how to become a famous architecture professor

another how to, this time about how to become a famous architecture professor

no 2

so just to balance the scales out a bit after that here's liam secret no 2

in prep i ran a flying school. we used to line up on top of the monkey bars and i would make everyone flap their arms and jump off, but i was too scared to do it. i told the 5 or 6 people that did it regularly that over the holidays i would do some experiments to find out why they couldn't fly. i never did find out a way of making people fly.

name them and shame them

so it's naming and shaming time... i've taken a fairly strong stance, so when people i'm supposed to be working with start writing down things like this, as part of our group design philosophy i make sure they know i disagree... name: christopher ruffe

and when third years have slides like this in their mid semester presentation i'm not impressed names: coco, bader, pierre, andy

heres some pics from upper pool presentations a few years ago

does that circular thing look familiar? thats cause its a familiar thing, you see them everyday on the train. alright so this was three to four years ago. i can forgive them a little bit. this wasn't inspiration either, it was their mid term concept

this was in the main blog, repeated here

"i am annoyed. i do not like market dominance, i do not like products that everyone has one of. i do not like these white bricks anymore.i wish to propose a motion to eliminate any mention of them from the curriculum in relation to design. no one should reference them as being "good design", having a "good interface" being "cool" or "popular." i am sick of hearing of them everyday. they take up valuable time which could be spent being exposed to other marvelous consumer products. alright they are good. but they are a part of life. i do not want to see products which are white and clean, with smooth lines. give me hard and industrial, or organic and dirty. they are a blight on the face of the earth, devoid of character within themselves, and and will become a symbol of the homogenisation of culture.take a stand today. rename them with a term which you find less loaded with advertising meaning. avoid discussion of them. disagree with me. why are they good?"


i decided to continue the campaign here. read the comments on the original post in the archive, there are lots of good points made. i do not want disliking ipods to be the new cool, but i think that as people who may indeed end up making money from cool, it is our duty to "be cool" or at least "be aware"i don't know. all i wanted to do was stop people using them as examples of good design. i will post some pictures i've been taking since the original post, to support my point.

heres a luge i made earlier

here's a luge i made earlier... it took about 30 minutes. i made it one weekend while my mates were over. the scars have mostly healed, although you can still see the mark on my elbow
As you can see it is made from a skateboard dissassembled and bolted to part of a bed. i couldn't cut the bit of wood because there was a possibility it might be needed to resume it's original job at some later stage.

no 1

i need more people to read this and so im taking a leaf from more successful blogs and will reveal secrets about me


liam secret no 1: when i was 7 or so i used to be scared of my gymnastics teacher because he wore a metallica t shirt with a skull on it, and had long hair

so heres my cad

so heres my cad that i did for the last project, as it was rendering, due the next day...







also a pic of others who were highly organised just like me

my essay

The text New World New Mind deals with the way we perceive and interact with things and with the concept that our physical and mental bodies serve as a filter to protect our conscious minds from an overwhelming flood of information. The authors Ornstein and Ehrlich propose that we have developed our senses in a way that has served us well so far but that the time has come to change in reaction to the new hazards challenging our existence.

With the change in our capabilities we also need a change in our consciousness.

We use our brains in much the same way that our senses are used to limit our perception, to categorize and stereotype in the pursuit of quick fast judgements.

“The function of the brain and nervous system is to protect us from being overwhelmed and confused by this mass of largely useless and irrelevant knowledge, by shutting out most of what we should otherwise perceive or remember at any moment, and leaving only that very small and special selection that which is likely to be practically useful.”(A.Huxley 1952)

Stereotypes allow us to find out a lot about the item without having to expend much effort. In a similar way to Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, we compare people we meet to other people we already know in order to gain a quick impression of them. The matching of categories to experiences work well in societies that have not changed much but modern society requires more flexibility then in the past. Huxley states that “every individual is at once the beneficiary and the victim of the linguistic tradition into which he or she has been born- the beneficiary insomuch as language gives access to the accumulated records of other peoples experiences, the victim in so far as it confirms in him the belief that reduced awareness is the only awareness…so that he is all too apt to take his concepts for data, his words for actual things.”

One of the ways we can “rewire our mind” is by changing the way we think about things. Categories are one way we convert muddled information into meaningful concepts. NWNM gives the example of how a dog and a cat seem more closely related then the dog and an aeroplane. This may seem accurate when thought of in basic two dimensional forms, as in children’s book illustrations, but in real life the relationships would vary depending on closeness of the subjects, whether they were all made from the same material, relative size, etc. for example if the cat was sitting in the cockpit of the aircraft and the dog was outside then the cat and aeroplane would seem more closely related. If the dog and plane were made from diecast metal like monopoly pieces then they would seem more closely related to each other then a flesh and blood cat. Of course these are just reordering the importance of the categories rather then divesting with them altogether


Musical categories are highly fluid and subjective. One person may for example categorize classical music according to composers, believing that the difference between each is enough to separate them, whereas another may instead divide according to the physical aspects such as whether it is played by an orchestra, quartet or chamber group. Yet another person may divide classical music according to the style, eg baroque.

