Behavioral setting final

I considered different aways to accentuate hierarchy of spaces. One of the ways I made this was by using the height of the roof. A wide, open and easy communication between "public"rooms was also employed.
I tried to make the windows facing the lake interesting in order to entice the movement towards the social areas. Here is a detailed photo:

Industrial Design

So we finally finished with our industrial design and although my original design involved a large cube that was formed by 2 solid pieces to create seats. With the material limitations and several errors on my part, I had to edit my design by cutting out the second piece from the design.

I ended up with a "L" shaped block. What I really like about of my design is that it is so versatile that the viewer has the opportunity to decide what it is for themselves. It can be a shelving system, a bench, a storage device, a way to separate plant pots by height, TV stand, etc.

The most interesting aspect of it is how I had to go about piecing it together. It was a puzzle all by itself!!!

So, the changes in my Behavioral Settings are not going well, after my TA helped with some communication aspects between the social living areas (Living, dining, and kitchen).  I'm still having issues with the communication between my public and private!! Geoff, explained me a way to find the solution but I am still trying to make it work. Maybe, I should stop trying to make my rooms face a certain direction. I keep trying to make them have a face towards the lake. Why? because i believe that seeing the sun rising and reflect on the lake would be a perfect way to start the day. I don't have and architectural reason expect for how the breeze of the lake would serve as the cooling device for the rooms.

I have figured some ways to make the changes, such as just changing the height of the roof but not actually closing the room. Also, the entrances of the bedrooms and bathrooms should not be facing the public areas. This helps to make the transition between the public and private easier ( I can´t find a better word) than making "corridors to nowhere", which I have been creating a lot and am still creating.

Need to find a better way to fix this! This is my main issue to my model and since the final is due on the 22nd, I should have a preliminary model by the end of this week.

So I'm thinking about making some major changes in my behavioral setting project. My previous designs had accomplished several thinks I like but there was still something of in how the rooms communicated with each other. It was as if everything was separate, which in a way could be a good thing but it was not what I was going for.
Maybe there is a way to use the "social areas" as a way to further emphasize the much needed communication between spaces. This would make it a lot more important to my overall objective of making the destination public. I was browsing over some designs in a website I have mentioned previously on this blog, and I came across a design which I think could help me with my problem.
 There is something very appealing to how the "H" form creates the flow as well as what is the destination aspect .  Maybe something like this is the answer to my miscommunications in my design. We'll see. Here is are some pictures for all to see!!

We were recommended at the beginning of the semester to subscribe to different Architecture websites, read books and magazines which are architecture related. I followed this advice and thanks to http://news.architecture.sk/2010 ,  a website that shows a different buildings, residences, etc I get to see a variety of architecture everyday.

This is an old one but it's a project that I really liked. The name of the project is "House in a Church" and the core idea is how the everyday life mixes with the spiritual life. One of the element that I enjoy the most is how the destination or main attraction of the house is where the altar used to be. Talk about Destination! I think this goes very well with the whole idea of the relationship between the Everyday and the Spiritual. The atrium serves as a major light source and as a form of communication between both floors.

The real communication between the everyday and the spiritual can be noted as how the house was built. The residence was essential built inside the church. The atrium serves as the interaction between what was the old church and what is the new residence. The private area of the living space (bedrooms, bathrooms, etc) is almost completely closed to this interaction except for a window that is facing the atrium space.

You can see the interaction of the spaces here

grid work!!

So this is our third week or day working on our grid drawing in our ENDS 115 class (I don't remember exactly, the days have started to blur together jaja).

We were asked to create a classical garden while paying attention to what we have learned about grids.

This is mine. I think I did pretty well. It's not finished but I thought I would get ahead since this weekend I'll be playing in San Marcos!!! BTHO Texas State Round Robin!!!

Research Symposium

So this week, we were required to attend one of the lectures of a Research Symposium presented at the College of Architecture and write in our blogs what we thought about them.

I attended two: "Computational Aesthetics" and "Managing Creative Process for Innovation" by our dean, Jorge Vanegas.

First one went over my head. I could understand why creating a system, or computer, that was able to classify aesthetics was important. However, the lecturer went from talking about this system to only talking about aesthetics. I felt like he wasn't following through with his thesis. A system such as the one mentioned, is near impossible to create since there are so many variables to consider while making an algorithm to establish what is aesthetically good or bad. The perception of the person on the receiving end varies from person to person, since no pleasure system is the same.

On the other hand, Vanegas lecture was sort of mind blowing. It wasn't anything I haven't heard of before or knew but how he presented his lecture. The way he delivered it almost seemed as if he had some kind of power over his audience and he just took over our minds to make us follow his point. It was impressive, to say the least.

 When are we most creative? I think the answer is when we are children. Think about it, we were able to imagine whole worlds while playing. Let it be with dolls, action figures, construction blocks, socks etc. We always found ways to have fun. Ow why has our creativity declined over the years? Maybe it's because the first words we hear are: "No", "Don't do that", "Stop", etc. These words make it seem as though our creative process was someting bad instead of something that needed cherishing and nurshing.
Schools wanted us to think alike so they would have to deal with people in different levels, and those who were a little more creative, who doodled on their notes, read in class, wrote or found any kind of creative outlet were shund. (or at least in some of my schools)
Despite this controlled part of our childhood, we are now expected to oversome the obstacles place before us to develop into "knowledge creators" instead of becoming cookiecutter molds of our teachers.

Some things we have to do are:

1. Remove fear. The fear we have that our ideas would be rejected has to clmpletely leave our mind. We have to forget of people's opionions and just create.
2. Innovation has to become part of our performance review. Are we groing in our creative porcess? are we using knowledge form other areas to help us create?
3. Document innovation process. This is why we have a sketch journal. Any and everythinng we find interesting should be documented. As well as the outcomes of the ideas documented.
4. Explore all possibilities.
5. Need to be aware of the environment. New trends, technologies and changes in customers mindset are to be considered.
6. Diversity in thinking experiences, styles, perspectives, etc.

If we follow this steps our generation should be able to grow in the kind of people that would make the changes in the creative department.