginning of the handshake will have great intensity, shaking up and down. This will gradually slow down to the point that the two will almost just be holding hands with no shaking at all. Both parties take an equal part in the handshaking. There is no dominant or submissive.

GROUP: kEVIN TAKENAKA, ADRINA SMITH, TIM NELSON, AND NANCY GRACEWOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 182 FALL 2010 // INSTRUCTOR MARK ERICSON // PROJECT 3 : THE PHENOMENAL GARDEN

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The concept is to produce many different sounds through the layering of various sizes of wood. Every unit creates an “L” shape and is jointed with variations of the units of wood. The joints between each unit can have either a perfect or a loose fit. The looser the joint, the more space the wood has to move back and forth, thereby creating a clattering noise. Additionally, the varieties in thickness and length, cause the sounds to be lower or higher. Every unit of wood is entirely supported by rope. The flexibility of the rope allows a free movement of the units of wood.

Phenomenon - Sound

Images taken at Getty Garden

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WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 114 // FALL 2010 // INSTRUCTOR HEATHER PETERSON // DESIGN COMMUNICATION 1

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Collage Perspective

Universal CityRaimund Abraham

La TouretteLe Corbusier

The project on the opposite page was to create a modern inter-pretation of Raimund Abraham’s 1966 Universal City. During the space race of the 60’s, Abraham explored what an austronaut would see looking down on the moon if it were inhabited. The collage of found images takes an image from the Invasion of Normandy to propose our diplomatic policy if we were to discover an inhabited planet. It would be one of aggression and with the military.The project on this page was to study a given architectural build-ing through drawing and collage. Le Corbusier’s La Tourette mon-astery is an interesting look at the manipulation of natural light. With found plans and sections, the goal was to produce axono-metric drawings. By hinging open the chapel, one could explore how light is manipulated. The colors in the bresoles are to draw comparisons to Le Corbusier’s United Habitant.

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 183 // SPRING 2011 // INSTRUCTOR DOUGLAS YOUNG // PROJECT 1 : BENEATH THE SURFACE

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Social Anticipation

The ancient Pueblo People of Chaco Canyon built below-ground chambers, called kivas, which they used for rituals,political meet-ings, and casual gatherings. The central fireplace in the kiva is reminiscent to how the grill becomes the gathering point for men at a barbecue. The barbecue originated from the congratulatory meals at the scene of a hunt and has become a form of social entertainment that deserves its own chamber in which to be celebrated. The small hole in the floor of the kiva, the shipap, symbolizes their place of origin. From the earth comes eveything. The earth is the only element that can be experienced by all five senses, and a barbecue engages all of the senses. Le Cor-busier created a sense of anticipation by allowing only glimpses upon approaching of the pilgrimage chapel in Ronchamp. Inside, he splayed window sills and erected light cowls to direct sunlight. The massive concrete roof was a reminder of a heavenly pres-ence, yet the 10 cm cut gave the roof a floating appearance.

President Obama and Bobby FlayBarbecue

Splayed BenchFrank Cresencia

Notre Dame du HautLe Corbusier

KivaAncient Pueblo Peoples of Chaco Canyon

Element: Earth

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WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 183 // SPRING 2011 // INSTRUCTOR HEATHER PETERSON // PROJECT 2 : HORIZONTAL INCLINATION

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Invisible Propulsion

Even though the element of wind cannot be seen, its ef-fects are noticeable. It’s the invisible hand. One benefit of wind, which has been harnessed to explore the planet, is using it to propel vessels through the utilizing of sails. Sail technology is an art form, where all must be made by hand, so no two are exactly the same. Intuition and experience determine the correct size and shape for each vessel. The wind forces are transmit-ted across the sail unevenly, so the placement of the stitching and supporters are concentrated in the areas experiencing the greatest amount. The stitching methodology that the Chumash Indians used to construct their homes and tomols, and the design philosophy that Shigeru Ban implemented for the Centre Pompidou-Metz provide a skeletal system for a hillside escape. The sloped site allows for panoramic views but is susceptible to winds. A space that gently engages the slope but cantilevers out to capture the views is an excellent space for a chef to prepare a romantic meal.

Chumash Indians’ House Sail Stitching and Supporters

Centre Pompidou MetzShigeru Ban

Element: Wind

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WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 183 // SPRING 2011 // INSTRUCTOR RENNIE TANG // PROJECT 3 : MIND THE GAP

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Culinary Deconstruction

Ever since man learned to control fire, his culinary appetite has expanded to where now it is an artistic medium. Molecular gastronomy, also known as ‘deconstruction food,’ is a scientific approach to food preparation where chefs fool around with the elements of traditional dishes to create altered textures, structures, and flavor combinations. Morphosis, the deconstruc-tors of architecture, kneaded the Diamond Ranch High School into the canyon so that the buildings and the land interweaved into one. Influenced by Land artists, the idea of cutting and carv-ing to where “all of a sudden, the site becomes the focus and the object is all but consumed by it” (Thom Mayne). The Mesa Verde Indians blended their homes into the canyon walls, utilizing the alcoves as their floor, walls, and ceilings. A dining experience is a choreographed play between a chef and the patrons; where there are moments when the two must come together and when they both enjoy their privacy.

Balcony HouseMesa Verde National Park

Diamond Ranch High SchoolMorphosis

Swinging BaconAlinea

Hypo Alpe Adria Bank HQMorphosis

Element: Fire

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WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 183 // SPRING 2011 // INSTRUCTOR LOUIS MOLINA // PROJECT 3 : A LOFT

29Element: Water

Leavening Precision

Besides just drinking water, man has infused more inventive ways to use water to improve food. In baking, the preci-sion of ingredients and control of temperature are the difference between a perfect pastry and a deflated souffle. Another form of baking is the art of brick making, for its structural integrity and insulating properties. Micheal Rotondi has taken the trade of bricklaying and has challenged the craftsmen to put their skills to the test by corbelling and slanting walls for the La Jolla Playhouse. The people of the city of Teotihuacan used masonry to develop the grand structures for ritualistic city and to heighten the grandeur of their processions. The methodology of stacking, much like water, is the mortar that binds a collection of bricks to make a tower rise from a gap to celebrate the art of baking.

La Jolla Playhouse ModelMichael Rotondi

Teotihuacan, Mexico

San Carlo alle Quattro FontaneMario Botta

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WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 211 // SPRING 2011 // INSTRUCTOR MARK ERICSON // DESIGN COMMUNICATION 2

Fiat Car Factory, Lingotto 1915Giacomo Matte Trucco

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Ruled Surfaces

Giovanni Agnalli, the founder of Fiat, began to reexamine the na-ture of the physical plant and site production. He assigned Gia-como Matte-Trucco (1869-1934), who was one of his production engineers and among the first in Italy to use reinforced concrete to design a new factory in Lingotto, Italy. With the Ford Factory as a template, Giacomo transformed “the logic of the assembly line and principles of efficiency into spatial terms.” Similar to the views of Le Corbusier, the factory metaphorically is a machine that houses moving assembly lines and feeds our desires for mass consumption. The Fiat Car Factory was 500 meters long and consisted of five floors, with raw materials entering from the ground floor and fully functioning cars appearing on the roof to be test-driven. It has a modular support frame and the Hennebique system of reinforced concrete. There are three spiral ramps that brought cars to and from the roof. The opposite page has a plan and section of the Fiat Car Factory, with notations of the actions that occurred within the space. The exploration of the spiral was then transformed into a mechanics shop. The project on this page utilized the Serlian Oval as a template to then create 3-dimensional shapes that could grow in multiple directions. The multi-surfaced shapes allowed for con-tinuous growth and exploration in form.

Complex Freeway InterchangeJohn Lund

Neck Protection

Crest

Movable Armour

Padding

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 281 // FALL 2011 // INSTRUCTOR FRANK CLEMENTI // PROJECT 1.1 : TEXTILE + GARMENT RESEARCH

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Viktor & Rolf are an Amsterdam-based fashion house who create collections based on ideas rather than current trends. They are known for their trademark looks of oversized structured garments that use fortified fabrics to define the silhouette of the body and create architectonic forms. During their Fall/ Winter runway show of 2011, titled “Battle for the Sun”, Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren unveiled their A/W11 Collection. The collec-tion was a modern take on medieval armory; using a knight as the template to draw from. Whereas the knight wears light linen shirts and pants with woolen pads under layers of plates of metal; Viktor & Rolf dressed their models in soft silks under tougher fabrics. The tougher fabrics consisted of heavy felted wool and sculpted leather. They adorned the garments with large pleated pinwheel motifs, as call backs to the way a knight would display his family’s crest on his shield. As well as corrugated pleats to recall the knight’s chain-mail. Viktor & Rolf created a thick-felted wool coat for the collection, that was slim at the waistline and opened up at the neck. The high neck fin is reminiscent of joust-ing armour. The project was an exploration into the deconstruction of the fashion into an architectural element. By breaking the me-dieval fashion into seams and patterns, one can begin to discern construction techniques of how the patterns are constructed. The focus became pinwheels and knife pleats. Many folding explora-tions were performed under a structural element was unveiled and used in a modular system.

