Julia. Tree.

Long time... No Post.

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:30:14 -0500

If anyone is out there, and anyone out there can spare a minute, could you please tell me what your understanding/ definition of architecture is? Please please please! And a few thanks you’s as well!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N239ZHS

Thanks internet friends!!!

Collages Take II.2

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:25:30 -0400

Collages Take II.2

Collages Take II.1

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:22:15 -0400

Light:

Movement:

Collages Take I

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:19:06 -0400

Light:

Movement:

Would You Look At That Floor!

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:47:00 -0400

Arch Daily posted this recently. Trees, yes. Okay. I like trees. But I like the fact that there is art ON these trees much more than I like these trees themselves.

It’s great! I love any kind of art incorporated into nature. Seeing how the two can blend and create a harmony and a rhythm that play wonderfully off of one another is refreshing and inspiring. This installation is in Sweden, a place that I’ve noticed really cares about nature incorporating art. While I was there I was lucky enough to visit Millesgarden another great example of art in landscape (though, much more formally than the art installation pictured above).

This was the overall site of the garden. We were free to wander around and experience both the sculptures inside the buildings as well as situated around and incorporated into the landscape. Overall, the sculptures outside seemed much more successful, and much more comfortable in the elements.

As for a little more close to home, one of my favorite places in Boston would be Forest Hills Cemetery. In general it is just a wonderful place, but I also enjoy seeing all of the outside sculpture tucked into the landscape. It literally plays hide and seek (a game, as I’ve mentioned a few times now, I adore). I’ve been there at least three times since Sophomore year. And now that I’m making this post, I’d like to go back just to take some pictures of the art installations that I love so much. Here are some examples of my favorites (click on the image for more info):

Another place that I’ve been wanting to visit is the Storm King Art Center in New York. It’s another sculpture garden of sorts. It’s absolutely absurd that I haven’t been there. I live less than an hour away. Talk about get with the program. Laaaaaame. Maybe I can stow away sometime this fall for an educational little trip (the ideal world). Anyway, I’d really like to see it there. I’ll add it to my “To Do” List along with picking apples.

Landlocked, y'know?

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:00:00 -0400

Fair trade just got fair-er.

I’m so excited about this project!

Some brilliant person discovered that you can roast coffee beans AT HOME. In an air popcorn popper! I can’t wait to try this experiment!

The instructions for this project state that home roasting is an activity best left for outside, so, it looks as though I’m not going to be able to try this until I go to my New York home.

Any cooking / do it yourself project is RIGHT up my alley (in fact, I would go so far to say that this “alley” is actually a 6 lane highway), so this is exactly the kind of project that I want to try, pronto.

I am also excited about this because it means that I can buy green coffee beans, fair trade. Meaning, skip out the roaster in the already small procession between the farmer and my coffee mug. Oh. Oh. I am so very excited about trying this at home.

Home roasting is also a lot less money. Yes, I am willing to spend a little more per pound on fair trade coffee. No doubt about it, but this cuts the cost by roughly $4 less per pound! That’s nuts.

It’s also convenient that my house comes equipped with a positively archaic air popcorn popper in the closet of my dining room. Score.

"It looks like a wet weed!"

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 19:59:37 -0400

I love tea pots. It’s a grandma thing. She loves tea cups and tea pots, and I always grew up having tea parties with her friends.

Now they’re just a comforting thing. They are cozy, functional, classic yet whimsical, and reminds me of gram. Oh, and Beauty and the Beast. There is no wrong.

I love this idea of reuse.

Artist: Melanie Bonajo

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 22:37:04 -0400

Artist: Dominique Appia

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 22:30:00 -0400

I love the hang drum! I could put it on an infinite looping...

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 21:58:01 -0400

I love the hang drum! I could put it on an infinite looping background for my life, and probably not even realize it. Other than the fact that I was somehow zen all the time.

I saw real hang drum players in Budapest. I was so excited! It seems to be a very European instrument…

Goodnight Frank.

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:57:15 -0400

M*A*S*H is one of my all time favorite shows. It’s old, and most of the people I know who are my age can’t stand it, but overall the series was pretty amazing. It wouldn’t have been on for 11 years if it wasn’t.

Alan Alda was more or less the start of the show for all 11 of those years, and if it weren’t for him the show would have been nothing. One of my favorite quotes from him (and, good. grief. there are thousands of good ones. I promise you) is this:

“…I’ll carry your books, I’ll carry a torch, I’ll carry a tune, I’ll cary on, carry over, carry forward, Cary Grand, cash and carry, carry me back to Old virginia, I’ll even ‘hari-kari’ if you show me how, but i will not carry a gun.”

I guess it would be helpful to explain that the show is set in an army hospital in Korea during the Korean War.

