Philadelphia <3 and Refrigerator Space

Walking through Rittenhouse Square today on my way to the coffee shop I came to an important realization: I would rather live in Philadelphia than Chicago. In the long run I mean - even after school is over. Maybe this shouldn't be so groundbreaking but it is for me. I've got so much family in Chicago, it's always felt a bit like home, I love the Cubs and the Bears way more than the Phillies or the Eagles. In Chicago's defense, I've never lived actually lived there. So maybe this is an unfair comparison. But Philadelphia is mine. Perhaps it's a function of my "need to be special" personality type, but I like to be original and I like to be independent. I'm the only person I know (besides the people I've met here) who's ever lived in Philly. It's a well-kept secret and I like being in on it. Chicago has no Rittenhouse Square and no flowery trees in Spring, or at least far fewer trees. Philly is somehow more manageable in size. It's big but not too big. It's small enough to feel my own and run into people I know. It's safe but not too safe. There's still grit on my street, and there are still gritty neighborhoods where poor grad students like myself can afford to live and still be able to walk to the park declared one of the best in the country by Jane Jacobs. No one knows how great it is until they get here. Word to that.

I don't know if I want to live in Philly after school is over. I want to hop around the world before settling down. But I can see myself here in the future. That's an interesting feeling. The future's freaking me out at the moment. I've got no internship for the summer yet and I'm starting to panic. Send out a few prayers for me if you don't mind. I've sent a bunch of applications but haven't heard much back. Yikes. Hopefully it'll all come together.

As per usual I spent last week bustin' my butt on another project. The results were pretty cool. We took a photo of a crappy street, traced it, then Photoshop-ed together a fixed street and traced that. Even though it was tracing, all the finished products were really different. My prof wanted us to trace because a lot of people don't have drawing experience and he didn't want perspectives and such to get warped (although Photoshopping warps things anyway, but whatev.) We hung up our existing photo, the existing conditions drawing, and the fixed drawing, and then people picked their favorites. My prof (who I don't think likes me very much) spent a lot of time talking about both of mine. I was afraid he'd think my drawings "too sketchy" but he actually really liked them (maybe b/c he didn't know whose they were?) In any case, it made me feel more confident about my urban design skills. Check it:
Existing Thompson Street photograph

Existing Thompson Street drawing
Re-Design for Thompson Street
This project kinda pissed me off because I don't think sidewalk cafe's, street trees, and first floor retail are the solution to all city planning problems. But the exercise was to teach us to draw a convincing vision so I think it served its purpose. I learned to draw trees which was fun. I would probably do a bunch of things better/differently but there's only so much time in a day. My prof said the pavement was "expertly done" and the trees were "fresh and original." Sorry, I'm not tryin' to brag but I realize I do put my work on this blog like a refrigerator. My intent is just to show y'all what I'm doing all day rather than calling you (even though I'd surely rather be calling you). I miss you all dearly and hope to see you sometime, somewhere this summer.

<3
K

I win...kind of

Hi blog,

Sorry for neglecting you, my dear readers, for so long. I've said this about a hundred times this year, but it's true once again: I just finished the biggest project of my life. Seriously. It was ridiculous. I worked pretty much nonstop for five days, averaging about 3 hours of sleep a night. It's done. It looks alright. It could be more perfect. I don't have time for perfect these days.

The project was to create three housing typologies (single family detached, single family rowhouse, mixeduse retail and residential) for a proposed new town, based on principals of critical regionalism and sustainability. My town was to be located in the Shenandoah Valley, so in keeping with critical regionalism, the housing styles, colors, and materials used all had to fit in with the architecture and landscaping and materials that are native to Virginia. We had to do site plans showing how each housing type would relate to the street as well as street sections showing sidewalk widths, bike lanes, streetscaping spacing. We had to do two drawings of each building, an axonometric (which is a 3-D side view) and an elevation. You have to use an architectural ruler so everything is to-scale. So if someone saw my drawing and it said 1"=20' they could get out their architectural ruler and measure a window and know that it was supposed to be 6' wide. Pretty neat.

And then we had to write it all up in a fancy report with a vision and ten principles of design like "the town shall be walkable from end to end" and each principle had to have three guidelines like "Pedestrian pathways will connect each residential street to the Town Center," or "pathways will be 4'-6' and be ADA compliant regarding grade and surface texture." And then we had to draw a diagram for each principle.
It was worth doing. It was excessively long. My professor gave the same assignment last year only they didn't have to write principles or draw diagrams. He was giving us shit for being behind - "last year's class was way ahead of you." But the assignment was twice as long. So eff him.

It was a huge ass project. It was a shit show. I did it all by hand. Some people cheated and used Sketch-Up which we weren't supposed to do b/c it distorts axonometric drawings, but whatev. Hopefully it'll be a good portfolio piece.

Anyway, I've finally gotten some sleep. That was lovely. It's spring here in Philly. I spent the last three months anticipating an impending winter that never came. Thank God. After living in Michigan no winter will ever feel terrible again.

I'm so unfamiliar with having nothing due tomorrow that I don't know what to do with myself.

Gotta get jazzed for six hours of class. Wish me luck.

<3
-K


PS I still have lots and lots and lots to say about New Orleans. I'll get to it tomorrow, I promise.