Mexican Architects

I have decided what my project is going to be! 

Because I am going to be an architect :), I must find what is going to be “MY STYLE”... So, my new mission is to begin a data base of different architects' work. My focus will be Mexican architects, in order to engage my culture, blend architecture with Mexicans artistic and structural influences. 

I high goal to reach will be to become a Frida Kahlo... I wish...  but of course, with a Giovanna Gallardo spice, oh yeah... crazy Mexican living in the US. <3 

To start I will have Posts of each individual architect. 

The few Mexican architects that I have were recommended by my beautiful aunt Tita Millan, my art teacher. The recommendations were:

Luis Barragan (1960)

Ricardo Legorreta

Elias Rizo

Agustín Hernandez




1.  Luis Barragan -->  http://www.barragan-foundation.org , http://designmuseum.org/design/luis-barragan
2. Ricardo Legorreta --> http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/000203/legorreta.shtml  
3. Elias Rizo Arquitectos --> http://www.mexican-architects.com/en/elias-rizo/es/
4. Agustín Hernandez --> http://moleskinearquitectonico.blogspot.com/2010/08/la-obra-de-agustin-hernandez-mexico.html

ooH La La Artistas Mexicanos y del Mundo.

       En la búsqueda por Arquitectos Mexicanos, encontré una pagina web, El Poder de la Palabra, que sirve como base de datos compuesta de varios escritores, artistas y músicos de diferentes países.


La descripción dice:
El Poder de la Palabra es una web dedicada a la prosa poética. En ella encontrará fragmentos de textos literarios, así como la biografía e imágenes de sus autores. Para acompañarle en la lectura podrá ver también... obras de arte, imágenes de edificios, composiciones clásicas, bandas sonoras y una selección de los más importantes premios literarios, artísticos y culturales.


Me parececio una gran oportunidad para explorar los trabajos de artistas mexicanos, entre otros. 
http://www.epdlp.com/paise.php?pais=M%E9xico


Autocad free trial Link:
http://usa.autodesk.com/autocad-architecture/trial/

Dreams

                                                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q29YR5-t3gg 
  
 As one of my favorite songs by Cat Stevens, Father and Son, says "look at everything you got. For you will still be here tomorrow but your dreams may not"... its really a nice song, and now I find myself in the transition between high school years and the adult world, wanting to have projects of my own, earn money, work hard, learn a lot... but I find myself trapped and without a path to follow. I really enjoyed this semester in college and doing architectural drawings, but I have no special activity other than homework. I got in the college tennis team for a while until my sister confessed she didn't enjoy it as much as I did and we stopped going, we share car... 

I see everyone has an activity of their own, my sister is earning good money doing photo shoots, I'm very proud of her. I wish I could find something I could do without being hired... It sucks living in the United States and having to wait for your Social Security to arrive... even after having applied almost 2 years ago, everyone that has been transferred here because of their jobs, or parents job, and are PROMISED to get a social security and have to wait years to get it ( really years... I know someone that has lived here for more than seven years and still hasn't received the residency)  It really ruins your life... it is like we are no one, we have no rights... of course we pay taxes but we cant vote, cant apply for scholarships, cant work legally... it is really outrageous ... I have good grades, I worked for a good GPA, got more than 240 service hours, was the vice-president of the Interior Design Club at Cypress Bay, the secretary of the Art Honor Society also at Cyrpress Bay High School... member of the Spanish Club and the Business Club and all my efforts for nothing... I ended up going to Broward College because all the universities cost a lot, that even professors say that without scholarships its just too much to pay for.

But oh well, I want that social security or to just get out of this country... The only thing stopping me is the fact that I don't want to leave  my boyfriend I really think I found the right person for me, and of course money... 

Acknowledging my current situation I have to find SOMETHING I can do to make my transition to the adult world the MOST enriching possible. I need high aiming goals, I need a hobby! I need to go back into the life style that gave me freedom to express myself artistically and socially... I need a plan.

Madrid-Barajas and Nuclear engineering

Since my boyfriend's parents know I am beginning to study architecture, they have begun to share interesting contemporary pieces of architecture they encounter in their trips to Europe. One of the buildings they say reminded them of me was the Madrid-Barajas airport (obviously in Madrid, Spain). It is a 
a little bit about the airport from Wikipedia:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid-Barajas_Airport

"Madrid-Barajas is the main international airport serving Madrid in Spain. In 2010, over 49.8 million passengers used Madrid-Barajas,^[1]making it the country's largest and busiest airport, and in 2009 it was the world's 11th busiest airport^[4] and Europe's fourth busiest airport. It opened in 1928, and has grown to be one of the most important aviation centres of Europe. Located within the city limits of Madrid, just 9 km (5.6 mi) from the city's financial district and 13 km (8.1 mi) northeast of the Puerta del Sol, Madrid's historic centre. The airport name derives from the adjacent district ofBarajas, which has its own metro station on the same rail line serving the airport." 

From what i have looked at the pictures on google looks like terminal four is the most interesting ."Terminal 4, designed by Antonio Lamela and Richard Rogers" 
The interior is very interesting and playful, very colorful and wavy. Here are some pictures:

terminal 4 lobby

Terminal 4 exterior

Terminal 3

Terminal 2

Terminal 1

ARC Drawing

Now that my first semester has ended, I have the time to post a compilation on my drawings I did through-out the semester in my Architectural Drawing class.

I am not posting all the work I did for the class but some of my favorites, some are done on vellum with pencils and others are on millar using ink, the images are pictures of papers 36''x24''

Everything was done by hand using a drafting table and triangles, I used no stencils.

I had a lot of fun and got to know my pencils and their line weights, I also learned 1 & 2 perspective drawings using a measuring grid that consists of a horizon line and a vanishing point, and of course I learned how to use the architectural lettering. 

Here is the result:

(not the final draft) used ink and wax to create the marble 

Experimenting Line Weights

Now in my architecture drawing class we’ve been experimenting different line weight meaning we had to get a vellum size 24x36 and sketch straight lines horizontally (36’) which had to be separated by 1/8 of an inch EACH!    I used my pencil leads 4H, 2H, F, H, HB, and 3B; the assignment was to sketch 5 straight continuous lines horizontally and do the sixth (with the same lead) a dotted line until you filled your page. Then when all the class was relieved that we were almost done fessor said we had to do the same thing but now vertically using our triangles.

It was tedious.  The worst part is that I heard the professor say we were going to finish the assignment in class… turned out we had to finish during the weekend… I was doomed.

I hurried and tried to finish during class, and the professor was already giving another assignment which was our first floor plan EVER that we were going to sketch. J

I didn’t finish I got a B-  in the line weight assignment… Sucks, because it means my work was good and deserved better but because it was incomplete he took down a letter grade. 

Architecture Drawing Class #2

The classes have been great :)

The second class we did another free handed sketch focusing on space. The professor had us push back our chairs and focus on the space under our desks. The product of the sketch would be black spaces between the solid objects. It was very interesting because I wasn’t supposed to draw any lines that would define the object as a whole, no details, just the space. The type of sketch is called a “negative space sketch.”

For my surprise the professor got my sketch and used it as an example of how to do the project correctly! I was so happy and proud. J

But I hadn’t finished the sketch completely (like I found some pictures online), but still it was good, the problem was that for the 9 sketches that the professor assigned for  the weekend I did the same as my successful sketch in class… I’ll take pictures and post them…

By the way we had to use India Ink for the sketches! Using a tiny brush!

But for now I’ll leave the pictures of the good negative space sketches I found online: