Books to be Read

My co-worker recently told me about this new "social networking" site called Pinterest.  (This is the same crafty co-worker who told me about Ravelry, but that's a whole other post.)  It has become my latest obsession.  The idea is that you create "pin boards" with images of ideas, things that you're interested in, or just things that you like.  They make it really easy to add pictures from other websites so you can pin as you surf the web.  Here comes the social networking aspect: you can follow other people's boards and re-pin their stuff to your boards.  As you may have guessed, my recipe board is exploding.  

I recently decided that the big cardboard box in the hallway to my bedroom was wasting valuable space and was downright ugly.  So already having some salvaged MDF waiting to become a shelving unit, I searched Craigslist for some free bricks and put together a temporary bookshelf.  Ta-da!

This shelf now contains mostly books that I have not yet read. :(  Many of them are my mother's books and have been waiting years for me to get around to reading them.  I'm determined to get through them and return them to their owner, so the question is where to start.  I need your help.  The list of books can, of course, be found on my Pinterest board.  I'm not sure if that's accessible to people without a Pinterest account, so the list can also be found here.  Some are bestsellers and some you won't have heard of.  Take a look and give me some recommendations on which books to read first.

 Blandings Castle - PG Wodehouse

 Dreams from My Father - Barack Obama

 Three Bags Full - Leonie Swann

Darcy's Story - Janet Aylmer 

 Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - Rebecca Wells

 Cocktail Time - PG Wodehouse

My Life in France - Julia Child

 Death in the Truffle Wood - Pierre Magnan

 iCon - Jeffrey S. Young

 The Mark of the Moderately Vicious Vampire - Lionel Fenn

 My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business - Dick Van Dyke

 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

 Earth: The Sequel - Fred Krupp

 Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak 

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

 The Princess Bride - William Goldman

 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke

 Son of a Witch - Gregory Maguire

 Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

 My Mother's Lovers - Christopher Hope

 Santa Clawed - Rita Mae Brown

 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

 Small Wonder - Barbara Kingsolver

 The King's Speech - Mark Logue and Peter Conradi

Coffee Tea of Me? - Trudy Baker and Rachel Jones 

 Sinister Sudoku

The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand

Brand New Day

In light of the comments from my last project (too strict, needs more flexibility) I've decided to expand this blog.  Obviously architecture is not my first love, though we do have a very strong bond.  I often find myself wanting to write about something but realizing it has nothing to do with studio or architecture.  The things I wish I were doing instead include photography, reading (so many books, so little time!), knitting, cooking/baking, and singing on occasion.  

Now seems to be an appropriate time for this change because I've just finished and turned in my statement of purpose for my 5th year thesis.  I decided to be quite honest in the assessment of my past three years in architecture school and what my plans are immediately after graduation.  I've been wanting to explore other areas of design such as photography and graphic design ever since San Francisco.  I also found this blog by a food stylist and photographer - Tartelette.  She goes to the farmer's market, makes lots of delicious food, takes awesome pictures of it, and gets paid for it.  I'd really like to do something like that.  I just need to start.

The finishing of my statement of purpose also marks the beginning of my summer in a way.  Until now I've had something hanging over my head reminding me of approaching deadlines.  First the Barbie Dream House competition and then the statement of purpose.  Now I feel much more that the 20 hours a week I'm not spending at work it truly mine.  Of course I do have a project for my dad to start, but no deadline.


I also saw the final installment of the Harry Potter movies tonight.  It always makes me a little sad when a series like that ends.  The Harry Potter books defined my generation and was a major part of my childhood.  In order to keep that part of me alive I'm thinking I'll start reading the books all over again.  Another beginning.

To go along with the fresh start and expanded content, this blog is in desperate need of a face lift.  That should be something fun to figure out.  I've not yet decided whether or not to change the name.  

And because architects like to look at pictures more than read long diatribes, here is a little something.

I was cut in the first round, but everyone at the library loved it, thanks to Catherine.  I guess I was fantasizing a little too much into Barbie being a real woman with career goals. C'est La Vie.

Let's here it for New York!

I just realized I didn't mention anything about my recent trip to New York!!  How I could have overlooked this, I do not know.

I went with most of my studio class and professor to New York because it's the closest thing we have to a city like Tokyo.  In one word: amazing!  I simply loved it.  It was my first time to the east coast, let alone the Big Apple so I was very excited.  The whole week we were there the weather was exceptionally beautiful.  I think I was spoiled a bit.  I keep thinking I wouldn't mind living there, but I know the weather will probably never be that good again.

