[HK 37] : HK Makeover

Walking across the skybridge between the Star Ferry terminal exposes one of the most apparent ways that Hong Kong is remaking itself.  The city is known for its frequent facelifts, but this one is a pretty major one, the new harbour walk from Central over through Wanchai on the Island side.  The construction site blockades have been used to showcase the new visions for the area.  Now these images are a bit faded, but this doesn't deter the average citizen from making their own commentary on the city's actions:

HK's most recent motto, with perhaps a new subtitle.

Masterplan: yay or nay?

Would this receive praise or criticism if presented in our studio reviews?

Nostalgic, perhaps...  where have all the floating communities gone?

It was interesting to see these visions of new Hong Kong right before browsing through postcards, the ones you see at every tourist trap with the same typical images of an electrically lit Hong Kong.  I looked more closely, though, and noticed that actually, the photos on the cards were taken many years ago.  Some of the buildings on them no longer exist, while newer ones like the IFC have yet to make their mark.  Somehow, the old Hong Kong persists in the nostalgia attached to touristic HK, even as the city attempts to create a new futuristic image for its place on the world map.

Mini recap

Yes, I am alive. I just recently returned to normal life programming, after the planning marathon called the Veritas Forum concluded last night with a great turnout (+700 people over 2 nights) and many willing and helping hands to make it run smoothly. But with that and everything else that's been going on since I got back to Cambridge for IAP... there's been little down time to update this sad blog. So, a recap in images:

From last semester : the size of one of my drawings was 10 ft. long (and I had 2 of them.)

09.Jan : Zach and Gloria got married at last! I unfortunately don't have photos from that, since I was in the wedding band and too busy holding my flute... so there were other designated photographers. I also turned 2.718... I mean, 25+1. (Delicious ice cream cake was courtesy of loving MIT friends, of course.)

IAP 2010 : The MIT MRG (Masonry Research Group) built a prototype vault in preparation for the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum installation in March. I sadly wasn't there for the testing nor the ultimate (intentional) destruction, but it was certainly a big feat for us, from computational design to a crashing finish. It ended on the ground because we were conducting structural tests to failure. Vault win! See our project blog for more info. The project will be featured in the Smithsonian magazine.

22-24.Jan : Spent 3 short days in the Emerald City with two fellow Ozzian explorers. We came, we saw, we conquered. After watching the fabulously Wicked musical, we walked through 2 boroughs, making periodic pit stops to see well-missed friends and eat. And eat. Those macarons from Bouchon bakery were just the tip of the iceberg. Boston's fooding venues just don't hold a candle to the mountains of places (especially cupcake bakeries) to be found in the City. NYC and friends, how I miss thee.

29.Jan : Brunch at Paramount with two lovely ladies (Reemer as the photographer). Oh my favorite meal of the day... and the wait was really not that long at all!

19-20.Feb : The MIT Veritas Forum asked the little-posed question, "What is (true) Freedom?", examined from scientific, social, and spiritual standpoints. It kicked off with an event for the neuroscientists and psychologists in each of us, with questions about the brain, our freedom to make choices, and what it means for human morality. The second night, we heard a powerful testimony of enslavement and redemption. Planning the Forum took over much of my life, but I'm thankful for what I've learned from the process, from the nights themselves, and from the many people who helped put it together. God is so good :)

Present : This is actually my room a few months back. (Sadly enough, that clear space under the window is no long empty.) But it encapsulates where I am now off to - BED.

- - -

Next update: Studio for this semester, classes, and the focus of Lent.

The vault madness continues

I still have a backlog of things to write about from break, but of the moment is this quintessential photo as evidence that the vault project does indeed continue, in its phase 2 of existence. See our project's official blog for more info, but I'll try to cross-post a bit to keep things up to date.

These are the Mickeys of the woodshop, posing with our first successfully-cut piece from the CNC machine. Whether or not they're proud of that title...well, maybe you can tell from their expressions.

vault n51: almost there!

the project i've been working on since mid-july (and earlier) is finally going to be open to the public for one night - friday! (aka...tonight) 3 weeks of construction later...we're just about there. it's been a really fun yet somewhat exhausting process.

see the light at the end of the construction tunnel?

artifex : the vault

the project.

our team signature - not in the vault, but in one of our projects

in the practical portion of the workshop, we worked on about 3 projects simultaneously: a dry stone wall, a more traditional single-curvature vault, and a pebble stone floor. (another project, which involved banging at a water basin to smooth out the surface, quickly faded into the background.) i worked mostly on the floor but also a bit on laying some of the tiles for the vault.

our main creative project, however, started the 2nd week of the workshop and was preceded by a series of design charrettes. there was a lot of discussion about what exactly we would be building...but eventually we settled on a vault that was the synthesis of our preliminary designs. i'll let the process speak for itself (thanks to cynthia for her dedication to shooting all those photos!):

architects put to shame

wow... an entire building fell over in shanghai! saw this on a friend's blog feed and just stared. and sort of laughed in a "how the heck could this happen??" sort of way. it was like "i'm a little teapot," architecture-style.

