Class Reflection: Last Class!

It is incredible to think that we are almost through an entire semester. It was a long time, that seemed some how to fly by all at the same time. I feel as though everyone around me has learned so much, and already come such a long was as designers. This class did exactly what Jae intended it to: stimulate out minds and support our design process and understanding. I am happy to say that I have learned alot from this class and have developed a strong appreciation for the importance of the systems that weave everything we interact with together. This has also scared and even overwhelmed me in that the considerations that should be addressed as designers are endless.

The term came to a close with a lecture from a German green roof expert (who is the wife of the German landscape architect who presented in a previous class). I was not aware of the specifications that came with green roofs. This just goes to show how far ahead Germany is. It is so amazing that they have legislation that forces people to compensate for any destruction of nature! If only we could follow in their footsteps. The only way for major change to take place is through the government. We saw this in the comparison of areas on either side of the American border, along the Alberta area. I enjoyed seeing the projects that she had done, they made me even more interested in landscape as a focus. I love the idea of picking out specific trees to fit in a certain space. It really must feel good to be a part of bringing nature into a space.

Class Reflection: November 20th

Professor Malory-Hill returned for a second lecture for the first half of this class. Her lecture focused on sound in architecture. I was really into learning about this, since it is a design subject I was mildly aware of but knew nothing specific. The aspect of the lecture that stuck with me was definatley the evolution of music being so influenced by the architecture it was created in. It is so interesting to explore the minor details in life that have influenced the major parts of out history. It really brings home the fact that we are a part of interconnected SYSTEMS that govern the flow of our lives.

Ed Epp took over in the second section, and shared his research into flood architecture. He has had so much hands on exposure on the subject, which I think is fantastic. I thought of Edward Burtynsky's photography exhibit Manufactured Landscapes when seeing Ed's images of the Chinese floodway. Very indutrial, and intense. I think Ed's passion on the subject is a realistic course to take considering the frequency of natural disasters plaguing the planet in recent years. The approach in China does not seem to be an effective solution, and it brings me back to professor McLaughlin's lecture on letting nature control it's own foces by working with, and not against it.

Class Reflection: November 13th

I found the lectures from this class very inspiring. I was extremely interested in what professor McLaughlin spoke of. In fact it has inspired the city my group will create for studio.
The story of the 35 year study by David Nash with a wooden boulder is incredible. I am always inspired by stories of such dedication. We rely so much on technology to answer our questions and wonders quickly. However, Nash's experiment shows the effects of water shaping the land at the rate it is actually experienced IN nature. Discovering areas of deposit and seasonality cannot be described as wholesomely through satelite images.
I also found it totally insane that such similar landscapes have been affected so differently as a result of political policies. I can not remember the actual law behind it, but the area just south of the border at Alberta is extremely erroded due to over cultivation. The policy that influenced this gave some sort of incentive to the farmers in the states, whereas due also to policy on the Canadian side it is mostly prairie grass cattle ranges, resulting in very little erosion.

The second presenter was from Germany, and unfortunately his name escapes me. I thought his garden designs were fantastic. Also I liked that he showed us very successful designs on a variety of budgets.

"Discovering" what we once already knew?

Kaleigh has mentionned the idea of the built environment itself being out of sync with nature simply in it's very existence. This is absolutely true, and I believe that it is up to us to learn how to encorporate our designs into the existing ecosystems around us, just as we make the effort to encorporate surrounding buildings into the one we may be designing. One thing that struck me recently was something I read in a fiction novel, oddly enough. One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, is a novel set hundreds of years ago in South America. Long story short, a family rebuilds their home, and it speaks of their use of certain trees and bushes planted for insulation and protection from wind, along the most exposed side of their home. They weren't fighting nature, so much as working with it.I think that we have lost some instinctive knowledge in using what is around us to enhance our way of life. How many homes incorporate their landscape into the efficiency of their home? Provided there is some accuracy in the depiction of this family's method, I think that this way of thinking is valuable. In our cold/windy climate it is obvious that trees as windbreaks are a natural "insulator". In fact Madi and I recently commented on how the Wolseley area is warmer than other parts of the city. I truly believe it is all about the shelter from the trees. So instead of turning to new technologies, maybe we need to encorpoate what we naturally already have. Why cant we employ this "Wolseley" logic on a smaller scale (our homes!) and enhance not only our way of life, but give back to the natural environment while we're at it?

