Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Image Mapping, round 2

Things I can't live without

The home and the water: Having lived and grown on an island for a significant portion of my life, I am attached to the idea of living close to the water.Movement through outdoor space: As a competitive cyclist for the past five years of my life, many of the experiences I've had of the environment I live in have been on the move. I feel as if it gives me the general knowledge of the city on a large scale, the neighborhoods and open spaces become more distinct and you gain a better sense of direction. It makes it a much nicer experience when you slow down and begin to look at the city in a smaller scale.
(photo by my good friend Sam Rosenholtz)
Travel: Experiencing new places and cultures is something I have loved doing and hopefully will continue to do to broaden my view on the world and where I can fit into it.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Image Mapping, round 1

So for this exercise, we're taking general thoughts about thesis topics we may be interested in and breaking them down into something more specific that can relate to an architectural idea.

Thesis prep II collages, final round

So after the last round of collages, I felt like I was getting stuck trying to make an image that was quite literal relate to a more abstract notion of the term I was trying to define. I put together new images as collages to abstract a bit more.

Light and Shadow: So putting two and two together with what I was trying to show in my last round, I wanted to create a central beacon of light where everything representational of shadow radiated off of it. I tried to match the direction of shadow with their positioning on the collage.
(Section)
Boundaries: This time I wanted to focus on the natural boundary, or boundaries that were created by nature or the landscape. I tried to include a few of the elements that would made up a natural boundary: water, fields, trees, and mountains. Then I mixed in a few man made elements, like walls, agriculture, and cities.
(Section)

Thesis prep II collages, round 2

Light and Shadow studies: After the first round, I wanted to explore how I could make this image reflect the essential qualities of light and shadow; a beacon of some sort illuminating a space that hits a physical object and casts something of a dark reflection of itself.
Boundaries: I decided to edit this one further, so I manipulated the image to represent three layers of a boundary condition. They would be temporary, man-made, and natural.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Work examples, Thesis Prep II

Exploration of space through collage, round 1:
Passage of time:Passage of time:
Light and Shadow:Light and Shadow:Boundaries:Boundaries:

Blog Revival! Thesis year work!

So, it's been a few months, but I've decided (and my professors too) to revive this blog to share rants relating to schoolwork, how much sleep I'm not getting, and why I don't have time to even be writing this! Just kidding, all aside I hope to keep this one going for awhile.

Quick recap of the last seven months:
Collegiate racing season: I pulled a full race schedule, made it to every weekend, and scored a few points worthy of making the trip out to Nationals in Madison, Wisconsin. I won my first race in a long while in the 3/4 field at the Yale Lux et Velocitas Criterium in April.

Summer: I moved up to mission hill, renting a room in my friend Joe Lonergan's place. I was able to land an internship with Symmes Maini & McKee Associates in Cambridge, and had a fun time working there all summer. In August I graduated with my Bachelor's degree from WIT, and am now in the midst of completing an additional year to attain my Master's degree.

Summer Racing: With the whole job thing not in place until about June, I had a slow start to the summer racing season, but slowly wound up and began to get the results in July/August/September. Our new teammate on Green Line Velo this year was Sam Rosenholtz, who can sprint faster than anything I've ever seen before. He quickly plowed his way through the 5's, 4's, and 3's thanks in part to his teammates who knew he was the sure chance for team victory.

As for my results, I tried to keep it consistent even when I was helping Sam out. Fourth place at Naugatuck with Sam winning was pretty sweet, as well as 5th at the Giro del Cielo Road Race in NJ. I capped it all off this past weekend with 2nd in the Portsmouth Criterium, which earned me my Cat.2 upgrade. Note the anger raging about letting that guy go too early:Future: This weekend I will end my road season at the Boston Mayor's Cup Professional Criterium. It's gonna be a blast to be able to do a professional race right in the heart of downtown Boston. I hope everyone gets the chance to come out and cheer, it's 50-70 laps of a loop around Government Center/City Hall. It's also apart of the Boston Bike Festival, which will have alot of events going on all day long. I'll be going from the gun at 4:00, so come on out and heckle/cheer me on!