MATERIAL :

HEAVY-FELTED WOOLOVER SILK

STRUCTURAL LOGIC:

CIRCULAR PINWHEEL MOTIFSFAN PLEATED DETAILS

Fashionable Surfacing

Pinch Seam Stitch

Primary Fasten Stitch

Pinch Seam Stitch

Fastening Button

Padding Stitch

Coat Seam

SEAMS

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PATTERNS

Pinwheel Pattern

Knife Pleat Cone

Knife Pleat Fold

The fabric is longer for the lower front pleat and grad-ually gets shorter, creating a progressive rythm.

Cone Spiral Pinch Pleat

Pinwheel Pinch Pleat

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Folding Exploration

Knife Pleat

Modular Pinch Pleat

41Outer Modular

Inner Modular

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 281 // FALL 2011 // INSTRUCTOR FRANK CLEMENTI // PROJECT 1.3 : ENTRY-EXHIBITION SHED

1

2

3

4

1

2

3

4

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Utilizing Viktor & Rolf’s fashion techniques for pattern-making and the folding explorations to create a modular system led to a shading structure in front of MOCA. The Geffen Contemporary Museum is situated within a collection of diverse buildings and monuments. Situated in front of the museum is a large fig tree (Goliath). The tree was designated as a Los Angeles historical cultural monument (#920 in 2008). It was planted in front of the first Buddhist temple, which has since moved. Also, hidden in the recess of the lot is a WWII monument for Japanese-American soldiers, titled “Go For Broke.” The Entry Shed (David) will become the smallest element within the space. Whereas the 60’ Moreton Bay Fig Tree is the highest piece. The modulars fold over each layer providing protective layers. An opening is revealed to expose the full height and view of the mighty tree.

1, 2, 3, 4 are connection point options

Each arch leans on the next for supportStructural Diagram

David and Goliath

Sculpture Exhibition Gallery 1Ticket Booth Lobby

Sculpture Exhibition Gallery 2Circulation

Tateuchi Democracy Forum

60’ MORETON BAY FIG TREE

Japanese American National Museum

GEFFEN CONTEMPORARY MUSEUM

GO FOR BROKE WWII MEMORIAL

SITE PLAN

Pedestrian Court

Parking Surface

Cross Section

35’ 70’

45Long Section

Aperture Diagram

6’ 12’

PLAN

12’ 24’

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WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 281 // FALL 2011 // INSTRUCTOR FRANK CLEMENTI // PROJECT 2 : PRECEDENT STUDY

The Cooper Union Morphosis

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Cooper Union Research

Consumption of Sun

Mass / Void

Committed to the school’s founder, Peter Cooper, with an intention to provide an education “as free as water and air”, the Cooper Union, which is a highly selective, yet tuition-free college, offers degrees in architecture, engineering, and art. The building was conceived as a vehicle to foster collaboration and cross-disciplinary dialogue. This is achieved utilizing a stacked verti-cal piazza, contained within a semitransparent envelope. The building’s corner entry, facing the institution’s historic Foundation Building, lifts up to draw people in. The overall structure and makeup is a poured-in-place concrete building with a standard window-wall system. V-shaped, poured-in-place concrete col-umns emerge to bring the building to the ground. The perforated stainless steel screen, which Morphosis has deployed in other projects, including the Caltrans District 7 Headquarters in Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Federal Building, serves as an energy-conserving element. Where the floors are open to the atrium void, a curving lattice defines the space’s limits. The geometric web is made of glass-fiber-reinforced gypsum over an armature of steel pipe. The double-height main lobby contains a 20-foot wide grand staircase, which ascends four stories to a glazed double-height student lounge overlooking the city. The 5th through 9th floors have sky lobbies and meeting places. Sky bridges span the atrium. Skip-stop elevators that stop at the 1st, 5th, 8th floors encourage occupants to use the grand staircase. 50 percent of people will use the stairs as their sole means of circulation.

AdministrationSchool PrivateSchool PublicCity PublicHeat DispenseMask

Privacy Levels

City Public School Public

Admin.

School Private

Ground Piazza Vertical Piazza

Ground Piazza Vertical Piazza

1. Reorienting the Ground Plane (Vertical Piazza)

2. Regulation of Levels of Privacy (Program)

Private

Play Food

Public

Retail

Admin.

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

3. Introduction of Daylight (Voids of Mass)

Hot Weather

Cold Weather

Air

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PATENTThe design hierarchy begins with the idea of a vertical piazza (circulation). To create a “sense of place,” where people from different economic classes feel comfortable for conversation, commerce, and celebration. “Saint Angela Merici, founder of the Ursuline religious order, counseled her followers to ‘be like a pi-azza,’ which she meant being ‘open, gracious, hospitable, playful, restful and engaged in the world” (Jay Walljasper). Second, in the design hierarchy, is the distribution of the program focusing on the different levels of privacy. These then determine the introduc-tion of daylight into the space. Followed by the introduction of a mask, which acts like a coat in cold weather and an umbrella in hot weather. Fifth, in continuing with sustainability, the use of skip stops to encourage walking.

DESIGN HIERARCHY1. Reorienting the Ground Plane (Vertical Piazza)2. Regulation of Levels of Privacy (Program)3. Introduction of Daylight (Voids of Mass)4. Environmental Protection (Application of Mask)5. Encourage Interaction (Skip Stop)

Design Patent

4. Environmental Protection (Application of Mask)

Protection and High Visibility

Landing 3

Landing 2

Landing 1

Level 1

Level 6

Level 3Level 2

Level 5

Level 7

Level 4

Level 1

Level 3

Level 2

5. Encourage Interaction (Skip Stop)

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 281 // FALL 2011 // INSTRUCTOR FRANK CLEMENTI // PROJECT 3 : BOUTIQUE HOTEL

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Hotel Piazza

The hotel is designed to encourage interactions between guests, staff, and residents of the surrounding city. The open void acts as an event space for the Silverlake community. The design is to create views from within. While the circulation is a tree-like system of stairs that take the guests to each pair of rooms. Viktor & Rolf, an Amsterdam-based fashion house, who create collec-tions based on ideas rather than current trends. During their Fall/ Winter runway show of 2011, titled “Battle for the Sun”, they un-veiled their A/W11 Collection. The collection was a modern take on medieval armory; using a knight as the template to draw from. They adorned the garments with a structural logic of circular pinwheel motifs, fan pleated details and knife pleats. The Cooper Union is about creating areas of intensities to encourage interac-tion. The piazza acts as the gathering space for the citizens of a dense city. Efficient city grids discourage interaction, where as a medieval city grid was so inefficient that there were many areas for interaction. By folding the piazza onto itself the piazza can go vertical and create a void within. The Cooper Union’s void is utilized by the circulation system and to bring daylight into the building. The large amount of open space on the site is due to the decision to divide the site into 4’s and fold the building onto itself to achieve four stories. The protruding interior walls provide guidelines and sightlines to determine the arrangement of the landscape. There is a hierarchy to the walls of the hotel. The outer shell being the thickest, the load bearing walls, and the only walls to stay true to the grid. The interior walls making up the interior void and defining the rooms are deformed from the grid using the modular system of the knife pleat. The third and thin-nest walls make up the bathrooms and closets.

PATENT + MODULATION = PROJECT

The Spanish StepsPiazza di Spagna, Rome

Medieval Map Grid Map

2. Encourage Interaction (Inefficiency Encourages Interaction)

vs.