Paris: City of Bikes

As many people know, Paris has implemented a bike rental system servicing the majority of the city. I had heard of it, but until now had not investigated it in detail. What I found is that Velib, the name of the system, is fantastic! The stations are spread out 300m apart, so they are extremely accessible. You buy daily, weekly or yearly passes, and this grants you access to the system. From there, if you have a day or week pass you punch in a code at the station meter to access the bikes, a yearly pass holder gains access by a single swipe at the rack itself! A credit card number is required when purchasing your pass, and this card number is charged for any fees accrued. So, after you get your bike the first 30 minutes are free. After that, fees are added after the next half hour, and every consecutive hour after that. It gets quite expensive after a couple of hours, and this is to encourage short term use, freeing up more bikes for a higher turnover of users. This system has been highly effective, and is being used frequently by Paris's 2 million residents and 30 million yearly tourists. Paris now has 20,000 rental bikes available. This is 20,000 less people participating in the carbon emission system. Think of the impact this could make if major cities around the world did the same; we all know the impact our own lives have from doing the metabolism journals. Every little change counts. This type of change what we need to see more of to create cleaner, healthier societies!

Check out this video for a better idea

Class Reflection: November 6th

This week's class was lectured by Jean Trottier, a professor of landscape architecture. His presentation guided the class through the site planning process. It is always very helpful to have a thoughough presntation of these processes. I really appreciate the techniques used from the very beginning of the design. To be honest it made me wish we had had more direction in this regard in terms of our last mapping project. I think that his way of breaking down the analysis of a site really helped to understand topography in a visual and 2D way. I like the technique of layering several base maps portraying ecological factors, and I wish that developers of suburban areas would consider using these sorts of systems to better plot their sites. When exploring the exurban site that my studio group studied, there was a blatant disrespect of the natural environment. The concept is so simple: when layering all of the factors you have mapped (flood area, wetland, zoning etc) you end up with differing densities of overlap. The lightest areas are ideal building sites, as they are affected by the least amount of obstacles. Why not at least consider theses pathches created as a guidline for the site?

Other topics discussed were the effect of slope and soil type/quality. I fell in love with the home he showed us by Patkau Architects. They opted to preserve the most beautiful location of thier site and build around it. The result is the upper floor flowing continuously with that desirable plane, leaving it to be enjoyed in it's true state... untouched. Stunning!

Renewable Energy: Are our leaders stopping the change?

Last night, as I combined homework with television, I watched a Fifth Estate episode on renewable energy, "The Gospel of Green". The program focused on Hermann Sheer, the man who has been leading Germany down its path to total reliance on renewable energy. It is a lengthy show, an hour long. I did link it above, and to find the section that really hit me begins at about 16 minutes. The issue in this section deals with Canada's efforts (or lack there-of) in advancements in renewable energy. It discusses Canada's extreme potential in resources related to renewable energy. Wind power is extremely feasible in Ontario and beyond. The large amount of agriculture in Canada makes production of bio fuels (power generated by animal wastes)extremely realistic. However, it is suggested that Canada and the Ontario government are reluctant to adopting renewable energy sources, seemingly due to their loss of control of the resource, in comparison to say nuclear plant energy. They argue that nuclear power is the way of the future, as it is carbon-emission free. However, nuclear power has a large array of its own risks, the most substantial being storing of nuclear waste after it exceeds use. Also, eventually every plant must retire, and then we have the added issue of what to do with these environments in the future. I am very disappointed that we are still in a position in Canada where we are unable to think ahead, and make decisions based on their future benefit, rather than their immediate benefit or level of control. It is very sad that the issue of global warming is considered a 'crisis', when the more I investigate the subject the more it seems we have everything we need to reverse it at our finger tips, and the government with industry leaders alike are the ones stopping it.
Keep watching,and the video turns to electric vehicles, and how they were on the rise in the USA, until General Motors (the producers of the EV1 electric car) changed their minds and returned to focusing on gas powered vehicles, where they were at the time making money. The electric cars we crushed and dumped in a desert in California. We live in a society that blatantly wastes money, pollutes the environment and works solely for the well being of industry! Today, the electric car is seeing a slow but promising comeback in Canada. What's stopping it? The Canadian Government. ZENN (Zero Emissions No Noise) vehicles are ready and waiting a change in regulation from Transport Canada so that they may hit the road. Not surprisingly, with the decline of gas vehicle sales, GM has re-introduced an electric model- The Volt. They are legal in the US. What are we waiting for here? Canada consumes the highest amount of energy per capita than any other country in the world. Despite the endless resources and opportunity, we are also very behind on the road to sustainability. However I believe we are fully capable of morphing into the same type of locally renewable settlements such as those Professor Dav Vilet mentionned in his lecture, given we are permitted!

