Sunday, October 31, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Charts
The information that nautical charts convey is essential to any sailor. They contain information regarding the topography of the ocean floor as well as giving landmarks to orient oneself to. When paired with a Coast Pilot (a book providing directions on how to navigate coastal territories) safe and effective passage is possible.
NOAA Nautical Map of Bar Harbor, Maine
NOAA Nautical Map of Bar Harbor, MaineSailing Lexicon
Sails:
mainsail n.
principle sail in the sailing wardrobe; adjustments in the sail area is achieved by reefing and the sheeting angle of the mainsail can be controlled by the use of the mainsheet traveller.
genoa n.
a headsail that extends from bow to behind the mast.
lapper n.
a large foresail which extends aft behind the mast.
jib n.
the foremost sail; it is a fore-and-aft sail and is triangular in shape.
spinnaker n.
a lightweight three cornered sail set flying from a spinnaker pole and controlled with sheets from each clew.
trysail n.
a triangular loose-footed sail fitted aft of the mast and used to replace the mainsail in heavy weather.
Image adapted from Bob Bond's, "The Handbook to Sailing"
mainsail n.
principle sail in the sailing wardrobe; adjustments in the sail area is achieved by reefing and the sheeting angle of the mainsail can be controlled by the use of the mainsheet traveller.
genoa n.
a headsail that extends from bow to behind the mast.
lapper n.
a large foresail which extends aft behind the mast.
jib n.
the foremost sail; it is a fore-and-aft sail and is triangular in shape.
spinnaker n.
a lightweight three cornered sail set flying from a spinnaker pole and controlled with sheets from each clew.
trysail n.
a triangular loose-footed sail fitted aft of the mast and used to replace the mainsail in heavy weather.
Image adapted from Bob Bond's, "The Handbook to Sailing"Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Opening Gambit
Weather and our environment are in a constant state of flux. From the changing seasons to the changing climate, we reside, figuratively and quite literally, in an unstable air mass. Our separation from this environment is often regulated; though, through the static construct of our homes’ walls. Contemporary dwellings primarily rely on adjunct systems to maintain a secondary interior atmosphere, separate from the one that encompasses the house. And this, to a large extent is the purpose of our homes, our dwellings, to offer protection from inclement weather, and shade in the heat of the day.
Yet homes have lost their relationship with their environment, with the weather around them. No longer does one close the shutters at the onset of an impending storm, no longer do our homes contain “sleeping porches” for cool summer nights, rather the thermostat ensures we are always provided with our cool summer nights and our shutters have become vinyl bookends to windows, feigning functionality.
Restoring and reexamining this dynamic and active relationship, between the house and its environment, is what this opening gambit seeks to do. Designed to adapt to the changing climate along Coastal Maine, the Responsive House reacts against traditional notions of the static dwelling. While the immovable shoreline granite has worn, eroded and severed over time, the Responsive house delicately touches the land, tailoring to the changing winds and freeze-thaw cycles. It takes its inspiration in part from the rich sailing traditions in the region, where an array of sails are trimmed and hoisted to utilize changing winds. It also explores the sensibility of layered and adjustable hiking attire and abode. The house affords the inhabitant the ability to “trim” the constituent parts of the wall section to accommodate the weather, undergoing an array of metamorphosis throughout the days, weeks, and seasons.
Yet homes have lost their relationship with their environment, with the weather around them. No longer does one close the shutters at the onset of an impending storm, no longer do our homes contain “sleeping porches” for cool summer nights, rather the thermostat ensures we are always provided with our cool summer nights and our shutters have become vinyl bookends to windows, feigning functionality.
Restoring and reexamining this dynamic and active relationship, between the house and its environment, is what this opening gambit seeks to do. Designed to adapt to the changing climate along Coastal Maine, the Responsive House reacts against traditional notions of the static dwelling. While the immovable shoreline granite has worn, eroded and severed over time, the Responsive house delicately touches the land, tailoring to the changing winds and freeze-thaw cycles. It takes its inspiration in part from the rich sailing traditions in the region, where an array of sails are trimmed and hoisted to utilize changing winds. It also explores the sensibility of layered and adjustable hiking attire and abode. The house affords the inhabitant the ability to “trim” the constituent parts of the wall section to accommodate the weather, undergoing an array of metamorphosis throughout the days, weeks, and seasons.
