It’s ALIVE!!! (Introduction)
In an effort to keep this blog alive and also to see what happens when I track and publish my work in (close to) real-time, I hereby initiate the series, It’s Alive!!! This phrase is both catchy and suggestive of the fact that I may or may not be creating a monster. What I plan to do is write a post on each step in the process of creating this semester’s studio project.
For those who don’t already know, I am an undergraduate student in my final semester of architecture school at the University of Illinois at Chicago (formerly and [more gloriously] Circle Campus [but that’s another story])**. Furthermore, the studio class is the core of the architectural education and takes up most of the typical student’s time and life essence. These two facts lead us to the following equation:
G + (-L) = S
Where G represents upcoming graduation and L represents life essence (and, one can argue, the related concept of obsession [which is covered in the chapter entitled All Nighters]). The sum of G and L, we can see, is S – or swan-song. It is a simple equation because I am terrible at math.
I will combine adherence to the studio curriculum with my desire to bid an architectural adieu to UIC and, potentially, the City of Chicago. This means that I want to link the work of studio, which mimics the work and process of artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss*** and culminates in a “mini-thesis”, with a peculiarly ‘me’ project. Having been deeply in love with the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, I intend to imagine and propose an architectural gift to the neighborhood. You can expect to see photography, installation, sculpture, video and finally, architectural mediums of expression posted here as I move through this process.
I hope that this remedy for scant postings is both easier to maintain during the hectic school year and fabulously interesting for you, dear reader.
Coming up: Getting Acquainted with What You Already Know.
** Mayhaps I will switch from dramatic numbers of ellipses and hyphens to multiple layers of parenthetical statements? Things to ponder, folks…things – to ponder.
*** Fischli and Weiss, by the by, are on exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago through mid-April. Click here for details.
Trudy Watt
amongum. 
I am giddy, nay, delirious with anticipation. What a lovely thought to leave something tangible to the neighborhood. I have done so often, though not intentionally. Ever a beautiful garden in my wake. I do not regret them, though sometimes I get confused and wonder , “What happened to that tree, or plant, etc.?” Go Trudy! Finishing with not a whimper, but a flourish! (I struggle to find colorful vocabulary.)
To be fair, the only tangible thing that will come out of this effort is the architectural proposal – but wouldn’t it be cool if someone in the hood really did snatch it up? I suppose that’s obvious though; that architecture wants to be ultimately built.