Fort DA // Sampler

check out the site-specific installation by Santiago Borja at the Neutra VDL House in Silverlake, CA.

opening night was last night. images above are from the event.

information on the installation can be found here

information on the Neutra VDL House can be found here

11.04.10

I'll be here and here on Thursday. Where will you be??

blogs galore...

I've decided to create a blog following the progress of my thesis. If you don't have enough blogs you're following at the moment, here's another one for ya:

http://jennifernoelwong-thesis.tumblr.com/

comments welcomed.

autumn

A few days ago, I stopped by the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies to interview one of the professors for a class project. On my way down, I pulled over to the side of the road to capture this photo. It's kind of nice going to a school with so much greenery...and pumpkins...

recent happenings

I've neglected the blog for a few weeks, felt like I should post an update. In a nutshell: caught up w/old friends who I haven't seen in YEARS @Lamill in Silverlake last week, did some landscaping at the VDL Research House II in Silverlake (quite proud of our work!), stayed up until 4a last night to catch the season finale of Project Runway via mylifetime.com (worth it), and of course, have been making progress on my thesis.

I've decided to create a separate blog for updates on my thesis, separate from this "lifestyle" blog. That way, people can have visual proof of the reason why I haven't been as available since I started grad school, and also give me feedback on my work. My cohorts and I are scheduled to present on January 15th. The countdown begins...

new york.

Times like theses, I wish I lived in New York...

the drums > surfer blood

After this week's thesis critique, it was made apparent my proposed design schemes seemed a bit stiff. Apparently, my designs were looking less like a childcare center, and more like an internment camp. (no bueno.) In order for me to design more free flowing and fun schemes, I felt I needed to step away from all my stress and relax a little, live a little. ...ok, maybe a lot.

As a first step, I decided to spend my Wed night @the H.Fonda Music Box to watch The Drums. (thx Jaime!)

It helped, a lot. I'm currently in the process of developing 3 schemes for my thesis project that I'm really liking, which is a good sign.

I'll post pictures soon.

oh, just another day @the ritz

boats+frittata

marina del rey, ca

everyone needs a levi.

CAAM Tuesdays @Mesa

Costa Mesa, CA

are YOU coming?

cicLAvia

"Inspired by Ciclovía, the original, weekly street closure event in Bogotá, Columbia, CicLAvia opens LA streets to pedestrians and bicyclists, creating a temporary web of public space on which residents of Los Angeles can walk, bike, socialize, celebrate and learn more about their own city. On 10/10/10, 7.5 miles of roadways will temporarily close to car traffic and open for recreational purposes. From Boyle Heights to Downtown, MacArthur Park to East Hollywood, CicLAvia encourages Angelinos to not only make active use of their streets, but to rediscover the roadways and neighborhoods that too often go unnoticed in a car. Help open LA’s streets… take part in the first ever CicLAvia on 10/10/10." -cicLAvia website

I think any and all people who love LA or love to see what LA can offer should partake in this event. Am I going? Well, duh.

lacma

Exhibit: Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700-1915, October 2, 2010 – April 3, 2011

on view in the new Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion, designed by Renzo Piano

Who's interested? LACMA's Free Community Weekend: Oct 2nd - 3rd...

http://vimeo.com/15146529

(linked video is taken from the lacma blog, featuring Lisa Love, editor of Vogue magazine, talking about a shoot that was done on selected dresses from the exhibit.)

...convinced, yet?

new direction.

This blog was initially a class assignment, meant to post updates on our Coachella 2010 installation. The installation has been completed, installed, and now sits disassembled in the back of one of the portable classrooms on campus.

After much thought, I've decided to change the direction of the blog, from a class assignment into one focusing on my personal lifestyle.

We'll see how it goes...

(the image is of our installation, Neural Sky, exhibited at this year's Coachella event in Indio, CA. It's version 2.0; version 1.0 was exhibited a month earlier at an event in San Bernardino called Beyond Wonderland)

Node Shell Proposal

Everyone in the class was asked to propose a shell design for the nodes. Tomorrow, we're all going to vote on a design that we feel best represents the form/construction technique we want so that we can fabricate a prototype.

Before I started designing the shell, I mapped out where the tubes would be attached to the nodes. From there, I used string to map out where around the periphery of the node there would be space to attach the shell. The third image is my shell design.

fabric applications

After our class meeting last Friday, it was apparent that we had a lot of work ahead of us. Because I'm on the Fabric team, I went online to research different ways of applying fabric to our temporary structure. Because of our limited amount of time, money, I wasn't too keen on the idea of designing a skin made of fabric that wrapped around the whole structure. I did some researching online of a firm I really like, Ball-Nogues Studio, and found images of installations they have completed around the scale of our project. The images I have posted include installations including:

Materials & Application (2005) Maximilian's Schell

MOCA Skin+Bones (2006) Installation

P.S.1 (2007) Liquid Sky

Shenzhen HK Biennale of Urbanism (2009) Built to Wear

I tried to upload images that show the way they connected the pieces of the skin to the structural frame. Although not all of their materials are fabric, I thought we could apply the method of construction to our project, not necessarily use the same materials. Because the weather during Coachella is known for being windy, I thought that instead of creating a single fabric skin wrapped over and around theframe, we could produce the effect of a scale-like skin made of many pieces of fabric that would work with the wind.

Fabric Team

During our class meeting on Mon, I decided to be a part of the fabric team. I looked into different ways we could go about fastening the fabric skin onto/around the structural frame. I found a couple of case studies:

P.S.1 2008 Competition Entry, Pleasure Garden, THEM

Cranbook Festival Project, THEM

Paper Log House, Shigeru Ban

Fresh Flower, Tonkin Liu

Bedouin Tent, as found in Robert Kronenburg's book, Houses in Motion

Installation design proposals 1-3

Here are 3 design proposals I came up with that I will share w/the class tomorrow. I want to incorporate lights, fabrics, steel framing and/or apertures at the top of the structure that open/close depending on the time of day and how much shade is needed.

Things that inspired me...

Photo sets:
1. Ernesto Nato installation in NY
2. P.S. 1 outdoor seating space by MOS in NY
3. light display @NY MOMA

today...

is the first day of the winter quarter and this is my first blog. Yay, for firsts.