at least it was unoccupied and not on a high-density lot.

who to blame? i'm not sure, but we have to do better than this!

artifex : in inca

the workshop.

miguel ramis, the founder of artifex balear, gave us an introduction on the projects the stone masonry school has been working on. this includes mini domes such as this one, made with tiles in the catalan construction style.


on a typical day, the first half was spent listening to presentations by various architects, lovers of stone, masons, restorers, etc. structural engineers like santiago huerta spoke about the structural properties of arches and vaults, while architects like mit department-head yung ho chang and madrid's juan herreros presented projects showing how they've bridged the old and the new.

we were very attentive. here, flo (fellow mit-er) sits among the espanolas from madrid: elena, isabel, and paula.

in the second half of the day, we got to the nitty gritty with stone and mortar. at any one time, there were at least 3 projects progressing. flo slaps mortar onto the wall in one of our early exercises, prepping the wall for tile shelving.
(note: this is NOT as easy it as it might seem. see that layer of mortar on the bottom?
yeah, exactly.)

martin (mining engineer, originally from england) presents elena with a precious gift.
what is it?? a freshly-polished stone! how sweet.

next: the project.

artifex defined

artifex : latin : author, artist, artisan, maker

some key players on the last night of celebration in the stone village of valldermosa
photo courtesy of tony

two weeks ago when i first told people i was going to mallorca (one of the balearic islands off the southern coast of spain), most of them asked if it was for vacation. or honeymoon. or both. sure, a mediterranean isle with sun, sand, and its fair share of fun might be just that, but it was actually for a stone masonry workshop hosted by artifex balear. that response raised even more eyebrows, and even i didn't know exactly how to explain what it was outside of learning about stone houses in the vein of the flintstones. i finally got some answers - and even more questions posted - once actually in spain for the past two weeks.

i was greeted at the airport by the enthusiastic miguel ramis, the stone mason maestro who started artifex about 20 years ago. he's the epitome of the self-educated man in the sense that, after years of dissatisfying work in marketing management, he turned to the trade of his father - stone masonry - and started to learn the craft himself, do investigative research, and eventually start a masonry school. and he really did his homework! although i can't really read spanish (only pretend to - and hopefully will remedy that soon), the school's website is chock full of photos and descriptions on just about every facet imaginable of traditional stone masonry. and more.

but his ideas were having a hard time getting off the island, or even spreading to those on the coasts (artifex is located in inca, near the center of mallorca). in come luis berrios-negron who, with his fellow mit alum michael ramage, collaborate with miguel to find ways to not only keep the stone masonry tradition alive, but see how it can become relevant to contemporary practice.

one of the cool things about the workshop was the fact that this question is still left unanswered. we had loads of experts in the field, from well known architects (ex. tatiana bilbao, juan herreros, our dept. head yung ho chang) and architectural curators to water resource experts and stone masons come and speak about their various approaches to stone. some were, of course, more practical or esoteric than others. but the question still stood:

how is stone construction relevant in the 21st century? and what innovations can come of it?

that kept on popping up throughout the 2 weeks, and the answer was constantly: it's for you to go and find out.

food (or stones) for thought... overall the words i've used to describe the workshop have been "cool, amazing, awesome, fun, tiring, inspirational, eye opening, frustrating," but more descriptive words, photos and stories to come as i process them.

the joy of power tools

huang, using the band saw to cut steel

this past week was unexpected: instead of hunkering down in front of my laptop or being holed up in studio, i instead was covered in sawdust, learning to use the jigsaw.

our first studio exercise was to design and build a device that would allow for 2 people to read at the same time. however, it had to be built for real at 1:1 scale, meaning no cardboard (which we call chipboard), foamcore, or other representational materials - just actual wood, metal, or whatever other things you could think of (one group used wax). so we put away our little x-actos and headed to the wood shop instead.

and boy, did people end up making some crazy-cool stuff. our review yesterday looked a bit like an art installation, as we demonstrated devices that did everything from help people spy on each other's books, use an open flame to melt away wax and reveal the newpaper underneath, or have enough privacy to read out loud in the library.

my partner and i built a dual-hinged magnetic window that allows 2 people to read newspapers at the same time, then lets them exchange reading material and interact by annotating the text or talking directly through the opening. i haven't documented the end product yet, but have a couple progress photos:

(L) some attempts at using the chisel (varying results), and (R) hinging the panels

the thing i discovered through this whole process, though, is that i really like using power tools and don't mind getting steel grease on my hands or being caked in sawdust (except when it makes me sneeze). i guess doing masonry camp a couple summers ago and working on a construction site in el salvador prepared me for this project and gave me some basis for hands-on work. there's just something really satisfying about sparks flying from cutting steel and, at the end of the day, making progress and creating something tangible.

ann using the router to carve plywood - diesel!

power tools i've gotten to use in the last month or so:
- chop saw
- jigsaw
- wood chisel + planer
- metal hand grinder
- power drill
- welder (although i'm particularly horrible at it)
- power sander

fun times!

general mood: relaxed! 3 day weekend!
currently listening to: "beat of my heart" - jon mclaughlin