You Just Finished AIAS Forum What Are You Doing Next?

I'm going to Architecture Land, I mean, Dallas.

Once upon a time, back in the 1980's, the wealthy fairy godmothers and godfathers of Dallas transformed a 62 acre pumpkin patch of used car lots into the architectural theme park also known as The Arts District. Gems of the district include: Wyly Theatre by Rem Koolhaas/OMA, Windspear Opera House by Norman Foster, The Nasher Sculpture Center by Renzo Piano, Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center by I.M. Pei and Thanks Giving Square by Philip Johnson.

In 2012, Four travelers, who came from Raleigh via Phoenix, dreamed of seeing the Wyly Theatre, but it was closed. However, there was still much to see in The Arts District. They explored the Meyerson Symphony Center, the Nasher Sculpture Center, food trucks and enjoyed a guided tour of the Windspear Opera House.

At the end of the tour, their own fairy docent, Susan, appeared and took them inside the Wyly. She guided them all through the theatre--to private terraces and to the conference room overlooking the costume shop and finally--she took them into the theatre space to see the stage crew set-up for a production of Giant.

"The stage configuration is never the same," said Susan, "many patrons complain because they can't sit in the same seats as the last production." She looked over the house, busy with crew examining drawings and pulling cords out of the floor. "But the creativity this place allows makes it worth it, I mean it is just a black box, anything can happen."

Pure magic.

COP Meeting (#2) and Last Day! (1.1.12)

Nicole Hatjioannou here (my last post)!


HAPPY NEW YEAR!


I hope everyone had a marvelous New Years Eve! It sure was weird receiving texts from friends and family two hours ahead of me celebrating the new year. 


In the morning I attended the last COP meeting. It was important for us to be there, since we were electing the next President, Vice President, and the 4 Quad Directors for 2012 - 2013 school year. I never realized how important these roles are. 
At the meeting finances were discussed. If anyone wants to join AIAS for the remainder of the year, you just have to pay half (so either $23 or $24). 
Also, faculty gets free membership AND registration at conferences. (I'm pretty sure that's correct).


It was freezing in this conference room. After finance discussion, the floor was open to New Business. If anyone had anything to say, they were free to. I raised my placard and said "It's freezing in here. Can we please turn the heat on?" Quickly after, a lot of other Presidents raised their placards to second me. Everyone laughed. Joshua, the CEO of AIAS stood up, took off his suit jacket and walked over and gave it to me. I wore it for most of the meeting.


We had two round table discussions during the meeting.
The one that I was more engaged in was "How can we better integrate trans-disciplinary opportunities into architecture education? How does it affect the future of architecture?
---I was thrilled to have this question. I listen to what other students say. They talk about having 
competitions with engineers and so forth.  One student made the point that on their campus, none of their
design majors are relatively close to each other on their campus. 
I just have to say that I am INCREDIBLY proud to be part of NC State.
I mention that we have 5 different design majors at our school, and that we're encouraged to take a swing studio.
The other 8 people at my table were in complete shock. They all said it was fantastic.
I can assure you, that NC State was the only school that has this.
I'm also proud to say that I'm part of the FYE (First Year Experience). For those of you who do not attend NCSU,
as undergrads, our freshman year we have a studio with all of the majors mixed in (industrial design, graphic design,
landscape architecture, art and design, and architecture).
I know most of us at State don't realize how lucky we are to have this opportunity to be exposed to these other majors.


Meeting ended, and I walked around outside and sketched until the General Session (the last one!)


The last Roll Calls....keep in mind this is the day after the beaux arts ball and last day of Forum.
One school stood up and started singing "In the desert, the mighty desert, nobody slept last night!" (aka "in the jungle, the mighty jungle
the lion sleeps tonight...")


Another school had a guy up at the podium singing "I just got FORUM-ed, and it felt so good!" (this is based off
of that song "i just got drunk.....and it felt so good!")


