Can't upload more than 5MB unless I want to pay

So, the e-portfolio site I've been using doesn't allow me to upload any single file that's over 5MB. Only a couple of my portfolio files (except ones pre-Penn State) are below the limit. So, this marks the end of my usage of weebly.com... Apparently there's some sort of thing that Mac provides that's better. I'm not exactly sure. Anyways, I can upload them to this site at least. Here are the final drawings for VisCom, followed by an extra from a while ago:

So, the assignment was to choose any building (had to be approved by the prof) and do a study on it by examining existing plans and pictures of it. I chose a house called the Villa Shodan, designed by Le Corbusier. It's located in Ahmedabad, India. I was browsing through greatbuildings.com and I came across the image that I reproduced as a drawing on the upper part of this page. What struck me about it was the amount of 90 degree corners and how it seemed so structural, yet I was still pretty confused as to what was inside and what was outside just by looking at the plans, and that piqued my interest.

The plans here might confuse you at first, and I was no exception even after an hour of flipping through the plans and sections. I shaded the parts of the second and third floors that were open to below. There's also a diagram of the grid of rectangular posts that I picked up on quickly during my reproduction of the plans.

Here's the elevation and section of the Villa Shodan. If you look at the plan, the elevation is of the facade on the right side. I tried to shade where it seemed like the walls receded back, to give a sense of order and depth to it. For the section, I noted where it cut through each of the plans. There's also a diagram where every vertical support can be seen.

Here's a little shadow study assignment that also was for VisCom, but due a few weeks ago. Thought I'd just put this in here as well.

Finals week

Sorry for being boring and not posting anything recently. I've been really busy, and I do have scans of my work, but I don't have all of them yet, so I'm waiting until I have all of them before I put them on my e-portfolio site (I'll give you that site after I upload the scans). To keep this from looking really boring, here's some sketchbook scans!

11/21/09; IST Building (kinda); 2:35 p.m.

11/21/09; Notre Dame Paris, France; 11:50 a.m.









11/21/09; D.C. Airport gate D15; 12:22 p.m.

11/21/09; Flight SCE->Washington D.C. United Express; 9:45 a.m.

11/21/09; Fallingwater inspiration; 3:09 p.m.

Semester coming to a close

Well, the semester is coming to a close, and my crit yesterday went better than expected (although I was expecting the worst). Section 1's professor was extremely rough on a few people from section 4 on Monday, and we were with him yesterday, but it wasn't so bad. Here are the plan and perspective of my model:

I also have pictures of my art history term paper drawings. I did a paper about a fictional Gothic cathedral that I created for the assignment.

There's still much to do for other classes, but at least I don't have to worry about studio for the rest of the semester.

Thanksgiving break

It's Thanksgiving break now, so I get a whole week at home! This doesn't necessarily mean that I get a whole week away from doing work.


There's still the Art History term paper, which I'm creating a second generation Gothic style chapel for. The assignment is to create a fictional building that would have been built during one of the time periods we have covered.


For studio I'm going to make a plan and perspective of my model along with notes about my client and the inventory of the collection of measuring instruments. Here's a picture of my model:

There's the person that's six feet tall in there, so the room isn't that big. I exaggerated the ceiling because it's flat in reality, but I wanted people to see what would be painted on the ceiling. It's tough to see in the picture, but I made it look like the columns and wall supports continued far upward when the model is viewed from a certain angle. This goes back to the sidewalk artwork that looks like there is something there, but really it's just a flat surface. Photos of the plan and perspective will be put up by Saturday.

The next week and a half...

So, the next week and a half are going to be extremely busy. The reasons I haven't been posting quite as often are as follows: trying to cope with the amount of architecture work I've been given, playing soccer a little bit, eating, sleeping, and Tetris (don't laugh, it gets my mind off of my list of things to worry about for a few minutes of the day). I'm still thinking about how to fit laundry into the schedule, but it's taking a back seat right now (don't worry now, I'm still wearing clean clothes, I'm just running low on them).

For studio, I've been working on another cardboard and balsa wood model like the one I posted pictures of last time, and it has to be finished by class today. This one is more "final" in that the design stage of this project is over. It's pretty much off to the races now to make that model, a mock-up of a part of what the real final model will look like with all the correct materials such as bass wood, glass, etc. That will be due on Friday. Then, a week from Friday will be the due date for the model accompanied by a plan of the room and at least one well drawn perspective.

