Check it Out

Almost famous

http://picayuneitem.com/local/x1414104938/Arboretum-s-new-exhibit-in-the-works

One Alfred Street

One Alfred Street is a very historical corner right in the heart of Sydney CBD. Currently there is a building there mostly made one offices and a few retail stores. But there are plans for a new residential/retail development to take place. The 2 or 3 million dollar apartment will provide its residence with a front row seat to some of the best views of Sydney's Harbor including the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

I have been very excited about this project because I have been able to work on it from the very beginning, where most of my time here I have been thrown into the middle of a lot of projects. We were ask by the client after our first meeting to build a model of the site to really begin to understand the spaces with in the site, especially between the buildings. So I had the opportunity to build both the physical and virtual models for the site as well as the existing and proposed plans. All I was given was the architectural plans, so I had a good time looking over and studying the plans figuring all the different roof and ground elevation, to eventually building and rendering all my models and plans. We were also asked to study and propose the idea of a roof garden of the lower building which residents will look down on to, as well as some private gardens for the residents with the big buck, so I have also been studying roof gardens around the world.

This projects is still in its "very" earlier stages, after our last meeting we were asked to not add any trees to the new site ... so who know where things will go next but I am looks forward to watching it development.

Existing Plan

Our First Proposed Plan

(The physical model was built to be used as a working model, I was not asked to make it perfect, but to make things editable for future changes. Also note: one building is about 93 meters heigh and the other and 45 meters, in the model I build up about 25 meters just to show all the spaces and over hangs)

Back to the Red Stick

Today is my last day at Crosby. I just received a phone call from "The Picayune Item" who will be doing an article in Sundays paper on the gum pond. Between Moss Point and Picayune I am becoming a regular small town celebrity... watch out Denham Springs here I come. Looking back at the past four months it has been a wonderful experience. I've met great people in and out of work. I sold my boat "The Bass-Turd" to my buddy Jon and we went cruising on the Pearl River Wednesday for my last ride in the turd. He is now updating the name to "The Dirty Old Bass-Turd". The arboretum will always be a special place for me. I will leave you with a picture of a young longleaf pine and see you in a couple of months.

Journal?

Hey everyone! Mason & I were getting our close of semester paperwork ready and noticed that we were apparently supposed to be keeping a daily journal of our experience to turn in to the curriculum committee. Has anyone done this...'cause we certainly didn't!

Cali

Guys Im headed out West....San Diego...check out my blog for that California Love.

Drew Baum - Blog

came across this in my phone

me and will's text conversation before he headed out to australia. thought everyone might like it.

-ben

Lisse and Keukenhof Flower Fields

After two days in Amsterdam, I decided to spend my last day in the Netherlands exploring the countryside. It just so happened that I was there during the early blooming period for the tulips and other flower varieties that Holland is known for.

I took a train to Leiden, and then a bus to Lisse, all along the way I saw the amazing network of canals they have all throughout the country. In Lisse, they have a large botanical garden and lots of agricultural flower fields surrounding it. It was quite an experience seeing how well maintained the garden was and how rich the plant material was. They had hundreds of varieties at the garden. Seeing the agricultural flower fields was crazy. The long strips of color stretching over the vast fields between canals and boats.

Amsterdam

Two weekends ago I took a 3 day trip to the Netherlands. I started in Amsterdam. I walked all over the city, one of the first things I noticed was the amount of cyclists everywhere. I always knew that the Netherlands was a country of cyclists, but I never knew how it would feel and look. The pedestrian circulation was probably the last form considered, and in such a dense city, the circulation was pretty cramped. Not only do they have tons of cyclists to account for, but also squeeze large canals between it all.

Overall, the city had a much more intimate feel, especially in contrast to my time in Budapest the past weekend, with all of its wide open scenic views and elevation. There was also tons of contemporary architecture and landscape projects everywhere you looked (maybe I will post more on that later). I've included some photos of a West8 project, the red bridges, which span a canal in a residential area on the outskirts of the city.

But enough of talk, here's some pictures to look at.

I know everyone is probably workin hard for final reviews (those in BR), good luck to everyone, from what you have showed us, I am very curious to see what kind of work you are producing.

Bird

I vote TJ's video of the bird as the number 1 greatest thing posted on this blog to date.

Erin The Grad Professor

Apparently Erin the grad studio teacher was in the movie Hot Rod. Check him out....

Hot Rod - Featuring Erin

Australian Wildlife

This has nothing to do with landscape but it is too funny not to share (Kelly don't watch this video). So this bird naturally does this too its prey in the wild, but the funny part is that this bird was born with a bit of brain damage and he doesn't when to stop now. He kept doing this for about ten min, until and the insides of the little mouse had completely come out.

Budapest

For Easter John and I took a long journey to Budapest, Hungary. We took a 14-hour sleeper train on the way there and then a day train on the way back. The trains were quite an experience, in the way we slept, the people we encountered and the scenery that we passed.

The city is layed out along the Danube River. The two sides of the river, Buda and Pest, are joined by 7 different bridges, each with its own style and character. The city is full of amazing views and scenery, with two hills on the Buda side, overlooking the city. The city has a rich culture and history as it was once one of the great cities of the Ottoman empire and later was Communist under the Soviets.

One of our favorite parts of the trip was the ancient and lavish thermal baths which the city is famous for. John and I went to two different ones while we were there. I have included a picture of the lesser one, the Szechenyi baths, our favorite one, the Gellart baths was seperated by gender...so photos weren't allowed.

All in all the trip was an amazing experience, hard to describe the place by words. Also don't forget to check my flickr page.

Mississippi River Model_LSU Edition Cont...

Mississippi River Model_LSU Edition

So as we are studying our site (river basin model) this semester, we found out that the engineering department has model that explores a small part of the Mississippi and wetlands. It is a working model that is in a warehouse on river road that they invited to come see. It is similar to that of the one in Clinton but very small and totally out of scale, but is the idea of having a functioning model. The square areas represent wetlands with the blue stuff representing soil sediment moving through the river so they can identify it throughout the model. It is a cool process of how they run this thing, but it just is not accurate in its readings and such. The model only has a few years of life left due to it being built out of wooden planks underneath the fabric. Enjoy the pics and well post some of our projects from this semester later.

Paddington Reservoir

Paddington Reservoir is a new “Pocket Park” in Sydney that is located right down the street from where our office is at, we often go here to eat lunch. It just recently won all the AILA awards. It has a large history in that is use to supply water the all the eastern suburbs in Sydney. After it was no longer needed it was abandoned, and eventually turned in to this beautiful little park. Very simple but loads of interesting details.

Paddington Reservoir

Blue Mountains

These are some images from a weekend trip to the Blue Mountains, about a two-hour trip by train from Sydney. I was able to do two great hikes in the two days I was there. Aussie’s call it the Grand Canyon of Australia mainly cause it was formed the same way as the Grand Canyon, but it is in no comparison to it. I’m just going to let the pictures speak for them selves. Good thing is that it is close enough to Sydney, I hope to make several more trips on here for more hiking, as well as some rock climbing and maybe even some camping trips.