Laura Watkins Design Portfolio

Laura WatkinsDesign Portfolio

Table of ContentsI. Studio Projects

II. Sketches

III. Other works

Table of ContentsI. Studio Works

II. Sketches

III. Other works

Studio Projects

The New MonumentPen, Ink, PrismaColor on Mylar

The New Monument is a project that was a continuation of Renzo Pianos port revital-ization program. Genoa being a historically industrial town lacks the notariaty and tour-ism dollars that other Italian cities have. To increase tourism and not just be a stop on the way to other costal town, the New Monu-ment project was concieved.

This project located at Piazzale de Francesco dAssisi was to connect the residential and commercial corridor with the ancient port and fair grounds.

The Piazzale is almost 300 above sea level making pedestrian travel nearly impossible. The project therefore had two main goals. First to provied a monument as a locator point and anchor point to the city and sec-ondly to provide both vertical and horizontal transportation from the port to the main city.

The monument was a gesture to the mari-time nature of the economy. Once under the monument one could travel to a level of shopping and monorail stop or continue to the old bastion and sea museum.

Laura Watkins

The New Monument

Laura Watkins

Laura Watkins

House for anInformation TheoristFormZ, Photoshop

The house for an information theorist based on a 1930s movie set at a Baroque Palace. The redundant scenes and character miss passes were the parleyed into two separate houses that spoke a similar language but were totally separate from each other. Five cards were given from which the program, garden, site, and wall system were derived. using these cards I began thinking of the idea of data and how that proliferates itself. The module increases, decreases, or is non-existent as the program dictates. The wall choreographs the relationship between x and y subtly revealing their roles within the site.

Within the house the wall divides spaces to public and private areas with lower perfora-tions to enforce the lack of privacy that ex-ists.The house, part of a series of two week projects, reflects the culmination of my first quarter of graduate school. It began a theoretical exploration of concept deriva-tion. The aesthetic exercises were part of a software learning quarter which introduced parametric software and VRay rendering.

