Tag Archives: Architecture

Philcon 2021 – Part 3

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My Saturday panels at Philcon were up and down in my mind and I headed into the first one with some trepidation. The last one I headed into with confidence.

First up was The Harry Potter Kids Have Grown Up

There was some email communication about this panel before we got to the con. There were a lot of very qualified folks set up to speak on the topic. An elementary school librarian, an author of HP related articles, leader of fan clubs and quite a few other bits and pieces. My particular qualifications were simply the work that I had done as the head of children’s programs as con staff at a number of other conventions. All the information I had to bring was basically anecdotal. One of the parts that worried me most was the expression of a particular viewpoint relating the the author of the HP series and her stance as it relates to the gay and specifically the trans community. Based on the email I was worried that this panel was going to devolve into a bash session of the author and a feel good agreement circle to be sure everyone was saying the right things in order to fit in. It weighed on me not because I want to defend the author or to cause strife with any part of any community, but because I’ve been to panels expecting one thing only to get a bash session and went away disappointed. I do not want to have folks walk away from panels I’m on disappointed.

To the moderator’s great credit, she felt the same way about panels. She made it a point to hit on all the things listed in the panel description in the program book and asked questions of the panelists to dig into each of them. It was a great relief to me. Once I knew we weren’t going off the rails, it was far easier to enjoy what everyone had to say.

As to my thought on the panel topic itself ~ it’s impossible to deny the impact that Harry Potter has had on culture. Not just publishing or film, but also crafts, conventions and even sports.

At somewhere past the 20 year mark for the Harry Potter phenomenon, the kids who were 9 or 10 when they dove into the wizarding world are now old enough to be having families of their own. There were dozens if not hundreds of kids at our conventions back in 2017 and 2018 that wanted to be a wizard and compete for the house trophy. Reading was, if not cool, accepted for the sake of consuming these stories. Comparisons between the book and the film were a staple of any chat. Kids had (and have) a thing that can be theirs. It no longer has the intensity of when the books were first coming out, but each child that gets to read them now still gets the chance to enter that world for the first time. That is an important change, and one I’m glad to see.

Tied together with that chance at new worlds is the backlash crowd. There are always those that will push back against anything popular, but adding wizards and magic spells to the mix brings a special kind of push back. I have discussed in various forms before how I lived through the Satanic Panic back when Dungeons & Dragons was being called a devil’s tool. What we didn’t have back then, at least not to any significant degree was any kind of alternate. One of the other important impacts that the HP books have had, and the kids that have grown up now give us is that alternate. They learned from the previous panics and didn’t allow social stigma to stop them. They supported each other. They had (and continue to have) a different kind of magic from the lands of the role playing game. Magic inhabits books and games and movies now in all sorts of new ways. WE all continue to benefit from this huge push by the kids of this generation.

The panel also went into how many of these so called HP kids have started to move into creative fields. They are writers, film makers, creators. Twenty more years from now it will still be something that people of that generation will be able to bond over, much the same way Gen X folks relate to Star Wars. The panel all seemed to agree there was a great degree of hope in this.

I will admit I had a couple of other things I wanted to delve deeper on, but the panelists on this one were very into the topic. I sat back and let folks with much deeper connections really take the lead. It was busy, informative and made the 50 minutes of the panel just flash past. The topic of the author’s current stance on certain issues did come up, but it was truly handled really well. It’s a simple claim, and one that makes sense. IF you feel you need to remove anything HP from your life based on what the creator has said recently, it is entirely up to you and no one can or should judge you for that. IF you want to ignore the creator, that is entirely fair as well. At a certain point the creation no longer belongs to the creator ~ so if these stories meant something deep to you, keep that and enjoy what you have. Nobody should be able to take away meaningful experiences from you.

It was a good thing I had some time between all that and the Architecture in World Building panel.

My day job is as a project designer for a major architecture and engineering firm. Architecture is my profession, so talking about it would be easy… right?

As it turns out I got to share this panel with the guest of honor for the convention. She was a delight to chat with and I’m really glad I could bring a few insights to the panel. The moderator was going at around a hundred miles per hour, but I made an effort to keep all the folks involved on the panel. I don’t know if I succeeded, but I was just as interested in hearing what the other panelists had to say as anything else.

