It is time for a recharge! My vacation is not getting her fast enough. I have a couple weeks left until I leave for Michigan. You all may be thinking, Michigan is not a major vacation destination. But for me i really do enjoy visiting my wife's family in their hometown of Davison, Michigan. I just cannot wait to get out here. Los Angeles is beginning to bun both of us out. Probably for different reasons, but none the less we both need, and deserve our upcoming break.
I am feeling lately that Los Angeles the city has given me all that it is going to offer. A lot has changed in the past five years, and definitely in the past 10 years. I am not going to sit here and bash LA, because that is not my style, but I feel like this kind of city is not my cup of tea anymore. Ten years ago when I arrived here for my university studies, my eyes were opened up to all kinds of new experiences that I had not been a part of growing up in southwest Connecticut. Through the college years Los Angeles was great, I mean, on any given day of the week my friends and I could think of any random idea and we could find a way to do it. Lets just say playing hockey with a broom and no skates, while wearing a hula skirt was not a problem. But as many of us know, after a while the bones don't heal as fast and the hangovers come from just a couple beers. And as I have come to this realization, part of it is that Los Angeles becomes, more and more, the city that cannot support my graduated view of life.
I am not trying to set you up to say I am moving to Alaska, I am not. I am not prepared to uproot and replant myself that easily. But, what I am trying to say is that I'm looking and thinking about where Relationship Kurt will go next, as Independent Kurt is retiring. That last part was a Seinfeld quote, for those who don't watch the show, or catch the reruns.
Who knows, maybe I will come back with a renewed sense of Los Angeles, when I return from my vacation. I know it will at least give me a chance to think. Honestly eight to 10 hours a day sometimes much more, and hardly anytime to actually think. That can be its own post at a later time. Vacations are fun, and this one is lining up to be a pretty good one, I can feel it!
Peace for now.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
.sixteen.
This blog post is dedicated to my awesome wife! She told me not to blog about her, so I won't but i am going to dedicate this post to her.
Down below you will find a link to a website I came across some months ago while searching for conceptual imagery online! This website introduced me to the digital practice of processing. Processing is the practice of creating computer code to develop graphic imagery that is always different every time the script is restarted. I am not an expert at processing, and at present, I do not believe i have to time or patience to be. I am content with sharing this idea of processing with you all, and discussing the architectural and spatial concepts within the windows of processing.
What first intrigued me about processing was the additive nature of how they are created. (Once you see the link below you will understand this blog post better). This additive method of creating excites me because I feel that it reminds of of how I like to approach a new drawing or project. The processing modules in the link below all start out with a simple line or shape and build to what I believe is an infinite amount of layers and complexity. They really only reset when you mouse over and click the screen. I am a big fan of creating complexity from simplicity. Architecturally, it is not hard to create a complex building, but most often these buildings end up being a confusing mess of spatial and material components, not making much of a statement at all. To me the best architecture can be seen as complex and at the same time simple. Absolutely diabolical! For example, see Daniel Libeskind's design for the extension to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Sadly, this building never will be realized. The founding concept of this building is a simple spiral but then it is layered with more and more detail, and a second concept of mathematic fractals. The end result is, in my opinion, his best work. Many of the examples you will find on the processing link below have a fractal quality to them.
Another concept that I enjoy with these graphic processes is the way that when the linework builds up the overall image is constantly evolving. This reminds of the way I read a Jackson Pollack painting, or Chuck Close. The image represented has very different experiences from 6 inches and 6 feet. Chuck Close's work may be the better example. If you have never seen a Close painting, go find one. From six inches they can read like brightly colored squares, that seem anything but organized. As you step away from the painting you then realized that these painted squares make up a collage that in fact is a portrait, and anything but chaotic.
So, without making you wait any longer here is the link to the processing website. I may write more about this subject, so if you are interested check back!
http://complexification.net/gallery/
Down below you will find a link to a website I came across some months ago while searching for conceptual imagery online! This website introduced me to the digital practice of processing. Processing is the practice of creating computer code to develop graphic imagery that is always different every time the script is restarted. I am not an expert at processing, and at present, I do not believe i have to time or patience to be. I am content with sharing this idea of processing with you all, and discussing the architectural and spatial concepts within the windows of processing.
