NYTimes: Temporary Housing

Motel Rooms Become Home for Some
By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: March 11, 2009
Many victims of the recession are living in garages or in motels, uncounted and often receiving little public aid.

Midterm Presentation - Joint Project - Louisa & Valerie

gc test

New York Times

Tenants Wary of Clustering of Homeless

By JULIE BOSMAN

Published: March 3, 2009

urban nomad

"It wasn't a 'back to the earth' ideology based on recreating an agrarian lifestyle. It was about living light for the sake of mobility with a reliance on self-made artifacts made from common materials and industrial cast-offs for the sake of economy and efficiency, the off-the-shelf products of the consumer culture simply being impractical -too expensive, cumbersome, inefficient in their use of materials and space- for a nomadic lifestyle. Some anticipated an imminenent break-down of the consumer and corporate cultures as a result of their inherent non-sustainability and the dominant trend of technology evolution toward systems of decreasing size and increasing capability, ultimately restoring the power of self-determination through the decentralization and eventual personalization of industrial production. Put simply, they saw a future where most everyone could maintain as high a standard of living as they could imagine through the products of their own labor and ingenuity and by virtue of increasingly capable tools and clever design."

from http://radio.weblogs.com/0119080/stories/2003/03/11/galleryUrbanNomadics.html
Ken Issacs

corrugated flip

the flipping of the surface occurs because of the central void.

flamingo foot

Med44

http://flickr.com/photos/med44/sets/72157605121603460/

I have been lately envisioning the construction to be greater than a single occupancy. But at this point, it is still to be figured out with the composition of the design component.

NYTimes: Starkitecture

All of the clothing in some way investigates techniques and uses of folded fabric. The top left model for example seems similar to my approach thus far. The middle right image where there is an extension of fabric seemed to have zipper edges. It would be interesting to incorporate this puzzle piece fitting into the design.

Photos taken from NYTimes.

transition

closed to open
condensed to unfolded as quarter, semicircle and full.

Moving a City in Sweden - BBC - One Planet

BBC - One Planet - Artic Mine 05 Feb 09.

Due to the shifting of the foundations of a 19th century mining city from continual underground detonations, a Swedish city has decided to pick up and move everything, including the church, schools, sewer system, etc. to safe ground.

This move, or rather this opportunity to mobilize, to momentarily be nomadic, is going to be to the detriment of the Sami people, an indigenous group of people that are stateless. The Sami cross multiple borders of Nordic nations. Part of their livelihood is dependent on herding reindeer and following the migratory paths of these herds.

Unfortunately, current plans for the town's relocation of the railway line will involve removing 50% of the migratory paths of the reindeer.

test models 2

outer shell and thin membrane serve as structure/shelter for pomegranate seeds

compact brush

what if instead of the compact brush (which can fold and unfold), the object has two sides: bristles on one, something else on the other. currently the other, in my mind, serves simply as a shelter, in its concave shape. but it is dependent on the primary functioning of the bristle side.

test models 1

ideas

key words i'm focusing on

retractable
flexible
invertible
convertible


i will be playing with the dichotomy of open/close:
a) hooded figure v. unhooded figure
b) the clenching or unclenching of a webbed duck foot i.e. while swimming
c) closing and unfurling of a pillbug