The architect's “how” of implementing change in the community:
0. Asses Need
1. Find Precedent
2. Educate/ Sell the idea
3. Address Politics
4. Address Design
5. Identify Partners
6. Respond to Existing Conditions

Affinity group, did I leave one out? Others, what are your comments on the sequential order, relevancy of each item? Does anyone have specific examples of a successful completion of any of the above items?

Ideas...

Here are tonight's ideas:

Fabric architecture as the "peel" weaving up the core space, signifying what is different, what is creative. Images projected onto the fabric for the display of creative works from the creative area. This way the creative area overtakes and owns the "apple" space.

To further highlight the different quality of this creative display, this peel of presentation; a strong, continuous color could be given to the fabric as it moves through the white apple space.

Signature Element

This week I will be developing my core creation, performance, display area. This is at the heart of the intent of my design and I will be exploring how to integrate it with the experience of the apple form. Some elements I will be considering include: the stair, railings, display surfaces, and performance backdrops.

the Form takes Shape

Selected "blog" review comments are in italics. All selected are being explored and responses will be graphic.

A place to perform/create and be observed: Inside the 3-dimensional "Apple" space

• Explore the acoustical values of the "public pods" overlooking the core space.
• Because of its subtlety, can slight more literal references to the apple be introduced? Peel, skin, color, etc.
• Maybe the apple could shift a little on each floor and not be symmetrical.
• Calm order, does that mean overt reference to the logo?

Enter up and directly into the apple space from outside

Inside the central apple space from the ground floor, looking up at second floor creation/display zone

• Prepare a series of perspectives to show potential uses of this core space.

Looking into the apple space from the second floor. At its widest, the apple intersects the exterior plane of the building to form the oval shaped opening below.

Third floor cafe overlook into the apple space and down at the creation areaPoche spaces for more specialized services and accessories

Your comments please....

• Investigate fabric architecture for building skin.
• How can the central apple experience translate to the outside of the building?
• Could we see more of the apple peeking through the front corner?

The Experiences of Apple

My next step was to translate my ideas about the Apple store quality into a set of physical experiences.

I have noticed that Apple's logo is everywhere, but it is just stuck onto design elements. I wanted to integrate the apple into the form of the building, subtly, yet recognizably to the imaginative Apple user. The goal was to keep the museumlike qualities, yet challenge the simple white box form demonstrated in their stores. Apple is more than a box, and the architecture itself can be a testament to their innovation.

Here are some early experiences:

And the wireframe model:

After the perspective experiences came the first attempt at the model, and after that the program of spaces and the building site information.

Copley Square:

The Formation of an Idea

A view of my Black and White presentation on the last day of the intensive.

Now I'll work backwards to explain how my ideas came together.

The week began with a visit here...

The Apple store in Boston, Massachusetts.

We put our new knowledge about the way we shop to the test and simultaneously observed how customers interacted with the products and the store itself.

Some of my observations were: The Apple store is a destination, and rarely a quick stop. People feel comfortable enough to look, touch, and play with the products. The calm, quiet and roomy interior feels academic, if not museumlike.

While it was comfortable to be in that calm environment, it seems Apple has lost an opportunity. In this effort to distance themselves from loud, busy retail, they have not allowed their products' powerful capabilities be showcased. Checking email is not extraordinary. Video, Sound, and Graphic editing are powerful. The creation and production by the user of something artistic, useful, or thoughtful and its display could be key in the Apple store dynamic.

Below are a brain storm of concepts for the new Apple store design on which I was embarking:

Theory Class: A Vision

During our intensive in Boston, discussion covered everything from how people shop to what makes a job worth doing. Architecture is a profession full of challenges, ever-changing and ever-present. An architect should consider her purposes and motivations frequently or risk becoming overwhelmed with the details. Our week culminated in a statement of vision by each student for the future of our larger community. Over the next few weeks we are to think about how this affects each layer of our lives. I have posted my statement below followed by comments from my affinity group.

Columbus, like many other cities has experienced suburbanization and the addition of the by-pass freeway. But the need has been and remains under study how to provide an alternative to the car or the very long bus ride into the city. On a broader scale, the connection of Columbus to the other urban areas via rail remains a favorite topic of discussion.

