I made specific promises to myself to update this space with my more important happenings of the past few months over a lengthy three week holiday break. As with many other goals for my time off, it didn’t happen. Typically the first week of school is low key, so I’ll make amens then.
Much love,
Eric
Fall break is next week and I will give a full digest of architectural happenings then. That is after I clear my thought-cicles. In less than a half hour, my Environmental Controls class will present, in small groups, our personal “Thermal Oasis”. This is a place where we feel in harmony with ourselves, and we must explain the architectural and thermal elements that make it so. Here is mine:
Hastens Bed
Comedian, actor, and musician Jamie Foxx once flowed, “Baby, if we leave the club, won’t be nothing but good lovin’, cause I got a warm bed.” The notion of the warm bed is cliché and familiar enough that it may be unabashedly used for the seduction of some potential lover met in a club. A combination of the implication that Foxx and the woman aren’t familiar with each other, understood via references in the song, and the calmative and tranquilizing hint of his intentions for the night, suggest that the warm bed enchants the masses who have experienced it.
For me, it’s not the laying down at night that charms me, which is probably undervalued. It’s the experience of a morning, typically on the weekends, and typically in the cooler months that constitute my thermal oasis. This involves a combination of things to make for a perfect warm bed experience. My face, as it remains uncovered, stays chilled, especially my nose. I can almost feel the cold draft rolling down from my inefficient windows. But for this moment, that’s just fine.
A down comforter on top and a feather bed under the fitted sheet are ideal for this situation. Running my hand over the sheets and subconsciously noting their appropriate thread count and the benefits of quality fabric softener and washing methods, my opiate receptors are engaged. While supreme comfort and tactile bliss are important, the surrounding elements are ideal in large part for their heat conduction. The natural materials – feathers and cotton – allow my swaddled self to breath, yet still retaining warmth that radiates back on my skin. I will often fish around my bed, eyes closed, for a new pillow. Fully chilled by the cold air and producing an ephemeral, yet delightful sensation with the heat of my face, the frigid pillow helps regulate my facial temperature.
These thermal properties, of course, are only part of the experience. My occasional ability to wake up sans alarm clock and with my body’s own volition is wonderful. With my translucent eyelids, I notice the effulgently gratifying light, peering between my blinds and reflecting infinitely on the white walls, ceiling, and duvet. And so the furious act of coming to is pacified. The global luminescence makes the room feel lighter, almost seeming to give the air more oxygen.
This is my thermal oasis. While it can only realistically last a few minutes, its effects will last all day. The sense of being coddled by my bed, like a good hug or a meaningful kiss, has a transitive power to induce day-long emotional inebriation.
It’s no secret that Pink Martini is my favorite music group of all time. When they broke with tradition and performed in Los Angeles instead of Portland on my birthday (New Years Eve), at first I was really mad, but then attempted to get a plane ticket to LA for the performance. I ended up just having to listen to it on NPR, however. Their 4th studio album, Splendor in the Grass, will be released next month, along with a live performance album with the Oregon Symphony next spring. This morning they performed on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic, performing several songs from the new album, and I’m enchanted. You can listen here:
For those who know me, it’s no secret that I’m interested in politics. Although I claim no expertise, there is a concerted effort on my part to develop my opinions in a reasonable time frame and from reliable sources all while doing my best to avoid a dogmatic approach to issues we face. Of course in architecture, a lot of what we learn passes through an imaginary filter of theoretical interpretations because, let’s face it, no one has enough time to consider each and every fact/opinion out there. The same goes with my political leanings. One of my filters is that if a substantial amount of ignorant, yet loud and mentally tweaked out people rally together over a single issue and start comparing such disparate things as a man who attempted to wipe out a race of people and a man with whom they disagree on certain political issues who has not attempted nor succeeded in killing several million people, then their position is probably not for me. The same tribe of screamers that said “support our president or get out of the country because it’s un-American to challenge him” have so quickly switched to the repetitions that the president, himself, is un-American (either in the form of citizenship or on a basis of going against the principles that America was built on). The following video brought all this to my mind. People calling for Glenn Beck to be president (a man of deplorable scruples all for the sake of ratings, willing to exploit his viewers and bastardize the media) or claiming that Obama’s name “in its content” means anti-Christ make me that much more proud of my president and pushes me that much further in my appreciation of leftist ideals.
Another great set last night for three groups at Urban Lounge here in Salt Lake. I took my camera this time, which ended up being a somewhat enthralling experiment in lighting. With my ISO jacked up as high as it goes (1600), my aperture between f/2.8 and f/5.6 and letting the camera decide shutter speed, I got some interesting shots. Flash was used sparingly to keep the mood of the venue so grain is king in most of the pictures.
I know there are certain of you who take serious issue with my Christmas addiction: a few of you in particular and you know I know who you are. You probably despise the fact that with Halloween over a month and a half away, places like Costco have already put Christmas decorations out. For me, however, this has the value of a non-lethal crack cocaine overdose. Not only did my students loans come through this morning (like a Christmas present in itself), the meaning of my Costco visit to replenish my flax granola and Diet Coke supply with these new funds took on a different nuance when the twinkling lights of both tannenbaum and crèche peppered my bloodstream with joy and bliss.
I could potentially turn this post into some agenda of my last couple weeks, but instead, I’ll do a digest of things that have come to my attention lately: for better or worse.
