The distinction between art and science; architecture as a craft

It was my first night in Brooklyn and Suzi was defending her choice of concentrating on a fine art (sculpture) and stepping out of the study of architecture. She intoned that she actually wanted to build things, to keep the intent pure and found the act of architectural creation mired in the 'magic' of cost projection and marketing archaic, a feeling that I can well understand.

I had traveled to New York City to see Suzi's MFA and to visit another TOIcollaborator whom I had also worked with in Cleveland. We had all met while in the employ of what was considered (and still may be, these things take time to evolve) an 'up and coming' young firm. A firm building a considerable portfolio and hungry to prove their creative merit. There were however the growing pains of a small firm trapped in a local community tentative about flexing design muscle that sent those two to New York while I attempted to find an office closer (physically) to home.

Regardless, the question of architecture as either and art or a science reveals a difficult determination. While 'good' architecture requires a creative flair with the spatial understanding of an artist the act of construction and building itself lends more to the scientific arena of understanding materiality and the phasing of assembly.

So how then would one define architecture or at least its many facets? At one time architects were master builders or craftsmen who would idealize the form and shape the construction to meet the ideal. It was required to depend on the skill and the eye of the builder to help realize the dream as well as the patience and confidence (arrogance?) to convince the patron the path the project was taking was indeed the correct one. Many great projects of old would take unreasonable amounts of time to complete by modern standards. Where great cathedrals would require generations of builders to complete nowadays it is not uncommon to require a project to go from dream to realization in less then 2 years.

It has become almost too easy to stray from the path of understanding not only what is being built but a more complete understanding of what it is being built with. Where architecture is devolving to little more than a study in form without any sense of grasping the science of construction or the intonation of function or even interactivity which in the end is what is killing the field. While educational programs remove the students from the actual art of building and the schism continues to divide developer and designer the general public (or client pool) only sees edifices to ego being constructed in the most bizarre and unsustainable fashions further mystifying the role of the designer and in the end relegating architects to the role of decorating boxes designed for the lowest common denominator and documented with the intent of being constructed in a vacuum by the lowest bidder.

As I sit here in Toronto, in a house that was built in the 1850's, listening to the few others at the B&B walk around and check in without the telltale creaky floors and squeaky stairs I wonder if in our quest for cheaper construction we are truly cheating ourselves by requiring more materials for shoddily built and overly quickly design product that incur huge maintenance and operating costs later. What ever happened to the love of constructing something that we can be proud of, that we plan to hand down to our children, that we know will stand testament to our existence and our community? How do we expect those with a passion for beauty and grace to continue to want to practice in a field where taking the time to understand how to build things correctly is typically excused from the project's time line as an extraneous cost?

Not that I want to make excuses or that I am blameless from 'the process' that has befallen so many architects in their quest to eventually build things they can be proud of. Part of me wonders why it is so difficult to draw a line in the sand. To state in a non-argumentative manner that good product and good craft is going to cost more and take more time to accomplish. Not that this is an excuse for wasting time or money, just the opposite, that if projects are considered to include the lifespan of the building and it's efficiency and craft then care must be required up front in order to plan and design the proper solution as well as the assemblage for it to last long enough to capitalize on the initial costs. Otherwise similar mistakes will perpetuate. Buildings will leak, walls will lean and everything will look similar enough to dull the eye.

Part of me, a good part of me, is jealous of Suzi for having the strength and the wherewithal so realize her happiness lies in sculpture more than architecture. I can see the allure. Part of me is frustrated with the status quo and am growing eternally bored of the conflict of science and art being bypassed for a buck. Most of me yearns to return to the exploration of craft that attracted me in the first place.

Happy World Water Day

TOIstudio scours the news everyday to find interesting tidbits regarding architecture and environmentalism that may have slipped by the mainstream media, however I am not one for completely disdaining our larger broadcasting brethren and was actually caught by surprise when I saw this major news network story about World Water Day.

All joking aside without conservation or some minor technological breakthroughs potable water is poised to become the next major conflict instigator, most likely surpassing the volatility of oil in coming decades.

