Gregory D Wilson

One awesome video.

2010-06-05T19:32:00.003-04:00

Philadelphia University architecture graduate, and my friend, Schendy Kernizan, working in Haiti with Architecture for Humanity. We're all proud of you D.

Architecure and globalization!

2010-04-14T10:49:00.006-04:00

Having an online presence gets you flattering, but unusual, requests from around the world. Here are two emails I've received in the past couple weeks:

1.) "www.eduardopuche.blogspot.com

This link will get you to the address of our web site. You may like to see a series of examples of our work.

Thank you for considering our company. Our Graphics department specializes in all kinds of computer assisted infographs 3D, rendering,etc., produced with the purpose to help our clients enhance their graphical needs.

I am pleased to offer graphic elaborations to your projects. Due to the actual exchange rates of our currencies, I am confident that you will find that our prices are very copetitive.

Upon request, we can forward a series of examples of our work, so you can assess their quality or by simply visiting our web site at:

www.eduardopuche.blogspot.com

Looking forward to hearing from you, I remain, Very truly yours

Eduardo Puche, Arquitecto
Rosario, Argentina"

2.) "Respected Sir/Madam,

We are B.Arch.III Yr students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, India. As a part of our academic curriculum we are required to do a Summer Internship, from May to July 2010.

After learning about the variety of projects and your approach towards design, we are very keen to work with your winning team .

During our graduate course at IIT, we have done relevant courses to provide us with profound knowledge of the fundamentals of Architecture and allied fields. We have enhanced our architectural design as well as hand and computer drafting, rendering and 3D-modeling skills. We have also been involved in various National and Institute level Architectural Competitions and seminars fruitfully.

Please let us know about any more requirements. Our resumes and portfolios are attached for your consideration.
We are hoping for a positive response from you.

Yours Sincerely
R------ G---
K---- A-----"

A closer look at my website might reveal that I am not a registered architect, that I do not own or manage an architectural firm, that I am not looking to outsource renderings (in fact, I wouldn't mind working on them myself,) and that I cannot take on interns. I am just a designer with an online portfolio that may one day help me find a proper job.

However, I draw two positives from this email. First, my website and portfolio look professional enough that people inquire about collaborations and internships with my imaginary design firm. Secondly, it goes to show how connected the design community is and can be - my relatively obscure portfolio has been accessed and has received some form of feedback from as far away as Argentina and India. That's pretty cool.

A Sprouting of Spring 2.5: UPenn Photoblog 2

2010-03-10T11:33:00.002-05:00

(back up, start here!)

I just wanted to wrap up my photo journey of UPenn's campus from Sunday. So, out with the new, and in with the old, because what follows are some beautiful and intriguing older buildings on UPenn's campus.

--

Frank Furness - Fisher Fine Arts Library

How I adore this building! First considered a masterpiece, and then a folly, and once again a masterpiece, the Fisher library is a beautiful neo-Gotchic cathedral for learning. The whimsical design stirs my imagination; my history of architecture courses back at Philadelphia University sent me on journeys to this library to do research, and I remember having trouble focusing on my studies for the beauty of this place. I am all for architectural innovation, and as a sustainably-minded architect I am all for contemporary and efficient designs, but it is a shame that we don't, can't really, make buildings like this one anymore.

Meyerson Hall, School of Design Building

The interesting counterpoint to the imaginative Fine Arts library is UPenn's adjacent school of design. While it is a giant block of terse post-war modernism, I do appreciate Meyerson Hall's symmetry and monumentality. The proximity of these two buildings shows just how quickly the Modern era changed how we think and how we design (and I think the Fumihiko Mahi building documented in my last post shows how quickly we've moved on from Modernism, too.)

Louis Kahn - Richards Laboratory

And here is a design by one of the stalwarts of the Modern era of architecture. Every time I dive back into architectural history, check out all of the beautiful works of architecture and engineering made over thousands of years, for me, it always returns to Louis Kahn. I cannot believe I had never found my way to Richards Lab before, but then, it occupies a quiet corner of UPenn's campus - which seems appropriate, in retrospect. One of Kahn's trademarks, the exterior delineation of servant/served spaces, is quite clear here - compare the stacks to the "pods" that I can only imagine are wonderful offices. And the entrance shows Kahn's excellent coffered ceilings, beautiful and practical on so many levels.

--
Architectural Record's current House of the Month is a waterfront home on the same lake you see from my parents' house. It is also a spectacular piece of design pornography. I'm going to talk about it next.

A Sprouting of Spring 2: UPenn Photoblog

2010-03-07T18:49:00.006-05:00

The weekend has been so beautiful that yesterday's venture to Penn Treaty Park did not satisfy my craving to explore Philadelphia, a city that, though I've lived here since 2002, I have criminally ignored. For all of the extraordinary places in the city that I have seen, there are many others that I've missed. I left my house today to take a trip to one of those places - and I didn't even make it there!

I tried to go to the Woodlands Cemetery by hopping on the El and switching to one of the four trolleys that took me to the 40th St. Portal. But at 30th Street the 16 stopped because of track issues further on down the line, so I hopped off the trolley and reverted to my backup plan.

--

The University of Pennsylvania has aggressively expanded their campus recently, and new buildings by esteemed architects have filled in some of the gaps on the Ivy League campus. Some of these designs are bold, and dare to challenge the traditional redbrick architecture at UPEnn; others pay respect to tradition by employing similar materials, or by maintaining a scale dictated by the existing campus fabric. The following three photographs show some of UPenn's latest additions:

Fumihiko Maki - Annenberg Public Policy Center

The Japanese Pritzker Prize winner has inserted a boxy, double-wall volume between two traditional buildings of similar scale. The double-wall is intriguing to me; the subtlety of the warm wood behind the glass distinguishes the building without making it blatantly stand out. This wall also suggests an eye for sustainability, as double-wall facades are typically designed to be far more energy efficient than the previous generation of glass curtain walls.

