Matthew Trimble's Blog

Kiva

2011-06-03T17:47:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been talking to a number of friends about the idea of microfinance, and Jessica Jackley's TED talk from last year keeps coming up. So here it is. It's a fantastic idea and her talk is exceptional.

Chris Rice: The Hymns Project

2010-06-14T20:26:00.003-04:00

This is an excellent album. It's a cool, calm, worshipful collection of songs, tastefully arranged by Chris Rice.

OK go

2010-06-14T19:41:00.011-04:00

This is a fantastic video from OK Go's latest album (released in January 2010) "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky" and it's called "This Too Shall Pass". It's an homage to Rube Goldberg, and an outstanding one at that.

Below is the oh so popular "Here it Goes Again" which is also by OK Go. Very cool.

EdCo

2010-04-28T22:32:00.002-04:00

Radlab, in collaboration with Peter Schmitt, is a recipient of the 2010 EdCo Grant. [The 5th Axis: Construction of a robotic arm...]

Update

2010-03-31T18:52:00.006-04:00

Radlab has a new site: www.radlabinc.com

What do you think? Your opinion is welcome!

Pecha Kucha

2010-01-26T23:29:00.002-05:00

Pecha Kucha Night at the Worcester Art Museum.

Pecha Kucha

2010-01-23T01:07:00.002-05:00

Garett and I will be giving a short talk at the Worcester Art Museum on Sunday. The talk is part of the Pecha Kucha series, providing a framework of 20 slides in 20 seconds for each presentation.

Nader Tehrani

2010-01-19T22:52:00.000-05:00

"Architecture is self consciousness" states Nader Tehrani of Boston's very own Office dA. This bold and amorphous statement was made during an interview at the AIA Convention last month. The interview was conducted by David Basulto of Arch Daily.

I find the structure of interviews like this, in general, super boring. The questions are far too broad, and even when they are graciously answered in a semi-provocative way the lack of intellectually probing dialogue leaves the viewer thoroughly unsatisfied. That said, I think Office dA's work is quite good. The conceptual agenda of a given project, whether it pertains to material or form or space or light, is usually very clear, and very tastefully executed.

AD Interviews: Nader Tehrani from ArchDaily on Vimeo.

Pranav Mistry

2009-12-20T19:10:00.007-05:00

I just watched this thoroughly fascinating TED talk by Pranav Mistry, a former classmate from MAS863. I didn't know Pranav outside of the class, but nonetheless was eager to hear what he had to say. MAS863 was a class I took in the fall of 2006 at the MIT Media Lab called How to Make (Almost) Anything. The class is taught by Prof. Neil Gershenfeld, the director of The Center for Bits and Atoms. You have to submit an application to take the class, and there are typically a diversity of people that are accepted, from undergrads to phds, representing multiple departments across the institute. Pranav has apparently designed a wearable computing device that promotes a new and exciting kind of interaction between digital and physical information. I highly recommend watching this talk. It's very cool...

Photosynth

2009-12-20T18:56:00.004-05:00

I checked out Photosynth about a year ago or so and was impressed with its potential, assimilating visual data from disparate sources (anywhere on the web that it can grab images) and using it to describe 3d space. I just came across this TED talk by Blaise Aguera y Arcas, a co-creator of Photosynth. His demo showing the user's capacity to view a variety of imagery and text at many different resolutions and sizes is also pretty compelling.

Radlab on Archinect

2009-12-04T21:52:00.009-05:00

Archinect is currently featuring Radlab as part of their "Working out of the Box" series. It's incredible to be featured among so many talented companies.

USNS Supply (No.4)

2009-11-22T21:37:00.002-05:00

Just last week ship number 4 took off for the open sea. The USNS Supply was in the drydock outside of our office for about 3 weeks. Apparently this supply ship has returned to active service as of this year, and it was undoubtedly parked in Boston for maintenance and repairs. The photograph shown is actually a collage of photographs taken from Radlab. These were taken just as the ship was edging in, heading for the rear of the dry dock. It never ceases to amaze me how such a giant, rigid, weighty object can be so buoyant.

Here's an article on the ship from wikipedia...
USNS Supply is the lead ship of the Supply class fast combat support ships. She was laid down on 24 February 1989 and was launched on 6 October 1990. After service in the United States Navy from 1994 through 2001 as USS Supply (AOE-6), her weapons systems were removed and she was transferred on August 29, 2003 to the Military Sealift Command, which designated her USNS Supply (T-AOE-6).

