Intrepid Architecture

Friday, January 3, 2014

St. Louis, MO Research Trip

Currently in St. Louis doing some research for thesis and looking at possible firms. Here is a view from my hotel!

Friday, December 13, 2013

Final Submission - Beauty in Architecture

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Our instructor challenged us to design an object utilizing a given top and front view. After class, I rendered the above front and top images which were my initial interpretations of the given. Below are the top, front, isometric, back, and right views of my object correspondingly.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

“Thoughts on Humans and Nature”

Today, I have come to the realization that the built society as a “whole” has become so astrained with nature that a group of peope, five or more, cannot sit outdoors without causing a ruccas. They ignore the Eastern Woodpecker in a nearby tree, the temperature of the wind as rain nears; the sound of a quiet forest. Our lives have become consumed by so many electronics that the buzz of lights, the humming of computers, and the sound of music with every internet connection has warped human interactions; to remain forever interconnected. Until real, live nature is brought back indoors, the human race will only forget more about the environment without four walls.

Travis Kyle Miller

5 July 2013

Ft. Jackson, SC

From this list, I would choose:

From this list, I would choose:

ARCHITECTURE! over architecture?

ARCHITECTURE! to me reads as keynote architecture; or architecture that has never been duplicated except by various ideas if form, structure, and/or function. The beauty of this architecture can be found in it's uniqueness and deliberate existence to contrast contemporary standards of it's time. As I begin to practice, I hope to be able to take on large scale projects that will put focus on my overall design ideas as to copying or re-implementing someone else's ideas in the same atmosphere in another built environment. This desire comes from the atrocious placement of houses all over the US, with most having no unique quality in coordination with it's surroundings. The same structures are found in a catalog that can be purchased for $20 at a local bookstore. So I ask, how is that expressing architectural ideas???

Networks over Objects

As I have interned and worked on studio projects dealing with urban design and development, I have begun to understand how important the fabric of life, culture, the built environment, humans, nature, and many others begin to overlap into a living organism network. As I move into the future, I hope to develop buildings not just for the client or for my own personal prestige, but for the overall greater good of the surrounding fabric of networks. Everyday, we experience the built environment, sometimes unconsciously walking and interacting with the surroundings. So I pose the question, instead of interacting with just the building, what if your interactions in the building can impact and interact with the greater built environment or networks of life and the like organisms? What if flushing a toilet or using a sink would lead to a water purification system in the building that waters the plants on the exterior of the building, which in turn feeds the endangered birds of the area. Would then architecture not contribute to the greater good of life?

Substance over hype

I must choose substance over hype because I feel that too many keynote building now days are hyped up over the architect or person funding the project. Where many of these projects fall short is their connection to networks and the “WOW!” factor. Anyone who has millions of dollars can fund a major project and any architect can drop trees hardheartedly onto flat surfaces. However, I question what greater good will that building serve? If the building doesn't take into account environmental factors, the various networks of human and natural interactions, or the account a greater purpose, then I question why build the space as a monumental structure? Why not instead keep the project as a simple building that everyone recognizes for it's purpose because unless every-time someone walks into a building and feels a greater good or connection, then the keynote building will be no different than the mall down the street.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Thoughts on Ai Weiwei and Architecture

After reviewing Ai Weiwei in Architectural Theory last week, I began to think of how Ai Weiwei and his art actually relates to architectural design in a cultural sense. I remembered that architecture often has hidden meanings represented in its designs much like an artist's work. Architecture like the White House and the US Capitol Building are symbolic in meaning of strength, institution, and democracy through the design and use of the columns, the use of granite, and the incorporation of steps along the major facades. These design ideas are to insinuate a connection with past cultures like the Greeks and Romans, showing a historic reference with modern ideas. Likewise, when one would design a building breaking traditional rules, like Phillip Johnson's Glass house and it's reinterpretation of personal privacy, the Architect, much like the artist, is making a political/cultural statement. This statement is often met with resistance and in Ai's case, being struck and jailed for expressing cultural misunderstandings and free speech. With this knowledge, architects can and should begin to change society for the better much like Ai Weiwei's efforts to help reform China and allow more personal freedoms such as controversial art back into society.