With the possible addition/alteration to our transportation systems could come the possibility to change the ways many people experience the city. Future rail stations could provide the chance to explore interaction/addition of spaces that are public, enjoyable, and well-used. The placement strategically along with the architectural shape and siting of the structures will determine how the public interacts with them. It may be helpful to establish a set of guidelines for these places.

Affinity Group Comments:

Look at possible connection that Columbus may have in common with Rancho Cucamonga in California. Located about 50 miles of L.A., this city has grown leaps and bounds over the last 10-12 years. The city originally was small, quiet and rural. With a demand for housing outside of L.A. the city had growing pains. There was, along with other improved infrastructure, a rail line set in place. The “metro-Link” utilizes existing railroads and re-uses older abandoned stations. This concept allowed for better people circulation in and out of LA and kicked off revitalization in the city. Metro-Link not only provided transportation, it helped jump-start the city to status of “Yesteryear.”

Look at Western bus systems along with rail. The advent of the “Hop-Skip-Jump” system in Boulder, Colorado was very successful. One problem with Columbus is the commuter mentality. Does mass transportation need to be cuter or pretty? It needs to be easy and accessible. Eliminate? Longer routes in lieu of shorter faster localized routes that might connect with express routes or rail spurs. Don’t forget that a lot of Columbus’ business now resides in the suburbs vs. downtown, e.g. Chase at Polaris.

analyzing the perspective in 2D

Three of the perspectives from the Big Brother House that I studied in an earlier post relate to the main community space. I am specifically dealing with the perspective below; however, insight gained from other perspectives helped to shape my two dimensional space analysis.

While architects tend to think that a perspective gives others information about a space that two dimensional drawings cannot, it is also true that it camouflages information that is irrelevant, unknown, or undesirable. We tend to show off our best design features in a perspective, while the mechanical room gets only a label on a floor plan.

Below I show two different possible constructions of the space pictured, with labels asking what this "poche" space could house.

Visual Marketing

A certain amount of what Underhill talks about in his book, which is really "primer" on the behavior of the shopper, has to do with the visual effects of signage, product placement, and perceived comfort.

The apple store is no exception. The store itself is meant to be an advertisement, to convey a message about the innovative nature of the company from ipod to istore. The apple store shows up on web pages everywhere as a marketing technique, and I thought it was interesting to note the link which showed the "photoshopped" image of the San Francisco store versus the actual site conditions.

The science of shopping

What I have read already from Paco Underhill's book is fascinating. Again we are focusing on human behavior in the built environment, this time in the shopping context. It's amazing how far Underhill and his company can go to research human behavior, and yet it is constantly changing. Their work is never complete.

The attitudes and reactions evoked by product placement, advertising, physical comfort, and human interaction are the focus of this science. Yet it is not a far leap to begin to study what sells a television show, for instance...

So how does a designer transfer this level of detailed study of human behavior to the creation of the built environment outside of the shopping context? I think there is something to be learned here from the diligence and attention to detail developed by Underhill and his team, not to mention the passion! For shopping of all things!

Engineering the Perspective: What they want us to see

"Reality in everyday usage means "everything that exists". The term reality, in its widest sense, includes everything that is, whether it is observable, comprehensible, or self-contradictory by science, philosophy, or any other system of analysis. " -Wikipedia Encyclopedia

Thinking about the perspectives I was seeing on Big Brother, and reflecting on their affect on me as the viewer has brought me to several conclusions.

1. Big Brother is a constructed reality- although it is constructed, it does exist.
2. The physical setting supports the intent of the producer.
3. Camera angles obscure what the viewer is not to see.

Below I have four sets of images. The first image is what a viewer would see on a weekly episode. The second reveals what is just outside the parameters of the first perspective. I have grayed out areas that would be seen on a weekly episode so that we can better focus on what we don't see.

Image 1: The contrasting set

Producers and set designers create what I call "staging areas," places where characters should interact in order to create the most visually exciting image to the viewer. Cameras are in full view of the characters; they are aware they are being filmed. The show has much less to do with the latest annoying strategic plots of the characters then it does to do with creating something that is visually stimulating to the viewer- whether that is the background, the bodies of the characters, or the some elaborately staged challenge.

This perspective shows the contrast that has been overemphasized between a fiery wall and ice cold furniture and accessories. Even color and texture heighten the contrast with the hope of stimulating either the characters or the viewers.