House for an Information Theorist

site plan I

site plan II

site plan III

site plan IIII

site plan IV

site plan V

in.FORM.ation

C

C

A A

B B

Laura Watkins

site plan I

site plan II

site plan III

site plan IIII

site plan IV

site plan V

in.FORM.ation

C

C

A A

B B


SITE SECTION A 1/16 = 1-O SITE SECTION B 1/16 = 1-O SITE SECTION C 1/16 = 1-O

in.FORM.ation

FIRST FLOOR PLAN 3/16 = 1-O GUEST HOUSE FLOOR PLAN 3/16 = 1-O

GAME ROOM ELECTRONICMUSIC STUDIO

SCREENING ROOM

SERVER AREA

LAUNDRY

STORAGE LIBRARY

DINING

KITCHENLIVING

GUEST HOUSE FLOOR PLAN 3/16 = 1-OSECOND FLOOR PLAN 3/16 = 1-O

X BEDROOM X BATH

A BEDROOM

A BATH

BATH

BEDROOM

LIVING KITCHEN

FIRST FLOOR PLAN 3/16 = 1-O


SCREENING ROOM

SERVER AREA

LAUNDRYUNDRY

STORAGEORAGE LIBRARYBRARY

DININGING

KITCHENLIVING



SCREENING ROOM

SERVER AREA

LAUNDRY

STORAGE LIBRARY

DINING

KITCHENLIVING

SECOND FLOOR PLAN 3/16 = 1-O

X BEDDROOM X BATH

A BBEDROOM

AA BATH


X BEDROOM X BATH

A BEDROOM

A BATH

BATH

BEDROOM

LIVING KITCHEN

CIRCULATION AND USER DIAGRAM

SITE SECTION A 1/16 = 1-O

Laura Watkins

SITE SECTION A 1/16 = 1-O SITE SECTION B 1/16 = 1-O SITE SECTION C 1/16 = 1-O

in.FORM.ation



SCREENING ROOM

SERVER AREA

LAUNDRY

STORAGE LIBRARY

DINING

KITCHENLIVING

GUEST HOUSE FLOOR PLAN 3/16 = 1-OSECOND FLOOR PLAN 3/16 = 1-O

X BEDROOM X BATH

A BEDROOM

A BATH

BATH

BEDROOM

LIVING KITCHEN

FIRST FLOOR PLAN 3/16 = 1-O


SCREENING ROOM

SERVER AREA

LAUNDRYUNDRY

STORAGEORAGE LIBRARYBRARY

DININGING

KITCHENLIVING



SCREENING ROOM

SERVER AREA

LAUNDRY

STORAGE LIBRARY

DINING

KITCHENLIVING


X BEDDROOM X BATH

A BBEDROOM

AA BATH


X BEDROOM X BATH

A BEDROOM

A BATH

BATH

BEDROOM

LIVING KITCHEN

CIRCULATION AND USER DIAGRAM

SITE SECTION A 1/16 = 1-O

House for an Information Theoristin.FORM.ation

Laura Watkinsin.FORM.ation

Laura Watkins

WALL SECTION A-ASCALE: 3/4 = 1-0 WALL SECTION B-B

SCALE: 3/4 = 1-0

A

A

B B

C

C

FLOOR PLANSCALE: 1/4 = 1-0

SECTION C-CSCALE: 1/4 = 1-0

ELEVATIONSCALE: 1/4 = 1-0

IMI MASONRY COMPETITION 2009LAURA F. WATKINS

RETHINKING. IT IS A CONSTANT CHARGE TO THOSE IN OUR PROFESSION. ADAPT TO CHANGE. CREATE SOME-THING NEW. DEFY PRE-CONCEIVED NOTIONS. THROUGHOUT HISTORY MASONRY HAS BEEN THE BEARER OF FORCES, MASONRY ALLOWS THE DEVELOPEMENT OF BOTH STRUCTURE AND CHARACTER. BY CHALLENGING THE BEARING PROPERTIES OF MASONRY, NEW FORMS IMERGE. THE RUGGED, STURDY BRICK CAN ACT AS LACE FOR A BUILDING BEING BOTH ORNAMENT AND STRUCTURE.

Laura Watkins

AutoCAD, FormZ, Photoshop

IMI Competition WallAutoCAD, FormZ, Photoshop

The masonry competition, part of the con-struction sequence began a study of the materiality of traditional masonry construc-tion. Through several lab exercises we stud-ied the composition and construction of both bearing wall and veneer systems.The competition called for a small gallery building that displayed two functions of ma-sonry walls and had an upper gallery space. In an effort to challenge the preconcieved notions of the nature of masonry construc-tion I designed a system that veiled the building. The lightness and floating of the veil directly contradicts the bearing wall

history that has followed masonry construc-tion. The steel under frame allows the rain screen to vary in porosity and density. The traditional back wall is a brick face on CMU block. The rain screen corbels back to the bearing wall to eliminate the need for special parapet water proofing.

*Competition Winning Entry

North Facade

The north facade is composed of the stack ventilation system which ties into the solar panel and wind turbine systems.

Autarky

Laura Watkins

Autarky TowerAutoCAD, Rhino, Illustrator, PhotoshopBruckelmeyer, Rodriguez, Watkins

Autarky Tower, part of the comprehensive studio, was a housing tower for downtown Columbus. The tower located on West Pop-lar backed up to highway 670 and faced the main north south corridor of the City. It linked the high rise downtown to the lower historic district of the Short North neighbor-hood. The tower as the name suggests is a self sufficient tower producing enough water and electricity for the residents.

To power the building, a solar panel fa-cade and mini wind turbines were placed throughout the tower. The systems used

were put throughout the building as a display of technology.

The individual units were designed to maxi-mize solar gain in the winter and day lighting year round. Fully sustainable products and low VOC finishes were prescribed through all of the spaces.

The tower is a statement about the direction that architecture will have to take to keep botha viable practice and a viable world. The tower would be certified LEED platinum.

Autarky Tower

Laura Watkins

Autarky Tower

Laura Watkins

Autarky Tower

Laura Watkins

Autarky Tower

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Laura Watkins

New HUTModel PhotographsSchmid and Watkins

The Solar Decathlon competition is about revisioning the home and how we live. The typical American home is 2400 square feet for 3 people. This 658 square foot home questions the role and nature of house.

The house designed for a gentrifying urban area keeps with the passive house strategies and conceptually turns those into the urban wall. As the house transition to the garden/park side, the armature begins to dissipate becoming the southern shading for the verti-cal greenhouse.

The site and landscaping are part of the grey water collection and filtration system. The planters also allow for food production and CO2 offsets. In keeping with sustainable practices, the plants would be native plants to Ohio.

As with the Autarky Tower this project was about the exploration of sustainable prac-tices in architecture and using the practices to create a thoughtful conceptual work that uses good design as a derivative point and not sustainability as a crutch.

New HUT

newHUT Sections

Section C-CScale: 1/4 = 1-0

Section D-DScale: 1/4 = 1-0

newHUT Sections

Section A-AScale: 1/4 = 1-0

Section B-BScale: 1/4 = 1-0

Laura Watkins

newHUT Elevations

North ElevationScale: 1/4 = 1-0

South ElevationScale: 1/4 = 1-0

newHUT Elevations

West ElevationScale: 1/4 = 1-0

East ElevationScale: 1/4 = 1-0

newHUT Exterior ViewNew HUT

Laura WatkinsnewHUT Exterior View

newHUT Exterior ViewNew HUT

Laura WatkinsnewHUT Exterior View

newHUT Site Plan

UP UP

DOWNDOWN

Site PlanScale: 1/8 = 1-0

AxonNot to Scale

newHUT Program

GardenPrivate v. Public

HousePrivate v. Public

New HUT

Laura Watkins

K-9449GROOVESHOWER RECEPTORACRYLIC

FIRE

CLAY

LAVA

TORY

PURIST

K-23

123

W/D

newHUT Massing

Base DefinedOpen South/Private North

ShadingProtect open South facade

ArmatureMaintains Surface Quality

WallsDefines public and private space

Roof FoldsRoof Performs as a reference device

HUTHouse maintains urban identity with private garden.

newHUT Massing

Base DefinedOpen South/Private North

ShadingProtect open South facade

ArmatureMaintains Surface Quality

WallsDefines public and private space

Roof FoldsRoof Performs as a reference device

HUTHouse maintains urban identity with private garden.