Supply has the speed to keep up with the carrier strike groups. She rapidly replenishes Navy task forces. She receives petroleum products, ammunition and stores from shuttle ships and redistributes these items simultaneously to carrier strike group ships. This reduces the vulnerability of serviced ships by reducing alongside time. Like other fast combat support ships, she is part of MSC's Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force.

Tyco Responder (No.1)

2009-10-11T22:16:00.001-04:00

The Tyco Responder was the first ship to enter the drydock after Radlab moved into it's current location at 25 Drydock Ave. in Boston. According to wikimedia "The CS Tyco Responder is a Reliance-class cable-laying and repair ship owned and operated by Tyco Telecommunications. It is designed to install and maintain transcontinental underwater communications cables." The photomontage above was done this past winter of 2009 on a windy, snowy afternoon.

Crystal Symphony (No.3)

2009-10-11T21:37:00.005-04:00

This ship, the Crystal Symphony, is the third ship to enter the drydock outside of our office in Boston's Marine Industrial Park. Ships come here to be refurbished and we get a first class view to watch them work night and day. It's pretty captivating to watch a ship get transformed while it's being drydocked. This ship has about 500 cabins and a passenger capacity of nearly 1000. It is an enormous ship and it took about 40 photos from our office window to capture it entirely.

Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676)

2009-10-08T13:26:00.003-04:00

Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me

(This is part of a hymn by Paul Gerhardt, translated by John Wesley, and included in Wesley Hymns. Thanks Ivana!)

O Love, how cheering is Thy ray!

All pain before Thy presence flies;

Care, anguish, sorrow, melt away,

Where'er Thy healing beams arise.

O Jesus, nothing may I see,

Nothing desire, or seek, but Thee.

Cyril Power (1872-1951)

2009-04-28T23:13:00.005-04:00

Last winter there was an exhibition at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts called "Rhythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914-1939". The prints were highly rule-based in terms of their arrangement and coloring, many of them referencing war and/or industry in one way or another. Linocuts were one of the most popular forms of printmaking by the artists from this genre and time period (a linocut is a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum, sometimes mounted on a wooden block, is used for the relief surface - wikipedia), and the piece below, "The Merry-Go-Round", is a linocut by Cyril Power from 1930. This image came to mind after completing the light pendant for Jeff Adams, along with the notion of subverting the traditional understanding of ornament as purely supplemental. It still seems important to consider how within a single composition that which is primary and that which is decorative may become, at moments, so intertwined that they are totally indistinguishable (lingering academic concerns...).

Adams Pendant

2009-04-28T00:43:00.004-04:00

At Radlab we recently completed a light pendant for my good friend Jeff Adams. I've included some process images and photographs that we didn't post to the website. If you're interested, you can see other images that have been posted to the Rhinoscripting Playground blog.

The twin lanterns serve as hanging center pieces for the main gathering space. Given the height at which they were to be positioned and the space they were intended to illuminate, the goal of the design was to elicit a continuous fluidity of light and motion around each pendant. By developing an algorithm that referenced a volume, an external 'point' of view, and an array of surface control vertices, a textured volume of non-repetitive sections was achieved. A selection of unique isoparametric curves that undulate in both latitude and longitude were then sampled to produce the resultant form.

Saul Griffith

2009-04-01T23:38:00.006-04:00

Saul Griffith continues to amaze. His super clear and concise presentation of such a fantastic idea just leaves you going, ya, that makes sense. If he's right we're all in for a big, undeserved treat. It would've been great if he had mentioned something about how the electronics that enable the 'automous generation of power' get powered, but there's no doubt he has thought it through.

Radlabinc.com is live

2008-12-20T16:02:00.012-05:00

We have at last launched the website for Radlab, Inc. There are still a few projects that we need to upload and texts we are going to revise/rewrite, but for the most part it's there. Garett Hwang and I designed the site, and Themba Nyathi did all of the programming. Needless to say, we're very glad to have it up and running. If you check it out at radlabinc.com, I would very much appreciate your opinions and observations. Oh, and Radlab is moving! Our new address is 25 Drydock Ave, Boston, MA 02210, and the official move in date is Feb. 1, 2009. Merry Christmas!

Kent Keith (1949-present)

2008-06-14T21:49:00.005-04:00

The Paradoxical Commandments
(written as an undergraduate at Harvard College in 1968)

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

4. The good you do today, will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.

7. People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

9. People really need help, but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.

10. Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

Big Dog

2008-03-27T09:31:00.007-04:00

My boy Pete just sent me a youtube link to a video of a giant robotic dog. Apparently Boston Dynamics, an MIT spinoff from the early 90's, is working on an amazing and terrifying robotics project called BigDog. This 4-legged beast weighs 75 kg and can carry a 375lb load. According to the company's website, "BigDog is being developed by Boston Dynamics with the goal of creating robots that have rough-terrain mobility that can take them anywhere on Earth that people and animals can go. The program is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA)."