Good for everyone who's reading these, that means that there are going to be more pictures! Also, I found where to scan my work that I've done on paper, so higher quality images of those are to come, which means that they will be going on my e-portfolio site!

Studio work

Well, studio has been pretty busy for the past couple days (I was up until 5:00 a.m. Wednesday morning!). My section's current professor can be kind of vague when outlining the project, so it wasn't until a couple days ago when I finally came up with what the room might look like for my collector of measuring instruments. Here are a couple pictures:

Above is the plan of the model. To be honest, I think this looks pretty cool with the perspective behind it.

Hectic week

So, the entirety of last week was full of working on the annual first year architecture Halloween Parade with a friend of mine, studying for Art History, and trying to get some studio time in between. If you're interested in how my Halloween Parade went, here's the video (I'm from the land of red and white). I still have to work on studio models and my art history paper, so there's still much to do.

It's been a while

So, the past week has been full of movie nights, studio, wood shop, and studying. That didn't leave much time for anything else. Here's a little something that I worked on in wood shop:
The edges are square, I just tried to crop out the background because the picture was a little crooked. Anyway, I made the frame and box myself here. The depth of the bottom is 2", and the depth of the top is 10". The assignment for studio is to design a room for a collector, and we were allowed to choose our client. Mine is a collector of measuring instruments. I decided to focus more on distance and length instruments. This box represents how measuring distance is relative, meaning that distance depends on how each person perceives it. I didn't have enough time to finish this yet, but hopefully it will come together some time in the future. What I like about the box is that it actually looks like the X's go back into the distance.

My professor calls perspective drawings "lies" because really it's just a flat, 2 dimensional piece of paper that slanted lines are drawn on. Here's a collage of some cool sidewalk art pieces that fool the eye into thinking that there's actually depth on a flat surface:

The trick to these is that you have to be looking at them at just the right spot, or else the art will appear horribly distorted. Here's a comparison between looking at a piece from the right and wrong angles:

Tests coming up..

So, I've got a few tests coming up. It doesn't help that all classes coordinate their test dates within the same week. There's a GEOG 122 (American Scene-basically U.S. history without the government) test on Friday the 23rd, a GEOG 160 (Mapping Our Changing World) test on Tuesday the 27th, and ART H 201 (Ancient to Medieval Architecture) is Friday the 30th, with the essay portion due the following Monday.

I'd be lying if I said I'm prepared for any of them. Well, time to get my act together and focus on those. The next post will be more about architecture things.

Uffizi done

It was due at 5:30 yesterday, and I think I did a solid job with it.

Unfortunately, the image is a little bit blurry, but you can make it out pretty well. I purposely didn't render the left side, and you can see the Palazzo Vecchio way in the back. The plan of the Uffizi and Palazzo is lightly penciled in also.

By the way, grades were given back for studio. I've got an A so far! I'm at a 92%, so I need to keep that up. 

New studio assignment, finishing VisCom

Well, our assignment for studio was introduced on Monday. It seems like it's going to be an interesting one also. My section has been charged to design a room specifically for a person who obsessively collects items of a certain type. My person collects measuring tools, so I have to do a bunch of research about all kinds of ways to measure and that includes ancient methods. Well, I am going to narrow it down some, but that's the gist of it.

For VisCom, things are close to being done. Our perspectives of the Uffizi in Florence, Italy are due at the end of Thursday's class. Here is more or less what we're drawing:

Okay, so mine isn't going to look that good, but it's on its way.

Hanging out, art museum, switching studio professors

It's about now when I'm really feeling like a regular college student. Since things are slowed down at the moment in studio and VisCom (our projects for that are due Thursday), I've played soccer right outside Stuckeman, the architecture building, a couple times in the past few days, which is much more than usual. Also, I'm going to finally get a haircut and probably throw a football around with a couple people later. For studio yesterday, we took a "backstage" tour of the Palmer Art Museum right on campus of the offices and how things work. Then, we were able to check out their graphite exhibit, which was incredible. I wish I remembered to get pictures because some of the things really were awesome. Also, we are switching up professors. The architecture students are split up into four sections, and there is a professor for each, and we are going to have each one by the end of the year.

