Portrait of the Architect as an Artist

Every artist, designer or architect aspires for creative fulfillment. The realization of an idea is the ultimate goal; to have the image that sprung up in your mind put on canvas or expressed through an object. The architect, more than the others, has to endure a longer time between the conception of the idea and its full realization. A cartoonist can draw a strip in an hour; a comic book artist can render a page in a day; a painter may be able to complete a painting in a month. The architect can design plans within similar time frames, but he has to wait for months, even years, for that plan to materialize in a building.

There are stages along the design process, however, that may give architects the opportunity for instant creative gratification. Getting the idea itself is a thrill. When the idea is drawn and expressed, it is taken one step further towards realization. An architect can experience a high in seeing a fully rendered perspective, or a 3d walkthrough. Thus, for the designer, the translation of an idea is a crucial stage -- the more accurately it is represented, the better. Before, pen and paper were enough, but now new technology enables the designer not just to express, but to ‘simulate’ the result of an idea.

First, he has to get the idea, to form a clear picture of it in his mind. A sculptor might see a graceful twisting of bodies; a writer could imagine a character that could start a novel. The architect may start by forming his philosophy – the ‘bed’ where the seed of an idea can grow. In reality, though, it is not just his seed that gets thrown into the pot – there will also be the client’s idea, his boss’ idea, the engineer’s idea. If his own idea wasn’t so clear in the first place, then it could easily be overrun by all the others. His concern then goes beyond the expression of the idea, to negotiating and campaigning for it. In the end, he must learn to share ownership.

This idea, by necessity, must also fit a container -- the framework for what a ‘proper building’ should be. It must fit into the lot, the budget, the law, the needs and requirements. It could get pounded and squeezed and manipulated until it is hardly recognizable from the original idea. The architect, however, can start with the container, instead of the seed. When he knows that what he’s holding is a flower pot, he won’t put a tree in it. But what if only flower pots come his way? What if he has a lot of tree ideas? As an artist, he continually seeks for the right soil where his ideas can grow.

The final execution of the idea lies in the hands of other people; rare is an architect nowadays that will build a house with his own hands. When it is finally built, however, the architect realizes that he has power – here now, is the concrete monument to his idea, an object that may surpass his lifetime, a place that may influence more people than he can directly. At this point, he also realizes that the idea is out of his hands, like a child who has left its parents and asserted its independence. He is no longer as intimate with it as when he first started. He learns to let go. The cycle begins again, and he stares, once more, at a blank page.

***

Picture credits: barn painting taken from www.williston.k12.vt.us

What Drives You?

You are a very busy person. We all are.

24 hours a day and seven days a week just don't seem enough for all the things you would want to do. Actually, you feel like whatever time you do have to spend is actually for something or someone else but never for you. What you need to spend your precious time on could be office work, a plate, your thesis, a project or an errand and it never seems to be for watching a movie you would want to see or getting that haircut you really need.

The strange thing is that you've probably become so accustomed to this kind of "set up" that you find this to be "normal". You are simply busy and that is that.

But has it ever occured to you why you are as "busy" as you are?

Just what is it that drives you? What is the force that animates your very being?

What is it that lets you become capable of skipping meals or staying awake at ungodly hours just to finish whatever it is you're "busy with" at the present? What makes you pass at spending time with your friends and loved ones or deprive yourself of something "good" and become a martyr for your chosen profession?

Admit it, architecture has got you by the neck and poor old you has no clue as to why.

You don't know.

I don't know.

Chances are most of us don't, and yet we persist, there's a million of us living each day like this with nary a thought as to why.

A song by the group "The Corrs" offers the explanation that it's simply because we're "so young" that "it really doesn't matter if we never eat.... if we never sleep....".

Well, some of us are, some of us were and most of us would want to just stay that way but I'm guessing that the real answer is not as simple as that.

Most of us probably think we had the answer before when we first decided to indoctrinate ourselves in college into the seemingly wonderful world of architecture. We were all like golden ticket winners in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory minus the benefit of Oompa Loompa's singing the "lessons" we needed to learn.

"Remember all the cut and paste answers as to why we thought of becoming architects?

Because we used to play with Legos.......

Because it is both art and science which is perfect because I want to be an "artist" but I also want to do something "scientific".......

Because my parents said so...............

Because I'll become rich................"

Well, if you've actually spent time trying to become or already are an architect, you would know that cut and paste answers simply don't make the grade.

Playing with Legos is more fun than architecture, art is more beautiful and science is more logical than architecture, you really don't want to live your life through your parent's decision and want to make your own and you've yet to see that million dollar paycheck.

Somehow our reasons for doing what it is we do as disciples of architecture has changed from what it initially was. The thing is, the change probably happened so fast that we failed to realize that it did change and that we no longer know what it is.

