Hard work does pay off. The above image is the competition boards submitted by a team of my third year students for the D3Space.org Housing Tomorrow Competition. This entry by Mark Lo, Tyler Laskowski, Sheena McNeice, Dane Knudson and Nick Belkowski recieved a special mention in the Alternate Typology category. As far as I can tell from the competition’s website, that category didn’t exist, so it seems that the jury created it specifically to recognize the team’s work. In addition, this was an open international competition for both professionals and students, so it is quite an honor to be one of eleven submittals to be recognized.

This team struggled at first to arrive at a consensus and had a dismal review with their first idea, but they pulled together and came up with this idea the following class and I knew right then that they were on to something. Here is their description of the project:

.consume material goods

Within contemporary society, infatuation with material possessions has lead to a lifestyle controlled by the impulsive pursuit of novelty and excitement through the consumption of material goods.  In a consumer culture dependent on media and advertising, these material goods have become a measurement of our subjective well-being as well as a replacement for many experiential aspects of our lives.  This cycle of consumption continues to progressively dominate our lives to such an extreme point that buying the ‘latest and greatest’ no longer adds satisfaction to our lives and we begin to question the purpose of our existence.

.consume experience

Because the act of consuming is an inherent human trait, we turn to the consumption of experience to reclaim the experiential aspect of our lives lost in our previous obsession with the material.  Instead of continuing the endless cycle of material consumption, experience is now the object to be consumed, opening us up to a lifestyle of adventure that is no longer defined by the “stuff” we buy.

.camp URBAN

The proposed Camp Urban is driven by existential experience, embracing the various levels of adventure associated with the tradition of camping; from the RV tourist to the mountaineer extremist.  In its form and materiality, Camp Urban celebrates the city as the natural human habitat in recognition that the vast majority of our planet’s population is, and is projected to be increasingly so, living in urbanity.  Camp urban Chicago would be the first in a global network of these metropolitan destinations, offering a weekend excursion to the 40 hour/week worker or a temporary residence to the urban nomad.

One thing I’d like to point out about the boards is that the image of the building is not a 3D rendering It is a photograph of one of the best models I’ve seen created in school. The model was huge, with its base it was about 6′ tall. Here are some poor images from my cell phone of it (click for larger):

The entire third year studio was the hardest working group of students I have had the pleasure to teach.

Link to the official competition site:  http://d3space.org/competitions/

Over the past few weeks, my second year design studio has been diligently endeavoring to understand the architecture of death. The site for the project is a beautiful undeveloped area on the Spokane river in an appropriately bucolic cemetery. We […]

Ran across this. I think this is a very interesting take on integration of technology into building.  We were lucky to have been able to hear Tom Bieling talk about his […]

Came across the site of Alex Roman for his short film “The Third & Seventh.” He describes the project as:
“Architecture through the cinematographic lens. The visual fusion between the third and the seventh arts.”
The entire film including the above image is […]

A friend of mine, Amanda Hallberg, received a fellowship from SOM to travel across the US mapping modern architecture in America. I’m looking forward to her completing the documentation of the project.

mappingmodernism.com

The Institute for Mechanical Engineers are suggesting algea photobioreactors integrated into buildings.

Inhabitat » Algae-Covered Buildings Boost Biofuel Production.

Nice to see that the university has built this program.  Now WSU students and faculty can borrow bikes, for FREE, to use around campus and town. I’m definitely going to be using them.

WSU announcement of program

This is something that I didn’t expect to come across, a scientific paper that compared network complexity between brains and cities.  More interesting is that they found that as both the neocortex and cities grow in surface area, the interconnecting infrastructure […]

This looks like a very cool exhibition concerning the future possibilities of ubiquitous integration of technology into the city.  Although it focuses on the city I can see application for the IDeX Studio at WSU which is exploring the creation […]

Fascinating and thought provoking.

Dark Roasted Blend: Living, Growing Architecture.

I’ve just discovered an amazing blog by Jack Self. His newest post “Specular Architecture” articulates a vibe I have been feeling for a while. I see many hours in my future reading his illuminating thoughts about architecture and society.

The questions that […]

A nice gallery or images of Peter Zumthor’s work. I am particularly fond of the protective housing for the Roman ruin in Chur. It reminds me of the cribbing used in old grain silos on the Palouse.

Peter Zumthor – a […]

Environmental Graffiti has several examples of vertical gardens. The big question is how this can be fully integrated into a holistic building system rather than another element tacked onto a conventional structure.

Next thought is how this might be transformed […]

Toy fanatic builds a house from LEGO | ArchDaily.

From the people that designed the Gantenbein Winery… this site is for the Architecture Studio that they teach on digital fabrication and design. There are many images using very simple units to create complex dimensional walls. Very inspiring.

Gramazio & Kohler, […]