Texas by bus 
am not even joking


https://www.greyhound.com/farefinder/step2.aspx?

Future cities at ETH Zurych
Service and Research for Future Planning Environments

Informing design and decision-making processes with new techniques and approaches to data acquisition, information visualisation and simulation for urban sustainability

18/10/2011
Presentation/chat with the Studio 6 students. 
also there was a PhD seminar on in the crit room. 
can I come.  meow. 

+ we have contact with Texas A&M :}

17/10/2011
Monocle radio station
with design section
bring it on. they actually have trendy-green new left innovative stuff

13/102011
meeitng with Jane 
and Rober and Peter Carl afterwards :))) 


yaaai. thats it. happening. 


peter reminded us about the immigration. 

Crossing Over, and Over

Migrant shelters along the Mexican border are filled with seasoned crossers: older men and women, often deportees, braving ever-greater risks to get back to their families in the United States — the country they consider home.

11/10/2011

Studio 6 emailed to tell us to come to Texas with them. 

:)))) jippiii

thats ideal. 

- briefs are slightly different to what we were doing. but thats good. 

- they will be studying Marfa - Colonias. using water as public space maker. 

- and we will acompany them on their field trip 

06/10/2011
Rotor Investigating OMA talk


sooooo flipping simple! 
I had to buy their book. 


"so we told them, thatnk you , but we dont think anyone will buy your complicated tables, and we dont want the job, thank you"
"and suddenly we had to carry the pieces of foamboard in white gloves :)"

Rotor: Investigating OMA

6 October 2011
Cinema 2

these guys are just amazing. 
they have rubbish systemized :D

Rotor database

30/09/2011
RARA at Context exhibition's Pecha Kucha night. 


Inspiring. 


specially 
the Folly for flyover builders. 
and Rara seems like it will be part of the Free unit. yaaaai. 
and Joe wants to get into teaching skills. love. 
i wannniiiiit. 
gogo 
and some very passionate students with huge debts, I wish you all the best. !




info: 

20 ⅹ 20 ⅹ 5

[similar to pechakucha,]

 

Friday 30th September, at The Mill, London

 

Practitioners presented: the WhatNow? collaborative, 

ZAP Architecture, 

R.A.R.A.,

rara have built the Mill 

Assemble 

& Project Context

I gave them a manual for making Cooling towers, and kindoff fake sketchbook - well reprinted sketches, thats allowed, no? 
thaaaanks. 

29/09/201
The Free Unit dinner at the spire!
again
so nice to see everyone. 
bye Rorororosa - bon voyage to Hong Kong 
Robert said he had great news for us: 
the school is sending us to Texas with Studio 6

24/09/2011
DIY weekend - purely personal, deeply informative :) 

19/09/2011
wikihouse talk
by 00:/
- open source architecture. 
- slightly more complicated than a DIY manual, more towards digital > sketchup > pepakura> lasercut. 


yap
nice one. 

30/08/2011
RSA plan of action for £500


- I said I ll go to Texas in November and get in touch with Blanca, Impact 2001 builders, Texas A&M and some developer. 


lets 
see

05/07/2011
BMA
- let the planning applications fly. 
back to work. 

24/07/2011
London Met Summer show
- preparations were veeery quick. We went straight from the airport. Thanks so much to Tom from 3dr year who practically did it for us. with the girls. 


taaaaaa


shelves.
freebrary. 
free time.

14/07 - 20/07 2011
Conference in Sarajevo
- Vernes got offered a job
- I presented very briefly, didnt get offered anything
- Alex made friends :)

10/07/2011
RIBA II PRESENTATIONS
-big model in
- went over time
- didnt get very many questions
Florian: Wind load, foundations ( I knew that would come up, as I was fixing them last minute) 
Patric: you brought the modernism together. (I have to confess I did not understand that theoretical comment, but it did sound interesting) 
Robert was laughing at my brill visualizations (I was not surprised, they are slightly hilarious) 

overall - too fast to explain much, prezi was not a success. Project was :) I thought. 

