Small Performance Hall

This is ubelievably simple in a horribly complicated way. We are using 3'x3' panel system to create a movable wall panel system to change the acoustics of our room whatever type of performance or musical styling it happens to be hosting. Making all these different styles took dang forever and now I have to refine them further for our next review to show that if works functionally. (Which through all the research I have done, it dang well better or I'm gonna make just a dang square box...) Finishing my restaurant tonight! Post pictures when I'm done.

Proscenium seating

Parliamentary style seating

Arena Style seating

Amphitheatre style seating arrangement

It might be difficult to get across from these images but it is coming along nicely and will be better when I set interior perspectives.

The Symphony Center that Never Ends!!!

Scheme and draw and model. Rinse. Repeat. Cleaning up our designs is very time consuming and quite honestly difficult. I have done our cafe three times already and need to do it just one more time, but I also need to get our small concert hall and VIP amenities figured out in conjunction with our loading dock, services and storage. The good news is that once I finish one of those things it makes the whole picture clearer. I just need to do that while staying in touch with two other people who are trying to do the same thing as me with other pieces of our building. On a less whinge-y note... I love how things are going!!! Speaking of how loving how things are going...

MANCHESTER CITY OBLITERATED MANCHESTER UNITED IN THE CROSS TOWN DERBY 6-1!!!!! Talk about making my day, I don't care what happens for the next few games of either the Cowboys or any other sports team I follow... How liberating to dismantle an opponent as such...

Just Read This from one of the greatest coaches ever...

I'm putting pictures up tomorrow, because I just needed a work break today.

David

Just as the Title says... That's all.

Mighty busy here this Thursday. Got some screenshots of things I am constructing in a computer program called Sketchup! (Some of you may have heard of it...) I have only one down and three to go too!!! Curse this comprehensive design studio!!! We are nearly finished with our design and still working on building our dang site model!! (Looks sweet though. I'll pic it when we're done with it.) Anyways... As promised here is my much vaunted group for the semester:

First of all my workstation... Lot messier right?

Stephanie Sereg!!!

Leila Ammar!!!

There you go. The two mystery strangers that have been putting up with me this semester as we work on our project. Pictured here is my project at the time. This is a section of our small 300 person performance hall with the current arrangement of procenium seating (aka just regular).

Pretty crazy. And I have 3 more configurations to make for this space because it is a modular structure that is highly changeable.

Getting Things Done...

Lots of things going on right now and not a lot of time to talk... Painting for the banner, Victory Lane and Storefront window went very nicely. Everything was designed and drawn out by me, and then painted with the help of others. I also spent a lot of time at the House (Phi Delt's) and got to know some of the pledges better and spent more time with old friends too. I will try and post pictures of the paintings as I get them, because I have not taken photos of things yet... But they look really good and we have been getting compliments from Greeks and non-Greeks alike.

City won in fantastic fashion the other day in their Champions League game! The scored a last minute goal to defeat Villareal 2-1. And I missed it... I gave up in the 89th minute and was going to class so I closed down my video feed and most of my windows when I made it to the ESPN gamecast of the game that was up so I could check the lineups... And as I moved my mouse over the "x" in the corner, the screen lit up and as City scored the winner... And I went to class happily!!!

We are also hammering out studio floorplans and making 3D computer and physical models to get the last of our concepts figured out so we can solve everything else for our building... Yup... Design is nearly finished and we are moving straight to structures, materials, costs and detailing. Pretty frightening! But I think we are around the class average in terms of work completed. More tomorrow including and introduction to my group: Leila and Stephanie... That way you know about the two people I mention quite frequently.

Afternoons are Glorious!!!

Almost every afternoon recently has been a heavenly gift from God! The weather in Ames has been sublime!!! Pity I have been busier than the authorities during New Years... I do have a gorgeous view of the woods North of ISU... When you walk around in the area it doesn't look like there are so many trees, but there really are! And every single one of them is contributing to a majestic tapestry of fall color. My group and I are currently working on concept models for redesigning our performance hall. We are starting almost over and taking what we learned with our old model and replacing it with new fully formed ideas of what the performance halls are. From there we are working the rest of our building around that concept... Kind of disheartening to start fresh, but we have a better concept of what we want and how to achieve it.