Tod Williams Billie Tsien - Skirkanich Hall

The firm that made their name on the Folk Art Museum, adjacent to MoMA in New York City, employs a similar tactic to their treatment of Skirkanich Hall's design. Unlike the Annenberg Center, this building does not respect the traditional scale of the campus, jutting high above the adjacent buildings. However, the use of brick, albiet of an unusual hue, does pay respect to the rest of the block. Tod Williams Billie Tsien have designed the new, highly controversial Barnes Foundation building now under construction on the Ben Franklin Parkway, so be prepared to hear more about them.

KieranTimberlake - Levine Hall

KieranTimberlake is, in my estimation at least, Philadelphia's most prestigious architecture firm. Both Kieran and Timberlake got their M. Arch's from UPenn, and have given back to the campus by designing this building for the school of engineering. The street facade is modest, retaining similar materials and keeping a similar scale with the surrounding campus. At the right of this photograph is the distinctive curtain wall that typically attracts the attention of the architectural magazines - honestly, I was surprised that this facade wasn't more prominent on the street once I finally saw it. Therein lies the power of the photograph!

--
I also took pictures of some of UPenn's older buildings, but I'll save those for a part 2, because it's Sunday night, I'm tired, and Jenny's put Up on, a movie that has made me choke up twice so far 25 minutes in. I'm turning into a sap.

A Sprouting of Spring: Penn Treaty Park, Revisited

2010-03-06T17:45:00.003-05:00

This winter seems to be a mirror, as I spent the last warm day of last autumn and the first warm day of the spring in the same place: Penn Treaty Park. And I wish that I had been there about a minute earlier, because I would have gotten an even more awesome photo of a cargo ship on its way back to the ocean from, presumably, the Tioga Marine Terminal:

I also went because people were celebrating the life, death, and legacy of the Shackamaxon Elm, the tree under which William Penn signed his treaty with the Lenape Indians. Speeches were made, Natives danced, bagpipes blared, and history lessons were given. A satisfying way to start the spring. Also, Two things have been learned about Penn Treaty Park that I got wrong in my last post about the park : First, it is fact, not belief, that Penn signed the treaty at this park. Second, as a commenter pointed out in the last post, the substation to the north of the park has always been a substation, and never a factory. Thanks, Anonymous!

--

I loathe being that guy who pops in on his blog every two months, and I swear on my life that I will have a summary of the Community Design Collaborative project that I worked on soon. It is a matter of the CDC presenting the project to the client before I can post my blog about the project. I can't wait to share that with you.

The last two pictures of the decade.

2010-01-01T21:54:00.002-05:00

Philadelphia Blizzard - December 19 2009

Christmas in Sherman (One More Time?) December 25 2009

Happy New Decade! The past ten years have been nothing short of remarkable, for both good reasons and bad. The next decade offers another opportunity to learn how to love the good things, shrug off the bad things, and push forward with what I want to do with my life.. as soon as I find out what that truly is!

Chin up, ol' boy. 2009 didn't suck that much.

2009-12-10T13:08:00.002-05:00

(The scene: 1 AM last night, writing in bed)

Lately, it's been in my nature to be perpetually sleepy - until I turn out the bedroom light and lay down my head to sleep. It's also been in my nature lately to be absurdly pessimistic, sarcastic, snarky, cynical, and apparently, redundant with my use of personality traits.

So this leads me to sit here at the beginning of yet another sleepless night, at the cold, dreary, windy conclusion of a difficult year, contemplating my tenuous future, and panicked at the direction in which my life is heading.

Well - in the words of animated animals that I saw at the theater earlier - CUSS. THAT. CUSS. There will be no moping on this night - let me count the ways that actually made 2009 a pretty good year!

"Professional" Developments:
- I earned my LEED AP certification.
- In spite of the brutal job market, I did land one architecture interview. I nailed it, too - the firm really liked me. I would hope that if their work ever picks up, they would give me a call again - even though it's been awhile since that interview.
- I started volunteering with the Community Design Collaborative, and have put a lot of work into the project so far. A lot of work to go, however - things will be wrapped up with that in early February.
- I started a gig as an AutoCAD subcontractor, making shop drawings for custom cabinetry and closets.
- Finally - I made a website (click that link above!), and resurrected this blog, and even write a new post once a week. This shocks me.

Personal Developments:
- Um, I moved in with my girlfriend!!! It's generally been an amazing experience living with Jenny, and doing so has only reinforced the affection we have for each other. (I will now wait while you gag from the sweetness of that line.) Making a home - and showing it off during our Halloween housewamring party - has been very rewarding.
- Jenny and I went on our first camping trip together, to Treman State Park in Ithaca, New York. I did not expect it, but Jenny is a very enthusiastic camper, and very good at it too! We have lots of ideas about camping/hiking adventures for the next year - I can't wait until it's time for new adventures!
- Of course, a full year has gone, and we celebrated our second anniversary last month with an epic achievement of contemporary Mexican food consumption.

Other Events, mostly sports:
- I went to two US soccer games this year: US v Mexico (dos a cero!) on February 11, and US v Panama (2-1 USA aet) on July 18. That makes nine US games in my lifetime, and they have never lost when I've been to a game (meaning the USSF should be buying me tickets to the World Cup, amirite?)
- I also watched the US soccer team beat the no. 1 ranked Spanish soccer team at the Confederations Cup. That was a brilliant day.
- I went to my first Phillies game in April, and caught two more toward the end of the season. I suddenly like baseball quite a lot.
- I went with a huge group of my friends to the Philly 4th of July concert and fireworks display. That was a pretty amazing day - the Roots are an incredible live act, and the fireworks were the best I think I've seen.

--

It's obviously not healthy for me to be glum all the time, especially when all of these good things have happened. I must try to remember that I've got all of these things going on in my life, and be confident that I get the chance to build upon these great things to make 2010 suck even less.

