Michael Sanderson

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Despina

In the words of Italo Calvino, Despina can be described in two ways: by ship or by camel. Coming in by ship, a sailor sees a hazy coastline wrapping around the shore and the city. A fog sets in as you get closer to the shore but just before you drop anchor, the fog clears. I hear the captain shouting “Land Ho!” As I run outside onto the port side of the ship, I see it, Despina. I see what looks like a giant camel. I see what could be the two humps of the camel, the straps and bags it carries, the fruit dangling from the bags overflowing and dragging to the ground. But wait, now I see, those are the buildings. Oh my, those buildings are so, so, they tower over everything else in the whole city. I see everything now. This city has so much to see, so much to admire. This drawing is to display the ship coming into port. The fog has just cleared and the ship and its crew can finally see the land. They can see the beauty of the city. 

Now as the man coming on a camel, he sees the city in a much different way as he comes from the different side of the city. He sees it like an oasis out into the distance, almost as a mirage. “Goodness gracious” he says. “How have I never seen this before? I am so far out from the city, yet it looks so big even from here.” As he gets closer he begins to see the smoke billowing from the tops of the skyscrapers. His imagination begins to take over. He sees a ship, a ship ready to take him away far out into the sea where the water is deep blue and plentiful. He can already feel the breeze coming from the coast. He swears he can hear the horn blow from the ship getting ready to embark from the port. He comes back to reality as he sees closer yet the big beautiful buildings and the large glass panes and he is completely in awe of the serenity. This drawing is to show the vastness of the city. To show how far out the camel-driver still is, yet the city is so huge as it sits just on the edge of the horizon.

This structural design I have made is to reflect the vision of the sailor from the ship. This shows the city of Despina from the coast and to show how vast it is just as the fog clears through the skies. This city reminds me of the modern day Dubai and the many buildings right off the water and how ginormous they are. This vision is what created this structure in my mind. Large buildings right on the shore of the land. A huge towering approach to the city Despina.

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Des_Writing_1

Feel The Freedom

How can I describe it? Through me busting through this door? Through the rush of what’s going on in my head? Through My eyes peering out where I want to be? No. Watch me take off like that rocket on the poster. Then you’ll understand. Feel the wind as I sprint past you. Then you’ll know what I’m feeling. Can you feel it? Have you ever felt it before? Do you know the rush it gives all down your body when you finally let loose and let it all go? You can't describe it. You can't explain it. It’s freedom. Go live it.

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Walter Mitty_Des.Seq 1

As Walter flees the seen, he progressively goes from a walk to a run. He feels the freedom. He feels the sense of escapement and the wind in his hair. He imagines being on the plane he is about to be on. He imagines where he is going, to Greenland. He feels the freedom running down his body as he picks up his pace. Not only does he feel the freedom, the Time Magazine posters feel the wind he produces as he sprints past them. Oddly enough, Walter sees himself in the last poster as he runs towards his freedom. He sees himself as an astronaut, something so outrageous that he could do now. On this sensation of freedom, he could do anything. He runs so fast that the camera cannot keep its angle on him. The camera catches him at the perfect angle so that he appears to be running out of the frame. What a moment of heightened energy. What a moment of enthusiasm. What a moment to just let it all out and take hold of what is rightfully yours: freedom. 

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Little House on the...Wherever You Want It

This small minimalist living space is unlike anything I’ve seen before. These will be for sale later this year in August. This uniquely reminds me of the Norwegian Reindeer Observatory in that it is a standalone structure that could be placed in the middle of nowhere. This is a very intriguing design and provides time and space to disconnect from the busy and hectic urban environment that it is all too easy to get sucked into in this day and age. I think this attracts a certain and unique style of contemporary in that it is simplistic and allows you to be one with the nature around you. This would create a unique experience in the user to see all that takes places outside of the structure. I am not sure how I would like the place myself. I am sure that I would love it for the first while, but I could see how I could get tired of it. On another hand, this would be a great way to create shelters for homeless people in America or impoverished people in third world countries. The idea would be to minimize the cost to produce each of these and allow for easy transportation to the places where the future residents would be. This would be such a great way to pay it forward and help individuals in need. 

