Usman Haque and Omar Khan’s lecture

Although the Usman Haque and Omar Khan’s lecture was really interesting I had a hard time understanding the motivation behind their projects. For example “Open Burble” design by Usman Haque included of many white helium balloons attached together with a cell phone receiver inside each balloon. These cell phones were connected to colored lights separately. When people on the ground were calling a particular receiver inside one of the balloons, that balloon’s color was changing. It looks bright and incredible but what is his philosophy behind it? He didn’t provide any reason for coordinating and designing any of his work. Most of his design was excellent and flashy to watch for the first time and get excited with technology but nothing more than this. It was more about watching a new computer game with different colors and fancy look. “Moving Columns” by Omar Khan was another example of this absence of purpose. Depending on the level of carbon dioxide in the air, these columns were moving up or down. However, the reason behind using CO2 was not really clear. Why he didn’t use oxygen instead? On the other hand, Usman’s presentation was really nice but it did not discuss the philosophy and function of their design.

Gabby Shawcross’s lecture at ASU

Gabby Shawcross’ lecture was different in many ways than other lectures I have been to. In the first few minutes of the lecture two main questions popped in my mind. How sustainable their projects are? And also whether they used light in their design as an ornament or not? Although I got lots of good information from this lecture these questions are still unanswered for me.

At the end of the lecture I was certain that they picked light as a communication tool to make a connection between spaces and people. I believe that is what many architects attempt to achieve in their designs. For example Memory Project in London's Southbank is all about people, spaces and the relationship between them. It is a fascinating idea especially the ability to walk back to the earlier time of the day. Inside the structure, thermal cameras can detect people and show the surrounding of the building in a particular time as a function of people’s position with respect to the screen.

They are also very creative in using light features as an architectural tool. I think by listening to his lecture we could really observe their design philosophy. Also in some projects like Aeolian Tower, and Wind to Light I realized that there is a lot of usable energy in the nature that is not being used appropriately and has lots of potentials to be utilized in our day to day life.

Messie’s Lecture in ASU

Lecture was really interesting. Footprint of the nature was visible in all of his works especially when he was talking about frozen earth as a mold, using the beams with the same color of the landscape trees and having the skylight in the shower. He is very passionate about his work and honest about what he is doing and you can see this excitement in his designs. About digital world, I have had Jason Griffiths as a studio instructor last semester and he was giving us the lecture about digital world during the semester. I had to learn Rhino for my final project but I never deeply believed on digital methodologies to create building forms. In the lecture today I could really see the future of the design and how we can have our original ideas and push it to the unique design with technology. Also, I was fascinated with the way he builds things with his hands and experiences the new material in his design.

It is good to be unknown

Well, I am so happy to write here. I can write about whatever I want because nobody knows about this blog and nobody really cares.:)

Sad Moment :(

Believe me, I really need to write. It made me cry so badly. I have an exam tomorrow but I can not even read a single page. It is crazy. I use to read the news every morning to know what is going on around the world but I wish I haven't had this habit. Today I read an article about execution in Iran. Well, article has some pictures of the person who has been executed. Oh, my god, I couldn't believe it. In one image he was smiling. Smiling like a baby. He seems so naive and innocent to me. Gosh, he didn't know what is going on around or probably he didn't care at all. Knock, knock, Excuse me Mr.God I am a stupid educated person. Can you please explain it to me? Can you give me a definition for bad person? What was his fault? He was so young most likely my age or even younger. It was not any other way to help him to change? Who was his judge?

I have got embarrassed and started crying like a baby. Seriously think about it. He was part of my family. He was Iranian. Damn it what am I doing here? I am sitting in another country and cry for my unknown brother. Man, it is not fare. I can just name it "geographical Compulsion".

ایمیل دریافتی
ياد گيريم كه:
با احمق بحث نكنم و بگذاريم در دنياي احمقانه خويش خوشبخت زندگي كند.
با وقيح جدل نكنيم چون چيزي براي از دست دادن ندارد و روح ما را تباه مي‌كند.
از حسود دوري كنيم چون اگر دنيا را هم به او تقديم كنيم باز از زندان تنگ حسادت بيرون نمي آيد.
تنهايي را به بودن در جمعي كه ما را از خودمان جدا مي کند، ترجيح دهيم.
از «از دست دادن» نهراسيم که ثروت ما به اندازه شهامت ما در نداشتن است.
بيشتر را بر کمتر ترجيح ندهيم که قدرت ما در نخواستن و منفعت ما در سبکباري است.
کمتر سخن بگوييم که بزرگي ما در حرفهايي است که براي نهفتن داريم، نه براي گفتن.
از سرعت خود بکاهيم، که آنان که سريع تر مي دوند، فرصت انديشيدن به خود نمي دهند.
ديگران را ببينيم، تا در دام خويشتن محوري، اسير نشويم.
از کودکان بياموزيم، پيش از آن که بزرگ شوند و ديگر نتوان از آنان آموخت.

strange friends

I feel really better now compare to couple days ago. The truth is having a good relationship with others is difficult and I am so proud of myself right now. We have a group of friends around us and some strange things were happening in the group in the last couple of months. We were friend with some of them for a long time and it was so hard to deal with them now especially some Iranian habit that they were started in the group. Gossips about our others friends and make a joke about whoever was not on the group on that moment. Well, Med and I decided to stay away from the group for a while. I felt guilty because I thought it is our fault that we can not get along with people. It has happened almost two months ago and today I was talking to one of my friend which is still in the group and she said she has same issues and she and her husband are not going to attend their parties any more.