Just a Moving Facade?
The work that I did for "House as Thesis" made me look at other precedents but also ask what about what I was proposing was different. Here are a few examples of work that begins to engage the facade/wall section as an active player in the discussion of shelter.
Architect Tom Kundig often takes these considerations into account through his whimsical and innovative designs as seen in his cabin proposal for the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
KieranTimberlake also explores the role of the active facade (as well as prefabrication) in their Loblolly House in coastal Maryland.
Ernst Giselbrecht + Partners has their well known Showroom for Kiefer Technic.
All of these projects have active facades yet I wish to go further to explore how the engagement of this facade can affect how one interacts with their environment, why is the wall the primary recipient of these dynamic systems, and how much is really gained but such an endeavor?
Architect Tom Kundig often takes these considerations into account through his whimsical and innovative designs as seen in his cabin proposal for the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
KieranTimberlake also explores the role of the active facade (as well as prefabrication) in their Loblolly House in coastal Maryland.
Ernst Giselbrecht + Partners has their well known Showroom for Kiefer Technic.
All of these projects have active facades yet I wish to go further to explore how the engagement of this facade can affect how one interacts with their environment, why is the wall the primary recipient of these dynamic systems, and how much is really gained but such an endeavor? Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Posts
Lexicon
Altocumulus Castellanus (ACCAS) n. (latin: high/heaped castle)
1. named for its tower-like projections that billow upwards from the base of the cloud, they may be a harbinger of heavy showers and thunderstorms. The appearance of Altocumulus Castellanus early in a sunny day indicates a high probability of the formation of thunderstorms in the afternoon.
dislocation n.
1. Displacement; removal from its proper (or former) place or location.
2. Having the continuity broken and the part displaced, as a line or stratum.
>> It often seems that the notion of dislocation carries with it a negative connotation, that somehow what we have grown accustomed to has changed or been misplaced. Yet I see this as a term that is rich with possibilities to my research, and might be quite positive. Traditional modes of building and dwelling hold to fairly rigid presuppositions as to how building are constructed and how their inhabitants interact with them. Perhaps the exterior skin or facade of a building need not be such a rigid construct and people begin to control this facade; perhaps the facade gets dislocated.
suburb n.
1. A place of vacancy.
They... had decided to burn the suburbs, in order to preserve the city... Ranke's History, 1845 latency 1. Delay between a stimulus and a response. respiration n. 1. a continuous physiological process; exhalation or inhalation. ecology n. 1. knowledge of the house, household economy. 2. colossal domestic architecture. 3. "a question of images...images of architecture and the architecture of images."
prosthetic n.
1. giving additional power, adding, furthering.
2. an extension of man's frontiers through "environment extensions."
>>A prosthetic gives "additional power." Perhaps this power allows one to control their environment. By viewing the building as a prosthetic, it becomes an extension of its inhabitants and also becomes active.
wild a.
1. bound by different laws, not tame.
2. acting or moving freely without restraint; going at one's own will; unconfined, unrestricted.
adaptive a.
1. to face the unpredictable; and survive.
2. term for the evolutionary process which produces divergent forms in different environments.
>>I see adaption as crucial within architecture. So often we conceive of buildings as static objects rather than things that can change and be manipulated. How might a building adapt to an impending storm, or an evening frost?
evolution n.
1. the process of unrolling, opening out, or disengaging from an envelope.
2. to change over time.
>>These two definitions of evolution were particularly relevant to me as I consider both forms of micro and macro evolution in the building section over time.
transformation n.
1. the action of changing in form, shape, or appearance; metamorphosis.
