Course Reflection 02

Well, here we are five weeks into the quarter and time is flying by. It seems like just yesterday I enrolled in this course having no clue what design was or what designers do. Needless to say, I've learned quite a lot of information regarding design in the last 5 weeks and have had a great time doing so. Now, for the course reflection over the past few classes.

These past few classes have been packed with some fun assignments. I must say, I really enjoyed both the scavenger hunt and the "found faces" journal entry. Just as the patterns assignment, both of these projects forced me to view my surroundings in a different manner. For the scavenger hunt, I had to focus on buildings and objects that I would normally not even look twice at on my way to class. They were always just buildings to me. But for the assignment, I was able to get some background not only on why they were designed and who designed them, but also I learned some interesting things about how they were constructed and all the thought and planning that went into designing them.

I also learned more about how much designers take accessibility into account when they are in the process of designing a new product or structure. I couldn't help but think of an episode of Top Gear (a British TV show all about cars) where they tested out a new, cutting-edge wheelchair designed by Toyota.



I like the fact that accessibility is so crucial in the process of design nowadays. It was refreshing to learn that people with disabilities are really being thought of when it comes to new structures or products. Of course, as Gabe mentioned about the handicap ramp in the back of Hopkins, it still has a bit of a way to go. Taking the ramp all the way to the architecture library in Knowlton was very cool though, as it really proved a point of how the building was designed to be completely accessible to everyone.

As for the "Going Green" lecture, it was a bit of an eye-opener. I have always been one of those people who never thought global warming was real, the world isn't going to end in 2012, and yes, there are greenhouse gases that are affecting the ozone layer but hey, I'm not going to be living by the time something bad actually happens. But this lecture kind of taught me that for designers, it's not about designing something that is going to work great and make life a little easier for everyone, but also designing something that can be disposed of in a way that is healthy for the environment. Design is not just about the current generation, but rather present AND future generations. When I thought of going green in this way, I could see why people want to get on board with it; it's about making sure the earth is safe and sustainable for all future generations. If nothing is being done to make sure that products and the making of products nowadays are being designed with the earth in mind, then it is only going to get worse in the future. And if our future generations have to change the way they live because the pollution is way out of control, or the ozone is all but gone, then design and all designers have failed.

Found Faces

Three-Eyed Monster aka grated cheese container top

Big mouth aka sink in my dorm

Scared! Outlet in dorm bathroom

Big eyes, little mouth. Drumset back home.

Scavenger Hunt A03

I certainly enjoyed this assignment because it gave me a chance to go out and experience design in my own backyard. I enjoyed the time I spent with my partner, Gered Bowman, and felt that this was an enjoyable project for the both of us.

For this project, Gered and I teamed up with Zack S and Bridget M, although we technically were two seperate groups. We started off by going to the Wexner Center to take a picture in front of a building designed by Peter Eisenman. Something I found interesting about the construction of the Wexner Center was how Eisenman constructed the main passageway in alignment with the Columbus street grid in an attempt to connect the building and university with the rest of the city. So here is a picture from clue 3.

Me in the passageway of the Wexner

Our second stop was to figure out clue 4. We found, by googling on our phones, that Philip Johnson designed the Science and Engineering Library on OSU campus. One interesting detail about the building we all found interesting was the main archway. As stated in the tour given by Gabe towards the beginning of the class, the main arch was made to be much larger so people would know which one to walk through.


Gered in front of the SEL

Our next destination was for both clues 1 and 2. We headed to the Knowlton School of Architecture to discover some chairs. First off was the Barcelona chair. The Barcelona chair was designed by Mies van der Rohe. Something I found very interesting about the chair was that, during the World Arts Fair where they were designed for the German pavilion, the King and Queen of Spain had used them as seats when visiting the pavilion. Rohe had to make sure that his design of the chair was functional, comfortable, and light, which caused him some stress.

Just contemplating life in the Barcelona chair.

Clue 2 was just a few steps away from the Barcelona chair. The magazine Gered is reading is Modernism magazine.

A relaxing day with good ol' modernism...

For our last clue, clue 5, we were tasked with finding a building designed by Acock & Associates. We googled it and found that the Thompson library was actually one of their works on campus. Something interesting I found about the construction of the building was that they had to use very safe and reliable lifting devices to lift the large blocks of stone, as most of them weighed between 1300-3000lbs!

http://design200classblog.blogspot.com/ - Gered's blog

Reading Reflection 01

For my first reading reflection assignment, I'll be focusing on what I found interesting through chapters 1-6 of John Heskett's "Design: A Very Short Introduction".

