Entry 12

I work for the ticket office at Kyle field, so on Saturday I sat at a ticket window all day staring at the Memorial Student Center. I decided that instead of just staring out a window, I would draw what I was looking at. My shift was over during the first quarter of the football game, and when I went up to my seat, I really looked at Kyle field and how massive it is. My seat was on the very top row of second deck, and my friends and I leaned over the ledge looking at the structure holding up our seats. It is unreal that 3 months ago I would have looked at a bunch of concrete and thought about how boring it is. Now I look at concrete and I think, "Is it precast or sitecast? Is that a type one or two connection? Is that rebar sticking out through the top? Look at that bearing pad that the beam is resting on." My friends and I literally had our backs to the football game and were looking at concrete instead. When we turned around, we decided to leave because the game was boring. I never thought the day would come where I was more interested in concrete than in football. 

Entry 11

My professor in The Making Of Architecture has us drawing every single class. This week we would walk in, spend 30 minutes drawing connections, and then lecture. The whole process is really teaching me a lot about the construction field. He will ask a question, and the entire class just looks at him because the answer seems too easy to be correct. In construction, it seems that the logical explanation is correct. This mentality is so different from all of the other architecture classes that I have taken because normally we are taught to think beyond the ordinary and usual. Sometimes he asks for suggestions on what to draw, he will draw it, and then tell us that he has never drawn that connection before. This class has taught me that if you know the process, then you can reason out the connections even if you have never drawn them previously.

Entry 10

The Texas Society of Architects convention in Dallas, Texas was this week. My friends from studio and I took a road trip to my house in Canton, Texas for the weekend. The convention was on Thursday, and it was so interesting. We listened to a few lectures, some being: architects designing homes for themselves, artists and architects working together, and transportation in cities. After the convention, we went to explore Dallas and Fort Worth. The Perot Museum designed by Thom Mayne from Morphosis is incredible. We were there just standing outside the building taking pictures for an hour. When we finally left, we went to the Fort Worth Water Gardens designed by Philip Johnson. It was, by far, the most exciting architecture that I have experienced in my 19 years. The crazy part is that the whole place is made of stone, and simply uses water to create the experience. That is definitely something to take note of: sometimes simplicity in design and materials is powerful.

Sketch 12

Perot Museum in Dallas, Texas

Sketch 11

Precast concrete T beam connecting to Double tees on each side

Sketch 10

Memorial Student Center Leadership Portal

Entry 9

We have been working in Revit this week learning how to model a home. It is so much easier to understand the commands when creating a residential project opposed to a conceptual mass. We received our projects for the rest of the semester, and I am looking forward to creating a firm and presenting what we have learned this semester.

Also, we had Professor Abbot speak to us about our study away semester, and ever since then I have been dreaming about Italy. I cannot wait to experience places that I have only studied and never seen up close. 

Entry 8

This week I think I almost died. I had two exams, two projects, a job to attend, and so much stress. However, I survived and all is well. I have learned that it is possible to run on little sleep, and you can accomplish a lot more than seems possible. I am trying to not be so hard on myself, but it is so difficult knowing that I didn't finish the wall project on time. I am incredibly frustrated with myself, but I have realized that it is okay to not finish, and it is much better to not rush and come out with a better end result as opposed to finishing and doing a horrible job.  

Entry 7

This week we have been working on our wall, and oh my goodness there are so many steps to this. We spent so many hours on the computer trying to figure out our Revit and AutoCad files. At Home Depot I think we purchased the store's entire plexi-glass supply. We cut our plexi-glass, and assembled the structure. 

The skin process started with accumulating plastic water bottles, and then getting people to drink the water. Once we had empty bottles, we cut each of them into 6 pieces. We then took the pieces and spray painted them with tinted spray paint. From there, we took fishing line and a sewing needle, and sewed each piece to each other. Then we took the columns of water bottle pieces and sewed them to the plexi-glass panels.

Entry 6

In my Modern Architecture History class, we have been discussing "the greats". Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier are obviously architecture superstars, but I don't particularly love their work. Despite how I feel about the overall appearance of the houses, I have realized that each of them have very important concepts that are significant to my education. Le Corbusier's five points, Frank Lloyd Wright's horizontal planes and center fireplace, and Mies with his "less is more" motto are things that can be applied to my projects in the future. This week has taught me that something can be learned from every project from every architect, even if you aren't fond of it.

Sketch 9

Villa Savoye

Sketch 8

Elam House: Frank Lloyd Wright

Sketch 7

Guggenheim Museum

Sketch 6

Farnsworth House