Class Reflection: October 23rd

A day away from school! Our second field trip was to visit the Jeld-Wen showroom. The presenter and sales manager gave a thourough presentation with an emphasis on the sustainable practices employed by the company. Although a successful presentaion, I agree with Judith in her hesitation to take them as serious environmetalists. Sadly, "being green" is a marketing gimmick these days. It is getting harder and harder for the consumer to determine what really is an eco friendly product. I felt that marketing was all Jeld-Wen saw in sustainable, even down to the choice of the renewal of an old building, which adds to their image. Another note in support of my opinion is the fact that these "green" chemicals are only available in their premium line, not to mention the use of PVC. Clearly it is not a universal concern for the company.
Again Judith's comment on their products seeming suburb like is the exact feeling I had. I myself am not a fan of artificial wood. Also, I was iritated by the weight put on their recycling practices. It is clearly beneficial to reuse excess materials in processing, but it is still new material. Post consumer recylcing and reuse are the practices we need to incorpoate to really lighten to load of industrial production inflicts on the environment.

Making sustainable accessible!

In lieu of Katie's blog about the EQ3 project using the bottles, I wanted to post this link. It is a website for a company in San Francisco supplying reusable, recycled and remanufactured materials. I love the idea, and I think that people would be more interested in using such materials if they were more accessible. They are out there, but most of us don't know where to look. Also the access to workshops on using these materials, and on sustainable living, are a fantastic idea. The only way to make the changes we need to make is to bring them forward and into our everyday lives.

This goes beyond people's daily lives. It is also the responsibility of the companies providing the public with products to employ sustainable practice as the norm. Although I must commend companies like Jeld-Wen for their efforts in providing products with low toxicity, I believe that their claim as an environmentally friendly company is a stretch. Without a cycle of re-use of materials, they are inevitably always creating more waste. Perhaps Jeld-Wen could take back their windows when they are in need of replacement, and re-use the parts. A similar scheme is already implemented by a company in the flooring business called Interface Flooring. They rent carpeting, instead of selling it, and therefore accept the carpet after they are eventually replaced. They then refurbish the material, or recycle unused portions. Together with fantastic discoveries like the non toxic wood treatment by Jeld-Wen, and an attitude towards waste reduction, large companies can enhance the feasibility of attaining truly sustainable materials.

Buidling Resource

Chicago's Crystal Palace

This is an amazing example of a building that is designed around the use of natural light. It is The Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago, designed by Krueck + Sexton Architects. It just jumped out at me, and I love how it enhances the exterior light quality of the street as well as the interior atmosphere. The multifaceted facade brings the sky down in its reflections. i think this was the draw for me. When I travelled for that long time I realized one thing that I love about Winnipeg... you can see the sky anywhere, even in the middle of the city. In big cities the buildings are so tall, and there is so much light pollution that the sky just seems nonexistent. This building gives life to the concrete jungle.

Sustain without invention!

I recently have noticed a poster for a unique movement in Winnipeg. It especially stood out to me since I am a person living on my own, without a vehicle. On top of that, since signing my life over to the Faculty of Architecture, affording a vehicle is not possible. The poster was advertising a car sharing community, so to speak. It's catch heading is "Need a car? But only sometimes?". This is exactly how I feel... I think I might have actually said "yes" out loud. I think that this type of initiative is exactly the type of thinking that must accompany new design, new product, and new invention. It is true that there are thousands of brilliant solutions out there to help people lessen their impact on the earth. From low-flush toilets and low-flow shower heads to electric cars, our everyday habits are leaving a much shallower footprint on the environment. However, truly the best solution is to CHANGE the way that we do things. If we all still own a vehicle, electric or not, they must still be produced, they must still take up space, and eventually they will need to be disposed of somewhere. By sharing a car, we will take public transit more, save money, and lighten the landfill load by lowering the quantity of vehicles being produced, and thus disposed of. Just as we do not have to flush every time, and I'm very sure we all could take shorter showers, sharing a car is a step into a greener evolutionary society, without any technology at all!

Class Reflection: October 16th

In this class Prof. Mallory-Hill lectured us on the uses of light in architecture. I really enjoyed her lecture. She really succeeded in slowly intoducing the subject on a broad scale, and then introducing more specific topics. I liked her use of a timeline in explaining the evolution of light in the built environment.

Humans have been tied to designing shelters based on the availability of natural daylight. From the design to positioning of structures, the sun has been a dominant factor, dating back to pre-history. My reaction to that section of the lecture is that with the invention of the electric light, we drifted away from integrating natural light into building design, and we regret it. Just as the industrial revolution succeded so immensly due to the excitment convenience, designers seemed to enjoy the freedom of control over interior lighting. However, we took it too far, and discovered that natural is the way to go. Now we are retracing our steps, and bringing the sun back inside!

