Dealing with the Flux

So, as I’ve promised previously, here’s a photo of the lamp I made for my last studio project. It’s a small desk lamp consisting of 24 layers of laser-cut sanded acrylic which shows the transformation of the word “why” to “not”. The piece was intended to fully represent my thinking process, my graphic sensibilities and the culmination of what I’ve learned in the Faculty of Architecture.

I’m quite happy with it, and other people have liked it, so overall I’m satisfied with the results. I’ve been told to consider making more of these for people, and I’ve been thinking about it. I haven’t done anything about it yet since I’ve had priorities are on other projects, including the next Studio assignment. My previous preoccupation focused on creating the graphic design / branding for my Faculty’s annual lecture conference called Atmosphere (this year, the conference focused on the perception and relation of space to film and media). I went to a few really interesting talks, but I couldn’t go to all of them because of the responsibility I decided to take on. I’m not complaining, though, I really enjoy that kind of work and I think I may pursue this type of work in the future. Currently, I’m currently trying to brainstorm ideas for the next studio project – designing a portable kiosk/exhibit for the Faculty of Architecture. This brief is quite unique, and a rare opportunity: we’ve been asked to individually come up with a design that is functional, interactive and informative, and it should embody the ideas and characteristics of the Faculty. On Monday, we’ll be presenting our ideas to an external panel, and they’ll choose a few of them to be built and funded by the school. It’s quite exciting, but so far I’ve been having a bit of trouble honing down my concept (right now, it involves representing what I’ve learned in designing and editing Warehouse). I’ve been told by my crit that I’m on to something, though, so I have hope that all will go well. There’s a lot more going on than what I’ve expressed here, but I won’t bore you further with all those details. It’s really quite too much to talk about, and besides, I have some sketching to do. I’ll let you folks know how things go soon.

The industrial age

After some much needed hibernation (see: winter break), I’ve returned and I’m as invigorated as ever. Now that it’s my last term in the program, it almost seems obligatory to take every day with a certain amount of importance. This is the term where by the end, I supposedly should have a strong idea of what needs to be done to survive the rest of my years (or at least for the next couple of them), but that hasn’t happened yet. I’ve been told that I’m quite the late bloomer. Oh well, I’m optimistic for what’s to come, and it’s probably best that I just take the last few months on a day-to-day basis, absorbing what I can, and appreciating the times I’ve spent in the hallowed halls of my faculty. I suppose I owe you folks some sort of update on my academic endeavors. This term, our class got split into two sections – one being good old interior design, and the other being industrial/furniture design. By the end of last term, we were asked to fill out a small questionnaire to determine which studio we would be in, and I ended up in the section of my choice: industrial/furniture design. There’s something about working with the human scale that speaks to me. Maybe it’s because it’s so intimate, or maybe it’s because in this scale your decisions and the details have an increased level of importance or implication. Anyway, for the first project of the term, we’ve been asked to create a lamp or light source which uses the laser-cutting machines (found in the faculty’s nicely equipped woodshop) as one of the main tools. Tomorrow’s our final presentation for this project. I’m quite happy with how my lamp turned out – I don’t have pictures for you folks, the explanation is quite lengthy, and I should really get to bed so that I’m alert and eloquent for tomorrow’s presentations, so the lamp will be the story for next time.

Relief and metaphors of YES

As I sit here in my bed trying to recall the events of the last few weeks, all I can picture is the image of an adventurer, deep in the heart of the Amazon jungle, furiously slashing through the extremely dense vegetation with his machete while fending off an angry tribe of cannibals and the hungry carnivores that pounce in every direction. Yes, the last few weeks has been busy (to say the least), and to have come out of it alive and slightly scathed feels no short of a miracle. Juggling all sorts of responsibilities – the book that I’m producing, the studio projects and the extracurricular work – is a difficult practice in time management and they all seemed to have deadlines that coincided with one another. Nevertheless, I’m out of that jungle, and I’m happily relaxing on this one weekend where – shock! – nothing needs to be done at all. I’m going to relish in this moment and take up all this time to relax. Heaven knows I need a break. Before I get on to placing cucumber slices on my eyes while listening to ambient music and sipping iced tea (oh, if only I was in the tropics right now), I would like to announce that my co-editor and I have finally finished making our book! (Insert fanfare, confetti and fireworks here). Actually, maybe we’re not completely finished. We still have proofs to approve, images to fix, and errors to be embarrassed about and content to change, but the major part of the production phase is done! The moment we finished producing the content felt like Atlas being relieved from the responsibility of carrying the weight of the world. I was so engulfed in hazy, deluded joy that I took it upon myself to look a fool. I proceeded to run a hands-in-the-air victory lap around the J.A. Russel Building. You can view this act of idiocy from the official Warehouse XIX Facebook group’s page here:

 http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=113147528700018&v=app_2392950137&ref=ts#!/video/video.php?v=500153320128&oid=113147528700018.