If you go into a music store such as JB HiFi you would find that the items are divided into categories within which items are arranged alphabetically. The categories include sections titled “popular” “chart” “alternative” “metal” “urban” “classical” and “blues and world music.”
Obviously the standard categories can get a bit more specific then that but when we get too fine a division between sections some artists do not fit clearly into one division. This would be fine if they could simply place it in both, but because of cost and efficiency reasons it is better to avoid categories that create uncertainty in the user. This is where the magic of virtuality and computers comes into play. Computers allow us to create categories that share items with other categories, without having to have multiple copies of the item. It is the virtual equivalent of a sign in a cd rack in a record store saying “this item can be found in a another section, because we thought it fitted that category better, but people keep on looking for it here so this is a note to tell you where to find it.” Computers allow us to create categories that work outside the sphere of the mind, and because the computer can process data more efficiently then the mind it allows these categories to still be useful in their own peculiar way.


So my own “Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge should somehow work in the opposite way to the standard categories. It should discourage quick judgements and require careful thought and evaluation. Categories should be constantly changing to limit stereotyping of artists. But most importantly the categories must still serve a purpose. They still have to have a use in the categorization of music, although they should serve to emphasize a different kind of thinking. Whether all this is possible is uncertain but a start can be made, and an aim stated.


MUSIC IS DIVIDED INTO

music made by left handed people
songs written on Fridays
songs about children
other
things that make you think of islands
ones that use words that rhyme with love
A.B. (as in B.C. or A.D.)
Songs you remember where you were when you first heard them
Ones your mother likes
Things you liked when you first heard them, but now…
Things that sound like telephone wires
Unsure
Culture
Popcorn has more subtlety


Hopefully my bestiary is nearly as strange as Jorge Luis Borges’. I am captivated by the capacity it retains for individual difference of perception in a way that encourages the user to change opinions and remain unaffected by others ideals. In this age of portable distraction devices no one needs to see each others music or how it is arranged. The gloriously ghastly white brick allows users to carry every piece of music they never want to hear again in their pocket, and they should not have to categorize it in a logical, boring way. Catalogues of mp3s should be the equivalent of stacks of discarded books and magazine clippings. Rather then organizing according to someone else’s opinion, music can be jumbled into categories that create relationships between items that would never have emerged previously.

The categories that music is divided into should require no background knowledge to utilise; the user should just go by feel. If it sounds like a song that would have been played by left handed people then it belongs in that category. There is no right, never any wrong, only indecision, exploration and evolution.





References: the collected works of Aldous Huxley:
The doors of perception, Heaven and Hell,
Chatto & Windus, London 1972

New World, New Mind
Robert Ornstein, Paul Ehrlich
1989 http://www.ishkbooks.com/NWNM/TOC.html

real fast gravity racer in holland

http://devos.typepad.com/weblog/proefrit.mpg

from an american laptop bag made for the french market
The last three lines of French are most interesting. "We are sorry that our President is an idiot. We didn't vote for him."

SAN FRANCISCO ILLEGAL SOAPBOX SOCIETY

hardcore, bad to the bone, illegal, breaking the law,

lotus

lotus gravity racer breaks 101 kph downhill designed with Catia cad software.

venturi fetish

venturi is a french car company that has an awesome name. they are known for their atlantique model that was close to being a 911 killer but cost a fraction of the price. their latest car is the Fetish (appalling name) which is a 300hp electric vehicle made in Monaco that gets to 100 kp/h in 4.5 seconds. if youre thinking of getting one though don't bother becaus it would cost around $730,000 + luxury vehicle tax. its a high price to pay to save the world, but someones got to do it. interestingly enough it runs one of those hellspawn ipod minis for tunes.

the rebel sell

i read the rebel sell a little while ago and could not be more excited about it if i tried. everyone should have to read it.it's a great read and really convincing. it talked about how the only way to beat the capitalist system was not to work, not not to spend. i found this hard to believe at first, i mean if you don't spend it then surely you're taking money out of the system?
but then i realised that banks and saving and mortgages are such an integral part of our life that they must work somehow , i mean we've still got capitalism, but look at the the way we look down on people who don't earn money, that was the big pointer for me, i mean, they're the ones who are doing something to change things.
though the rebel sell is not without flaws. i guess it doesn't really take into account peoples need to have different things, and be stimulated. its like if you have a monkey in a cage, if you give it a new toy every now again it'll be satisfied, but if you leave it with the same one it will get bored and angry.

which is where my good world plan comes into effect. rather then contributing to the wasteful consumption of products without meaning people should exchange gifts made with love and with real meanings, rather then the clinical advertising ones embedded in bought products. think of it as an expansion of the tshirt exchange. you would bake a cake, sew a bag, knit a jumper, draw a picture, grow some carrots etc, and then one day of the week everyone would exchange their present with another person, making sure never to do the same person twice. old people and young people could be included, homeless and destitute could participate, everyone would be a part of it. it would not be about what you got, but rather about the joy and happiness you got over a period of time. if you did not like something then you could pass it on to someone not part of the group, not asking for a gift in return, and hopefully they would want to be part of the movement too.