What first intrigued me about processing was the additive nature of how they are created. (Once you see the link below you will understand this blog post better). This additive method of creating excites me because I feel that it reminds of of how I like to approach a new drawing or project. The processing modules in the link below all start out with a simple line or shape and build to what I believe is an infinite amount of layers and complexity. They really only reset when you mouse over and click the screen. I am a big fan of creating complexity from simplicity. Architecturally, it is not hard to create a complex building, but most often these buildings end up being a confusing mess of spatial and material components, not making much of a statement at all. To me the best architecture can be seen as complex and at the same time simple. Absolutely diabolical! For example, see Daniel Libeskind's design for the extension to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Sadly, this building never will be realized. The founding concept of this building is a simple spiral but then it is layered with more and more detail, and a second concept of mathematic fractals. The end result is, in my opinion, his best work. Many of the examples you will find on the processing link below have a fractal quality to them.
Another concept that I enjoy with these graphic processes is the way that when the linework builds up the overall image is constantly evolving. This reminds of the way I read a Jackson Pollack painting, or Chuck Close. The image represented has very different experiences from 6 inches and 6 feet. Chuck Close's work may be the better example. If you have never seen a Close painting, go find one. From six inches they can read like brightly colored squares, that seem anything but organized. As you step away from the painting you then realized that these painted squares make up a collage that in fact is a portrait, and anything but chaotic.
So, without making you wait any longer here is the link to the processing website. I may write more about this subject, so if you are interested check back!
http://complexification.net/gallery/
Monday, June 16, 2008
.fifteen.
Hello all,
I have been away a while, I know, but for very good reason. I have been studying like a madman for my architecture licensing tests as well as my LEED accreditation. Also, in my time away I have received some constructive criticism of my blog. All of which, I am thankful for, and appreciate, so keep it coming. I don't feel the need to be specific about the criticism, but I definitely will be incorporating 100 percent of the critiques.
That being said I would like to announce that I have passed two of my licensing tests, and passed the LEED for New Construction exam. I will explain shortly, the LEED process for those who are not familiar with it. as for my architecture license, i still have seven more tests to go and an oral exam after passing all the written tests. So, I definitely will post my progress on those, as they occur.
LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. New Construction is the specific exam track that I pursued. LEED is a certification process for design professionals and for the buildings that are being designed. For professionals it is a test to accredit those who have a firm understanding how to use the LEED credit formats, in order to get buildings certified. LEED for buildings is a way of achieving graduating levels of "greenness". For buildings that maximize and utilize various techniques to attain credits in the LEED template. As in life, the more credits your building achieves the higher the certification level it achieves. For more information in the process, check out www.usgbc.org and www.gbci.org .
That is all for this post, as well as the promise for more posts to come. I do encourage you all to read more about green building, it is important to me and I believe we all should know to do our part.
I have been away a while, I know, but for very good reason. I have been studying like a madman for my architecture licensing tests as well as my LEED accreditation. Also, in my time away I have received some constructive criticism of my blog. All of which, I am thankful for, and appreciate, so keep it coming. I don't feel the need to be specific about the criticism, but I definitely will be incorporating 100 percent of the critiques.
That being said I would like to announce that I have passed two of my licensing tests, and passed the LEED for New Construction exam. I will explain shortly, the LEED process for those who are not familiar with it. as for my architecture license, i still have seven more tests to go and an oral exam after passing all the written tests. So, I definitely will post my progress on those, as they occur.
LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. New Construction is the specific exam track that I pursued. LEED is a certification process for design professionals and for the buildings that are being designed. For professionals it is a test to accredit those who have a firm understanding how to use the LEED credit formats, in order to get buildings certified. LEED for buildings is a way of achieving graduating levels of "greenness". For buildings that maximize and utilize various techniques to attain credits in the LEED template. As in life, the more credits your building achieves the higher the certification level it achieves. For more information in the process, check out www.usgbc.org and www.gbci.org .
That is all for this post, as well as the promise for more posts to come. I do encourage you all to read more about green building, it is important to me and I believe we all should know to do our part.
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