There were some cool questions from the audience too. We all tried to put books and learning path type things out there for the folks asking the questions. I recommended a couple of titles I was familiar with and put a few points forward that seemed to be well taken. Here are a few of those:

Everyone interacts with the built environment in some way. Even if you never step inside a designed structure, that is likely a conscious choice.

No matter what level of training you have (or don’t) you will likely have an opinion on some aspect of the built environment. IF you’re going to hold an opinion, have something to back it up with. Yes, aesthetics is something you can back it up with but the views on that vary as widely as people’s favorite color.

Buildings go DEEP into societies. Deep to the point where I can show you the combination of a rectangle and a triangle and you’ll recognize what I mean. IF you’re considering the architecture in the world building for you story don’t forget to consider what impact it has on the kids.

Rectangle and Triangle – but you know what it is.

Is what you’re creating believable? Not everyone will have a background in how a building (or a city) will actually function. Can you make what you’re showing believable to the second step? This is something another author passed to me once. IF you only push your creative thought to the first thing somebody can look up, they may question your world. IF you can get past that to the second step… that is you’ve thought logically to the part a reasonable person might have a question about, that will make most people think, “Huh.” and then keep reading. Give enough thought that what you’re creating doesn’t push past a readers willing suspension of disbelief.

Lastly, architecture gives your world depth. It gives detail. It gives a sense of place. That will show through to your readers even if you never get to give out all the pages and pages of research you did to come up with all that. It’s vital to consider the place where your characters are in more than just a “oh, that’s the background…” kind of way.

And those were the panels for my Philcon this year. I was really happy with how they all went. I could have, and frankly wanted to, keep talking on the subjects for hours more. I think that’s a sign of a good convention. I can’t wait to do it again.

Crossover

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My writing time has been squeezed a lot lately, but I found myself with a little crossover time today. Part of the construction specifier chapter I am involved with is presentations and learning sessions about what’s coming in the construction industry. This evening we were listening to a talk about the future infrastructure needs based on urban air mobility.

Yes, people are still talking about flying cars. Uber has actually had a full design contest involving a scenario involving take off and landing areas for flying vehicles that “everyday” people would have access to (something like 600 people per hour through the ‘vertiport’).

The presentation was from one of the top three firms in that design competition.

I listened, but I’m not buying. I understand the efficiency and practicality of what they’re saying. I do. I love the concept and I really wish this was something we could make work. My personal experience with vehicles that fly in that manner make me believe this will not work.

First – I’ve seen the way people in the U.S. treat public transport. How many people do you know that actually take the bus? Do the bus routes go where you need them to go? Are you willing to wait on that schedule if you have a list of things to get done today? We need to do more in the public transportation arena, but I just don’t see this working the way they envision. So I don’t see it as “public” transport. Could it work like a taxi? Maybe. Uber has crashed into the taxi market and made some significant changes there. IF a “Sky-Uber” was available, some people would take it. This is fantastic for business movements locally, but my first thought was what about the drunks? That won’t end well… unless you’re into riding the vomit comet.

Second – you’re depending on pilots at first. There’s a plan / thought / idea to have automated pilots, but the automated systems are a long way off. We’ve seen that with the self driving car. The self driving cars have loads of problems based on what actually happens in an urban environment. Now take all those issues and multiply them based on the simple fact that they fly. We’ve always had a ‘hub and spoke’ kind of plan with our transport systems – but does having a person going around this wheel and not to the hub really work? A massive cluster of people is still a massive cluster of people. There’s no way to get around that. People don’t move quickly when they’re staggering out of the stadium after the big game (for example).

Third – you’re talking about taking away the individual vehicle use to a certain degree. This may be the part where I’m old, but part of what makes a trip lasting in your memory is the actual journey. The actual ride. YOU are in control of where you go and when you stop. With UAM (urban air mobility) you also have to share a ride. Yes, there are times when you don’t want to spend part of your vacation time sitting stuck on the highway. I’ve been in that situation. It sucks. The highway was at a dead stop for hours. We snuck off an exit and went to a local mall to spend time outside of the car. We would never have had that little ‘side quest’ if we’d just flown around the issue. Sure, it would have meant we got to where we were headed faster, but that mall is now on our radar when we travel and it never would have been if not for our willingness to go someplace else just to get around.

