Storytelling

Statistics show that a grandparent is more likely to die during the midterm or final portions of a semester, because it is then that they begin to worry most about their college-age grandkids, and the pressure that comes from the students having big tests that affect their grades.   This statistic is scary, especially considering that I have a grandmother who has been recently admitted into the hospital.  I hope that she can recover before I start to have midterms or finals.

How can we help avoid this unfortunate event?  We can avoid telling our grandparents about our finals.  What they don't know won't kill them, right?  Literally.  But this does poise an interesting question.  How well do you know your grandparents?  Given that they can pass away at any time, maybe now is the right time to get to know them.

My maternal grandmother aspired to be a part of the Radio City Rockettes in New York.  She had been a dancer her whole life, and was comfortable on the stage.   As great as it would be to say that my grandmother was a Rockette, I would not be here if she was.  The only way her parents kept her home was by allowing her to marry my grandfather, whom she met while dancing in a Veterans parade that he was also a part of.  Had she not caught his eye, my grandmother may have been living out her dream in New York, instead of living out a new dream, with a handsome young man.

My paternal grandmother grew up in Beverly Hills, California.  She lived down the street from actors and actresses, though was not a fan of the spotlight herself.  She started off living a glamorous life, but when her father died and the bank "couldn't find" the money he had, and her mother moved them to Ohio with family.  As a young girl, she went to work in Panama City.  While she didn't stay long, she had experiences that we will probably never know of, having lived a much different life.  While I have never left the country, my grandmother has lived an extraordinary life of travel and glamour.
My paternal great-grandfather was a first generation American.  He had older siblings born in Italy and younger siblings born in America.  He was the first to be born in a America after his mother spent her pregnant months on a ship bound for The Land of Opportunity.  What an amazing experience.  While I am grateful to have lived my entire life in America, I can only imagine the excitement of a young child, growing up in a land that is foreign but offers so many possibilities.  He went on to play professional baseball for one season only, but had the opportunity to meet extremely famous baseball players from decades ago.
If these changes, moving to America, moving to Ohio, and so on never happened, I would not be here today.  Life for my relatives could have turned out so much differently, had my great-grandfather been a professional baseball player for years and become famous, or had my grandmothers father not died and she continued to live a life of fortune and fame.

Things change in life, some good and some bad.  But for every change in life, there is a reason, and those reasons lead to you being born and living your life the way you do.  So while your grandparents may be family that you see every weekend, or family that you only see twice a year; they are family.  And they have gotten you to the place you are at now.  When this semester becomes stressful and you start to think about the statistics, take the time to talk to your grandparents about their life, rather than your big test coming up.  The stories they tell you could be startling.

Michael Rotondi

I recently saw Michael Rotondi, co-founder of SCI-Arc (Southern California Institute of Architecture) and co-founder of RoTo Architecture firm based out of Los Angeles lecture about his position on architecture.  One of the most important aspects of architecture lectured about was the visual imagination aspect, and taking time to take in the space around oneself.  Being a good architect means being about to put yourself in the position of the client and being able to imagine how the space will be used once completed.

In the book "Point Omega" by Don DeLillo the character is highly captivated by the slowed down viewing of "Psycho".  The character starts to notice so many more details that would have otherwise gone unnoticed and forgotten.  This heightened sense of  awareness is just what architects need to have as they design spaces.

In the book "The Look of Architecture," Witold Rybczynski speaks on this issue as well.  When architecture is photographed, it is often absent of people.  Author Rybczynski argues that architecture and people are not unrelated.  Because architecture is built for people, we should see the space being used by people in photographs, rather than a purified art piece.  If the piece really is as artistic as the architect claims it to be, the space should be able to be photographed and appreciated for the artistic space it is, while being used for its intention, to serve humans.  Using Michael Rotondi's rule of putting yourself in the space, it is important for architects and photographers to start showing spaces in use, so that people can more easily imagine themselves in the space.

Resurrecting Chruch

In recent months, I have had the pleasure of attending mass at a church in Lubbock, TX called St. John Neumann's Catholic Church.  One prominent belief in the Catholic religion is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, three days after his crucifixion.  This church's architecture resembles this core belief by being partially built underground and displaying a large chapel which seems to "resurrect" or rise out of the ground, resembling Jesus Christ's resurrection.

There are many benefits and reasons for designing buildings halfway underground, including energy savings due to the Earth's natural temperature controlling the space underground.  By being partially or completely underground a space can help to protect inhabitants from numerous natural disasters.  Although both of these reasons were probably taken into consideration when the design of the church was drawn up, as well as site and local building regulations, I believe that the connection between the scripture and the faith of the religion the church would be serving, was the most important consideration of all, to the client.

Earthscraper

With more and more structures being built, less and less ground space is available for new structures, and with a growing population this problem becomes even greater.  But what if there was a way around all this?  What if you could build more structures for the growing population, while conserving ground space?  That is just what architects in Mexico City are proposing.

It's called an "Earthscraper".