Image 2: The fantastical set

This perspective further accentuates the producers' attempts to stimulate the viewers with its use of fantasy sets and an unashamed overhead perspective to give the watcher a complete view of this "constructed" reality. Even the participants are forced to become part of the scenery via their costuming. Furthermore, what is meant to look like the outdoors, however imaginary, is really the courtyard of a warehouse or something similar. See the gray walls extending above the house's extents and the catwalks for filming in the image above.

Image 3: The set geometry and illusion

Looking at this perspective makes one wonder, "What am I really seeing?" The viewer is forced to look through the participants at a brick wall with a television, while they look at each other. The top and bottom planes of this wall are obscured so that the geometry is unclear. The room is meant to appear warm and cozy, but the participants experience something else. The right photo reveals that above the visible extents of the set are harsh stage lighting and cool, gray unfinished surfaces. The set reveals dramatized geometry focusing the viewer toward the brick wall.

Image 4: Set and perspective exclusion

The purpose of this perspective seems at first to be only to showcase a visually stimulating setting, but it also serves to isolate us from the character and what he is really doing. We can't see where he's come from, or where he is going. We miss his perspective and environmental experience from that location, but it is clearly visible in the photo to the right. He sees the cool blue staging area, but he also sees the warm staging area below and all of the unfinished areas between. The character knows he is in a discontinuous set with definite staging areas, but do we?

My hope is that the diagrams above show just how much we are meant not to see about reality shows, and how different the experience is for the characters than we perceive.

Analyzing the perspectives: Step one

Watching Big Brother has produced some interesting images of not only the house, but also the intent of the filming of the characters in relation to the house. I am posting the screen shots and some sketches now and the diagrams later, since they are in progress. I have included a short description of what I am diagramming in each perspective.

1. A physical setting of contrast: in color and concept 2. Set geometry and perspective illusion: the view of characters in the space 3. Set and perspective exclusion: what we can't see

4. Dramatized set and perspective: creation of a fantastical alternate reality

Comments on the images and their short descriptions are appreciated.

Our Personal Challenges Aren't Aided by the Built Environment

Many of the issues addressed by Bickford, and somehow forgotton amidst our discussions about gated communities and the suburbs, deal with personal psychological challenges. Interacting with strangers is NOT easy, truely helping the poor takes time and effort, and real genuine community is scarely existent at all. We are self-focused and fearful creatures.

"The public is a place of risk, uncertainty, incompleteness...But exposure also has another meaning, one that has come to be overwhelming-- vulnerability, exposure to hurt and danger, unsafe because not inside."

Pulling ourselves away from others out of fear is natural, but it doesn't cause growth. Many of the inventions of the past century have fueled our ability to be independent, and the architecture we have created is no exception. So if architecture and the built environment can encourage us to grow by learning to interact with and care for other individuals, it should. The question is how?

Bickford does a great job of calling to light our weaknesses architecturally and governmentally, ultimately resulting from personal challenges we are hardly aware of; and she even encourages dialogue and communication. But I have yet to see any concrete suggestions, case studies, or design strategies for those involved with the built environment.

Big Brother, the extreme

It just dawned on me that maybe the reason Americans are so entertained by Big Brother is that it provides the extreme opposite of the lives they live. Reading Bickford's article sometimes brought images from the Big Brother house to mind. While we live in sometimes utter seclusion and convince ourselves we like it that way, we are enthralled by watching strangers live and sleep and eat in quarters closer than we ever were with our own families.

Constructing Inequality: City Spaces and the Architecture of Citizenship

This article, written by Susan Bickford, examines the connection between political theory and the built environment, specifically the deficiencies of the current situation in this country.

I found the comments on suburbia very interesting, even before I read the article. (I read comments on other blogs) During undergrad, one thing I was sure of was that I would never live in a suburb. Here I am in Dublin, Ohio, three years later, and for the most part, I hate it. I was thinking about why everyone I know lives in a suburb, and I came to the same conclusions before reading the article:

The idea of "safety"
The feeling of cleanliness/orderliness
Affordable pleasant surroundings

I don't think most of us segregate ourselves from others who are different by choice. Even as young designers we have little or no say over our housing options. We must choose what is most convenient, affordable, and meets our needs.

More about Susan's political ideas later...

Second day of the new year, first day of the new program...
I am enjoying reading about everyone; we all have something unique to offer. I will be writing more about myself in the next few days.

For now, does anyone know how to save still "screen shots" of Big Brother? I have tried on YouTube and the CBS website and haven't had much luck.