Lastly – these vehicles do not account for people that don’t fit the ‘accepted average’. I’ve gone into flight places and dealt with people flying helicopters. I was charged almost 30% additional ‘fee’ based on the fact that carrying somebody my size simply uses more fuel (and therefore decreases the flight distance) or as much as being asked to purchase 2 seats. I’m not a fan. Ground transport actually eliminates a number of these factors, or perhaps simply accounts for them. I can use any number of these vehicles to go from place to place. A flying Uber does not fill me with the belief that it will work for me.

Is this something that’s coming in the future?

Probably. There is definitely a movement to get away from individual owned vehicles. There are definitely members of certain demographics that are completely willing to use something like this. We’re going to need to plan for this, but I don’t see it happening as quickly as they claim. They’re looking for 2028 as a start point (complete with FAA test sites). I suspect that the current pandemic and the massive move to conducting most business via an online presence will dent that significantly. I have very little need to actually drive anywhere right now, and depending on where a function is and what virtual options are available, I might still not go in person. Kind of depends on what the event is. It’s going to be a tough sell.

Uber does have some fascinating stuff out there that’s worth paying attention to. I would suggest checking them out and dare I say it? Watch the Skies!

No Joy

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My daily work is in the architecture field. I’ve worked in this field for twenty years now and studied it for even longer than that. There have been things that have always bothered me about the field of architecture. The two biggest of those things were the lack of communication with the general public about the work of our field and the massive wall of elitism that is so off-putting.

First the attitude. The amount of pure snobbery I have received from architects over the years is staggering. It is so commonly noted that it has become something akin to a meme ~ wearing a black turtle neck and small round glasses or a tweed jacket and a bow tie kind of pervasive. It grates my nerves to deal with people who look down on the rest of the moving parts of their field. The most rare architects I have gotten along well with are those who came up via an old school apprenticeship rather than by way of some ivory tower… and I went to one of those design schools. I don’t understand the attitude. My lack of understanding has likely cost me opportunities over the years because I don’t deal well with those people. I don’t have time for them. If you’ve got a scoffing ivory tower attitude, you can walk because I’m not interested.

Communicating with the public poorly seems to be rooted in this elitism. I have conversations with friends about architecture from time to time about names working in the field past and present who are doing or have done amazing things. These architects have recognizable names within the field but rarely are they known beyond the field (even when they achieve “starchitect” status). Every time I ask people who they know as an architect they invariably answer Frank Lloyd Wright. As if he’s the only architect ever. This has caused me to push back quite a lot against fans of Mr. Wright. I have often proclaimed he was a short egomaniac that made buildings with leaky roofs. This has gotten me in trouble with supporters who were my superiors in the past, but I stood by my stance – there is more to architecture than Falling Water.

That argument is entirely about pushing back and advocating for the study of others. It’s exaggerated to make a point. In my career in the architecture field I have come to learn that there are many reasons to admire what it is that Mr. Wright accomplished. Among the things he accomplished was starting a school of architecture that concentrated on how buildings related to their environment. It’s well known and a very big deal in the architecture world.

Thus the title of this post. It does not bring me joy to see part of the legacy of an immensely famous architect fail. The 88 year old school is shutting down.

Taliesin West

For all that I complain and exaggerate my grievances with buildings I can’t stand up straight in (6 foot ceilings do me no favors) the field of architecture is not a zero sum game. There is room for a world spanning variety of opinions and scholarly studies. It is disappointing to hear that the school at Taliesin is closing. I hope that others will continue to carry forward those studies and work toward making our built world mesh more favorably with our natural environment.

Article here: The School of Architecture at Taliesin Closing After 88 Years

Looking for your input!

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I’ve had an idea – or part of an idea knocking around in my head for a while now. It’s an idea that hasn’t gone away, so I figure I should write about it. The problem is – I’m not sure how to approach the topic (or multiple topics) this would cover.