New HUT

Laura Watkins

New HUT

Laura Watkins

Laura Watkins

2011 Solar DecathlonConstruction Photo, Revit, Photoshop2011 Ohio State Solar Decathlon Team

The Ohio State Universitys enCORE house presents a family-friendly solution for cur-rent residential needs, while addressing the worlds growing energy crisis. Through a re-planning of a homes circulation and condensing of the mechanical and plumbing components, we are able to maximize space efficiency and programming. enCOREs mis-sion is to make sustainable living not just about advanced technology or a single per-sons lifestyle. It is about embracing families needs and desires while providing them with a thoughtful energy solution. By addressing the way in which we live, and re-organizing

the spaces of a house, we are able to deliver a unique solution to an increasingly urgent problem. Through the design and construc-tion of the house, we hope to inspire people to adopt design solutions to living which both conserve energy and improve lifestyles.

Sustainable Strategies: Daylighting

Sustainable Strategies: Natural Ventalation

Sustainable Strategies: Double Skin

Sustainable Strategies: Solar Panels

Concept:Core + Layers

Concept: Energy Efficient Family House

Concept: Affordability

Concept: Decreased Size

$ $>

Mechanical Strategies: Control System

Mechanical Strategies: Iphone Apps

Mechanical Strategies: Energy Star Appliances

Sustainable Strategies: Solar Panels

2011 Solar Decathlon

Laura Watkins

1000 sq. ft.

1940 2010 2011

2300 sq. ft. 900 sq. ft.

Dining

Circulation

Kitchen

Bedroom

Living

BedroomBedroomCirculation

Mechanical

Oce

Living/Dining

Bedroom

Bedroom

Circulation

Mechanical

Oce

Living/Dining

Living/Dining

OceMechanical

BedroomCirculation

Bedroom


Mechanical

Oce

Living/Dining

Bedroom

Bedroom

Circulation

Mechanical

Oce

Living/Dining

Living/Dining

OceMechanical

BedroomCirculation

Bedroom


Mechanical

Oce

Living/Dining

Bedroom

Bedroom

Circulation

Mechanical

Oce

Living/Dining

Living/Dining

OceMechanical

BedroomCirculation

Bedroom

Photovoltaic Panels

Water CollectionRoof

Super-Insulated Win-dows

Solar Thermal Collector

PolycarbonateShading Panels

Bioremediation System

Mechanical and Plumb-ing Core

ADA Touring Ramps


Laura Watkins

6

1

2

3

4

5

7

89

10

1112

13

14

15

16

1. Entry Ramp 2. Flower and Herb Garden 3. Bio-Remediation System 4. Water Collection Pool 5. Entry Door 6. Outdoor Eating Area 7. Dining Room 8. Kitchen 9. Pantry/Storage 10. Living Area 11. Office 12. Mechanical Closet 13. Bath 14. Guest Bedroom/Den 15. Master Bedroom

FINISH FLOOR0' - 0"

GRADE-2' - 4"

PV ARRAY26 31 00

POLYCARBONATE PANEL08 84 00

2X4 PARAPET06 10 00

4" RIGID INSULATION07 21 13

OPEN WEB ROOF JOIST06 17 53

WOOD COLUMN W/ ALUM.FACING06 17 00

EXTERIOR DECKING06 73 00

2X4 PLATE06 10 00

M12X10.8 FLITCH BEAM06 10 00

PARAPET BEYOND

ROOF OPENING

3/4" SHEATHING06 16 00

5/8" GWB09 29 00

2X6 STUD FRAMING06 10 00

BIOREMEDIATION TANK32 71 00

2x6 JOIST @ 16" O.C.06 10 00

DECK SKIRT BOARD06 73 00

8" CMU BLOCKS ON 16X16 ABSPLASTIC FOUNDATION PAD

04 20 00

2X4 FRAMING06 10 00

UNDER-MOUNT BATHTUB22 40 00

HSS 2X2X3/1605 12 00

350 GAL WATER TANK22 11 19

PV MOUNTING FRAME26 31 00

2X6 JOIST POND SUPPORT06 10 00

2X2 STEEL ANGLE05 50 00

2X1206 10 00

2X10 JOIST06 10 00

SCUPPER07 72 00

2X6 JOIST @ 16" O.C.06 10 00

2X2 BIOREMEDIATION TANK SUPPORT06 10 00

1/2" SHEATHING & WRB06 16 00

OPEN

ALUMINUM FLASHING CAP05 50 00

MEMBRANE ROOFING07 53 23

VA

RIE

S2'

