I'm an Architecture student. Get me out of here.

To do? Or not to do...

2009-09-28T22:05:00.001-07:00

To do? Or not to do...
Originally uploaded by jessica.ciccarelli

Only 5 weeks to go till hand in thesis. Scary stuff..!

now on a completely unrelated thesis note...

Model explorations= kill time & make it look like you're a genius.

2009-09-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

A word of the wise to all young aspiring architecture/ IA students. (I have only like.. 8 weeks left...it makes me cringe and smile at the same time whilst saying that.. & its too late for me to be aspiring)

conceptual models. are cool.

I have always been one of those students to lends more towards organic shapes and styles to inform my design- I am the infamous 'trace paper model' student.. my designs often playing with light and translucency more than they should. Anyway, the point is also that modeling in 3D space I think allows you to have another dimension to your design, and makes you look like SUPER GENIUS. Planning on a flat page sometimes can be too limiting, and makes you want to die more often than not. free yourselves up and just fiddle around with things.
Here are some models I have been doing recently for my thesis, looking at the building itself (playing with the old trace paper + light) but also looking at modeling different ideas/ concepts into structural form. You have to be careful to make it not so 'metaphorical'... (that's what the tutors say) but trust me, make something tangible that demonstrates your idea.. and they will be all. oooohhhh

here is a link to an artist I met in 3rd year who does alot of work with paper. She has a great style, and the stories behind alot of her work are interesting too!

As Sweet as Sugar

2009-08-25T19:49:00.001-07:00

Sugar Tower

I am always trying to get my uncle frank (real name- sarah) to have an Architectural influence in her photoshoots. (& she is quite the photographer!) Were just messing around with sugar cubes for a still life shoot of hers the other day. We added some light also which lit it up awesomely. Looked like an eskimo house! Here are some pics of my creations- which bought be back to my 1st year assignment when we had to make a sugar cube tower. Now that was lame.
you can check out uncle franks flickr here

Semester two, 2009. Head explosion imminent

2009-08-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

Thought I should probably get writing about things for this semester.
So I am completing my thesis (honours) this semester. last sem was the research component, and this semester is all about research through design, so I will complete a set of drawings about whatever it is I am doing, and a 7000 word exegesis. Aaargh! Only like, 11 weeks to go and I am freaking out. I am at the stage now where I am transitioning from my research through to something which I can design, and looking more closely at my design. I have a presentation to a panel tommorow about where I am at, and where I am going- so this is an attempt to gather my thoughts...

Preserving Italian culinary traditions & authenticity to celebrate and sustain community apprecation of 'Places where we live to eat'

Objective
To create an expression of Italian culinary traditions in aim to create a sustainable comunity hub and preserve authenticity of rituals, methods and traditions.

How?
Through applying the essence of Italian rituals & food culture into a built environment which embodies food culture & slow food.

What?
The hardest thing about this is that there is not really any specific type of typology in Interior Architecture which defines the type of place which I want to create. But I do have a breif, or basic summation of what I think it will be.

-Somewhere that transforms through from day to night,
and operates with various functions embedded in its use such
as cooking classes, sunday lunches, a communal kitchen,
a wine cellar, a small marketplace and a vegetable garden.

-It is meant to be somewhere to enjoy a good meal
either in the morning, day or night, but also is meant
to function as a 'third place'- somewhere between
home and work, something that functions as a
cultural hub. It is a reviltalisation of the italian
'Osteria' or 'Trattoria' which is the central core of the
community, people come here and eat
whatever is cooked on the day, etc.

-It is meant to honour and embrace the italian identity
in fremantle (influence from my own background)
its will be based on italo-australian cusine
and rituals which were established by the migrant
community in Fremantle and Perth

-It is based on seasonal cooking- which is an
important element of sustainable food &
Italian cusine. Perhaps the interior space
itself functions 'seasonally'- flexing through
seasons & the various uses or events calender
that will be established
eg: Summer- focus on seafood,
sauce making,
winter- slow cooked meat in pizza oven
polenta night

So many things to consider! It's doing my head in. Im doing various things atm like estabilishing what events I will run over the course of a year, developing different core ideas such as
'The kitchen as the central core'
'Processes- being involved & emerged in the process of food making'
'Quality of Space- the presence of nature & seasonal changes'

2009-05-03T07:21:00.000-07:00

Milano Fiera 2009
My aunty who lives in Roma was lucky enough to attend the Milano furniture fair this year which was about a week ago. Here are some pics from her album view the full album here
There are some really great things, especially the thong rug! hilarious!! It seems like there is alot of organic style designs with a definately a strong sustainable influence coming through there. Its hard for me to tell what pics are from what, but I would have loved to see the droog design set-up, I adore their stuff. Have a look.

