tusind tak

I just wanted to thank everyone who came to our presentations yesterday for taking the time to listen and give good insight and feedback on our projects. Some of us have been going a little crazy trying to organize all of our material, and it really helps to get a different opinion on it.

We were going to have our next presentation tomorrow, but its a danish holiday and some of us wont be able to be there...

So! let me know whether Wed or Thurs will be better for the next meeting....

I'll post something more substantial later on because I need to get some studio work done now...

Vi ses

Sunday April 29, 2007

The Maya tutorial we had last Thursday was quite a success. Danny and I are currently working on grasping and understanding MEL Scripting and coding. If anyone is interested, check out this website:

http://www.arch.columbia.edu/DDL/cad/A4667/fall99/index.html

look at the commands and make yourself familiar with the syntax. Danny and I will continue where we left off next time, so feel free to join in. I'll post a specific date when we decide on the next session.


THIS SUNDAY:
We will be presenting our thesis work in progress with an emphasis on our second assignment
"Deep Planning"
Come and give us your insight and feedback

Sunday April 29th, 2007
3:00pm
Vestergade 10A-12


Vi ses

simulated reality

So the last discussion ended with some interesting speculations...

Growing up with certain technologies has changed our perception of reality significantly compared to that of the previous generations.

Some current video games digital technology are creating a virtual world which more and more people are incorporating into their daily lives. Public gatherings and even ceremonies such as marriage are occurring online through this new medium. Human social interaction is being drastically transformed by this wave of technology aimed at making life "easier" and creating a faster medium for communication. (check out second life, Millions of us and simulated reality)

There are some very positive aspects to this change. Ideas can be shared with a global audience and knowledge can be spread at a massive level much more rapidly.

When significant emotional experiences occur through a virtual medium, they are just as real to the individual than if they would have occurred through the physical world.

How are our social interactions changing and being redefined by digital technology? I would like to hear your opinions and insight on the topic. post some comments, or if you have a longer response you would like me to post, send me an email at wrodas@calpoly.edu

-and if you're interested in extreme futuristic theories, check out transhumanism and the links at the bottom of that article

first meeting

Thank you all for coming on Tuesday to our first official(informal) meeting. It was a very good turnout and exciting to see some new faces. It was a good beginning in my opinion, but for next time I think we need to break apart into smaller groups to have more participation. But yes! it is very promising... I'm excited to see where this will take us.

Being that there are only 3 weeks left in our wonderful stay in Copenhagen, and that the last week will be crazy with projects, I think we need to allow for there to be two meetings a week, but no obligation to go to both. Some expressed interest in doing this multiple times a week, so the option should be there for those who desire it. We talked about the best days for these meetings and decided on Tuesdays and Thursdays... So! for whoever is interested, I think we should continue this every Tuesday and Thursday after studio. Let me know what you think, but I like having the option there for those who want to talk some more.

We had a rich discussion on Jon's thesis ideas about "sacred space" and I was glad to see a discussion on historical, religious, psychological, and architectural issues related to the topic. It was great to see the conversation evolve and touch upon implications for contemporary society and the future. Good start indeed...

This Thursday (tomorrow) I'll be having a little very informal info session on basic Maya 8.0 digital modeling, rendering, and (if time permits) scripting... We'll be in Bo's studio in 10A-21 at 6pm, so feel free to join in and bring a laptop.

Once again, thank you all for your participation and I hope to be seeing more of you as the semester continues.

Vi ses

p.s. some interesting links I've encountered lately that may interest some of you:
Robo-builder
Turbulent Grid. Dirty Geometry
goats + spider genes
fractal architecture
second life
13 ways of looking at a blackbird
2057

tuesday april 24, 2007

please join us this Tuesday at 6:00pm for our next meeting and discussion. It's open to all who share our ideas and intentions so feel free to invite anyone you feel would benefit regardless of major, discipline, or occupation.

vi ses

accelerated thesis

As most of you are aware... some of us are currently working on our thesis projects as part of an accelerated program at cal poly

We met last Sunday to present our ideas and research to each other in an attempt to clarify our direction and get feedback.



The meeting was very productive and we each had about 45 min to present and discuss our projects with each other the few guests we had in attendance... It would be nice to have a larger group next time listening and providing some input, so we welcome you all to join us. We still havent decided on our next meeting for our thesis discussions, but it will probably happen sometime later this week around Thursday or Friday.



So I would post our topics online, but I want each of us to write out a specific little blurb on our project and direction... so that will come soon

manifesto...

My apologies for not beginning this earlier... but as most of you know, I've been extremely busy lately.

I'll begin by explaining how the group got started and then I'll explain a little bit about our mission, goals and intentions with fully awake.

A few weeks ago, Danny, Ray and I were hanging out at a bar discussing architectural issues (as we usually do at certain points in every conversation) and we were having a good discussion about the future of the world, of cities, and of the profession of architecture. We saw the need to create a group for discussion of issues relevant to our education because we felt that there was very little discussion occurring in our educational institutions (especially at DIS) inside and outside of studios.

We also saw this as an opportunity to create a discussion panel for those of us currently working our thesis project in hopes that it would not only help us get feedback on our projects, but also inspire others who will begin thesis soon.

The name "Fully Awake" comes from the state of mind the students at the legendary Black Mountain College were asked to be at during their educational experience.

"Every moment there seemed alive in a way that few have since. This had to do with being asked to be fully awake, to be at a new threshold of perception, whether in class, in the work program, in our own work, or in the life of the community...it let us perceive how much we, each of us, had meaning in the process of the life of the community. That was our education."
-A.G. (Black Mountain College student, 1943-1946)

Yes, many of us have been disillusioned with architectural education at some point during this year because of the lack of objectivity and creativity in the program at DIS, but there is no benefit to staying that way. We want to create a forum for the discussion of any and all ideas in an attempt to motivate students and spread our thirst for knowledge.

Fully Awake will be a mix of discussion events and thesis presentations open to all who want to engage in intellectual discussions.

Fully Awake will serve as a forum and symposium for students to supplement their education and discuss ideas and knowledge at its essence.

Full Awake will attempt to create "agitation" in architectural discourse, as discussed by Jeffrey Inaba, Mark Wigley, and Ole Bouman in their latest issue of Volume, to encourage in-depth discussions and break from the traditional definition of education we have grown up with.

"The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking."
-M. Heidegger