- 4"

T.O. PARAPET

WOOD SUPPORT BEAM W/ALUM. FACING06 17 00

EXTERIOR GWB SOFFIT09 29 00

TUB SURROUND WD-106 20 00

1' -

8 1/

2"6'

- 0"

0' -

8"

12' - 11 3/4"

7' -

8 1/

4"

12" LVL RIM JOIST06 17 00


5/8" GWB09 29 00

FINISH FLOOR09 64 00

SUBFLOOR06 16 00

2X10 FLOOR JOIST06 10 00

PV ARRAY26 31 00

PV ARRAYMOUNTING SYSTEM

26 31 00

BATT INSULATION07 21 00

2X6 TOP PLATE06 10 00



1/2" GWB09 29 00



1/4" X 1 1/2" FURRINGSTRIP

05 40 00

1X4 VERTICAL SIDING07 46 23


LOOSE FILLINSULATION

07 21 00



BATT INSULATION07 21 00


Laura Watkins

FINISH FLOOR0' - 0"

GRADE-2' - 4"

PV ARRAY26 31 00

POLYCARBONATE PANEL08 84 00

2X4 PARAPET06 10 00



WOOD COLUMN W/ ALUM.FACING06 17 00

EXTERIOR DECKING06 73 00

2X4 PLATE06 10 00

M12X10.8 FLITCH BEAM06 10 00

PARAPET BEYOND

ROOF OPENING


5/8" GWB09 29 00

2X6 STUD FRAMING06 10 00

BIOREMEDIATION TANK32 71 00

2x6 JOIST @ 16" O.C.06 10 00

DECK SKIRT BOARD06 73 00

8" CMU BLOCKS ON 16X16 ABSPLASTIC FOUNDATION PAD

04 20 00

2X4 FRAMING06 10 00

UNDER-MOUNT BATHTUB22 40 00

HSS 2X2X3/1605 12 00

350 GAL WATER TANK22 11 19

PV MOUNTING FRAME26 31 00

2X6 JOIST POND SUPPORT06 10 00

2X2 STEEL ANGLE05 50 00

2X1206 10 00

2X10 JOIST06 10 00

SCUPPER07 72 00

2X6 JOIST @ 16" O.C.06 10 00

2X2 BIOREMEDIATION TANK SUPPORT06 10 00


OPEN

ALUMINUM FLASHING CAP05 50 00


VA

RIE

S2'

- 4"

T.O. PARAPET

WOOD SUPPORT BEAM W/ALUM. FACING06 17 00

EXTERIOR GWB SOFFIT09 29 00

TUB SURROUND WD-106 20 00

1' -

8 1/

2"6'

- 0"

0' -

8"

12' - 11 3/4"

7' -

8 1/

4"

Laura Watkins

Laura Watkins

The springbok hide is supple, beautifully col-ored, and begs to be touched. The vertical symmetry along the spine is broken into three main color regions. The dominate tan color extends down the body and legs outlining the musculature. It is broken by two dark brown swaths down the arc of the rib cage. The long white hairs cover the underside of the hide. Being a marsupial the hide has a special pouch on male animals. This pouch houses long, white hair that when poofed emits a floral scent to attract or impress other animals. Four distinct hair types immerge based on their color region. The hair varies in loft, luster, tex-

ture, suppleness, and direction.

By understanding the behavior of the hide, one can begin to realize the architectural implica-tions with the world of furriery. By creating a new vocabulary and phenomena of surface to structure one can understand a new method of registering force and effect on the structure by the surface as opposed to the effect of the structure on the surface.

Booty PopModel Photographs

Booty Pop

Laura Watkins

Booty Pop

Laura Watkins

A1 A2 A3 A4

B1 B2 B3 B4

C1 C2 C3 C4

D1 D2 D3 D4

E1 E2 E3 E4

Booty Pop

Laura Watkins

Booty Pop

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Booty Pop

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Booty Pop

Laura Watkins

Sketches

Pen and Ink

Laura Watkins

Pen and Ink Details

Laura Watkins

Pen and Ink Details

Laura Watkins

Marker and Pencil Studies

Laura Watkins

Travel Sketches

Laura Watkins

Travel Sketches

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Travel Sketches

Laura Watkins

Other Works

Photoshop Studies

Laura Watkins

Grace; Pop

Laura Watkins

True Colors; Claustrophobia

Laura Watkins

Connections; Raise Your Flag

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Isolation

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Burnham Banks; Shadow Maker

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Modern Ruins

Laura Watkins

In Search of Eisenman; The Ascent

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P799 HME; In Praise of Shadows

