IaaC blog

This week with reading I explored the idea of word construction based on my own thoughts of what words and sentences are. I then looked into a few examples of prefixes and suffixes as a type of word construction.

Insights into Words and Definitions

Here is the PDF of my latest ideas about Taxus Baccata:

Phase 2 Presentation

This is for the ThinkPuppy folks

“The Production of Space” is an extremely deep look into the question of space from a multitude of angles. The author is so broad with his points that many of them can be argued in different ways, a tool used to avoid self-contradiction. As I see it, based on Lefebvre’s writings, space is a product which exists in many forms with the same general purpose. It can be produced and reproduced. The main points that I found are:

- Space is not an individual entity to be debated, it is part of the relationship of space, time and matter, and only can be thought of with respect to those two other factors.

- The discourse on space is so entirely fragmented (at the time of his writing) as in literary, psychoanalytical, and so on, that they all become ’suspect’ because there is no actual wholistic definition of space.(This indefinite multitude of individual spaces runs parallel to the indefinite divisions of labor in capitalism.)

- There needs to be a unifying of the definition of the multitude of spaces, and to do this there needs to be an overlap of the categories of space, namely sociology, architecture, political economies, literature, philosophy, and art. (It should be noted that this unifying theory was not achieved because in the end it becomes a self-contradictory argument)

- Therefore, space becomes differentiated as:

Physical Space: Measurable, and described through history, from nature to abstract.

Mental Space: Philosophical.

Social Space: A social reality, a set of relations and forms.

The most poignant part of the book that I found was when he describes capitalism; denunciating it as a propagator of space which only turns around to destroy it, a system relying on violence to endure. This is an amazing comment, written 33 years ago, which speaks to the situation that the United States is in today.

It has come to my attention that as a student of IaaC I find myself in studio more than out of studio, which is understandable in an intensive masters program. This brings to mind a passage I read a long time ago in Rene Dubos’ “Man Adapting” about sensory deprivation and cognitive processes. Though IaaC is not as extreme as the electroencephalographic studies in the passage, I think that there is a definite comparison to be made and looked at, as the human mind is a sensitive thing that should not be taken lightly.

“Needless to say, the responses to sensory restrictions differ from subject to subject and also vary with the environmental cicumstances. There is no doubt, however that sensory deprivation is physiologically stressful, as revealed by the fact that it results in an increased secretion of epinephrine and norepinephrine. Indeed the experience is always actually painful. Within a few hours, in all cases, the experimental subjects find it impossible to maintain logical thought or sustained attention on any topic. They commonly experience restlessness, irritability, disorientation, and anxiety often reaching panic state. They lose the sense of strucuter of the outside world. Vivid imagery, illusions and hallucinations are often striking and beyond the subjects control. The term “regression” has been introduced to denote the breakdown in perceptual and cognitive differentiation resulting from sensory deprivation…”

Dubos, R. “Man Adapting”, pg 25

As I mentioned before, IaaC is a different situation, and no one is experiencing hallucinations because they are alone in a white noiseless room, but it is interesting that some of the symptoms of sensory deprivation can be seen in the student body. These include restlessness, irritability, disorientation, and anxiety and I believe that the sensory deprivation of extended hours in the studio is the cause of this.

Here is our short powerpoint on what we did this week; mapping workshops using informaiton from FAD as our major reference tool.

Mapping Workshops

With sustainability and green design becoming one of the most pressing issues in the world it is interesting to look at what types of technology are being produced to counteract an overpopulated, over-consuming world. This subject is extremely broad, from the topic of using digital technologies as a method of communication to further the ideas of sustainability (in 3rd world countries as well as the developed world) to solar projects of all different scales. All of this, though interesting and broad, does no reflect the the fact that much of the “technology” in this field that reaches the consumer actually refers to the reduction of energy consumption in existing technology.

Though the reduction of energy consumption is a definite positive in the field of sustainability, it is only one part of the fabric that is sustainable technology. The other factor of contention is the idea of promoting these lower energy products as money saving, not making the overarching point which is that there is a problem that needs to be solved, and this appliance or light bulb is a part of that solution. The design of sustainable technology and it’s future implementation needs to be further developed in promotion as well as production to counteract the problems of global warming and over-consumption.

Sustainable Reduction can refer to two different things. The first, and more shallow, is the actual reduction of our personal energy “footprint” on the earth by using reduced energy appliances. The second, and more important, is the reduction of the idea of sustainability to nothing more than a term connoting money savings instead of the full breadth of reducing our impact on the planet.

With the evolving world of wireless technology the progressive nature of architecture obviously tends to follow new developments. With this we are beginning to see more and more wireless technology used in design today. One of the more impressive demonstrations of this is in wireless lighting systems. Lighting can account for up to half of energy consumption in a building, and this system can significantly cut this number. Using a system of programmable sensors and switches a more conscious system can be developed that reduces the amount of time lights are on when not in use, all of which using wireless to connect to a central control unit either in the building, other central location, or even at the power utility itself. Studies have shown an approximate 40% drop in the use of utilities with a system like this being implemented.

Other wireless architectural considerations range from the common, such as wireless internet, to the more innovative, such as wireless security systems. All of which can be managed from a central unit, creating a more simple, cohesive overall design, which can create an easier environment for the user to use as well as a building with less impact on the environment.

The major drawback to this system is that it is such an emergent technology there are still problems with it’s implementation. There are many bugs that need to be worked out of the technology, which could created major problems in such areas as wireless security or indoor air quality.

Doing some quick reflection before I start into Rhino for DigiFab II  I realized that we are very close to a full 4×4x4 cube, 4 individual projects on each side. The magic number I’ve heard around is 58 of us students at IaaC, so with this number we are only 6 people short of a complete cube; maybe we should get Shane, Tomas, Marta, and whomever else to make a cube as well to reach 64 individual projects?

On a completely unrelated note there are a bunch of RhinoScript PDF’s floating around on the internet and I found this one which is pretty great. It’s for absolute beginners to scripting and it comes in a zip file complete with 100 page pdf, questions to test yourself on, and sample files to follow along with.

So week 3 is almost at an end and our project for group 5 in Mapping, as well as the documents for the tube created for DigiFab are posted on Erik’s Blog. Enjoy!

This was a week of discussion and deliberation for group 5, trying to figure out what direction we want to take the project and what we would like to produce as a final result. As a group we decided to divide up “Culture and Associations” into more specific pieces, as well as a more refined definition of what is “Culture”. We came to the conclusion that culture is more than museums and galleries, and that their is a sub-fabric of “anti-culture” present in Barcelona. This sub or anti culture, we decided, is broad, deep, and ever changing, and therefore very difficult to measure as a whole, but it is necessary to view at least parts of it as a comparison to mainstream culture.

Therefore we divided up into groups Museums and Galleries, Theaters, General Associations, Clubs, Skateboarding and Grafitti, and Sex Culture. And for this week we collected information on the groups and are starting the comparison.

We also came up with an idea to create a digital, interactive map that we will start this week and be able to add to throughout the rest of the term. Done in Flash you will be able to see close-up of parts of the city and be able to click on different specific sites to see videos, pictures, and other interactive media to get a better idea of the cultural parts of the city.