Another school stood up. Told everyone else to stand up and turn to the left. Then they yelled out "MASSAGE TRAIN!"


As I walk up, for NC STATE, the Vice President doesn't see me and calls out the next school. Haha.
All worked out though.
I get to the podium, and let me tell you, I have never spoken in front of so many people before.


I mentioned that NC State hasn't been very active the past few years in AIAS and that I am thrilled to be here representing our school
on my first Forum experience! I honestly had a wonderful time.


That night, or should I say morning, my 4 classmates took off on their roadtrip.


The next morning, I went to the lobby to check out.
Bryce Gamper comes up to me and hugs me and tells me that he's glad I had my first Forum experience.

The view from the Phoenix Airport. It didn't even seem real, the views are wonderful. 

Oh, I forgot to say! While we're on our tour to Scottsdale, the tour guide said the mountains in the distance are called Camel Back Mountains because the mountains look like two humps......uhhhhh don't all mountains look like a camel's humps? hahahaha

Sketching sure does kill time when you arrive at the airport 3 hours before your flight.

The view outside the plane window of Dallas. WOW! 

I got home around 1 a.m. this morning. 

I wish I had blogged more while I was there, but it was nice to relive what I experienced over the past 5 days all at once at home.

Let's just say, I miss it.

To everyone that I met, thanks for reading - and I hope to see you at the next Forum (if not sooner)!

And I hope my fellow classmates have a safe road trip home!

Forum photos/sketches of the past 4 blogs: Nicole Hatjioannou: 12.28.11 - 1.2.12

YAY ARCHITECTURE!

I would love to tell more stories about my trip, so find me at State to hear more!

Arizona Science Center & Phoenix Art Museum (12.31.11)

Nicole here! (read the past 2 posts from me.....)

Just Jimmy and I from STATE together today.
We head out to the Arizona Science Center. Same tour-guide from Scottsdale. Hahaha.
We walk over, and end up just standing there. How come? We got there around 9:40a.m. and I told Jimmy "just watch it opens at 10." We both laugh thinking it can't be possible. Sure enough, ten o'clock comes and we are led up to the building by our tour guide. And there, on the door, are the hours - opening at ten. Jimmy and I burst out laughing.

This is the lobby. You would look into the telescope (lower left). When you look through, you see a video, but what everyone else sees is your eye in the telescope above. Below is Jimmy's eye. 

I have to agree with Jimmy on this, that architecturally, the lobby was the best part.  One thing I disliked about this building, was that after you explored the exhibits, you would reach the end of the hallway. A dead end. You had to turn around. I wish you moved from floor to floor more smoothly, instead of having to walk backwards (not literally, although that would've been funny). 

I don't know how to really explain the next two photos.....but you stood in front of this screen and you were able to get in the way of the falling colored "pieces". 

(Sorry Jimmy, I just had to). The little boy in front of us would say "Woah! I look like Jimmy Neutron!" I had a blast walking around the science center with Jimmy. It was great that we both could act like kids and laugh our heads off. 

This was pretty cool. Beyond the columns is the overhang to the entrance of the science center. I'm standing in this outdoor pavilion space. The orange squares would change colors! From red to orange, then green to blue, etc. 

Next up, Phoenix Art Museum.

More walking. More time for laughter. More time to meet new people. 

Pretty impressive cantilever. 

Jimmy and I left our tour guide and decided to walk around on our own. 

It was terrific exploring the art together. 

We first see the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit. Over 100 of his drawings on display. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not photography! Bummer.

Rachel had told Jimmy to look at the mirror room. We weren't sure what this was, so we asked someone working there. She said she didn't know what we were talking about, but told us to see this certain exhibit (the name is escaping me as I type this). She told us it's a room that's dark with lots of light. 

Anyway, so Jimmy and I make our way to it.

We step inside. Woah! It's dark. Oh wait, some light. Wait, what did I just hit? Jimmy? Where'd you go? Where's the exit? Oh, the lights are hanging from the ceiling. Oh my oh my, how do I get out? 