Home - Sherman, CT

2009-11-30T21:55:00.002-05:00

I might have had my last Thanksgiving in my hometown of Sherman, Connecticut this past weekend. With my parents expecting to leave town and go on their RV adventure by this time next year, I thought that it may be time to get back in touch with the town where I grew up. My mom and I went on a couple of small hikes on Saturday, checking out some of Sherman's scenery.

The Naromi land trust has preserved some of Sherman's land, blazing hiking trails through woodland, swamp, and pasture. Here are some of photos of the Wimisink wetland, where a beaver dam has added to the swampy nature of the land. If we had gone here on a greyer day, I would have sworn we were in the bogs from Lord of the Rings:

The Naromi Land Trust is named after the Naromiyocknowhusunkatankshunk Brook, a small brook flowing north through Sherman and into the Housatonic River, and the longest name of pretty much anything, ever. We actually hiked along the brook first, but oddly, I kept my camera in pocket most of the time - save for a photo of my mother and I rocking out!

--------

In spite of my situation I am feeling oddly optimistic today. I'm enjoying the positive energy and I want to figure out how to keep it up.

No one constructs perspectives anymore..

2009-11-20T15:08:00.003-05:00

But I do! As crazy as that sounds, I have a reason why.

--

I'm currently volunteering as an intern architect for the Community Design Collaborative, providing pro bono design work for a non-profit organization in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia. We are working on plans to revitalize a quasi-pedestrian street in Germantown called Maplewood Mall. Last night, we presented the first draft of our work to the Germantown task force, and they are very enthusiastic about the direction we are heading in! Over the next couple of months, we will refine our design, and our final documentation will be a tool for the people of Germantown that helps them find funding to construct the design.

--

I don't really know whether or not I'm supposed to talk about this project on a public blog, so I am only going to put up a few snippets of what we've done so far. One part of the project entails redesigning the facades of several of the streets' buildings. Using unifying features such as planters, flower boxes, and awnings, we hope to create a rhythm across the street that connects buildings of disparate styles; we also chose to remove the security grilles that we feel cast a pallor on the block. I chose to draw these features in perspective to show their depth, and also because perspectives read better to a non-design audience. I also chose to draw these by hand, so as to give the drawings an air of finality - after all, we're only at the midpoint of this design. After I hand-drafted these perspectives, I scanned them in, cleaned them up, and rendered the new features. The results are below - I hope you like them, and maybe you can find where it becomes clear I hadn't constructed a perspective by hand in a while. ;)

--

Those drawings were part of what was probably my busiest week of work since college. Not only did I draw those, I was grinding away on some shop drawings for my dad's company, which I just finished earlier this afternoon. It felt good to get a lot of work for a change. Hopefully this streak of work will continue - the meeting last night couldn't have possibly been more productive, and now I'm fired up to keep working!

Looking back to the strike for just a moment..

2009-11-12T16:43:00.003-05:00

..I wanted to just say that someone in the Philly news got it EXACTLY RIGHT. Stu Bykofsky dissects what Willie Brown and the TWU did wrong in striking last week, but also what they did right, and points out why people got whipped into a misguided rage over the strike. If you read my post about the strike, I suggest you read this article too.

Penn Treaty Park

2009-11-11T17:24:00.002-05:00

On Friday I went to Penn Treaty Park and took some pictures in the harsh, beautiful late autumn sunlight. This waterfront park, two miles upriver from Center City Philadelphia, is believed to be the site where William Penn struck a deal with the Lenape tribe to peacefully coexist together in the new colony of Pennsylvania.

The park is just upriver from the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, and provides views downriver to Philadelphia, and across the river to New Jersey.

The park is next to an old factory, now a substation for the power company. The park and the power station make odd, interesting neighbors. The construction of the SugarHouse Casino is underway on Penn Treaty's other side, after years of controversy - I can't say I'm thrilled by a casino a mile from my house, but the casino should spur some unique development in the neighborhood.

I'll be honest - I was waiting for a chilly, damp, gray day to post these pictures.

--

Months and months ago I began a Dream Exercise, but never got past a couple of sketches. Now that I'm in a new neighborhood, I have another idea. I hope I follow through with it, and if I do, I'll start posting it up here.

"How DARE the unions fight for their benefits?" Coming to grips with TWU's strike.

2009-11-06T10:00:00.001-05:00

Less of a diary, more of a rant. This has been a hell of a week for news, and the current TWU/SEPTA strike in Philadelphia has understandably fallen between the cracks here. I'm angry about the strike, but angrier at the perception that unions shouldn't fight for benefits. Like I said, rant-ish: you've been warned!

--

The strike sucks. TWU Local 234's entering the fourth day of their strike, and Philadelphia, without city bus, subway, and trolley service, is moving at a snail's pace. SEPTA, Mayor Nutter, Gov. Rendell, and Rep. Brady are all trying to move things forward and negotiate with the union as quickly as possible, but the bargaining parties are stuck on pensions.

Wait - Pensions? People still receive pensions?

The worst thing about the strike is definitely the inability to get around in Philadelphia. I'll have to drive my girlfriend through hellish traffic to get her to her job in a moment. The second worst thing about the strike is the near universal kneejerk reaction against the union. Comments about the strike on local websites have damned the TWU with vitriolic condemnation from a number of perspectives, most of which come from people with the most ignorant background on unions imaginable:

(from various comments on facebook and philly.com)

dear septa workers: welcome to the land of the living, where benefits cost money and yearly increases are modest. your collective ignorance and greed is truly breathtaking.

Screw Septa, somebody needs to start a private transportation firm, have reasonable rates, better service, and kick septa in the face

Let them stay out till their families starve. Enough of SEPTA and the City and State caving in to these incompetent, rude and frequently unwashed and stinking pieces of garbage. As for the contract offer from SEPTA that is dependent on some six million in funding from the State - taxpayer money - NO, NO, NO! Let SEPTA pay its own way and let the unions live with that.

