Perception: Place

Tour/Travel...Where do we go? How do we record what we see? What do we bring back and what do we leave behind? How do our travels change us?

Sketches, photographs, journals, scrap-books...these are the traditional methods employed by architecture students as methods of documenting and interpreting what they have observed while traveling.

Travel is an opportunity to visit a place we’ve never been or return to a place for renewed inspiration. Traveling, we observe and experience “things” that are unique to a place, i.e. local. Traveling we observe and experience “things” that are the same from place to place, i.e. global.

“Souvenir” was an opportunity to design and fabricate 3 dimensional functional objects that described the experience of student travels: what they saw, what they brought back, what they left behind, what they learned and/or how they changed during 2 months of study and exposure to the people & places of Mexico, Chicago, and their Mexican and American academic peers.

Method: Process
Lectures and the student’s design process explored: history, theory, drawing, modeling, fabrication techniques, structure, materials, finishes, drawing and modeling as a means of exploration, representation and presentation. Students individually designed & fabricated their “souvenir” in the Model Shop of the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Technique: Skills
Students participated in training sessions becoming familiar with IIT Model Shop equipment and techniques for fabricating small functional objects using everything from table-saws to laser cutters. Students passed a shop test giving them access to shop equipment. Students sourced materials in the Chicago-land area traveling by train, bus and carpool. Student/faculty critiques took place in the classroom then moved quickly to the Model Shop where critiques related to mock-ups, materials and machine techniques. Students moved quickly from 2d and 3d drawings to full scale study models. Final fabrication was both a continuation of the design process and a physical realization of student concepts at full scale, using real materials.

Making: Building
Students experienced in 27 days the traditional architectural sequence of master plan, schematic design, design development, material/finish selection, fabrication drawings, fabrication, and use.

No Experience Necessary:
19 students from Tech de Monterrey arrived in Chicago with no shop experience. 6 IIT students had shop experience but had not previously built a functional object. 1 IIT student and 1 faculty participant had experience with both the shop and building functional objects. 27 days to gain experience with shop tools, materials and realizing a full scale fabrication of an architectural concept is a lot to ask of an architecture student…but we asked anyway.

”Memory Mobile Portrait” Picture frames as a collection of boxes that can be arranged and rearranged the way you like. Five moving frames create always differing display forms. The principal material is laser cut medium density fiberboard combined with movable connections consisting of threaded metal rods, washers and nuts.

”Contrived Table” Is not just a piece of furniture but an abstraction of architecture and its evolving designs and methods of construction. Contrived Table was designed as a simple self-assembly product that can be easily and affordably transported and/or shipped. This flat pack and easy assembly system with its many possible materials and dimensions has the potential to provide well designed furniture at an affordable price.

”Stacking Shelves” Was inspired by the exposed rebar extending out from the structures of unfinished/future levels of homes in Mexico. Stacking shelves is an interpretation of the idea of growth/future observed in the incomplete nature of Mexico’s many buildings. The shelves act as individual pieces to be stacked in various ways when needed, the structure lending itself to new growth.

”Sketchbook Pro” In recent years advances in digital technology have pushed digital drawing to the forefront of architecture and design. Borrowing from this notion, my souvenir project aims to return some of that success to the analog act of drawing by hand.

Through my experiences traveling abroad and observing architecture this summer I have filled many sketchbooks with the observations and records of countless examples of architecture experienced first hand. However, these sketches are, in the end, scanned and digitized for use in portfolios or personal record. As each of these analog drawings were digitized in accordance with the required coursework, it became more and more apparent to me that I wanted my souvenir to focus on the act of drawing rather than the resultant drawings themselves.

Formally, my souvenir is an exact replica of the computer my sketches ultimately end up on. The design, inspired by the 15” Apple MacBook Pro that I use for school, has been modified to carry up to two sketchbooks and multiple drawing medias. This way, any bag or case I already use to carry my laptop can now be used to carry my sketchbook and drawing tools as I travel.