I feel like I walked for a week straight.  We met at 10:30 everyday and went until midnight or 1:00am.  We saw so much, but missed so much at the same time.  Times Square, the Empire State, Rockefeller Center, CENTRAL PARK, the Met, SoHo, the Noguchi Museum, Herald Square, the Staton Island Ferry, THE HIGHLINE, the Brooklyn Bridge, the World Trade Center, the Seagram building, the Guggenheim, Coney Island, the New York Library, I could go on and on.

I managed to squeeze in two shows: Avenue Q (off-Broadway) and Jersey Boys (Broadway).  Jersey Boys was so much fun!  The performers were great, I grew up with the music, and the audience had a great energy.  Fantastic.  Avenue Q was also very good, but I'd seen it before so I wasn't as enthralled.

I think the only experience I had there that could be called close to bad was the night we all went out to find a nightclub and had no luck.  It was a Thursday night which probably explains why.  We ended up wandering the city for three hours in the middle of the night and the one place we found with a lot of people was entrance by invitation only.

The subway does live up to its dirty and grungy reputation, but I love it because it's so convenient.  I think the longest I had to wait for a train was maybe 20 minutes but that was at 2am.  It truly is the city that never sleeps which I love.  There's always something going on; the city's just so full of energy.  I know I need to spend much more time there to get a real sense of what it's like, but I really enjoyed the week I spent there.  I just can't wait to get back; there's still so much to see.

Picture Time.

Lincoln Center

Central Park

The Guggenheim Museum

View from the Empire State Building

The Highline

Benches on the Highline

The subway

The Brooklyn Bridge

The Highline at sunset

The Met

Taxis in front of the Met

Central Park

Radio City Music Hall @ Rockefeller Center

St. Patrick's Cathedral

View of Central Park from the top of Rockefeller Center

View from Rockefeller Center

 Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night @ the MOMA

 The Seagram Building

 The Lever House

 The New Museum

Delicious cheesecake from the Carnegie Deli

 Entrance to the Manhattan Bridge

 Hearst Tower

 Rockefeller Center

 August Wilson Theatre where I saw Jersey Boys!!

 Chess table outside City Hall

 New York Public Library

 The Chrysler Building

 Strawberry Fields

 Coney Island

Final Presentation and SUMMER!!

I'm sure you're all dying to know how my project turned out.  To sum up, for me this quarter has been my best so far in terms of my satisfaction with my work and what I was able to produce for the presentation.  Thank you so much to my friend Russell for providing me with rendering software, Maxwell, and teaching me how to use it!  It made a world of difference in the quality of my presentation.  I still have a lot to learn but I'm very happy with how things turned out.

Despite my personal successes, my review didn't go so well.  I was scheduled to go first and as usual spoke too fast and left things out.  It didn't help that one of my reviewers was particularly harsh to everyone.  He made sure to point out my shortcomings and asked all the ridiculous why questions (why did you decide to make the modules 10 feet square?  what does that mean for Japan?).  At the time I was unprepared, but of course later on I thought of a perfectly adequate answer.  I do agree with the consensus of all my reviewers that I was a little too strict or stiff with my design and that it needed more flexibility.  

The story of my life.

Here is the presentation.  

If you're wondering why the introductory content is on the second sheet, the sheets were designed to be viewed together as a whole, side by side.  The viewer was meant to start in the middle and then "zoom out," if you will.

On to more pleasant topics like...SUMMER!!

I will be spending the majority of my summer in San Luis Obispo continuing my job in the library's Special Collections Dept.  They are currently paying me to design a sustainable Barbie Dream House inspired by Julia Morgan for an AIA competition (and to update this blog apparently).  How cool is that?!?  I'm also going to finally be processing the Mark Mills collection and possibly be visiting some of his projects!  I'm very excited.  

On my own time I will be updating some of my past projects for my 5th year application.  This and the thought of deciding on a thesis project are very overwhelming.  I'm not ready.  It makes me nervous to think about, so I keep putting it off.

When July comes, I will "attack [it] with an enthusiasm never before seen by mankind."  (My new mantra inspired by some sports guy I don't know.  I heard on the radio.)
TTFN

3D Tetris

I tried to post this image awhile ago and finally got around to converting it to the right file format.  This is the concept for my building.  It's a little further developed now to be a steel frame building with each block as either housing, circulation, or open space.  Units are still made up of three to four blocks like the ones pictured here.