2009-05-03T07:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm still alive.
But barely. Haven't posted in ages, i have been so uber busy with uni and stuff. I just have to face that it will be like this for the rest of the year so I should deal with it! Havent been doing any uber interesting stuff but I did go on a site visit for our current design project in Fremantle on Pakenham/Leake st. We are designing a facility for a 'fringe/marginalised group' in society. I am doing sex workers. Hmm... interesting! anyway atm the building is being used for art studios and although its in pretty bad shape we got to look in some of the studios. Pretty cool, I think some of the artists have been there for many years. Check it out!

2009-03-29T01:43:00.000-07:00

More Power Station
I went and visited the power station for real today, it was amazing! went with a friend who was doing a photoshoot so there are some provocative images below, just shows what a great place it is! So breathtaking. My friend was saying it would be brilliant for studios, gallery spaces etc... and it's true, but it would be an absolutely massive job. We can only dream...

2009-03-27T21:32:00.000-07:00

Oh, Staircase.

Got one of those emails which shows awesome staircases.
Some are really brilliant! Paul McDonald (building science lecturer) would be salivating. Sorry, cant reference the pics as it was just one of those spam emails!

2009-03-25T02:16:00.000-07:00

Submission tomorrow. Wish me Luck!

This is my final submission for tomorrow. Don't think it turned out too bad I dont think? I screwed up my first try and then attempted again. After throwing out a whole bunch of material & printing, and almost burning the house down... I finished.
I really like the way the images work when you look through the holes and material. Creepy.

Much x

Jess

2009-03-22T05:02:00.000-07:00

Submission Week Approaches...

Submission week. My jaw is really feeling it this week! Basically we figured out only last week what we actually had to do for this sculpture thing. Its meant to be more a representation of our design principle as a space... so basically it can be translated into an interior. Sounds easy.. but its so not!

So I decided my design principle is 'exposure' of the 'performance of WA identity'. I have left the idea about the dinner table, but its good research for my thesis anyway. So i'm looking at exposing this order and disorder. These are some pics of what im going to make, and here's an excerpt of whats going beside it. (Apparently should speak for itself so no presentation needed. ahem)

So if there is a façade or veneer then what lies beneath? I have explored this notion of ‘order and disorder’, a dichotomy as one cannot exist without the other. My design principle and method is ‘exposure’ of this performance and amplify this so people are aware that we are living through this performance in attempt to cover an honest and truthful inner. It is similar to Freud’s ideas of concealing the unconscious in need to reveal inner desires and truths of character or form.
In my piece I have created the relationship between order and disorder. I have created my own veneer from layers of fabric, which build up different levels of translucency. This veneer then becomes exposed, through its decay, slowly revealing the inner truth. Inside the cylinder are images of scarring on the body which are exposed through the parts of decay. These images represent complete exposure and truth of the human form- imperfect and disfigured.

So im making this cylander thing which represents what ive written above. I'm still struggling at the moment to get it to do what I want to, making the gross images of scars actually recognisable is hard. I think im going to make it more perfect in parts, and disintergrated in others.

Aaargh!

Much x Jess

2009-03-22T04:50:00.000-07:00

Wedding Love

This weekend I was at a wedding down south in Margaret River/ Bussleton. It was awesome!! Country weddings are the best because everyone is so laid back. The reception was beautiful, they had it at an estate with a marquee set up so well. I hated to get back to work / reality today!