I heard Jimmy say "if you have a video option on your camera, I'd be video taping this."

So, here's the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGFOBVeSQOU&feature=youtu.be

(sorry I kept moving the camera around, and I don't know why I was laughing......)

I'm trying to find my way out, then I hear a loud THUD. Jimmy bumped into the wall (which is covered in mirrors, so you can't blame him). I'm laughing at him, and then I spot the exit. I start walking to it, then BOOM. I hit my camera and face against the mirror. Jimmy's behind me at the exit, laughing. 

Here's some of the artwork.

This is layers and layers and layers and layers of paper. My favorite. 

It's hard to tell which one is the dinosaur and which one is Jimmy. Hahahahaha (kidding)

Overall, I enjoyed the museum and the science center.

I ended up walking back to the hotel from the science center and the museum with Jimmy. It's amazing how much you laugh with someone when you're tired, hot, and high on architecture! 

Back at the hotel - time for General Session and Roll Call.

Auburn is called. Eric (the guy I met at the SMOCA) is standing there at the podium wearing a white robe. In a deep voice, he says "Look at your school, now back at me, now look at your school, then back at me.......is this a championship ring? no, it's confetti.......I'm on a podium."

(based off of the old spice commercial - i thought this was hilarious!)

Everyone's seen the Harry Potter puppet video on youtube right? The mysterious ticking noise?

Georgia Tech is called. They stand up and start snapping. One girl says "What's that mysterious ticking noise?" She starts a steady beat and then one of the guys says "Mies.......Mies.......Mies......Van der rohe!.....Mies......Mies.......Corbusier!......Mies......Mies.....Van Der Rohe!...Corbusier!" Other architects were added in, but everyone was laughing hysterically.

Another school rewrote the Lord's Prayer.

Part of it was as follows, "....and please forgive us for spillages, as we forgive those who spill against us...."

Our roll call? Jimmy got up to the podium and the 4 females stood behind him with our arms crossed, looking stern (I had a hard time to keep myself from laughing).

Jimmy said that forum is about meeting new people but also maintaining old friendships. We felt ignored from UNCC at Forum so we challenged them to a dance off as soon as the new year started at the Beaux Arts Ball. (all in good fun, of course).

The keynote speaker was David Zach, a futurist. 

That night was the BEAUX ARTS BALL! 1920s theme.

We never had a dance off......well, we had about 4 of them, but people were missing, we couldn't find each other when it became 2012, haha, but it was still fun.

I had a lot of fun dancing with Kelly.

Gene Sun, from Maryland came up and danced with us too. Trevor joined us as well.

It was a great night. I had tons of fun. 

I hope that my chapter, NCSU, can have a Beaux Arts Ball this spring. It can be wonderful!!

Council of Presidents Meeting and Burton Barr Library (12.30.11)

Nicole here again! (be sure to read the previous post....)


This morning, I headed off to the CoP (Council of Presidents) meeting. I was the delegate that represented NC State. We had Roll Call, where the Vice President would call out each school and you had to show that you were present.
She calls other schools and most people say "here." "present." and stay seated. 
But not me...
She calls North Carolina State University and I stand up, put my arms in the air, and yell "Yay architecture!!" Everyone laughs.


For the NC State students that are reading this....you should be incredibly proud of yourselves for being a part of AIAS. I can't count the number of people that came up to me during this meeting and wanted to congratulate our chapter for having grown so much this past semester. We have put ourselves back on the map! 
Someone asked four schools to stand up, and NC State was one of them. They wanted to congratulate us for having 30+ more people join our chapter from last year.
As your co-president, I am SO PROUD of us!  I hope that this continues. 
Nationally, there are 5,169 members. That's a lot! Our chapter is 69 of them!


At this meeting, Jeff Potter was there. Who is he? He is the current AIA President. He gave a speech and answered questions. I didn't have a chance to meet him personally, but it still amazes me that I was in the same room as him. 