Perhaps it is the growing pains of our civilization that let us forgo the importance of drinking water in such a way that we continued to poison and waste it in such a manner that may become threatening for us as a species if we do not start taking some sort of responsibility. I am not advocating that we all only sponge bath once a month, instead I advocate that we realize that every decision we make has an impact upon another entity. You don't have to over-water your lawn to keep it green, you could plant lawns of non invasive species that have a deeper root structure so they will not suffer the 'burn of summer' as readily.

You could take your own bags to the grocery store instead of relying on being provided bags that take precious resources to make only to be thrown away at the end of their extremely short lifespan.

You could use low flow fixtures in your house and fix drips and leaks.

There are hundreds of water conservation techniques that could be easily employed without making any impact on our lifestyles and in the end would be better for all of us.

Some resources:
Water Conservation Web Portal
Water Conservation Techniques from Canada
2008 Water Conservation Showcase
Natural Resource Conservation Services for lawncare
Earth 911 water conservation

City Fresh Monday - Adaptive Re-Use of Old Urban Buildings for Local Food

***The monthly City Fresh Monday meeting has been moved from the 17th to the 24th to accomidate St. Patrick's day***

City Fresh Mondays - Adaptive Re-Use of Old Urban Buildings for Local Food
Monday March 24th, 2008
Great Lakes Brewing Company Beer Cellar
6pm - 8pm

Sometimes I think the New Agrarian Center has something planted in my head. Everytime I see one of their topics I immediately think "Wow, what a freakin' great idea!". I appreciate the subtle undertone of turning some of Cleveland's liability (underused land) into an assest (community garden and space) and doing it in a way that strengthens communal bonds as well as nurtures our connection to the natural environment. An attempt to accentuate the connection between the natural urban environment in a manner that doesn't alienate inhabitants or create formalized sterile parks that seem too unnatural to physically enjoy.

City Fresh Monday is a monthly gathering of folks who want to learn, dialogue and collaborate on issues of food, health, community development and the environment. Presented by the New Agrarian Center (NAC), the FREE and OPEN City Fresh Monday forum is hosted in the Great Lakes Brewing Company Beer Cellar the third Monday of every month from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM. RSVPs are not required, but attendance will likely maximize at 60-70 people.

Topic:
Adaptive Re-Use of Old Urban Buildings for Local Food - featuring presentations from students of Cleveland State University's Levin School of Urban Affairs who are looking at plans for adapting potential buildings in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood.

Please note: the Beer Cellar is not wheelchair-accessible.

Cleveland needs to look north for inspiration - the Puglies

TOIstudio heads up to Toronto next week. I know I just returned from New York but the spring travel bug has bitten. I haven't been to Toronto since I was 13 or so and while a part of me wants to hunt down Steven Fong and complain about Kent's floundering ways I would rather walk the waterfront, compare the Condo situation with Cleveland's own and remiss not putting the journey off until May.

I will also attempt to tap into the vibrant and seemingly vocal local criticism of local architecture. Something that may be just starting to coagulate in Cleveland. While there have been some attempts to criticize and critique perhaps it should be taken a step further and openly judge.

The MarJ sent me a fine website called The People's Choice Awards for Architecture or the Puglies for short. There some of Toronto's architectural projects receive the dubious award of being shortlisted on a website where the public can chose which particular project is more offensive. The website is amazingly easy to navigate, offers quite a huge selection of choices and imagery and really does a fine job of driving the point home that the public has some discerning taste and it would be nice for developers to recognize that.

While I think the options in Cleveland may not be as varied (due to the same particular group of people churning out the same particularly poorly designed product) it would be nice to collect and disseminate imagery of the debacle, if only to share with the world and hopefully incite a revolution of good taste and proper decorum.

Viva la Revolucion!

Suzi's MFA - De-Wared

Suzi's MFA exhibit went off quite well. In fact I was rather impressed with how it turned out. I hope to get some more information (conceptual statement, etc) to put up on the collaborator's portion of the site with some video that I shot on a digital camera.