Athens, Greece :: 01

2008-01-31T15:27:00.002-05:00

Venice, Italy :: 02

2008-01-27T12:58:00.003-05:00

Just outside our hotel, taken from the Realto.

Venice, Italy :: 01

2008-01-27T12:41:00.000-05:00

We played some serious 'parametric sketch' and 'doodle' while listening to jungle jazz tunes in a restaurant near our hotel.

Jeff and I kick'n it and get'n a little lost in this tight little Venetian calle.

Laukh Exercise :: Rhinoscript

2008-01-07T13:28:00.000-05:00

Final Review

2007-12-17T00:41:00.001-05:00

My M. Arch (Master of Architecture) thesis committee was composed of three men who I selected for their unique and complimentary architectural perspectives. I had the privilege of studying under each of them before soliciting their involvement, and I am so thankful for their time and effort in routing me toward a more articulate and persuasive thesis over the past year. My primary advisor was Mark Goulthorpe. Mark is the founder and principal of dECOi atelier, and is an Associate Professor at MIT. John Fernandez is also an Associate Professor at MIT. John's work and research is primarily geared toward building technology and industrial ecology. The third member of my committee was K. Michael Hays. Michael is the Eliot Noyes Professor of Architectural Theory at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. The jury of my final review on December 13, 2007 (images below), included Mark Jarzombek (though only present at the beginning of the review), John Fernandez, Sanford Kwinter, Mark Goulthorpe, Keller Easterling, and Aaron Betsky.

Final Review

2007-12-17T00:35:00.001-05:00

LA Wildfire Hazard Center - Fire Screen

2007-12-03T14:42:00.001-05:00

LA Wildfire Hazard Center - Courtyards

2007-12-03T14:37:00.000-05:00

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)

2007-12-03T01:13:00.000-05:00

Who Am I?
(a poem from prison)

Who am I? They often tell me

I stepped from my cell’s confinement

Calmly, cheerfully, firmly,

Like a squire from his country-house.

Who am I? They often tell me

I used to speak to my warders

Freely and friendly and clearly,

As though it were mine to command.

Who am I? They also tell me

I bore the days of misfortune

Equally, smilingly, proudly,

Like one accustomed to win.

Am I then really all that which other men tell of?

Or am I only what I myself know of myself?

Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,

Struggling for breath, as though hands were

compressing my throat,

Yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds,

Thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness,

Tossing in expectation of great events,

Powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,

Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,

Faint, and ready to say farewell to it all?

Who am I? This or the other?

Am I one person today and tomorrow another?

Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,

And before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?

Or is something within me still like a beaten army,

Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.

Whoever I am, Thou knowest, 0 God, I am Thine!

Dietrich Bonhöffer was a young theologian martyred by the Nazis for his participation in a plot against Adolf Hitler. In Can Man Live Without God Ravi Zacharias comments on Bonhoffer's poem, observing that "No reader can reasonably ignore the pathos and poignancy that so eloquently expresses the search for an answer that could bring some sense to life and to its viccissitudes." Zacharias continues to emphasize his observation, stating that "Under similar circumstances, someone else said that he could endure many a what about life if he could only answer the why. Stephen Hawking ends his bestselling book A Brief History of Time having explained the what and even the how of this universe with the words, Now if we only knew the why, we would have the mind of God. His inescapable implication is that the answer to that final quesiton would have to come from a mind that transcends our material universe. The what gives us the stuff of existence; it is the why that provides the glue to all that we live for and the larger interpretation of why we are here in the first place."

LA Wildfire Hazard Center - Locating the Site

2007-12-03T00:28:00.000-05:00

LA Wildfire Hazard Center - Site Zoning

2007-12-02T23:39:00.001-05:00

LA Wildfire Hazard Center - Aerial Views

2007-12-02T23:13:00.000-05:00

This is still very schematic, and I expect the composite envolope of exterior wall assembly and fire screen to evolve quite a bit in the next week and a half.