Laura Watkins

Writing Sample

Video Killed the Radio Star

Video Killed the Radio Star

MTV made is first broadcast on August 1, 1981 forever altering cable television. This rogue sta-tion took over both music and video and settled itself into the role of super media. The first ten minutes of programming consisted of launch video from the Shuttle Columbia as well as the first moon landing. Those were pretty dramatic images, but somehow thirty years later they seem appropriate. MTV for better or worse changed the world with its combining of the visual and aural components of rock and pop along with the reality TV phenomena. Appropriately The Buggles song Video Killed the Radio Star was the first music video played. Somewhat prophetic in title, music has never been heard the same way again. The single author was replaced by a collective creative unit that seduced the viewer into a hyper reality. This new system for good or bad established that the collective had become more powerful than the individual creative entity.

Architecture like MTV is a cultural agent; it traces and curates our social acceptances and projects new visual stimulation that challenges our understanding. This powerful media that records our styles, social acceptances, cultural priorities, and political structure is intrinsically linked to the development of our society. Jason Paynes Raspberry Fields project begins to re-image the vernacular shingle style by attempting to wrap it in fur, though is really just altering an existing material to behave like hair or fur. Rem Koolhaass Seattle Public Library uses a program diagram in conjunction with the new social attitudes toward information and knowledge to redefine how a library operates while Can-dilis, Josic, and Woods ATBAT Afrique uses the aesthetics of high modernism while maintaining the culturally accepted roles of women; and Terragnis Casa del Fascio portrayed the so-called openness of a new political regime while serving as a propaganda machine for Mussolini. Architectures convey-ance of information is its most powerful tool, but by the nature of building, often it seems to be looking forward through a rearview mirror as communications thinker and media prophet Marshall McLuhan says in his many works on media and social perception. It can simply not keep up with the constant flows and shifts of society. It makes future projections by relying on a misunderstanding of the past; replacing the old with the slightly less old. It often erases the existing condition for something newer, better, and more fantastic. But what happens when this fails? Was it architectures fault or was it the misunderstanding of the media and technology.

Laura Watkins

We use media and technology as two tandem instruments to provide solutions to existing con-ditions and those that may arise. The problem is that we are just not capable of predicting the future and are limited by our own understanding and methods of representation. The Ideal City as painted by Piero della Francesca is an early example of the Renaissances thoughts on perfecting the urban environment. Francescas use of mathematical perspective clearly articulates the vision of a new city in terms of the relationship of built and open space. The city becomes an open more logical system and erases the darkness of less enlightened times. More contemporary dream schemes such as Frank Lloyd Wrights Broadacre City continues the use of romantic imagery to propose newer and thus better solutions for the future. But were the ideas really that great? Was Mussolinis erasure of Romes fabric a good solution? Are the sprawling suburbs of today better than the dense urban living of the city? Are the romantic solutions brought forth from an idealized notion an honest representation of a solution?

Western dominating culture has a tendency to view other societies from a noble savage view-point. Edward Said discusses this notion with respect to western ideas of the east critically in his book Orientalism. This book begins to explain the illusions that such viewpoints impart. Although romanti-cism is certainly not inherently detrimental the unrealistic ideals that are being pushed are lacking in a full understanding and are more about the sensation of the image and less about reality. The images which carry an innate power and truth to the viewers are not an honest depiction of reality. Edward Said remarks, Much more important is that commitment to a cause, much more beautiful and true, he says, is betraying it, which I read as another version of his unceasing search for the silence that reduces all language to empty posturing, all action to theatrics. In the context of a dominant Orientalism that commanded, codified and articulated virtually all Western knowledge and experience of the Arab/Is-lamic world, there is something quietly but heroically subversive (Said) Today as we are facing issues like economic crisis, climate change, food shortages, water shortages, and political instability on a massive degree. Our idealized and romantic solution of an itemized check list solution heavy on technology to our current state of affairs does little to develop an to alternate to the way that we live, but instead encourages us to develop a technological method that overcomes, suppresses, or eradicates the dilemma. Through the current branding of Green lifestyles we are justifying our actions through a lens of romanticism that only relates a partial truth as to methods of change. This is clearly not the first time that weve idealized a solution without fully understanding the problem. Today we can however use the combined knowledge and solutions of the past to begin to project again a better solution.