Artist's Statement-

In Denis Hollier's Against Architecture the writings of Georges Bataille, Hollier notes Bataille's discussion of language's possibility as a commodity or expenditure for control over subjectivity. Here the implications of exchange value (profit) over use-value (subjectivity), dictate the practice of art and architecture's effect on human experiences and thus resonates as post-modernism's current language of late capitalism.

In De-Wared, I attempt to utilize a new language to reverse the state of postmodernism's domination of exchange value as supported in Frederic Jameson's text: The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. In defining language, I attest to Bataille's theory of language's ability (both visual and verbal) to either propel "into a dance, or fall into intoxication". Here language is a labyrinth, our existence, were an exit or discovery of freedom from confusion can be found when "lexical prisons are broken open". Confusion occurs when on loses identity and subjectivity within the barriers and entanglement of the web. In this way I search to exit from the commodity value of mass-marketed standards which over-power creativity and individual freedom.

By forcing standard, quarter-inch steel rods down to an unusable item so it is no longer representative of a ware, I find independence from the form it dictates to the user, and therefore coin a language that is not bound by market-value but rather by my own reality within this labyrinth. Although purchased as a commodity, I manipulate the steel to no longer promote the language of commodity and to remove its exchange-value. The de-wared steel serves as a metaphor to a culturally larger problem within late-capitalism in the hopes that it too can be ameliorated.

-Susan Quilligan

TOIstudio, on the road

For those of you wondering where the heck I have been lately, I was quite occupied with work for a while there and didn't really have much time to explore any opinion or thoughts on much except for being tired and hungry.

Currently though I have started fulfilling my wanderlust and am sitting in a rather nice apartment of some other TOIstudio-ers who have made the move to NYC in an effort to see what all the hubbub has been about.

Thoughts and impressions are varied. I actually really like the city because there is really so many interesting things to see and do, however at times the cacophony can be quite overwhelming, especially to such a small town boy as myself.

I haven't really done any things that one could consider 'touristy' except for Cai Guo-Qiang exhibit at the Guggenheim.

The major reason for my journey to NYC is Suzi's MFA exhibition at Pratt which I am excited to see the end result of the installation and will hopefully have some good pictures of the exhibition up soon (with Suzi's permission of course).

Regardless for those of you curious as to where I have been, that is where. Next week I plan on heading up to Toronto with the MarJ (who did not make the NYC trip and whom I admit I miss quite a lot) for some exploration of their waterfront. Hopefully I will have some coherent thoughts and impressions in a little while as I get to take the time to type something up. In the meantime I hope everyone is enjoying this little respite from my angst and taking some time themselves to relax.

Tremont Art Walk March 2008

Tremont Art Walk
March 14th, 2008
Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio
6pm - 10pm

Alright, I don't know if this is a new website for the Tremont Art Walk but it is the most current one. At least it has the correct year on the calendar. Anyway, it seems to be still going on (13 years so far!) and despite the massively horrible winter weather it looks like it will start to really warm up Thursday and possibly be quite nice on Friday. So...go check out some galleries that typically have stringent hours when you have the chances to visit a bunch of them in one fell swoop.

LEAP night recap

LEAP night redux

I wussed out and drove down to LEAP night instead of taking the train. Mostly because I was travelling with the delightful MarJ and another friend and figured we would be too cold to wait around for the Red Line when the night schedule takes over.

Upon showing up at the site the first thought was that we had stumbled upon a homeless encampment. Huddled masses arranged around metal drums filled with fire, in the distance a small bonfire burned. I suppose the major difference would be the food tents, the projected "Rock Band" competition, the fire troupe and the freestyle snowboard, ski ramp.

I was amazed at the good turnout. When we were there (for the hour and change that our poorly dressed bodies could handle) we saw entire families with little kids running around, young and old couples, and the typical 20something crowd looking at the ruins of the city, the frozen river and the going-ons.

Gypsy Bean and coffee operated a food tent supplying pizza and similar fare (and cookies!) with coffee or hot chocolate to stay warm. Either folks dressed as bears, or well spoken actual bears, mingled in the crowd handing out snacks and checking on everyone's health. The only thing that didn't cooperate was the weather. If it would have stayed cold then the ground wouldn't have devolved into inches of slush. It is hard to argue when the weather gets warmer in February around here so I won't make much of an issue about it.

