An Ex-vaulting experience

The massive crowd of designers and donors at the preview

I figured I should recap on a previous adventure closer to home before heading overseas.  I had talked about the vault sighting at the Cooper-Hewitt, but the preview reception came and went as a milestone in MIT MRG's book (Masonry Research Group - yeah, we came up with a name instead of perpetually calling ourselves "the Team").

As I mentioned before, the group had been working on this project since last spring, so I was really looking forward to actually seeing the vault in person.  Walking into the CH that night of the 13th was a surreal experience.  Not everyone on the team could make it, which was a shame, but it was still a very festive (and cacophonous) night.  The museum was absolutely PACKED.  It's moments like these when I truly lament being short, since most people's armpits are at my nose level and it's difficult to get people to notice that I'm trying to push past without jabbing them in the ribs with some generous elbow movements.

And then,

A little walk-through leading up to :

Perhaps the other photos look better, but somehow this is special because I took it in person.  The vault in all her arching splendor!  So unassuming and light yet heavy with the hours of work involved in getting those catenaries just right and the bricks laid with minimal mortar wasted.

This vault need not go on a diet - she's so thin already!

And of course, you can't leave without taking at least one (or more...) silly pictures, here with Flo as my partner-in-crime.  No worries, though - the vault can't be destroyed with a mere push by a small one like me.  You need a couple sledgehammers and many minutes of sweat to make the footings budge.

One of the most surreal aspects of the event was seeing our names on the wall plaque, and then going around the exhibition and seeing other well-known names we also recognized: MVRDV, FOA, KTA, Norman Foster...  and MIT MRG.  Although it was cool sitting virtually side by side with these architects and their firms, one major difference stood out: most of them had renderings, models, or other forms of representation for their buildings, whereas we had a full scale installation.  KTA did have a massive wall section of their Loblolly house there, which was cool to see, but I would have expected more 1:1 mockups or at least larger scaled prototypes than the typical renderings you would see in a magazine or monograph.

There are too many other cool projects within the overall "Why Design Now?" exhibition, but one that I thought was semi-insane yet admirably intricate was this sweater:

Look closely.  Yes, it's made from those little plastic tags retailers use to attach price tags to clothing.  Now that's what I call attention to detail in reuse before recycling.

Becoming a nogyaru

(via OurWorld 2.0, the United Nations University)

Wow - what a fitting intersection of my studio project, my love for food and blogs, and my skepticism for pop culture! Through the eclectic Food Section blog, I learned a new term that I didn't know had significance beyond Paris Hilton. The word is:

Nogyaru ("farm gals") : a combination of nogyo (agriculture) and gyaru (gals).

And it actually has a semi-serious side - after first glance. Apparently in Japan, there's been a trend started by Shiho Fujita, a 19 year old pop star, that tries to bridge the gap between cosmopolitan young women and awareness of agricultural issues. Although this movement seems to be getting quite a bit of media attention because of the star qualities attached to it (and the novelty as well), I'm trying to see past the potential superficiality of this trendy gesture and figure out how this twist of innovation might actually alleviate the real problems of an aging farming population and the loss of agricultural knowledge and value in the rice growing areas of Japan.

This problem is actually part of my studio project, which is looking at revitalizing the satoyama landscape in the Shiga Prefecture, northeast of Kyoto. Our intervention (aka intended solution) and the studio brief is to design a bathhouse as a community center for 14 villages in the Tane valley that might begin to address these larger issues faced by the region, but symptomatic of a wider problem in Japanese culture and economy. I'm still doing research and trying to craft my approach, although one idea is related to developing polyculture farming that can act as an educational and resource sharing opportunity for villagers and visitors alike.

Although studio still operates in the theoretical realm (as in, our design solutions aren't linked with any direct, real world project), when we go to Japan over Spring Break, we'll have the opportunity to meet with the local officials and villagers to present our ideas and get a feel for the environment first hand. Can't wait!

And maybe I should try to capitalize on the fashionista side of farming for my concept... but blast it, someone else more famous than me already took the idea :\ . There go my 15 seconds of fame.