The people with these attitudes infuriate me more than the strike does, and here are a couple of reasons why:

1.) The "how DARE the union fight for its benefits?" stance that these commenters take. I don't understand why you wouldn't support a union fighting to maintain its benefits. While the vast majority of workers have complacently watched their pensions turn into 401(k)s (one of many Ponzi schemes implemented by Wall Street in recent times) and complacently watched their employer-based healthcare plans pinch their wallets more and more each year, unions have done what they could to fight for their benefits, and fight for more and more people to start earning benefits. Unions strongly support the healthcare reforms being debated in Congress right now - reforms that may reduce workers' healthcare costs! How is it a bad thing for a union to fight for this?

2.) The ludicrous notion that a private company would run a transportation company better than SEPTA. Contrary to that wild assumption, the privatization of, for example, roads, causes tolls on highways to dramatically increase. Private companies providing essential services are outrageously corrupt - do I need to point further than Enron to prove my point? Other private companies providing utterly incompetent and illegal services for extortionate prices include our buddies in the military, such as KBR/Haliburton and Blackwater/Xe.

--

I believe that the strike is an indefensible move on the unions' part, and the near-universal condemnation of the union for going on the strike obviously hasn't won them any friends. But what should a union do in this situation? What should SEPTA/the government do?

I spoke with a worker from Philadelphia's City Planning Commission - he explained that the Regional Rail system is still running because their unions' contract states that their union cannot legally strike, as they provide an essential service. Seeing as SEPTA's bus, subway, and trolley divisions carry far more passengers than Regional Rail does, I believe that the government should force TWU 234 to accept a "no-strike" clause in their new contract. But, then, how does TWU create leverage for the next contract? How does the Regional Railworkers' union do so when they have contract negotiations with SEPTA? These are the questions I wish I had answers for.

Thanks for listening - I'm starting to get the idea that my opinion is extremely controversial, and I'd like to know what you think.

Potluck 01: Fertile Ground

2009-10-27T16:25:00.003-04:00

Last week I walked myself down the road to the Crane Arts building in East Kensington to check out Potluck 01: Fertile Ground, an interesting exhibition by some of Philadelphia's more innovative architects. I thought that the exhibit was eye-opening and inspiring, and I wanted to share some pictures of the exhibit, and tell you about a few of my favorite exhibits:

Austin + Mergold:

Onion Flats:

Point B Design:

Moto Design Shop:

DIGSAU:

Working hard..

2009-10-19T16:25:00.003-04:00

Before I kill you with cuteness, I wanted to pass along a comment I got on my Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative post. David from the CUDC posted a couple of links with many more pictures from their Pop Up City initiative. Click here for the comment and the pictures! They do far more justice to their work than the few pictures I selected.

--

So I've used more CAD since Friday than I have in AGES. Fortunately I have a little help:

As adorable as that is, in the interest of making this blog more than just about my cat, I will have some more design/architecture/life substance soon! I'm going to the Crane Arts exhibit I keep talking up on Wednesday, I believe.

Center City at Night

2009-10-16T22:05:00.003-04:00

Not a whole lot to speak of today - I didn't work on my website for the first time in forever, but I did wear my subcontracting hat and worked on some shop drawings. It's surely a bit lame to be blogging on a Friday night, but hey, here I am, and hey, I'm going to make it quick. Here are some pictures I've taken in and near LOVE Park in Philadelphia over the past week.

10/7/09: DesignPhiladelphia Opening - A much smaller main exhibit this year, unfortunately, but quite illuminating. I just enjoyed taking a couple of pictures.

10/13/09: After the Terry Schwarz lecture I discussed yesterday, I walked across town to meet Jenny. I like the contrast in civic architecture demonstrated here:

And once again at LOVE Park - I like the composition of the skyscrapers here.

--
As I said yesterday - I'm going to an awesome sounding exhibit at Crane Arts soon, and I can't wait to tell you about it. I also have to get on the ball with my Community Design Collaborative project! Other possible attractions include sports! - Giants-Saints in pointyball; Phils-Dodgers in baseball - and movies! Maybe seeing Where The Wild Things Are.

Pop Up City / Ad Hoc Urbanism by the Cleveland UDC

2009-10-15T14:59:00.002-04:00

On Tuesday night, the Community Design Collaborative, the design center I am currently volunteering for, held a celebration for the last year's volunteers. After grabbing some finger food and running into some unexpected and pleasant company, I watched as the CDC gave out its awards to outstanding volunteers, donors, and projects. And after that, Terry Schwarz of the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative gave a great lecture about her city and how she is working to enliven and revitalize it.

Cleveland:

(I'm sorry Cleveland, and living in Philly, I sympathize, but I can't resist introducing Cleveland with these videos.)

Cleveland, like Philadelphia, is a city that has suffered from a prolonged post-industrial decline. While Philadelphia has finally stemmed the bleeding, and its population has stabilized, Cleveland's population has decreased from 900,000 people to 450,000 people, and is expecting a further decline to 380,000 people. This decline has many of the city's neighborhoods fragmented and depressed, with thousands of empty lots, vacant buildings, and even unused infrastructure. Terry Schwarz and the CUDC is combating this decline by creating "ad hoc urbanism" via an initiative they call the Pop Up City.

The goal of a Pop Up City event is to remind Cleveland natives of the value of what remains in their city. By reinventing empty lots and vacant buildings as temporary locations for shopping, or galleries, or block parties, the CUDC hopes that people will re-envision these abandoned places as places with value, and as places that can possibly be permanently revitalized. Here a couple of examples of what they have done:

Cleveland Bridge Project:

I'm dying to show you the pictures that Terry showed at the lecture, but they are not yet available. The Detroit-Superior Bridge's lower level used to carry trolleys across the Cuyahoga, but has not for 55 years. Last month, the CUDC set up a series of interventions on the bridge and invited the city to join them on a walk of the lower level. This extraordinary space could serve well as a permanent bike path in a revitalized Cleveland.