We conjecture new possibilities. We expand what we think are impossibilities and make new realities. The new does away with the late in order to move forward. Again looking at the philosophies of Said, we can understand lateness in terms of what happens if art does not abdicate its rights in favor of reality. He takes this notion from Adornos critiques of Beethovens late works as no longer being a progressive building of techniques but rather repetitious primitive conventions and rhetorical devices. Architecture as media is able to codify the current situation and through a critical and analytical meth-

Thesis Written Work

od is able to solve issues through conventions and devices. This makes it an incredibly cool media in McLuhans terms that invites the viewers to gaze upon its vestiges to understand what can be done for change. It is a call to action. For those looking, each individual creates a dialog within their own minds and while the subject matter was the same for all the understanding varies widely. At the turn of the 20th century, with the future and technology increasing at exponential speeds, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe used the images of modernity to revolutionize the socio-political status of architecture. The image became just as important as the physical space. Beatriz Colomina notes that if the work, the images give me pleasure, and if by now, at the end of a very long project (which could be described precisely in terms of images, the images of modern architecture, or modern architecture as image, as mass-media), I can see that this pleasure of the image is probably the driving force behind most of the work done so far (Colomina 194). However, today architecture is much less read. Its effectiveness as a mode of communication has been much reduced to a simple brand for the mass urbanization of the world. Technology has dead-ened its power by the seductiveness of television, film, and social networking. We require instant access to all information at all times. Just take out your new Smartphone. We can talk, text, chat (electronical-ly) update our social media accounts, view pictures (that we took with the phone), listen to music, play a person to person game, and watch a movie all at the same time, depending on your carrier of course. Delayed gratification and imagination are deadened by this super saturation. In scientific terms super saturation occurs when something can no longer retain anymore and as such begins to precipitate or release its holdings to achieve a balance point. So, today why stimulate one sense when you can stimu-late them all. As we progress we are becoming more and more desensitized to what is actually going on around us.

Technology has advanced in almost every field to reduce everything to a kit of parts. Mon-santo has the ability to genetically alter and engineer almost any seed into a food production machine. Drought, floods, and unnatural light amounts are no longer effective players in the seeds ability to grow. These genetically superior super seeds are destroying natural growth cycles left and right. We are leaving societies that were at one time viable agriculture communities and reducing them to barren wastelands. Other genetic modifications attempt to create new species through gene manipulations in order to produce a new hybrid that combines only optimum traits. This hybridization can produce both good and bad effects. If the technology is applied through an understanding of the complete ecological and biological system better productions are possible, but when treated as cellular legos the by product is lacking in the biological developments that emerge through natural speciation. The Stanley Specia-tion Diagram of the process of the development through either natural or selective mutation over time illustrates the limited set of potential traits resulting in a less diversified species than a natural niching which occurs as the branching blurs. The diversity is a necessity to ensure the sustainable survival for a species. A more concrete example of this kind of development is the development of dog breeds and that

Laura Watkins

of fantastical creatures.

The Labrador Retriever a breed known for its loyalty, intelligence and service is one of the most popular dog breeds in the world. But where did it come from? The origin of the breed is traced to Newfoundland as a cross between the Newfoundland (the dog not to be confused with the province) and St. Johns dog a now extinct breed. The Labrador then made its way to England by way of ship-ping routes to fully develop into the breed that we know today. The down fall for many though is that its dander and shedding cause allergy sufferers extreme pain, making what could be a wonderful service dog problematic. The poodle like the Labrador is intelligent, energetic, trainable, and hypo-allergenic but takes significantly more maintenance than the Labrador. Through careful breeding a new breed has been produced. The labradoodle is a hybrid breed that combines the most optimum traits of each breed making it a loving and serviceable companion that is non-shedding and hypo-allergenic. This hybrid makes use of a complete biological cycle without altering the chromosomal make up in order to produce a better dog. Other hybrids though are less successful. Only through cellular manipulations are we able to combine species that do not even share the same number of chromosomes. The zorse, a zebra/horse hybrid is just one example of this technological altering of a species. The horse which has sixty four chromosomes is mated with a zebra which has thirty two to forty six chromosomes. The resultant animal is a creature that is no longer confined to fantasy but is also not part of the natural environment either. Then zorse and labradoodle are at odds, one being a linear assemblage of traits and the latter be-ing a diversified branching of them. As such, the zorse cannot assimilate into the zebra herd as it lacks the aesthetics for survival that are fundamental for both the individual and the herd. It also lacks the domestication of the horse so that there too it is an outlier. This kit of parts animal is a one off creature, completely impotent and completely finite in its lack of progeny. It is unfit in Darwinian terms in that it cannot have progeny and therefore its progeny can have none either. It exits outside of a sustainable ecological cycle. As we are practicing today, sustainable architecture is a zorse. To further understand this first it is helpful to define sustainability and its relationship to ar-chitecture. Wendy Meguro says, Sustainability describes a broad concept referring to humans inter-actions with each other and with the natural environment. It involves meeting our present needs in a way that does not threaten the health of future generations nor the biodiversity of the planet. It is typi-cally defined within three realms: the economic, the environmental, and the social. Green tends to re-fer specifically to the physical manifestation of the environmental aspect, especially in architecture. In order to avoid creating buildings that are a patchwork of green features, sustainable architecture must be about process, not just product. Sustainable architecture is often too narrowly thought of as a just that a recognizable product: buildings that are visibly making an environmental statement with some creative marketing. An integrated design team must, therefore set comprehensive environmental goals and benchmarks at the outset of a project, and then engage the design process with a critical and analyti-cal eye to arrive at design solutions. Sustainable architecture can be much more than a green product.