This article was discovered through Dezeen.com and can be found through the provided link below:

https://www.dezeen.com/2017/04/27/muji-hut-sell-blackened-timber-prefab-micro-home-residential-architecture/

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A Skyscraper of a Treehouse

This might be the coolest thing I have ever seen. “Tribute: The Monument of Giant” is what Ko Jinhyeuk, Cheong Changwon, Cho Kyuhung and Choi Sunwoong, the designers and architects behind this idea are calling it. In a skyscrapper competition, these designers are constructing a structure inside of the oldest, tallest trees on Earth. How down right cool would it be to walk up into a tree and see out of the sides of it and think of the history of that tree and what it has seen, what it has gone through. To be able to look out hundreds of feet in the air to know that you are in a tree, and can look out to see birds and animals at that level of the ecosystem. That is the most fascinating thing to me. Although it is not the most contemporary design, it is however designed to be contemporary on the inside. This would change the building architecture forever. What an incredible idea these designers had to do something like this. This may not fit exactly to the criteria of the instruction of this blog, however, I thought this was too fascinating to pass up and not write about. This would open up a whole new experience to buildings and sky scrapers. Even though I am not crazy about the idea about harming trees like these, it would be amazing to see an ecosystem of trees that have people living inside of them or working in their offices which are inside of them. This would create an experience unlike anything we have ever seen, which after all seems to be the main goal of architects across the world.

This article was discovered through Dezeen.com and can be found through the provided link below:

https://www.dezeen.com/2017/05/01/tribute-monument-of-giant-sequoia-trees-evolo-skyscraper-competition/

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Musk Does It Again

My first reaction to reading this article was to re-read it and think, “What in the world?” Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and other highly innovative technological companies has just come out with his newest idea and hopefully sooner than later reality. On the topic of the future of cars and traffic, many have proposed an airbus that would be a vehicle to fly through cities and across states and even countries to transport people, not Musk. Elon Musk has released his idea for underground transportation. Similar to the way an underground subway works, one could drive their car onto a platform that would act as an elevator submerging the vehicle down into the ground to essentially and underground interstate. The car would then be propelled (by magnetic forces I would assumer) to up to 120 miles per hour to reach its destination. This would drastically decrease the headache of traffic especially in larger metropolitan cities. This idea still has a lot of unanswered questions like, “How would you be able to tell the car to stop at the right exit?” I am sure that Mr. Musk will release more details as he finalizes his designs and ideas. This will transform the automotive world as we know it. This will allow more efficient travel for everyday commuters to and from work with ease. This will hopefully eliminate big traffic jams on large interstates, and this will hopefully extremely reduce the mass number of fatalities on American roadways annually. The architecture of this design has unparalleled comparisons. Never before has someone created an underground system quite as intricate as this. This will allow the roads on ground to not have to expand as much, thus allowing more room for natural architecture or more buildings to be built. Even though this architecture is not at awestruck as a large building or the Palace at Versailles, this takes a very steady-handed architecture to complete. This man never ceases to amaze me, it makes me wonder when he will bring the fictitious character of Tony Stark’s Iron Man to a reality. If anyone, it would be Musk. I think as far as innovation goes, the car is either going to go up or down. By that I mean, it is either going to grow wings and be able to fly, or do as this idea demonstrates, go underground to provide an easier assistance to travel. I cannot say which I would rather have simply because I am not the biggest fan of traffic so I could see myself using the underground system, however, I also do like the outdoors. I would love to be able to fly in my vehicle to and from wherever I need to go so that I could see the world and see the beautiful architecture we as a human race have created, but I also do not like the idea of crashing into another vehicle or structure that high up. It would be hard for me to pick one instead of the other.

This article was discovered through Dezeen.com and can be found through the provided link below:

https://www.dezeen.com/2017/05/02/elon-musk-boring-company-plan-beat-traffic-underground-car-skates-transport-technology/

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A Concrete Oasis

This unique concrete creation carries a certain weight that demands a corresponding amount of awe. The Guesthouse Rivendell was designed by the South Korean group IDMM Architects and Heesoo Kwak. Just looking at this structure immediately causes me to imagine what houses will look like in fifty years. I believe the contemporary design of this house will be trending throughout future homeowners and they will want houses that have this extremely unique design. Interestingly, this structure reminds me of Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs in that the structure has many areas where there is this simple yet open environment but has this certain experience about it that I feel when I step into houses designed by Wright. This construct has such a unique experience that radiates off of it that cannot be explained, only experienced. I personally, am extremely interested in this design. I could easily see myself in this house and enjoying it day in and day out.

This article was discovered through Dezeen.com and can be found through the provided link below:

https://www.dezeen.com/2017/05/03/cantilevered-concrete-volumes-river-mountain-guesthouse-hotel-rivendell-idmm-architects/

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It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Drone...

Mark Dytham, co-founder of the Tokyo based architecture firm, Klein Dytham Architecture, claims that drones are going to completely transform and bring “profound change” to architecture and cities as we know them. Soon drones will be the primary transportation for delivery systems. Amazon is already beginning to use drones to transport deliveries to those within a certain proximity of a distribution center. Dytham describes how not too much further into the future, we will be able to take drone taxis from place to place and be able to travel at much faster speeds than that of today’s means of transportation. One might think, “How does this relate to architecture?” The interesting thought about this concept is that now buildings will have to look good from the sky. No longer will people be able to keep trash on the top floor or allow bird droppings to remain uncleaned on rooftops. Buildings will get taller, more intricately designed, and yes will even look good from above. Not only will they have to look good, but building rooftops will soon act as a helipad for drones to land on to transport good, people, or whatever else the future holds for these unmanned aerial vehicles. This will completely revolutionize buildings as we know them today. What else is very intriguing is if this is what we are talking about today about what our future holds, I wonder what kind of future people will be talking about when this drone take-over comes to fruition. I’m not so sure how I feel about this idea. I do understand that technology is developing and as it develops, this will more than likely be something of the near future. I do not like the idea of facilitating drones to land on rooftops and whatnot, however I do like the idea of having to be more sensitive to overhead appearances and working to have a greater design on the tops of buildings so that instead of being eye-soars, they are enjoyable to the overhead eye.

This article was discovered through Dezeen.com, and can be found through the  provided link below:

https://www.dezeen.com/2017/05/04/mark-dytham-interview-drones-uavs-bring-profound-change-architecture-cities/

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A Bath With a View

Mr. White Arkitekter has created, more so reinvented the idea of the traditional Swedish bathhouse with his new design off the southern coast of Sweden. This bathhouse appears to look like a “flying saucer” as the writer explains. This is true, the structure looks like it landed in its fixed position with its long alien-like legs with ladders stretching down into the water. Aside from the extraterrestrial comparisons, the structure adds a whole new meaning to the typical architecture of Swedish bathhouses. Arkitekter has added his own modern touch to the model to provide a unique and fresh look to the caricature of bathhouses. The structure provides large open window panes so that the users can peer out over the expanse of the waters, this view of which can be seen from just about every location inside the bathhouse. This article and this design are bringing a new and more contemporary appearance to bathhouses and could quite possibly transform the experience of bathhouses from now on. Having never been to a bathhouse, it is hard for me to give my definitive stance on this design in accordance to the utility of this structure. I do think the design is very well done, all things considering from what I do know about bathhouses.

This article was discovered through Dezeen.com and can be found through the provided link below:

https://www.dezeen.com/2017/05/04/white-arkitekter-pared-back-bathhouse-kallbadshus-sweden-coast/

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A Revisited Inspiration

Mr. Jason Young gave a very attention-demanding presentation on his projects as an architect that he has contributed to in years past. The first project for Everyday Cook, was involving constructing a large kitchen for cooking classes to be held in. This project was specifically designed for the experience of the cook and to provide a unique and authentic experience to those who participated in the cooking classes. The other project that Mr. Young highlighted that caught my eye was the Oswego House project. The uniqueness of the house after the project, shows pure architecture and provides an authentic experience to the homeowners. The state of Michigan has many homes that were built and modeled after Frank Lloyd Wright, this house gives a little of that same feel. The large, bold beams and the simple structured living areas give off that same experience as well as the open spaces as you can see in the dining room space with the living room on the other side of the half-wall. Seeing this project reminds me quite vividly of the home of my family that still lives in Michigan. I feel the same experience seeing these pictures as I would if I were to walk into my family’s home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mr. Young’s presentation brought back many memories for me of when I grew up working with my dad on his construction sites. These projects that Mr. Young talked about were right up my alley. Projects like that inspire me to want to be a builder and designer to create an atmosphere and experience that is unique all its own and to create a uniqueness in whoever experiences it. Mr. Young gave  a great presentation and inspires me to pursue my passion for design.

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Gone but Never Forgotten

Listening to Ms. Julie Beckman’s contribution to the memorial of what happened at the United States Pentagon on September 11, 2001 was nothing short of moving and inspiring. The two main components that I took from her presentation were one, the elegant design and architecture of the memorial at the Pentagon, and two, the experience I had from listening to her speak and feeling the weight of those who paid the ultimate price on that day. What such a moving presentation it was. I especially was intrigued by her description of the design and construction of the memorial. With each of the 184 benches representing the 184 individuals lost on that day, and each bench had the name of who it was representing engraved on it. If more than one individual from a family passed away, each of the names were engraved into the individual reflecting pool underneath the bench. The idea of a bench is a very unique thought to me, but a very applicable idea. This provides a place that loved ones can visit and sit down on to create a sense of oneness with the one who has passed on. Instead of visiting a wall with the loved ones’ name on it, families can visit a place where they can sit in peace and feel the presence of their loved one. This concept is what a memorial should be all about. An individual reminiscence for each of those who have passed on where families can go to visit, and to see that these individuals will never be forgotten by the light that is illuminated from each bench all throughout the night. Hearing Ms. Beckman speak about this memorial makes me want to visit the memorial just to witness the divine experience of the architecture and hallowed grounds that I am sure the memorial conveys to all who visit it.

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Hannah’s Review

Ms. Hannah’s project was among those in the “Island” projects. This project was based around a book written about a man running through an island and taking this mental picture and transforming it to life. Hannah did a great job of captivating repetition and natural realism. She used her island and showed the great texture it would have if it were real. She incorporated a great location for writer space inside a cave on one side of the island. She used a great sense of imagination in creating her island rock as one that the writer would be constantly running around in searching of his own reality. From an aerial perspective, this island appears to be drawn out like a wave and provides a cosmetically positive experience for whoever sees it. Hannah said that she used her perspective from Italo Calvino and used his imagination in creating this island that is so intricately and descriptively designed. This reflection creates a visual experience quite similar to what it is like reading Calvino’s “Invisible Cities”. It insinuates an ever creating environment that has this certain magical predisposition about it that cannot being entirely explained. At the top of her island design, she has placed an observatory so that the writer would escape to there to be at one with the universe. He could search out for new stars and constellations he had not yet found. This created an incredible experience for the writer and the average person who listened to Hannah give her thoughts about her intrinsically designed project.

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Ryan’s Review

Mr. Ryan’s project was a part of the group of which were “Bike Trail Shelter” projects. Ryan did a great job on his project design. He incorporated this long runway-like path down to the edge of his pier that would be connected to water with the trails all leading down to this pier. Amongst the shelter are areas to hang and suspend kayaks and canoes for those who bring them and want to let them dry. At the end of the pier is where Ryan placed his amphitheater to create almost a “light at the end of the tunnel” effect and would draw the users in this way. Inside the building of the shelter itself, there is plenty of room for the users to hang out and enjoy time spent with new individuals. He also did a great job of providing a separate maintenance entry way so that the crew would not be interrupting the guests and could use this separate entry to come and go through the shelter to provide whatever services are necessary. Back outside, this shelter is positioned underneath the bridge of an interstate. With that being said, there must be a lot of white noise and sporadic horn honking right? Well to accommodate this, Ryan has added a design-long plank to run over the shelter and amphitheater to act as a sound barrier to those underneath. This will help drown out the noise and provide a better user experience. This plank overhead also provides a sense of enclosure to the user so that the user feels as though they are in a long outdoor hallway as they walk to and from the amphitheater. Overall, Ryan did a marvelous job on his project and could easily take his design straight to the land and begin planning his build.