I sat next to someone who's name-tag said Jesus. I immediately thought "woah!" He is from a school in Puerto Rico. How awesome!!


After the meeting, I headed off to the Burton Barr Library designed by Will Bruder.  As we're walking to it, there's this.......thing? in the middle of downtown. I'll tell you what people called it (but only in person, haha) What do you think of it?

For a public library, I would be there all of the time! It was such a great space to be in. The tour was led by Will Bruder himself. 

^Southern facade. 

^This is the texture on part of the west facade. Pretty cool texture, huh? When they were screeding the concrete they used a 2x4/6 to push up the concrete every 18 (roughly) inches. I thought that was extremely interesting. 

^Pigeons love this building because they rest on the copper and.....pee. See all that white stuff? Eew. You think I'm being kidding, but that's what I was told.

^Northern Facade.

Entry. (one on west and east)

I was freaking out as I climbed these stairs in heels...

Southern wall. 

Doesn't it seem like the ceiling is floating? 

The columns don't touch the ceiling.....pretty amazing, don't you think?

Back to the Sheraton Hotel for General Session.

Roll-Call (Kelly mentioned this earlier...)

I began to write down the funny ones. Who knew architects could be so funny??

One girl walked up to the stage and yelled out "Trust Fall!" and fell backward, right into the President's lap.

UNC Charlotte stood up and said "In NC, you yell "Timber!" when a tree falls. What do you yell in Phoenix when a cactus falls?" "AAAHHHHHH!!!"

Teddy Cruz gave a lecture that night. 

Looking forward to tomorrow!!

Taliesin & Downtown Scottsdale (12.29.11)

(NICOLE HERE! my posts will be pretty long, just a warning - but there's still so much to share!)

Waking up! Bright and early. Taliesin tour at 8:30 a.m. Kelly, Shawna, Jimmy and I were all going together. My outfit for the day? Nice shirt, knee-length skirt, tights, and black flats. Seems okay to just walk around Taliesin West right?
WRONG.
We get there, have a tour around Taliesin West, and then we walk through the desert to see the students' shelters. Had I known, I wouldn't have worn a skirt or flat, thin soled shoes.

Taliesin West itself was alright. I've seen plenty of FLW's work, so most of the time I thought "yeah, this is typical of FLW." I did however, pay more attention to daylighting than I ever have (thanks to last semester's studio).  I wish we saw more of it though, I think we only saw 4 or 5 rooms.  

This one room had at least 5 different types of lighting strategies. For having no windows in this room, the lighting was lovely. 

Even the doors were cut at different angles. What I love about FLW is how he deals with every detail, even the door handles of his doors. 

The students at Taliesin West design their own shelters to live in. They pick a spot in the desert. Some of them are completely open, others are closed off. One student woke up with two lizards on his face, another woke up to a wild hog running around his room. All the girls on the tour were freaked out by that (myself included) and most of the guys thought it was purely awesome!

Here are some examples of the shelters students design, build, and eventually live in.

^This one is pretty neat. He makes a fire beneath his bed, and then the smoke from the fire warms his bed. 

The bed actually was hung, mid-air. Pretty nifty. 

As we walked, we were told to stay on the trail (climbing, stepping over rocks) and watch out for the cacti! I stepped on a piece, OUCH! Shawna, Kelly, and I had to stop and pick the cacti out of our shoe. I couldn't design a shelter, build it, and live in it as a student. I give props to those students!

At one o'clock Jimmy and I headed out to Scottsdale. 

As we wait on the bus to leave, the tour guide is telling us Phoenix trivia. Phoenix is the 6th largest city and Arizona is the 6th largest state. She said something that caused Jimmy and I to give each other quizzical looks, "I could go downtown at 5:15 pm and shoot right in front of me, and I wouldn't hit anyone. That's how deserted downtown is." Yikes! (The sad thing is, what she said is true. We walked around a lot and hardly saw anyone.)

