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Nature has devised structures and materials all around us that are significantly lighter, stronger, more resilient and efficient than we have been able to achieve given our best shot. This has been done in water, at room temperatures, and without toxic chemicals or high pressures. The spider has silk that is five times as strong as steel; the abalone shell is twice as resilient our best ceramics, and rhino horn manages self repair even though it has no living cells. (Biomimicry, Benyus) This short list continues to include a wide array of natural material and structural phenomenon that, frankly, leaves me breathless with wonderment and sometimes scratching my head.
It has been a decade since my first read of Janine Benyus' Biomimicry: Innovations Inspired by Nature. Though the book still engenders hope and wonder when I pick it up from time to time, I can't help wishing that the next edition be released, replete with a new host of incredible stories, more food for thought. -KD
1 BENYUS, JANINE. Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. New York: Harper Collins, 2002.
"Intractable problems," we were told, and after five days in New Orleans, I couldn't help appreciate the sentiment.
As part of the 'Revitalization' studio, we were flown down to meet with community members and study our site. Overall, the scale and depth of the challenges faced by the communities in New Orleans is overwhelming. And so it seems that the ultimate investigation of this studio will be of how can design, or how can we as designers, overcome these problems? How far can design go to improving or even stabilizing the lives of the people and the communities in and around the Crescent City?
What will this solution look like, one which solves the usual programmatic requirements, but includes an addendum of institutionalized racism, de facto segregation, back room politics, economic disaster, land loss, subsidence, and hurricanes? How can we overcome a fear of change and convince the communities, our client, that the parti is likely to be something unfamiliar; that an affective solution is not going to be 'business as usual.'
No doubt there have been designers challenging themselves with these same questions for the past 3 years in New Orleans and elsewhere in the world for different reasons. At the moment it is obvious that I still have questions myself. However, what better a test than to design in the face of these 'intractable problems.' I am looking forward to putting design to the test and doing my part to offer a solution. -KD
Whenever we reach for something, in a professional or academic sense, the process often proves to be valuable in unexpected ways. It seems that whatever the outcome, whether or not we grasp what it is we are after, there is often some reward.
This past week, that reward was a measure of clarity. The Valle Scholarship at the University of Washington, where I am in the final year of the Master of Architecture degree, funds students in various disciplines related to the fields of architecture and construction. The scholarship is generously funded by the trust of Henrik and Ellen Stray Valle with the mission to promote cultural exchange between Nordic countries and University of Washington students. Many of the architecture students who apply for the scholarship use the award to fund some aspect of research related to their thesis. The application process helped me coalesce a number of my thoughts and areas of investigation related to my thesis proposal; a Zeppelin hangar and passenger terminal.
Possibly the most valuable outcome of applying for the Valle Scholarship was solidifying a methodology with which to apply to my precedent studies. In Tragsysteme, by Heino Engel he delineates a classification of load bearing structural systems, which may be classified in terms of bulk-active, vector-active, form-active, and surface active systems. Where two or more of these systems are combined, they may be described as hybrid structural systems. Structurally and architecturally this hybrid technique may facilitate greater expression and can achieve greater spans, material efficiency, and a reduction member depth. My precedent research will focus on determining the effective use of these systems.
The proposal I submitted details a series of precedent building and bridge studies to be carried out in and around the Danish City of Copenhagen. Copenhagen is blessed with a remarkable number of exceptional bridge, transit, and long span building projects that exhibit aesthetically graceful and structurally efficient solutions. My approach is to learn through studying these structures closely, interviewing their designers, learning about their process, and compiling my own sketches, photographs and measured drawings. The body of material and experience will be a fantastic addition to my process of thesis investigation and will undoubtedly inform the design of the Zeppelin hangar.
The word on the street is that the review process of the applications has just begun and it is likely to be some time before I will know the true value of my proposal. Till then I am content with the clarity I have gained and my new portfolio, assembled for the application. -KD
On one side, Lake Okeechobee; on the other, 'Big Sugar.' My 90 mile ride on the Herbert Hoover dike surrounding the lake gave me plenty of time to appreciate the lack of design intelligence.
Despite the flames and my serious expression, it was a lovely New Years Day ride. Back in Seattle now, I very much appreciated riding with the Boca Raton Teams and the warm weather over the past few weeks. -KD
A number of years ago (2004) when Santiago Calatrava came to lecture at the University of Washington, coincident with the opening of an exhibit of his work at the Henry Art Gallery. Fate had left me and many others plunked down in the overflow room with a terrible video and audio feed. Dejected and dizzy from the combination of slow and fast motion filming, roller coaster camera angles, and elevated CO2 levels in the room, it was hard to appreciate the screaming Shostakovitch soundtrack that had been the tortuous score for the slides and videos of Calatrava's work.
Though I remain uncertain as to the appropriateness of the score, I do now have some appreciation the intended rhythm and aspiration. Perhaps the Rachels would have been a bit more apt. -KD
I was fortunate to have the house to myself this afternoon while painting (walls) for my mother. After running out the usual cast of NPR programming I cued up one of my Rachel's albums.
From the first, I have been attracted to the total strength and certain darkness of the Rachel's compositions. Part of the drawing power, I believe, is in the nuance of their energy and the spectrum it covers. At times the movements seem bombastic and at others, subtle and intimate. It seems that the conjured emotions are similarly diverse; aspirational and lively mixed with brooding and volatile. Their music is almost always provocative and somehow inevitable.
The parallel with architecture? As I was painting I was thinking about the vitality of that dynamic energy and how these moments might manifest themselves within structure, volume, and light. I thought about the importance of the inclusion of diverse movements in design and the particular challenge with designing such a large and volumetric structure as a 1200' long hangar for Zeppelins. In short, designing with nuance and scale that will energize the experience beyond that of shear volume. -KD
