This Upscale Life

I got a new watch today from the prestigious International Watch Company. I took it off and put it on my table realizing it was sitting next to a Prada wallet and (some exquisite) Cutler and Gross sunglasses.

The thing is, is that I am student now, and these three items are probably more than my yearly income. And then I realized that I also have a Louis Vuitton overnight bag in my closet which definitely throws the value over my income. I thought for a minute about the origin of all of these items. They were all gifts.

I think I am an accidental gigolo.

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Jasolaire-forlani

So we have to do this thing where we take our design from the last site and collage it in to our new site. This is the second time we have had to do it. Some work better than others. Mine is an example of the “others”. But. This semester is supposed to be about site. If it is truly about site, and let’s say site specificity, then maybe this exercise is irrelevant. My last museum was generated by the intense, sublime landscape at Vasquez Rocks, but has nothing to do with Downtown Los Angeles. So I decided to explode it and see what would happen.

By the way. The only reason I am even uploading this or writing about it is because I think that it is funny that I put Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the park with multi-colored babies crawling around.

By the way again. I have a full moustache. I read in Italian Men’s Vogue that Moustaches are the innest thing right now. Then again, my Italian isn’t what it used to be so maybe it was Ferraris or something that are the innest thing. Either way, my moustache and I need to go to sleep now. Auf WiederCiao!

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You Can Always Go…

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The Spoon, The Fork and the Clergymen: A Tale of Subsidies

The last week of my life has been one of those architectural whirlwinds consisting of very little sleep, little to no communication with the outside world, and last minute decision making and prioritizing. I had a studio review on Friday, and a model due on Sunday for the architect(s) that I work for.
It has been equal parts stress and euphoria. I can’t explain how much I love what I do. If I get in to a project it becomes an obsession. It is all I care or think about. That explains it. Here are some images:

This is the site for the project. It’s near Santa Clarita, and it’s called Vasquez Rocks. If you recognize it, it’s because of its proximity to Hollywood and has been used in numerous films, TV shows, commercials usually as another planet (think a million Star Trek episodes) or some sort of desert/mountain landscape. The first time I was there I saw Moses comming down form the mountain. I had a moment in which I questioned my atheism, but then I noticed the film crew and all was good in my mind again. Then I saw a female bobybuilder drinking some sort of frothy malt for another film crew. I assume this is for an infomercial, but I am not sure what Moses (not Charlton Heston) was doing, maybe an infomercial too. Anyway this is the site on which we are to design a L.A.N.D. Museum. (I am totally blanking on what L.A.N.D. stands for… Los Angeles something something something something.)

These are a couple of images of topographic study models I built. I built a few out of cardboard, but it was hard to capture the scale of the rocks, because our actual flat(ish) building site os a few hundred yards away from the peak of the Famous Rock (actual name) and working at such a small scale didn’t do the site any justice. This took me about 13 hours.

Initial design. The parti reamined virtually the same throughout the design development, but the shell and placement of the building went through several changes, as did the program.

Plans that are hard to read at this scale.

Axonometric section through all levels and Long Section through building.

Section through the Skyroom and section through the Horizon Lookout bridge.

Various Computer renderings.

Various shots of the model. This took a long fucking time. And a lot of fucking 3/16″x3/16″ Basswood sticks.

And then this is the residence I am working on for the architect(s). I won’t mention their names because I don’t know why, but they are both Record House winners and if you have ever studied R.M. Schindler, you have read one of them.

And, finally. My sister is a photographer and this month her work is on the cover of Photoshop User magazine. Fucking awesome. Congratulations to her. And look how cute my niece is. But then look again at all of the work that I have done and let’s not forget who this website is about.

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