As we were leaving it seemed as if many more people were arriving and that parking was going to get quite scarce, quite quickly. I was actually really excited and think the folks putting this thing together deserve quite a bit of credit. They managed to pull off a rather fun and interesting event on a spectacular locale and, well to be honest, it rekindled a little spark of hope that has seemed so dim lately*.

*I will wax poetic any damn time I please.

GO VOTE!

Well, I braved the wet and cold to go visit a church and cast a vote in the fellowship hall/basement. Someone at the polling location was commenting on how the paper ballots were a step backwards. I find it interesting how people have been trained to associate shiny, electronic and new with progress. I would ascribe 'progress' as the simplest, most reliable and most efficient solution to a particular problem regardless of technological prowess. Perhaps that is why I am grumpy all the time.

The only thing that appeared on the ballot that made me question the choices being proffered was the re-election of Tim Hagan as a County Commissioner. I don't necessarily think anything particularly unpleasant about the fellow, I just think that he embodies quite a bit of what is wrong with the city and why progress in the region is slow to dismal.

At some point I wonder if the entire back-room napkin contract business model will turn the city into the futuristic version of Marty McFly's hometown (Bifftown). I would argue that I think that would be a bad thing. Regardless it was amazing to find Hagan's name on the ballot let alone unopposed. Either no one knew that his term was up for renegotiation or we are all just too tired anymore to hope for change.

Oh well, go out and vote. You don't have anything better to do.

resources:
Cuyahoga County 2008 Ballot Issues

1/3 Movie Night - Manufactured Landscapes

1/3 Movie Night @ Bela Dubby
Thursday March 6th, 7pm (ish)
A LAUNCH Cleveland Event
Free and Open To All

Edward Burtynsky's Manufactured Landscapes

"A protracted exploration of the aesthetic, social and spiritual dimensions of industrialization and globalization... Raises some significant and sobering questions about the impact that we, as humans, make on our environment"
- NEW YORK TIMES

Edward Burtynsky is internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of nature transformed by industry. Manufactured Landscapes – a stunning documentary by award winning director Jennifer Baichwal follows Burtynsky to China, as he captures the effects of the country's massive industrial revolution. This remarkable film leads us to meditate on human endeavor and its impact on the planet. (from www.mongrelmedia.com)

Google Map

Leap Night - Celebrating one more extra cold day every four years.

LEAP NIGHT
February 29, 2008
East Bank of the Flats (where Dick's Last Resort was recently torn the heck down)
Old River Road

Cleveland, OH
6pm - 11pm
googlemap

A pop up experience with food, fun, and spectacle in the Flats East Bank.

FOOD
Food vendors Ideally, some of the restaurants that will be part of the Flats East Bank development will set up stands and sell food and drinks. Pig roast and/or oil drum barbecues Grilling meat will add warmth and protein to the evening.

FUN
Ice skating If the weather is cold enough in the days leading up to the event, we will flood part of the Flats East Bank site for skating. If the weather is too warm, the rink area will become a pond for toy boat races. Open snowboarding and competition on rails, boxes, and ramps set up for the night.

Video game competitions Large-scale video games (Rock Band, etc.) projected on a blank building wall at the southern end of the site. (Vertical Sound for audio/projection equipment) Snowsuit fashion show and the crowning of Miss Leap Night.

SPECTACLE
Snow installation The Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative and local artists will create a temporary snow environment as a setting for the event, using ice blocks and snow that will be stockpiled on the site in January and February. The snow installation will be constructed during the last week of February, generating interest and publicity in the days leading up to the event.

Central bonfire and/or a series of trash can fires at the river’s edge to provide light and warmth. Dead Christmas tree forest Old Christmas trees will be stockpiled and used to landscape the site for the event; trees will be harvested throughout the night to fuel the bonfire(s). The Christmas tree forest will be populated by polar bears (actually people in polar bear costumes) who will hand out snacks and deliver trees to the bonfire(s).

SAFMOD

Cleveland’s multi-media performance ensemble will create a special fire performance for the event.

LOGISTICS
Safety Fire truck and ambulance on site; off-duty police officers will provide security.