All we need to do now is plan the launch party. I do want this launch to be quite big, as it is the culmination of all this hard work. I foresee fabulous cake, loud music and crazy dancing. I’m hoping it’ll all go well and I would love it to be one for the record books. I think my co-editor is tired of thinking about the book, and so am I, but we have to pull through and commit to this last part of the journey. Great things come with hard work, and the right connections.

Oh, excuse me, I think my (imaginary) masseuse is calling me. I should go enjoy whatever is left of this glorious, carefree weekend because I’m sure this won’t ever happen again.

Field Trip! Oh Yay!

One of the great things about being in the Faculty is the opportunity to take trips to places far away. I believe the intent of these trips is to inspire new thought processes and ideas through explorations and discoveries of place and culture. Students have gone to far-away countries like China, Chile, Ghana, France and the Netherlands – all to, perhaps, explore what we hold similar and what makes them and us different. For this term’s project in my Studio, we went to somewhere more close-by. Sixteen of us went to explore a small forested area in Little Deer, Manitoba which is around the area where Hecla Island is located.

Before I get into details, I should perhaps tell you guys what this term’s Studio project is. This term, we get to basically pick a building and a program (what the building is for) and place it within the forest area of Little Deer. We could do whatever we want in these lots, but it has to have some sort of relationship with the surrounding area and it has to make functional sense.

Little Deer is a pretty neat place – and that’s saying something especially since it’s coming from someone like me who prefers the noise of the city and is not exactly too in tune with nature. Exploring the forest was perhaps my favourite part of the entire trip, not only because you get to see things you haven’t seen before, but also for the fact that it contains great subjects for photography! Nature is a great subject for photography because of the interesting variation of scale and details, and the fact that most natural subjects are stagnant and unmoving. Here are some pictures from the trip:

I’ll let you guys know what’s happening with that soon!

The Beginning of the End

Hi. My name is Justin, 22, student of Interior Design at the Faculty of Architecture, and right now I’m sitting in my office thinking of the amount of work I have to do in a short amount of time (see: mild panic). It’s how I start my day in school – that is, right after I grab myself a caffeinated beverage to avert the drowsiness that tempts me to go back to my sweet, ever-loving bed.

Right, excuse me while I make a list.

Things to do

1. Studio, of course. Allow me to explain Studio to those uninformed. Studio is basically the core of our education in the Faculty. In Studio, your year is divided into groups, and the groups are assigned to a professor or group of professors who we call our Studio critics (colloquially, they’re called “crits”). In each Studio, a design ‘problem’ is handed out to the students, and we basically try our best to design ourselves a solution to these problems. It’s hard to accurately describe the feeling of being in Studio, because all Studios are different. Later on, I’ll show you around a few Studios, and show you what they’re doing. It’s always quite interesting to see what everyone has to do, because all of the Studios are atypical in nature. It’s also pretty sweet because you get your own workspace. Nice.

2. Finish the book. My co-editor and I have been working on the nineteenth volume of a series of journals called “Warehouse”. Warehouse is a student-run initiative that showcases work from the Faculty. It’s pretty fun – I enjoy flexing my graphic design muscle, I get an office in the building, I get to have a published book under my name afterwards, and we get to have a big party afterwards. Hot stuff.

Anyway, Sean and I have been working on it over the summer, and now we only have about a week or so to finish it. Yikes. And to add to that pressure, my next Studio deadline is on the same exact day we have to finish making this book. Can you say “stress ball”?

3. Maybe I should ask to see whether my Studio crit can get me an extension because of the book

4. Do some other coursework.

5. Check when I work my other job next. Obviously, I need some form of regular income that allows me to keep up my coffee addiction.

That’s probably it for now.

This sort of craziness is not out of the ordinary for me or for any student of the Faculty, really. Actually, you sort of get used to it after a while, and call me crazy, but I quite enjoy the rush. It saddens me to think that this is my last year of my bachelor’s degree: I’m going to miss this scholastic insanity, the great people I’ve been lucky to get to know, the constant inspiration, the spaces, and everything in between. I’m writing this as if it was my last blog, and I shouldn’t, because this is just the beginning of what could possibly be the best year ever – I should enjoy it while I can.

If I can, that is.