Leap Night:

The Flats were a popular nightclub spot in the 1990s, but increasing violence drove many of the bars and clubs out of the neighborhood. A developer with designs to revitalize the Flats with luxury condos but realizing that the market is not yet there, funded the CUDC's initiative to turn the Flats into a winter park for one evening. A snowboarding ramp, ice skating rink, and bonfire enlivened the neighborhood on February 29. The CUDC hopes that a positive image of the neighborhood created by Leap Night will help spur demand for the developer's dreams for The Flats.

Bazaar Bizarre:

Downtown Cleveland suffers from a lack of retail establishments, a bizarre and devastating setback for a large city. The CUDC and the Bazaar Bizarre took over one of downtown Cleveland's empty storefronts during the holiday last year and set up a craft fair in order to remind people of how downtown Cleveland used to be.

--

A postscript about yesterday's post. The USA rallied to draw against Costa Rica 2-2. A last minute header by Johnathan Bornstein tied the game, winning the qualifying group for the Yanks while relegating Costa Rica to a playoff spot against Uruguay for the right to play in the World Cup. This result comes at the expense of another US player, Oguchi Onyewu, who tore his patella on an awkward attempt at a header. Unlike Charlie Davies, he may recover for the World Cup, but at the moment the Yanks have a lot of work to do if they can impress next year in South Africa like they did in South Korea in 2002.

--

I'm going to what seems like a very interesting exhibit in my own backyard either tomorrow or Friday. I'll let you know how that goes.

Two asides.

2009-10-14T15:47:00.002-04:00

I'm not going to talk about my website today - except for the quick mention that I now have five of my projects up in my portfolio! Again, I invite you to my website to take a look at what I've done so far.

Now that that's out of the way - I want to tell you about my new cat.

A week ago, Jenny and I were walking home, traversing the post-industrial gauntlet between the El and our house. We were at a street corner four blocks from our house when this adorable kitten jumps out in front of us. And I mean adorable - look at her! Jenny was smitten, and bent down to say hello. The kitten sniffed Jenny's hand, and we tried to continue on home.

But the kitten followed us. She followed us across several blocks, and we realized that it was love at first sight - there was no way we could leave this kitten outside in the cool night. With a little coaxing, we got the kitten to cross the huge six-way intersection near our house, and eventually, to our front door. We left the door open, and let her decide what to do. After thinking about it for a few minutes, the kitten decided to make us her humans, and came in. We suddenly had a kitten! What a gift from the neighborhood! And the neighborhood we found her in gave her her name - so say hello to Kenzo, our adorable kitten!

--

I also wanted to tell you about something a little sadder - I'm sorry to tell you this last, I guess should have thought about it sooner. Emerging US Soccer star Charlie Davies was nearly killed in a car accident on Monday night, two days after he helped the team secure World Cup qualification, and two days before their final qualifier, this evening in Washington DC. Following the US Men's National Team (The Yanks, or the Nats, neither name I really actually like) is my greatest sports-related passion - I've been to 9 USMNT games, in locales from Boston to Columbus. I've watched nearly every game this year, and I've watched Charlie emerge as one of the USA's first-choice strikers. His goal at Mexico's Azteca Stadium - the most intimidating stadium in the world - was a huge moment for the team, even in defeat. This is a kid with a future. And now it's in doubt.

The accident has caused Charlie two broken bones in his right leg, a broken left elbow, facial fractures, and a lacerated bladder. It will cost him at least 6 months of recovery time - he probably won't be fit to play in time for the World Cup. Worst of all, another passenger in the car was killed. This tragedy has really troubled me, and all I can do is hope for his recovery. I'll be cheering and clapping during the 9th minute of the game tonight, as will all the fans at the game in DC, in tribute to Davies (he wore the 9 jersey for the Yanks.)

Get well soon Charlie!

--

I went to a great lecture last night. I'm gonna tell you about that tomorrow.

Flash is hell.

2009-10-13T15:06:00.003-04:00

I am making a Flash based website. You probably know this - in fact, you may have come from my Flash based website to find this blog post. If you did, you may have been frustrated about the site's long loading time, and you may have been further frustrated by a button in the portfolio section that fails to work.

So am I.

It turns out that, at least right now, I am a moron with code. On the surface it appears that I am learning how to make a respectable portfolio in Flash. And the portfolio does function - but the trouble is, it is not functioning well. I am not learning how to use Flash well. Here are the issues that I'm having.

Why the site takes a long time to load: I have currently embedded each image you see on the website directly into the .fla file. This creates a large Flash file, and is quite the opposite of a "best practice" for creating a Flash website; ideally, you would have each image located externally on your web space, and have the Flash movie load each image as it is called up. However, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do it properly! I can use Actionscript to get a larger portfolio image to pop up in the middle of the page, but I can't get the image to go away, or to be put in a location where it doesn't block other buttons. I'm going to need to take a little more time getting familiar with Actionscript 3.0 if I'm going to get this website up to "best practice" standard.

And while Flash websites typically tide you over with a clever "preloader," (usually a loading bar telling you how much of the website has been downloaded,) I cannot figure out how to put one of those on my movie either! Again, it's the Actionscript - it gives me a headache.

Why the 'back' button doesn't work on most of the portfolio pages: I am completely and totally stumped by this - the only thing I can think of is that the 'back' button doesn't appear in all of the frames and the Actionscript is confused by this. But I really don't know - the code is EXACTLY the same as the code on the 'portfolio' button.

Bleh. I'd hate to be dissatisfied by the hard work I've put into this website so far - and really, why should I be? I've figured out how to make a portfolio, and it'll just take a little work to finish putting all of my favorite projects up on my website. Once that is done, you'd think I'd relax and be done with the site. But I am dissatisfied, and making this website function can't be enough - because the site can be made better.

If you've read this and you think you know the answers to my problems, feel free to get in touch, maybe we can sort them out. Again, here is my website. I promise I won't complain so much next time around.

Once more with feeling.

2009-10-09T15:17:00.004-04:00

So.. if you're here, chances are it's because you visited my new website, and clicked the 'blog' button. Hello, and welcome!

