Gradients and Blurs

Unemployed Architect, Self-employed Thinker.

2012-02-09T06:02:00.000-06:00

I wish I could make enough money experimenting with, and thinking deeply about, architecture. It seems there is a vast area unexplored by the minds of architects. It is an area you can only think about when you are not currently practicing architecture and have nothing to lose by shifting styles, goals, etc. This area asks what is architecture, why are we doing it, and how do we do it well?

While I still claw at firms, who claw at projects that never come, writing about these topics have kept me busy.

Compete(!)....

2011-10-18T23:44:00.001-05:00

I have left my position with Vasconi and am now looking for new work in Hong Kong. To occupy myself, I have entered several competitions. I just finished work on the second of 5. The first one being the zombie safe house competition. I decided to enter it because it sounded easy and fun. However, while doing it, I realized how liberating it was to be executing my own designs. In the last two years, I have worked on 9 projects. I had control over none of them.

Inspired by this excitement, I entered another. The second was to design an innovative parking garage in Hong Kong. This was just as exciting as the first with a little more sense of realism injected into it. The judges are currently voting for both of these competitions now.
Zombie Competition on MSNBC.com

On deck are three more competitions, two skyscrapers and a hotel on the moon.

New Apartment in Hong Kong.

2011-09-12T01:54:00.001-05:00

Apartment View, a photo by powkey on Flickr.

Parking Experiments

2011-08-20T11:59:00.001-05:00

Using grasshopper's genetic algorithm (galapagos) to try and find

what form must the road take to produce the most parking spaces.

Not going too well so far. These are the four most fit variants from four

separate gene pools. Still nowhere close to what a human can do.

Architecture Refugee

2011-08-16T16:00:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago, I was forced out of Hong Kong. Not in the police escort type of way, but in the "shit, if I answer these questions truthfully I am breaking laws and maybe breaking more if I lie." type of way.

I didn't kill anyone, or steal some delicious dim sum from the street corner. I just may (or may not) have been working without a working visa. Now the plan is to resubmit an application for the visa from the U.S., the legal way.

So, I have a lot more free time for unnecessary things (like blogging). I decided I should upload "The Sweetness" to youtube. This was the skateboarding video where I had a 3min part back in 2004. For those that don't know, this is all I did in high school, thus schoolwork took a back seat and I had to take another year of college as my punishment.

Here it is in all its splendor.

Finding the groove.

2011-03-20T08:36:00.000-05:00

Approaching the 6th month anniversary of my arrival in Hong Kong. It feels like I have finally set up a life here. I'm learning Cantonese and French, running and playing tennis, cooking and eating new things. Setting up the life I want. Maybe now that I have this pointed in the right direction I can start going somewhere with force.

Back from Holidays

2011-01-05T08:06:00.001-06:00

I was lucky enough to travel home for the holidays. It was such a great time. Not just seeing my friends and family, but having fun with them as if we had never been apart.
Now I am back in Hong Kong. I arrived after a grueling 18h10 flight (following two other flights) from San Francisco. One of the other passengers had appendicitis and we were forced to make an unscheduled stop in Anchorage, adding 3.5hours to the flight.

I feel a little more calm here. Something feels different... maybe its just the jet lag.

Christmas Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16925188@N06/sets/72157625620847339/

The Grind

2010-12-14T07:04:00.000-06:00

I escaped Hong Kong for a weekend. Off to the tiny village of Shanghai.
When I arrived, I found a city in love with the new, the large, and the great. Displayed through their love of the automobile and their love of enormous (hideous) buildings.
They may have a top GDP, but they have a long way to go before they are a top country.

Heres a brief video I shot while I was there.

Day 42 in Hong Kong

2010-11-21T07:59:00.000-06:00

Horrible. The only way I would describe work here. The office I work in, with all the other consultants on this project, is in such a horrible neighborhood an hour train ride from my place. People at the office, make it even worse. There are few places, that are not in war zones, that could be worse.

So the weekends become my refuge. They make me feel like I could actually like Hong Kong.

This Sunday I went to Lamma Island. It is a 50 min ferry ride from Central Hong Kong. Its a small island that takes about 2 hours to walk, but has some nice and clean beaches with a laid back local culture. A nice break from the noisy, busy, smelly and packed city.

Lo So Shing Beach was the one I was looking for. I found it just in time for sunset. To make it even better, I was the only one on the beach.

Dear Internet...