Our tour guide asked us where we were from. Jimmy says "Raleigh" and some other kid says "North Carolina." Who's that?! I turn around and ask who's from NC. A guy named Trevor from App answered. How cool! 

First thing, we went to the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (aka SMOCA). The art inside sure was interesting..... Ask me to explain some of the art in person when you see me next. 

I have to admit, seeing art that makes you laugh, or makes you go "huh?" is the best way to meet people.

I'm standing in front of a piece of art that break dancers (what's the proper term?) dance on. They put paint on their shoes, hands, and dance on a canvas. A guy is standing next to me and I say "We need one of these in our studios, as a stress reliever." We had a whole discussion on that. The guy's name is Eric, from Auburn. I walked around with Trevor as well and discussed the art together. The building itself was not that impressive, at all. 

We had a tour of Historic Scottsdale. It wasn't the most exciting thing ever...

This was the ceiling of one of the buildings.....pretty neat!

Lots of laughter. Good conversations. Back to the Sheraton we go. 

General Session time. Roll-call (I'll explain that another time).

During the keynote speaker's presentation, I began to write notes with Jimmy in my sketchbook. I tell Jimmy "I wonder what everyone's really thinking." He tells me to sketch it out. So, here's my sketch.

Thought bubbles from left to right:

"I want some tacos"

"I wonder if the keynote speaker has abs"

"Why is her shoulder touching me?"

"Why is his shoulder touching me?"

"I look sexy in this shirt."

Bottom caption "(non-NCSU students) what students really think during keynote speaker lecture"

What a great first day, filled with fun and laughter!

Nicole arrives! (12.28.11)

On my plane ride from Charlotte to Dallas and from Dallas to Phoenix, I sketched people on the plane. Sketching in public is always fun, since people are always watching you. I definitely need a lot of practice drawing, but it's a good start. 

Once I got to the Phoenix Airport around noon, I went to the info desk and found out that I could take the metro (for a $1.75) instead of the shuttle ($13) to the hotel. On my way to the metro I hear someone say "Does this bus take you to the Sheraton Hotel?" Perfect! A forum attendee!! When this boy makes his way inside, I say "Hey! Are you going to Forum?" He said yes. His name was Gene and he's from Maryland. It was awesome finally meeting someone attending Forum.
The metro is extremely nice! It runs on the road and that's pretty cool. 
We meet another Forum student on the metro, Daniel, from Auburn. The three of us walk to the hotel together.
We had a delightful conversation the whole way to the hotel. We parted ways once we checked in.


For dinner that night I ate at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant. How typical for a Greek person, right? It was delicious!


My classmates finally arrived around 9:15 pm. 
Five people. 4 girls. 1 boy. Two beds. One bathroom. Here we go...


Getting pumped for tomorrow!!

Two Architects and a Furturtist Walk into a Ballroom...

Brad Lancaster had just finished his lecture on synergistic regeneration of our ecosystem and community through permaculture design and now it was the answer and question portion. A young man, in his black AIAS chapter tee shirt stood at the microphone in front of about 600 of his peers. His face was bright red.

"I'll probably talk really fast, and I know my face is really red because I don't like public speaking, but I just wanted to say you lit a fire under my heart."

A standing ovation followed. As students, our naivety and idealism gets chipped away, but instead of being replaced with cynicism and isolation it can be replaced with knowledge and tools. Here are some of the ideas that resonated with me.

Jeffery Inaba, Founder of C-Lab, Former Project Manager with Rem Koolhaas and OMA.