An online article speaks of the proposed plan and all the pros that could come from this underground structure.  Not only is space limited in Mexico City, but height regulations limit new buildings to a mere eight stories.  Architects feel as though building down is not only a logical option, but the only option they have, needing to fit retail, housing, and office space within a somewhat small square of the city.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2048395/Earth-scraper-Architects-design-65-storey-building-300-metres-ground.html

This idea reminds me of an article in BULDBLOG, called Mine Plug.  In areas where structure is difficult to build due to less than perfect conditions, such as in Picher, OK, architects are looking at digging into the earth to use underground space, rather than aboveground space.

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/mine-plug.html

Whether or not this structure will actually get built at this point is up for debate.  The article does not address the cons of building a giant "earthscraper" yet, but it is important to remember that it is only in a proposed state at this point and many questions still need to be worked out.  The fact that this option could possible become a reality proves how far we have come in the world of architecture.  Architects are good at pushing the limits and designing seemingly impossible structures, only to be later built and used.

Archiving Issues

With the world exchange of information changing from only newspapers, to numerous online multimedia contents, a new dilemma has occurred.  How do we archive all of the different types of contents?

In an audio article from the series The Practice of Online Journalism, "Archiving Issues" talks about the issues the world faces as media continually changes.  In the world of journalism, content is the product, the value of the field.  For the field to lose content due to lack of archiving, would be a tremendous loss.

The dilemma lies in the inconsistency of archiving and saving content in its original context.  Articles, photos, audio recordings, and other media content has been saved to some extent, but linking it all together, in the original context, is what companies are now looking into.

As the internet world has evolved and archiving has changed, companies have had to throw some work away, while reorganizing the content they were archiving.  If companies are doing this, many amateurs are as well, an unfortunate happening.

We realize that doing nothing would be a mistake and steps toward archiving all content is beginning.

I believe that it is just as important for small companies and amateurs to archive their work, as it is for large companies.  One option that has recently become popular for saving work is Dropbox.  Dropbox is an online service which allows users to save and share their content with others.  Basic uses are free, but more space is available for an additional cost.

This service offers a great solution to a previously unforeseen problem.  There are probably many other online services helping to eliminate the loss of valuable content and offering alternative solutions to the archiving problems we are currently facing.  I highly suggest checking out one or more of these solutions, so that your own work is not later lost.

Neuro-Architecture

Neuro-Architecture is the relationship between architecturally built buildings and human behavior.  It is the idea behind the fact that a well built building or a poorly built building can have positive or negative consequences on society.   It has to do with the understanding that design can physically and emotionally affect society, whether it be consciously or unconsciously.

The average person is probably not conscious of the experience they have while within spaces.  Light, the flow of a space, how architecturally well a building is built, meaning how true to its original inspiration, all affect us physically and emotionally.  If a building has an abundance of natural light and an easy flow, stress and anxiety levels are relatively low.  On the contrary, if a building lacks natural light or is a labyrinth of some kind, stress and anxiety levels can rise.

Ongoing reports are being done to try and expand the field of study to find more correlations between the built environment and society.  Discoveries from past studies are trying to link developed environments with positive consequences and underdeveloped environments with negative consequences, including low income or crime.

It is important for architects to make the experience of a space known to its occupants, as well as to themselves.  Once architects are aware of the experience their space is creating, they can better design for positive spaces.  It is also important for the general public to educate themselves on how a space can positively or negatively affect them, for even decoration can affect a person, according to a CNN report.

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-07-02/living/o.bed.bath.bliss_1_architecture-design-kitchen-john-zeisel?_s=PM:LIVING

In the future we can expect architects to proactively address the effects created by the built environment, and to begin changing the way they practice to better design, with "an intention to improve the quality of life" for society as a whole.

Thrift Store Reflection

Each town has their fair share of thrift stores sitting on random corners of streets they would rather not admit exist in their neighborhood.  It is mostly likely not the first place we think of going shopping at when we go out with our friends, but it is a place to visit every once in a while.  When you step inside the thrift store, you are immediately surrounded by outdated clothing, furniture, jewelry, and books.  While you may be tempted to turn around and walk out then, I encourage you to stay and look around.  Soon you will see yourself in different pieces around the store.  Maybe it's the bejeweled jeans that you would have loved 10 years ago, that you would have felt confident and attractive in.  And then you begin to think about the designer jeans hanging in your closet that you constantly want more of, only to impress strangers on the street.  This seemingly little thrift store can suddenly have a huge impact on you.  A simple shopping trip can turn into a reflective trip.  As old pieces of clothing remind you of the person you once were, and how much you have changed as you have worked yourself up the management ladder at work, or as you have moved into a nicer neighborhood.  You start to remember how easy things were before, because you were happy before; not constantly complaining about yet another person.  You start to remember all the promises you left broken.  As the new year approaches, it is important that we reflect on our past year.  Holidays are for giving and loving friends and family, not a time for a long wish list for distant relatives.  This holiday season, I invite you all to reflect on your lives, and make a change in the coming year.  Keep the old you in mind as you confidently walk the streets and don't worry about comparing yourself to others.  Take the time to thank those how have helped you get to the place you are at, and apologize to those that you have disappointed in the past.  Reflect on your life and then make a new year's resolution to keep that reflection in check from time to time.