In relation to the effects of artificial lighting, I was most effected by Prof. Hill's address to the importance of darkness. It is shocking how much we are blindly effected by everyday aspects of life. Most people would never consider that turning on a light in the middle of the night can potentially cause health problems- specifically interference with our nervous and metabolic levels, or Circadian Rythyms. The night light being quite a bit dimmer has an added value in my books!

In consideration of our upcoming project(and celebration of my getting this video posting right!)I thought this video would be appropriate. I first saw Elizabeth Redmand in a magazine. The idea behind her flooring system is similar to the night club flooring Jae showed us in the first class. What I really liked about her version of this tecnology,in comparison, is the scale. It is accessible and realistic. It is something you could potentially install in existing spaces, as opposed to having to design a new space around it, like the dance floor. She took a common "energy-harnessing" idea and designed a realistic application, which I feel a lot of the time is half the battle as a designer.
I think in our context in this class, and on this blog,the most important thing about this video is to realize that Elizabeth is still a student, just as we are. It goes to show that no matter where we are in our design careers, we all have the power to make a differnce. At any age! At just 23, this young woman is marketing one of the most innovative new products out there today. Who knows if we may make a powerful discovery in the next project that could lead us to bigger things!?

Somewhere over the rainbow....

It seems as though color can provide more than just therapy! New photo-voltaic panels have been designed that capture a broad spectrum of light, creating naturally occuring instances of refracted light. The future of this technology suggests actual rainbow farms! Can you think of anything more fantastic!? It is amazing what humans have accomplished, and that things that once would only seem like a dream are actually becoming reality. If only Dorothy could see us now....

Class Reflection: October 9th

This week's class was Vaike's second lecture. It was a follow up on her introduction to color in architecture from her previous lecture. We began the class by sharing our personal reactions to the colors she assigned us to meditate on. I was intrigued by how similar everyone felt from visualizing each color. People are obviously directed, albeit subconsciously by all the color we interact with. I find this fascinating, and the inclusion of color in Interior Design is part of my reason in choosing it as my focus.

It goes without saying that I found Vaike's color therapy spa inspiring. I share the passion she has for color, but also in helping people. I think it is becoming more and more evident in society today that alternative medicine has been underminded. Treatments like the one Vaike introduced us to are slowly being woven into the general fabric of healing and well being.

I plan to learn more on this topic in my career, and will incorporate it into my designs.

Class Summary: EQ3 Tour

The tour to EQ3 was a nice change from being in school! I was excited to get a glimpse of the design world. I thought the presentation they gave at the beginning was interesting, and made me feel better about all the cardboard I so painstakingly cut: maybe one day I'll actually have to do it again. It would be really great to see your designs on the floor at the store, it is definitely a dream for me. I did feel as though the lifestyle did not seem as exciting as I imagined. I think that this feeling I had only reinforces the stress they put on the feasibility of your designs in the presentation. Do not fall in love with what you are creating! Inevitably changes will need to be made to get to the point of production, and that is reality. I think you get into design with a dream in your mind, and then the world kicks in and wakes you up. I think that that was the most important thing that I got out of the experience. I was disappointed however that such a new company was still so far behind in sustainability. It is these fresh young organizations that have the greatest power to make the right decisions from the get-go. I enjoyed the tour, and absolutely felt it was beneficial, but it did not leave me feeling as though I'll been knocking on their door in 5 years!

Class Reflection: September 25th

This weeks class was lectured by Vaike. She discussed colours and their effects on people, and how they affect us in the built environment. I had a great deal of interest in the subject previously, so I found this lecture especially interesting. I had a slight amount of knowledge in the subject from a book I own, but the physical origin of where colours are naturally derived from is something new to me. It is so interesting how much history our everyday objects actually have. For example graphite,was originally discovered in the UK in 1565. The mine was overtaken by a copper mining production. Later, in 1847, a new and enormous graphite deposit was discovered close to China just as the first mine was running out. The emperors of China thus had control of the industry. They also wore yellow robes, which is the reason why we still have golden yellow pencils today! I will forever wait for a Trivial Pursuit question on this.
One thing that really surprised me, yet now seems so blatnatly obvious is the use of colour depending on where you are in the world. Vaike's example of colours used in Nordic areas, while working so well in that region, would appear dull in southern regions. It is perfectly obvious, yet something most of us surely do not pick up on.
My interest in the use of colour is what drives me towards interior design as a focus in this faculty. I have always been drawn to colour, and lots of it, and feel I am mildly in tune with the oras they produce. I enjoyed the assignment she had us do on meditating on specific colors. I was surprised that meditating on purple, gave a reaction that seemed a mixture of my feelings experienced from blue and red.... which makes purple. It really goes to show how complex colours and their uses really are!