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If addressed as a series of principles of environmental sensitivity, sustainable design can create a new baseline for high performance buildings and urban developments, appropriately adaptable to location, culture, and time. We have an opportunity to challenge people to think about their relationship to nature and to raise societal issues relating to the environment through the built environment. And once again have beautiful climate and place specific buildings. (Kauffman 2006) Our current culture and supporting government agencies have reduced architecture to a set of mechanical parts that bling our existing excessive lifestyles. It is assumed that a generic box shoved full with the correct technology will inher-ently make for a good building. LEED as with so many of architecture manifestos sets out five points of production: site, water, energy, indoor environmental quality, and innovation. A certified building can be achieved solely through systems and siting without a symbiotic design ever really being a factor so long as you can check off enough points on your list. This determinist model does not encourage an organic growth or adaptation of overtime, but promotes a linear progression of solutions in which we use a specific site with a generic building that we can then apply photovoltaic panels, super insulated walls and windows, advanced mechanical systems, water management systems, and even more photo-voltaic panels. Within these criteria architectures past, present, and future problems can be corrected. In just these quick easy steps we will free ourselves from the guilt that our current lifestyles induce. However, believing that this will work is like believing that spanx actually make your ass smaller. We need more than just a quick cosmetic fix. We need a real change that technology alone cannot produce. There is great value in our architectural imagination, even though it is often lost or dismissed by the ethicists or engineers. The difficulty hinges on the hierarchy of the words sustainable and design. Perhaps for the moment, sustainabilitys theoretical amorphousness means that its encounter with architecture is mainly at the level of prestige buildings. Nonetheless, we continue to need what we have always needed: designs that challenge our way of thinking and perceiving on a range of social and environmental issues. But as it turns out, and as could be anticipated, the social issues are the most difficult to theorize, and it is here that we need to rethink our efforts. (Jarzombek 2006) We need to move from a hierarchical determinist model and to a model of organic growth that allows us to adapt, change, and diversify our work.

Its ironic that looking back to another period of extreme unrest and social upheaval might be exactly where to look to find some solutions. At a time when little was being built groups of architects, collectives and not single auteur, were proliferating new thoughts and theories on the possibilities of architecture. The avant-garde works of Archigram and the Metabolists revisioned how we should live and went beyond superficial changes to the existing lifestyles. The scalar solutions ranged from extra large urban identities such as Walking City and Plug in City to large housing solutions such as, Control and Choice, and Nakagin Capsule tower To the very small Living Pod, Cushicle, and Suitaloon. These

Laura Watkins

projects became architectures new media, the middle ground between inception and physical manifes-tation. Walking City which completely dissociates itself with the natural environment creates a new mobile ecology that has the ability to link up with other super robots and create a new environment. This system though economically unfeasible is not unheard of technologically. Cape Kennedy has mo-bile 40 story buildings that can leisurely traverse the flat landscape. While I currently do not see the Walking City as a viable option, I do see it as an opportunity for rethinking architecture in terms of ecologies and environment. This idea though that the city is a unique organism becomes an underly-ing current that can also be applied to smaller projects. Plug-In City envisions a new structural net-work that has plug in pieces that can adapt to the needs as they arise. The underlying structure with additional programs is a realistic approach to creating no more than a group needs at a specific time while not limiting it to a fixed growth pattern. Thus the adaptability of the system becomes more of a growing organism than something with finite growth limits. Consolidating the environment to an even smaller scale, archigrams inflato cookbook and wearables begin to even question the necessity of per-manent structure. This more biological model can also be seen in more contemporary work such as R & Sie (n)s VIAB. Here the project relies less on the created physical infrastructure of the city and more generative algorithms. The Algorithm controls the viability of the structure and interacts with the subjectivity of the residents. By speculating about a habitable organism they are able to create adap-tive transitory scenarios. The open algorithms are sensitive to both human expression and chemical and environmental emissions. This technology would be open source software that could be adapted and changed as the user needed. Francois Roche, one of the Principles of R & Sie(n) describes VIAB like the polyps that live in coral and allow it to proliferate. It was inspired by phasmids, insects that can camouflage themselves as a leaf or stick. This adaptability and blurring of natural and technological is a key idea in my House for an Information Theorist. This project denaturalized the land into a pure data field that through the manipulation of the theorist created the walls and structure of the house. The adaptability of the system was based on the cellular structure of a data module. The module also moderates the views keeping the theorist and his guest always at an indisposition of view. The wall-scape mediated the interaction between the users much Roches software mediated the structure and the users needs. Archigrams Living Pod and Capsules began to re-imagine what was needed for living. Basing their design on the efficiency of space travel the program of the home was radically altered to be the minimum amount of space needed. Conceptually the capsule serves to describe an approach to hous-ing by presenting a series of very sophisticated and highly designed elements locked together within a box which is itself highly tailored. It is an industrial design approach. It implies a deliberate-even a preferred-lifestyle, rather like a hotel. At the same time it is definitive, and would by-pass many of the