It might not even have changed but simply got lost along the way. Our fuel is spent and we are simply idling away.

Well whatever our reasons, we are still somehow managing going through the "daily grind" be it for some form of love, money, both, neither or an entirely different thing altogether.

It would be good to be able to stop the world for a few seconds to catch our breath and think about this real hard and be able to answer these questions truthfully to a satisfactory degree for ourselves.

It seems only reasonable to ask ourselves where we want to go because most of us are simply running full speed ahead with architecture as our compass but never really knowing or maybe forgetting what made us start to run in the first place.

We might want to find out about how far we are willing to go or even if it is really necessary to be running at all.

Maybe we just need to stop, or maybe we are running fast but we are not running fast enough.

Hi everyone!

Mga gusto kong itanong:

1. Sino si Hungry Ghost?
2. Kamusta ka na Nap? Hindi na ako nakakadaan ng tambayan…or stay in arki for long. Paano kaya nagagawa ng thesis people last year na maglagi sa tambayan? Iniisip ko, sana malapit na lang bahay ko…
3. How do you post a tag-board through html? Parang mas mahirap sa blurty…tago yung html code.
4. Puro TFAers lang ba dito?

Mga gusto kong i-share:
1. Wala na masyadong nag-eemail through the taksporsarki egroups, kaya dito ko na lang post. Besides, yahoogroups doesn’t store attachments anymore. Anyway, sana nakanood kayo ng Hiyas ng Arki…sobrang saya! Sobrang tino din…all-out talaga batch nila Di. Si Jan Halili at Mark Mutia yung representatives ng TFA. Pero yung nanalo, taga-AF. Di ko kilala personally. Yung isa looks like Maui Taylor (yihee Nap!) But with all honesty, I was rooting for Schidz, this guy from ARC. Hehe – konti lang kaming support group ni Schidz.
2. Kaasar yung ulan kahapon. Kahapon pa naman kami site visit para sa thesis namin. – sa Pila at Majayjay, Laguna. Tapos ngayon ang araw-araw.=(

May the Architects Please Stand?

If you look around in the metro nowadays you will see a lot of missed opportunites for good architectural work that should have or could have been done to our public landscape. There seems to be a huge void to fill in terms of the functional and aesthetics needs of the public. I'm sure this is not lost to the city fathers as well as the people who inhabit the cities themselves and they do what they can to fill this void but they can surely use a lot of professional architectural help towards that end.

For instance, we have been and still are a basketball crazy nation and the need to follow the exploits of and cheer for our favorite teams is only equaled by our need to play the game itself. There is no shortage of basketball coverage and merchandise so our need for those are more than covered. There is however an acute shortage of playable courts so much so that the words "people's court" has taken on a whole new meaning. You see, "people's court" for most Manila dwellers is not a popular judiciary system but rather two basketball goalposts set up right smack in the middle of the street and often fenced around with old automobile tires or rusty steel barrels. Well the people get a place to play but this of course renders the street taken over as being unable to fulfill its primary function as a medium for transportation and not as a playground.

Shouldn't we really have a place to play sports which wouln't interfere with other social functions and activities? Or maybe, we should have a place to play sports which would actually enhance other social functions and activities.

A street for cars AND for sports? Maybe.

Our love affair with gambling is also somehow affecting our cityscape by increasing the numbers of open casket funerals on city sidewalks. How is gambling and funerals connected with one another? Well, gambling has always been expected and tolerated during wakes and this fact has not escaped the very enterprising elements of our society. "Have funeral will gamble" is their motto as they would set up funerals which sometimes last in months at a time!

Shouldn't we have a place to play chance that wouldn't have to rely on such a morbid situation in order to be viable? A nice clean place maybe which is not conducive to criminal activity or nurturing of impulsive gambling disorders. A place that could definitely do without a rotting corpse as part of the decorations and maybe nice enough to bring the whole family together. Could be.

There are a lot of other things the public maybe and could be doing that impacts the aesthetics and functions of the urban landscape but what they can and should be doing instead can probably fare better, as I mentioned, with some professional architectural help among other things.

Let us not forget the city fathers I have mentioned earlier. They have a couple of ideas up their sleeves too to what to do with our publicscape. They are for all intents and purposes our aesthetic navigators for the city at large. However, and obviously, not all of them are qualified in this respect. They are at best master of illusions refusing to honor this role or, if they do, they often than not surround themselves with men equally unqualified for the task at hand.

How else to explain the quality of so called city art (more popularly known as MMDA art) plastered on such prominent places like the gigantic columns on some flyovers or lengthy retaining walls alongside busy thoroughfares. I'm sure the people who have done these pieces are artists in their own right but I'm guessing that works that would occupy places of prominence in the city should have higher aspirations with regards to artistic criterias and public acceptance. Some works done by people with no artistic inclinations whatsoever but were simply assigned by city officials to do public pieces simply would not do. I wouldn't be a least be surprised if the "mystery" MMDA artists surfaces one of these days and turns out to be a blind 3 year old kid.

