Rounding up with a slice of pi(e)

Apple pie from Petsi Pies, true to the spirit of the day.

For some people, yesterday was simply Saturday, March 14th, the year 2015.

Here at MIT, where mathematical constants play a part in most people's everyday business, it was

Super Pi (π) Day

Day: 3.14.15

Time: 9:26:53

the first day in my generation's lifetime when we would celebrate ten digits of Pi, twice in a single day (if you count AM and PM).

The next one won't be for another 100 years, so I was among the many on campus and in the Boston area who made sure to celebrate well and indulge in pie in all forms -- from traditional fruit-filled pies to custardy cream ones to pizza pies and even shepherd's pie served in the dining hall (arguably not qualified for Pi Day given its non-round shape, but we're not picky around here).

BIG must have hired breakdancers

... or paid hyper energetic runners to frolic in MTN (a "mountain" apartment complex with parking beneath).  Are condos now the new playground, or is this just the way to make architecture look super cool to the general public?

I actually had originally wanted to post the Bjarke Ingels Group's (BIG) animation for the Audi urban futures competition... but it was actually a bit less exciting than this video, or at least lacked the soundtrack to make it more so.

The real me?

Ridiculously, I decided to question my identity rather than go to bed.

The result?

You’re book smart, moral and cool under pressure. You love learning and showing others what you know. You’re way more mature than those around you, and you always seem to know what’s best.

(And, you clearly know how to pose in front of some key London architectural icons.  And you're not afraid to get a little gritty.)


Now time for bed.  HP7 (part 1) in IMAX awaits - tonight!

Rapid prototyping food

We're not quite at the level of a Star Trek replicator, the band Ok Go did introduce rapid prototyping - in the form of a laser cutter and thousands of slices of toast - to illustrate this music video:


Last Leaf

OK Go | Myspace Music Videos

(via the Food Section)

Oh the joys of stop motion and lasers...

In the non-Muggle world...

... anticipation!

 

I promised my residents we would take a field trip, and - egads! - the premiere is almost upon us!  Time to look at tickets!

Nothing else will do

Early mornings inspire these sort of songs.

Dwelling in song and rest

This song, especially the very simple piano intro / interlude and simple lyrics, speaks to a bit of how I've been feeling lately.

(Thanks to one of those mass emails sent to our fellowship email list ... good thing I didn't delete it, or else I wouldn't have discovered Audrey Assad.)

2011 FAST Odyssey

For the FAST class, a group of us made a stop motion animation describing a potential installation we would design and make on the three intake stacks next to Building 18.  They're normally somewhat invisible within the MIT campus, so we decided to design the installation around the idea of calling attention to this industrial infrastructure by making them into mini stages for showcases using air, light, and sound to create space above.  Kelly, myself, and Yushiro each drew part of the animation, while Travis put it all together in Photoshop :

Left : visualization of sound (hitting a drum head corresponds to a puff of smoke in one direction or the other)

Center : play of light and shadow (fog becomes a curtain on which an image can be projected, with people able to play and cast shadows both while outside and inside the circle)

Right : visible air movement (jumping on the vents causes the fog machine to rise and fall, creating a denser atmosphere when closer to the ground or a more translucent one when higher up)

We've been brainstorming various installation ideas, so we'll see what ends up being built for next year's MIT 150.

NGO-weary Haiti

 via NYTimes / Photo credit: James Estrin

I just read this article in the NYTimes about the stagnation of Haiti's rebuilding efforts, referenced by this international development blog I just started scanning.  It's sad to read about how so many people's well meaning efforts, with the best intentions (because hey, who starts an NGO with overtly selfish goals?), are actually not meeting the people's needs, or are too fragmented to make a cohesive difference.  Are for-profit businesses the solution?  Regardless of the initiative, I would like to see more Haiti-based organizations (for-profit, non-profit, or whatnot), since hundreds of outside aid agencies are currently doing work in the capital but so few are homegrown.  Maybe this accounts for the people's sense that they are being "occupied" (with unfortunate parallels with war situations like Iraq).  What will happen, then, when they leave?

Although I still am interested in doing further work on the rubble project Diana and I were working on for the IDEAS competition, I'm hoping it can actually be of actual use rather than a student's project being implemented for academic credentials...which sometimes ends up being the unfortunate case for these types of projects.  I'm still not sure how I should move forward with it, but hopefully will get some insight soon.

My cousin David (or "cuz") was recently in Port-au-Prince and Leogane, building temporary housing with the Christian missions organization, Samaritan's Purse.  So even though the city may be NGO-weary, at least there is still good to come from the efforts, even on a small scale for individuals.

 - - -

Note : Just came across this particular post about local Haitians' skeptical interactions with NGOs, with a reference to a recent This American Life episode.  I agree that NPR has a great way of tackling large issues like foreign aid with bottom-up stories of individual lives.  If I ever go into journalism, I would definitely use them and the deadpan Ira Glass as a model.

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.

Transformative living

If you think a tiny space is something to lament about, check out this Hong Kong apartment called the "Domestic Transformer" by architect Gary Chang. It's 344 SF and is purported to transform into 24 different configurations. It's gotten a lot of press recently in blogs like ArchDaily and the NYTimes. Although I have yet to see all 24 variations, it's a pretty cool concept in not only modularity but in how flexible architecture can be to accommodate various programs in tight quarters.