Chapter One attempts to explain what design actually is as compared to what many people think it is. Design, as the book says, is a very vague field and even the word itself can be interpreted many ways. I found one line quite interesting: "Design is to design a design to produce a design". This line was shown to me first in lecture, but when I read over it in the book I really grasped the complexity and open-endedness that the design field entails. Heskett explains in chapter one how design is all around us, and almost everything we see has been designed by some human being. This, once again, opened my eyes to how crucial design is to human society today.

Heskett goes on to talk about the historical evolution of design in chapter 2. What I found interesting in this chapter was how he explains how early human beings created tools as extensions of the hand. Early tools were created in order to maximize the effeciency at which humans could perform a certain task, but they needed the hand to actually use the tools. I never looked at the human hand in such a way, never really thought of all of its functions and how tools today are still, at their core, extensions of the functions of the hand.

In Chapter Three, Heskett outlines the concepts of utility and significance. Right off the bat, another quote from lecture appeared in the book, this one coming from Louis Sullivan; "Form follows function. This is the law". This sets the tone for the rest of the chapter, where Heskett attempts to break the idea of function into two parts, utility and significance. Utility being how well the object can serve its purpose, and significance being how forms can assume a certain meaning to their users. He uses examples such as the Rolls-Royce (a finely crafted automobile which, when purchased, is a sign of wealth and status) to show how utility and significance co-exist.

In Chapter Four, Heskett discusses objects and their relevance to design and human society, and also how designers design and market these objects to the general public. He delves into designers work attitudes, where some are focused more on being artsy and edgy to make something marketable, while others are focused more on maintaining the integrity and control of their design over what other businesses are telling them to do. He goes on to explain how design firms work, where the head designer still makes his mark on his designs, but said designs are not as personal when the designer has had help from a team of designers (that's a lot of design going on in one sentence). I found it interesting how he explained how some big name designers will have a firm but also will have an individual business on the side so they can still create their own, personal designs to market to clients.

Chapter Five I found quite interesting because Heskett begins to talk a little about two-dimensional material, such as the material that involves the work of a graphic designer. He begins the chapter by explaining the difference between objects and communications, where objects can exist in their own form and do not need any further explaination, whereas communications material makes it point right off the bat with text and imagery intertwining to tell of a certain idea or advertise a certain good. He also goes into detail about graphic designers and how they are crucial for many businesses to market their goods. I never took notice to how much graphic design is out there, whether it be a logo or a flyer for an event. After I read this certain section of this chapter I took a look around my dorm and was able to see a TON of different designs, all presumably made by a graphic designer somewhere.

Chapter Six focuses on environments and how they play a large role in behavior, expectations, and use. Heskett also outlines the work of the interior designer in this chapter. I liked how, in the chapter, he explains the differences between American and Japanese bathrooms. He mentions how Americans generally have no problems when they want to add an appliance or piece of furniture to their home, whereas people living in Japan have much less space, so delicate planning needs to be done in order to accomodate certain additions to the home. Their bathrooms are much smaller and less decorated than ours, so at first glance one may think they are worse, yet they serve the same function and purpose that American bathrooms do, with the same efficiency. This takes me back to the concept of form following function. No matter what the field of design you are in, this concept seems to always be at the front of a designers mind, and is a recurring concept in the text.

Peer Dialogue 01: Checkin' Out Some Blogs

For my first peer dialogue, I went through both Bridget and Zack's blogs as they were the two 10's that I got to know on the first day of class. These blogs, I believe, are a great idea and a great way to get to know one another outside of class, as I only see these guys twice a week. It's a great way to gain insight into other classmates ideas and a great way to gain inspiration if I hit a roadblock in my thinking. Now, onto the assignment.

Step One: Bridget's blog.

I thought it was really cool how she has a personal connection with a lot of the objects we discussed throughout the course lectures. That lecture was my first introduction to a lot of those objects, so for Bridget to have known about them for awhile and even owned some of them got me thinking as to how everyone is comes from different backgrounds and has a different perspective on everything. As for her pattern assignment, I thought that it was a great idea to use the Block O theme at the Ohio Union! All of the patterns fit perfectly with the theme and really got me thinking about all the different variations of the "O" at the Union. Overall, I enjoyed the blog very much and am excited to read more posts of hers!

Step Two: Zack's blog.

