Ha! So you actually thought I was going to talk about women and sexism and all that? No thanks, that'll make all the Ralphy T's of the world (
Dont understand the reference? Click here) act up. (But imagine having been married in the '50s!) In any case, by popular demand, I'm going to talk about my first Master's project, which was received quite well (despite some last-minute reservations, on my part, anyway) - and became only the 2nd review I've ever had that received no criticism. So more on that soon. Also, following that, I'm going to talk about some scientific discoveries I've read about lately I feel everyone should know about. So let's get started.
The project, when it was assigned to us, was quite possibly the most confusing project I've ever received. At UM, for example, the projects assigned to us were simple, in theory - here's a site - here's a project program - now design it. I.e., design an x-amount of sq. ft library/museum, make sure it has so-and-so rooms in it, and place it at this intersection of Downtown Miami. Alas! That was not to be here at FIU. My professor hands us a character to design a dwelling for. Not something along the lines of 'make a house for a 40-year old married businessman and his kids' - what we are given is a mythological character, and told to use the features of his story to design a 'dwelling' for him/her/them - not a house. A dwelling. Yeah, marinate in that one for a bit. I sure did. I had no idea what in the hell that meant. Well, in any case, the character I chose - because I knew their story well - was Daedalus and Icarus.
Now if you don't know your Greek Mythology (read a book, folks) - I'll summarize the story real quick. A looooooong time ago, King Minos of Crete was given a white bull by the god Poseidon, so that he could sacrifice it to honor the Gods. King Minos kept the bull instead (it's an albino bull, I mean, C'mon. I would've kept it too) - and this angered Poseidon, who tricked his wife into falling in love with this bull. The wife fell so deeply in love with this bull that she had the top craftsman of the time, Daedalus, construct a wooden cow that she could fit inside so that she could mate with the bull. He did, so she got hers, and out of this, the dreadful Minotaur was born! Now, everybody knows the Minotaur story. In any case, King Minos had Daedalus build a labyrinth to contain the minotaur, and out of fear that Daedalus would reveal the answer to the maze, had him and his son, Icarus, imprisoned upon the tallest tower. In their bid to escape, Daedalus constructed wings out of wax and feathers; and told his son not to fly too high (the sun would melt the wax) or too low (the sea spray's salt would dissolve the wax). They were able to flee, but the eager young Icarus, wishing to soar to the heavens, flew too high - the sun melted the wax, thus he promptly fell to the sea and perished. Daedalus would name the water where his son fell the Icarian Sea.
Alright, so - make a dwelling (remember, not a house) for this fella. Yeah. Where the hell do you start? I remember getting all cutest in the beginning, trying to make these wing-shaped structures - to which end I was told by my professor to break it down to the basic principles of the story. And by the end of the project, I (apparently) had nailed them down perfectly.
One of the first premises of my project is that I interpret Daedalus as the monster, not the Minotaur. He helped to create it, to contain it. His invention caused the death of his son. He tried to kill his nephew later on because of jealousy, and was then outcasted by society, forced to live in exile. I broke it down to five main elements: Father and Son, Imprisonment, Reaching the Heavens, Fall, and Remembrance. To that end, I designed a pair of tall towers - with a steel beam skeleton, covered with two-sided aluminum panels - matte on the inside, reflective on the out, with a series of weaving staircases inside of them. I sited it on abandoned tiny (128' x 158') island near the ocean, a desolate beach in the Caribbean (not the Aegean, that would've been an easy cop-out) that is difficult to reach. Model shots (section model to see the inside, about 2' tall):
Now why did I build it like this? Let's go back to those 5 Points.
Father and Son: Daedalus and Icarus, of course. I was trying to diagram a young Icarus, with his arms outstretched and ready to leap, calmingly held in place by Daedalus, holding his son by the shoulders.
Imprisonment: A steel skeleton frame, with aluminum panels that have a thin separation from one another on the first tower, creates this feeling of imprisonment. With the only direct light source being the open-to-the-elements skylight above, the thin openings create bars of light in an otherwise bleak space - the matte interior does not reflect light well. The stairs are daunting, changing in rise/run and width constantly, going from a 10" rise and run with a 42 inch width, to a railing-less spiral staircase of 12" rise (your average stair rise is 7") twisting up to a stair right against the frame of another 12" rise and run. Why are the stairs so challenging?
Reach the Heavens: Can any of us reach the heavens? Of course not. Icarus tried and met his death. To this end, at the top of the tapering tower is a small opening to the sky, yet you can never reach it. The stairs end 17 feet below it. It is impossible to get to the Gods, as Icarus tried - and a challenge to even attempt, hence the stairs steep climbs and lack of railing.
