Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Octavia

Excerpt from Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, from which I gathered my ideas about the bridge, landscape and the fragility of power.

Thin Cities 5

If you choose to believe me, good. Now I will tell how Octavia, the spider-web city, is made. There is a precipice between two steep mountains: the city is over the void, bound to the two crests with ropes and chains and catwalks. You walk on the little wooden ties, careful not to set your foot in the open spaces, or you cling to the hempen strands. Below there is nothing for hundreds and hundreds of feet: a few clouds glide past; farther down you can glimpse the chasm's bed.

This is the foundation of the city: a net which serves as passage and as support. All the rest, instead of rising up, is hung below: rope ladders, hammocks, houses made like sacks, clothes hangers, terraces like gondolas, skins of water, gas jets, spits, baskets on strings, dumb-waiters, showers, trapezes and rings for children's games, cable cars, chandeliers, pots with trailing plants.

Suspended over the abyss, the life of Octavia's inhabitants is less uncertain than in other cities. They know the net will last only so long.

Monday, June 14, 2010

5 Images from Final Crysis Model

The Power of Dependence
In this experiment we were asked to design architecture that reflect ideas of power. I was interested in the flipside of having great power. Those in power depend on the populace for support, the critieria by which they are judged and the general context.

The valley is based on the last glacier in Germany, Zugspitze, which is fast disappearing most likely due to effects of Climate Change. The natural landscape has always had a powerful presence over us, but poor decisions made by those in power can weaken it. As we are dependent on the environment, it will affect us in return. The bridge represents our precarious existence within nature.


The 'arms' of the bridge hang from mountain peaks and join at a point to form a web like structure. If the arms of the bridge represent how citizens are directed, the intersection would represent how their fate and interactions can be controlled by the few in power. This could result in a disaster (dysfunctional bridge where vehicles collide) or success (vehicles avoid each other at the intersection). The two offices belonging to Angela Merkel (right) and Helen Keller (left) are made out of ice (like igloos) kept frozen by the chill from the glacier. They have been put to their positions by popular support and are thus are highly dependent on the citizens and social 'web'. If they are not careful, they can fall through the web. The offices are threatened by the slow melt over time like the glacier... no power lasts forever. (Melting worsened by climate change)


But there is no absolute idea of power. The strengths and weaknesses of those in power vary depending on their field. On an individual basis, they are judged by society according to different sets of criteria. This is Angela Merkel's office. As the Chancellor of Germany, she oversees a lot of political power with the potential for making big decisions. This is represented by the height of her office and the hierarchical, tiered structure of her office. Below her office are levels for meeting staff, press room and lobby. However, the height and strict shape of the office will mean she is more in danger of falling. Her ruling position calls for scrutiny and she can be easily voted out.

Helen Keller holds another kind of power. The story of her condition and achievements motivate citizens of her country. She is integrated into the national psyche as a kind of heroine not likely to completely lose favour. The arms of her office integrate better into the web, she is less in danger of falling. As a social activist, she is not directly responsible for making decisions, hence she is at a lower height relative to Merkel. She is closer to the people, and is known to engage in small meetings with her aide by her side. There is a big area for talks and rallies with her supporters.

The elevators take the form of melting pieces of office that slide down the arms of the bridge before falling to the valley floor. The paths of the elevators are different for Merkel and Keller. Merkel has a more dramatic fall while Keller slides down. The elevators float back to the offices like subliming ice. The table is inspired by the shape of a spider, which is the natural ruler of the web like bridge. Legs of the spider form seats for Merkel, Keller and her aide. The legs of the table normally hang like icicles on the arms of the bridge. On demand, the pieces fall to join at the valley floor. (analogous to how leaders gather information from citizens) This is where the clients can discuss leadership and pour over public opinion. The table has long legs to prevent the clients from touching the freezing glacier.

Videos of Crysis

Elevator from Helen Keller's office


Elevator from Angela Merkel's office


Table

Crysis Model

Level and Objects at Drop.io:
http://drop.io/xinzhangexp3crysis2010

note, if terrain texture does not appear on loading, do the following:
Terrain>Layer Painter> select largest radius, zero hardness, pick any texture> apply anywhere in landscape and the terrain should recover its texture.