DESIGN HIERARCHY1. Reorienting the Ground Plane (Folded Piazza) 2. Encourage Interaction (Inefficiency Encourages Interaction)3. View Void as a Positive

1. Reorienting the Ground Plane (Folded Piazza)

3. View Void as a Positive

12’

20’

20’

5’ 5’

5’

20’

20’

Bat

hroo

m

King Room - 360 sq. ft.Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

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Public Spaces F - - Foyer RD - - Reception Desk CD - - Concierge Desk RO - - Reception Offices BS - - Baggage Storage L - - Lobby Seating R - - RetailSemi-Private Spaces B - - Bar LS - - Lounge Seating K - - Kitchen S - - Storage MO - - Management OfficePrivate Spaces KR - - King Rooms QR - - Double Queen Rooms SR - - Suite Back of House S - - Storage M/E - - Mechanical/ Electrical

Program Legend

Ground Void

Public Space

Semi-Private Space

Private Space

Outdoor Common Space

5 FreewayEntrance

Short walk to park, lake, and

dog park

Close to sidewalk to emphasize retail and bar

Breezeway for Pedestrian Cross

Traffic

K

B

R

Silver Lake Boulevard

Gle

ndal

e B

oule

vard

Brier Avenue

Open to the communal aspect of

neighborhood

Drive-up for baggage drop-off; enter from

side street

Residence

Residence

Gingergrass(Restaurant)

Rock Culture

Silverlake Coffee

Roc

k Aw

ay(R

ecor

d S

tore

)

Cha Cha Lounge(2nd Mondays LA

Record Launch Party)

Hit Joint(Recording and

Rehearsal Studio)

57South Elevation

West Elevation

10’ 20’

10’ 20’

2 2

1

1

Glendale Boulevard

Brie

r Ave

nue

First Floor Plan

2nd Floor Plan 3rd Floor Plan 4th Floor Plan

2 2

1

1

2

1

1

2

1

1

10’ 20’

59

Silver Lake Boulevard

Gle

ndal

e B

oule

vard

Brier Avenue

Silver Lake Boulevard

2

2

11

N

100 ft

Long Section

Short Section

10’ 20’

10’ 20’

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 243 // FALL 2011 // INSTRUCTOR DANIEL RABIN // MATERIALS AND METHODSGROUP: TIM NELSON, HAROLD RAMIREZ, BRYAN RINCON, DELBON SANCHEZ, VEDI VARTANI

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Masonry Construction

The aesthetic and design intent of the construct was to experi-ment with corbelling and optical illusion. Corbelling is when each layer is offset from the other to give the wall an effect of bending or curving. The trick is to corbel to a limit without the wall col-lapsing from the weight. To keep that from occurring, the bricks were reinforced with sticks of rebar. The rebar follows a course of every three layers, to allow the wall to offset. The rebar cre-ates a web inside the bricks and as the mortar hardens the wall solidifies. Also, like a body will take one step back to brace itself as it bends; the wall turns 90 degrees to allow it to bend in and then out. The optical illusion is created by keeping the sides as one true edge, as well as the bracing bricks, at the corner, along a true edge. As you look at the wall from the sides they look like a straight box. But if you look at the corner from the tip of the corner the middle looks like it is squeezed in. Any angle that you look at the construct it changes its shape.

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 243 // FALL 2011 // INSTRUCTOR DANIEL RABIN // MATERIALS AND METHODS

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Social Housing for Mine WorkersZon-e Arquitectos were commissioned to design state subsidized housing for mine workers in Asturias, Spain. The exterior shell which the architects describe as a “crystallographic” object mim-ics the same dark color as the mined slate. The Intensive Rhino course used Zon-e Arquitectos’ design as a precedent to explore Rhino techniques. The con-struction of a 3D Rhino model from found plans and sections, and the manipulation of the Rhino model to produce presentable drawings.

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // PHIL 310 // FALL 2011 // INSTRUCTOR JASON KELLER // AESTHETICS

How can we define public art? is public art really a truly an un-censored form of expression if it is dictated by “The Man”? Can a public art piece truly be considered public if it is chosen by a com-mittee and placed on a piece of property that is privately owned? In order to be tolerated in a public place, a public art piece must speak to everyone, yet never offend anyone. It can’t be political, offensive or incendiary, when in its essence, an artist’s job is to point out things that wouldn’t normally be noticed by society and often are political, offensive and/or incendiary. So public art is always abstract and can’t be literal because it must have differ-ent meanings to different people. It can’t be easily interpreted in any one way. You want people to be mesmerized by the piece yet not know why they are mesmerized, hence something that is literal or can be interpreted wouldn’t be considered a success-ful piece of art. With these specific limitations and guidelines, is it fair to say then that these pieces are in fact public? If public art is synonymous with free speech, then how can it be consid-ered such when there are guidelines set and rules to abide by? I believe that the subject of public art can be com-pared to the ideals of Karl Marx. Marx’s view is that your con-tribution to society is your labor, so for an artist, their contribu-tion would be a public art piece, since art is their form of labor. Marx claimed that “labour does not simply denote the work you do or have to do but refers to the physical transformations the individual makes as a being rooted in the world” (p. 198, Private Property and Communisn). Therefore, a piece of art that someone has labored to make not only effects them in the creation but also the space in which it occupies. So if a per-son is related to the world through their labor and their labor is their art, then you could almost make the point that if their art is being overruled or controlled, then that person is being suppressed. Marx had the theory that everyone contributes to society and that nothing is owned privately, so if everyone con-tributes with their labor towards a better society, shouldn’t those spaces be considered public? If they are being limited as private spaces, then how can society be benefitting from them? Since he so strongly opposed capitalism and the basis of capitalism is private property, it would be a fair assumption to say that Marx’s ideals strongly supported public property and it’s uses. If a business owner takes down his public piece be-cause of a few complaints despite the compliments from many, has this negated the piece non-public? This was recently the case in Sarasota where a man had commissioned a mural on one of his businesses. This was referenced in an article in the

Herald-Tribune titled “Lyons: Fan of ‘Fast Life’ and the debate over public art” written by Tom Lyons. Because a few other busi-ness owners didn’t like it, Scott Gerber decided to paint over it, even though the general neighborhood consensus was that of admiration for the mural. The few who objected thought it put the neighborhood in a bad light and because they carry the weight of the business owner’s approval, the minority decided the fate of a piece of art that was meant to be public. This brings up the question of whether a piece of art that is created with intention of being public, yet is on property that is privately owned can still be considered a public piece. If it’s for the public and the majority of the public loves it, yet the owner of the building has the ulti-mate decision in whether it stays or goes, how is it then defined as being public? Shouldn’t the public have a say so in whether a piece stays or goes? It seems that often it is a small influential group or the owner of the land its own deciding the fate of the piece, never the public in which it was supposedly created for. There was an article online on the Huff Post titled “Occupy Broadway draws artists, protesters to Theater Dis-trict” written by Johanna Barr about a group of actors and art-ists who wanted to take back the public spaces that developers had originally designed as public yet in actuality had used as private spaces. The space, called Paramount Plaza, is much like Zuccotti Park, the public space in downtown Manhattan where the occupy wall street movement has originated. The article, cleverly titled, “Occupy Broadway” told of how these people held public events in which they read poetry or acted out scenes on land that was originally designated as public land, since the developers had to set aside a piece of the land as public in order to build taller spaces. Even though parts are designated as public, these spaces are either inaccessible, or they are still run as private spaces. So what is public and what is private and who really has the say in cases like this? The developer might argue that since he pays to maintain the land and is the person who purchased it, that he therefore has the right to decide what goes on within the space. However, this no longer makes it a public space and it should no longer be labeled as one. On the flip side, the group behind Occupy Broadway, once they were on the space and using it in their art and labor, could argue that the space now belongs to them. A piece of public art that might actually be considered such without restriction is the Freedom Rock, or Patriotic Rock as it is sometimes called, in Greenfield Iowa. This is an ordinary rock that was for years used to entertain teenagers and allow

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Karl Marx and Public Artthem a medium for their graffiti until 1999 when a young man named Ray Sorenson II decided to play the part of patriot and depicted a scene from Iwo Jima along with an inscription thank-ing the soldiers for their bravery. No one painted over it after that. The painting was so well received by the surrounding public and local people, that no one has tried to paint anything else on it for 13 years, with the exception of one youth whose vandalism was not well received by the people. The same man paints a new depiction every year. This rock is on public land, located right off highway 25 in Iowa, yet there are no guidelines, restrictions or people monitoring the reception of this piece. This is truly a piece of public art, loved and received by the people it was created for, the public. Marx would likely concur that this rock represents his thoughts and ideals in that the piece is truly publicly owned, the work is done for the people without regulations and the labor of the artist is geared towards a betterment of his surroundings. The question of public art could likely be debated forever with no conclusion. The arguments I have described above often don’t have answers and can’t be used to de-termine what the “right” answer or definition is. Using Marx’s theories of labor and privacy versus his abhorrence for capital-ism can be used to a certain degree to discuss public art and how to define it. Public spaces are not as easy to define as we think based on the articles and examples laid out above, hence public art may not actually be public at all. So I will fin-ish with where I started with the question of what exactly is public art? Using Marx’s theories to examine certain situations gives a bit more insight to the question, yet the answer is fluid and not easily accessed, and will most likely be for all time.