ACCESS

Participants will be encouraged to ride the Waterfront Line to the event; snacks and mittens will be provided at the East Bank Station.

WEATHER

If the weather is unseasonably warm at the end of February, we will cancel the snow machine and have sand delivered to the site; the event becomes a beach barbecue.

It only seems fair when considering that one chooses to live in a region that for about half the year is relatively inhospitably cold hindering proper exploration and the relishing of natural splendor. At least it seems that way as most of the general population would rather stay inside where it is warm (or at least warmer), hence a severe lack out outdoor activities.

However, in a city that is struggling to reinvent itself as a home, full of opportunity and activity, what more perfect way to strike a chord of hope into the hearts of those of us locked in the gloomy and dark pattern that is our winter time routine than a celebration for having one more day of proper winter?

Thanks Pop-Up City folk! Thanks for giving us a spark of hope.

Cleveland Film Festival - Green Slant

March 6th - 16th
Tower City Theaters
32nd Cleveland International Film Festival

Ripped from the aiadocs (Cleveland) headlines:

The 32 Annual Cleveland International Film Festival has a "section committed to green awareness" entitled "It's Easy Being Green" and features five films -

The Green Chain
Mountain Top Removal
The Planet
The Return of the Cuyahoga
Flow, for the Love of Water

Resources:
Official festival trailer.

Ameritrust Tower Still in Peril

Cuyahoga County looks to reopen bidding for Ameritrust complex after K&D deal falls short. Threatens moving ahead with tower demolition and administration complex construction if suitable bidder isn't found.

Plain Dealer writes all about it

Wow.

I knew the KD deal was weak but I didn't realize that the County was angling to use its failure as an excuse to move forward with poor planning decisions (the implementation of the original Ameritrust plan). I wish the FBI would step in and start investigating the County government's current deals regarding the Airport and the Amertitrust tower if only to create a 'clean slate' from which citizens of Cuyahoga County could begin to judge and function.

While the Corridor project moves forward and small sparks of vitality start to ignite within downtown I still find myself worrying that without the proper support for new ideas, proposals and plans that the region will stagnate even after a massive influx of capital.

Granted while the current Avenue plan is bringing people downtown it isn't attracting the sort of citizen interested in an urban lifestyle. The marketing scheme seems more centered on moving the 'suburban dream' to downtown. Granted that without infrastructure to support downtown denizens this seems like a logical and viable plan as residents will have to commute back to the suburbs for certain events, attractions and shopping. Perhaps this reverse suburbanization is the proper plan. Let the outskirts become the central business/retail districts and concentrate habitation in an unsupported urban center.

Although even that comment is unfair. There is some shopping and nightlife areas still open downtown, probably more than there were last year, and it does seems as if certain projects are underway to make Cleveland even more livable. There just needs to be the people to exploit that (Granted winter is a poor time for any sort of empirical study as most stay in their warm comfy homes rather than explore the outside.

The question though, is whether the government is truly attempting to support the region or just trying to find ways to profit personally from it. The major recent projects seemed to have been botched from the beginning. The Airport Expansion, the Lakefront Development, the County Administration, the Innerbelt Bridge/Trench and possibly the Medical Mart projects all share the same heavy handed approach that seemed to lack the finesse and logical approach (or even strong willed decision making) that would have resulted in acceptable implementation. Instead we are left with the very distinct taste of projects that would 'revitalize the city' failing at inception.

Somehow the Euclid Corridor project has moved forward and even though there are definitely some growing pains it is already possible to see the fruits of the project if only to recognize that Euclid does indeed look and 'feel' better (in the areas finished). Will it be enough to attract people and businesses back downtown? Maybe but honestly it is better than nothing.

1/3 Movie Night, 2008 02.21

1/3 Movie Night
2008 02.21
Bela Dubby Coffee House
7pm +/-

1:3 Movie Night is proud to present Baraka as the featured movie of the week.

No plot, no storyline, no acting.

Baraka, filmed in 24 different countries means "blessing" in multiple languages.

A film about the inter-connectedness of human life through powerful
imagery, transcending spoken word.