I'm slowly getting the hang of the Flash thing.. I took a quick course that involved Actionscript in college, but I clearly dumped it into the memory hole immediately after taking the course. A few epic struggles with code later, however, and I have succeeded in starting a respectable Flash-based website. I promise it will only get better, and soon you will see a portfolio, which is probably the most important thing, really.

--

But since I'm here, and reviving this blog, I'm going to complain about a couple of things! My complaints stem from this article in the Inquirer about a very exciting exhibit in my neighborhood. While I am happy that this story front the Inquirer's website today, and I can't wait to visit the exhibit, the article itself got me a little down. The first two paragraphs paint a bleak picture of my city's architectural scene:

It's not a new story, but the biggest and best architectural projects in Philadelphia always seem to end up in the hands of out-of-towners. The Barnes Foundation has a New York firm designing its new home. The Art Museum went to Los Angeles to snare Frank Gehry for its underground expansion. Even Drexel University chose a Minneapolis outfit to retrofit Market Street's iconic decorated shed, the ISI Building, one of Robert Venturi's important early works.

On top of that, well over 30 percent of Philadelphia's architects are out of work, thanks to the Great Recession, and the partners in some of the city's best-known firms openly fret that they don't know where their next job is coming from.

I've been out of a job in architecture for over a year now, but my girlfriend and I decided to stick it out in Philadelphia when we moved into a new place in July. Unfortunately, I've never seen the work situation for architects in Philly put in such stark terms until this article. After seeing this fun fact I feel like I've made the wrong choice in staying here.

Second, the article fills me with regrets, albeit with regrets that I've been trying to solve and overcome. I cannot just start up my own architecture firm like many of the exhibitors for "Fertile Ground" have - I am not yet a registered architect. I cannot become registered until I get another job in the field and work for at least two more years - but it's hard to get a job. I guess my regret is that I see so many architects fostering their creativity in spite of how hard of a profession architecture is to break into - and I wonder, why isn't that me? Well, I've half-answered that question - I'm not registered and couldn't get anything built. I'm trying to answer the other half right now - reviving the blog, learning new, somewhat related skills (such as building my Flash website,) attending as much of DesignPhiladelphia as I can, and perhaps most importantly, volunteering with the Community Design Collaborative. So my wheels are turning, slowly. I'm going to overcome my regrets and my lethargy, I swear! =)

My third, off topic, complaint about this article lies in the comments - I cannot believe how quick people are to tear one another down. The first commenter is quick to condemn the Inquirer's architecture writer, for her positive review of the new, controversial Barnes Foundation building being built in Philadelphia:

"Sorry Inga, you lost all your well earned Arch cred after the Barnes review........."

Yes, anonymous commenter, there are many questionable design choices for the building, though I believe these choices were made by architects hamstrung by the rich philanthropists contributing to the Barnes' move from Philadelphia. But one review that goes against the grain does not destroy one's credibility. Ugh - the internet - where anonymity breeds hyperbole. I hope that I am anything but as I continue to write.

--

I'll be back in a couple days, with posts about Design Philadelphia, as well as our new kitten.

Ivy Ridge Train Station - A Dream Exercise

2009-01-14T16:52:00.004-05:00

One of the pleasures of living under the shadow of Roxborough Towers is the Ivy Ridge train station, a short-ish walk away at the bottom of the hill. I've been using Ivy Ridge to get to Center City Philadelphia for about a year and a half now, just as SEPTA, the Philly-area public transit agency, has secured increased state funding, leading to improvements such as more buses and trains, and trains that operate into the early morning hours on weekends.

As wonderful as it is to have an adequately funded public transit authority, there has been little opportunity for SEPTA to aesthetically enhance its train stations. Philadelphia's voice of the dreamers, Nathaniel Popkin, recent wrote in his book, The Possible City, that it is one thing for a city to function; it is another thing for the city to dazzle. While Ivy Ridge train station certainly functions, I would hardly call it dazzling:

Yes, perhaps this photograph is a little harsh, but these small, uncomfortable, metal graffiti magnets - excuse me, train shelters - are a common eyesore for the Regional Rail traveler. I think we can do a little better. So, since I have plenty of time on my hands, I am going to devote some time to my own exercise in dreaming Philadelphia - how can Ivy Ridge train station be improved?

Ivy Ridge Dream Exercise - Schematic Master Plan

Google Earth is fantastic, isn't it? Let me explain what I've drawn here. The black lines are the train tracks, and the black blocks are the train platforms at Ivy Ridge. The red, numbered boxes indicate three projects I want to consider for my dream exercise. The blue lines are bike lanes and trails, which are important when considering project 2, and perhaps project 3.

Now, about each of the projects:

I envision project 1 as a terraced community garden. The staircase down to the platform roughly follows the grade of a steep hill that is, in some places, eroding, and in other places, inundated with invasive plant species such as the Devil's Walking Stick. This plague of unwanted flora, unsightly as it may be, indicates that this hillside gets ample sunlight, and could serve as a wonderful place for somebody to have a hobby garden. Its location, directly adjacent to a train station serving hundreds of passengers daily, would allow the garden to become a community landmark, and a potent example of urban gardening, a growing concept that has consistently garnered attention in Philadelphia. The following two photographs will show the existing hillside:

Projects 2 and 3 are perhaps a little more abstract and less feasible, and I seriously thought them up immediately after I left the train station, so I don't have pictures to back these up. Nevertheless, I'll try to explain them briefly.

Project 2 is a connection between the bicycle lanes on Umbria Street, and the Manayunk Towpath bike trail. As the bicycle lanes on Umbria Street abruptly end at the train station, cyclists compete with cars for the limited space remaining. On the occasions when I drive into Manayunk, I am frightened about hitting a cyclist on Umbria Street, and baffled that they choose to ride bikes on the street when there's a bike trail paralleling it. A new bicycle path would connect the Umbria Street bike lanes with the Towpath via the old Ivy Ridge train station located in box 2. I'm pleased to find that there are already advocates for converting this old rail line, discontinued due to the structural concerns regarding the Manayunk Viaduct, to a bike path. Should I explore this project in depth, I will need to flesh out the connection some more, but this seems like a good start.

