Monday, August 31, 2009

The first step...


Living in Houston, Texas for the majority of my life, I have witnessed how a change in the network of transportation in a large city can dramatically change its growth patterns. Within the confines of Downtown Houston, there are an abundance of surface lots, skyscrapers, and a variety of small shops and eating locations typical in any city. What makes Houston so different is the scale in which everything is situated around these networks of streets and highways. There is no real social and urban infrastructure in place to connect the different parts of Houston surrounding its Downtown. The empty space that exists from the highways and streets that inhabit the majority of the land are areas that could begin to be explored as the connective fabric of the city. Through the combination of these ideas and greening strategies, I hope to explore how the creation of a transportation system can begin to enhance the life of a pedestrian instead of an automobile.

Reading Response: 'How to Draw Up a Project' By: Jose' Luis Mateo

The clarity of design stems from a strong emotion and passion towards an idea. Whether this be through the development of a hierarchical network of systems that allow for transparencies and relationships to form through physical interaction, or purely mental connections; an idea or design begins with the most primal form of creation, the human mind. Mateo draws comparisons to the human body and organisms in relation with how ideas are created and developed. The scale and severity it has on an idea is clearly shown through this example. By examining the layers of simple orders, and the relationship between one set of networks to another, you are allowed a glimpse into a greater whole, an idea. The connections between these ideas forms the whole, or project. Understanding the how and why of a project is derived from the resolution of ideas. The manifestation of these ideas into built form is the synthesis of multiple networks working cohesively together to create one unique experience.

The necessity for human reaction and interaction with space, form, direction, and process is the need to understand our environment. The creation of the built environment is a direct reaction to our interaction with nature. This primal action is the basis of design and the built form. Mateo establishes this same baseline principle with the direction and stance he takes on how to begin with an idea. I agree with the notion that to have a successful project one must look at things in two scales. The micro and macro version of an idea has unique implications to the environment and the people interacting within it. Looking at an idea not through the eyes of an architect, but through the eyes of a biologist or scientist, a person can begin to view the built environment with a different perspective. These different standards and value systems create unique experiences that allow for a matrix of ideas to converge and inform a project.

Combining varying levels of information and human interactions effects how an environment grows and expands within its social realm. By understanding and analyzing these relationships, these experiences allow for the development of the idea of space to continue to grow. As time progresses, the process behind design changes, but the ideas still stay the same. Just as humans evolve, so does design.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

First post!

Welcome to my blog!

-Paty Rivera