VisCom starting up again

So, over the past week, everyone has pretty much put VisCom work in the back of their mind because of all the studio things we had to do. Basically we have to do a relatively large one-point perspective for Tuesday. It shouldn't be much of a problem because we are going to get our Halloween costume project for studio tomorrow, and usually the first phase of projects is light. Crits yesterday went pretty well; not much was said about mine, unfortunately. There won't be any new pictures for a while it seems. I'll find more about the next studio project tomorrow.

Done

So, for the past few days I've been working pretty hard getting things done. Here's the evidence:

Elevation and Entrance plan with shading.

Campus plan with the added path.

A completely new one that shows the inside of the windowed wall (a Sbarro pizza eating area):

Elevation/section with more brick showing and it shows more than the last one.

There still is VisCom to do, but that's for Thursday. I have my crit tomorrow for studio, so I'm going to dress nice for that. But as for now, I'm going to relax a little (yes, just a little).

Working toward Sunday

Sunday at 7:00 p.m. is when the arch 131s project is due! I've been getting my work done and so far I seem to be on schedule. I have finished (just about) a couple drafts and I think they're pretty decent:

I still need to shade the plant areas in and make some lines darker, but other than that this one's done. Here is an elevation and the entrance plan at 1/4" = 1'. Notice the additional single door I added in that little corner as well as the path which you can see better in the site plan below. I also moved the location of a four person table along with three two-person tables near the bottom of the page along the wall.

Shaded in and looking pretty, here's the site plan at 1/8" = 1'. The tree drip lines are drawn here, and the path going downhill from the sidewalk is a real good addition because my goal is to increase the amount of people who use my space, which is the reason for the added door also.

More to come! I still have two more drafts and another perspective (or two) including my additions.

Dreary couple days

For the past couple days, the weather has been rainy/cloudy and in the 50's-low 60's. Pants and long sleeve weather has come and it really feels like fall now.

Here are a couple things for VisCom that I had finished a couple days ago. We've been working on perspectives based on plans and elevations:

These didn't take me that long to do, but I still have a ton of things to do for ARCH 131s by Friday 7:00 p.m. The in-class essay for art history went well because we could use a notecard and basically write the essay before we came to class, and paste the essay on the notecard. Also I'm going to have to really study for the mapping test tomorrow, although I'm not worried about it really.

All at once

So, things have been going pretty quietly for a couple days. I had a couple tests yesterday for GEOG 122 and ART H 201. The geography one was a bit difficult, but the art history one was really easy. The second part of the art history test is an essay due Monday. Also due Monday is my woodshop pencil box, but I'm almost done with that. For VisCom due Tuesday, we were assigned to make perfect perspectives of a home off of the plan and elevations. I'm almost done with that; I just have to trace the final part of it, so no worries there.

And on top of those I have to still do my ARCH 131s things, which is modifying my assigned door and/or the area around it. My plan is to make another door which leads to the Sbarro on the other side of the wall. It will be made of glass, and also I'm going to add a few tables in the outside eating area around my door. To make it more accessible, I will also make an additional path to the eating area because right now it's too hidden from everyone else.

Iowa State football game today! Me and everyone else in my suite don't have tickets so we're probably going to eat some place on College Avenue that has a T.V, which is fine.

A lull

There hasn't been much going on in terms of architecture, but my GEOG 122 and ART H 201 have midterms tomorrow. I got a little study group together for art history and we went over the monuments we need to know. I still have a bit of studying to do though.

For architecture classes, I've been in wood shop in place of ARCH 131s classes (required). We're each making pencil boxes that we won't be able to keep after we finish making them. Other than that, VisCom hasn't assigned anything we have to do at the moment, and I'm set with my ARCH 131s things for now. I know for sure this won't last long though!

Next phase

So, for arch 131s, we've started a new phase of our assignment. The students are to "intervene" on their site and change things around the way they see fit. Once we have our ideas and all, we're supposed to do all our drafts over again showing the changes. Here are a few pictures of what my site/door actually look like:

So, the topmost picture is of my perspective drawing I put up earlier, and the middle picture is of the other perspective drawing I put up. The bottom one is just a nice shot with my door hidden behind some draping plants.

I'm still in what I call the brainstorming phase of the assignment; all these ideas are coming and going and actually visiting the site helped me realize what I can and can't do. I'll probably visit tomorrow as well, even for a little bit. My sketch book is really being used right now as I have filled seven pages in the past two days of just rough sketches and some notes.