LA Wildfire Hazard Center - Comments

2007-12-02T22:47:00.000-05:00

Ornament as Primary ::

There is no such thing as an unadorned building. While the role and relevance of ornament in architecture has been criticized for centuries, its position has been, for the most part, supported as essential to architecture. In his seminal work On the Art of Building in Ten Books, Alberti wrote, “ornament may be defined as a form of auxiliary light and complement to beauty… ornament, rather than being inherent, has the character of something attached or additional.” This understanding of ornament stems from the notion that within a work of art or architecture, that which is essential (the work) may be distinguished from that which is supplementary (the ornament). Similarly, for Immanuel Kant ornament is “only an adjunct, and not an intrinsic constituent…” Kant suggests that the work exists on the level of the primary, with respect to that of the secondariness of its ornamentation. Therefore ornament, in this primitive form, is something tacked on to that which is already complete in itself.

With respect to the notion that the orthodox of ornament has primarily been a constructed embellishment, two modes of implementation may be distinguished. One point of view asserts that ornament should be deployed as a vital mechanism for linking architecture to the world it inhabits. In this sense, ornament serves as a bridge between edifice and environment, i.e. society, culture, politics and/or religion. This point of view reinforces the notion that ornament is an applied art, necessary only insofar as it sufficiently conveys beauty and meaning. A second position maintains that ornament should embed itself in the very grain of architecture, simultaneously retaining both structural and aesthetic value. In many cases this position operates at the service of the first. The conclusions of this second mode of operation tend to minimize the hierarchical relationship of structure (master) to ornament (slave), intertwining them in such a way that it becomes impossible to decipher where one ends and the other begins.

Regardless of the specific nature of its use, or the exent of its distinguishability from structure, ornament is still typically thought of as an adjunct to architecture. It is required to conform to predetermined logics of space, material, surface, and structure, with room to maneuver only insofar as those arguments remain essentially intact. Instead, could ornament vis-à-vis architecture be conceived as genetic rather than epidermic? Could the eloquence of ornament become an impetus for making architecture, assuming the responsibilities of both master and slave. Henri Focillon begins to grapple with this idea in The Life of Forms in Art. He proposes that "Ornament shapes, straightens and stabilizes the bare arid field on which it is inscribed. Not only does it exist in and of itself, but it also shapes its own environment -- to which it imparts form." This thesis speculates that the role of ornament is greatly limited when thought of strictly as an applique, and will therefore begin by attempting to posit ornament as a primary architectural consideration rather than exclusively supplementary.

In a manner consistent with the critique of ornament as strictly supplementary, the notion that ornament must be built up from a predetermined, constructive rule set will also be challenged. Rather than working toward an idea of ornament fixed by the work to which it is applied, processes of destruction will be developed as tools to establish an emergent ornamentation. Instead of subscribing to an additive logic, ornament will emerge from a destructive, transformative logic.

In reference to Gottfried Semper’s understanding of ornament in Gottfried Semper’s primitive hut as an act of self-creation, Jonathan A. Hale argues that “ornament – in the sense of emerging pattern based on the process of fabrication -should have primacy over any underlying structure.” In terms of the thesis, processes of “fabrication” will be devised through generative procedures to defamiliarize, separate, and reduce both the “underlying structure” of ornament, as well as its “environment.” This thesis finds the collective notion of ornament as a vital, determinate, constructive logic to be a critical point of reference, and seeks to explore the antithesis of ornamental determinacy through algorithms of transformation and destruction.

PROJECT ::

The Southern California Wildfire Hazard Center (WHC) is an existing organization based at the University of California in Santa Barbara. The WHC employs current and near-term capabilities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Earth Science Enterprise (NASA ESE), and is a joint endeavor of a consortium of universities, research organizations, and the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The key goal of the WHC is to assist in the management of fire hazards at the urban-wildlands interface. It pursues this goal by developing new data sources, analysis techniques, database management tools, and fire hazard prediction tools. The thesis project, an LA Wildfire Hazard Center, will serve as a local subsidiary to the Southern California Wildfire Hazard Center, hosting both research and educational facilities focusing on Los Angeles County.

DESIGN NOTES ::

The LA Wildfire Hazard Center (WHC) will serve as a rendezvous and exchange point for wildfire professionals and the public. At the urban scale the WHC is both centralized, with respect to LA County, and on the periphery, with respect to the urban-wildland threshold on which it resides. The concept of centrality is significant to the design consequent to its reflection of two relevant realities. First, a flame, under homogenous wind, fuel, and climatic conditions will spread radially from its ignition point. The bottom,center of the flame, the dark inner portion, remains the coolest part of the flame. Second, the notion of centrality is significant because fire stations throughout LA County are centrally located within their respective battalion boundaries in order to maximize access to all areas with minimum response times.