A progression of seating arrangements in a posable performance area. The seating and sound would change with each alteration of the space. The walls also need to change but that is another animal all together. Acoustics is hard!!!

I am no longer pursuing a minor in Spanish. I dropped both classes Wednesday. I simply do not have the time for them and studio as the semester progresses. Over the next few weeks I have 3 more reviews for more than 50% of my studio grade and that time correlates with 2 papers and 3 tests in Spanish... Not gonna happen. I need to do well in studio and pass this class to graduate!!!

In other news, my entire weekend is planned. We are finishing our Homecoming banner this weekend and lawn display a week after that. On Sunday I have to paint Victory lane and a storefront window for our Homecoming pairing... And I have to do it with girls... Darn... I am truly blighted by this predicament. Oh me! We are enacting the designs I drew out my first week of school that follow the Dr. Seuss theme chosen for this year... Pretty simple and very fun to draw in terms of characters. I am loving it!!!

The only Le Corbusier building in North America

Heroic Intervention!!!

Nothing that dramatic has happened since I last posted, despite the overly dramatic title to this post. I finished my webpage and submitted it. Plus I finished reading a course book at 2am last night and took the test 6 hrs later... And I think I did really well. It is okay if I didn't though because our teacher handed out a course packet worth half of the test grade in extra credit. Now I am back in studio hashing out rough floor plans for tomorrow and the massive work weekend. (WOOT ALL WEEKEND IN STUDIO!!!) Our schematic design is due (albeit in an operable and changeable state to a "certain degree") on Monday and we have only really hashed out a building form and urban plan for our site. I think the urban planning idea we have cooked up actually legitimizes our construction of the symphony center on the big dig project. More on that later, after we format some drawings into real presentable things beyond our messy sketches.

Last night I got a free dinner courtesy our sorority pairing for Homecoming. The bought pizza to foster a better working atmosphere for the beginning of blitz build days for Homecoming. I got there and ate early then went to Lowes to get staples and started on the banner I designed earlier this year. I am pretty much moving it along to the color assignment phase then handing it off to kids who have more time to work on it. It is pretty nice to have people want my opinion on stuff and to have people rely on me for something. Plus it is a great time to socialize with cute sorority girls...

The prints of the architectural journal that I contribute to just arrived... I don't think I got printed (because I could not find an ending to my topic article) but I did help a lot of people edit their essays. So I am super excited to read what did get printed out and what student works were included in the journal.

That's pretty much it. Enjoying this fantastic summer weather!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Hurried Post...

The studio projects we are working on are going very slowly... In the last couple of days (since Saturday) I have been a humanized example of productivity and work output. Upon typing this I realize that it is hypocritical because I am not being productive right now.... But I digress. I have done several Spanish assignments, redone my entire website to turn in today, made 1 physical model and 3 digital models of our prospective building, and read several chapters of a book that I need to finish before Thursday... Plus I have been working on the digital files for our site (2 in fact) one of an entire building and the other piece being a part of the site that we "finished." Quite the laundry list right? That and I need to do laundry... That is essentially my life, sans cooking food and sleeping a little bit.

I do appreciate that I was visited by my wonderful family this weekend. It was to see all of you and to catch a football game, even though it was not really a game... A special thanks to Grandma Charin for a new world record care package! It was so large I actually did not have the ability to fit everything into my cupboards and fridge!!!

Ye Schedule for the rest of the week is as follows:

- Studio!!! Make models, plans and basic schematic plans...
- Read a book for a test Thursday
- Dinner with Sorority on Wednesday
- Create site for digital media class
- Spanish HW
- Laundry
- Lasercut everything
- Sleep?
- Fraternity HC ritual

Thats about it from me. Once again "Un mil gracias para mi familia que viajaron a visitarme el ultima fin de semana!!!

sketchup screenshot of my building concept idea. change acted upon a modular piece to create volumes necessary for our required building program.