Landfill of ideas

I stumbled across the “Monument to Civilization” and passed over it as a quirky idea, but I went back to it and read into the concept a little more and was hooked. The project becomes a growing barometer of the wastefulness of a city, and towering monument the plays on the concept of cities trying to have the tallest towers, whereas in this instance the idea would be to have the shortest tower. Add to that the benefits of methane gas generated by decomposition and that it is built entirely of its own trash. I can also visualize this with a continuous circling cloud of gulls to add spectacle and ominous drama to this dark decomposing tower. Perhaps different towers reflecting different personalities with their own regionally specific “smellscapes” of trash and local color pallets of waste, with dark grey industrial towers and beige suburban towers, and psychedelic city towers. This I feel is a competition worthy idea, with a simple concept clearly illustrated accomplishing an objective with function and form inseparable from one another.

Kudos to : Lin Yu-Ta, Anne Schmidt (Taiwan), 3rd Place Entry in the 2012 Skyscraper Competition : Monument to Civilization: Vertical Landfill for Metropolises

Thanks to the following blog for the original post on this competition; http://www.evolo.us/competition/monument-to-civilization-vertical-landfill-for-metropolises/#more-16663

Fluid Adagio Competition

The description of the competition objectives were set out as follows,

“The goal of this temporary installation is to create a unique spatial experience withinthe urban context of Salt Lake City. The objective of the project is to provide visitorswith an outdoor recreational/leisure area and a much-needed refuge in an urban environment,while making the best use of the pre-existing space and available materials.The winning team must respond to the program and tight budget, and will be involved in every aspect of the design, development, and construction of the project.”

I couldn’t resist this competition. designing in a tight abandoned Urban space, alongside a building that is 150 years old. The competition provided exciting opportunities to create something contextually relevant and respectful of the existing layers of history and strong material presence with over a century of recorded history literally chiseled into its walls. The project had a small but realistic budget of $40K, and the two main areas of interest set forth by the sponsors were portability and interactivity. The following images are a representation of our visualization for the potential of that space and came in under budget, and though we did not win the competition, It was an entry I feel very proud of and confident in defending. You can see the full extent of our digital submission including my latest animation at my partner in crimes website, http://www.briansullivanportfolio.com/architecture_5.html

Traces of material, light and people

Layers of meaning combine to organize space

Modular creation of form and space

Make Paper Pretty Competition – First Place Winner

For the MSU Celebration of Architecture, four students and one faculty member were selected to compete in a poster design competition, with the finished product to be a part of the auction at the dinner, the winner decided by the capitalist market, highest bid wins. The theme for the poster was simply, “inspiration”.

My design was based on my deep respect for nature and the immutable movements of the cosmos, and the fact that we are all made of stardust in the end anyway. I turned to the poetry of Ralph Waldo Emerson on this subject, which proved to be of great inspirational relevance. My poster was originally titled, “Ode to a dreamer”, but was later simplified for graphic reasons.

The inspiration that comes from observing nature and the heavens above.