Archiculture

It has been over three weeks since students have been around the School of Architecture and the mice have noticed. This is an old city and a very old building, but when your office turns into the “party like its 1999″ spot for all the mice around it is time to mosey along. This happened also over the winter break when all the studios were impressively cleaned out by the staff here and nothing but our crumbs where to offer. They have resorted to eating anything they can… tea, string, vellum paper, plastic bags! We are pretty clean people and keep all our foods in plastic tubs with weights on them to stop their barrage of forces. I mean really, what type of animal can eat, shit and piss all at the same time and same spot! So we are happily movin’ on up to the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn. Yep, that is right folks. Archiculture is moving its home base to another location. Many of you have checked out our war room/home/office over the past 4 months on the flycam. It is now time to close a chapter of this project’s life and start a new one. We will wait to share details of the new space but are extremely excited for its potential and new energy it shall inject into our lives.

1:30AM Get home from server training, asleep by 2AM.

5:30AM Awake to phone alarm ringing from the dorm floor. It is dark outside.

6:00AM Leave with pre-packed equipment from office, no 6:15Am once we eat a toasted bagel each and check all equipment groggily.

6:45AM Walk in rain to subway in Brooklyn and arrive at Penn Station.

6:55AM Wait in the now heavy pouring rain for Bolt Bus.

10:00AM Sit/Sleep on Bus for 3 hours, stop once for pee, buy least fatty snack option of crackers and a pack of gum for stale sleep breadth.

11:30AM Awake at South Station in Downtown Boston to our first feeling of hot/humid weather this year, it is 84 degrees.

12:00PM Have a half hour to kill, so we grab food in Chinatown.

12:15PM Pick up our Zipcar from nearby garage.

1:00PM Arrive at Autodesk’s offices 17 miles outside of Boston. Pay $2.50 in tolls at $1.25 increments. Shoot a few minutes of the next archicast.

2:00PM Set up interview and discuss project with head PR guy.

3:00PM Interview Phil Bernstein who is the Vice Present of ACE at Autodesk and a professor at Yale. Key person to discuss the past/current/future use of technology within the studio and profession.

3:45PM Drive back 17miles to return Zipcar to parking lot a few blocks from South Station.

4:00PM Get stuck in torrential down pour in doorway to protect equipment.

4:15PM Arrive at South Station with an hour to kill before bus takes off. Finally find cheap non-fried food at Cajun, Cajun Restaurant in a side of Red Beans and Rice for $2.19. Sit next to doorway to train platforms watching Suited professionals run awkwardly to their commute. Discuss fundraising and lack of support.

5:30PM Back on the Bolt Bus at Gate 21.

10:00PM Arrive at Penn Station to a dry NYC after sleeping for 2 hours, writing, trying to sleep for another hour, studying new job’s menu and sketching concepts for a potential website/video gig.

11:00PM Arrive back at office from 17 hour day all for 30 minutes of interview which may end up being 30 seconds of the film and spending $140.

1:00AM post blog about it….

That’s right, I’m writing this post from the road. Free WiFi on the new Greyhound service between NYC and DC called the BoltBus makes it all possible. We got a little too busy meeting, interviewing and seeing a few old friends while we were in DC to post. So I thought it might be interesting to take advantage of this amazing mobile internet feature and write from the road. I’m somewhat obsessed with this new bus service and would strongly recommend it to anyone who is used to the Chinatown buses for their East Coast journeys. The buses are brand new, offer electrical sockets per seat, have wireless internet and a ticket could be bought for a dollar if purchased far enough in advance. We ended up spending $55 for two round trip tickets but the woman we waited in line with spent $2. That is insanely cheap! We discussed instead of looking for office space to rent for the project, turning the Bolt into our extremely inexpensive mobile-office for a few months… $2/day x 31days/month x 2 people = $124 dollars for monthly rent for a 2 person office space. It is as if the $4 per gallon gas price has not made it to Greyhound Corporate yet. Just another massive advantage of working along the East Coast is the extremely inexpensive and frequent options for distant transit.

Other commentary on the DC trip will be posted shortly along with other details of our Archiculture Campaign Tour.

In the process of any creative endeavor there are ultimately highs and lows… This is a low. Can’t really put into words my depth or breadth of frustration but it needs to be posted/shared. I’m exhausted and too angry to connect the thoughts in my head.

Many of the students over the past month have expressed interest in using their architectural education for things other than practicing traditional architecture. I am not sure whether or not they have informed their parents of this matter, but their interest have ranged from jewelry making to stage design. I thought I would take the opportunity to share a few design related means of inspiration.

I came across the group Rebar when I was working in California. This San Francisco based collective is a collaborative group of artists, activists, and designers who create socially engaging projects. Perhaps one of their best known projects is called Parking day, which is an annual event where metered parking spots are converted into small parks. This simple yet playful idea has been adopted worldwide by cities both small and large. I think this is a wonderful example of how we as designers can creatively educate and inspire the general public.

Parking Day : Farmlab

Another great source of inspiration is internationally renowned sculptor David Best. I first heard of Best through some friends of mine that frequent Burning Man. He uses recycled and reclaimed material to construct large temple-like structures. David’s work is very architectural and has been used as gallery installations and street art.

David Best: Biznik

The most impressive to me is Daniel Dociu the Art Director for ArenaNet. Daniel is a pioneer in architectural game design which derives from his background in industrial design. His digital landscapes are fantasy based, yet they possess some contemporary elements of our built environment. I must restate my the fascination and interest in what the gaming industry is creating.

Daniel Docui: GuildWars