It must have been within a couple of years of 2005, but in which direction I cannot remember, because that is the year that I triumphantly completed AP Physics under the illumination of Konstantinos Alexakos, a supergiant of a teacher, around whom lesser life events have dwarfed and realigned. With…Continue readingFar-fetched physics #2
This article highlights a new and particularly exciting cinematic lineage, sprouting up in ever-increasing numbers, which some intrepid film student should definitely trace. It encompasses unique, violent, heavily documented acts that blur the line between art and reality. Let’s call this lineage The Leap. Requirements/parameters: This is a refreshing tonic…Continue readingThe Leap
Frei Otto’s Pritzker Prize win is great news, and a long-deserved recognition. The tensile roof structures for which he is best known are broad and altudinous webs which still knock us on our asses when we see them. Broad, altudinous, and web-like also happens to describe his legacy on the…Continue readingFrei Otto’s legacy: the infinite ladder of scales
I love the horizon on a sunday morning.i’ve waited a week for this softest of sights,her cloudy lids rising with silver eyeliner.She partied last night with a newly-made lover earthbut there is one thing she created on sunday:coffee– and it was only for me.I love the horizon on a sunday morning,the…Continue readingThe horizon on a Sunday morning
What does it mean for a work of art to be ‘inspired by nature’? What does it mean for a work of art to be ‘organic’? I was stirred to contemplation of these core questions during the Soaking Wet series performance of A Natural History at the West End Theater,…Continue readingA Natural History by Catherine Tharin: Playful, Contemplative, Organic
I asked the moon out to promby chugging the oily seas where she skinny dipped,I threaded needles through the smallest stars and sewed a velvet sky…But she just rolled her big white eyes.”I need no more big-belted bastards. You’d better be the bashful guy.”So I slimmed back down, thoroughly lady-whipped…It’s…Continue readingProm Night
There’s little to belittle Bjarke Ingels’ approach to architecture. It fires on all cylinders– through his youth, his energy, his charisma, his Scandinavian origins, and most importantly his ability to make design more accessible to the common man. These are all desirable traits, and thus far his ability to steward…Continue readingA coup of optimism, a loss of mystery
Stick by stick. Beam by beam. I will make this house mine. Mine with the trees. The studio had to be completed first—a warm brain first to conceive the rest. It was enclosed by September which was his goal (cutting it rather close to first frost in the snow belt),…Continue readingLike Nests of Old
I recently recalled the introductory monologue from the documentary film Zizek! In it the eponymous philosopher and social critic takes a stab at his theory of the universe, arriving swiftly and entertainingly at “love is evil.” The contrarian path he takes to that end is his trademark, and I wanted…Continue readingCenters II: Zizek, Aurelius, Hawking
The following is an excerpt from Building Sights, a BBC TV series which features famous works of architecture around Europe and the US– and the architects, artists, writers, and celebrities who provide short essays describing them. The parallels struck me immediately. Replace “Glasgow School of Art” with “Cooper Union”…Continue readingImperiled Education – The Glasgow School of Art