For VisCom, I finally finished my temple drawings and here they are:

The upper is the axonometric (axon), and it has a section cut 1/3 the way up the columns, so it shows the naos (inside room) and where each of the columns are placed but still retaining all the correct dimensions. Note: these aren't perspectives because they don't have vanishing points, so they still keep their proportions except when it comes to irregular angles such as the roof on the isometric (bottom). The difference between axon and iso is that axon typically keeps right angles at right angles, and iso widens that angle, to give it the illusion of being more of a perspective. Look closely at the nearest bottom corner and you can tell the difference in angles.

Although it's been a while and these got considerably smudged (a brief photoshop editing session couldn't even make it look nice). The reason for what look like smudges on my other things is because the only table that's low enough for me to take photos on is really marked up. Monday is going to be my section's first trip to the wood shop! I'm excited because I really enjoyed the class in high school.

Break

So, there's going to be a nice break for me for the weekend as far as I know. Friday is just some more presentations for arch 131s, and I just have to trace the VisCom axon temple onto vellum and I'm done until Tuesday. It almost feels like I'm going to have too much free time this weekend! Still, I should really study the material for my other classes, so that will fill in the time I normally would be in studio. By the end of tomorrow, I should have pictures of my VisCom temple.

Crit and stuff

So, the crit went well actually. I got all my things done in good time and I dressed nicely. We (section 3) were paired with section 4, who were under a different professor with a different project. About half of all of us went today, and the other half will be going on Friday.
A couple highlights of the crit: My windows in the entrance plan were complimented because I did the details correctly. My perspectives were also noted as being well done. My line weights were pretty good; probably should have made them heavier overall a little bit, but they were visible to the people sitting near the back. The next phase of the project will be introduced to us on Friday after the others present, and our professor isn't letting any hints out until then.

I'm now focusing on my VisCom temple axon/isometric drawings. I got them both done on trace paper, and I just started putting the iso on vellum. They'll both be finished by 5:30 tomorrow; hopefully I can get pictures of them before I turn them in. I can also get a shot of my temple elevations and plan, which I did in the first week here. One of the people in studio also had the idea of putting their things up on their dorm wall like posters. I'm contemplating doing this because it adds some character to my side of the room.

More than I thought?

I realized how much I still had to do at about 8:00 tonight, and spent the following three hours working in my dorm on my second perspective, which is still not finished. All that's left is a couple more things and some shading. I'll do that in my 11:00-2:30 midday break tomorrow and things should be fine. I've been thinking a lot about the crit tomorrow and basically mentally preparing myself for the worst.

After that tomorrow, I'll be finishing my isometric temple drawing for VisCom and put the axon on vellum. Luckily they are due at the end of Thursday's class, and we have the whole time to work on them.


Sept 16, 12:58 edit:
Here's the finished second perspective:

Things getting done!

So far so good, except for the fact that we have a crit on Wednesday, so I'm sort of nervous for that. Other than that, I'm feeling good in terms of the rate I'm getting things done at. Here are my things for ARCH 131s, the only thing lacking is my second perspective

Take a guess at where my focus is on the Campus Plan.

So, I've been working pretty hard I'd say, and there's still a lot more to come.

Late night at studio

I got back to the dorm at around 10:45, but I don't mind (no surprise there). I did finish what I mentioned last post, and I am almost done with my second elevation as well. Here's the picture (phone picture, sorry):

They're both in 1/4" = 1' scale, and I might have to do a little more work on them, but they're the finished product at the moment. Of course, I'll be back in studio tomorrow to finish up my other elevation and site plan. Also I'm going to do as much as I can on my campus plan. After I finish that I just have to redo my perspectives and I'm set for Wednesday!


Also fun fact: I finished my GEOG 160 mapping class homework. My guess is that that's due Wednesday as well because that is my lab day.

Ahead of the pack?

Some more updates to my ARCH 131s and VisCom classes: I am almost finished with the axonometric draft of the Temple of Portunus on trace for VisCom, Which means I'm about 3/8 finished with my things to do for that class by Thursday (the isometric on trace will be 3/8, and putting them on vellum paper will take up the last 1/4).

ARCH 131s is going pretty well also; I'm just about finished with the final drafts for one of my elevations and my door plan. Pictures will be posted the next time I give an update. An estimate for how many hours I spent in studio today: 6.5 hours. That includes class time, though.