02/07/2011
PORTFOLIO SUBMITTED
IDS REPORT SUBMITTED

IDS on Prezi

click

portfolio hand-in feedback

jjaja

outsourcing

i love my slaves 
i do

IDS report!

syllabus

Cultural Context and communication:
• The social political economic and professional context that guides and supports the design
• The histories and theories of architecture and urban design that have informed the design.
• The use of precedent and case studies in the development and resolution of the design.
• The use of visual, verbal, written, multimedia and participatory methods of communication in the development and communication of the design.
• The relationship between the forms of communication used and different stakeholders: lay, professional and academic involved in the design.


Management, Practice and Law:
• The relationship between the design and regulatory requirements including the needs of the disabled, health and safety legislation, building control and planning legislation.
• The way the design would be financed, procured and realised including a discussion of emerging trends in the construction industry such as partnering, integrated project processes, value engineering and risk management in as much as they relate to the design.
• The role of the architect implied by the design and the management, organisational and practice structures necessary to realise it.

Construction, Structures, materials, environment and sustainable design.

• The structural and constructional strategies and theories employed by the design.
• The construction techniques and processes necessary to realize the design
• The provision and integration of building services
• The physical properties and characteristics of the building materials and components used in the design
• The visual, thermal and acoustic principles which guide the design.
• The relationship between the design and the wider environment including the life styles promoted by the design and the energy it consumes.
• The way building technologies, environmental design construction methods, materials and components have been integrated into the design in relation to: human well-being, the welfare of future generations, the natural world, the sustainable environment.

Learning And Teaching

This module will be run in parallel with the development and resolution of the level five comprehensive design project In each of the four key areas students will be required to attend seminars and make presentations to specialist teams within the department and initiate consultations with external specialists managed and retained by the department. The student will be expected to take responsibility for the scope and nature of these consultations and to effectively record and integrate the specialist advice received into the development and resolution of their comprehensive design project. The use and scope of external consultants will be managed by the department to best represent the dynamic forces of multidisciplinary team working that characterises contemporary practice.

Learning Outcomes

An ability to gather, process and make use of the information, processes and strategies necessary to develop a complex design proposal within the four key areas of professional competence described in the module
An ability to manage, coordinate and learn from consultants across a wide range of disciplines.
• An ability to integrate knowledge acquired from taught courses, consultancy, industry, testing, prototyping and participatory processes into a complex design proposal.
• An ability to make and communicate clear strategic decisions in relation to the wider political, economic, professional, environmental, industrial and legal context informing their design.
• An ability to communicate with lay, professional and technical audiences and allied professionals.

Assessment Strategy

Resolution:
Students will make an illustrated report of 6,000 words dealing with each of the four key areas. The report must make specific reference to the way the comprehensive design has addressed and resolved the integration of each of the key areas and each sub section of the syllabus.

In the areas of environment, sustainability, construction, structures and materials students must in addition submit sufficient detailed drawings, diagrams, models, simulations, material samples, performance specifications and components to fully illustrate the strategies and decisions described within the written report.

Hello slope

thinking this will be the easiest way to deal with building in slope. 

workshop floor cant really be on a slope, so steps. 

start with the bottom one, level, jump up, level, jump up, level. 

leaving the middle to slope - for machinery @ first stage & walking @ second (civic) stage. 

nice

roof best to stay compact - independent of the ground works/layouts - easier for connections, rain. 

ya

wire grips

am I weird? 
I love all these. 
these wire grips. 

world habitat awards - from zoe

Galleries

De Dichterlijke Vrijheid (DDV), Netherlands

In order to address the severe social and economic problems in the Spangen neighbourhood of the city, Rotterdam Development Corporation decided to give an old apartment block away for free, on condition that the new owners met the cost of renovation of the architecturally valuable building and continued to live in the area for two years. Young local professionals, who could not afford to buy a house, were given priority. The average cost for the 40 participating households was US$183,000 and the work has acted as a trigger for local regeneration. Other cities are now using the same approach.

