Archive for June, 2006

Birth of the nerd

Published by alexandermjack on June 27, 2006 in computer. 0 Comments

Someone asked me the other day if I had ever owned a Mac. I prompted .”No, but I wish.” However, it hit me, I started on a Mac! The Apple IIGS to be exact. Look at it all it’s glory. It’s amazing to me even back then they were well designed. The keyboard was the width of the keys with pig-tailed ps/2 cord. Amazing how even then ~1989 Apple knew how to design an elegant computer. No clutter, just simple moves. I spent hours making images in paint or cards with Printshop. I also had ClarisWorks and a primitive version of Microsoft Office. I miss the computer, i wonder if it’s in my attic…humm.
appleiigs

Published by alexandermjack on June 17, 2006 in Judge a book by it's cover. 0 Comments

Amazon’s Mechanical Turk

Published by alexandermjack on June 16, 2006 in Curiosity and gadgets. 0 Comments

Ever need something to do many tasks that a computer cannot do? Amazon started Mechanical Turk a sort of job system to divvy out odd-jobs to people for small change. It’s interesting, it would take a long time to make any money, but check out how people have been using it. This job was to create a sheep in flash facing left. They’ve created about 10,000 sheep so far, so someone is using it.
mechturksheep

Reading,Read,or Reviewed

Published by alexandermjack on June 10, 2006 in Judge a book by it's cover. 0 Comments

Design/Build Internship: 1

Published by alexandermjack on June 6, 2006 in Architecture and portfolio. 0 Comments

For the duration of this summer, I will be posting about my internship here in Omaha, NE. I am working with Randy Brown Architects design/build program and am assigned to the McKinley Project (a residential addition.) The ten interns spent the first 2 weeks drawing, modeling, and designing different areas of the project. I and another student are to design the staircase/bar (ascending 20 ft.) to connect most of the house together. After our challenging design began to take shape, reality started to strike. However, since most of the modeling was done in Sketchup, the ability to move from massing to construction documents was very fluid. I am not usually a big fan or using Sketchup for design, but the ability to draw very quickly and use dimensioned lumber/steel was extremely handy. The Sketchup model was all to scale and with dimensioned lumber provided by Sketchup, we were able to bring life to the form and create a feasible structure. The model then was sectioned and put into CAD and within less than a day, we had all dimensioned construction documents to build the project. Next part, building the stairs.

The idea behind the stair idea was to create a fluid flowing wall that bends and breaks and becomes more than just a staircase. The wall inhabits the stairs, it houses the pedestrians, it provides seating and bookshelves for moments upon the assent/decent. The viewer transverses the stairs entering the wall, breaks free, pierces again, then emerges from the wall. The wall continues upward to become the shroud to enclose the upstairs bar. The “wall” has a life of many responsibilities, not just one to be touched or dry walled.

Model