The Pine Cone: The Ave. to Success?

Yesterday was a sleep in day, heck yes! The Commodores really hit the nail on the head with their song “Easy (like Sunday morning).” A few people went down to a local church and listened in on the service. I think that I will do that next week just to experience it. But as for now, the sleep is well appreciated.

I got a lot of work done on our studio project yesterday afternoon. My partner was sick with a sinus infection, so I took some design liberties on the project (…insert evil laugh here…). I thought more about the pine cone inspiration that she seemed to take to immediately. I know it sounds a bit absurd to take architectural inspiration from something like a pine cone, but I am starting to see the value in the simplicity of the idea. Apparently, as I learned today, simple concepts like this one are the ones that tend to win architectural competitions. Having the simple form of a pine cone gives us something to fall back throughout our design process – as someone so elegantly put it today, we can simply ask, “what would the pine cone do?” I know, this design stuff still sounds strange to me too, but I’m starting to get used to it.

So there I was, pine cone idea floating around in my head, analyzing every part of the object. What a way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The design that I came up with, though, was well received by both my partner and our reviewer today. (When I figure out how to scan stuff into my computer, I’ll include sketches so that this all makes more sense).

Big event for yesterday – we found peanut butter! We have all been searching for the delicacy since we arrived. Although it cost around $5 for a small jar, it was well received. I didn’t get any though. I have nutella and Ritz crackers. I don’t think that I can handle any more good-ness at one time.
Fast-forward to this afternoon’s studio class, where we had our first official “desk crit.” This is where the teacher comes around to your desk to see what kind of progress you have made and to offer a few design suggestions to consider in order to further develop your ideas. The reviewer that we had today was EXTREMELY practical. He suggested that my partner and I focus more on the scale of the site and the elements that we planned to add to it. I have found it difficult to grasp the scale of objects here because all of the measurements are in metric units, and I am used to working with the English Imperial system. He also suggested that we start thinking about materiality – what different kinds of materials to use to denote specific programs. For instance, wooden “boardwalks” may become the material that denotes pedestrian traffic for our project; this in contrast to cobble streets. In regards to this, I decided that I would try a more natural selection of materials – use a natural stone similar to that at the existing site, wooden beams, grass, etc. I think that this will inform a more natural style of architecture – one focused on nature and how my designs can integrate with the site. I think that this style would fit well with my background – Eagle Scout, landscaper, general outdoorsman. Maybe this will become my “style” of architecture as I move forward in the world of architecture and design.

Again, when I figure out how the scanner works, I’ll add some sketches and such that will hopefully help a lot of this make more sense. Until then,

A presto.

 -Tyler