Into Week 2...

So, this has gotten to the point of ridiculousness, as it's been more than a couple of days now since I wrote.  I will try to cover everything as in depth as possible... and to refrain from doing this in the future.  I know I become forgetful if I don't write SOON after something has happened.

Monday:

So, on Monday, I would say I spent a lot of time on research.  It has been a mixed affair- trying to find things that are even remotely related to what I want my project to deal with, and then trying to read them for content AND keep them all straight in my head.  The biggest aspect of this is that my bibliography has finally become annotated.  I knew that if, at some point, I didn't create little blurbs to remind myself of what an article was about, it was going to get nuts.  Already, titles are starting to sound eerily similar.  At least now, when I get lost, I can return to this for help. 

We also, of course, had studio, but I wouldn't really think of this as separate from what I was doing before/after.  Sometimes we meet- we did briefly on Monday.  Sometimes, we just work.  And then, of course, Jonathan makes the rounds.  But, he really loves to dive into peoples projects, so it's slow going when you are on the list.  So, on this particular day, we met to finish up the last tiny bits of discussions about peoples project ideas, and then broke to work.  I was on the 'talk to Reich' list, but not near the top, so I didn't quite make it.  Which was fine.  I just worked instead.  Slowly plodding along.

Tuesday:

Again, a research-filled day, but what was nice was that real BOOKS started to become involved... well, sort of.  By books, I mean physical objects rather than digital articles, for example.  A compiled journal, The American West, was pulled out of storage, and a book through loan from San Fran, Moving a Nation to Care, came in the mail.  Yay!  So, a little pile is building.  I also did a little work on Vellum, putting together a 1/6 scale model.

Before I go on, since I promised to discuss this, here is my idea:  SOURCE, SCREEN, STAGE.  I have designed a floor lamp that (hopefully) will be able to serve three purposes.  First of all, a SOURCE of light, as a floor lamp.  The style was inspired by shoji screens and modern Japanese standing lanterns.  But there are also joints that allow the 4 sides to swing together, making a SCREEN to keep out light.  And, if the light is adjusted to a new location and then turned on, it can become a STAGE to draw attention and either work as a light box, a shadow-play space, or as a display.  The idea is that in my thesis design, the veterans need to heal through interpersonal and intrapersonal events.  This lamp displays how it is possible for one thing to be practical (source), meditative (screen)- this is like the way a shoji blocks some light and sound, but not all, allowing for thoughtfulness and opening-up, and playful (stage).  I'm still working out the details of the joinery, but I think it may be possible.  The biggest concerns seem to be structural, because it needs to be sturdy.  But Kim, who is an Architectural Engineering student, has been helping me bounce around ideas about how to make it work since the beginning of the design.  I think we might be getting somewhere!

The below images are of the study models.  First, the original idea, with the stylish but impractical swooping legs,  Then, onto the more recent design in the second.  Three and four are of the 1/6 model, which had no screen for simplicity.  But here you can see the open vs. closed state.

Wednesday:

Here, we had studio again.  I did more research, which is finally expanding, as I've found articles on the Indian Sweat Lodge, as well as the scientifically verifiable mental and physical benefits of yoga.  The direction of the research is pretty positive for me.

Aside from that, we met at Linnaea's in the morning, and Reich bought us pastries again (which is so, so nice! They are delicious).  And, we talked about out reading out of Zumthor's "Thinking Architecture".  It is very theoretical and beautiful in parts.  It takes a strong stand on ideas of physicality, reality, and regionalism.  And, I'm pretty much in tune with his ideas about all of this.  It was nice to have a discussion with 20 people about it though, because everyone has a slightly different take.

After, we headed back to studio, where we discussed the possibilities of field trip(s) this quarter.  Our timing is sort of difficult to work with, but there is a possibility that we might go to San Fran NEXT WEEKEND from Saturday night/Sunday morning until Monday evening.  Jonathan had a few places he thought would be helpful for people to see before they get too deep into Vellum.  We also might be able to find space to go to either Vancouver, Seattle, or Portland.  I'm excited!

Finally, studio time- and this time I did get to talk to Reich.  We discussed my research, my vellum, and my information and how to present it.  In terms of research, I think he was impressed that I had amassed as much as I had (I have a HUGE stack), and especially that I was willing to delve into the Journals of Psychiatry for information.  I was kind of surprised I did that too.  With the information and how to present it, he was particularly caught by an infographic I have hanging on the wall that I've been working on.  And actually, I think it's just vague enough to have caught several people's attention thus far.  It shows the percentage of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan who have died (black), sought treatment for PTSD (maroon), displayed PTSD symptoms (red) and suffered a significant trauma while deployed (pink).  The grey is people with none of the above.

He then gave me a suggestion to get a book called "Visual Display of Quantitative Information" by Edward Tufte, and to see if this might take me somewhere in terms of how I think to present my work.

Finally, we discussed my Vellum idea, I showed him my model, and explained why it related to what I want my project to be about.  I felt like he got it right away, and we then discussed the intricacies of putting the piece together, the joinery involved, and the possibilities of the material pallet.  He said it would be good for me to build it at a 1 to 4 scale to study how strong it will be before I build the entire thing, and I agree.  But honestly, I am most worried about making the joints work, so I decided a join prototype would be my best bet to begin with.  I bought wood at home depot for this last night.  He also told me that if I could get the scale model to work out, that would be the perfect object for the abstract show.  I'm thinking I will go with that idea- and use the lamp as the display for the other information.  But I think 1 : 4 is too small, so I might bump it up to 1 : 2.  I think I'll get a better study of the object that way anyway.

So, that's it.  I feel like I'm going somewhere, but the destination is still so far down the road that I don't think I can slow down for a minute until I get there!