Form Ever Follows Function

"Form ever follows function"

- Louis Sullivan

Genious.

Fabricated beauty is impractical and to some extend, irrational. Design is a process of pure artistic integrity and deliberation. It's not about the composition of spectacle tolerance. Nowadays the principle of façades have changed ignorantly due to mere indigence of social gratification. Façades used to express culture. Today it has become a mask or skin to cover up immature designs, untamed palettes, and mistakes.

Need I say much? What the fu** is this!

Although one can certainly see the culture and richness of Barcelona, Spain and the Gaudi style. Yet, color and appeal should not simply be stapled onto the design. It's a mere peel of onion.

Now an example of purpose behind . Façades with function.

The Aqua tower designed by Jeanne Gang

also known for being the tallest tower in the world to have a woman as lead architect.

Inspired by the topographics of the Great Lakes to derive wave-like forms as balconies. Yet, these balcony's main functions are collection of rainwater and energy efficient lighting. 

Or literal interpretation of Façades with function. Watch a clip of this building. It's actually pretty fascinating.

http://www.flare-facade.com

Good Ugly Beer

Some of the best beers come from ugly looking labels. Judge the context and don't taste with eyes.

My roommate and I have been exploring many different types of beers. Tried a few dozens but only these were worthy enough to make it up on our limited space shelf. I tell you, ugly labels..

Liquor that put a smile on my face

The one beer that never ceases to put a smile on my face.. Duvel: the definition of Belgian Golden Ale.
volumed at 8.5% alcohol content
aged like wine
fermented three times. If you like golden ale, this one's a knock-out.

Goose Island Brewery: Vintage Ales & Stouts

My personal experience with this company is.. "beer in the composition of wine"

Any of these "vintage" beers can be perfectly paired with food and are aged in their bottle for 5+ years.

You got Matilda which taste like fruity caramel and has a very strong aftertaste.

Sophie, you instantly get the vanilla flavor with excessive amount of orange peel taste. Literally taste like they put an entire orange in the bottle and aged it for years. There is also a subtle spice aftertaste.

Pere Jacques is entirely fruity. One of the less "punch-in-the-face" flavor.

Demolition taste very "organic" as in when you lay in a field of grass.. thats the taste you get along with some sweet honey and citrus kick to it.

Nightstalker, Stout, is as dark as Goose Island will get. Although very dark in color, it is not as hoppy as one will imagine. Instead one can actually taste chocolate and caramel with a roasted flavor.

Fleur. Im going to be straight up with this. Probably my least favorite because it literally taste like the smell of a mash of hibiscus flower pedals. Understand that it's called Fleur for a reason.

Christmas Ale, not so much. So far, I've never been impressed by any holiday or seasonal beer (especially blue moon, but we'll get to that later).

Goose Island Brewery: Classic Ales

312, doesn't need much explanation. If you live in Chicago, favor Ales, and you haven't tried this beer, then you have issues. If you're standing in binnys looking for some good beer but don't want to take new risks, this is always the "safe way out"

Green Line. The first time I tried this beer was at Oktoberfest. I love it. So damn hoppy.. I don't know how else to describe it.

Honker's Ale. This is probably my second favorite beer of goose island. It's light but hoppy. This is the "go-to-beer" when you're having a bbq.

India Pale Ale. To my personal experience, this is not my "cup of tea." I really like IPA but not so much of Goose Islands.

Harvest Ale.. what were they thinking. 

Mildwinter and Summertime, I'm going to put these two categories together b/c personally, this is where I think they tried too hard. Don't get me wrong, Goose Island has become one of the top exporting beer companies and their name is out there. However, I don't see these beers staying on the menu for long.

Great Lakes Brewery

Automatically wins my heart for having higher alcohol content than what I call "over-the-counter" beer (Budweiser, Coors, Miller aka college dorm party lagers). No doubt of stronger flavor. These beers are flavorful but not overwhelmingly flavored like goose islands vintage collection.

Dortmunder Gold lager. Malty and slightly hoppy. This is by far my favorite of lager of all time (so far).

Eliot Ness amber lager has a great nose to it. Very crisp and clean.

Burning River. Pale ale with a citrus kick.

