Stillness

Is there an inherent stillness in architecture? Or is this something that must be created or defeated?

Anti-Architecture in a time of a futureless mindset.

Anti-Architecture in a time of a futureless mindset.

I sit down and begin writing about this subject in what could turn out to be a futile effort.

My belief:

In order to create a piece of architecture, there first must be many people who believe that there will be a tomorrow. The process of creating an architectural structure alone could take months, years, or generations to complete. If people believed there were no tomorrow, civilization, as we know it, would collapse into a chaotic free flowing anarchy. People would no longer think ahead about food, money, art, shelter, etc. Any creation would be temporary, primal, and utilitarian in nature. Would these shelters be considered architecture? Conjuring a mental image of some of the great pieces of architecture project an aura of permanence and immense accomplishment, where countless people have experienced something emotionally moving while inhabiting or viewing the piece. One does not imagine a wood hut that has a simple door cut from its twisting branch façade, a fallen tree used as a bridge, or a life sustaining water well. Architecture implies a physical interaction with a material to make it more suited for a composite structure.

Temporality:

Do a person’s actions determine their belief in the future? There could be extreme cases where cult suicide or paranoia takes hold, but what about energy uses. Most people in the United States have done, and will do nothing to reduce the amount of pollution, waste, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and energy they use day to day. As the gas prices remain high, the American people have not even bothered to complain about the prices, let alone boycott and discover alternate means of transportation. All these variables combined are adding up to less potable water, breathable air, usable land, natural land, diversity of species, and countless other essential parts that allow for an inhabitable future. This trend is not due to the overwhelming communal idea that there is no tomorrow, but rather because we as Americans have been born into a broken system that will not allow us to stop consuming. This system has turned people into corporations and institutions that no longer allow them to believe in anything other than the wellbeing of the economy. The destruction of our environment and our future no longer is blamed on people, but on these institutions that have no emotions or a conscious to plead too; so change cannot happen at a pace that would ensure an inhabitable tomorrow.

Architects are not innocent. Architecture, like everything else, has become a business that must make money or it will die, so our work is done as rapidly and cost effective as possible – meaning that the quality of work suffers greatly. This copy of a copy of a copy has become the industry standard, with few speaking out against the unbreakable mold.

Anti-architecture is an idea full of pain and fear, but also with a hope of change.

My New Book Idea Title

Anti-Architecture in the Post-Scientology Age

Technology

I am curious to know if mankind will ever be so technologically advanced, that we (assuming that these humans aren't so far evolved that they no longer resemble our current form) use the Earth as a means to travel the Universe, rather than constructing a craft, we somehow create a shell that would be able to sustain our life and use some sort of advanced magnetism to navigate amongst the stars.

Haunted Toilet

If I were a ghost in a hotel, like say in the Shining, I wouldn't drive people crazy by those conventional means. I would wait until the father was peeing and close the toilet lid, so he would urinate all over the place. I predict if you were to close the lid a few times, he would then be just as crazy as J.N. in the Shining ready to hack his family to pieces.

Computer Shower

have a touch pad monitor in the shower that would allow you to dictate the amount of water used in the shower. the duration of shower, the temperature of shower, pressure, etc. to help conserve energy and resources.

3rd year writing

I saw a girl today; she stood there like a stone statue dedicated to some lost, nameless beauty. I walked beside her in an attempt to catch her eye, but she was trapped within a stone prison unable to move or cry out for help. I drifted further from her, slowly being enveloped by a crowd pushing and shoving – all trying to catch her eye. But not even with all the powerful needs and secrete desires could the people in the crowd turn stone into the soft flesh and flowing hair of the beauty it portrayed. I took one last breath before I allowed myself to remove my eyes from hers and then time slowed. The statue came to life and through the crowd our eyes met. Time stopped entirely. Nothing else around us mattered. It was so perfect and pure, but fleeting. She turned away; the crowd regained its ability to function and shifted its attention to the man behind the counter top asking me what I wanted to eat. I ordered quickly and turned back to see the nameless beauty alive and waiting in the next line, awaiting her turn to order. Receiving my food, I walked away, turning once to take a final vision of her elegance with me, but I found that she was out of sight, lost. I ate my food knowing the dream was going to be soon forgotten forever, but I smiled, because I knew there is always tomorrow’s lunch break.