Structure - tower - connections, foundation, wind catcher

meow

i miss not doing the blog. 
I have made a print version last night and thought I would stop there. 
But but


but


its still rolling. :))

Tuto with Robert and Catrina 20/05

RM

CB: 

- Completely with you on the landscaping and development sequence

- consider what you are doing within the courtyards, could they be communal? Remember your whole thesis in your gift project was about providing more of communal/public space

- make drawings BIG

- yep model OK. finish after hand-in good

- make more sequence books

- yep section BIG 1:50/1:20 of one tower 'in making'

- dont want to hear about how precisely cooling towers work. 

Tuto with Neil @ Max Fordham 20/05

Thank you so much Neil @ Max Fordham


ND: 
- it would work
- bringing relative humidity up > perceived temperature down
- spraying of water could be substituted with El. chillers powered by EV textile
- two down drought in combo with one stack effect tower - in black to heat up more
- better if sealed on sides
- trays at the top to avoid dripping of water
- area of top pads approx. 5% of the floor area 
- calculation for how much water - finish yourself, if its too much water > substitute with chillers. 

THU 19.05. - tipi model

During the making of this model, I have made some changes to the design as it was so far: 

- only have two rings - one at the top, one at the bottom. The top ring has half members (6) than the bottom (12) , so they can easily be balanced/tensed with cables. 

- Additional rings would make the connecting of the rings a complex exercise (not good for DIY) 

- Strictly sticking to 1m length for the timbers - as easy as poss. 

- canvas would be attached to the cables prior to pulling up, so there are just two pullies - one for top ring, one for bottom ring. 

- considering 'doubling of the number of layers in each ring 4 instead of 2

thats it

RSA presentation 18.05. runner up

the FREE unit took it all :)))) 
RARA - winner
Vernes & I - runners up

Make some shit and make it Beautiful.

RARA

This is what I had: 

 

I did get questions: 




Q: So is this project about a social space, could you elaborate on the pavement? Are you taking it further? Creating more public space? 
Ba: Yes, in my thesis, you are welcome to our summer show to have a look at the finished project. 


Q: How did you come to the decision about teaching people? 
Ba: I was told in Mex, not to make building, but teach how to, for when I am gone. 
Also as Nabeel said earlier, it is a great market (the 95% of the population of the planet, currently not using the services of architect), but it is a different market. Micro finance market.  
I dont think anyone should be given stuff for free. The pavement with the manual for £0.99 is just a teaser to give an idea that an access to a method for nominal fee could work in deprived areas as the numbers are huge and there is no point designing every window, rather cover the basics, the strategy, the safety. 


Q: so there is not a building design at the end of your project? 
Ba: no. does it have to be? 


Q: Is this architecture? 
Ba: I dont care :) 

Q: are you a toolmaker? 

Ba: yep, ish. I didnt just sit down and make a tool out of the air. I "designed" the pavement (i mean its not complicated), but yes I drew up the end result and from it - back to the beginning I have made the tool to be able to make the end result. So its somewhat tool making. Somewhat strategy making explained in simple language. 

So instead of desighning it and then drawing it up in technical architectural convention, for a client who would have to hire a builder who would then be translating this arch. convention to unskilled labourers. I have skipped that bit and spent time explaining/making manual so that the 'unskilled labourer' = client understands. 

Q: when you were talking about the CHUD, who are they? would this be a charitable project? Or are they developers? Where are they based?

Ba: they are by Texas A&M , so in Austin I would think. 

Centre for Housing and Urban Development are an organization distributing funds to programs to help colonias, i.e. Tamu water project. 

Q:  how would I make sure the whole community would get involved 

Ba: wouldnt, leaders would emerge


Ba: who is the developer in the panel? Do you think if I was going to pitch it to you, as a developer, 
that you would buy in? The idea that a developer provides public space and 'superstructure' for FAB LAB, for people to build their homes? 
Panel: yes, if it increased the land value. 


Q: when would the community need me (as an architect) - i.e. where is my job ?
Ba: I ll find out when I get there