My classmate Laura’s boyfriend Lance has ownership in both Urban Lounge and Kilby Court. In the past couple weeks I’ve seen several bands at Urban Lounge and while I’ve rarely sought out indie rock, the groups I’ve seen there aren’t the avoiding kind. First and foremost, Band of Annuals is now one of my favorite bands of all time. I realize I’m late to the game on this one, but Salt Lake culture is still new, but ultimately exciting. Make sure and listen to Don’t Let Me Die on their MySpace page; when it was played, the whole crowd seemed to be singing a long and a highly enebriated couple was falling in love before my very eyes. The band actually reminds me of the now defunct Everybodyfields I once saw in concert. Coming up at Urban Lounge will be Yo La Tango and Blind Pilot, two bands I’ve been falling in love with in recent times.
A lot of experiences in the past six months of so have thrust me into adulthood quicker than I would have liked and one of the most difficult pieces has been student loans. The system is jacked up and there’s no other way to put it. At one point this week, a website told me my federal loan was ‘denied’. This sent me into a bad state of mind, and it very realistically took a toll on my schoolwork. During studio presentations of a study of walls, it was hard to even get out my explanations and settled for blunt words. Luckily my professor is understanding, albeit politically incorrect and powerful, but the way he handled my display of disdain for the world was surprising and helpful. A trip to the financial aid office and a 45 minute wait in line told me that my loan wasn’t actually denied, but rather was ‘in process’ and it’s just protocol to put denied. To this moment, I’m still baffled how it was chosen to use a word that means the exact opposite of what it’s supposed to mean when dealing with my ability to pay tuition and have enough money to pay for rent and living expenses. Horrible, horrible system. And I know many can relate to this.
To end this post on a positive note, I emailed Band of Annuals and got permission from a band member to take pictures at their next concert in October. I haven’t been using my camera much lately, although anyone who knows me is aware that I’ve taken thousands upon thousands since I got it in December. So be looking for some certainly high ISO pictures of bands in the near future.
While reading a chapter from Materials Architecture by John Fernandez for my materials class, I felt moved to blog. After a satisfying two-week break back in the Portland area, spent with friends and family, especially my niece and nephews, I was recharged to start my first full semester of grad school.
The first day was rather disjointed. Much of the time was spent deciding where my group’s desks would be place and how they would be organized. After at least a dozen iterations, we settled on sort of a “U” shape with multiple desks joined in the middle as a large, common work area for our craft projects.
First off was the Environmental Controls class taught by a man with at least three masters degrees and a 28 page curriculum vitae. I’m mostly excited to learn about acoustics in the class, but the other supreme element will be our participation in the Net Zero Energy campaign in the School of Architecture. It has been decided that our building will become net-zero, in other words it will consume less than or equal to the energy it produces. The dean is apparently set on photovoltaic panels (read: solar) to offset power consumption, but the students will have an active roll in achieving the goal. Some other ideas we’ve heard so far are wind turbines, a green roof, and improved HVAC systems. The class was split into nine groups, each dealing with different facets of the process. My group will be dealing with “Education” or, in other words, the task of showing what the Net Zero project is and what was done to achieve it within the building. We will put together 8-10 minute videos that will be eventually presented at a charette or forum of sorts in November for 150 or so members of the community. Luckily in my group I have a perfectionist, a graduate of cinematography, and a former exhibition designer that has dealt with educational displays extensively.
Next was a history class. I almost wanted to try and opt out of it because I’ve studied architectural history quite a bit already, but probably not as much as they would like in order for someone to be exempt. I’m mixed on how I feel about that class.
Lastly was studio. The same professor that railed on me last semester and then was receptive of my repentance for the final juries is now my studio professor. That means he, as my studio professor, will have the most holistic influence on my design education this semester. So far, everyone in my group is alright with that… in fact, the classmates I’ve talked to actually felt like he has our best educational interest at heart, that he is very smart, and that we are going to learn a lot. Part of it is probably that he has a doctorate in education, so he’s actually studied the art of teaching. I’m looking forward to our final project that could actually be built in Torrey, Utah. It will be a Zen Retreat and later in the semester we will all go camping there and experience the site.
Today was the first time in Materials. This class should be really interesting, especially with at least half a dozen field trips.
The last class, which we won’t have until Thursday is Intro to Theory. I have no idea how I feel about that yet.
It’s funny because it’s true. I’m not posting this with the same level of disdain hipsters would have for me because of my non-indie-ness, but partly because I’ve seen Art Historians do the same thing with crappy art: “They don’t get it because they aren’t deep enough” or whatever. The truth is that most of these bands I hear suck. Artistry is gone and tinny, tone deaf voices are in. There are some exceptions to these groups as I have big respect for Blind Pilot, Yo La Tengo, The National, Beirut, Antony & the Johnsons, along with Sigur Rós, but only because I enjoy their music and they’re actually talented, not because I enjoy engaging in some obscurantist pissing contest with my peers, throwing out band names that could only be thought up by anal-retentive half-wits attempting to look homeless while maintaining a college-level vocab.
My first semester of grad school is officially over. It was a journey that I didn’t expect and couldn’t have predicted. So far I’ve made some great friends and learned a ton. Although, it wasn’t numbers and facts we learned so much, but rather concepts, the ability to take criticism constructively, and introspect, among other things. Final presentations went relatively well, at least for me. The jury wasn’t 100% supportive of my drawings and some other elements, but the overall impression I got was “you f’ed up A, B, C, and D the first time… we complained… you accepted our comments, reworked things and fixed A, B, C, and D satisfactorily and good for you.” I thought it struck a good balance between encouraging pats on the back and cautionary, yet nurturing advice for the future.
Here are my boards:
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| From Project 2: UrbEx |
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| From Project 2: UrbEx |
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| From Project 2: UrbEx |
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| From Project 2: UrbEx |
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| From Project 2: UrbEx |