Work Cited

Banusiewicz, John D. “DefendAmerica News - Article.” De-fendAmerica - Redirect to Defense Department Homepage. U.S. Department of Defense, 17 Nov. 2003. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/nov2003/a111803a.html>.

Barr, Johanna. “Occupy Broadway Draws Artists, Protest-ers To Theater District.” The Huffington Post. 4 Dec. 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/04/occupy- broadway-times-square-occupy-wall-street_n_1127423.html>.

Lyons, Tom. “Fan of ‘Fast Life’ and the Debate over Public Art. | HeraldTribune.com.” HeraldTribune.com | Sara-sota FL. 3 Dec. 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://www.her-aldtribune.com/article/20111203/COLUMNIST/111209836>.

Marx, Karl. Private Property and Communism. Print.

Griffith Park Aerodrome

LA Zoo Parking Lot

Bioswale

Permeable Interlocking Concre

te

Bioreten

tion Cells

118°17' W

Proposition O Clean Water Bond

Eschscholzia californica

Sisyrinchium californicum

Muhlenbergia rigensC4 carbon fixation

Native / Drought Tolerant

17’8.5’

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 283 // SPRING 2012 // INSTRUCTOR LOUIS MOLINA // PROJECT 1 : RECIPROCAL TERRITORIES

LA Zoo Parking Lot Investigation

Boise

Toron

to, O

ntario

Chica

go, Il

linois

New York

Santa

Fe

Louisville

44° 59’43° 36’

43° 4

2’

41° 5

0’

40° 43’

39° 45’

38° 15’

35° 4

0’

38° 57’Burlington Northern

A T & S F

67

Reciprocal Territories1

2

3

456789

10

Rail Network, by James Corner and Alex McLean, is a zoomed-in satellite’s view of a railway turning circle and the many destina-tions this one epicenter can reach out to. By using the topic of measure, they give the viewer a visual point-of-view that one could not obtain on their own. The vastness of our railroad system can be comprehended from this single image; as well as the complexity to navigate and conduct such a system. By not having to depict the entire map of the United States, nor having to zoom-in only on a single image of a turning circle, Corner and McLean were able to convey the importance and density of the railway system. By using recognizable images and city names together the viewer can quickly relate to the subject matter but also be drawn in to investigate further. The circle in the middle of the piece provides a focal point and infers a turning circle, used by the railroads to place cars on specific tracks. The placement of the city names off of the map itself project the vastness and outstretched reach of the railway system. The size of the text and the block that they are placed in portray the amount of traf-fic heading in that direction. With railroad company names like Burlington Northern and AT & SF cutout and placed on the piece along with the title Rail Network, the viewer is signaled that this piece is about the railroad system. Utilizing the same graphical techniques as Corner and McLean, an analysis of the LA Zoo’s parking lot was performed. The site has a rich history originally being an airfield during WWII and finally becoming the zoo of Los Angeles. The parking lot had recently been redesigned with a focus on water drainage and the ecology of wildlife. There are multiple stages to displace and filter the rainwater before it is sent into the LA River. At night, when the zoo visitor go home the local wildlife emerge to forage or to be a part of the food chain.

Title: Rail NetworksMaker: James Corner and Alex McLeanDate: 1995

Dissect

Analysis:1. Northbound destinations in black text, all other destinations in white text2. Circular radius to the North-East: Double lines on the inner, single line for the outer3. Cutout strips of map4. Size of blocks and text specify amount of traffic5. Epicenter, Turning Circle6. White railroad tracks7. Three colors only: Black, White and Red8. White map lines9. Black background10. Red lines to track destinations

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 283 // SPRING 2012 // INSTRUCTOR LOUIS MOLINA // PROJECT 2 : BUS TERMINAL

Hill St.

Broadway Blvd.

Cesar E Chavez Ave.

Spring St.

Chinatown

El Pueblo

City Hall

Fort Moore memorial

Cathedral of Our

Lady of the Angels

Hall of Records

Corti

nes H

igh

Scho

ol

Union Station

N

E

S

W

69

Communal Balance

The initial impression of the site is one of separation and non-existence. The site is bifurcated by the high amount of traffic on Broadway that pass by with no recognition of the space. Also, the site is surrounded by individual communities who place no claim to the two current parking lots. Yet, anything that will go in this place must acknowledge and give deference to the Pueblo, Chinatown, City Hall, Fort Moore memorial, the Cathedral, and Cortines High School. The bus terminal acts like the turning-circle in James Corner’s photographs, a radius that collects and dis-perses travelers on vectors to their destinations. Buses may only make right-hand turns and the separation of buses, cars, and pedestrians are to limit liabilities. A bus terminal is a checkpoint, not a destination, that one must pass through to get to where they want to go. The experience should be quick and seamless, with no barriers to move through effortlessly, as well as areas to wait . But it is also a focal point for a community, a public space to serve multiple events and invite the city to come together. Situated on a slope, with hills and roads acting as disruptors, the terminal excavates the earth and creates voids to physically and visually connect people from the lowest elevation (the Pueblo and Old Plaza Church) to the highest elevation (Fort Moore memorial). The turning radii of the buses informs the geometric shape of the space. Partially submerging the terminal and all of the long-range bus terminals allows for continuous movement for both people and buses. Also, placing the buses below ground level helps with eliminating the noise pollution and highlights the choreographed movement of the buses from a bird’s-eye view. The idea of tunneling harkens back to the Broadway Tunnel that once bore through the hill that use to stand on this site, but was removed to build the 101 freeway. The soil removed from the submerged space is placed atop the parking structure on the lower lot, establishing a public space full of native vegetation for festivals, farmer’s markets, or any outdoor activity. Fractured cor-ten steel around the retaining walls dissipates the Doppler effect of the sound, diffusing the noise level; while concrete is used for its strength with compression to stack programs.

304’

316’

356’

Cesa

r Cha

vez B

lvd.

Hill St.

Spring St.

Broadway Blvd.

8 72

11

3

23

4 4 13

12

5

6 3

1

10

9

13

13

Site Exploration60’ 120’

Level 3

Level 2

Ground Level

Sub-Level

Restaurant3000 sq. ft.

Dispatch Room

200 sq. ft.

Offices600 sq. ft.

RestroomMen

350 sq. ft.

RestroomWomen

350 sq. ft.

Retail Concessions

300 sq. ft.

NewsStand

200 sq. ft.

Ticket Booth(Long Distance)

450 sq. ft.

T.B.LA Metro50 sq. ft.

Waiting Interiorwith 100 seats

2500 sq. ft.

Waiting Exteriorwith 40 seats

583 sq. ft.

Waiting Exteriorwith 60 seats1166 sq. ft.

Waiting Interiorwith 150 seats

2500 sq. ft.

Waiting Exteriorwith 150 seats

2500 sq. ft.

Baggage Room

750 sq. ft.

Driver Lounge/

Restroom500 sq. ft.

Mechanical1000 sq. ft.

1

10

9

23

44 13 12

5

63

87 2

11

3

19’

7’

18’4”

21’

25’6”

14’4”

40’

8’6”

33’7”

37’9” 45’6”

24’6”

60’

8’6”

39’4”

35’6” 21’10

”

44’3”

71

Extract Geometry

4 4 7

13

13

2

3

Sub-Level Plan

1. Restaurant2. Interior Waiting 3. Exterior Waiting4. Restroom5. Ticket Booth (Long Distance)6. Ticket Booth (LA Metro)7. Driver Lounge8. Mechanical9. Offices10. Dispatch Room11. Baggage Room12. News Stand13. Retail Concessions

60’ 120’

Cesa

r Cha

vez B

lvd.

Spring St.

Broadway Blvd.