Fall: Right at the end of the staircases of the tallest tower, seemingly right about to reach the sky, an opening appears. It leads to a 20' long staircase leading to the smaller tower - constructed of a steel frame with glass steps, again with a 12" rise and run. No railing, fully exposed to the elements. This simulates your fall - each step is dangerous, looking down you can see the sand and ocean at the base of the tower.
Remembrance: On the second tower, we have a glass and steel platform (visible on the model shots) overlooking the ocean, right on the edge - the memory of his son living on, Daedalus can reflect on his saddening loss. Coming down a second set of slightly-easier steps, you emerge right at the edge of the water, where a long wooden bridge takes you out onto the water, where you can be at peace.
Other moves made:
- Reflective exterior: Tower supposed to be invisible to passersby from the ocean - no one is supposed to know where Daedalus is now that he is in exile
- Changing facade angles: to reflect different views of the sky/ocean when viewed from the outside
- Labyrinth upon approach to island - since Daedalus is the monster, it is supposed to keep him contained and prevent anyone from getting to him or him from getting out
So upon explaining all my moves to the jurors, they definitely approved of every one of them, even the radical one of interpreting Daedalus as the monster. I was fighting hard near the end of the critique to urge to smile (real ninjas dont smile - lol) - but surprised and pleased as to how it went. It was an interesting project - code and ADA (disabilities act) be damned! Just design it justifiably and ensure it stands. Now to use that design capability as a springboard into my Master's Thesis, which is coming up next...
====================================
Now for some science! Learn a little something - and from the banks of my knowledge, I'll withdraw some quick nitpicks that I found interesting in recent reading/conversation:
No, it's not a computerized image or a scene from the new movie
2012. What are you seeing is an incredibly rare and recently recognized cloud-type,
undulatus asperatus, or as one of my fellow academics humorously calls it,
undulatus nosferatu (after the terrifying 1920s film). Exactly what causes its formation is completely unknown; and despite its terrifying appearance, it does not bode ill like your typical
cumulonimbus arcus cloud - it never seems to end in a storm, but rather start to appear following rough weather. Ranging low, at around 10,000 feet into the troposphere; they are recently beginning to gain ground as a new classification, since they defy any other meteorological conventions. Although it is unlikely you will see any in Florida - imagine taking a trip to Europe or to the American Midwest and seeing a formation such as this above you - surely, you would run back into your house and decide, 'To hell with this, I'm staying inside today.'
Now, while I did want to talk about how the swine flu is being incredibly blown out of proportion by conventional media (lest they forget the actual terror of the 1918 Spanish Flu that killed about 50 million in roughly 2 years, and infected 1/3rd of the ENTIRE planet. Think about that. The Swine Flu pales in comparison, and its viral strain is very similar (they are both classified H1N1) - they are based on cytokine storms, which in essence, causes an overreaction of your immune system, making it attack you, your own organs - hence why the young (adolescents, young adults) and healthy are the most at risk, since they possess the strongest immune systems, thus the ones most capable of doing damage. I should also note that, in viral labs throughout the world, the viral strain of the Spanish Flu remains frozen for study - it would make for a great James Bond movie, I think. But I'll go more detail at another time, since I still need to fully understand viral mutations through antigenic shift. I actually meant to talk for a short bit about our friend the coelacanth.
Now, we've all seen Jurassic Park. Extinct dinosaurs were brought back to life, despite having been extinct since the Cretaceous, 65 million years ago. (Ironically, recently, paleontologists - including noted Jack Horner - were able to extract blood vessels from the fossil of a Tyrannosaurus, leading to the possibility of actually finding intact dinosaur DNA - although recreating a T-Rex is still not possible - but through a recent method developed, the possibility of reverse-evolving a direct descendant of a dinosaur, a bird; a dinosaur-looking animal is possible within a decade - OSN, build your bunkers now, I am!)
But back to the coelacanth. Known only from the fossil record as a predecessor of the modern fish, dating from the Devonian period (400mill years ago) until they went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous (like the dinosaurs). Or at least, they were believed to be extinct. Until they were re-discovered off the coast of Africa early in the 20th century! Ironically, African fisherman had long known the species as food - but it became a greater scientific discovery in the 80s and 90s when the species was being discovered throughout the vast portion of the southeastern coasts of Africa! It remains the record holder for the species rediscovered after the longest period of time - leading to speculation that perhaps other species have survived that haven't yet been discovered...
In any case, that's all for know, and since I've been away for so long, I had to leave behind quite a read. Until the next time...
