Thickair Blog

(Design) I am working on a renovation design and the clients are down to earth, yet somewhat spiritual people. They are attracted to Asian design and want that tropical asian influence represented in the design. They also want a swimming pool and garden space off the back terrace, and as I played with shapes and designs I started thinking about how geometry is not only shapes but a visual code.  Originally I wanted the design to be super simple and stream line, so it was simply a square shaped pool. But the ideas of the reason for the pool kept talking to me. The water represents relaxation and serenity. There are languages that use graphic symbols to represent ideas, and I think that as we move more and more into a graphic-inundated world through the internet, the idea of graphic-based explanation of ideas is more present than ever. I looked on-line to find a ‘graphic or geometric symbol’ that represents this idea. I didn’t find any that really could work as an elegant shape for a swimming pool. But this is my design challenge. To create a geometric combination of shapes that represents one single idea.

(Architecture) I had a construction manager tell me once that I needed to make my architectural details so totally clear that the notations calling out materials are irrelevant. His point was that many of the builders either could not read English or would not take the time to read them. Being young and impassioned, I felt that he was being racist and not giving the workers any credit. The more construction experience I gained the more I understood what he meant.  It is true that the detail needs to be as straightforward visually as possible, because it becomes the representation, visual information of how the detail will actually get constructed. Many times we drafters assume that the builders read the detail with as much care as we take to draw them. Not the case. They give the detail a quick walk through and if it is missing information or one little line that could represent a material ‘beyond’ or ‘in-between’ is a critical mistake on the drafters part. I learned the concept better as I built my house in Panama, where I did not share the native languauge of my builder (Spanish) and so I used sketches to communicate my ideas and wishes.

(Art) I think in the matter of Art, the artist is visualizing information and processing with visual matter and at the same time creating a new language. But here, the language is much more complex and rich, because with graphic information, it is a straight translation of a word or maybe a phrase. With works of art, we have novellas of ideas being expressed through color, line-work and form.  Often the idea is not reflective of the world or society, but that of the individual creating it. This is why Art is so subjective and hard for people to understand. The ‘meaning’ is stitched into the creation using a language either to be deciphered or not.

This entry was posted Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 at 8:35 am and is filed under ART, Architecture & Design. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.