Just as the site bends around Weimar Ave, dividing it into two distinct bulges, so shall the building be grouped into two complimentary camps. The portion of the building in the northwest faces the mountains. North is Angeles National Forest, and west are the Linda Vista hills. This part of the building will be elevated to provide views over the existing tree line, with more space to support both research-related and public functions. It's also at a higher elevation than its counterpart. The portion of the building in the southeast faces the city. South is the City of Los Angeles and east is Altadena. This area will be characterized by greater geometric acuity, with clearer divisions of space and programmatic use.

As the WHC is largely concerned with the urban-wildland interface, the notion of boundary intensities becomes important, noting the inevitable build-up of material as the ambitions of one environment collide with another. Similarly, the outermost portion of a flame produces the most intense heat, at about 1400 degrees Celsius. Peripheral zones will thus be denoted by built-up intensities, rendered via a high density and diversity of patterning, texture, perforations, and form. Such zones may be found at programmatic intersections, material adjacencies, and portions of the exterior envelope.

For the purpose of the thesis, two simultaneous design strategies will be pursued. One strategy will be preoccupied with deriving an ecology of ornament, setting the tone for the formal and spatial order of the project. The other strategy will deal mainly with site, program, and code requirements. While each design decision under the influence of one strategy will certainly inform the other, it is the goal of this thesis to focus on and pursue an understanding and application of ornament as primary.

LA Wildfire Hazard Center - Site Studies

2007-12-02T22:17:00.001-05:00

Lightwell Animation

2007-11-25T20:08:00.000-05:00

Lightwell (Generative Components - C#)

2007-11-09T17:29:00.000-05:00

This model was built in GC, with a little Rhino scripting to clean up the GC model and rebuild the base of the coffers. The underlying surface is composed of three rings. The bottom ring remains static, and the top two are parametrically linked to a single point that is confined to LA's solar window (see MIT M.Arch Thesis). The surface is then populated with coffers that were designed separately as generative components, with variable depths and radii based on their respective altitudes.

LA Wildfire Hazard Center - Lightwell Development (2)

2007-11-09T16:58:00.001-05:00

I've been working back and forth between Generative Components and Rhino to develop this lightwell/courtyard. As of now I'm thinking there will be two of them, one in each of the *bulges* in the site. The idea is that each lightwell is parametrically constructed to follow the sun. The lightwell in the southeast portion of the site is oriented to accomodate direct light during the first half of the day, then be shaded during the later part of the day. The lightwell in the northwest portion of the site is oriented to accomodate direct light during the second half of the day, and be shaded during the morning and early afternoon. This way, between the two of them, the building's occupants can go outside, inside, and have access to direct light and shade during most of the day. I haven't exactly figured out how you get into the courtyard, but I'll get to it soon...

LA Wildfire Hazard Center - Lightwell Development (1)

2007-11-06T13:48:00.000-05:00

LA Wildfire Hazard Center - FireScreen Development

2007-10-26T16:10:00.000-04:00

LA Wildfire Hazard Center - Program Studies

2007-10-26T15:57:00.000-04:00

LA Wildfire Hazard Center - Fire and Sun Studies

2007-10-26T15:45:00.000-04:00

Glass Cup

2007-10-19T18:16:00.000-04:00

In the past couple of years I've rendered primarily with V-Ray for 3d Studio Max. However, I've recently started rendering in V-Ray for Rhino, and the results have been outstanding. This rendering of a glass cup took 10m 28.4s, at 640x480.

Below is a low-rez, turntable animation of the glass cup.

Fractured Sphere :: Rhinoscript

2007-10-19T13:15:00.001-04:00

LA Wildfire Hazard Center - Massing Model

2007-10-18T15:51:00.001-04:00

Below is the site I've picked for my M.Arch thesis. The site is in the center of LA County, near where the 210 separates Linda Vista from Altadena. There's a first stab at a massing model shown on the site. It was generated entirely from the literal form of the site, offsetting the boundary progressively toward the center of the site and projecting the outlines vertically. The massing is meant to be read as merely an initial grounding of material, from which a series of reductive transformations *destroy* the original mass, leaving ornament/architecture.

Pipes :: Rhinoscript

2007-10-18T14:53:00.001-04:00

The images below are from some work that I did with
Travis Hanks. We were 2 of about 15 grad students who
took a rhinoscripting workshop at MIT during the winter
of 2006, conducted by Kenfield Griffith and John Snavely.

