Author: Bre Boersma

For my project, I decided on making my stool out of the collection of Honey Bunches of Oats boxes I have collected over the past 5 months. Like most college students, I have a graveyard. Unlike the others, however, my graveyard is not made out of empty vodka and tequila bottles, but the piles and piles of Honey Bunches that have made up a significant part of my diet.

The Honey Bunches boxes are made out of a flimsy chipboard material. It was actually surprisingly hard to work with. Any intricate cuts I tried to make ripped the material. Without tape or glue, it was quite a frustrating project.

Here’s a beautiful perspective trick of how the scale model would look if it were large enough for a human to sit in it.

 

Although it’s only been 2 weeks to the day, my imprisonment feels like it has gone on for centuries. The seconds stretch themselves into hours and boredom and gloom are heavy within the house. In my cell of a domain,  I glance over to the furnace vent from my nest of a bed. The continuous clang from the steam used to keep me up at night, but for the past month, no noise has breezed through its structure. I contemplate taking my tea mug and running it across the bars, hoping to awake the beasts hot breath but I know that to be silly. The scales are too intricate to produce much noise with my single tea mug. I would need hundreds, no a million! to produce the breath of the dragon.

I sigh and turn over to the window.

‘Maybe I should ask my housemates if we can turn the heat up a degree or two? It is supposed to get warmer over the next few days so maybe not’. 

I glare at the window. It’s taunting me, I can tell. The sky is blue and from the single-paned glass, I can tell there’s not a cloud in the sky.  The window pokes its small little tongue out at me like a small child.

“Na nah Na na nah na nah you can’t go outside” it seems to sing.

I turn back over to the door. Hoping to escape the silent hurling of insults.

‘Oh no, am I going insane?’

I shrug the thought away. I look into the beady black eye that is my doorknob. I blink. It does not. I blink again. Again, nothing from the doorknob.

“Ooooh I see how it is, you’re challenging me to a staring contest”

The doorknob, ever the enigma, refuses to answer.

A put in a few eye drops, lubing up the good ol’ googlies ooglies. This is it, what my entire life has been leading up to. The staring contest to end all staring contests.

On Your Marks. Get Set. GO!

…

…

…

I lost. I barely made it past 32.89 seconds. I’m a failure. I have lost my marbles and I’m a failure. At least I have this blog post to show the doctor as my plea of insanity.

Review

1.) Design studio is widely thought to be at the center of architectural education. Is this true in our times? Should it be? Studio time seems to be the most important aspect of an architecture student’s career, and that is certainly true for UofM’s architecture degree.  I agree with the fact that it should be the center of education because it is my personal philosophy that quantity of work teaches craftmanship and ideation skills over one or two quality works.

2.) What skills does an architect need to acquire in order to conceptualize, coordinate and execute an architectural project today?  Some skills that an architect must acquire is to be able to do research. What has been done before and what does the space need in terms of architecture. After that, design skills followed by the ability to communicate with businessman, engineers, and a construction team.

3.) What (other) fields of study might be included in the architect’s contemporary education? Some other fields of study that might be included in an architect’s education might be psychology, business, material studies, and theory/philosophy.

Louis Vuitton Storefront in Osaka designed by Jun Aoki & Associates and Peter Marino.

Document

8 perceived fields of study necessary to successfully conceive the building above:

1.) Mythology – Mythology because the shape of the building inspires wonder and delight and the ‘billowing’ glass sales seem to reflect imagery from famous mythology.

2.) Material Studies – It’s important to learn about different materials that can be used during construction that will help realize the vision of the architect.

3.) Engineering/Physics – An understanding of curves and weight distribution is apparent.

4.) Environmental Systems – Understanding how the environment affects the building but also how the building affects the environment.

5.) Real Estate Design and Development – Understanding how commercial buildings are designed and built.

6.) Construction – Helps with understanding construction vocabulary and communication.

7.) Architectural Theory – A historical understanding of other buildings and the ability to reference those ideas and concepts.

8.) Structural Concepts – Same with material studies, learning how different structures can help realize the vision of the architect.

Invent

New Course: Change by Design

Over the course of a semester, students will learn different theories and computational programs to help them connect to different communities and cultures. The first half of the semester will be learning in the classroom with the second half focusing on real-world implementation. Students will have the opportunity to collaborate with a local design firm working with different cultural groups to build engaging community centers.

The appeal of this course would be to engage students in a design process for people and communities that they may not personally belong to. This course will go on to teach design thinking and empathy as well as creating a tool kit on how to approach projects for different cultural and heritage groups. The class itself will structure itself as a design firm with groups of students taking up certain roles. By the end of the class, each student will have an understanding on what it takes to bring an architectural drawing to reality regardless of whether or not their project was successful. This would be a studio course.

My theme for the Architecture Alphabet project was focused on three rooms of my house, my bedroom, my kitchen, and my bathroom. The whole point was to try and identify shapes of the alphabet in the very strange architecture of the Ann Arbor Housing market.

• The two drawings highlight Poche differently. In the first image, it is used with heavier line weights where the other is filled in completely. The blocking of the poche in the second image makes it easier to read the plan.
• The first image also highlights the scale much better than the second. By adding in the human figure it’s easier to understand how large the building is.
• Both drawings show the different domains of the observation tower and how segmented it is.

• The second image showcases the uneven terrain better than the first. It even hints at the surrounding landscape.
• Telescopes are turned in a profile for the drawing to help the viewer understand what the object is.
• The window is depicted with a darker line weight in the second image making a clearer understanding of how the building utilizes natural light.

https://www.archdaily.com/885875/gemma-observatory-anmahian-winton-architects?ad_source=search&ad_medium=search_result_projects

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Through my time at the University, I have realized that I have very little personal connection to any specific place on campus. Each year has been so vastly different from the last that it feels wrong to settle. The one exception is row 253 on the second floor of the Duderstadt library. This row of library shelves appears like all the rest, no wider than 3 feet with books lining floor to ceiling on old industrial metal shelves. It’s a very public space, with many people lined up on the desks facing the window. The room as a whole is a hub for quiet academics. I come to this row, this domain because even though it is so public, the space between the shelves is private. 

I use the space differently than most. Although I feel like I use it for the true intended purpose: to look at and read the books. But who am I to say what the true intended purpose is. Just like in the Rasmussen article when he observed the group of boys playing with the architecture, I realized just how multifaceted a single domain can be. “My private domain is a part of their larger social domain” (Lavine 11). Although I hold no commercial ownership of my domain, I still get annoyed and frustrated when I see others pursuing it. Much like the anecdote about the front lawn in the Lavine reading, this public yet private domain binds me to a community. I do not have to pretend to be anyone but myself when I am alone between these shelves, yet I do not ever feel alone.