2010-10-31T08:41:00.001-05:00

Let us just pretend that we have kept in touch the last couple months. Things have changed a lot and now I live in Hong Kong working on a project for a French architecture firm SAL (Schinko Associes Luxembourg), formerly Vasconi Architects.

You can read a little bit about this shitty project (literally, it's a sludge treatment facility) here.

http://www.waste-management-world.com/index/from-the-wires/wire-news-display/1291578580.html

There are no cool pictures there, but just trust me that it is a cool project.

In the meantime, I have been eating rice, drinking beer, and exploring this massively dense city.

Hopefully soon, I can make it to some other places in Asia and have a look around. When I do, I will certainly upload some photos, as I have been doing already, to possibly entice someone into visiting me!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16925188@N06/

The Limitless Plotter.

2010-08-23T00:11:00.000-05:00

I meant to post this when it was completed. Nick compiled most of the clips we have had of the machine running in order to best demonstrate its varying uses.

And now we wait...

2010-07-12T15:14:00.000-05:00

Eight years of work, wrapped into a package weighing less than a pound. All with the purpose of getting a job as an architect. Hopefully, one of these firms I am sending my work to will take the bait!
The only problem is that I never was lucky when it came to fishing.

2010 Portfolio 1.0

2010-07-04T00:32:00.000-05:00

The goal was to complete my portfolio by the 4th of July. I was 5 minutes late.

I am not going to ship this one, everything printed incredibly too dark. Getting closer to being finished with it though!

What I'm listening to...

2010-06-24T14:11:00.000-05:00

While spending most of my time in coffee shops working on my portfolio, I thought I would share what I'm listening to. This awesome website called soundcloud.com allows people to upload their own music and remixes for others to listen to. My favorite part is their music player. It allows people to comment at certain points in a song and makes it fun to read what people are thinking about the songs.
Massive Attack Remix (FREE DOWNLOAD) by Bassnectar

Returned from a brief vacation.

2010-05-29T01:07:00.000-05:00

Now what!?

2010-05-26T09:06:00.000-05:00

Now that I graduated and returned from a trip to the Bahamas with the family, I have to ask myself what to do next. All I can come up with is moving back to Lawrence while I search for a job. I hope employers will just take my word when I say they won't regret hiring me.
By the way, this photo is not fake, but actually is me crowd-surfing at commencement.

Finished College

2010-05-12T19:30:00.000-05:00

I can finally check college off of the "list of things to do". Printed out my final studio project and kicked up my feet.

Here are several interior shots of the train station, retail, and cafe.

go go gadget CNC AIRBRUSH!

2010-04-28T16:04:00.000-05:00

Trying out one of the more exciting of all the possible z-axis mounts.

Soon we will attach this to the rest of the machine and have some

real fun.

Day of the Earth

2010-04-22T11:28:00.001-05:00

Happy Earth Day! Slightly on topic... I recently received a bike. It has become my new love. My poor car just sits out in the parking lot all day, never getting used. My goal was, with the help of my bike, make my tank of gas last an entire month. It appears I will easily make this goal. The image shows my tank as of today. Not only has biking been saving gas, but its been burning calories. Not that I like to brag (I do), but I am becoming more fit from all this biking too.

America has an addiction to oil and a large obesity problem. The solution looks quite simple, BUY A BIKE!

Qatar National Museum Expansion

2010-03-27T18:17:00.000-05:00

The project I worked on in Switzerland was recently reviewed in the New York Times. Though they did not mention the fractal bathrooms I produced, it is still really cool having a project I know so well seen by so many.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/arts/design/23doha.html

183 CANVAS

2010-03-10T20:07:00.000-06:00

Now would be a good time to introduce a new project I have been working on for awhile(if that makes sense). Working with fellow Architecture student/designer Nicholas Reed, we started 183 CANVAS as our little design group for creating whatever little project we want. Today we completed a major part of our first project. The goal is to make a computer controlled machine that can write/paint/draw/spraypaint/takephotos whatever on a wall or canvas of any size. I hope to post some works of "art" soon.
http://183canvas.blogspot.com/

Back to Studio

2010-02-22T08:58:00.000-06:00

It has been a welcome slow start to my final semester of school. My studio professor is out of town for 2 weeks so the class has taken extra time to construct the site model for our project. We chose to use the CNC machine (a computer controlled router) to cut the model out of several layers of MDF. Its been fun watching the machine cut through it but a lot of work to coordinate people to sit there while it cuts for a total of about 20 hours.

CNC mill from tim williams on Vimeo.

