Wednesday night, Saori, Yoshiko, and I went to the first meeting of SEED. This is a nascent organization that a few idealistic architects in St.Louis are attempting to form a local branch. SEED is patterned off of LEED, and is essentially a certification system for issues of social as well as environmental sustainability. While I applaud the effort and certainly think that designers should consider the local socioeconomic implications of their projects, I wonder how appropriate the "certification" model works towards the aim of fostering social equity.
This weeks topic was rather complicated and wide ranging as it covered the difficulties in reconciling democracy and diversity, especially as it applies to the control of urban space. There was an interesting example about some developers who wanted to transform a run-down industrial area into a "lifestyle center" (outdoor shopping mall/entertainment district). Between the time of the industrial area's decline and this proposal, there was a movement/agenda to recognize Aboriginal rights, officially sanctioned by the government, which involved the mapping of sites sacred to the Aborigines. This industrial site, it emerged, was the resting place of the Waugal, the dreaming snake. Interesting, efforts on behalf of the developers to placate the Aborigines only served to increase the racial and cultural tensions. The developers first attempted to precisely map where the Waugal was sleeping so they could perhaps develop around it. Unsurprising, the results were inconclusive.
Next, the developers attempted to compromise with some rather insulting and token efforts to 'bridge the difference' by creating a on site gallery for showcasing a permanent collection of Aboriginal artwork, and also by creating a serpentine walkway that lead from the parking lot to the shopping center. Also, perhaps unsurprisingly, these efforts at compromise actually strengthened the resolve of the Aborigines to prevent the development from proceeding. The end result was not surprising, the courts sided with the developers, the area was cleared and construction proceeded.
Anyway, we had our climate workshop yesterday, and then I scrambled to finish writing my response paper, which turned out to be absolutely terrible. Thankfully, they are only one page minimum. These response papers are not supposed to be summaries of what we have read. Rather, they are analytical, where we are expected to argue readings against each other, or discuss overall themes in the lens of personal experience. This paper was worse than a summary, as it failed to even summarize the position I was writing from. Hmm. Not so great.
What was good was Thursday was a lecture night, where a famous architect who happened to be in town gave a lecture. His firm had recently won the professional industry firm of the year award, which was ironic as the firm split almost immediately afterwards. I liked this architect much more than the previous one. He's a person who saw architectural in very sculptural terms, in the cumulative effects of small gestures and materials, like filling a window up with ping pong balls to filter the light and remove glare. Very sculptural. Apparently, he pays a person in his office to essentially screw around with materials and forms. At any rate, we got some free cheese and melon and we missed the first 2/3 of our Reconsidering the Margins class.
After the class, I went back up to studio and worked until 3 AM. Saori and I drove home, and I took a quick shower and crashed for three hours. We were back at school at 7 AM to keep working. It's not even a project, it's simply researching and very basic analysis of housing projects. There's just been so much else going on that's been demanding attention we havn't had suffienient time to make a deep impact on it. Saori hit the library over the last week, accumulating massive towers of books on housing, while I tended to focus way to much on what I could find on ArchDaily.com.
Anyway, the school food services put on another BBQ this afternoon, so picked up a locally made grilled sausage on a roll. mmmmmmm....
Our presentations went well. I got good comments on my program analysis, and my instructor liked the clarity of my graphics depicting the changes in kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms over the past 100 years. Afterwards, happy hour down in the plaza where I drank the first hard cider of the season. Also mmmmm.
Saori's mom made us a great dinner, and now we're wiped so I'm going to bed.
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