>>The environment within which we live is always changing. Why pose solutions to changing environments with static habitats?
economy ad.
1. the art or science of managing a household.
2. the rules which control a person's mode of living.
climate n.
1. a region considered with reference to its atmospheric conditions, or to its weather.
2. condition (of a region or country) in relation to prevailing atmospheric phenomena.
air n.
1. vital to life and weather.
“The sun is bright-the air is clear, The darting swallows soar and sing.”
Not Always May, Longfellow, 1840
housekeeping n.
1. the maintenance of a household; the management of household affairs.
Landshaft n.
1. a deep and intimate mode of relationship not only among buildings and fields but also among patterns of occupancy activity and space each often bound into calendrical time.
>>Landshaft's embodiment of both the notion of occupancy, time, and environment presented itself as a key term in my Lexicon while exploring active dwelling within a dynamic environment.
Altocumulus Castellanus (ACCAS) n. (latin: high/heaped castle)
1. named for its tower-like projections that billow upwards from the base of the cloud, they may be a harbinger of heavy showers and thunderstorms. The appearance of Altocumulus Castellanus early in a sunny day indicates a high probability of the formation of thunderstorms in the afternoon.
dislocation n.
1. Displacement; removal from its proper (or former) place or location.
2. Having the continuity broken and the part displaced, as a line or stratum.
>> It often seems that the notion of dislocation carries with it a negative connotation, that somehow what we have grown accustomed to has changed or been misplaced. Yet I see this as a term that is rich with possibilities to my research, and might be quite positive. Traditional modes of building and dwelling hold to fairly rigid presuppositions as to how building are constructed and how their inhabitants interact with them. Perhaps the exterior skin or facade of a building need not be such a rigid construct and people begin to control this facade; perhaps the facade gets dislocated.
suburb n.
1. A place of vacancy.
They... had decided to burn the suburbs, in order to preserve the city... Ranke's History, 1845 latency 1. Delay between a stimulus and a response. respiration n. 1. a continuous physiological process; exhalation or inhalation. ecology n. 1. knowledge of the house, household economy. 2. colossal domestic architecture. 3. "a question of images...images of architecture and the architecture of images."
prosthetic n.
1. giving additional power, adding, furthering.
2. an extension of man's frontiers through "environment extensions."
>>A prosthetic gives "additional power." Perhaps this power allows one to control their environment. By viewing the building as a prosthetic, it becomes an extension of its inhabitants and also becomes active.
wild a.
1. bound by different laws, not tame.
2. acting or moving freely without restraint; going at one's own will; unconfined, unrestricted.
adaptive a.
1. to face the unpredictable; and survive.
2. term for the evolutionary process which produces divergent forms in different environments.
>>I see adaption as crucial within architecture. So often we conceive of buildings as static objects rather than things that can change and be manipulated. How might a building adapt to an impending storm, or an evening frost?
evolution n.
1. the process of unrolling, opening out, or disengaging from an envelope.
2. to change over time.
>>These two definitions of evolution were particularly relevant to me as I consider both forms of micro and macro evolution in the building section over time.
transformation n.
1. the action of changing in form, shape, or appearance; metamorphosis.
>>The environment within which we live is always changing. Why pose solutions to changing environments with static habitats?
economy ad.
1. the art or science of managing a household.
2. the rules which control a person's mode of living.
climate n.
1. a region considered with reference to its atmospheric conditions, or to its weather.
2. condition (of a region or country) in relation to prevailing atmospheric phenomena.
air n.
1. vital to life and weather.
“The sun is bright-the air is clear, The darting swallows soar and sing.”
Not Always May, Longfellow, 1840
housekeeping n.
1. the maintenance of a household; the management of household affairs.
Landshaft n.
1. a deep and intimate mode of relationship not only among buildings and fields but also among patterns of occupancy activity and space each often bound into calendrical time.
>>Landshaft's embodiment of both the notion of occupancy, time, and environment presented itself as a key term in my Lexicon while exploring active dwelling within a dynamic environment.
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