Commentary: Critique and Theory Hour

Today we had an interim critique of our “Box for 12 twigs” project. The critique helped me understand how to progress my project to the next stage. An important lesson we have been learning is that we need to simplify ideas. Find out what your project is really about, it’s story, and draw attention to that. Maybe there is a defining quality about your twigs that you want to showcase. In that case, too many extra things in one project can be distracting.

There are a few different ways to draw the focus to a certain aspect. First, contrasting elements can point out a certain color or shape of the twigs. You can use a contrasting color paper or a contrasting texture to play off the element of the twigs.

Scale is also important when creating something. The actual size of the project needs to work with the size of the twigs. This is all about proportion. How do the twigs relate to the rest of the structure?

Its also necessary to have many iterations of your idea. If you have a new thought of how to make it, make a new one. Keep making new models because you’ll have the best project you can possibly make at the end.

Also today we had a guest speaker during theory hour. An architect named John Lynn discussed sustainability and the Architecture 2030 challenge. His view is that global warming is taking place and if humans aren’t causing it, we certainly are helping it. He compared the human race to a storm that isn’t going away. He is not the only architect that is concerned about sustainability.

Architecture 2030 is an organization created by architect Edward Mazria. Its goal is to enlighten all designers and builders about the global warming crisis, and that by 2030 we need to end the use of carbon products completely. So much energy is used to create carbon products, so we need to figure out how to build without wasting our resources.

It’s important to have the future in mind whenever we are building. Will people still be able to use this structure efficiently in 100 years? We can’t just build things to the standards of today.

There are even LEED certified buildings in Greensboro. The Proximity Hotel and the Weaver Cooke headquarters were built using sustainable techniques. It’s great that this cause is spreading so rapidly around the country. More and more people are becoming aware of how they affect the environment. Now people are discovering how they can take better care of planet.