73Ground Floor Plan

1

9910

13612

5

2

3

13

13

60’ 120’

75

VALSER QUARZITE FACESTONE TILE (VERTICAL)

RIBBON WINDOW WITH METAL FRAMING

VALSER QUARZITE FACESTONE TILE (VERTICAL)

FOLDING SCREEN DOORNANAWALL

VALSER QUARZITE FACESTONE TILE (VERTICAL)

13'-1

1 1/

2"

11'-2

"11

1/4

"4'

-7 3

/4"

18'-7

1/4

"

13'-1

1 1/

2"

FLOOR TO CEILING WINDOW

13'-0

1/4

"

13'-1

1 1/

2" 18'-7

1/4

"

13'-0

1/4

"

DD-100

4954

E. M

ER

IDIA

N

PR

OJE

CT

MA

KO

DESIGN

DATE

DD-100

1JOB NO:

ISSUE

DATE 04 27 2012

The drawings and specifications and designsrepresented hereby are and shall remain theproperty of the Architect, and no part thereof shallbe used or reproduced for any purpose other thanthe specified project for which they have beenprepared and developed without the writtenconsent of the Architect

Written dimensions shall have precedence overscaled dimensions. The Contractor shall verifyand be responsible for all dimensions andconditions on the jobsite and report anydiscrepancies to Architect.

The drawings and specifications indicate thegeneral scope of work and required technicalperformance of the building systems and do notnecessarily indicate or describe all the workrequired for full performance and completion ofthe construction contract. Based on the scope ofwork indicated Contractor shall furnish all itemsrequired for the proper execution of the project.

7500 GLENOAKS BOULEVARDBURBANK, CA 91510

PAGE NUMBER:

PAGE TITLE:

NO.

01

KARIM SNOUSSINICK WILKINSSAMVEL SIMONYANGEORGE RIVERATIM NELSON

DEVELOPMENT

FLOOR PLANSCALE: 1/4" = 1'-0"5

WEST ELEVATIONSCALE: 1/4" = 1'-0"8

NORTH ELEVATIONSCALE: 1/4" = 1'-0"13

SOUTH ELEVATIONSCALE: 1/4" = 1'-0"15

EAST ELEVATIONSCALE: 1/4" = 1'-0"16

FIN. FLOOR572.50"

FIN. FLOOR573.50"

FIN. FLOOR572.50"

FIN. FLOOR573.00"

101

104A

107A

107B

105A

106 108A

102A

104B

101D 101E 101F

101A101B101C

11'-0" 8'-0"5'-6" 5'-6" 7'-1"

4'-7 3/4" 8'-2 3/4" 14'-1 1/2"

13'-6

"6'

-4"

20'-2

"

40'-0

"

20'-0"

4'-0"

7'-1"

5'-0

"6'

-8"

7'-8

"

17'-7 1/2"3'-10 3/4"4'-5 1/2"

19'-1

0 1/

2"

14'-3

"

1'-0

1/2

"

10'-0

"

2'-1

1/4

"

3'-0"

1'-0"

2'-1 1/2"

3'-1 3/4"

4 1/

2"

1'-10

1/4

"

1'-2"

2"

135

107

90152

90

107

135

152

DD-100

16

8

DD-100

15

13DD-100

DD-101

5

DD

-101

5

K.N.S. G.T.

23'-7

1/2

"

9"3"

6'-5

1/2

"

19'-0"

16'-7

"

8'-0

"5'

-9"

2'-1

0"

6"

22'-0"

6'-1

1 1/

2"

23'-1

1"

9'-1

1/2

"4'

-5 3

/4"

7'-6

"2'

-9 3

/4"

6 1/4"25'-5 1/2"

6"

26'-5 3/4"

12'-10 1/2"

3'-6"

8'-2

1/2

"3'

-6 1

/2"

5'-5" 3'-5"

18'-1

1 1/

2"

4954

E. M

ER

IDIA

N

PR

OJE

CT

MA

KO

DATE

1JOB NO:

ISSUE

DATE 04 27 2012

The drawings and specifications and designsrepresented hereby are and shall remain theproperty of the Architect, and no part thereof shallbe used or reproduced for any purpose other thanthe specified project for which they have beenprepared and developed without the writtenconsent of the Architect

Written dimensions shall have precedence overscaled dimensions. The Contractor shall verifyand be responsible for all dimensions andconditions on the jobsite and report anydiscrepancies to Architect.

The drawings and specifications indicate thegeneral scope of work and required technicalperformance of the building systems and do notnecessarily indicate or describe all the workrequired for full performance and completion ofthe construction contract. Based on the scope ofwork indicated Contractor shall furnish all itemsrequired for the proper execution of the project.

7500 GLENOAKS BOULEVARDBURBANK, CA 91510

PAGE NUMBER:

PAGE TITLE:

NO.

01

KARIM SNOUSSINICK WILKINSSAMVEL SIMONYANGEORGE RIVERATIM NELSON

MEZZANIE STAIR SECTIONSCALE: 1/2" = 1'-0"9

MEZZANIE FLOOR PLANSCALE: 1/4" = 1'-0"15

A-105A

STAIRSECTIONS

K.N.S. G.T.

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 250 // SPRING 2012 // INSTRUCTOR ROBERT KERR // PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE GROUP: KARIM SNOUSSI, NICK WILKINS, SAMVEL SIMONYAN, GEORGE RIVERA, TIM NELSON

FIN. FLOOR572.50'

TOP OF DOOR579.025'

BOT. OF CLOCK580.67'

TOP OF CLOCK587.92'

TOP OF PARAPET590.97'

2x10 FLOOR JOIST

CONC. FOOTING ANDFOUNDATION WALL

FINISH GRADE

VALSER QUARZITE FACESTONE TILE (VERTICAL)

SLATE TILE

5/8" PLYWOOD

WINDOW WITH 1"INSULATED GLAZING

1" THICK WOODCLOCK NUMBER

3/4" PLYWOOD

INT. STUCCOSMOOTH FINISH

1" THICK WOODMINUTE HAND1" THICK WOODHOUR HAND

2x10 CEILING JOIST5/8" TYPE 'X' GYP. BD.

SLOPE

VALSER QUARZITE FACESTONE TILE (VERTICAL)

2x10 CEILING JOISTR-19 INSULATION

COMP. FLASHING

ROOFING2x6 STUD WALL

1x3 FURRING STRIP

BLOCK

FIXED CLEAT

GALV. SHT. MTL.COPING

77

Project Mako

Project Mako, a design concept for a live/work space for an artist in a residential neighborhood. The design focused on the blurring of a space to work and a space to live in. There is a large open space, in the front of the residence, that can be adjusted to fulfill the function required at that time; and a corridor to clearly delin-eate the private spaces. Natural light was very important to flood the space but to not be direct sunlight, so the infusion of the fins on the two side walls. This also allows the artist to display their work in a gallery setting. The purpose of the class was to produce a set of con-struction drawings, as if they were being submitted for approval. The drawings consisted of a site plan, framing sections, eleva-tions, floor plans, sections, and detailed drawings.

Parapet Detail Wall Section Detail

Pragmatism:How a Creative Society Has Become Stagnate

They Just Don’t Know It On March 5th, Peter Eisenman gave a lecture, titled “Project vs. Practice,” at SCI-Arc which started a debate with the architects who were attending. During the speech, he shined a light on an aspect of the field of architecture that has been over-looked. Eisenman argued that there have only been six meta-projects, architectural projects that have defined the world. As opposed to all other works that architects have designed, what Eisenman refers to as practice, where the world defines the ar-chitect. Pragmatism is the conception of truth. All of game theory is to find the true pragmatic decision. To be pragmatic it must be measurable. During Eisenman’s lecture, he claimed that Le Corbusier’s Dom-ino project (1914-1915) was the last meta-project in architecture. Robert Somol and Sarah Whiting summarized Peter Eisenman’s essay, “Aspects of Modernism: Maison Dom-ino and the Self-Referential Sign,” in his book Op-positions, in their paper “Notes around the Doppler Effect and other Moods of Modernism.” “In Eisenman’s discussion of the Dom-ino, it is the design process itself that is being registered rather than the material productive and technical systems or specific context” (Somol and Whiting, 74). The truth that Peter Eisenman was trying to bring to light is that the field of architecture has not progressed in al-most 100 years and that architects have not realized it. Aspects of this truth are buried in every part of the architectural com-munity. Starting with the development and establishment of the architectural school system and the competition-based way that architects are selected for building projects. The language that architects have invented to explain their designs limit and con-fine the objects they describe. Building codes and litigation in the Western world have stifled architects ability to explore new designs and styles. And more to the truth, architecture is a busi-ness, where an architect is not free to design what they want but must answer to the client. These factors, when brought to real-ization, contribute to the critique of architecture’s progression. As Mark Pagel points out in his article “Infinite Stupid-ity,” that part of our psychological makeup as humans is the herd instinct. This makes us very good followers, not leaders. Pagel argues that humans have developed into a society of copiers. This is one of the contributing factors as to why more and more people are migrating to cities. In these large cities we only need