Let me explain.

One of the struggles a lot of modern writers face is the dread “day job”. As it turns out, I really like what I do during my day job. I work in the architecture field. I get to draw buildings all day, figure out challenging three dimensional puzzles, resolve health, safety and welfare code conflicts, and a bunch of other stuff that essentially would sound like ‘details’ to most folks outside the industry. It’s creative and challenging work.

I really want to write (and possibly present a talk on ~ say for a convention) a couple of topics relating to the field of architecture, but just saying “architecture” is such a broad statement I don’t know where to start.

Some of the things I’ve thought of digging into (in no particular order) are:

Archologies

Current building trends (smart building, green building, urban trends… what trend?)

The influence and art of architecture in the movies

The real problem here is even those 3 topics have huge swaths of ground they cover.

Articles like this one on current structures that look like they’re right out of science fiction are cool and inspirational, but do you want more than that? Less than that? Different than that?

So – if you have a thought or opinion on what you might like to hear about from that list leave me a comment (or drop a comment on my Facebook link where this article shows up) I’d really like to hear from you.

Compared to what?

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I’ve been a bit busy lately – and most of it has been the “day job”. That’s not a bad thing – being bored or slow at the day job leads to cuts… and we don’t want that.

So, less on the writing and art front – but still making cool things. This is a comparison between a render I made in the computer and what was actually built. I think we got pretty close…

The day job is on a crazy deadline over the next few weeks, but I’ll still attempt to get things out here when I can.

Old or Modern?

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Watch out – going to geek out a little on architecture for a minute. This is my day job and I don’t often have the two cross over as there aren’t many folks I know that enjoy talking about the specifics of the built environment the way I do.

Someone I know professionally bemoaned the lack of diversity in architecture these days calling most of what is built “little beige boxes”. While I do not think he was wrong, I also don’t think he was right when he placed the blame on technology.

Is it true that a lot of the art of the drawing has been lost since construction documents moved to more technology based tools? Maybe. I’d say it’s a matter of opinion – and my opinion is that the art doesn’t go away if you’ve got a skilled operator. If you saw a really ugly cabinet, would you blame the hammer or the cabinet maker?

The old / cool architecture that was pointed out as the art we have lost was the Apennine Colossus in Italy. Setting aside all questions of accessibility and other code related issues that are a constant with modern day projects – I would love to work on a building like that. Make a fireplace where the smoke is channeled out the giant’s nose? Awesome.

While it might not be my taste, it’s not that interesting and amazing structures aren’t being built these days. Take Kunsthaus Graz for example. It’s a giant alien blob and has a host of cool modern things going for it. Built in the early 2000s it looks like an alien just dropped in to say hello and decided to stay. I can only imagine the technical difficulties associated with trying to create the working drawings for that building.

The question is – what sort of amazing building would you like to see?
AppennineColossus1

Going Up!

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5thElement

I know there aren’t many folks on my list that geek out over the same kind of stuff I do – but this is one of those times when I’m going to share because the future is creeping up on us. You’re too close, you won’t see it right away but suddenly you’ll look around and think to yourself, “how the hell did we get here?” while staring at all the little things that have added up over time.

Check out the place being built directly over the top of an operational rail yard HERE.

I was fortunate enough to have heard a presentation on this project a couple of years ago. There was a lot of discussion about how the coordination and the software was being handled because of the massive amount of logistics involved. It really is an amazing project that we’re not hearing much about. I find it fascinating that we’re taking our most definite steps so far toward becoming the land of Fifth Element – we’re building up, directly over other places that have already been built.

Jack of all trades…

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Master of Architecture?

Thursday was an odd mix of the “throwback” and the forward thinking. I went to a college campus for a tour – as a perspective student. It was a long drive (and would be a rotten commute at 90 minutes) with lots of time to think. The more I think of it, the more it becomes a trippy mix of memory and future plans. I have a college degree, but not the right one to break past a certain ceiling in the architecture industry. I started in design school, but finished in a different program. I spent years in studio and drawing classes, but what got me into the field was my ability to be a CAD monkey – or take all that data and put it “in the box”. I’ve got years of experience and I’m working on the requirements to get my registration stamp here in Pennsylvania, but that’s not easy when you’re not actually working. School might actually help with that – if only I could afford to do that right now. Thursday really tossed my emotions around.