Out to Lunch

2010-01-17T23:47:00.001-06:00

Out to Lunch
Originally uploaded by powkey

Back in the States! After 6 months in Europe, I have made it back. Without a doubt, it has been the most significant part of my life thus far. Though it still feels good to home.

As part of my last day of work in Geneva, everyone in the office took me out to the Boeuf Rouge, a classy old school French restaurant near the office.

Read signs before entering!

2009-11-23T19:27:00.001-06:00

"I hope she doesn't choose me to dance."
Originally uploaded by powkey

"I hope she doesn't choose me to dance." Said Nick Allen to me after the two of us and a friend ended up in a Turkish restaurant on the night they had Oriental Dancers (missed that sign on the door!).

20 seconds after he mentions this line to me, she grabs him by the hands and pulls him to his feet. Startled, he reverts to his instincts; Irish-Jig, Riverdance, and involuntary spasms of the legs. Then he catches the rhythm and the tempo of his partially undressed professional dance partner. Before one can realize what is happening, Nick starts leading the dance. He even starts dancing away from her, towards the rest of the restaurant. The crowd really gets into it. Being the pro that she is, she somehow manages to tame Nick and force him to sit down. Finishing one of the most action packed 5-7 seconds I have had in Paris .
Needless to say, this made me very excited for my upcoming trip to Istanbul (since I can't have turkey I am going to Turkey[ok... that was lame]).

Eating in the Kitchen... basically.

2009-11-14T06:41:00.001-06:00

Eating in the Kitchen... basically.
Originally uploaded by powkey

Its incredible that after living here for 4 months I still find amazing quarters and areas that I had no idea existed. Perfect example being Rue Saint Anne... incredible Japanese restaurants. Not sushi, but more noodles and tempura. This restaurant had 10-12 seats and a line of about 20 outside to get in. The windows in front of the restaurant are covered in condensation from the hot soups. Passers-by don't look at a menu but instead just peer through the windows to see what people are eating and if it looks good.

I will be in America 1 month from now..

Brussels

2009-10-26T08:56:00.002-05:00

Maybe the weirdest thing ever.
Originally uploaded by powkey

After completeing my first project for Ateliers Jean Nouvel, I was given a week off so I traveled to Brussels. It was great getting time out of Paris and I loved that they spoke English pretty much as a second language. That way, I could speak French when I wanted to, but English when I needed to.

Fête des Vendanges

2009-10-11T09:27:00.001-05:00

Fête des Vendanges
Originally uploaded by powkey

A KU alumus hosted us for dinner at his place, cooked by his French wife. It was absolutely delicious and I felt very much the same as a duck being prepared for foie gras.
The same night as the dinner party was also the Fête des Vendanges, the festival in Montmarte to signal the start of the wine harvest. We watched an incredible fireworks display from the top of a building next to our hosts apartment. Made the city feel more magical again, after a tough 2 weeks straight of work.

Atelier Jean Nouvel

2009-09-17T16:00:00.001-05:00

Atelier Jean Nouvel
Originally uploaded by powkey

For my first day, I went in thinking I was going to just meet some people, but they sat me down at a computer and I immediately started work. 12 hours later I left. At some point during work I actually spotted the Jean Nouvel roaming the building. So begins my work...

"Head in the Clouds"

2009-09-13T16:54:00.001-05:00

"Head in the Clouds"
Originally uploaded by powkey

This is the culmination of a 5-day workshop at the École Speciale d'Architecture. My teammates were Michele Aldrich and Edouard Grignon.
The project we proposed was building a nursery for children above an old Parisian block located next to the Centre Pompidou.
The idea behind the project was to take the traditional arrangement of a preschool, kids go do an activity then return back to the room, and make it a linear path. In order to make this possible we devised a tram that would carry the essential equipment a teacher would need. This tram would travel down this path stop and various location along the way. The kids could do various activities unique to being above buildings. They could slide down roofs and climb up climbing walls in other parts.

ESA Workshop DONE!

2009-09-13T16:53:00.001-05:00

ESA Workshop
Originally uploaded by powkey

Workshop in Paris

2009-09-07T15:31:00.003-05:00

This is an elevation of a block of buildings across from

the Centre Pompidou. The studio I am in at Ecole Spéciale

d'Architecture is doing a workshop involving

building above this historic block.

Villa Savoye

2009-09-06T14:28:00.001-05:00

Villa Savoye
Originally uploaded by powkey

In the town of Poissy, 40min train ride from Paris, the famous Le Corbusier built his most well-known house, Villa Savoye (1930). One of the top five, if not the most, influential house of the 20th century. More importantly, the most incredible house I have ever been in.