I haven't really mentioned anything about any of my other classes: ART H 201 "Ancient-Medieval Architecture," GEOG 122 "The American Scene," and GEOG 160 "Mapping our Changing World." Art history has a slide quiz on 30 monuments on the 25th, so I definitely have some studying to do for that.
For GEOG 122, we were just assigned a one page compare/contrast between the early French and Spanish settlement of America which shouldn't be too tough. That's due Friday during class.
GEOG 160 has a map projections worksheet assigned to the students; I don't know when it's supposed to be due exactly.

So, all in all, I feel like I'm a little ahead in my arch classes, but I have a bunch of work to do for my others.

Lots of work

First of all, I would like to let out my relief of getting my first grades in VisCom today! I got two A-'s, which is on the higher end of grades in the class. I don't think anyone received an A either.

So I started working on my axonometric for VisCom (the temple is called "Temple of Portunus"). Basically, an axonometric drawing is a perspective with no vanishing points. The 90 degree angles are kept at 90 degrees and almost all lengths are kept proportional to the original. Here's an example:

And here's a picture of the Temple of Portunus:

The stairs on the temple were difficult to do, but after a couple tries I managed to get them right. That's as far as I got tonight because there was a house meeting.

The meeting pretty much told the residents in special living for arts and architecture that each person had to to at least two things whether they be volunteer work, attending social events, etc. Since I already participated in a tie-dyeing event as well as donating blood, I already have all the credits I need for this semester.

Relaxing before some more work

Well, after the pin-up today in studio, I felt a little more comfortable as to where I was in the project. Basically I just have to redo the perspectives on bigger paper and trace the drafts onto vellum with a few tweaks to lineweight, detail, etc. This is due in one week on Wednesday, but I want to get a jump on it so I won't feel too pressured to spend long hours in studio. A couple things I want to get before I start on vellum: an eraser pouch for getting rid of annoying smudges, a sort of dry-cleaning material for my desk because it's getting covered in graphite, and a sort of spray-fix. I feel that I will be afraid to use the spray-fix, so that's a maybe.

For VisCom tomorrow, we're going to get our temples back so we can start working on making axonometric and isometric drawings of them. The axon will be drawn with a cut three feet up the columns, so it's like a plan projected upward. The iso will include the entire temple. Not sure as to when those will be due, but I'll take one thing at a time.

An interesting fact I discovered is that six people changed out of architecture already. Three of which never showed up to class in the first place. The other three were in my section, which is strange because I think we have one of the least demanding professors of all four sections. It seems logical that when people sign up for architecture as their major, they know what they are getting into since it's notoriously demanding in terms of time spent in the studio. Oh well, I just know that I'm set on becoming an architect; the work so far I could define as fun, even. I joked when commenting on a friend's Facebook: "It's a requirement for true arch students to be obsessed with studio. It's our way of life; sooner or later we wont be able to function without a daily 5+ hour studio session even if we don't get anything done"

Another thing of importance: I joined the Penn State American Institue of Architecture Students today! This will be a great way to get involved in the architecture community as well as make friends who share similar goals with me.

Second post for the day

Blood donating went well although it took thirty minutes longer than I had anticipated; if it was fifteen minutes longer, I would have been late to Visual Communication (ARCH 121; VisCom). VisCom consisted of a three hour lecture mainly about contour lines and poché. The good news is that I accomplished all the things on my to-do list for today. I left the studio at about 10:15, which is the latest I've stayed there so far.

I know I'll be having quite a busy day tomorrow as well, especially 11:00-2:30 because I have to finish up my campus plan for ARCH 131s at 1"=40' and complete a site plan around my door at 1/8"=1'. Everyone's at about the same stage as well in terms of percent of things completed, even those who were away for the weekend. Though, their drafts are generally less detailed than the others' drafts.

Numero Uno

Alright, so today's going to be another busy day. Classes start later Tuesdays and Thursdays though, so it's not so bad. I did some shopping, and I'm going to donate blood for the first time. I'm actually a bit excited because I want to know what blood type I am, and I'm sure they would be able to give me that info.

So that'll take up a half hour approximately; after that, I'll be paying the studio a visit to work on my site plan/door plan for my ARCH 131s (studio) class. Each student in my section (section 3) has been assigned a specific door in the HUB, and we're to make measurements and a couple perspective sketches as well. I've made a couple elevation drafts, and one of them is combined with a section. Also, I have two perspective sketches done. My temple for ARCH 121 (VisCom) was finished yesterday. The people who left for Labor Day weekend have a lot of catching up to do.