Armadillo :: Rhinoscript

2007-10-17T11:45:00.000-04:00

Lizard :: Rhinoscript

2007-10-17T11:43:00.000-04:00

Gorillla :: Rhinoscript

2007-10-17T11:29:00.001-04:00

Matthew Trimble

2007-09-27T23:20:00.000-04:00

Matt Trimble's Jacket
(for Jeannie Pike)

Um, hi.
How are you?
How are things?
How are the kids?
How's my jacket fit?

Where's my jacket?
Wonderful woman.
Did you smell it?
Did you sell it?
Will I ever see it... again?

O sweet jacket.
Where art thou.
Longingly I recollect your warm embrace.
Do you still love me?
Have you abandoned me?

Have you forgotten the length of my arms?
Have you found someone new to protect?
There's no way.
You and I were designed for one another.
You still love me.
You'll come home soon.

Bangalore

2007-08-21T16:39:00.000-04:00

Jorji, my Indian travel agent in NY, found an amazingly priced ticket, with the same return flight as the group. The ticket was almost the exact same price that the others paid(~$1400 round trip), was finalized the day of the flight (rather than a few months prior), and included departure from and return to Boston's Logan International (whereas the group's tickets departed from and returned to Newark International).

Finally, with ticket and visa in hand, I took off for the airport. Tyler dropped me off at Park Street Station, where the next phrase of unusual events began to unfold. I sat down on a bench with my bags at my side, waiting for the red line to South Station. A woman named Helen almost immediately leaned over and asked if I got reception on my cell phone down in the subway station. I was a little startled, but told her I wasn't sure and began to talk. She was trying to get in touch with her son, and it seemed somewhat urgent, so I suggested she use my phone. No one answered, so she left a message. I told her I was going to India with a group from my church, and somehow that led to her telling me about her son Peter who was working in Shenzhen, China, which I had visited last fall ('06). Soon after my train arrived and our converstaion ended, abruptly but somehow gracefully. It was a comfortable exit. A few hours later when I was checking my voicemail, I had received a call from Helen, who undoubtedly got my number from her son's phone. She very kindly said that meeting me was the highlight of her day and said she hoped we could talk again some time. I was really touched. It was certainly a divine appointment.

At the next stop, South Station, I ran into Julie. Julie was one of the students I helped teach (TA) as part of the Experiencing Architecture Studio taught by Bill Hubbard in the fall of 2005. Julie was an MIT undergrad working on a Bachelor of Science in Brain and Cognitive Sciences. She was on her way to D.C. for an interview. We talked while we waited for the bus, and continued the conversation on the Silver Line to the airport. Again I was able to share about my upcoming trip to India with a small group from church, and some of the work we were planning to do. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and surprising conversation. Two encounters of this nature, back to back, were suspiciously noncoincidental.

Brussels

2007-08-08T04:47:00.000-04:00

I'm writing from the Brussels airport. I'm here for a couple of hours, then on to Mumbai, and finally Bangalore. I flew on a new airline called Jet Airways that was fantastic. The seats were super spacious, the food was good, the crew was alert, and the flight was smooth. I'm thoroughly impressed, and I get the same seat flying to Mumbai (formerly Bombay). I'm meeting Karen, Preeti, Marla, and Robin in Bangalore tomorrow morning. My flight arrives at 4:30am! We'll see how that goes.

Prep to go on this trip has been a bit tumultuous. First, I had to cancel my flight on Sunday because my visa from the India Consulate in NY didn't arrive. I was told it would arrive at the latest by noon on Tuesday, so I rebooked the flight for Tuesday at 3:30pm. The visa arrived sure enough, but our doorbell doesn't work and I didn't hear Bill (our USPS delivery man) knocking on the door. He even knew I was waiting on the visa, but had no way of getting my attention. My room mate Tyler was kind enough to drive me around the city trying to track him down. We finally spotted him around 12:30pm. That was just the beginning...

Horizontal Vertical Poetry

2007-07-28T22:48:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I posted a poem by Sir Walter Raleigh entitled "A Sonnet in the Grace of Wit, of Tongue, and Face." It's categorized as a poetical rhapsody, and subscribes to the logic of horizontal vertical poetry, which can be read both left to right, and top to bottom. In this particular poem, there are 6 parts. Each part has 3 columns, and 4 rows. Each part of the poem can therefore be read row by row, or column by column. I'm fascinated by this style of writing because it provides the possibility of a multiplicity of readings that can have their own dialogue, promoting cohesion or competition. The poem can, in a sense, converse with itself, performing for the reader in a manner otherwise only possible by much more linear means. The structure enables the content to be woven into cool graphic and linguistic patterns that, if deployed skillfully, could produce a poignant and beautiful picture/meaning.

Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618)

2007-07-27T10:04:00.000-04:00

A Sonnet in the Grace of Wit, of Tongue, and Face
(horizontal vertical poetry)

Her face___her tongue___her wit
So fair_____so sweet____so sharp
First bent__then drew___now hit
Mine eye___mine ear___my heart

Mine eye___mine ear___my heart
To like____to learn_____to love
Her face___her tongue___her wit
Doth lead__doth teach___doth move:

Her face___her tongue__her wit
With beams_with sound_with art
Doth blind__doth charm_doth rule
Mine eye___mine ear__my heart

Mine eye___mine ear__my heart
With life____with hope__with skill
Her face___her tongue__her wit
Doth feed__doth feast__doth fill:

O face_____O tongue___O wit
With frowns_with cheeks_with smart
Wring not___vex not____wound not
Mine eye___mine ear___mine heart

This eye___this ear____this heart
Shall joy___shall bind___shall swear
Your face__your tongue__your wit
To serve___to love_____to fear.

Crickets

2007-07-25T00:48:00.001-04:00

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

2007-07-23T23:38:00.001-04:00

Sonnet - To Science

Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!
Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.
Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart,
Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?
How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise,
Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering
To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies,
Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing?
Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car?
And driven the Hamadryad from the wood
To seek a shelter in some happier star?
Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood,
The Elfin from the green grass, and from me
The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?

Sunshine

2007-07-19T23:15:00.001-04:00

Jesus Claims to be God

2007-07-19T21:39:00.000-04:00

I would like to look more closely at the apologetics of C.S. Lewis and try to more thoroughly understand his reasoned theological convictions. I'm not really sure what the best approach is, becuase I simply can't do it all at once. I'm going to try to grapple with his way of thinking by looking at particular re-occurring ideas that seem to transcend any one text. In some cases I'll probably try to find links between ideas, but in others I'll just deal with the idea in isolation. The first concept I'd like to delve into is that of Jesus making the outrageous claim that He was in fact God in the flesh. No other of the so-called great sages in history made such a claim. In Between Heaven & Hell Peter Kreeft identifies these as "Buddha, Socrates, Lao-Tzu, Moses, Mohammed, Confucious, Zoroaster..." Lewis referred to the medieval notion that Jesus was Aut deus aut homo malus, which translates "either God or a bad man," as part of his apologetic method of argumentation. To begin to understand what this statement means, I've assembled some verses from the gospel of John that clearly demonstrate Jesus claiming to be God.

]NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION[

John 1:1
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
John 1:14
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

John 6:35
"Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.'"

John 10:30
"I and the Father are one."

John 11:25-26
"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?'"

John 14:5-6
"Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way? Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"

John 14:8-9
"Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.' Jesus answered: 'Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?"

Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963)

2007-07-19T20:53:00.000-04:00

The Apologist's Evening Prayer

From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
From all the victories that I seemed to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
From all my proofs of Thy divinity,
Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me.

Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust instead
Of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.
From all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee,
O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.
Lord of the narrow gate and the needle's eye,
Take from me all my trumpery lest I die.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

2007-07-18T00:10:00.000-04:00

Sonnet - Silence

There are some qualities- some incorporate things,
That have a double life, which thus is made
A type of that twin entity which springs
From matter and light, evinced in solid and shade.
There is a two-fold Silence- sea and shore-
Body and soul. One dwells in lonely places,
Newly with grass o'ergrown; some solemn graces,
Some human memories and tearful lore,
Render him terrorless: his name's "No More."
He is the corporate Silence: dread him not!
No power hath he of evil in himself;
But should some urgent fate (untimely lot!)
Bring thee to meet his shadow (nameless elf,
That haunteth the lone regions where hath trod
No foot of man,) commend thyself to God!

Edgar Poe was born in Boston on January 19th.

Genzyme Headquarters

2007-07-10T22:48:00.001-04:00

I recently had lunch with some friends in the Genzyme building in Cambridge. Despite the fact that the building's form and exterior presence is pretty lifeless, the interior was thoroughly considered and quite alive. It's supposed to be a model of sustainable design - LEED Platinum certified, tons of natural light, 18 interior gardens, lots of recycled aluminum, dry wall, and ceiling panels. I like that even though the total building costs were supposedly 16% higher than they would've been had the project been more standard, Genzyme let Behnish, Behnisch, & Parter experiment a little, trusting that substantial water and energy savings would be made during the lifetime of the building. One thing that was a little strange was the geometric alteration in the exposed, poured-in-place concrete columns. From the ground to the first floor they're cylindrical, then from the second to the roof they're square. I would understand if it was for maximizing flow of circulation, but why change the shape? The building is cool because it places its highest priority on those who interact with it most. However, I think it could do a much better job of engaging its exterior environment if its cladding had a life of its own.

