Las Lomas Community Trip|Proposed schedule

Design Royale | Proposal

Design Royale | Tensile structure

the rules/game plan:

“1) consider a quadrat frame, 360x360cm, on each side a maximum of 12 points for anchoring the edges of a tensile structure.
2) consider to place this frame wherever you want, however you want: horizontal, vertical, tilted, unbalanced, etc.
3) find a purpose/use/aim for such a thing
4) post your ideas, post your questions, we’ll discuss about that”

To give a frame of reference, the allotted space compared to an average person in the United States:

Fundraising | Publication materials

To publicize our studio’s methods of wax production, the informative posters designed by each member of the class would be scaled down to fit in a small booklet (5.5″x3.5″)

Also, we are developing an informational poster to present our mission at profit-shares and fundraising “spirit” nights that we have scheduled with various local eateries. Here is our first version:

Radio-for-a-day

During our trip down to the border to share our wax product and hydroponic concepts, members of our class are planning a Radio-for-a-day, broadcasting through the internet.

One website we found that will likely help facilitate this is called Radionomy (Radio + Autonomy), which facilitates user-generated radio stations at no cost to the users in order to foster freedom of speech, freedom of choice, and financial freedom.

Concept Sketches | Factory-Radio-Garden Prototype

Precedents | Factory-Radio-Garden Community Center Prototype

To prepare for developing a new building prototype that combines program of factory (wax production), radio (community awareness/info base), and community garden (community building recreation and health awareness), I looked at several radical groups that proposed innovative building types in the past.

One was ANT FARM. While reviewing a text entitled “Ant Farm 1968-1978” by Constance M. Lewallen and Steve Seid from Texas A&M’s library collection, I learned that the (primarily architectural) collective was involved in a number of endeavors that were innovative expressions of the avant garde lifestyles and were critiques of out-dated societal norms. Indeed, the Brutalist architectural movement that characterized much of the architecture of the 1960s was the polar opposite of the inflatable structures designed for a mobile lifestyle for which they are particularly well-known. The following image was found on a blogsite titled Experimental Communities

However, one experimental/proposed idea in the book really caught my attention: ANTFARM’s Surplus City.

This combination of community functions into a strange and interesting sections is very intriguing.

Another group I looked into was Future Systems. Founded in 1982, the group primarily produced theoretical designs until the 1990s. Much of the work uses construction techniques from other industries (such as airplane or boat) to design radical architectural solutions. The book “Future Systems: The Story of Tomorrow” compiles many of their projects. One in particular that I found interesting for my research was a garden center designed for Kew Gardens.

The last group I researched was FOA (Foreign Office Architects). In the book I found about their practice, FOA reviews its own architectural efforts from 1993-2003 and it is chock-full of programmatic/conceptual diagrams as well as beautiful plans and sections. The book is entitled “Phylogenesis: foa’s ark.” Phylogenesis refers to “the evolutionary development and diversification of a species or group of organisms, or of a particular feature of an organism.” They believe their architectural work is an evolving hybrid belonging to a global order of design that responds to local specificities.

Some images of work that I found provocative for my exploration include the following:

Meydan Retail complex in Istanbul, Turkey

Yokohama Ferry Terminal, Yokohama, Japan

Sketches of my own ideas will be in the next post.

Fundraising | Logos

Using our studio concept title, “Self-Made Trade”, which describes our mission to stimulate alternative border economies for the Colonias Unidas community and Texas-Mexico border, I went through several manipulations of the text itself before becoming inspired by the graphic of the Rio Grande border. Following the transformation of that border line in this way:

I began a new effort toward a logo design that incorporated the river.

This was the result:

Self Made Trade | Fundraising

 

Radio Station – Considering start-up costs