La Petite Chambre

2009-08-31T14:32:00.001-05:00

La Petite Chambre
Originally uploaded by powkey

We were told that our new place would be apartments with private sleeping quarters. You can imagine our disappointment when we walked into this (my desk on the right). My dorm room had more storage space, though we do have a bathroom and a stove!

Lawrence-Paris

2009-08-28T12:21:00.001-05:00

Lawrence-Paris
Originally uploaded by powkey

It is so hard to grasp the size of Paris. It feels huge because the density, but really it is almost the same size as Lawrence, KS.

2009-08-24T17:48:00.002-05:00

WEEK 1 -The Journey Begins - My Time in Paris from tim williams on Vimeo.

I want to touch

2009-08-24T08:24:00.001-05:00

I want to touch
Originally uploaded by powkey

During my second visit to the Institute du Monde d'Arabe, I realized one of the panels were open and of course I had to touch it. This building is by Jean Nouvel, the architect I will be working for in a week. I would not mind if they made me design something like this for three months. Actually, I would love that.

a little something

2009-08-17T11:57:00.001-05:00

a little something
Originally uploaded by powkey

After lunch I decided to grab a little something. Tartelette Frais....delicious. Just ahead of us there is the Cimetiere Montparnasse. The second most famous cemetery in Paris. It includes the graves of Man Ray, Brancusi, and André Citroën.

Pique-nique

2009-08-10T17:31:00.001-05:00

Pique-nique
Originally uploaded by powkey

Picnic in Parc des Buttes Chaumont which we were invited to by our incredibly nice French friends, Karine and Romain. The typically french 7 hour picnic in the park with wine and cheese was followed by, the seemingly very american, Rock Band on XBOX 360 at their apartment.

the crew

2009-08-03T18:09:00.002-05:00

the crew
Originally uploaded by powkey

The group and I found a fun Italian restaurant with food to go. We then proceeded to stuff our mouth's like true Americans.

You can follow more photos of Tims Fantastic Voyage to France by following the photos posted on flickr here.

Opera Garnier

2009-08-02T08:07:00.001-05:00

Opera Garnier
Originally uploaded by powkey

Bypassing beauty is a common occurrence in Paris and the Opera Garnier was a perfect example. Only stopping long enough to steal a photo and then we were off yet again.

Cité Internationale

2009-07-31T18:21:00.003-05:00

The French are so rude. They make me stay in this place. Cité Internationale is located in the south of Paris. It was created post WWI in an attempt to unite students from around the world (therefore preventing war?).

Despite me losing my bags for several days, I am enjoying Paris.

D(eparture) Day minus 1

2009-07-27T17:30:00.004-05:00

"Come hope, come despair, come what may, sweet serendipity - a life of chance in the bustling city; let me be sorrowful, let me be merry, while I risk all to be extraordinary!"

-Roman Payne

Crepuscule

Tomorrow I leave to Paris.

60% Excitement

30% Terror

10% Clueless

Chicago Trip 2009

2009-07-16T10:05:00.003-05:00

I just returned from my quick trip to Chicago where I used the new camera I recently bought. Once I returned home, the discovery was made that I recorded every video on the lowest quality setting. Atleast the problem has been caught now. Heres most of the footage I slapped together anyway.

Summer "the calm before the storm"

2009-06-20T23:33:00.004-05:00

1 Month until I leave to go to Paris for 5 months. I have been hitting the Rosetta Stone more often, trying to learn atleast the basics of French. When I am not doing that I am trying to learn Rhinoscript and brush up on my Grasshopper skills (image).
Other than that this has been a very boring summer. I think I am actually ready to get back to work now?!

...more posts to come once I actually do something worth posting.

Wire Reproduction

2009-05-26T17:57:00.001-05:00

I moved out of my apartment where I had lived for the last 2 years. When cleaning the closet, for what probably was the first time, I found that there were over 100 empty hangers. It seemed as though every single hanger was unlike its neighbor. Somehow over the years they had managed to mate and reproduce over and over. The conditions in my dark, slightly damp, closet must have been similar to those in the upper regions of the atmosphere because it created hangers that were just as unique as snowflakes.

Final Presentation Boards

2009-05-12T16:54:00.003-05:00

DONE!