Congratulations Bec and Mike

2009-03-16T20:39:00.000-07:00

South Fremantle Power Station

This is the most amazing site in Perth I have seen in a long time.
Its the derelict south freo power station, friends of mine lance and stef
were looking at the site for dissertation.
Thank you so much for letting my post these photos!
I <3 you Lance + Stef

2009-03-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

From mansions in Applecross: presenting the performance of a domestic life

A SET TABLE

I have started looking at the idea of 'table manners' or a dinner party as apart of the
performance in domestic households. If you deconstruct a dinner table
it is evident as it shows certain qualities of the performance. I looked also
at the photographer Laura Letinsky and her series 'Morning and Melancholia'

" 'Morning and melancholia' pictures dirty dishes and messy counter tops, abandoned arrangement, stranded tidbits and crumbs: unexpectedly alluring tableaux of things and spaces we touch, alter, devour and discard. The pictures are still lifes, yet they don't aim for the traditional allure of bountiful meals that either away or attest to and unseen viewers consumption." -Laura Letinsky Taken from 'Eating Architecutre'- Horwitz and Singley (ed)

So where does this lead me in my project?

Basically I've now taken the microcosm of suburbia in Perth
andzoomed into this idea dinner table/dinner party, and in particular the structure of a meal.
I did my own little exploration (terrible camera- please someone get me one from my 21st)
at dinner last night.

Dinner table starts as a picture of perfection, exact. Cutlery
is placed in certain the correct place, there is no suggestion
of use/being used, rather we know how they are used for
how they are placed.
Prayer over the flood to bless it. Influence of
catholicism still apart of
suburban conformity.
The table is deconstructed. There is no longer order,
or precision. The table becomes an imprint of the
dinner that was consumed. So its going back to this idea
of order and disorder.

The table beings as order, then it falls apart into
disorder. So perhaps what Laura Letinsky is looking at
in her photos, she sees beauty in these used spaces.
Its like the disorder, or the exposed breaking through
this 'veneer' i'm trying to get my head around.

lets hope I dont grind my teeth into a pulp whilst I do so!

x Much

Jess.

2009-03-15T05:13:00.000-07:00

Image from perth laneways 'Trespass' exhibition 08

My design- in Grand Lane.

Perth?

Our project at the moment at uni is basically looking at the identity of Perth (if that exists, we are yet to determine) which of course is multi-faceted. I from before this project have remained very doubtful if we even have an identity. But of course, everything has an identity- it basically defines existance. We can identity one thing from another. Anyway, cut the bullshit. So these are the things I have established about Perth and its 'identity' through the help of my classmates.

Reliable on mining resources to stay afloat

Isolation
Natural bushland
Beach Culture
Performance

I'm looking at performance. It may seem like an odd 'identity' but it basically comes from book 'Presentation of self in everday life' by Erving Goffmann. The way Goffie sees it is that 'the world is a stage, individuals take on various roles detemined by different situations but mostly shaped by interaction with each other' I took elements of his book and applied it to Perth.. and the way I see it is Perth has a veneer covering it. Or what goffie likes to call it- a front. It's a setting through which the performance functions, is an indiator of status, income, class etc etc etc. I think this is a very true thing about perth, and is pariculary evident through our Residential architecture, or should I say project homes. The houses are insensitive to their context, ridiculously huge, and did I mention ugly? You can take a stroll through applecross anyday to get an idea. We have such a beautiful city, but the architecture can be so insensitive.

So if these veneers through which we have our performance are stripped, what happens? Chaos? Exposure? It's quite freudian, the idea that underneath in our unconscious mind we have the lingering 'true us' (what is that anyway..) But without the veneer then there is no supression or question of what lies beneath. So perhaps the veneer still needs to exist for us to continue in our performance.
So I guess in the next few weeks im going to be looking at exposure/transparency/containment as my design principles. I could be heading in the completely wrong direction, but i'm sure my loss of sanity will be posted in the week to come.
Submisson... week 5! (we are going into week 4. Correct me if im wrong, but 5 follows 4.. right?)

much x

Jess

2009-03-15T04:07:00.000-07:00

Hi.

My name is Jess and i'm an IA student at Curtin University in Perth. Basically I'm starting this blog because I don't want to do any uni work on a Sunday night, and I feel like I could create something of an awesome (not making any promises) blog for architecture students and the like to use. I can't think of anything else really interesting to write here.... so I wont waste your time.

Much love.

Jess