September 18th: Class Summary

In our second class last Thursday we were treated to a short lecture by Jerry Weslake during the first half. Jerry opened our eyes on the topics of ergonomics, anthropometrics, and proxemics- the measure of personal space, or more simply a person's "bubble". The main focus was to show the importance of user-centered design, as opposed to designing only to please our own eye. More specifically, he used the chair as a model to show the effects of good/bad design, and the use of ergonomics when creating such designs.
Jerry also touched on understanding the senses in regards to design, and how we instinctively prefer certain lines and forms over others. An introduction to the term synesthesia- a transfer of information between the senses- elaborated the subject. For example, a slashy line makes us feel anger, although the line itself can not be "angry". So although a jagged, rigid chair just does not look comfortable in a functional sense, it may also make us FEEL uncomfortable in other synesthetic ways.

The major second half of the class was spent viewing clips from two documantary films. The first being "The Power of Ten", by design duo Charles and Ray Eames (1977), which demonstrated the concept of relative scale, size and distance. By starting with a 1m2 viewpoint of a picnic scene, every 10 seconds it zooms in or out 10 times farther, over a range of 40 positive and negative powers of 10 in increasing and decreasing perspective, taking us to the voids of outer space,or right into the microscopic world of carbon atoms in the subjects hand. These contrasting insights show how the importance of things is based on what co-exists around them at the next smallest/largest scale. Regardless of the scale or size of what we aspire to design, and how unrelated things may appear, it is our job as designers to interpret the world as one interrelated whole. As the video shows, even at such drastically different sizes, carbon atoms and the farthest cosmic reaches are a part of one whole. There is no one without the other. However, the importance of say and atom (or anything)increases when studied at a specific, in this case microscopic, scale. Again,though,this atom's importance would diminish when designing a new ergonomic chair for Jerry for example!

The second set of clips from the documentary Baraka, by Kevin Stearns, was far more contemporary. Although it was without dialogue, the experience proved to be impacting and dramatic. Scenes of urban life , factories, and nature roll past in fast forward speed. The effect is the establishment of a parallel between the systems that occur within these different environments. Seeing chicks being piled, prodded, and tumbled around was harsh for many, but in the end didn't seem far-fetched from the urban, human scenes at all. Is there really that much of a difference between these chicks' lot in life, to all of us being piled onto subways, or shuffled across busy moving streets? And, this flux of people, agriculture, and production has inherited a constant flow like that which we find in nature- continuous, and connected. Are we really separate from machines? This film gestured at the notion that mankind is so desensitized that we have allowed machines to enter, and even dominate the cycles of our lives.

Comfort and food are meant to be together!

I work for a company that has recently opened a new restaurant. It is high-end sushi. It is a beautiful space, built to awe guests, and to offer the best. In the lounge, they went with low, round tables, with swivel lounge chairs. They look fantastic. The chairs in their own right are very comfortable, but try sitting in them and eating off the table and they all of a sudden seem so wrong! The table hits just below knee height for most, and so eating requires leaning forward to reach the food. Or, as I did, bringing the plate onto your lap. Needless to say it is very uncomfortable! It definitely took away from my dining experience. It makes me think that not one person considered how it would feel to eat at these tables. This blows me away because the restaurant was designed by a respected designer in Winnipeg. In terms of all of the emphasis we are receiving on the body, and its connection to our designs, I can't figure out what goes wrong in these types of situations. Is it that you can just get lost in the aesthetic aspect of the design? Do they not care? Do they not know? It scares me to think about inadvertently overlooking details like this in my design career. It disappoints me that there are designers who don't care! One of the things that I am learning very quickly is how much the built environment really affects people. And still, something seemingly so simple is over-looked by an experienced designer. In the book Townscape(yes the one we all paid $40 for and never used!)Gordon Cullen said "The speed of change prevents the environment organizers from settling down and learning by experience how to humanize the raw material thrown at them. In consequence the environment is ill-digested." In a design gone wrong, people seem to have gotten lost in the business of it all, working within budgets etc.. Also, I think specifically in this case, everything was designed, and then the tables added in. It seems that a customer's comfort would be second only to the quality of what is served. In that case, it may have been wise to create an enjoyable space to dine, and DESIGN around that. After all, you can awe people all you like, but the experience, and how they FEEL is what they will remember most.