2009-05-11T11:53:00.001-05:00

I had to take a break from posting while I finished up my studio project. I had enough 5 hour enegy's to power a small town.

and now... I sleep

2009-05-05T09:47:00.000-05:00

2009-04-28T11:50:00.001-05:00

11 Days until Project Deadline

2009-04-27T20:39:00.002-05:00

30 hours of energy - 5 hours of energy = not enough energy to finish in time.

Catia Structural Analysis

2009-04-27T02:51:00.002-05:00

I am trying to figure out Catia. I really would like to analyze a truss made in my autotruss program just to see how it performs. I figured out how to mesh the geometry, but I have not yet figured out how to analyze it.

A tornado ate my homework...

2009-04-26T22:14:00.001-05:00

well... maybe not, but it was only 5 miles from studio.

Deep Thoughts on Life: 1

2009-04-21T12:38:00.004-05:00

While looking at the microwave the other day, I realized that there is something as wasteful as placing nipples on human males. It happened when I caught the light reflecting off the shiny number pad at just the right angle to notice that I had a really dirty number pad. The buttons had greasy smudges all over them. All the buttons that is, except the number 9. Instantly, I had an epiphany. The number 9 should not be on microwave keypads! You never microwave anything for 9 seconds, too short, never for 90 seconds, just type 1:30, and never for 9 minutes, long enough to melt steel.
The removal of the number 9 would also help the arrangement of buttons on the microwave. With there currently being 10 number buttons, they do not pack together very well. If there were just 9 buttons, they would all fit perfectly in a 3 x 3 grid!
If anyone knows people that design microwaves, let them know of this grave problem facing millions of microwaves worldwide.

Site work

2009-04-19T15:33:00.002-05:00

Project is coming along. Heres a photo of a model demonstrating circulation on and around the site. 18 DAYS LEFT!!!!

Earth Day

2009-04-18T15:21:00.001-05:00

Celebrated Earth Day by buying and potting a basil plant... YIPPEE!

Good job class

2009-04-15T15:45:00.001-05:00

Class of 04 represent!

Sleepless in Kansas

2009-04-11T15:30:00.001-05:00

I finished my Portfolio. This is one of two things I have due by Monday. I have not slept longer than 20 minutes since Wednesday night. I am a zombie...

Lawrence Kansas on the Colbert Report!

2009-04-10T18:21:00.000-05:00

Bruce Mau Lecture

2009-04-09T00:59:00.002-05:00

Went to the Bruce Mau lecture today, pretty interesting. He is a graphic designer that is changing the world.

http://www.brucemaudesign.com/

FREE NEW WATCH

2009-04-08T11:45:00.001-05:00

I won a $250 dollar watch in a raffle!

Thanks Gadgeteer!

2009-04-07T22:42:00.001-05:00

My attempt at recreating a flock of birds.

3D photoshop in CS4

2009-04-07T02:48:00.001-05:00

The new 3d photoshop tools in CS4 have officially rocked my world. Easily created this image above from an exisitng 3d max file.

2009-04-05T21:37:00.002-05:00

Heres some fresh images of the laser cut model finally completed. I was investigating the fabrication of complicated curves through the use of triangulating the geometry. Supporting this precise model are a series of trusses that were generated with the definition I wrote for Grasshopper that I geniously named AutoTruss.

2009-04-05T01:57:00.000-05:00

First Fridays

2009-04-04T16:28:00.003-05:00

Went to First Fridays in K.C. with my studio. Always fun and interesting, especially when there is great weather.

2009-04-02T20:19:00.003-05:00

laser cutter from tim williams on Vimeo.

The first thing I am buying when I open my own firm is a laser cutter. Then I will hire some staff. Here is this puppy in action, cutting me triangulated pieces to skin a model I am working on.

2009-04-02T11:34:00.001-05:00

Tropistic Tower from tim williams on Vimeo.

This is a video that I presented as part of my presentation for a skyscraper project that I worked on.

2009-04-02T03:28:00.004-05:00

My current studio project is situated in Brooklyn along the waterfront, between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. While investigating the history of the site, I came upon this image. It has become one of my favorites for its high level of detail. After some research into companies that advertised on buildings in the photo, I beleive it to have been taken between 1907-1915. I came upon this date when I realized there was a Wrigley gum advertisement, which didnt exist until 1907.

Tabula Rasa

2009-04-02T02:58:00.003-05:00

I set this blog up as a way for me to keep track of that which inspires me. I hope that it will become a contemporary version of a journal with images and links along with text, updated as often as I can. ciao!