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

Dèrive

Dèrive, best described by French Sociologist, more importantly, Neo-Marxist, Henri Lefebvre, is a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances.
It is essential for architects, or perhaps designers too, to have this psychological awareness or journey in which one goes against the flow of their customary endeavors. For designers, it may be exploiting other cultures, while for architects, its to have a psycho-geographical consciousness of urban scale to the miniscule detail of the awareness of individual's behavior and emotions.

Situational Awareness (not what it's really called)

This is a photograph I took at the Museum of Art at UofC when I attended the 

Open Hand Studio Meet & Match for my CAT internship

I learned recently about Guy Debord, a Situationist rooted in Marxism, who believed that architecture should free itself from traditional patterns and become organic. By organic he meant, ever changing, adaptable. An organized method in which the design can be timeless. As cultures begin to mix, society 'taste' changes, elements will become adaptive. Imagine a conceptual city designed to withstand movements and periods of time and favors frequent change. One in which units are no longer destroyed or remodeled overtime because a new 'style' has erupted.

the city as a unique organism

This concept was a proposition by architect Ron Herron (1960's) of a city that literally never sleeps. It has the ability to roam the world, one day in Paris, next day in Rome.

Context

Context is very much like culture in a way. The circumstances of designing for social, economical, or political functions are contextual designs. As with the form, location, and size are factors that are governed by the environment, topography, and resources. If you read, What Ever Happened To Urbanism, Rem Koolhaas also indicates that it is impossible to design a building without context. A country is nothing without culture, and likewise, architecture is nothing without context.


A highly recommended book for those interested in architecture theory, design concepts, and historical theory contradictions is SMLxL

Architecture only survives where it negates the form that society expects of it. Where it negates itself by transgressing the limits that history has set for it.

- Bernard Tschumi

Design to be Noticed

Designers today face numerous boundary inflicting challenges. However, I will only convey the most excruciating issues that are destructive to a designers palette. By designers, I mean anyone that exploits ideas out of the common ground.. Architects, interior, industrial, fashion, artists, and etc.


Economy.
Let's step away from the cliche of 'money isn't everything' speech. The reality is, when it comes to design, money sets the foundation. If a project isn't backed up with enough funding, then it automatically withdraws the designers ability to free-design. The once artist is forced to become a entrepreneur. Don't get me wrong, there should be boundaries. For instance, in architecture, I follow the wholesome words of "form ever follows function" - Louis Sullivan. However, there's a fine line between designing something conceptual and meaningful, than to designing something that is a money milker. An easy comparison, Burj al Arab vs almost any hilton hotels out there.


Client taste, Media.
Perhaps, its not the fault of the economy. Needless to say, clients themselves are the source to the boundaries. After all, clients are the ones that are limiting funding. Beyond funding, clients are the one's that decide on the final product. It's all about the individual(s) taste. Yet, who's to say that "that doesn't look right." Right, is just something the mass agrees on. Yesterday the death penalty was right, but today its wrong. Countless of brilliant designs were thrown away because of narrow-minded idiots.


Although I argue against this inflicting boundaries, perhaps the open-ended principles or practices of laissez faire will only create destruction. Maybe this the "Adam Smith's invisible hand" of design. Perhaps, this is the composition to design sanity.






During my internship I attended a discussion panel about the Backbone structure of Architecture: The Economy in which architects discuss Architecture juxtaposed with the economy.


Mediator:

People strive for capitalism, save money, improve efficiency. They want more efficiency rather than appearance.

Avram Lothan:

            “Our market today doesn’t allow us to make numerous and big steps. Our city cannot afford to be free with its design ideas and instead lean more towards capitalism”

Dirk Lohan:

            “The next generation (of architects) would need to concentrate on capitalism rather than design liberty. Less space is needed because of technology. Offices are getting smaller, commercial is getting smaller, all because less personnel is needed”

Avram Lothan:

            “Our public transportation is not efficient enough to push people to take it. There is not enough transit lines and these days, more lines are being cut. In New York, nobody needs to drive because public transportation takes them everywhere”

Mediator:

In Chicago, there isn’t enough incentive to take public transportation because public transportation doesn’t take everybody to the necessary locations. That is why big cities like New York are so successful in urbanism. Then the topic slowly shifts towards, people’s incentives to be out in the public.

Eva Maddox:

            “People don’t always need to be out to work these days. They would do it in their homes or even off seas. There is less incentive to go out and its hurting our economy.”

Christopher Lee:

            “Interaction is slowly losing its quality. Right now there are 2.5 million people in the city of Chicago. In the 1950’s, there are 3.5 million. Where did the 1million people go? They went to the suburbs, in self enclosed walled houses because that is the American dream”

Avram Lothan:

            “Well people will always have an incentive to go out and enjoy the public. It seems like Millennium Park and Navy Pier is somewhat successful of bringing in tourists from around the globe.”

Topic of Energy Conservation

Avram Lothan:

            “Today, technology allows our planning and design process to be more “linked” We circulate through many ideas and concepts now than we ever did before. Before, the client would only be seeing what they get. Now, even clients are getting smarter and choosing energy conservation.”

Dirk Lohan:

            “Sketching was everything for architects. If you didn’t know how to sketch, you weren’t a good architect. Now, nobody knows how to do it and instead creates an almost designable blue prints on their Cad programs on their computers. Craft has been lost but in all for efficiency. It seems like architects take credit for their work with low pay while developers get the money, but don’t go down in history.

To make good architecture, you need good clients.”

Avram Lothan:

            “We’re not creating new ideas, we’re just licensing other foreign countries’ ideas. i.e. Hybrid cars. We are at a different level in technological development as Japan or China. Although they have lower wages and that is why we prefer to buy from them because it is cheaper than someone designing that same technology here.”

Frank Lee:

            “We need to make our own widgets and techs instead of relying on other countries exports. The reason why we can’t go out and design elaborate buildings like Dubai, Japan, or China, is because our market is getting broke. We don’t make anything in our own country and we rely heavily and spending towards other countries, making them rich and us poor. We need to start relying on our own technology.

Although we do see many people from foreign countries trying to start a new life in our nation, that must mean something.”