hello London. ....and the photo stream

"where's my chinese food ed? i'm lonely and you don't know how to parallel park"

how much wheat can i grow in one year?
how much wheat can be produced on 1 acre? how much wheat can be produced on a land parcel in the city...of detroit?
how much can i sell a pound of wheat for?

...wait.

what tools do i need to harvest wheat?
water.
soil condition? lead? contaminants? re-soil?
how much would that cost?
i need a tilling machine.
i need seeds.
i need a shovel.
when do i plant?
when do i harvest?
when do i water?

i still need a hollander.
i still need boilers, can i use just fire?
need to develop presses/molds.

will this keep me busy year long?

how long will it take for wheat to grow?

...give me one more year.

people that know how to take care of themselves means that there's one less person to worry about.

some of these pics are of the 27th st project i'm working on. it's adjacent to the highline and will be on display at the arch league (courtesy of Corey Hoelker of FLAnk.) FLAnk's future office will be here as well, and that's our rooftop terrace. The high line is going to be nice! i can't wait to see it happen. doZer and I will have another place to walk soon!

on the flipside, not much is new here. just doing construction administrative work for IDP and a lot of drafting. IDP, for those of you that do not know is an Internship Development Program instituted to junior architects that must be fulfilled prior the architecture licensure process. I've been doing some design on the side of all of this, but mostly it's all boring work. i think, most of it is tremendously boring and tedious. especially the construction admin work. shuffling paper's not my deal. making it is.

it's been called to my attention of a residency at a paper mill/studio/gallery near my 'hood.

the anticipation and anxiety for this is building up. it's almost time to get back to my labor of love, if all will fall in place in the next few months.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY doZer!!!!!!

zzzzzZZZZZZZZzzzzzz.....zzzzzzzZZZZZZZZzzzzzz

doZer!!

happy festivus!!!

aaaahhhhhh, photo credits - (correction) robert eric stimmel.

curbed

i love the public! . . . sort of. maybe.

57th street

by FLAnk

i'm so frickn' scared of heights. that's rediculous. i guess that's how the city was built.

hell yeah, back in detroit. GO TIGERS!!!

feels good to be at home. it's much cleaner, believe it or not, than the city. reasons for why i'm in love with the suburbs, nowadays.

1. everywhere i walk, it doesn't smell like urine.
2. it doesn't take an hour to travel a mile.
3. space is cheaper.
4. people are nicer.
5. more honost people in the 'burbs.
6. grocery shopping doesn't take half a day.
7. not as many beggers.
8. when i talk to people, it doesn't feel like i'm getting ripped off or taken advantage of.
9. family
10. the doZer.

D. Vermeleun: "ED, GET BACK TO WORK!"

e. liang: "WHAT!...architecture goes good with beer."

son of a b!tch!! gimme some publicity already. . . i'll never forget the last words of my time at cranbrook. "im afraid your work isn't public enough." give me a break. screw the public, it's making me more selfish. so, this is strike two. . .

i was thinking of proposing something for a project at emanate.org, but pro-bono work just wouldn't cut it for my situation right now. galleries in chelsea are cheezy to me, so i guess it's time to venture into something new.


"Dear Architecture and the Mail participant:

Several months ago we wrote to you to inform you that your project
was selected for inclusion in the Architectural League's project,
Architecture and the Mail.

I am writing now, with great regret, to tell you that we have had to
cancel the project. After much effort over the past several months
to work with the submissions we received, we determined that we did
not have a critical mass of material that would allow us to realize
the project in a way that would honor its original intention. This
has been extremely disappointing for us, as we're sure it is for you.

Thank you for your interest in and support of this project and we
appreciate your patience over the past several months.

Sincerely,

Rosalie Genevro
Executive Director, The Architectural League

Hunter Tura and Jeannie Kim,
Project Organizers"

250 Bowery

. . . so here's what i'm currently investing most of my time on these days. CD's for a hotel on "the bowery." the renderings are by corey hoelker of FLAnk Architects. the facade is by Front Inc. it has a metal corten perforated screen and will rust over time. there will be an extensive green roof, and a vertical screen for ivy to grow vertically to provide shade on the west facade of the building. It is currently proposing a geothermal system (largest in nyc) and seeking LEED gold. CD's are scheduled to be finished mid-october. there's a lot of recycled material that will be used within the high end residential building. old timber from the previous buildings will be used in the lobby, stairways, bar, and club. there will be an art gallery on the bowery as well. it'll be the new hotness on the bowery amongst all the she she lounges in the lower east side.

...don't ask how i get from one place to another. sometimes i wonder for myself. going from the suburbs to a city, from building a strawbale house to a high end hotel. from going to school to downright practice and profession. i'm waiting for what's next and i'm somewhat anxious to find out.

work is so un-inspiring. i'd rather be sifting.

"Dear Edmund:

We appreciate your interest in exhibiting your work in this year's DaimlerChrysler Financial Services/Cranbrook Academy of Art exhibit. Unfortunately, since the choices were made, there have been budget cuts and a few pieces had to be eliminated from the show due to framing/pedestal/plexi cover costs.

Unfortunately, your piece was one of the ones eliminated. We will make arrangements to have it returned to you as soon as possible.

Please verify the address these will be returned to is:

xxxxx Lightsxxx
Novi, MI xxxxx

We hope you understand and we wish you luck in the future with your art."

oh well. . . it was a great oppurtunity, but i shall soon have it in ny! i can't wait to see it and be with it again! . . .my reservations for corp america haven't changed :( doh!

FLAnk

architecture studio in chelsea. this is where i am now. . .i miss detroit and the farms. i remember there was a project by a colleague of ours titled "far from the farm." how true it is.

So, I'm cross-pollinating out in nyc for a while, a long while. this past sat. i attended the icff.
co-lab's paper was represented at
material connexion's booth. nice to see some detroit representation!
i briefly met an artist doing some sililar stuff to my work for acoustical treatment.
some cool paper work here - www.molodesign.com
and maplexmaterial.com
†
ecroresin - polymer stuff. like crushed chopped pastic from bottles and stuff that was compressed into like a waxy substance. i like it.

www.dformdesign.com - punched patterns/furniture


carriaghousepaper is in brooklyn, i think williamsburg. i shall pay a visit.

"Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that held its ground"

confucious told me this off taft road while i was driving home today.

how dirty is your community?
-scorecard.org provides statistics according to how polluted your city is.

study of pressure treated lumber as a "bio-hazard" on playgrounds. gov research article.

MOMA: S.A.F.E.

perhaps the cranbrook arch studio should invest in some of these. . .

"seed card" identity

note to self before bed: i'd consider my thesis facilitated through trial and error with a voice. somewhat auto-didactic. as far as pronouncing to a greater social realm of "things" (being public), to me architecture plays a small role and should play a small role. a harmonious relationship toward practicing architecture and experiencing architecture is ideal.

i attended my undergrad school, udmercy, for an alumni event and things have changed. students' work is different, program's growing, and the actual architecture building is shaping up. it was good to see. i was impressed to see a project planned by students and the dcdc of a house that will be built in a neighborhood this summer. a special house, built from an abandoned one from chicago. the schematic drawings were impressive.

those were the good old days. . .

for other news - my work's going over to daimler chrysler services' headquarters over in farmington hills. i'm pretty excited about this. i've never had work taken away from me in an instant. oh well, if a thesis can't write itself - other things will. it feels good to part away with something i've been attached to for too long. i guess, i'll set it into the ground whenever the work gets back to me - or, i should say if it does. but that doesn't break a promise, in fact it makes a promise stronger. promises are somewhat time facilitated, i think? correct me, i'm not good with relationships.

for fun, somebody please tell me what's wrong with these pictures as a whole.





to me, they spell - a problem of health, a problem of economy, a problem of complacency, a problem of efficiency, a problem of politics, a problem of living, a problem of consumption, a problem of . . . etc.

so, now that stuff's in - and pretty much my time at cranbrook is coming to an end. . . things are moving fairly quickly for me. maybe a little too quick. it actually feels really good to be done, now i can get back to. . . eh, life - with a stronger perception.

i guess this will be my last post for cranbrook days. but i'll still be around to post things, i have changed this blog to my personal one as of. . . now. beginning. . . now.

cheers! ed.

it was a very exciting day today! i got my arch into the gallery space - special thanks to mike flynn, john cline, patrick casey, bill massie, and paul puzzello.

. . . the longest walk up lone pine road got me into my designated space to span.

things are so much cooler with wheels for some reason

model: courtesy of brian oltrogge, massie arch

time to move on -> i can't sleep, i'm having anxiety for graduatation - so i guess i'll write it off.

this past two years has been everything but trivial. it's been a trial of balancing philosophies to carry thru a train of thought to practice. it's been time wasted and time gained. exposure to new things and things i just hate. hardly establishing a solid ground for my first year, i was forced to engage a topic based on relative experience and emotional fuel based on personal yet relational to context and the city. a politic was developed based on pollution. an importance of accountability has been learned as a young architect. to establish a solid ground, i figure i ought to know where i'm stepping as well. . .

it was difficult for me to blend peripheral agendas outside Architecture, transmitted to me thru the academy as well as discourse within our studio. bringing forth of learnt and developing agendas was a huge challenge to surface with Architecture. manifested in this thought practice, believe it or not, addresses many - "ism's and -ist's."

i came to cranbrook expecting to develop my train of thought. practicing a train of thought, i felt, came from thinking and making - criticalness, precision, social engagement, and enjoyment. to write a thesis is to be qualitative and quantitative. i would much prefer it to be an auto-biography, but i guess cranbrook puts thesis in quotes.

note to self: ellipsoidal lamella barrel vault.

. . . the current state of things - no matter how hard i'll try to use "safe" materials, one has to make compromises to satisfy a larger social dialogue. i had to wrap two bales with celophane that i brought to the science museum's freezer to sterilize them of any microscopic living organisms that could endanger art within the museum gallery. these bales will serve the purpose for sitting on and understanding the tactile quality of what i'm making within my installation. the pressing continues. . .

in one week - i will be contructing an apparatus that will vault the surface to be wheeled to the museum gallery for the opening on the 23rd.

ground zero
a breaking ground
a solid ground
a common ground
a fertile ground
coffee grounds
a fixed ground
a breeding ground
ground to become sharp
the ground round
the vital ground
shifting ground
open ground
crossing ground
a groundwork

a monument to my way of practice will be grounded for my thesis/degree show. it'll be a metaphor demonstrated in two parts. a vault taken down and dug into the ground at the end of its duration in the gallery. this activity will demonstrate an anology of permanence and health that addresses material construct and my intention of developing a material that is non-hazardous as it degenerates.

googled : "agritecture"

i have added a small slide show of paul and ed's recent trip to winnipeg. the trip was an inspirational one. our warmest (no pun intended) thank you goes out to Nada Subotincic and Mark West for their hospitality and generosity of time.

i have also added some links. . . check them out!

pine tar
thanks for the suggestion nada!

nice - wait until everyone sees and hears the new blender i'm borrowing. it's an industry commercialized blender capable of blending large quantities. when i was in manitoba, my dad managed to get it from his friend that made tofu for a living on the side of being an engineer at fomoco. my dad's awesome, i came home one day dejected after breaking bill's blender and even our own. he went out of his way to pick this one up! it totally made my day!! i can't wait to give it a whirl.

this thing is massive.

nothing feels better than good old fashion labor.

the first pass

so i've done some site maintainance. . . please visit my archives. i feel i should be doing some acknowledgements since i haven't done so yet because i'm entering into a "production mode." it's a fairly laborous process so i don't want to forget the people that got me where i am in my work. these are the people who have helped me clarify my intentions and roles that bring purpose and meaning toward my approach to architecture.

some acknowledgements:

mom + dad + doZer
Deanne Bednar (strawbale studio)
Ray Tyrell (local farmer)
Jane Lackey (fibers studio)
Gloria J. Lowe (Detroit rehabilitator)
Paul Puzzello (crandroid)

lastly, the really critical (sometimes cynical) architecture colleagues from UDMercy who have challenged, encouraged, discouraged, and frustrated me for good reason.

graig donnelly
matt gerard
tadd heidgerken
manuel garza
andy sturm
andrew lehman

Automation continues. . .