First off, I really enjoy the song titles! I think it is really clever how Zack relates the titles to his posts; they always seem to make perfect sense and really entice me to read more. I liked how he enjoyed the card activity, as I also thought it was a great first day icebreaker. We seem to have a lot in common too, as he is in Engineering (although I am switching into Design from Engineering) and he has been through the same situation where it took him a bit to realize what he wants to do in college (it took me basically the entire year to find something that I could actually see myself doing out of college). I enjoyed his pattern assignment also. It was interesting that he found all of those patterns from objects just sitting around his house! It made me realize how many patterns there are out there and how we often overlook them.

All in all, both blogs were great and I look forward to keeping up with them in the future!

Zack's Blog: http://dsgn200spof2011.blogspot.com/
Bridget's Blog: http://bridgetmears.blogspot.com/

Robert Venturi

ROBERT VENTURI

(1925-Present)

For my last investigation, I decided to go the same route that I did with Kuramata; picking someone I have never heard of with the hopes that I will learn more about them. Robert Venturi was the target of my randomness, so I jumped right in and began to get father some info.



Vanna Venturi House



Robert Venturi was born in Philadelphia in 1925. He attended Princeton in the 1940's and graduated in 1950. He has since become well-known as one of the best postmodern architects currently in the business. In 1951, Venturi worked under Eero Saarinen (designer of the Gateway Arch) in Michigan, and Louis Kahn in Philadelphia. This early experience allowed him to gain a lot of knowledge which he absorbed very quickly. In 1954 he was awarded the Rome Prize Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, Italy. From 1954 to 1965, Venturi held various teaching positions at the University of Pennsylvania, where he eventually rose from a teaching assistant to an associate professor. He also met his future wife, Denise Scott Brown, at the university.

Venturi's architectural works are known more for their opposition to the typical 1960's, modernism approach to design. Venturi is known to have said "Less is a bore" in response to Mies van der Rohe's phrase "Less is more".



Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery



In 1960, Venturi started his first architecture firm, Venturi and Short, with William Short. After a series of additions and replacements among his staff over the years, the name eventually ended up as Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates (Scott Brown being his wife, Denise Scott Brown, who joined the firm in 1969). The firm won the Architecture Firm Award by the American Institute of Architects in 1985. It is still up and running today, with recent projects including university buildings and civic buildings in London and Japan.

Some of Venturi's most famous architectural works include the Vanna Venturi House, the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery, and the Oberlin Art Museum addition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Venturi

http://oberlin.edu/amam/documents/AMAMVenturiBuilding_TeacherResourcePacket.pdf

Shiro Kuramata

SHIRO KURAMATA

(1934-1991)

For my second post of the designer investigation, I chose to try and learn a little more about Shiro Kuramata. I figured that I had already done an investigation on a designer I knew previously, so it was time to step out of the box and just pick someone that I have never heard of. Shiro Kuramata seemed to be a good choice, as he is renowned as one of Japan's leading twentieth century designers of furniture and interiors.

Kuramata got his start in 1953 when he graduated from Tokyo Polytechnic High School, where he studied woodcraft. He then went on to spend a year working for Teikokukizai, a Japanese furniture manufacturer. He studied interior design at the Kuwazawa Institute for Design until 1956, when he then went on to work as a retail designer for Matsuy, a department store in Tokyo, until 1963. It was two years after his departure from Matsuy when he established his first office of design in Tokyo.

Drawer in an Irregular Form

Kuramata was intrigued with ways of unifying the Japanese concepts of art with a more Western, minimalistic flair. He went on to design over 300 bars and restuarants as an interior designer, but became famous almost instantly in 1977 for his furniture piece, "Drawer in an Irregular Form". After his success with the piece, he went on to produce many other pieces of furniture that have become staples of his career, such as his "Miss Blanche" chair and his "How High the Moon" chair.

In the later stages of his career, Kuramata won many prestigious design awards, such as the Odres des Arts et des Lettres, which was awarded to him in 1990 by the French government. He has worked on and designed over 180 furniture forms in his career, all of which being stunningly simple yet incredibly functional; a testament to his minimalistic nature. Sadly, Shiro Kuramata passed away in 1991, but he left his legacy in his fantastic, simple pieces of furniture that evoked such strong emotion among many of his followers.

Miss Blanche

How High the Moon

http://www.nyu.edu/greyart/exhibits/shiro/html/kuramata.html
http://www.paulhughes.co.uk/conthome/kuramata/shiro.html