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Stacy’s Review

Ms. Stacy’s project was amongst those in the “Bike Trail Shelter” projects. Her design of the shelter and outer areas of the trail were very well done. She used different heights through the design to create different trails so bikers have multiple trails they can choose from. The trees throughout the design were very carefully placed to enhance the user’s experience. Her project as a whole, was very delicately done in that she placed everything with great care for the greater picture to enhance the overall experience. She said that she used more of a “Woodstock type layout” for the ampitheater to create more openness throughout the design. What she could have done better would be to have one traveling line throughout the trail. Instead of having multiple lines and them crossing over each other, having one travel line throughout to ensure the user’s directional pathways through the design. Overall, Stacy’s project was very well done. I am confident that the experience of her users would be greatly unique and would create a sense of them wanting to come back to enjoy the area over and over again. Once she fixes her overlapping lines, her design would be ready to be put into action.

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Clarita’s Review

Ms. Clarita was a part of the “Bike Trail Shelter” project. Her project was very well put together and showed a lot of great features. She provided an amphitheater, bike trail, and of course, the shelter in which the bikers could go to in the event of a storm or any discomfort that mother nature may have. Her use of trees and bushes to surround the shelter itself provided a great sense of serenity and separation from the rest of the world. The flaws with the design can be wrapped up into one phrase, it is too artificial. The trees appear to be to perfectly placed along with the building that looks too cookie cutter like. She has too much of a geometrically designed piece, in that her lines and elements of her design are too rigid instead of being a little more free-flowing as an organic design would. There needs to be more authenticity brought into the design so that the experience of the place is unique all its own and so that the user who experiences the shelter, may feel a sense of uniqueness to it. All in all, she has a great design that has great potential, however, she should use her ability to create an authentic and unique design within her shelter in order to create a unique and authentic experience within the user.

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The Oasis

As I walk through the shrubs that guard and protect this oasis, I find myself instantly at a state of unexplainable peace and content with the world around me. Listening to the fountain of water trickling into the pool as I walk by grazing my hand on the surface of the water, I have never felt a peace like this before. Looking into the glass windows, I see two unique, yet equally delightful rooms full of uplifting light and each having its own distinct architecture from the direction and intensity of the lighting to the specifically placed furniture to create in each room a unique experience to whomever encounters them, in this case, me. I get closer to the glass, and as I look in, I see more than just a kitchen or a living room, I see an environment that is constantly filled with love anytime the family is home. I see, I feel the experience of each story that has been told at family gatherings. I can almost hear the walls telling me stories of the great laughter and hilarity. What design and imagination the molders of this masterpiece must have had to create a place as tranquil and experiential as this. I would love to venture inside to see the details of the walls, the ceilings, the floors, the furniture. Whomever made this imaginative, dream-like place come to a reality, I want them to dream up an oasis like this for me. 

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Construction

Peter Zumthor describes construction as “the art of making a meaningful whole out of many parts.” Take for example the construction workers in the picture above, they are taking individual, insignificant, consistently shaped pieces of shale and clay and using them to construct a marvelous masterpiece that will one day be a house and a home to a family. As I go throughout my days, I sometimes look around at all the buildings around me and look at all the components of the exterior of a building and think about all of the many little pieces that were put together exactly in the right place to create a beautiful array of the creation of man.

Reading Peter Zumthor’s words over and over again took me back to a time in my life where I would wake up every morning to go to work with my dad as his little contractor. Just as this picture shows the father teaching the son where to mark what appears to be a 2″ x 6″ board and how to cut it, that is exactly what life looked like to me for the first years of my life all the way up to when I was fourteen years old. My father has since passed away or I would still be enjoying my time on the construction site with him learning new life lessons everyday. Construction truly is an art, an art of taking seemingly insignificant pieces and molding them into a beautiful design no matter how big or small. It is incredible to me to think about the lack of architecture that something like a wooden board has, but when you take a bunch of them together and place them in the proper position, you create an experience that demands a certain awe and respect for the new architecture you've created. With my dad, it was never anything less than pure excitement to see the finished product of a house that has taken years to build and place each component in the right place, but it was completely worth every day spent to see the unique architecture from what we created and feel the experience that the house created.