I’ve been thinking about the boring wood. All the ways you can stack it, pile it, blah, blah, blah. But, more importantly, all the things you can build with wood. After the Magazine Street adventure, I thought about the idea of balconies and why people enjoy being up there so much, whether it’s for afternoon lunch, after work drinks…mardi gras… Balconies allow you to see what’s going on around you, under you, down the street. Perhaps, it goes back to Frank’s history class and one of the ideas that sticks in my mind the most…refuge, prospect…What? Anyway, yesterday, as I was staring out the window and daydreaming, I payed attention to something I had been looking at for the past week. Right outside our studio window were men on a scaffold, working on a chimney. That was when I had an ingenious idea…treehouses! At first the idea seemed juvenile, but I just kept thinking about how fun it would be to be at Chelsea’s and be able to go up in the treehouse and hang out with friends while listening to music and looking over the edge. Or during the day, people could have lunch, read, birdwtch, etc… So, as I researched treehouses, I came across this cool picture. Now, I’m going to…think about it.   

Today we surveyed Magazine Street from Louisiana to Washington. Well, actually we started at Foucher and headed towards Washington. We were to survey and document things such as relative density and rhythm. Our area has so much activity from all of the boutiques, restaurants, and bars. It was beautiful weather today, which made it a nice, comfortable walk. It was nice to walk around and see stores and cafes with their doors propped open, making it welcoming and inviting. We made an occasional stop here and there. I especially enjoyed the two blocks between Louisiana and Pleasant. They included many boutiques, as well as Reginelli’s and the Bulldog. Finally, after a nice afternoon walking around and observing, we met at the Bulldog, had dinner, returned to our area for more pictures, then headed back to the studio to document our findings and photographs. From here, we will present our information with a circulation map, particularly vehicular circulation, a land use map, identifying buildings, and a figure gound study. Also, we’ll include an overall map showing the density of our area to other areas, showing how it changes along that stretch.  

So, I was really fascinated with the pervasive wood on our site. for my good surveyor, i was interested in finding out more about it, like where it came from and what it was there for.  So I obsessed about it for a while and it turns out that it’s a tree cutting service. they cut the trees during the summer and sell the firewood duringthe winter. there was something intersting to me about the fact that it all comes from around baton rouge and is brought to this site, then essentially recycled, redistributed, and reused. i talked to the guy who is in charge of it and he taught me about all the different kinds of wood out there. it’s mostly oak, ash, cypress, cedar. however, they also get wood from fruit trees such as pineapple, cherry, peach and pear. others include hickory, pecan. Also, different types of wood are used for different things, not just firewood. For example, the red and white oak is cut into 2 foot pieces, quartered, then stacked so that it can season for the next 6-8 months till it’s needed for firewood. it’s stacked in a way that is easy to count, a cord. In other words, form follows function. The forms that are created are because of some specific function. For example, the quartered oak is stacked on top of logs so that termites don’t infest it while looking for water. There were also piles of red oak and pecan stumps, used for stoves. Cedar is mostly used for furniture…and the list goes on. As for my evil artist, I made a palette of textures and forms. I explored the different forms that the stacks could take with miniature pieces of wood that i cut from quarter rounds. turns out the possibilities are endless, so i glued the most typical forms together into mini-models.       

in the video, the environment is cold, dark, barren and empty, yet consistent. the only thing that changes is Madonna…she transforms into a flock of birds, a dog, and at some points multiplies in to 3 of herself. these are distinct markers of change. SO, like gov’t street, there is a variety of changes but the surroundings/development are very similar throught the changes.

I really need feedback on this guys because I am not sure if it makes sense to others…let me know what you think. thanks. 

these are my thoughts on my current idea for this project. i’m going to choose a few different areas to draw sections of, each from a different view. the theme i got from my video is that everything is consistent, the site remains consistent, however, you will view it from different points. uhh…i don’t understand what i just wrote. i’ll explain in my pin-up today. the idea is that you can walk along a straight path but view totally different things along the way. as you move further down, you’ll be able to see things you didn’t see before. get it?

i took more pictures of government street and finished my flash videos over the weekend for monday’s class. now, i’m working on thinking of a theme for the video exercise. mine is madonna’s “frozen.” i’m thinking about the theme being something along the lines of change/transformation. throughout her video, madonna transforms into birds, a dog, and at times stays herself but multiplies…just like gov’t street, which has different areas such as residential, commercial, etc… some types are also multiplied. the space around her stays the same….plain, empty, abandoned, desert. so i think im going to do a timeline and have different frames where she is one thing or another and show them overlapping at certain times. i think this video has some sort of a dark/scary aspect, so im thinking of a way to incorporate that, as well.

I drove down Government Street to and made several observations. There are many transitions along the way. I started at the corner of Government and Lobdell and headed towards the river. The beginning of my route was neighborhoods and houses. Then it changed into restaurants. As I kept driving the scenery changed to an economically depressed area with abandoned buildings. As I drove closer to the interstate, I came across several law firms. Once I crossed under the Interstate, Government Street appeared very different and more lively. There was nicer landscaping and more action than on the other side. That side was shorter and contained mostly government buildings, more law offices, the centroplex, and finally the street ended at River Road in front of the USS KIDD. I enjoyed the ride and dynamic scenery.

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