PanNarrans

Storytelling in the 21st Century is facing some curious effects due to the emergence of Wikipedia, Twitter and Blogger.

The former audience is now also storyteller.

"It's as if you bought a book and they threw in the printing press for free." - Clay Shirky

Does the democratic nature of the web lend itself to the writing of a story?

Let's find out!

PanNarrans.wikispaces.com is an attempt to write a story as though it was a wikipedia article. Add a line, a paragraph, edit some grammar, suggest a plot direction, anything!

Re-scripting the winery

So here are the final products of our Design Charrette... On the left is an altered title page from the original posted previously. On the right are 2 graphics trying to encapsulate the idea behind my thesis. Much discussion happened around this presentation so, already, things have changed... I will be posting my models up soon. Tell me what you think...

{RE}thinking the Doll House

"The vast majority of factors which influence decisions regarding architectural form are made for an architect by the surrounding environment. We are generally able to respond professionally to physical factors such as
topography, weather, and availability of materials or construction skills. Admirable design is often the careful and creative resolution of a site’s peculiarities. Many a potentially valuable architectural opportunity has however been horribly undermined by the problematic stylistic aspirations of a client. This is rarely a challenge which can be overcome by a single architect confronted by committed clients armed with a library of coffee table books and home magazines. The root of the problem is far deeper and sugar‐coated than one expects. Today’s clients are saturated from birth with imagery, much of it clichéd sentimentality, of hobbit homes and noddy houses. Fairy tales and
historical constructs presented to us from childhood establish a limited range of familiar forms, which we tend to accept as convention before we are able to critically assess their relevance to our environment or the modern world.
In this assignment students will be asked to engage with popular architectural iconography by designing and building a full sized doll house."


So... That was the brief that we were given... I challenged the brief... for 2 reasons... 


The first is that any building that I make to 'educate' a child about good architecture may be good today and disturbingly inappropriate tomorrow, essentially propetuating the issue. I feel that things like void, mass, light, shade, volume and scale are far more appropriate when educating someone in architecture. This allows architecture to be contextual and responsable, not in style and trendy...


The second is that I wanted to explore the programs more than simply making a cutting pattern of something that I could do by hand... I wanted to used the computer to generate a pattern that I put together... Success or not... Well, I learnt... which is as far as I'm concerned the key.. so Yes.. :)

Tell me what you think...

Thesis Title Page... Take 1

The Blurb says:

"Wineries have become glorified factories that indulge the tourist in manipulated grandeur, culture, tradition and sophistication, and in doing so, have successfully blurred the line between industrial factory and sculpture architecture." 

GOLDRING on bloginterview.com

If you are at all interested, you can look at an interview with bloginterview.com

Bruce Cantrell

A Friend of mine, Bruce Cantrell is making his name in the world of photography. Give him your support!

http://www.brucekcantrell.com/