Thesis Written Work

myths of urban design which depend upon hierarchies of incident and the treatment of housing as a folk art. The house for the solar decathlon project was somewhat a re-programming and trimming of excess spaces it is precisely not what makes architecture. Instead of using technology in a symbiotic relationship with the design, the generic box is specifically sighted to take advantage of the super in-sulated walls and the photovoltaic panels. This market-driven aspect of sustainable design results in a visually unappealing model or in biological terms a zorse. in which the sustainable strategies are dis-parate of the architecture. These systems are like lipstick on a drag queen; no matter how applied it doesnt change the fact that shes a man. So how do we fight the pervasiveness of the neo pragmatism that is so clearly marketed in every aspect of todays media. Much of this subversive potential can be seen from an architectural perspec-tive with William McDonoughs Lewis Center for Environmental Studies. You could be asking yourself where the architecture is even though this is touted as of the first works of sustainable architecture. Though sustainability is now a codified term in global ecology, the strategies that are implemented in its name are hardly unified and map out a diverse range of approaches. In architecture, this diversity is rarely seen as a problem, as many of those who work in the name of sustainability have adopted an at-titude that avoids both contention and critique. (Jarzombek 2006) By opening up ourselves to critique, we are able to look past the pragmatic steps of current sus-tainable thought and can began to infuse a more holistic idea. Looking again at the work of R&Sie(n). The idea that the architecture is part of a large organism is paramount in Dusty Relief. This project proposed for Bangkok is a high density exhibition hall that through a minute electromagnetic charge helps to clean the dust and smog that stifles the area. Though this building doesnt make use of any of the points set out by LEED except for the innovation component it becomes a more biologically sustainable project in that it takes the waste from its ecology and uses it as a means of identity and insulation. The highly specific reaction to a local ecology allows the buildings to exist in stasis taking and giving back to its surroundings. The furry building becomes one of Semperian aesthetics and technological prowess. Dusty Relief thus is a performative building that benefits its local ecology in a much less superficial way than the stylized work of Jason Paynes Raspberry Fields. R & Sie(n)s work becomes a growing furry organism instead of a building with a less than cunning use of cosmetic hair that remains somewhat late as it clings to the nostalgia of vernacular school houses. Though not as avant garde as R & Sie (n)s Dusty Fields, this hyper specific to site building is one of the key notions for my groups comprehensive Tower. The towers form is generated for optimum solar, wind, and water collection. The structure and systems are modeled on the structure and anatomy of the skeletal and vascular systems that hold and carry the excretions and collections throughout the

Laura Watkins

system. The Photovoltaic panels act as a layer pores collecting and shielding in tandem. By seeing the building as an organism, we were able to equalize system and architecture seeing them not in a hierar-chy of terms but in a relationship of biological parts. The work of Studio Gang also takes advantage of what the site produces. The Ford Calumet Environmental center is built on an abandoned site that was full of metal discards. The site also home to several bird species took the discards and placed them around the center to protect the local ecology from undue birds suicides. Again a site specific approach with a longer thought sequence begins to pro-duce better work that is inevitably more powerful than a plaque that was just bought. We are called to be agents of change again. We should take back the power that design and media brings to us and not let is passively play on. Instead of placing blame on systems that do not work we should look to systems that do work and revise how we practice. Theorist Sylvia Lavin in her work Kissing Architecture says: Since architecture has had the unique privilege and responsibility of housing the one and representing the many recalibrating how architecture extends itself how its one gently shifts the limits of the other to create provisional if profound pressure between two rather than a utopian collapse into unity is to redesign how architecture exercises power and diagrams politics. As a result, kissing architecture is not a private matter but an urgent call to ethical action. To answer this call to action a shift to a biological model will allow ourselves to grow organi-cally with technology and media while still designing the framework. Work ACs PF 1 project takes ad-vantage of the Museum of Modern Arts media machine. They introduced a playful, interactive, urban farm that through its cellular construct can adapt and grow sympatically with users and site. It is within this framework where I will practice, a balance between the ecological and environ-mentally friendly world that I had been taught since birth and the world of media and technology. Like the unknown power of MTV in its early stages of development architecture has the power to dominate the senses and influence generations taste, style, ideals, and of course desires. MTV accomplished this through rethinking current modes of representation and realizing how important specificity to location is to exist. It would have to assimilate into the local media ecology to be viable. Architecture in turn should be highly specific and responsive to a local condition and grow organically with the needs of the users resulting in a globally diverse and thus sustainable practice.

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Laura Watkins Design Portfolio

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