Commodore Perry IPA. Simply put, fruity IPA

Edmund Fitzgerald porter. Dark beer with a hint of coffee and chocolate.

Oktoberfest. Amber lager that is very rich in hops. Very.

Christmas Ale. Another classic holiday failure. A nice fresh crisp ale that someone unfortunately went spice frenzy on it.

FAIL Chicago Spire

The once "suppose to be" world's tallest residential building and tallest building in the western hemisphere has been announced defunct as of Dec 2010. Designed by Santiago Calatrava, the Chicago Spire was to stand 2,000 feet tall w/ 3,000,000 sq ft. Yet, due to funding issues, constructed halted for 2 years until finally leaving the project dead.

Proposed Chicago Spire

The remains as of Dec 2010

At this point it's safe to say, goodbye Chicago Spire

Architecture vs. time. Influenced

Architects inevitably face the extraneous challenge of time, taste, and culture. In essence, time defines taste, and although vaguely related, taste defines culture (as today, the entire world is slowly becoming a melting pot).
For those that don't know architecture.. designing a skyscraper takes years (typically around 7-10 years depending on the required programs). Therefore, the architect is faced with the challenge of designing a concept and scheme that will be accepted in the future. In essence, corporate architecture is delayed.

"Any architectural project we do takes at least four or five years, so increasingly there is a discrepancy between the acceleration of culture and the continuing slowness of architecture"

- Rem Koolhaas

So what now? What if something that is being designed today for the future is no longer accepted in the future?

What most people don't understand is that architecture itself has the ability to change people's behavior, taste, and potential culture (An easy taste through technological conveniences). Formally, the social condenser theory - architectures ability to influence social behavior.

That is why architecture must be timeless! It should not be the reimposed conveniences of today's society but the influence of today's society while striving to become more convenient.

"I absolutely believe that architecture is a social activity that has to do with some sort of communication or places of interaction, and that to change the enviornment is to change behavior"

- Thom Mayne

Villa Amanzi

Everything one needs in a home

Field, Network, Infrastructure

"Any formal or spatial matrix capable of unifying diverse elements while respecting the identity of each... overall shape and extent are highly fluid and less important than the internal relationship of parts, which determine the behavior of the field"

- Stan Allen

Stan Allen conveys there shouldn't be a formal solution to design but instead a fluid condition in which influence plays a significant role. These field conditions may include something significant such as time or culture to even of little significance such as weather and/or light.
Spatial paradigm!

"A city is a perpetually organizing field of forces in movement, each city as specific and unique combination of historical modalities in dynamic composition"

- Sanford Kwinter

Simply put, Architecture is nothing without Infrastructure & network.

CAT Internship Revisted

Chicago Architecture Today internship - Spring & Summer 2010

Summer interns. Darrell, Brian, Me, Eveliz, Margaret, Kyle

My first project- GCEA Arch Expo @ Congress Hotel Conference Rooms

At this time there were only 2 interns Ben (from London) and me. We worked with actual staff members Darrell, Javier, Erik, and Alex.

Conference Room B

Seminars + Ceremonies @ Conference Room C

AAR- Ben & I are Chicago Tribune Center

ACA Discussion Panel @ CPL on State

Panel was about Backbone structure of Architecture: the economy

Here I got to meet top architects of Chicago...

Eva Maddox (Perkins & Will)

Frank Christopher Lee (Johnson & Lee, Ltd)

Avram Lothan (DeStafano Partners)

Dirk Lohan (Lohan Anderson) a.k.a. Mies van der Rohe's grandson!

Good experience because after the discussion panel we got to talk to each of them.

Since Eveliz was a visitor from Puerto Rico, we all went to the Museum of Contemporary Arts

This is the infamous staircase

Private tour of Marina City Tower

Rooms are tidy and ancient but the views were amazing.

Interior of Milwaukee Art Museum

Exterior of Milwaukee Art Museum

2 hour drive from Chicago

Private tour of Howe Residence (Darrel and Thomas Hickey: architect of Howe Residence)

What's so special about this place? The original house was a 1890's English workers cottage but when the remodeling came, the facade was kept and the building was pushed back a little to make a entry courtyard as depicted in the picture below. 

My business card (ordered about 500, only gave out about 50)

...more will be posted later