Falling Behind

On Friday we turned in and presented our initial study work. The pages are too big to post here, but I think they turned out pretty well. Afterward we finally got to start on design work!

On Monday we pinned up what we had worked on over the weekend. I didn't have much to show because I was studying for my midterms all weekend. We were supposed to figure out if we could fit everything we need to include on the site. It's a very tight fit. I think I've got the parking layout figured out and I'm now struggling with how to arrange the units.

And it's Wendesday again. Here's my drawing for this week:



The theme was detail (up close and personal). I was also working on proportion and contrast. The proportion is much better than it was originally, but it's still not great. Overall, I think this is my best drawing this quarter, so we'll see how it rate's with the class.

Another Wednesday...

...means another weekly drawing. This week's theme was contrast.
I think this one is much better than last week's in terms or visual contrast.

I was also going for the contrast of the buildings and landscape around them. I spent an hour on the drawing and then probably another hour in photoshop enhancing it to give it even more contrast. It still wasn't good enough to get out of the bottom four. Oh well. Next week the theme is detail. Maybe I'll try white pencil on black paper. I've done better with that in the past. Or maybe I should just start sketching in pen. No, I make too many mistakes for that. I at least have to start off in pencil. Charcoal might be fun, but then I would need to buy some sealant. We'll see.

In other news, we're still working on gathering data about the project and site. I'm on the site analysis team and have been researching the weather data for Templeton, CA (actually Paso Robles, CA because Templeton doesn't have their own weather station). I've also been looking at the vegetation up there. They've got some pretty native plants.
In class we've spent way too much time discussing the uniform layout and the variations for each group. My professor wants it to look like all these documents came from one office and therefore must have common layout, but Oh My God. It's for our own use. It doesn't have to be perfect and fancy with a title page. Who knows, maybe we will actually include these documents if/when he shows some of our designs to the clients, but it still seems like it shouldn't be that big of a deal. I just want to say, "Layout team, this is your baby. You don't need a class consensus, just do it and we'll not only use what you come up with, but we'll probably like it too."

We haven't started on the actual design yet and I'm getting anxious. I know I'm going to need more time on this and I feel like I'm wasting so much right now.

Weekly Drawing 1

Today was a return to first year with the humiliation of weekly drawings. When we did these first year I would always be so embarrassed because my work was clearly lacking in comparison to everyone else and I just felt so far behind. As if that wasn't bad enough, now we have to rank all the drawings. So the thought that my drawing was the worst up on the wall was actually confirmed for me by my classmates today.



Now my scanner is terrible, so there is actually more to this drawing than this image shows. The comments I got back on it weren't anything I hadn't thought of. More contrast, add some context. The drawing was supposed to be relatively quick and drawn from life (not a photograph). I spent an hour on this and this is basically how far I got. If I was going to spend more time on this I would've added more shading and context. I'm not sure how long most other people spent on their drawings so I don't know if that was the only difference.

My professor made a point of saying "the comments are about the drawing, not the artist" but it's hard not to feel like people are ranking abilities or skill level which would mean they are commenting on the artist. He also said that we should really be competing against ourselves and be able to say that we're happy with the drawing no matter where it ranks. I'm not completely happy with the drawing because contrast is something that I always struggle with; however considering the time that I spent on it, it's probably one of the best faces I've done.

Contrast is the theme for next week, so we'll see how I do. I guess working fast will just have to come later.

Precedents

My first presentation of the quarter is now over. It was a group presentation for a precedent study we did on affordable housing for seniors. Our particular project was the Casa Grande Senior Apartments in Petaluma, CA. It was interesting for me because they recently won a really prestigious award from the governor for being both environmentally and economically conscious. They received a lot of "green points" but they were awarded for things like eco-friendly materials and materials containing recycled content. According to the sources they used a metal framing system rather than wood to conserve natural resources.
That doesn't make much sense to me because it seems like metal, even if it has recycled content, would take as much energy to produce as wood and metal is not renewable. And while using recycled materials and eco-friendly products are important, they should be awarding green points for passive design elements; for example, how much of the space can be fully lit with daylight alone for how many hours a day, in winter?
The design had a little of that with floor to ceiling windows and a south-east orientation but it's not enough, and those efforts weren't really recognized.
We need to change the way we evaluate buildings in terms of sustainability. NOW.

New Quarter

Week one is already over. I have a much more laid back studio this quarter. Our first project is a group presentation of a precedent study. Usually that's not such a big deal as to need a group, but my professor wants a lot of details and probably doesn't want to wade through as many presentations. It's also hard to find that many different affordable housing projects with enough information.
By the way, my project this quarter is affordable housing for seniors. A lot of people are bummed out by this project because you don't have a lot of wiggle room when it comes to concept. But since I'm not big on conceptual stuff anyway and housing is what I want to do, I'm pretty excited. Especially because we're supposed to emphasize passive design and being "green." The only thing I'm not thrilled about is my professor this quarter because he doesn't have a great reputation. He seems nice enough but I'm not sure what kind of feed back I'll be getting. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Judging by the first week, I think I'll have plenty of time to keep this blog updated on my progress, I just have to remember to do it.
As for F-stop, I talked to Mark a few days ago and he said he was waiting to talk to the electrician and go from there. Haven't heard anything yet, but I'm real interested to see how we're going to pull the cords for the tracks out of the walls.