Anyway, Alan Alda has always been one of my favorite actors, in the show he plays a very noble, honest, moral, goofball, and in real life I’ve realized that he’s very similar to that same personality (The best actors often act exactly like themselves *in* their respected roles, I’ve found…).

He’s very much an older man at this point, but he is still very active. He’s written two books in the last few years. I’ve read them both, the first I thought was okay. The second however, was amazing. Positively, amazing.

I would recommend this book to anyone. It might help if you knew who Alan Alda was before reading the book, but it’s not necessary either. The entire book is centered around the many times over the course of his career that he’s been asked to speak. In each chapter he explains some learning experience, and how that experience prepared him to give that speech, then he includes that speech in the chapter as well.

Maybe it’s because I’m at that “graduation” age where speeches are a “thing” in my life. Maybe it’s because I could relate to a lot of the speeches (though not all of them, they’re all very different). I don’t know.

What I do know is that it is the best book that I’ve read in a long time. I enjoyed it immensely, and it was an extremely easy and quick read.

So… Go read it!
I’ll leaven let you borrow it from me.

Photo

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:54:00 -0400

Photo

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:48:00 -0400

Photo

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:43:00 -0400

Going through the many. many. pictures I have saved from the...

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:36:55 -0400

Going through the many. many. pictures I have saved from the internet.

There will be more of these a-comin’.

Just a hoff. Just a hoff.

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 09:26:00 -0400

You know. Like half. Only hoff. Eh, nevermind.

This teacup moves. And is very adorable. Also much too much money for me to ever own. But there are 12 in this collection, so you could own one if you want.

Artist: Rune Guneriussen

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 14:32:58 -0400

White rabbits and the longest short tunnel there ever was.

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:57:00 -0400

I think it’s time for a craft project.
I think it’s time for many craft projects.

Craft project #1

I think this piece is a nice jumping off point.. But if I were to build it I’d make it a tad more refined. I’m sure the end result is what the designer was after, but, it’s just a little too… random for me.

What would I change? I’m glad you asked.
1. The shelf would not be on a gurney (base) attached to an IV (electrical cord) apparently making its way to a hospital. I would have to think about what kind of base my design would have, but it for sure wouldn’t be this.
2. the drawers would instead be doors. Doors on pivots that can open and then slide back into the shelf. This way, letting the light shine though wouldn’t also be an obstruction and potential hazard. I imagine this method would also cost significantly less, considering the fact that I highly doubt that clear drawer material is inexpensive. Then again, a rotating / gliding hinge might not be the least expensive piece of hardware either.
3. There would be a much better solution to that cord. No one likes looking at electrical cords. Seriously.

Craft project #2

These, as opposed to my first light up furniture example, are a lot nicer.

If I were to build them myself I think I would make them look a little more sturdy. I’m a little skeptical of how flimsy their legs look.. But I think they might be made out of metal, which would resolve that issue. Either way, they still look a little disproportional.

I love the stacking feature of these shelves/tables. I love the light element of them. They shed a wonderful glow. I also love that there is a solution to most of the power cords. They run through the legs and onto the floor. Muuuuch better. Much cleaner.

Paradox much.

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:04:00 -0400

At this point it’s pretty indisputable how I feel about tall buildings, many levels, visual connections both inside and outside of buildings… But get this (I’m about to throw a wrench in the system) I’ve never cared for high rise buildings.

I can’t explain it. It’s completely the opposite of everything I seemingly believe in, but it’s true. For some reason I’ve just never felt awe stricken when looking at the buildings composing a city sky line.

Until now.

I am alllllll kinds of smitten with this building!
This. Coming from a girl who isn’t interested in high rise buildings. I guess there is an exception for everything, isn’t there?

P.S. After writing this I realized… I also do appreciate the new Frank Gehry tower going up in NYC… Even if they did make one facade flat. But that appreciation pales in comparison to how I feel about this tower.

Swim through it, minus the butterfly.

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:41:58 -0400

The work that Tang Yau Hoong does is fascinating and beautiful to me. Especially the image above.

Lights are a very “feeling” thing I’ve found. I have always been aware of how light can evoke emotion, but I didn’t completely understand this experience until it was my job to create it for other people without their realizing it.

That is the cool thing about lighting and light design. Most people in buildings, but especially in performances (both on stage and on screen), are wholly unaware of the manipulations involving lights that designers create in order to make people feel an emotion. Those people just have the feelings but don’t correlate it with the light settings. Technically, that’s the goal. Or at least, that is my goal when I’m designing lights.

Though, I must admit sometimes designing light elements for the sake of actually noticing them is just as fun. And is much less of an emotional thing as it is an experiential thing. I’ll file this under, a different aspect of lighting design, because, well, it is.

Anyhow, this artist does a great job of capturing both the feelings I was talking about, but also capturing the elements of fun, and just because. Either way. I like what he’s done.