Project 3 is the most ambiguous of my ideas; I would simply like to see something other than an abandoned parking lot on the other side of the train tracks. At the moment I have no idea what could be built there - what type of project is suited to being immediately adjacent to a commuter rail line one one side, and a factory (visible through the trees in the picture concluding this post) on the other? I guess that remains to be figured out.

--

My plan now is to visualize project 1, the terraced community garden. I want to use this project as an outlet, a chance to exercise my atrophying creative muscles and sketching abilities. The fruits of my labor will be shared here, and at that point I will have enough content here to spread my ideas to a broader audience (after all, the only person who knows of this blog is, I think, my girlfriend - hi Jenny!) It is past the time to dream - it is time to create, because who will ever know my ideas if I only dream of them?

My Selfish Support of Economic Stimulus through Architecture

2009-01-09T12:41:00.006-05:00

I'm gonna put it out there up front - I've been unemployed for a LONG time. And here is why I am unemployed.

I am, or perhaps, was, an intern architect at a firm that designed residential architecture almost exclusively. Most of this residential architecture was "spec housing," the type of housing you would find in a suburban sub-development named after the natural feature that had been chopped down, bulldozed over, or frightened off to create the sub-development. These were exactly the kind of homes that millions of average Americans staked their American dream upon, made affordable by Adjustable Rate Mortgages. The recent adjustment of the rates in these mortgages created a massive spike in foreclosures; the first domino to fall during our current economic.. um.. Depression the sequel?

As the intern architect, the lowest rung of the ladder, at a firm designing the very houses that were suddenly no longer being bought, sold, or built, I could not say I was surprised when I was laid off. Nor could I say I was disappointed; being the lowly AutoCAD operator for simple spec houses that were the antithesis of my own design sensibilities was not the most rewarding of jobs. Besides, the job did bless me with a solid professional background with which, combined with my tidy student portfolio, I would easily find a new job.

However, the economic dominoes kept falling, job listings in architecture became increasingly scarce, and then most of the other firms in my area unloaded much of their intern and junior staff. This of course means that a job in my chosen profession is almost certainly out of the question at the moment, other jobs are also scarce (and, admittedly, generally not exciting,) and I must begrudgingly thank President Bush for signing an extension to unemployment benefits.

--

But, unless he's strung up in The Hague, let's not think about Bush. Let's think about Obama, his economic stimulus for The Rest of Us, our last chance to save America! I suppose there are hundreds of ways to spend a Trilli, but how does the incoming administration do it in a way that creates jobs quickly AND plants the seeds for a economically and ECOLOGICALLY sustainable future? It seems you do so by rebuilding our nation's infrastructure. Rebuilding our nation's infrastructure. What does that even mean? It's so typically vague! But upon reading this plan, and seeing the word "BUILD," I got excited - as an architect, I help to design things that get.. BUILT! But what exactly do we aim to build a trillion dollars of?

It's generally feared amongst the Jim Kunstler's of the world that infrastructure means roads, as in new roads for new cars, which, like houses, aren't being bought these days, and, Kunstler argues, like suburbia in general, have a shaky future at best. New roads are not a long term solution to our economic crisis - repair existing roads if you much, and please, repair bridges, but please, do not build new roads!

Fortunately, there are other assumptions of what "infrastructure" means. These other possibilities are much more sensible from an ecological standpoint, and a long term economic standpoint, as these are things we can use. Obama has expressly stated that the term "infrastructure" also includes a commitment to alternative energy, and a new electric grid that supports electricity generated by alternative energy sources. A stimulus created by this new, more liberal administration may also consider John Kerry and Arlen Specter's High Speed Rail Bill, which would foster the creation of a new railroad network that would better serve America's need to get around in a future where cars may well become a burden.

However, in Obama's speech on the stimulus yesterday (linked above,) he mentioned consideration of what I selfishly feel is the best way to spend a chunk of a trillion dollars - fixing buildings!

We will modernize more than 75% of federal buildings and improve the energy efficiency of two million American homes, saving consumers and taxpayers billions on our energy bills.

This gives me hope that the incoming Obama administration has given consideration to Architecture2030, whose broad goal is to make all buildings have a net-zero impact on carbon emissions by 2030, and whose current goal is to encourage some of the economic stimulus to consider improving existing homes. This is exactly what I believe in! The tasks involved are those which I am already qualified for! And Obama is considering it? Change I can believe in!

With the renewed hope that the economic stimulus creates jobs in architecture, I feel re-energized, and ready to do some things I should have been doing since I've been laid off. Hopefully some of those things will rub off on the internet here. Keep posted..

New Leaves, Doubts, (Great?) Expectations

2009-01-09T11:45:00.002-05:00

They say that New Year's is always the right time to turn over a new leaf. I'm already giving it a shot in one or two respects, so maybe I can also revamp my brain, my flow of ideas, my creativity, and share it with you, the internet.

But in the tumultuous times that we live in, I've been finding it hard to be anything other than an observer from my window, reading but not commenting, formulating opinions but not sharing them, listening but not speaking. Maybe I'm scared to put my opinions out there. There was a time when I was not scared, and now is no time to be scared. Some dude once said "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." As history has repeated itself and we once again live in a world that is burgeoning a culture of fear, it may even be selfish to keep my ideas to myself, especially when ideas are so easy to share.

With that in mind I have decided to try blogging again. Aside from my pictures from Europe, feel free to ignore everything I've written here before. My expectation is to explore my passions and share them with you here - nothing more, nothing less.

I really hope this works out.

EuroTrip 2008

2008-09-10T14:19:00.005-04:00

Enough with the "lamentations of searching-for-a-job" theme of this blog. (I'll let you figure out whether or not I got that job I discussed in my last post.) It's time for some EuroTrip pictures!