a few innovators. Are architects in this classification of innova-tors or have they become part of the herd of copiers? With this herd instinct, people have a desire to be a part of a group and in doing so indoctrinate themselves with the cultural traits of the group. Karl Marx points out that what univer-sally binds us is that we belong to a society. Yet there are many levels of societies and communities. The society of interest is the group known as architects. And the only way to become a part of this society is to attend an architecture school. Schools become the gateway that students must cross to be accepted into any professional community. Mark Pagel points out that the major genetic difference that humans have over all other species is called social learning. Social learning gives humans “the capacity to learn complex new or novel be-haviors, simply by watching and imitating others. And. . . (are) able to get inside the minds of other people who are doing things in front of us, and understand why it is they’re doing those things” (Pagel, Infinite Stupidity). This ability has only made us very good copiers and architects are suppose to be learning to be innovators. The stagnation of architecture can be traced to the se-lection process and tradition of development that architecture schools have employed for over 200 years. The classroom style of studio has become the preferred method of teaching design, since the Ecole des Beaux Arts first implemented it. A student cannot learn to design from listening to lectures and reading about it in books alone. Students must make, and most impor-tantly talk about their design process. This is where many other factors come into play as to which students are seen as gifted and where other students are discarded because of their cul-tural background. In his article, “ How the Schools Tame Their Students,” Dr. Garry Stevens points out the research of psychologist Don-ald MacKinnon. “In his famous psychological studies of archi-tects fifty years ago, (MacKinnon) found that almost without ex-ception, all his most creative architects came from families with high cultural capital, but was not interested in pursuing the most obvious of indicators” (Stevens). The obvious indicator that Ste-vens is refering to is that architects who come from upper-class families and are experienced in artistic and architectural cultural capital appear to be naturally gifted when it comes to design. Design is all about taste and cultivation; which teachers, outside critics, and fellow students also pick up from the students body language, attire, use of language, and ease within the commu-

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // PHIL 3702 // SPRING 2012 // INSTRUCTORS JASON KELLER AND DOUGLAS GREEN // TACTICS AND STRATEGY

79

Pragmatismnity of architects. Those who are selected to become architects will con-tinue into a profession that is built around a competitive atmo-sphere in which architects submit their designs into competition committees to get jobs. The reason we establish games/compe-titions is because everyone knows all of the defined rules. The downside is that architects are constantly competing against each other. No community can cooperate in a pursuit to move the profession forward if they are all striving for the same jobs. As John McDonald points out that no coalition is as strong as an individual’s interest. That the individual wins out at the price of social progress. So how does a system that has done the same prac-tices for centuries and produces the same type of architects generation after generation not realize the consistency in their product? Nietzsche argues that if mediocrity embeds itself in culture, that even the strong man will not be able to resist. Odo Marquard referred to this as usual practices. To him, usual prac-tices are unavoidable and there is not enough distance from them to even recognize them. Marquard would define a usual practice as something that one does because they did it in the past but not knowing originally why to do it. As Odo put it in his essay, “In Defense of the Accidental,” “We human beings are always more our usual practices than our choice, and still more are we always more our usual practices than our absolute choice” (Marquard, 117). It is easier to just go with the flow than set a new course. One of the most prominent usual practice in any soci-ety is language. As Marquard puts it, language is a fateful acci-dent. Mark Pagel states that the importance of language is that, “language is the way we exchange ideas” (Infinite Stupidity). But language is restricting. Architecture has its own language. A lan-guage that is used to define designs but confines the user from ever truly experiencing or understanding a space. Dr. Garry Stevens points out that the purpose of ar-chitecture studio is to indoctrinate students with this restric-tive language. “The studio system requires students to spend a great deal of time talking about their design, talking to other students, talking to professors at desk crit, and, of course, talk-ing at jury presentations. Students from cultured families have already acquired the basic dispositions required to further their symbolic mastery of architectural language” (Stevens, How Schools Tame). But as Roderick Chisholm so definitively states that there is nothing that a word can be tied to an object.

Once architects overcome the obstacles of school and language, and embark on a career of designing spaces for peo-ple to inhabit; they encounter the biggest reason why architec-ture has not moved forward in the last 100 years. That would be the stifling building codes and litigation that confine and hinder any aspirational possibilities that a design could achieve. If in John Whiteman’s article, “On Hegel’s Definition of Architecture” he defines architecture as an abstract relation, a symbolical form of art, as he puts it, “the reality which is represented in them remains contrasted with the idea, as something external which it has not penetrated only to establish an abstract relation” (Whiteman). How can a building handcuffed to building codes and fear of litigation every aspire to such a definition. Stirner argues that a mediocre citizen lives on security and legal integrity. During his time the Bourgeois hid behind the laws of the state. In comparison to today, where the upper and middle class establish laws to keep the status quo. Also, Pagel highlights that innovation is difficult. It takes time and energy, as well as, the risk of acceptance. With Western architecture being so restrictive, many firms are going overseas, to China, to flex their design muscle. Clark Manus, the president of the American Institute of Archi-tects, sheds a light on why the Chinese building process is more streamlined. “The U.S. political establishment is mostly attor-neys and other people who are involved with political science.” Manu says, “In China, the highest-ranking officials tend to be engineers, they see a problem, they allocate money and effort toward a solution” (Cheek). So why does China give architects more freedom to explore their designs? Architects who were interviewed by Law-rence Cheek in his New York Times article “Architects Find Their Dream Client, in China,” “say the Chinese are more ambitious, more adventurous and even more willing to spend the money necessary to realize the designs” (Cheek). Chris McVoy, senior partner at Steven Holl Architects in New York, backs up this statement. His firm was able to cre-ate a couple of radical designs like a multiple high-rise housing project with glass bridges linking each building to one another; and a ‘groundscaper’ which is a skyscraper turned horizontally and raised off the ground five stories. “’There’s no way a U.S. developer would let us do these,’ Mr. McVoy says, adding that the American mentality is, ‘If it hasn’t been done

done before, then you shouldn’t do it. It’s all about risk, risk, risk. The Chinese have a kind of fearlessness to build things’” (Cheek). While China does allow architects to experience a little more freedom to explore their designs, the major limiting factor to any architect is that architecture is a business and architects must answer to a client. In Edwin Gardner’s article, “Revising Practice,” he explain the limitations a firm faces. “Architecture is also a business, so practice as a vocation of academic critical thinking won’t get any bread on the table, and even if it could your critique can never entirely be credible, because your client pays for it” (Gardner). As Eisenman put it in his lecture, practice is what firms do to pay salaries and keep the doors open. To him, he would do designs for clients all day because it pays the bills, but do not be mistaken and think that they are progressing the field of archi-tecture. Gardner explains how the architectural business differs from other businesses when he states, “Everywhere in business there are ideals, principles and societal criticisms which drive enterprises. But this form of idealism which also has to be prag-matic and has to be commercially viable is aimed at concrete results and not at reflection on mankind’s existential condition in our post-industrial globalized society” (Revising Practice). So why would Peter Eisenman give such a speech? Why would a famous architect, successful in his career, make such statements against his and his fellow colleagues’ life’s work? Much like Hegel, who was a Bourgeois and criticized the Bourgeois, Eisenman aims to shine some truth on the profes-sion. Frustrated by always being limited by building codes and clients with predefined square footage; he struggles to break from these restrictions, these usual practices. Another portion of the lecture that angered starchi-tects, like Thom Mayne and Eric Owen Moss, was when Eisen-man proclaimed that architecture cannot solve external factors like the economy and unemployment. To believe in such things pushes architecture into being a fetish. Karl Marx would argue that believing architecture’s abilities in this realm is just an over stimulation of an object. One who fetishizes something is stuck on the image value. One can only strive for it but never reach its completion. To Marx, a fetish is a promise that can never fulfill the promise. One fetishizes architecture to solve things it can-not. The critique, which architects love to do when it comes to design, should focus on the truth of architecture’s position in the world and of architects’ ability to be innovators. As Edwin

