You Again

Rolling Canvases

Lessons Learned

Today we met with our client for the second time, and the first since we've had a "house" to talk about. It was a great pleasure to see her again, and I feel like she put more energy into the project than we had when the day started, and it was wonderful to put a face back with the project and know ultimately that she and her family will be living here when we are finished.
In meeting with her today, I became conscious of the fact that she is probably going to be one of, if not the greatest clients I will ever have the chance to work for, and her gratitude alone is all the remuneration I need to continue working.

She also had some gifts to share with us today. In addition to her sage advice, she also taught Tray and I how to fillet a fish. While doing so, she also told us about the cultural differences is preparing fish in this country, versus what is customary in Vietnam. There, it is typical of them to leave all the meat on the fish and cook it whole after cleaning, picking through the bones because it yields the most meat.

I cannot completely express how fortunate I am to be here right now, but I am so thankful for everything that has led me here.

If This Isn't Nice, I Don't Know What Is.

It's A Lie

Everywhere You Look

A Picture A Day

I'm going to try and do this.

Community

This last week I've actually been able to sit down and watch the local news. I'll admit that television is no place to really rely on to receive information for anything, but it does provide a means by which I can observe how the people of the area live and work. While watching the various newscasts, I heard one word used again and again, "community".

Is everything a community?

The people here are more than happy to help their neighbors, and are very grateful when others from outside of the area come to help rebuild the region. The communities I am more accustomed to back in southeastern Virginia are smaller and their concerns seem to only lie where the members of their "community" (church, etc.), and occasionally will fall outside that group when something catastrophic occurs. Here the community is much more broad and that may have a lot to do with the fact that many people have left the area and not returned, making those who have (either by choice or no other alternative) remained a closer group who all have the same interest; returning the coast to what it was prior to Katrina.

It is certainly refreshing to see so many people caring for each other in these times of self-obsession, and I hope that I can take some of the spirit of this area with me when I leave.

Current Watch

Current Listen

Current Read

Progress

It's not Hanoi, but hopefully it will feel like home.

Thanks for the picture Tray.

oPEN (empty) SHoP

I'll assume many of you are not familiar with the New York based architecture firm SHoP, so feel free to click their name and learn a bit about them, because this post is about their work just a few miles north of where I am staying this semester.

It seems the concept of the building was to create a community front porch that would be filled with the patrons of the businesses residing inside, and I love the idea. Often when I think of living in the south I think of porches, both small and large, and it is very interesting to see another take on the porch, but at the scale of a community. Unfortunately, the building has never really been able to keep tenants, outside of the non-profit organization that it was originally designed around. Yet anytime I have visited this building, and it has been many times now, it sits just as it is in the picture above; uninhabited. No real signs of life, just a porch with furniture anticipating the day it will be used to its' potential.

Only having been here a few weeks now, I cannot fairly say why this building sits unused, but I think I can make some fair guesses. Throughout the entire state of Mississippi, there are no real urban elements, so a car is almost mandatory if you wish to go anywhere; and as such, I think it's a little hard to ask people to leave the comfort of their own porch to be on display to any passersby. Maybe, more simply, no one is on the porch because there is no business under the porch, which could also be a result of the turbulent economy that we are in. But even still, directly behind this building sits a smaller building housing a laundromat, where on more than one occasion I've seen people using, but they insist sitting beside the noisy machines with their paper or book rather than walking the thirty steps it takes to sit outside in comfortable conditions.

I would say that most would agree that this building is well-designed, but ultimately, and maybe just for this small moment, it is unsuccessful. Which to me raises the question, "Can unsuccessful architecture still be good architecture?" Please feel free to respond with your answers to the question.

And now the porn.

Current Watch

Current Listen

Current Read

Sunset On The Bayou

I think I'm really going to like it here.

And I think I'll go fishing tomorrow.

A Taste of Things to Come

With a pin up looming a few days away, here is a preview of things to come.

Things to know:

- SIPs

- BFE (base flood elevation) for our site, 11ft above ground level, 18ft total

- 900 sq ft

- 3 people will be living here

I've managed to find a large format scanner at an engineered lumber company a few miles away, and one of the managers there was more than happy to share it with us. So hopefully within the next few weeks I can manage to scan the drawings and sketches we've been working on and post them. Back to work, I guess.

New Orleans: A City of Life and Death

The other day Tray and I ventured into New Orleans, a first for each of us. Neither of us knew much about the city or where we were going and just decided to let it come to us. When we got off the highway into the city the first thing we noticed were these tombs in the middle of the city, A stark contrast to any burial ground I have seen before, especially inside a city.

A City For the Dead

The proximity of this cemetery to the Interstate and it level of upkeep left a memorable impression. It made me wonder about the people who were residing here for eternity, however long that is. Apparently there are more of these throughout New Orleans, but this was the one Tray and I explored. I also can't help but think about the interaction of these people in their new homes, as compared to their old ones, and the reception one receives when they move in.

The City For the Living

From here Tray and I explored a more lively part of the city of New Orleans. Being only an hour away, and planing on returning, we decided to stick mainly to one neighborhood for the day, and because of where we ended up parking the car for the day that happened to be the French Quarter. Although cars were driving down many of the streets we walked, it felt as though they were trespassing. There was an undeniable energy filling the streets as people walked by. We sat down to watch a family of musicians play for tips in the middle of a street, and sat alongside some of the homeless in the city to maybe see it from their perspective.

As we sat here watching, I couldn't help but think a bit about what Kahn says about the street as a community room.

"A long street is a succession of rooms given their distinction, room for room, by their meeting of crossing streets. The intersecting street brings from afar its own developed nature which infiltrates any opening it meets. One block can be more preferred because of its particular life."

Of the blocks we walked, it seemed that each one had a character of its own, and a type of person suited for that particular block.

The people we came across were the best part of the day for me. I guess it was quite obvious Tray and I were walking around with no clue as to where exactly we were heading, and many locals stopped us and asked if we needed anything, which was quite surprising to me. Towards the end of our day, Tray and I began a small Banksy hunt to find two pieces were relatively close to us that day. While searching, a younger man with his children asked us how we were doing and noticing our cameras, asked us to take a "family portrait".

He later asked if we were looking for "the pretty pictures". Assuming he was talking about Banksy, we said that we had been, and he told us about the one right next to his house. I guess he had noticed in the two years since it had been there a number of people taking pictures of it and he also told us the location of more of the "pretty pictures" throughout the city. I hope to be able to give this picture to this man and his children if we pass by his house again.

Oh, and Banksy: