Shelter presentation

http://www.outdoorlife.com/photos/gallery/hunting/2013/05/survival-shelters-15-best-designs-wilderness-shelters

-This site shows different shelter ideas that you would be able to make in nature or while camping. These type of shelters are interesting to me because me family goes camping a lot. My dad would always try to get my brother and me to learn about the different shelters to make and how/why they were useful.

http://www.archdaily.com/category/structures/

-This site was cool because it showed different design structures of all different styles and shapes. It showed lots of different ideas that I thought about incorporating for a while. Architecture and design have always been cool to me and to see different, non-normal house like structures is interesting.

http://www.ancient.eu/pyramid/

This site was useful because my design ended up being very pyramid like. The idea of older generations creating these giant pyramids is fascinating and how they worked with math to solve it. My deign greatly mimics the pyramids and how their structure is made be strong and directed upward with a solid bigger base.

For Maslow’s Hierarchy, i understand where he is coming from and I can understand how he justifies the different levels of his pyramid but I do not think that this is a “set in stone” idea. I do think that the food/water is the most important because with out it we cannot live. However, because we are people and have strange emotions, sometimes having friends/family that make us feel like we belong are the more important. When we become depressed, we stop eating or sometimes no longer want to live. At this point, having a loving home is more important than food.

I understand the idea behind the hierarchy but I feel that because we are such a complicated species, we have needs and feelings that change the importance of things in our lives. Even so, this idea is a good starting point to think of the different components needed when trying to think about a shelter and the parts that should be incorporated.

Michael McDaniel is an amazing person who say a problem and stepped forward to fix the problem on his own when the government would not. His design of the disaster houses were very innovated and simple yet modern. His design even had a way to were the people using them could re-position them to fill their needs.

In the beginning, I was very disappointed in how he said that he was having trouble finding people to fund/help him develop his idea; an idea that would be helping the AMERICAN people. Still, he was able to find investors and companies to help him and develop his idea. His determination of making designs, spending his own free time, and his own money shows his determination on his idea and the idea of helping others.

The one thing that we talked about in my science class is the use of our lands and homes. Although big houses are great, we are wasting a lot of land. The idea of compact houses do not always please everyone but in today’s increasing population, the idea of having compact community areas like this, not just for disaster relief but for everyday living could be a bigger step in our step to environmentally friendly living.

The TEDtalk by architect Shigeru Ban was very insightful. When I read the heading I thought that the “paper” was going to be printing paper or small cardboard pieces and was confused, yet interested by how he made buildings out of that. Once I started to watch the video and realized the the paper was big, thicker cylinder paper rolls, I was surprised. As the video continued and we got to see different buildings that he had accomplished all over the world and for different scenarios, I was amazed.

The styles of the buildings were different but were all well constructed and looked like they could withstand the elements. I was honestly concerned about the rain and fire when he began talking about paper but he said that “it’s very easy to waterproof, and also, because it’s industrial material, it’s also possible to fireproof.” Add on top of that the fact that the paper can be degraded because it is paper makes it environmentally friendly. Because of this, the buildings interested  me very much.

Even thought the designs were good and impressive, I still had one concern that he never addressed. Since the “building blocks” are cylinders, in the pictures it looks like there are gaps in some of the buildings and some not. Does he close those holes and it he doesn’t, does that greatly affect the temperature and protection from the elements? Aside from this one fact, the building design and assembly looks very strong and would be a step to a more sustainable living environment.

*this last one is because some ocean creatures do not have physical homes but see their family as “shelter”

Design has many definitions by many different people. Some take knowledge of the latin origin of design whereas others take knowledge of the english word. The word design “deriving from the word signum meaning ‘sign’” (Flusser 55). The english word referring to both a noun and a verb. The noun of design “mean[ing]- among other things- ‘intention’, ‘plan’, ‘intent’, ‘aim’, ‘scheme’, ‘plot’, ‘motif’, ‘basic structure’, all these being connected with ‘cunning’ and ‘deception’” (Flusser 55). The verb of design meaning “‘to concoct something’, ‘to simulate’, ‘to draft’, ‘to sketch’, ‘to fashion’, ‘to have designs on something’” (Flusser 55). There are people however that see design as not a word but as a “problem-solving activity” (Rand 34). In Foster’s article they even talk about the different types of design such as contemporary design and total design(66-72).

These multiple definitions of design affect how we see design because it “makes us aware that all culture is trickery, that we are tricksters tricked and that any involvement with culture is the same thing as self-deception” (Flusser 57). In his article, Greenberg talks about the idea of minimal design and his takes on the art/design and what the artist was or may have really been going for (26). Greenberg’s article shows a persons idea of design and how it differs compared to the other articles that just say it.

I feel that as a designer, I do not take into account the different definitions that people talk about. By being aware of these different definitions, I think I will be more aware of what I am creating and how it fits in with who I am working for/with. I can also be aware of this when I am just practicing/messing around. Right now, I work on my creative muscles and by drawing small sketches and ideas that come to mind. I also like to “goof-around’ and take an object or event and try to create designs of my own with these in mind. Although they are not for anything, they help me use my creative mind to generate ideas.

This poster was an intro into the use of space, angling, and text that could be used to draw in an audience. I focused a lot on hierarchy and color selection for this project. I used the size and weight of text to emphasize the importance of the content. I decided to do this so as to make the poster easy to read from far away but to find out more specific details you would have to come closer. I also worked with color and ways to highlight different areas that I “marked off” for the “less” important information that you would have to come closer to see.

So this story overall was very hard and annoying for me to read. The author uses “Fuck” a lot and other insulting words that you would not to pop up so much in a story like this. When I was done reading the whole thing, I had to step back and take a moment to let it all sink in.

The beginning was very normal, a very casual tone helping set the setting of the event and why it is happening. As he goes further into the story, he gets more of an aggressive tone. As a catholic and a designer, the image of a holy picture ruined by nipples was very disturbing. I felt bad reading it and wanted to go and make amends but at the same time I wanted to actually see this creation. I have other artist that I follow that use “smallers” or other things to make something that is almost the complete opposite of the material. These arts I feel have a much stronger and deeper meaning to them.

As he goes on and talks about “liking” the artist Martha, the tone became a bit sweeter but was then quickly adjusted back to harsh tone. The story ended with the author using this harsh tone to relay his disappointment and unhappiness in the event that had occurred and the the way that the after effects played out. I thought that after all of this story, the ending was every interesting because from an artist perspective, I understand Martha’s mind of the video but at the same time, I see the authors point in how the after effect (video) was not as impressive as the original work and the undecided message that was coming across.

The opening to this short story was very surprising to me. I was reading it and thinking, this can not be true, this does not happen in real life. As he continues and comments on how his story is a real story but like an episode from Rescue 911 I thought was a little humorous. Truth be told though, I have never seen that TV series so I I had never heard of this “event” before.

As Sullivan goes on to explain the events after the “death” of his brother, the tone of his story becomes very sad and dark. It is remembrance of the horrible accident and you could really feel the pain he felt. His story, however, shifts in tone when he starts to use notes that he had taken while he was looking after his brother. The note “quotes” add a bit of humor because as he says, his brother was acting like a drunk almost. Sullivan starts to finish by saying that even after all of this event, his brother does not remember most of it. When he wrote this I was thinking of how horrible it must be not to know what had happened but at the same time a great relief.

The closing quote and ending section brought me to tears almost. The quote is what his brother said about fictional characters being on one side of a rive. When Sullivan states that the day that his brother “died” was also the day that Mark Twain died, I honestly did not understand at first. The last sentence of “I am glad they left my brother on this side of the river” was when it finally hit me. I could physically picture the two characters standing on a river side with Sullivan’s brother on the other.  It is sad to think that his brother had been so close to death but also happy that he was able to come back to life and be with his family.