I don't think we've run out of very talented artists just yet nor shall we ever. Maybe a lesson in creative collaboration is in order for city hall. Maybe.

Functionality is also a big concern for city leaders but its also where they fall short sometimes. Of course there should always be some space for mistakes to be made as humans are always inclined to do them but the size of the mistakes made should be controlled as best as we can. I'm afraid though that things like the "street urinals" some of our city officials are dreaming up could be one of the biggest mistakes ever made in our history as a civilized people. The potential mistake is so much so that the word "civilized" could be wiped out of international perceptions for our beloved country.

Whose "briight idea" is it to think that since there are a lot of people urinating on the streets that it might be good to just officially designate places for urination. How is it possible for this "great idea" to be born without the benefit of plumbing, sanitation, gender sensitivity (as this obviously is more feasible for the men than for the women), modesty or common sense. All you have literally is a peeing spot much like a fire hydrant or a post is to a dog.

If you ask if I was being sarcastic about calling the idea "bright" and "great", you're damn right I am. This is crazy!

Wouldn't it be so nice to have very beautiful, functional, economically feasible and self-sufficient public toilets? It wouldn't be so hard to dream up of one I'm sure.

Anyway, we've gone through quite a bit about the whole circuit on public landscapes......... about the movers, the shakers and the possibilities. The probable beneficial role of architecture in the whole equation begs the question of where are the architects in all of this anyway? Where are they when we need them?

Are some of them sitting on their self-conceived thrones waiting for someone to pray to them for help? I would hope that all architects are not that high minded and are not only obliged but actually willing to sweat for public work. Hey, let's face it, public work is not a realm often given a second look by the architectural circle which is primarily weaned on the glamour and standards of first world practice. First world architecture is not a bad goal to shoot for but not being grounded in the reality of being in a third world framework can be disastrous.

Of course, being in a third world framework means rolling in bureaucratic mud and political dirt. Now who would be willing to do that?

Well, we can only hope. May the best of our architects as well as the best in our architects be active participants in renewing and strengthening this framework starting now.

Let the architects show themselves and be counted please.

Now is the time.




(*Click on the image to go to manilaview.com for their live cam. It's a good way to get ahead of Manila traffic or to check if there is a people power revolution or coup going on.)

Sketch it Up!

A 3D model is important to designers for design development and presentation. Drawing perspectives, however, is not one of my strengths. I have no patience for the graphical method and I have no confidence in doing ‘tsamba’ perspectives. The only time I tried modeling a whole house in AutoCad was during the time I took lessons.

When I encountered Sketchup, I was relieved. Finally here was a 3D program I could rely on. Compared to other 3D software, doing models in it is faster and easier. My officemate, a mechanical engineer, learned it and was able to model his own house from the interior to the exterior in the span of a few days. I was supposed to do it for him, but he decided to do it himself, seeing how easy it was.

It’s easy because you only need to learn less than ten commands to be able to do a decent model. Objects are built through constructing surfaces, which are extruded or divided to produce objects. Accuracy is possible because you can type in measurements. There is also a ‘snap to axis’ or ‘snap to parallel/perpendicular’ feature that enables you to keep your lines in the right direction.

The 3D view is versatile – you can rotate, pan and zoom by using the mouse. Drawing and editing are all done inside the perspective view. Colors and textures can be applied through a simple ‘fill’ command. Shadows can be applied by specifying the month and time of day. Basic components like doors and windows, furniture, cars and people are available for easy retrieval.

Sketch Up is best for design development. Because of the above mentioned features, it is easy to manipulate a model based on the ideas that come out. In a few minutes, you can see how the massing of a structure can look like, or what the effect of a color scheme will be. It is also good for presentation, because Sketch Up can produce a ‘sketchy’ effect that looks less computer-generated than AutoCad. You can produce multiple spot perspectives through the same model, whether it is a man’s eye view or a bird’s eye view. These ‘shots’ can be imported as JPEG files to image editing applications like PhotoShop for more sophisticated rendering.

Sketchup 2.0., the version I’m using, has its limitations. It is difficult to produce complicated curved surfaces. You can’t put in any lighting. If you’re looking for photo realistic perspectives, then this isn’t the program you want to use. But if you want a quick and easy to learn program that will give you the results you want in half the time, then try this.

You can learn more about Sketchup in their site www.sketchup.com. A trial version is also available for downloading.

(note: drawing above was taken from sketchup.com, gallery section. design by Dennis Nikolaev)