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The Water Temple
Back on the main island, but still very close to Awaji Island, is another one of Tadao Ando’s buildings, the Water Temple in Hompuki. It is one of his most famous works, and probably one of his best. Set in the side of a hill overlooking the ocean, the small temple is meant to be [...]
Awaji Island: Ando’s Playground
It’s pretty well-known that Renzo Piano’s Osaka Kansai International Airport (KIX for you world travelers) is built on a gigantic man-made island, widely considered to be one of the greatest feats of engineering over the last century. What is less known is where all the fill for the island came from. The hills of Awaji, [...]
Jikoin: The Tea Ceremony Temple
About a 45-minute train ride from central Nara is the temple of Jikoin. Sited at the top of a hill, this temple was founded around the time of the unification of Japan by a nobleman interested in spreading the ideas of the tea ceremony. Because of this, most of the temple is devoted to tea [...]
Todai-ji: Home of the Really Big Buddha
The highlight of Nara has to be Todai-ji, an absolutely gigantic temple with a statue of Buddha to match. Everything about this place is oversize; from the very minute you enter onto the main axis you are dwarfed by the architecture and the statues. The first gate to the temple is only a hint of [...]
Koyasan: The Holy Mountain Town
Yesterday, I wrote about visiting the cemetery at Okunoin. While that’s certainly the highlight of a visit to Koyasan, it’s hardly all there is to see. It’s a beautiful little mountain town, with lots of historic and beautiful places to visit. If you take the scenic route up the mountain, like we did, you ride [...]
Okunoin: The Cemetery and the Cypresses
By far one of the most fascinating places we visited in Japan was Koyasan, a small mountain town with tons of temples centering around the cemetery and shrine to Kobo-daishi at Okunoin. Apparently, some consider Okunoin to be the holiest place in all of Japan. I don’t know about that, but it is remarkable and [...]
Shunko-in
This year, our study abroad program only had 17 people. That’s a good size for a studio. Other years, though, they’ve had so many students that some need to stay in another temple nearby, Shunko-in, also in the Myoshinji complex. Although it wasn’t needed this year, we still went to visit and watercolor their gardens. [...]
Tokai-an: The Gardens of the Mind, Body, and Soul
Directly across from Daishin-in, the temple we made our home for six weeks, but still within the Myoshinji complex, is one of the most spectacular temples we saw during out time in Japan, Tokai-an. It was an incredible honor to be able to visit this temple at all – it is the head temple of [...]
Tenryu-ji Temple & Arashiyama
During our first week in Kyoto, we took a trip to visit Tenryu-ji, a Zen Buddhist temple on the west side of Kyoto, in an area known as Arashiyama. The temple grounds are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, especially for its gardens. The garden behind the main part of the temple, against the mountains, are [...]
(Another) Computer Problem, A Flood of Japanese Instagram
You may be wondering why, after I went to the trouble of making a post about being in Japan and taking tons of photographs, I didn’t post anything. Well, about a week or two into the program, my computer died. Why I always have major computer issues while I’m abroad is beyond me. My poor [...]
Six Weeks in Kyoto!
The website lives! I have a reason, and, hopefully, time to post regularly this summer. I am currently in Kyoto, Japan, on a six-week study abroad program in landscape architecture. We are living in a 350-year-old temple in a much larger temple complex. Other than emphasizing becoming better designers, we will be learning how to [...]
Re-Envisioning South Willamette
In the Spring Term, my studio was about redesigning (or re-envisioning, if you will) South Willamette Street here in Eugene. The city is already involved in this process as they gear up for their next 30-year plan (an Oregon state requirement) and a possible expansion of the Urban Growth Boundary. South Willamette Street, despite having [...]
Not every photo I take is on a fancy camera. No matter how much I want to, I can’t carry my Nikon SLR around with me all the time to take photos of anything that catches my eye. Usually, however, I do have my ipod on me. Sometime in late winter I discovered a really [...]
Whiteaker Block Party (Part 3): Fire Dancers
(You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.) At the end of the day, just as we were getting ready to leave, we took one more walk along 3rd Avenue and came across a large crowd in the Wine Garden ooohing and aaahing at some kind of flashing lights in front of a [...]
Whiteaker Block Party (Part 2): Adventure Galley @ Ninkasi Brewery
(You can find Part 1 here.) One of the best parts of the Whiteaker Block Party had to be all of the music, all day long, absolutely for free. Since I’m an architecture student, they don’t let me out much, so I don’t see (or photograph) a lot of shows anymore. This was one opportunity [...]
Whiteaker Block Party (Part 1)
A lot of friends have asked me what it’s like living in Oregon since I moved here a year ago. Honestly, I find it kind of hard to describe the culture shock I’ve had to deal with moving to Eugene. This city is small – next to Martos, it’s the smallest town I’ve ever lived [...]
The Best Model Shot
It’s Spring Break! Thank God! I’ve been working to update my portfolio so I can start the hunt for a summer job. So I’ve been going through a bunch of photos of models I took over the last two terms, thinking about including them. This is, by far, my favorite: a close-up of the laser [...]
Assignment 5 – Final Facade / Perspective Rendering
Spring Term is finally OVER! This was the term that just would not end – or, if you prefer, the term that just kept on giving. I have two weeks of vacation over which, of course, I will be working, picking up the shattered pieces of my life. Anyhow, above you will find a scanned [...]
Facades
For your viewing pleasure, two facade studies from my current studio project. Not sure what the final thing will actually look like – probably something in between these two. These are hand-drawn, not digital, just so you know. Click through to embiggen if the mood strikes.
Assignment 4 – Plan & Section
Here’s a (hastily digitized) plan of the Third Floor of this term’s studio project as of the last midterm. A section is below the fold. To see them in their full 1/8″ scale glory, click on either image. Be forewarned: they’re big.
Watercolor from a Photograph
In the spirit of my Digital Media class, I’ve been playing around with different styles. This image is an experiment in making a watercolor from a photograph. You may remember it from this post – or not. Comments appreciated. I am, after all, still learning. This image is licensed .
Assignment 2 – SketchUp Site Model
Assignment 2 for Digital Media is to create a site model in SketchUp. This site, at NW 8th Ave. and Couch St. in Portland, is where we will be designing our studio project.
ARCH 610: Digital Media
I’m going to start doing something a little differently here, at least until March. Right now I’m taking a class called Intro to Digital Media. As part of the class, we need to create a web journal to post our assignments. I figure, why create an entirely new site when I’ve got a perfectly good [...]
Portland!
Just two from our class field trip to Portland last week. It’s a really cool town. Glad I finally had a chance to visit.