Thoughts on my Final Critique and the New Term

I thought that my final critique went pretty well considering that I was actually kind of disappointed with myself. I never had enough time to finish the project completely, and I only had one of eight mechanisms working on the day of my presentation, and even then, the batteries ran out while I was talking!

It could have been a lot worse, I suppose, so I can’t complain too much. The comments I received were interesting, but they all had a similar focus, in that they were all asking what the point of the whole thing was.

The information the machine gives to the user was vague, and I intentionally did that to make the machine more mysterious, but in doing so, I also made it more generic and less responsive. By not narrowing the info down, the info had less use to the person receiving it.

After the term ended, I took a long break from blogging, and with the new term now well underway, I am still confused, I guess. After being assigned to look at sites in Point Douglas, I had a big idea all ready for Monday when I talked with Patrick, but of course I had gotten way ahead of myself again, but let me explain what I wanted to do first.

I have no pictures of my intended site, but it was an old burn out building near a railroad that’s been set for demolition. My original thinking was that my machine is something of a virus. Its ability to move into a new building and immediately start sending data to a central spot with mobile receivers made it kind of a sinister little device, and I wanted to take advantage of this. In order to do that, though, my idea was to make a building that exhibited similar viral attributes. Instead of receiving just information over a wireless network, this building would be built upon the foundation of the burnt out building and use some of its components. It would also use components of other dilapidated buildings in order to make itself up.

I decided that within this building, there could be the central piece to my project, receiving data from other parts of the building that would be integrated with the HVAC system in the building. When an area reported being too cold, a solar heated burst of air made from recycled glass, tins, and motors would kick in and heat the area, all as the result of a set of impulses. The building could be solar powered and solar heated, meaning it could be counted upon to be off the grid most of the time, allowing for infinite rearranging and interior possibilities inside, due to having a mobile thermostat and HVAC system.

You see how I get ahead of things?

Well, Patrick set me straight afterwards and said that my logic was a bit too linear. I had gone from the machine receiving data to a building receieving bricks, and if I kept on like that, I could pretty much do whatever the hell I wanted and justify it in some roundabout way. Fun, but not really in the spirit of the project. I needed to think more about my machine and what it could do, as well as what it couldn’t do in order to find a purpose and pick a site.

The big question is:
I have all this info, but who gives a damn? I need to figure out a way to make this a useful design for Point Douglas, and then I need to apply it in some kind of architectural context.