The project is lauded in quite a few "green" publications and forums, although the association isn't explained beyond the daylighting benefits of mirrored ceilings that increase the interior illumination. But if you think of it more in light of the lifecycle of the apartment (pun intended), then it makes sense to have a flexible space like this. What I find to be most valuable is not just how you can have 24 configurations in one space for one certain living situation, but the possibilities of changing a living space based on the different needs of users. (This is a subtle difference, although I'm not sure if my point comes across clearly.) In that sense, a living space can not only expand or contract for the current occupants, but can change based on future needs.

That second part is what I'm trying to explore in my final project for Mass Customization of Housing, the kinetic nature of living as stretched over the many lives of various residents. We'll see if it turns out to be as flexible and cool as this modular space. And maybe I'll get to visit this apartment sometime this summer while I'm there. (Hey, I can hope, right?)

Bulletproof hair

Music video by La Roux - check it out for crazy hair (giving Justin a run for his money), funky pseudo-architectural floor patterns, and fun beats. (One of my favorite moments is at 1:28.)

To see a better (but unembeddable) version, find it here.

New uses for Photoshop

(via Miss Cellania)

Architecture : permanent or fleeting?

APPARATI EFFIMERI Tetragram for Enlargment from Apparati Effimeri on Vimeo.

In response to my ideas about pixelation and gradual fragmentation for the next part of my studio project (to explain that more fully at a later time), my TA pointed me to this amazing video by Apparati Effimeri of a full-scale facade projection on an ancient castle.

I've never seen anything by this Italian interactive media firm before, but this one video left me wowed: these surreal and intricate effects were accomplished with just light and shadow (and crazy 3-dimensional digital skills as well). Not only does this project broach questions like, "how did these people do this?", but also questions about the permanence of buildings and the nature of effect and atmospherics. If you ever wondered what it would be like to deconstruct a seemingly-solid edifice...well, this is the place to see it.

In my opinion, architecture nowadays seems to be built more for the next 50 years rather than the next 100-500+ years. How has our scope of time diminished so drastically? Part of me feels that, in our more consumeristic culture, we're beginning to prefer transience and change over longevity as a matter of taste rather than any other staying power. However, the buildings and structures that society seems to constantly stand in awe of are works of antiquity: the Parthenon, the Pantheon, the Great Wall, etc. Reconciling the two is a matter of cultural preservation and economics, but also of defining what we value as a collective. The masses speak, whether modernist architects like it or not.

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?

have you found my utopia?

Our assignment due this week was to cast our vision for a utopia and present it to our class via our class blogs. You can check out the rest of the entry here, but here's a fun little (and elementary) animation I put together for it:

geolocation:

The real-world geographical location of a network-connected device.

geolocative design:
The use of geolocative media to augment our experience of a place and facilitate communication and collaboration among a network of participants.

site:
Paris, France

Here's a teaser for a site-specific geolocative film (a bit abstract, but suggestive of another experience of the park with the narrative created by media), whose research group I might be working with this semester:


le chasseur from coleman & goldkrand on Vimeo.
a wifi thriller in dislocated parts

this is the trailer for our geo film project

the chasseur or the hunter was filmed for and on location in buttes chaumont park in paris



the film will be viewable via a locative aware device in the park itself

social media 101

Lately I've become increasingly intrigued by social media. Why do people use them? To what end?

I knew of Facebook from its humble beginnings as a school-exclusive site, so I've seen its development over time. (Fun fact: one of my college classmates actually dated Mark Zuckerberg back in high school.) Now I find myself not understanding Twitter, the new kid on the block - but I'm determined to get to the bottom of it.

As part of my self education, I tuned into an informative webinar hosted by Social Media Magic. It was a pretty straight forward presentation on the basics of social media - why you, too, should get on the bandwagon! The target audience was more for marketers out to build partnerships and a client base, but it was still interesting for me, as I'm hoping to find ways to get projects off the ground in the future.

Some of the more helpful hints:

• Have a specific, narrow message with one core focus. Also known as the "sniper" approach.
  Self assessment: Very difficult for me, since I'm too curious and end up being all over the place in terms of interest. My initial intention was for this blog to be more architecturally focused...but then it ends up also being about food, travel, and other things. Ah well - I guess I'll learn to be a niche maker later.

• Start with the "Big Three" and branch from there.
  Self assessment: Facebook is for friends. LinkedIn is for business connections. Twitter...well, as I said, I'm still trying to figure out why people want to know what someone else ate for dinner. But this leads to the next point...
  

• Twitter can be a powerful search engine like Google.
  Self assessment: Now, this is something I can find value in. Looking at it as a way to search the most current conversations going on all over the world is actually a really smart thing. In my recent marketing/publicity endeavors - the MIT Museum vault project, the Veritas Forum - it's good to search out your audience. Hm hm hm...

So, who uses Twitter? Can you help me shed some light on that?

youtube happiness

there are just some days when a video on youtube makes you tap your foot and sing a long.

(today was actually not one of those days - instead i was at an all day conference where 50 three to five letter acronyms were buzzing all around my head - but i can imagine it could've been.)

most of these videos are rooted in studioness: you're sitting there in front of your laptop, making models or putting together an animation. your butt is glued to the chair, you've been staring forever at the screen, your mouse finger twinges...
and then a friend says, "hey, check out this video!"

whoops. you're hooked.

some favorites:

"do i have your attention?" > anais with the blood arm >> so catchy




"ce jeu" > yelle >> in case i don't have your attention yet...i will now!
(this one courtesy of flo - the shoes and glasses are a riot!)




"her morning elegance" > owen lavie >> stop motion animation at its prime
(thanks to juliet and our long hours of animating...)




"oxford comma" > vampire weekend >> preppy fun music from columbia grads
(the guy in the white suit was in my creative writing class)