100th post: MIT makes Obama smile

Obama holds up a periodic table: he's surely at MIT!

It seems fitting that my 100th blog post features the President of the United States. He came to visit MIT - deemed "the most prestigious university in this part of Cambridge, MA" (after correcting himself) - to promote clean energy research and talk a bit about his vision for becoming energy independent. Although the speech itself was by invitation only, the Institute broadcasted it all over campus in various locations and also made it available online. (Thank you, technology!)

The speech itself was on the shorter side and somewhat general - to the disappointment of some students - but it seemed more like a strategic motivational speech a la Kennedy and the Space Race rather than a hash-out of particular policies. Obama actually did make several analogies between the Space Race, the pioneering age, and today what he deems the "peaceful competition" for clean energy solutions - all evoking that spirit of discovery that he wanted to distill in his listeners.

I do wish that he had been a bit more specific about the initiatives he and Congress have been putting through for research and clean energy support. Some of what he talked about was reminiescent of some things I worked on this past summer, like the Cap and Trade Bill (exciting that policy I gave feedback on is now in writing!). Most of it was pretty vague, so I'm hoping to get more details about how exactly this framework will boost the economy and result in positive steps against climate change and what particular industries can do.

One random observation: he actually referred to the ARRA (aka Recovery Act) as "the Stimulus" - not that I've really been following his rhetoric throughout his presidency, but I just found it interesting, since at this summer's LISC conference on affordable housing, the HUD representative was careful to emphasize that we shouldn't be referring to it as the Stimulus.

But anyways, we'll see how Mr. President chooses to act on his words, but in the meantime, at least we know that MIT can make him smile with a simple periodic table.

HOME : planet earth, with a human spin

Sung sent me a link to this documentary called "Home," which reminds me very much of the awesome Planet Earth, except its aim is not simply to show the stunning natural beauty of our planet, but to talk about the human impact on the Earth and the urgencies of climate change - a popular topic, but tackled in a slightly different way. The wide angle and high-res filming make it hard to stop watching (hence...the timing of this post).

Now I'm in the mood to watch Planet Earth - anybody have it?

green: what about the rest of the rainbow?

green (adj.)
to green (v.)
greening (n.)

i have green up the wazoo (wherever that even is). i am greened out.

honestly, i have never seen so many references to the word "green" in my life than during this summer internship. of course, i work for the green development center - that in itself should have clued me in. however, the casual way this word is thrown around really makes me question whether people know what it means.

"green" has moved light years beyond its meaning as a mere color in a crayola box, although some people still might conceive of it as such. (just check out my classmate lara's search for green bricks for our vault project, and you'll probably laugh.) but still, what do people typically even mean when they use it?

in my work this summer at a community development non profit, i think most of the time it refers to a very amorphous collection of things that is somehow good for the environment. it's vague. it's a buzz word. and saying it means the speaker/writer is off the hook for actually being more precise. even substituting it with "sustainable" (another buzz word) or "environmental (my word of choice) helps to a certain extent... but not always.

when i ask more probing questions like, "so, what exactly are these 'green features' you plan to incorporate in your project?" sometimes the response has been, "what do you think we should do? maybe energy star appliances and solar panels?" when you get to the bottom of it, most users seem to equate it with a smaller carbon footprint and energy efficiency. and solar panels - almost always. i don't mean to minimize the importance of energy savings, but what about the rest of the environment? water conservation? materials? renewables?

outside of the affordable housing scope and in the blogsphere, i've come across "green" referring to eco-friendly products made from recycled materials or from some soy-based organic material that is supposedly not harmful to the environment (note: it's "not harmful," not "good" or "friendly to"). here, there's such a pervasive "feel good" atmosphere that i've seen categorized as "rose" blogging - posts that are meant to make the reader feel warm and fuzzy inside.

ugh. i already don't like chick flicks, so let this not be another syrupy story.

i think society needs a larger vocabulary. and less clip art.