Keys:
Merkel's elevator to valley floor: n
Merkel's elevator returning to office: t
Keller's elevator to valley floor: o
Keller's elevator returning to office: r
For table to appear once at valley floor: u
Merkel's elevator within office, from top floor down to entrance: p
Merkel's elevator within office back to top floor: q

Recommended order:
1. Starting from Merkel's top floor office, press p to go down
2. Hop onto elevator outside bottom floor entrance and press n
3. Once at valley floor, press u for table to appear
4. Return to Merkel's office by pressing t
5. Starting from Keller's elevator, press o
6. Once at valley floor, press u for table or press r to return to Keller's office.

Merkel's elevator to valley floor is at the bottom of the office, small white oval in this picture.

Keller's elevator to valley floor is at the end of the longest 'protrusion', small white oval in this picture at bottom.

Sketchup Model


Sketchup model including elevators (left) and table (right) at:

18 Perspectives

top left: Peak
middle: Receeding
bottom right: Ruins

top: Inspiring
middle: Conspiring
bottom: Encapsulating

top left: Conspiracy

middle: Transparency

bottom right: Disclosure

left: Balance
top right: Frame
bottom right: Grasp

left: Reigning
top right: Receeding
bottom right: Progressional

top right: Coporation
middle: Transparency
bottom left: Confederation

36 Textures




Wednesday, June 9, 2010

4 Draft Crysis Images

Second draft Crysis bridge model. The arms of the bridge were thought to be too thick.
Testing downward sliding movement of elevator, moving through tunnels, concurrent movement and assembly of a number of mobile components


Overview of first Crysis landscape, showing glacier, but landscape too small.

Close up of first Crysis landscape, zooming into glacier. Expermenting with making ice.




Tuesday, June 8, 2010

MashUp

Helen Keller always seemed to be standing before the world as an example of unquenchable will.
Helen Keller
weighed into the body image debate by admitting to concerns over her own body. "Nobody is perfect, I have my good parts but I also have those parts I need to work on, but that's between me and my personal trainer." Her life thereafter, as a girl and as a woman, became a triumph over crushing adversity and shattering affliction. In time, Miss Keller learned to circumvent her blindness, deafness and muteness; she could "see" and "hear" with exceptional acuity. The dowdy image that supporters feared would stymie her progress to the top is long forgotten. Partly that is because she spruced up her appearance, wearing bright colours and sporting more stylish hairstyles - but largely it is because few people think it matters. Many thought the debate would break apart, but Mrs Merkel managed to hold it together, and in fact take the credit for Germany's emergence from recession.
"I think the important thing is that all women are happy and confident with what they have got and don't feel pushed to being a certain way. I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times, but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers. The wind passes, and the flowers are content. All women, regardless of their shape and size, had to feel confident within themselves."
With the years, the skepticism, once overt, dwindled as her stature as a heroic woman increased.and she was so serene yet so determined in her advocacy of beneficent causes that she became a great legend.

Mrs Merkel makes men go weak at the knees, over the past four years she has had to steer Germany through some difficult times, but remains very popular. But the bikini babe Miranda Kerr does not need to rely on charisma to win over voters, because she is a pragmatic politician who inspires. "German voters aren't stupid - they don't want a Britney Spears as the chancellor of Germany, they want a serious leader whom they can trust. Kerr knows what she's doing."
Many who observed her--and to some she was boring and provincial,-Yet no substantial proof was ever adduced that Miss Keller was anything less than she appeared--a person whose character impelled her to perform the seemingly impossible. But if her role suggests a ruthless streak, she is known more for her pragmatism and ability to compromise.

3 News Articles

Angela Merkel
BBC News, "Profile: Angela Merkel" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4572387.stm
(accessed 10/05/10)

Angela Merkel has been re-elected to a second term as German chancellor, exit polls suggest. Over the past four years she has had to steer Germany through some difficult times, but remains very popular. The dowdy image that supporters feared would stymie her progress to the top is long forgotten. Partly that is because she spruced up her appearance, wearing bright colours and sporting more stylish hairstyles - but largely it is because few people think it matters. "Some people said Angela Merkel was boring and provincial, but they underestimated her," says Detmar Doering, the head of the Liberal Institute in Potsdam.
He says Mrs Merkel - the first chancellor from the former communist east - does not need to rely on charisma to win over voters, because she is a pragmatic politician who inspires confidence. "German voters aren't stupid - they don't want a Britney Spears as the chancellor of Germany, they want a serious leader whom they can trust. Merkel knows what she's doing."
She has certainly impressed Germans, scoring approval ratings of 60% in the lead-up to the 27 September, 2009 election. ...Analysts say she cowed many in the party by her decisive role in seeing off a giant of the party, former Chancellor Helmut Kohl. When he was caught in a slush fund scandal, she was the first former Kohl ally to publicly break with the man who brought her into the cabinet, writing a front-page article calling for his resignation.
It helped put her in pole position when the party felt it needed a new beginning.
But if her role in the Kohl saga suggests a ruthless streak, she is known more for her pragmatism and ability to compromise.
After being elected in 2005 she entered into coalition with her rivals in the Social Democrats (SPD), including her 2009 election challenger, and foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
That has meant ditching some of her planned free market reforms, and agreeing to more left-leaning measures like a minimum wage in some sectors and a huge fiscal stimulus.
Many thought the coalition would break apart, but Mrs Merkel managed to hold it together, and in fact take the credit for Germany's emergence from recession, and the deal that kept Opel a going concern. She has been criticised by some in her own party for an apparent shift to the left. But some analysts believe this is simply pragmatism.