I’m considering trying to go to Morgan State University for the Graduate program in Architecture and get my masters degree. I dropped a line to the program and ended up getting a tour with the head of the program himself. That was both excellent and disconcerting. Excellent in that, how many folks get the personal tour with the director of the program? Disconcerting in that we’re about the same age and were within a just few years of each other when graduating from school last time I did this. The throwback went into overdrive when he said that the first semester of studio all students were required to be on the boards – no computer work for drawings or presentations. It’s been more than 20 years since I was on the drafting board. I’ve got the trace paper, the pencils, the triangles – I’ve even got a drafting board in the attic still. My skills would be rusty to say the least, but I think I would struggle for a while until I got back into the swing of things. The trippy part? I’ve spent the past year and a half as a trainer for the computer programs that architects and engineers use – so there’s actually some small potential that I could get an adjunct professor kind of position there teaching Revit. I could be the teacher and the student… at the same time? It was a confusing and unsettling day, but the trip is one I’m ultimately glad I made.

Now is more of the wait and see part. This is all conjecture. None of it is relevant until I’m once again gainfully employed – money does seem to make the world go around.

Built To Last

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This was originally published in the Watch The Skies fanzine for the February 2014 issue:

For some reason building technology tends to get left out of the discussion when people look at science fiction. It’s always there, it’s just never the hot topic. Maybe it’s not active enough. Maybe it doesn’t have the sexy appeal of rocket ships or green alien women. There are exceptions, but even those exceptions tend to be limited in how the place where all the action happens is handled. The part that interests me is just how large a part buildings play in science fiction and fantasy stories, how completely integral they are and how those descriptions seem fade to “mere” background.

Having spent some time working in architecture I’ve struggled with what most folks know about the field. Many of my friends have heard me rant when confronted with somebody going on and on about Frank Lloyd Wright – particularly if that’s the only name in architecture they know. I tend to counter them immediately by saying, “He was a short ego-maniac that made short buildings with leaky roofs…” That rarely goes over well. It is hyperbole to make a point. While the vision and the design are undeniable, the last thing designed by Mr. Wright was in the 1950s. There are decades of design that have come on since then.

Getting to know what modern architects are designing and getting constructed should be an important part of conversations about the future. What technologies are going into the places where we live, work, eat and play every day? How will we interact with those places? Will they make us comfortable or will they be sterile and uninviting? How will those places look and feel to the people that use them every day? How will they look to the people that will see these structures 50, 100 or more years in the future? Will they last that long given the materials that are used?

Once you’ve taken a few moments to consider the technology and other aspects of architecture, consider the deeply visual nature of those designs. I’m going to stay away from the written descriptions and the worlds of fantasy and stick strictly with science fiction that has made it to the big screen.

What would Blade Runner be if you didn’t get to see Los Angeles?

Would The Fifth Element be the same if New York wasn’t so huge you needed to have flying cabs?

Where would Luke be if Bespin wasn’t a city in the clouds?

There are so many amazing structures out there and so much technology that can be added to them that architecture, the built environment, should be a topic of study for the science fiction community. Take some time, look around. Learn who some of the people are that give us the places where the future happens. Next time you’re out someplace try slowing down and looking up at the structures around you. You won’t be the only one, and you might see something that will spark your imagination.

Bonus stuff – there have been some interesting articles lately by people that think something similar. Check these articles out.

Gizmodo: World’s worst architect? http://gizmodo.com/frank-gehry-is-still-the-worlds-worst-living-architect-1523113249

The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/articles/frank-gehry-no-longer-allowed-to-make-sandwiches-f,8716/?ref=auto

iO9: Organic Brooklyn? http://io9.com/will-brooklyn-look-like-this-in-a-century-1523174170

Structures that belong in a science fiction film: http://flavorwire.com/409062/20-works-of-architecture-that-belong-in-a-sci-fi-film/