Gardner points out that Stan Allen so aptly puts it, “If architec-ture doesn’t take a certain distance how can it be critical. How can you be truly critical of the systems of which you yourself are dependent on” (Revising Practice). Odo Marquard comes at the critique with the approach that a “critique is conflict between usual practices. To be capable of it, one must have usual practices; and in our times and our parts of the world critique is in fact itself a usual practice, which is regulated by usual practices” (In Defense of the Accidental, 118). In Gardner’s article, “Revising Practice,” Stan Allen makes an argument for why architecture has not progressed by using Karl Marx critique, “The Marxist critical position is not fea-sible from within architectural practice. The main problem with critique in our contemporary society is that it is largely internal-ized within our societal systems.” Again, there is a way to devel-op a true argument against the system when one is embedded in the system. A telling obstacle that architects face in their creative process can be summed up by Stuart Silk, a Seattle architect, when he was talking about his experience working with a Chi-nese developer. Lawrence Cheek wrote, “For the first time in his career, he wasn’t an architect interpreting a client’s tastes and personality, but an artist facing a blank canvas. ‘It opened up a part of my brain that hadn’t been exercised in a while,’ Silk says” (Cheek). So, if architects don’t agree with Eisenman’s state-ments and cannot distance themselves to make a truthful cri-tique, how does architecture ever progress? If using Hegel’s ar-gument that history does not move without violence and through that violence one gets progression, then architects are in a state of negation. Eisenman’s speech strives for a level of recognition; and in between the two is progression of the architectural field. Kierkegaard postulates that the only way the world changes is through martyrdom. In terms of architecture, an ar-chitect must forge a path with their convictions and be willing to die for them, or in this case being willing to sacrifice one’s ca-reer and reputation to shove architecture forward. Kierkegaard states that we are not born martyrs, one must choose to be a martyr. But an architect must first discover such a conviction; and as Mark Pagel stipulated ideas are just of random gener-ation and the best ideas are selected. Pagel argued that the trailblazers of history were not because of their ideas. He ques-tioned, what if “the great people in history whom we associate

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with great ideas might be no more than we expect by chance. . . maybe Einstein’s ideas were just as random as everybody else’s, but he kept persisting at them” (Infinite Stupidity)? Ein-stein was just more curious. As Kierkegaard puts it, one does not have value to oneself, rather one only has value to others. In the case of an architect’s value, it is measured by the people who benefit from their designs. In closing, when a man comes to the end of their ca-reer they begin to reflect on the impact they have left in their field. They begin to question whether their generation did its part in the advancement of human society. Architecture strives to achieve these advancements, but it hasn’t for the last cen-tury. The reason for this can be traced to the traditional educa-tional system that selects and develops tomorrows architects. The competition system that architects participate in to get jobs deters cooperation within the community which hinders archi-tectures progression. The truth about the language that is used to describe architects’ designs limits and restricts anyone from ever really understanding and experiencing anything. Architec-tures greatest hindrance in today’s western culture has to be building codes and the fear of lawsuits. These two factors keep architects from stretching and pushing their designs. Also, archi-tecture is a business and because of this fact architects are be-holden to the preferences of their clients. These usual practices that architects have just taken for granted and don’t recognize as such have lead to architecture not progressing.

Work Cited

Cheek, Lawrence W. “Architects Find Their Dream Client, in China.” The New York Times 16 Jan. 2011, Business sec. Web. 20 Apr. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/business/16build.html?pagewanted=all>.

Chisholm, Roderick M. “Human Freedom and the Self.” 1964. Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Read-ings. Eds. John Perry, Michael Bratman, and John Martin Fisch-er. 5th ed. New York: Oxford, 2010. 392-99. Print.

Gardner, Edwin. “Revising Practice.” Archis.org. Web. 20 Apr. 2012. <http://archis.org/action/category/design-thinking/>.Marquard, Odo. “In Defense of the Accidental: Philosophical Re-flections on Man.” Trans. Robert M. Wallace. In Defense of the Accidental. New York: Oxford, 1991. 109-29. Print.

McDonald, John. “A Theory of Strategy.” Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, Sixtieth-Anniversary Edition. 4th ed. Princ-eton: Princeton University Press, 2004. 692-711. Print.

Pagel, Mark. “Infinite Stupidity | Conversation | Edge.” Edge : Conversations on the Edge of Human Knowledge. 15 Dec. 2011. Web. 05 May 2012. <http://edge.org/conversation/infinite-stupidity-edge-conversation-with-mark-pagel>.

Somol, Robert, and Sarah Whiting. “Notes around the Doppler Effect and Other Moods of Modernism.” Perspecta 33 (2002): 72-77. Jstor. MIT Press. Web. 20 Apr. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1567298>.

Stevens, Dr. Garry. “How the Schools Tame Their Students.” How Architecture Schools Neuter Their Students. Key Centre for Architectural Sociology. Web. 20 Apr. 2012. <http://www.archsoc.com/kcas/Socialise.html>.

Whiteman, John. “On Hegel’s Definition of Architecture.” Jstor.org. MIT Press, Feb. 1987. Web. 20 Apr. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/317108>.

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // JUAN GUARDADO AND TIM NELSON // ARCH 383 // FALL 2012 // INSTRUCTOR DANIEL RABIN // PROJECT 1 : VILLAGE GREEN

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Village Green

The evolution of the idea for Village Green can be traced to eight moments in time. Originating with Aristotle’s belief that a city should offer its residents both security and happiness. 1. Sir Patrick Geddes introduced the concept of the Second Industrial Revolution in his book Cities in Evolution (1910), and described the idea of the ‘urban disease’. As cities began to understand the ‘urban disease’ they realized that it would be easier to develop suburbs rather than expand cities. 2. The Garden City Movement was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard; who promoted planned, self-contained communities surrounded by ‘green-belts” (parks). He described his utopian city planning ideas in his book Garden Cities of To-morrow (1902). 3. Established in 1857, Central Park in New York City became a draw for citizens wanting an open space to get away from the noise and chaos of the city. Frederick Law Olmsted designed it and many others like it with the fundamental idea of them being “public parks”. 4. After the unrealized urban planning vision of Ville Contempo-raine (Contemporary City); Le Corbusier designed Ville Raieuse (Radiant City). Both proposed large glass-filled skyscrapers that were removed from the streets and set in the middle of ‘park-like green spaces’. 5. Clarence Stein planned the town of Radburn, New Jersey, which was the first Garden City in America and used as inspiration for Village Green. Stein worked as a consultant for the architects of Village Green. The creators believed that “by changing how people lived, they could transform their lives.” 6. Village Green used funds from President Roosevelt’s New Deal to help it come to fruition. 7. Inventions such as the refrigerator allowed people to have a better standard of living for not a lot of money. 8. Designed with the requirements of car-owners in mind but relegating the automobile to the fringes of the community. Village Green’s central park is to provide a communal space for the residents to gather and share in fellowship. The proposal for the project is to continue this idea inside the units. The Before Section shows the isolation and tight space of the four individual kitchens. By combining the square footage of the four kitchens into one grand kitchen, the residents could come together around the preparation and consumption of food. Also, by combining resources there is no need for four of everything so the appliances and utensils of the new kitchen could be of better quality at the same budgeted cost.

1942MFRVillage GreenWilson, Merill & Alexander

5474 Rodeo PlaceBaldwin Hills, CA 90016

Public and Private Space

Figure Ground

Section - Before

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Section - After

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // JUAN GUARDADO AND TIM NELSON // ARCH 383 // FALL 2012 // INSTRUCTOR DANIEL RABIN // PROJECT 2 : WOODBURY SAN DIEGO CAMPUS

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Forced Interaction

The San Diego Woodbury Campus is a conversion of a ware-house into an architectural school. The project proposed the introduction of live/work spaces for four visiting professors. The overall idea of the design was to force interaction. The decision was made to divide the living areas from the work spaces, to force the professors to move through the school to get from one to the other. By focusing just on the living spaces at site B and to encourage the inhabitants to interact, one large kitchen in the center of the structure became the connector between residenc-es and the school.

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The large glass kitchen doubled as a skylight, bringing light into the studio space below and a communal meeting space that people could gather. The residential units are off shifted to allow for privacy with moments of transparency to suggest interaction. It also acts as a heat chimney, pulling hot air out of the studio classroom. The louver system provides shading at key moments but will still allow light in at other moments.