FAT

FAt design has a very cool how to guide. how to become a famous architect. its kind of based on self criticism i think because it bears a certain relation to their work. a tip, if you follow the guide, dont even bother buying the magazines, just wake up at 3.30 in the morning and go down to your local newsagents and pick them up outside the door.

its pretty simple to relate this to how we sometimes feel about industrial design.

big blogging day today, expecting visitors soon. someday.

gravity racing

gravity racing sounds pretty cool. i wouldn't mind giving it a go if some other people want to have a look at it. it seems like a logical cross between the extreme sports project for studio, and automobile focused industrial design. or see other article

studies

Learning agreement: Liam Prescott s3083400

My aim is to look at the culture and social options available as a result of modern transport, and the surrounding benefits and negatives relating to the easy spread of humans. I will concentrate on local effects and issues rather then the global issues and problems. The end result will be either an entirely approachable and believable scenario that could be implemented in Melbourne and Victoria or a highly naïve and utopian concept that will change transportation as we know it. Either one of these two outcomes will be equally viable as a potential result.

For the last 100 years the human race has steadfastly been running towards the biggest hardest brick wall in the world, in our pursuit of the fossil fuel burning machine utopia. Free energy from the ground, what could be simpler? Unfortunately, perhaps to late we have come to realise that to continue down the current path will result in more irreparable damage to the places we live. Numerous solutions have been proposed, electric cars, hydrogen fuel cells, public transport, bikes and motorbikes. People are reluctant to change their wrongdoing ways and they seem to prefer to stick it out to the bitter end, until they see the whites of the eyes, as such.

The key questions I will be seeking to answer are:
What forms of sustainable transport are available? And what needs to be done to implement these options?
What reasons have we for not utilising the more sustainable forms of transport already available to us?
What techniques relating to the implementation of the car as a mass transport device that contribute to its success can be used to promote other forms of transport to the same level of awareness and use?
What social changes have the car initiated/promoted/stifled?
How would other forms of transport change society- what changes would they cause and how would we cope?
the “car/ motorcar/vehicle/automobile” will be given another name to render its potency inept

The means I will use to conduct my project are the ones that I enjoy using. Things like newspapers and television. Movies, books, talking to people I think will have valid contributions. These will all contribute to the research for this project. I will expect to find in my research a range of contributing factors that have caused the automobile to become the dominant form of transport in western society and also a vehicle for the pursuit of dreams. Some of the differences between the modes of transport will be examined in various media. Hopefully the things I find about the automobile can be changed and updated for our current society and then a plan can be formed as to how to promote a different form of transport. As the end result I will have a scenario, scenario, scenario, scenario, scenario, scenario, scenario, scenario, scenario, scenario, scenario and some pretty pictures to go with it. I want to change the world, one city at a time. Start small, aim big.

Q: Why don’t you walk to work? Mark I desire is a
A: Because it’s too far away. Distinction
Q: Why do you work so far away?
A: Because I can drive there.

motorola

went to the motorola talk yesterday. it twas ok. the bmw edge auditorium is very nice

dream

i had an awesome dream about two nights ago.



in the dream for some reason i was watching cuban revolutionaries being executed. the big deal about the executions was that they could choose the way they wanted to die, similar to the "meaning of life/monty python." because they were all young and dramatic men, they were all choosing great, exciting, dramatic ways of dying. whatever they did, they had to do in groups of four, and they were also allowed to carry a banner with them. alot of them chose to die by drowning and so they would all run off the end of piers carrying a banner between them saying something like "death to the abusers of children" and other inspiring messages.
As the dream proggressed they became more and more dramatic, until they where running down the pier, jumping off the end, and while they were in the air flaming cannonballs were fired through their chests. the dream ended on a high note because the last group jumped out of synchronization and insted of all falling in a row they fell on behind the other. they were all shot through the chest with the flaming cannonballs and then the last guy reached forward to the guy falling through the air in front of him and put his hands in the hole made by the cannonball and ripped his chest apart.

SUPPRESSION

i just remembered there was a movement of poets who would stay awake for as many days as possible in order to unlock the hidden recesses of the mind. they would force themselves to not sleep for a week and then write poetry. i always wanted to try it and was going to do it for studies last year. i kind of ended up doing it anyway because id had very little sleep that week and my thing was pretty weird..