Stand up Tub

Basic Idea: Shower/Water tight vertical tub

Problems: possible small children drowning.

Benefits: could save space and could be extended to be a self contained bathroom in the middle of a warehouse without the need for freestanding walls.
I get $$$

insert great idea

here

A Great Discovery

Imagine, if you will, that we discover a planet that is traveling around the sun at the exact radius and velocity as our own planet. It would be interesting to discuss this possibility in a number of views. In a religious view, it would most likely be lifeless, since God(s) created Earth for a reason. But in a scientific view, it could have life, since the conditions would obviously be able to support life. An interesting / ground breaking study of evolution could take place. Would there be something human, just imagine the exact roads that would have to be traveled to reach the same conclusion as we have today, I would imagine it to be impossible. Or could life have been put on both for a reason?

You know, if...

Picasso said that everything we can imagine is real,
but what if what we imagine is somehow physically manifested?
Could we control this creation, or would it take on the
physical realities of our world.

If this were the case, would it not seem as though we are inside someone's imagined creation, a "God" as we call it. Does this creator know of us? Or would it be as if I imagined a world, a distant orb with no omnipresent being presiding above?

Lost

Found while looking for a blank piece of paper (unknown when written originally)

When did it begin that I no longer could remember everything you said?
I used to be able to recite your biography verbatim, but now all i can
conjure is a stutter.

***

We are evolved grass,
people only want the right type.
They only want the right kind of weed.
If we try to grow back, they will cut us at our base.

I'm not the right kind of weed.

Deus Ex Machina (soon to be developed...hopefully)

(16:34:34) (myscreenname): i had another idea for a story
(16:35:24) (myscreenname): this women is found dead apparently assassinated, but she was a nobody, so the cops couldn't figure out who did it
(16:36:33) (myscreenname): when the family is clearing out her house they find this old calender notebook that is full of colored lines, apparently dictating beginnings and endings of things, but there is no key to tell what the colors mean
(16:37:09) (myscreenname): there is only one word written, but they can't read it. they can only conclude that it isn't the womens handwriting
(16:37:57) (myscreenname): well long story short, it turns out that the notebook belonged to a guy who was basically the deus ex machina of ideas.
(16:38:35) (myscreenname): and the guy had been supplying all these major companies with new ideas, but had died and the women somehow found the notebook in the trash, or in the house that she bought, or something
(16:39:03) (myscreenname): well the companies were afraid that the women would find out their secret, so they had her killed
(16:39:35) (myscreenname): and then i got out of the shower and my brain changed what i was thinking about
(16:47:12) (myscreenname): i guess that story would explain why everything is a copy of a copy and there are no new ideas (you know stereotypically)

noise or light?

There it is again. It happens the same time every night, though I can never remember if it is a sound or bright light.

This is the thirty fourth day I have laid here and I am beginning to think that I will never find peace.

The event that has led to my condition is as fresh as the moment it happened. I wonder if it could have been averted, possibly forgotten, but the noise is starting to gain momentum.

A small conversation at first, discussing the reasons for specific spacial arrangements and it's effect on mankind's evolution. Accompanied by a familiar soundtrack, the conversation begins to become muffled.

I am no longer alone in the room, though still laying down. An expressionless man now shares my space. I don't believe he has a nose, just glasses and a slit for air. His white button down is as stiff as his posture. I tell him about the sounds I hear, or is it light?

The music's volume is again dominating over the two conversations which continue unabated. This is when I step back and see the room with the grand architect spouting his nonsense, directly next to the room designed to promote sharing and relaxation. My mind it telling me to relax, that the music will soothe me. More visitors come to speak with me, but they are unintelligible.

The lids of my eyes separate. It is dark. I am alone. I take a breath, I roll over and try to relax, for I know that thirty four has failed to find sleep.

Closing my eyes, the music begins softly...and the architect opens his mouth to speak.

"Doctor, there is a noise every night at the same time, or is it a bright light?"