Helen Keller
New York Times "Triumph Out of Tragedy" By Alden Whitman. June 2nd 1968

...Her life thereafter, as a girl and as a woman, became a triumph over crushing adversity and shattering affliction. In time, Miss Keller learned to circumvent her blindness, deafness and muteness; she could "see" and "hear" with exceptional acuity; she even learned to talk passably and to dance in time to a fox trot or a waltz. Her remarkable mind unfolded, and she was in and of the world, a full and happy participant in life.
What set Miss Keller apart was that no similarly afflicted person before had done more than acquire the simplest skills.
But she was graduated from Radcliffe; she became an artful and subtle writer; she led a vigorous life; she developed into a crusading humanitarian who espoused Socialism; and she energized movements that revolutionized help for the blind and the deaf.
Her tremendous accomplishments and the force of assertive personality that underlay them were released through the devotion and skill of Anne Sullivan Macy, her teacher through whom in large degree she expressed herself. Mrs. Macy was succeeded, at her death in 1936, by Polly Thomson, who died in 1960. Since then Miss Keller's companion had been Mrs. Winifred Corbally.
Miss Keller's life was so long and so crowded with improbable feats--from riding horseback to learning Greek--and she was so serene yet so determined in her advocacy of beneficent causes that she became a great legend. She always seemed to be standing before the world as an example of unquenchable will.
Many who observed her--and to some she was a curiosity and a publicity-seeker--found it difficult to believe that a person so handicapped could acquire the profound knowledge and the sensitive perception and writing talent that she exhibited when she was mature. Yet no substantial proof was ever adduced that Miss Keller was anything less than she appeared--a person whose character impelled her to perform the seemingly impossible. With the years, the skepticism, once overt, dwindled as her stature as a heroic woman increased.
Miss Keller always insisted that there was nothing mysterious or miraculous about her achievements. All that she was and did, she said, could be explained directly and without reference to a "sixth sense." Her dark and silent world was held in her hand and shaped with her mind. Concededly, her sense of smell was exceedingly keen, and she could orient herself by the aroma from many objects. On the other hand, her sense of touch was less finely developed than in many other blind people.
Tall, handsome, gracious, poised, Miss Keller had a sparkling humor and a warm hand- clasp that won her friends easily. She exuded vitality and optimism. "My life has been happy because I have had wonderful friends and plenty of interesting work to do," she once remarked, adding:
"I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times, but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers. The wind passes, and the flowers are content."...

Miranda Kerr
Herold Sun, "Miranda Kerr weighs into body debate, admitting to concerns over her own body" http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/fashion/miranda-kerr-weighs-into-body-debate-admitting-to-concerns-over-her-own-body/story-e6frfn7i-1225819066288 , Jan 14 2010

SHE makes men go weak at the knees, but bikini babe Miranda Kerr has confessed she is not happy with her seemingly flawless figure.
Kerr, the girlfriend of Hollywood heart-throb Orlando Bloom, has revealed there are parts of her body she doesn't like.
And she said she worked extra hard at the gym to try to fix the problem.
"Nobody is perfect," she told Britain's The Sun newspaper. "I have my good parts but I also have those parts I need to work on, but that's between me and my personal trainer."
Kerr weighed into the body image debate sparked by Jennifer Hawkins by saying all women, regardless of their shape and size, had to feel confident within themselves.
"I think the important thing is that all women are happy and confident with what they have got and don't feel pushed to being a certain way," the Victoria's Secret model said.

draft bridge and offices

Merkel's office is to the left and Keller's office is to the left.
I wonder if the shape and positions of the offices convey the idea that:
Merkel is at a higher position due to her absolute political power, but Merkel's power is easier to fall, whereas Keller's 'soft' power is less fallible.