• He has a publication called Volume, I need to make this part of my reading repertory.
• Design is about giving form to content.
• "Innovation is so twentieth century. Innovation is about incremental changes, what we need is a complete change of thinking, to turn it on its head."
• Aid capital is regenerative, because when a person gives his resources (time, money, talent) to an organization and that organization uses it appropriately then others want to give more, and those who are helped are elevated to the position to give. (Look at the leadership at AIAS, they give to the organization, that makes the organization strong, which makes me appreciate it and want to give my resources and they help me develop so that I can give and do more)

Teddy Cruz, Architect and Professor at University of California

• Inequality injures the city which undermines architecture.
• Neighborhood Bill of rights:

1. The right to enable the co-existence of different economies
2. To develop incrementally
3. To share the profits of urbanism
4. To retrofit itself
5. To have an operative dimension of participation

• Consider redefining "density" from people per acre to social exchanges per hour.

David Zach, Futurist

• One can be a "Futurist"
• Attention is a resource, and your attitude and personality are resources which are more important than words-Elegance and eloquence will get you attention.
• Form vs. Function is a paradox, because form and function work together.
• Don't design buildings as if you have a mother that doesn't love you. Design with warmth and joy.
• What is the consequence of eternal youth? Eternal Youth.
• A computer allows you to make more mistakes faster than another other invention in history with the exception of handguns and tequila.
• If you must retreat, as architecture has in the last few years, retreat to Querencia, which is a place in which one draws his/her strength of character.
• We are human and we are not perfect-able.
• Anything by us, that isn't about us, isn't for us
• When we break bread we break barriers

I recognize this post is getting long, please accept my apologizes. Check back for a post of Brad Lancaster.

Replay Button Please?

Nicole here.
I'm terribly sorry for not writing a post sooner. This is my first official one and today is the last day of Forum. I'm sitting in the hotel lobby as I write this. When I get home tonight, I'll start updating photos and writing about my experience at Forum 2011.

I heard "I would like to thank..." at least a dozen times the past four days. I do thank all of the people who helped plan this event, but I especially want to thank the 4 students that came with me to Forum (Jimmy, Rachel, Shawna, and Kelly).

I'll be honest, I was extremely nervous to attend Forum. This was my first one. I didn't know the four students from State that well (even though Shawna and I spend a lot of time together as co-presidents) and I didn't know anyone going to Forum.

That. was. terrifying.

Flying to Phoenix was my first flight by myself. Ever.

Nothing more intimidating than flying alone and going to a place I'm not familiar with or knowing anyone.

I had my first bar-setting experience at Forum. One night there was a social at a place called the Duce. (okay, so it really isn't a bar, haha)

Let me tell you, it was uncomfortable for me.

I never told my NC State classmates, but it meant the world to me that I could hang out with them the WHOLE time and they wouldn't mind. I'm the youngest one of the NC State students at this convention, and they really looked out for me.

It amazes me how you can bond with a person when you're only together for 4 days.

At Forum, you meet people from across the country. You form friendships that can last a lifetime, right?

Attending this Forum allowed me to develop closer friendships with the students at my own school. If I had never come to Forum, I wouldn't have these friendships.

At the General Session last night, the President (Nick) said to look around us. We could be sitting by the next President, the next Steve Jobs, the next famous architect. I kept looking straight ahead, and I just smiled.

I was sitting by my NC State peers. I may not be a grad student like them, but I've never been more proud to be a part of them and a part of NC State.

I don't mean to be all mushy, but I'm truly honored to have been here at Forum with 4 amazing classmates of mine.

So Jimmy, Rachel, Shawna, and K Mo, thank you for everything.

And for all you reading, I'll leave you with this question....

What's your favorite vegetable? (you better let me know :) )

30 Second Sketches of Taliesin West

Studios and Lawn

Threshold to Studios

The Science of Happiness

The science museum had many interactive exhibits and was more or less oriented towards kids. Unfortunately, I felt like the architecture was not kid friendly....since when do kids like concrete? There were a few sweet moments in the building and I thought the entrance sequence was well put together.

Nicole and I had an epic time.  Flipping through the pictures made me realize it wasn't about experiencing the building, it was about experiencing the exhibits.  It was like being a kid again...I haven't laughed this much in a long time.