Thursday, September 25, 2008

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Community Outreach


In reaching out to the community our group wanted to have a centralized sculpture that was a landmark for everything else. This sculpture is to incorporate something that the community would continue to pass on lee street and turn around a question the meaning behind the structure. In there search they will find that it leads back to the interior architecture studio. The sculpture is very important in this proposal, but we didn't want to limit ourselves, so we connected all of our other proposals back to this idea.


In the photo above we marked a location where alot of our guerrilla marketing would take place. The depot is the heart of the Greensboro transit system, so in order to connect with the rest of Greensboro, why not penetrate at the very epicenter? here we would conduct fundraisers to "sell" our products, which include food, pens, stickers, flyer's-all completely free.

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Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Sustainablity through Space


This Image by Ivana Franke "Full Empty Space" speaks alot to me in terms of sustainability. Empty Space? It really makes you wonder questions: Whats in there? How do you navigate the space? Intentionality versus intentionality. Maybe the question we all are missing is "how much space do we need. I would be willing to bet money based on the size of our living quarters that 70 percent or more of that space is waste. And all of that waste is a product of Architects and designers that contribute to the construction of colossal Hollywood homes, where maybe 1 or 2 people will live and only viably use less than 3 percent of that space. Now look around you and think globally how much energy and natural resources go into "empty" space. It's static possessions that control those space, and maybe it wouldn't be a long shot by saying our ego is too big.

Now back to UNCG, how do they help with space. Well, its simple, dorm rooms. Dorms rooms are sustainable in my opinion. We learn to make use of every inch in that space. I didn't realize it at first but after a while, I came back to my dorm room and felt cozy at home knowing I had everything I needed right in that's 20 sq ft. space. I could give almost 1000's of examples of spaces that conserve and contribute to sustainability. So next time you go home think about your space, and think about if it adds anything to your lifestyle, or is it merely you ego.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Unknown Separation


Today I was given a mission, and that was to explore the exciting GTA bus system. As soon as class ended I headed out to the Bus stop with Leah, Heather, Sara, and Anna, located at Anna's house. The was a small sign up with the route number on it, and with my experienced skills at bus riding I immediately knew that route 2 would lead us to Four Seasons town center. We ended up having to call the bus number to pick us up and surprisingly the bus came literally within seconds of receiving our call and location. Once the bus arrived I was pushed along quickly after I swiped my card by the Bus drivers impatient motives. Apparently we were causing the bus to by slightly delayed due to an off route call. I could see on the looks of everybodies faces that they were not happy with us. Well I felt bad, but hey, its the way things worked out, so what? After quickly absorbing the torrential downfall of frowns, I sat down comfortably in a hard plastic shelled seat. Definitely not the best seat in the world, and my survival rate dropped due to the lack of passenger protection gear such as the commonly known seat belt. I understand I'm riding this bus at my own risk, and also the fact that unless this bus plowed off a cliff or got jacked by terrorists, I was quite safe. Moving on past the physical feeling of being on the bus, I'll let you know that it smelled like the fumes from a dirty lawnmower. I didn't hear many people talking, so I assumed the passengers were on there way to work, or heading home for the evening. If i were to describe some of the people then I would say most of them were predominately African American. I actually didn't read the excerpt about the sit-ins in greensboro before going onto the bus, due to a time crunch. However after just reading over it, I've realized that things now seem to be very equal, but not at the same time. I couldn't understand why Most kids at A&T are African American still, and there is a white minority. I have a few friends who go there and they are African American. I asked them why they didn't choose to go to NC state or some other school for engineering and they told me because they were familiar with the school. From the reading it seemed that alot of African Americans were applying to get into white school and were denied, and now that the restrictions are lifted things are still very similar...to some extent. Back to the bus though, It was a curious sight to see only African Americans on the bus besides ourselves. I'm not sure why, but my first guess was not joy riding around Greensboro like myself. The bus returned to the depot where we proceeded to get off and explore the area. The first stop was the Greensboro train station. The station itself was impressive, it had high vaulted ceiling, and many rows of large wooden benches. These benches stretched half the room, where only 4 or 5 people actually were sitting on them. My observation would be that public transportation has changed alot since the car came along, and trains are no longer a reliable source of transportation due to it. Again much like the bus, most of the people in there were African american, and again I realize that although many things have changed an unknown segregation still lays before us. This occurs in school, in work, and even in transportation.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Uhm...first week of class


This week started off alright, but then when I found out Tuesday night that I couldn't get into the studio after work...I guess you could say I was "pissed" off. I understand that some of the cards were deactivated, but its worse when security won't even let you in. Struggling through 9am - 11pm from going to class early to finding times to eat, and then going to work and still finding other ways to work around the clock. Time constraints are harder on me this time but I'm just going to have to figure out how to manage my time alot better. Once my card is activated then I think everything will work out a little smoother.

Uhm...first week of 2nd year

Uhm...first week of 2nd year