ArchStar

Let's start with this 1st year who goes to the same school as I do, just found his blog and it's really interesting so I think you guys should check it out. http://tristan-architecture.blogspot.com/

Well the boy I liked dropped his bf three days after the post. He said he isn't ready for a relationship (which I was aware of - time commitment) so I can put him back in the summer pocket (for lack of a nicer term).

Did you know the Day of Silence is this Friday? I had never heard about this national event, but for it you duct tape your mouth in observance of all the people who have been silenced because of who they are and against anti-LGBT slurs. The guy (we'll calm him Film Buff from now on) is really pushing me to participate, so I decided, why not? The caveat is we're going to the gay club that night (funnnnn. kind of.) so at midnight we'll rip it off. And then we will dance and he will hit on someone else and I'll probably end up watching him make out with said guy. So I'm bringing my friend (a girl) along so I have a bit of back up.

Design is going excellently! It's very odd I think I'm only allowed to have a good social life or academic life. Anyway, my building is coming together nicely and I think it''ll be an excellent addition to the revival of San Antonio's northern downtown area (in case you weren't aware of the project). I plan to combine a layer of commerce w/ a food market that serves the community around. Placed on top of this will be three floors of apartments that are then topped by a 6 floor condo community. Overall, lots of people and lots of room for interactions. I'll try and post some sketchy stuff once I get it all down. Some of my inspiration is Spanish, French and German streets so if you see these:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2626/3906277917_7660b112a0.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2693/4283789327_a0c57dd19f_m.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2410/2195164456_0830cc5514_m.jpg

that's basically it.

Construction is pretty interesting - we've been doing lots of work with embodied energy, so that we are researching the cost of not only the energy used to run all the functions of a building but the energy spent in creating it. It's a way to reduce environmental impact (and get LEED certified!) so the buildings are more sustainable. Right now we're taking existing buildings and looking at ways to change materials and rework the building in such a way as to reduce the load without losing the spirit of the original intent. Pretty tedious.

Site Design I'm reallly loving, we now have discussions on different topics related to the lecture readings and it's a very good way to think about the issues facing architecture today while not working through design process. Our last question was concerning landscape and what are different definitions that a "maker" would give to it. Quite fascinating.

Italian is great - test tomorrow and always a class that I don't like going to but enjoy being in. Does that make sense? haha

Now the weekend. Yesterday Girl Talk played at our school festival (b/c we are amazing) and I went to the Beaux Arts formal and realized that I might be single for a while and I really hate that. Though I think I wait a bit and post later a more descriptive version of last night b/c I am tired and there is studio work to be done! It's just another day.