The Decatur Old House Fair

While I was waiting for a table at Tin Lizzy on Memorial Drive, I came upon this poster on the window at the restaurant…

2nd Annual Decatur Old House Fair

I’ve only taken interest in this kind of thing recently, especially when the real estate market has dropped. I feel that renovating older homes are better than buying new homes for many reasons. There is obviously the financial aspect of it. But another reason is that you can have a older house at a GREAT location at a price that fit into people’s budgets. I also think that by renovating older homes around Atlanta, we can beautify the city and ease up on urban sprawl.
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COA students published in Burnaway.org

A few COA students, including myself, have written pieces for the Arts Publication Burnaway.org. It is nice to see our education at work in the local community:
Merica May || Mall education: gloATL’s Bloom at Lenox Square
Jeff Sauser and Josh LeFrancois ||  John Portman: Hand of the genius? +  Chevron: The next Octane?

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who do YOU want to hear next year?

there is a chance we, the students, might have a say in who we hear in the lecture series next year! voice your desires. comment below by going on to the read more page::::: Read the rest of this entry »

faces | voices 2: gernot riether

in this edition, architect and assistant professor gernot riether is questioned about digital design, bernard tschumi’s paperless studio at columbia’s gsaap, global architecture, and his time with powerhouse architecture studio- reiser and umemoto.

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Through New Eyes – Paris

Architecture must be lived. And for those of us who are students of life, experiencing a new one is perhaps the closest we will get to understanding. The Paris Program here at Georgia Tech is a yearlong study abroad that will teach you about the world, design, and yourself.  During my time in Paris, I decided to write down my observations and thoughts.  Enjoy.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

:Culture Bridge

Culture Bridge

For years, the COA undergraduate program structured the Senior studio in such a way that the students could choose which studio they took depending on their interests. Fall 2009 Senior Studio had a fresh add to the studio options! An installation studio was added and it was to be taught by the in-house artist/photographer; Ruth Dusseault. The installations were temporarily placed around different sites on campus.
I was so fortunate to be part of this amazing experience. No one, including I, knew exactly what we would be required, so the experience was quite new and challenging for all 12 of us. Throughout the semester we investigated various ways of visual representations of ideas, especially abstract ideas. We also worked in teams amongst ourselves and with a greater body; the entire school, to birth our ideas.
In my opinion it was a great success for the first of such a unique studio. It challenged us to think beyond the box, to investigate all types of circumstances and the ability to work and ask for help from others in different fields. It also made the campus more aware of certain issues, and buildings as well as the College of Architecture at GaTech.
My project was titled the Culture Bridge and it investigated the issue of cultures on Tech’s campus and how their presence is felt. For a better understanding of the project read my Artist and Visual Statement. Read the rest of this entry »

faces | voices | merica may

voice heard here | http://www.vimeo.com/graymatters

merica may | ballet dancer 2007

merica may in seattle 2009

painting by jenny saville

section of a lotus seed pod, variation and repitition

V-day: gloATL Mall Performance

Flux Projects is sponsoring Lauri Stallings and her gloATL troupe of dancers and multimedia artists for three performances of “Bloom,” a new site-specific performance at Lenox Square mall over Valentine’s weekend. gloATL will be joined by spoken word artist and hip-hop producer Big Rube, as well as Tom Sherwood and Brad Ritchie, musicians include both the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Sonic Generator.

Go see innovative dance in one of architecture’s greatest conundrums. Let the love story begin.

Malcolm Wells, an architect ahead of his time, dies

“We live in an era of glitzy buildings and trophy houses: big, ugly, show-off monsters that stand-on – I should say stomp-on – land stripped bare by the construction work and replanted with toxic green lawns. If the buildings could talk they would be speechless with embarrassment.”

It’s one thing to embrace sustainability nowadays; but in the early 60’s and throughout the subsequent decades, environmentally conscious architecture was for the fringe few only.

Wells took a stand and pushed on though.

…Oh, and he studied at Georgia Tech.

http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/78749177.html

http://www.malcolmwells.com/index.html

View the James Corner Lecture

If you missed the lecture Monday night, view it here. What did you think about Corner’s work?

Dean Balfour, James Corner and Professor Douglas C. Allen