Through the use of interchangeable laser cut trays, many different load-outs can be constructed to support the act of drawing with many different tools. Shown here is my favorite load-out consisting of one sketchbook, two pens and a set of colored markers. The trays act as a sort of “analog software” that can be re-conceived, re-cut and re-constructed very quickly and easily to hold updated sets of media and tools in the future, similar to updated versions of digital software.

I know my trips this summer have already proved very inspiring. Hopefully, my souvenir sees more inspired use in the years to come, as I continue to travel, to observe and to record observations made on my travels, in pursuit of the noble profession…

”Table & Chair” Is the fusion of two objects with the possibility of obtaining the maximum from each with a minimum of effort. Table & Chair investigates how it might be possible with 2 simple strokes to create objects that depend on each other to function or exist each on their own.

”Rough-Smooth Flat Pack Table” The concept is inspired by travel, i.e. a table that can be packed and unpacked. The contrasting materials of sandblasted acrylic and raw wafer board refer to the city and the "pueblo" coexisting in one item/place. The design functions as both a laptop table and table for breakfast in bed.

”PMA” (Personal Mobile Amplifier) This souvenir concept, toys with the observation of buildings vertically divided into three parts. From bottom to top materials vary/transition:  acrylic, wood (walnut) and iPod/iPhone. The IPod/iPhone’s sound is amplified by increasing the circular cutouts in each layer as they descend toward the bottom where sound is released. There is no use of glue, making it easy to disassemble, assemble and modify the PMA with basic tools.

”Timing Cities” Consists of 12 frames which are meant for attachment to the wall with the clock component as their central piece. 12 frames allow for an infinite number of arrangement options. Each frame is an opportunity to display your best pictures from the cities you’ve visited.

”The Modular Unit” This project borrows/is inspired by the concrete and rebar construction systems used for buildings of various functions observed/recorded throughout my travels. This project is about creating a modular concrete unit which can be outfitted with different PVC pipe fittings allowing for differing functions.

”Taste Seeker” A walnut stand meant to hold four small bowls of salsa/sauce/dip. Salsas, sauces and dips that I have grown up eating, those that I sampled on this trip and those that I have yet to try.

”Souvenir One” The idea is to create, with the included lamp’s warm light, a unique atmosphere. Shelves allow for the display of travel journals or objects of your choice. The concept of the lamp is inspired by the observed atmospheres of various Mexican/Chicago urban sites.

”Suitcase Table” The main idea was to take the architectural concept of head/body/base and create a portable always changing table. The head is a sheet of laser perforated acrylic that allows for the addition of body/base which uses recycled plastic bottles and their caps. The acrylic top can be carried in a suitcase and upon arrival at your destination can be turned into a table with the addition of locally found/emptied plastic bottles. Everywhere you go the table is different.

”Changing Lights” A lamp that will never be the same. By designing/fabricating a base unit that connects to its shade components in a modular/interchangeable/variable way. The idea is to create a lamp that can be assembled and disassembled, encouraging the user an endless number of ways to assemble, arrange and rearrange their lamp.

“MU Organizer” An organizer where you can display architectural plans and a model. The organizer has two “walls” and one “roof” which for me expresses the architectural link between Mexico and the USA. In total the furniture has 4 fasteners with visible wood plugged holes representing Zacatecas-Mexico City-Guadalajara and Chicago.

”Journal Geode” This case is inspired by the unique entrances that I observed in Mexico. The case, made of ash wood, has been finger jointed as observed in numerous Luis Barragan furniture projects. The cover of the case is made of purple heart wood to emphasize the way the box opens/functions. A rare geode that I found/purchased in Mexico has been used as the “knob”. The case has been designed to have a sliding cover which reveals the geode’s beautiful crystals and the enclosed journal only once the case/cover has been opened.

”The Exploding Shelf” The main idea here was to build a case that can store personal drawing items. By using visually heavy and light materials the design is meant to give the faces of the case a floating effect.