About two months ago I put my photos on Facebook. I immediately regretted this decision, because it is such a private forum, so much so that I cannot even let my family see them. (My parents are 56, think they have Facebook?) Today I reposted all of those same photos on a Picasa account, which seems to seamlessly flow with both my gmail and this blog. I figured I would share a few of these here and link to the full albums.

I went to visit my friend Peterz during his year in Prague in May 2008. I saw Prague, Karlovy Vary, Vienna, the Danube river, and Budapest. Here are some of my favorite sites from that trip:

The Charles Bridge and Prague Castle from the banks of the Vltava River.

From EuroTrip 2008 - Prague

Grandhotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary - or, as you might remember it, "Casino Royale."

From EuroTrip 2008 - Karlovy Vary

Vienna's Rathaus, or City Hall. I thought it was covered in Austrian flags for the Euros, but apparently it's always like this.

From EuroTrip 2008 - Vienna and Boat to Budapest

Budapest's Chain Bridge and Buda Castle at sunset:

From EuroTrip 2008 - Budapest

If these photos tantalize you, be sure to check out my other Eurotrip photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/TR.gregwilson

Me. 2/3 Liar.

2008-08-22T01:02:00.005-04:00

So in two and a half weeks, I've really not accomplished a lot of anything. Except, maybe, the most important thing I have to do.

I had an interview this afternoon, and it went really well. It was an hour of great conversation with one of the firm's principals, discussing many of the concerns about the business end of architecture, especially how a relatively small firm such as this firm can break through and keep up with current software trends. It was refreshing to hear his realistic stance on the affordability of these programs and the need for an individual's initiative, balanced with a more idealistic attitude in which he is aching to stay on the cutting edge. Another half hour followed, with the other principal of the firm joining us and discussing my portfolio, as well as my relationship with my previous firm, as the second principal used to work with my old boss. I hope and trust that my old boss will speak highly of my work when the second principal inevitably calls him. Anyhow, my fingers are crossed and my hopes are high. I think I'll get this job, I think I'll take it, and, hell, I might even like it!

As I mentioned, the first principal I talked to today discussed one's personal ambition as being necessary to learn new skills. On this point, I have utterly failed while being unemployed. I have not the LEED study materials that have been available to me, and I have not so much as installed Rhino on my computer. I bought new pencils and pens to start with the good intention of drawing again, but so far I've hardly opened their cases. Hopefully there will not be much time left for me to fix these things. And, for the project I intended to make up for myself, I took pictures of the site but got no further with that. Summer vacation rules!

In spite of all of these shortcomings, I scratched out a very promising interview and I'm looking forward to hearing back from this firm! My girlfriend had three criteria for finding a job that would fit her desires, and I'm blatantly stealing them here. From a location standpoint, the firm is on the outskirts of a great neighborhood that I've always wanted to explore more, and within relatively good commuting distance time-wise, walking-wise, and not-needing-a-car wise. From a work standpoint, the firm's work is diverse, the firm is growing, and they're considerate of professional development. From a financial standpoint, I'm somehow able to save money even while I'm on unemployment, so I'll be thrilled to get paid similarly to how I've been paid as an intern architect before.

Also, I listened to this live Deerhunter performance on repeat while blogging. Second shoutout to them in a row - Bradford Cox (and his band) is a mad genius. Cheers!

Bite Marks

2008-08-04T00:21:00.004-04:00

Yes, that's the Atlas Sound track that I can't shake right now. (check them out.. on the blog list.. to the right..)

Well yeah.. dawn still hasn't come and I'm still unemployed. I feel like I might be caught in a dreadful Catch-22, wherein I need a new computer to run the programs that will help me land a good job, but I can't afford a new computer because I don't have a job. I'd like to spend some time teaching myself Revit and Rhino and other bright and shiny architecture programs but I don't think my computer will handle them. I'm downloading free Rhino tonight so we'll see how that shakes out.

Oh dear - I'm starting to leak the real point of my blog. I'm going to attempt and chronicle the architecture-related things I do while I am unemployed. Hopefully that will entail less despair and more action on my part, both in my brain and on the internet. I have a few goals in my head for my period of unemployment:

1.) Get employed again. (This, of course, overrides all other goals. However, searching for a new job, while time consuming, isn't necessarily a full time job, no matter what the cliche tells us.)
2.) Study for LEED certification. Not only a good self-marketing tool, it'll make me more knowledgeable and help me more environmentally conscious from a practical, and not abstract, point of view.
3.) Make up a design project. I've targeted a vacant lot down the street from my house (Roxborough Towers! Get it now?) and will create a program for it, and run with it. If I can get one of the bright and shiny design programs to run on my computer I will use it as a design tool. If not, then I will be honing my SketchUp talents.

Either way, you'll see how that shakes out right here, at Roxborough Towers.

I'm Still Waiting.

2008-07-28T23:34:00.003-04:00

They talk about an unstoppable force crashing into an immovable object.

Is my insistence, my stubborness, my dubious claim of greatness, the unstoppable force or the immovable object? Or is my lethargy, my cynicism, my reality of my bed and my roommate's Wii, one force or the other?

Is it odd that I'm at my most lethargic, my most cynical, just when the dawn just might be breaking? Or would it be a false dawn, unable to change anything? This mind ponders, and it's all this mind seems to be able to do right now.

"Summer Vacation"

2008-07-08T21:30:00.003-04:00

I got laid off of my job on June 20th.

So I'm calling this my "summer vacation" to make me feel better about it. I'm calling this my "summer vacation" in spite of the fact that it must already be ending - the honeymoon with unemployment is over. The bills have come, my first withdrawal from my savings has come, and my need to do something has come back. After all, there is only so much I can do for my mind by reading Wikipedia and liberal blogs, pretending to learn something the world and politics.

I get wrapped up further within myself.

Hi

2008-06-11T15:58:00.002-04:00

~~I has a blog. What should I do with it?~~