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 383 // FALL 2012 // INSTRUCTOR DANIEL RABIN // PROJECT 3: MIXED-USE HOUSING

JEFFERSON BLVD

CORBETT STREET

LA C

IEN

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A B

LVD

CLEMSON STREET

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The Starter Home

Like Venice and Santa Monica a decade ago, Culver City is transforming its post-industrial landscape into creative office spaces and live/work lofts. The location of the site is one at the forefront of this transition. It is an economically transitional place, within a neighborhood that is zoned to instigate investment. The design idea is to bring in the middle class, while seamlessly blending them with the community. The clients for this project are varied, attracting people who are: business owners, people who work from home but want an outside office, and young profes-sionals who work in Culver City, or commute to downtown using the Expo Line, and who are looking for a starter home. Each residence comes with a storefront space and a rental unit, which generate income to supplement the mortgage. The design of the unit as a whole allows for the homeowner to choose which configuration of the three spaces fit their preference, with minimal construction work. The location of the site, 5799 Corbett Street, is a corner lot and the gateway to the neighborhood residential area. Lo-cated on busy La Cienega Blvd, a major thoroughfare, the site is lined with commercial properties on the eastern side and resi-dences to the west. The project site defines the transition from commercial to residential. As it stands, the corner lots that face La Cienega are unkempt and filled with trash but as one moves into the neighborhood they get nicer. A proposal to re-imagine the La Cienega Corridor and to create a seamless transition into the neighborhood starts with the elimination of a lane to provide curbside parking. This provides a barrier between automobiles and pedestrians, creating a habitable street space. The introduc-tion of small storefronts and residential windows offer visibility on the street, deterring crime, and street corner curbs extend out to limit the amount of time pedestrians must spend in the street. The project has two faces, the street commercial face and the neighborhood residential face. The street face is a series of small storefronts on the sidewalk level and a solid mass above with uniformed punched out windows. The pattern of the windows does not allow bye passers to distinguish one unit from the next, nor determine their orientation within the building. The neighbor-hood face utilizes large bay windows and clearly defines the verti-cality of each unit. Residences are all entered from the ground floor and face the interior courtyard while rentals are entered from the street level.

MAXIMUM BUILDING ENVELOPE DEFER TO NEIGHBORHOOD BUILDINGS CARVE PASSAGE TO EXPO TRAIN LINE ROW HOUSING TYPOLOGY

N

93ROW HOUSING TYPOLOGY MAXIMIZE STREET SURFACE

AND INTERNAL COURTYARD EXPANSION OF SIDEWALK SPACE DIVIDE UNITS

Site Diagram

Circulation Study Model

What People Want / Find Necessary What People Don’t Want / Find Unnecessary

- Community Landscaping- Children’s Playground

- Walking Paths- Focus More on Spaces, Not Rooms- Large Kitchens- Kitchen Islands- Kitchen Cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling for added space and efficiency- Larger Pantries for Entertaining and Storage- Home Offices or Studies- Master Bedrooms can be Shrunk- Walk-In Closets- Two-Car Garages

- Formal Living Rooms- Formal Dining Rooms- Fifth Bedrooms- Upstairs Laundry Rooms- Home Theaters- Expensive “Focal Point” Stairways- Outsize Backyard Patio with a Five-Burner Grills- Swimming Pools- Dog Parks- Community Clubhouses- Health Clubs- Golf Courses

PARKING

RESIDENCESTORERENTALRESIDENCE

STORERENTALSTORERESIDENCE

STORERESIDENCERENTAL

STORAGECAFERENTALRESIDENCE

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The vertical units are broken up into the homeowner’s residence and the income generating spaces

Street-SideExterior

Interior CourtyardExterior

CORBETT STREET

LA C

IEN

EG

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LVD

Ground Floor Plan

Parking Sub-Level Plan 3rd Floor Plan2nd Floor Plan

A

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A

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12’ 24’

97Section AA

Section BB

6’ 12’

6’ 12’

Key

Significant Buildings

Secondary Buildings

Front EntrancesBoulevard Views

Radius 1/4 M

ile

Shopping District is the center of the Neighborhood Unit Diagram

Main Boulevards

Main

Bou

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Interior streets are single laned for residential use. Giving easy access to main boulevards.

Open spaces not enough to accomidate neighborhood

City Hall

Historic Hotel

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // KIMBERLY RODRIGUEZ AND TIM NELSON // ARCH 334 // FALL 2012 // INSTRUCTOR ALAN LOOMIS // URBAN DESIGN THEORY

The facade of the old city hall became the gateway to the

new city hall.

City Beautiful

Neighborhood Unit

Transect

Washington Blvd.

(Wide Street)Watse

ka Ave.

(Narrow Stre

et)

Types of Signs

Max. Height44’

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Culver City

The directive for the Urban Design Theory class was to learn multiple urban design theories and apply them to a case study city. Culver City, with it rich history and ups and downs of devel-opment, became an interesting city to relate urban proposals to. Harry Culver is the founder of Culver City, which became a city in 1917. Inspired from its neighboring city “Venice of America,: who’s founder Abbot Kinney envisioned as a resort. The city’s rise in prominence came when television and movie studios set up shop; and the decline of the city came as those same stu-dios left. In recent years, Culver City has been the playground for architects like Eric Owen Moss and Thom Mayne to explore their designs. The new and revitalized city has refurbished its old studio warehouses and industrial parks into creative office spaces. The resurgence is greatly due in part to the construction of the Expo Line, which connects Culver City with a direct line to downtown Los Angeles. When the urban design theories at their time were de-veloped as to how a city should be laid out and grow, the center was always city hall or the most prominent building. By today’s American standards, city hall or the town church are not the focal point. Commerce and retail have become the epicenter and is the center of our studies. Culver City most likely resembles the City Beautiful the-ory, with Washington Blvd and Culver Blvd providing boulevard views. The Neighborhood Unit Diagram theory demonstrates that a resident could attain everything they need within a 1/4 mile radius (walking distance). And that Culver City fulfills 5 of the 7 zones defined in the Transect theory.

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY // ARCH 384 // SRING 2013 // INSTRUCTOR MAXIMILIANO SPINA // STRUCTURE, SYSTEMS, SPACE AND FORM

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Brackish Shading

Brackish water is the term used to describe the water created when fresh water meets salt water. Uninhabitable to most spe-cies, it provides safety and a staging area for new born fish. As well as, a transitional assimilation area for Salmon before they journey up a river. This transitional water is a metaphor for a university like UCLA. The UCLA Marine Aquatic Center project was to provide shade over the boat ramps and to establish two landings for bird watching and regatta judging. The methodology of shell struc-tures and Boolean operations was explored to create form and structure. A shell structure works because of its 3-dimensional-ity or field which gives it its rigidity. The loads are distributed throughout which allows the shells to have thinness. The success of shells are their lightness while carrying massive loads. The structural order was derived from the Boolean inter-sections of the curvilinear primitive geometries. The cone carved away at the bounding box allowed for the evolution of a primary structure with a secondary structure for support. With minimal areas of touching down on the ramp, the canopy is able to pro-vide shade while opening up for view of the bird wildlife reserve across the water. The rhythm and density of two bodies of water coming together is the basis of the boat shed’s structural assem-bly. Smaller scale and more dense when the structural loads are greater and longer, less dense when the canopy extends.

Brackish Water Biarritz VIII Josef Albers 1929 paintings

Templates for Bending Primitive Shapes

Boolean Explorations

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Primitive Geometries with Depth Guideline

Unfolded Primitive Geometries

Folded Primitive Geometries Boolean Box

Primary Structure Secondary Structure Merging Structures

Section

12’ 24’

105140’

UnderBuilt LLC 8/2/2012

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PDS ARCHITECTS // PRINCIPAL SHAWN PETERSON // UNDERBUILT.COM

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Maximizing FAR

Architects perform feasibility reports for clients to see what is possible to build on a specific property based on that city’s zoning codes. The idea of UnderBuilt is to build a database and system that is possible of making these calculations for every property in America. UnderBuilt.com sells residential property reports showing a property’s maximum potential. These reports include property information such as what is built on a parcel and what can be built per today’s standards and codes. UnderBuilt.com also offers instant hillside slope analysis that replace the need for a surveyor during escrow. The site is marketed to homeowners, homebuyers, realtors, and developers. My role has been from the beginning, building reports by hand while the site was being built. Every city has their own zones and codes, and it is my responsibility to cull through each one and build a table that the site can read to perform the calculations. Los Angeles alone has 86 individual cities with 86 different sets of code.

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