2007-07-10T22:17:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow I'm off for the Western Christian Conferenc e. Though most of the attendees are usually from the west coast, this conference is always cool because it brings people from all over the country, including some from over seas. I think this will be my 5th year attending. The speakers this year will be Dana Congdon and Stephen Kaung.

Colorado Rockies

2007-07-10T22:06:00.001-04:00

These are some cool cats I grew up with in beautiful Memphis, Tennessee. This photo was taken during their recent week of hiking and climbing in the Colorado Rockies.

Samarkand

2007-07-10T21:44:00.000-04:00

Astronaut

2007-07-05T23:40:00.001-04:00

Godzilla Skewer

2007-06-30T18:21:00.000-04:00

In an article posted in this month's issue of WIRED, the new Tokyo Tower is unveiled. The tower is really just an antenna, supposedly designed to "host all of the city's digital radio and television signals, plus a mobile TV network." Construction is scheduled to be complete by 2011. The concrete and steel tower is aimed to be 2,001-feet-tall. This beast dwarfs its surroundings not unlike the Eiffel Tower did just after its completion in 1889, only the Eiffel Tower was half as tall. Wow, can you imagine if every 120 years humanity's capacity to build vertically, doubled in height?

Expedition 15

2007-06-27T18:26:00.000-04:00

Photos from NASA's Expedition 15 were posted today. When you click on the link just scroll down to see the photos. Some of them are really spectacular. Most of the photos show science and maintenance work going on while the crew is in orbit. It seems that the purpose of the expedition was to take the Space Shuttle Atlantis for a rendezvous with the International Space Station to do some work.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400)

2007-06-26T19:01:00.000-04:00

A Ballad Sent to King Richard

Sometime this world was so steadfast and stable,
That man's word was held obligation;
And now it is so false and deceivable,
That word and work, as in conclusion,
Be nothing one; for turned up so down
Is all this world, through meed and wilfulness,
That all is lost for lack of steadfastness.

What makes this world to be so variable,
But lust that folk have in dissension?
For now-a-days a man is held unable
But if he can, by some collusion,
Do his neighbour wrong or oppression.
What causeth this but wilful wretchedness,
That all is lost for lack of steadfastness?

Truth is put down, reason is holden fable;
Virtue hath now no domination;
Pity exil'd, no wight is merciable;
Through covetise is blent discretion;
The worlde hath made permutation
From right to wrong, from truth to fickleness,
That all is lost for lack of steadfastness.

L'Envoy.

O Prince! desire to be honourable;
Cherish thy folk, and hate extortion;
Suffer nothing that may be reprovable
To thine estate, done in thy region;
Show forth the sword of castigation;
Dread God, do law, love thorough worthiness,
And wed thy folk again to steadfastness.

Margaret Atwood (1939-present)

2007-06-25T11:25:00.000-04:00

Flying Inside Your Own Body

Your lungs fill & spread themselves,
wings of pink blood, and your bones
empty themselves and become hollow.
When you breathe in you’ll lift like a balloon
and your heart is light too & huge,
beating with pure joy, pure helium.
The sun’s white winds blow through you,
there’s nothing above you,
you see the earth now as an oval jewel,
radiant & seablue with love.
It’s only in dreams you can do this.
Waking, your heart is a shaken fist,
a fine dust clogs the air you breathe in;
the sun’s a hot copper weight pressing straight
down on the think pink rind of your skull.
It’s always the moment just before gunshot.
You try & try to rise but you cannot.

Mt. Monadnock, New Hampshire

2007-06-25T00:08:00.002-04:00

We left Boston to hike/climb the great Mt. Monadnock early Saturday morning, June 23rd. Some say it is the most frequented mountain in the entire world. While its peak is at a slightly less than impressive elevation of 3,165 feet, it is no easy journey to the top. There was some meandering here and there, a little lollygagging, occasional engagements in aimless dawdling, messing around, and shooting of the breeze, but for the most part the group as a whole remained focused on the objective at hand... namely, to enjoy the day, enjoy God's magnificent creation, and enjoy one another's company.

Shel Silverstein (1930-1999)

2007-06-20T23:53:00.000-04:00

Bear in There

There's a polar bear
In our Frigidaire—
He likes it 'cause it's cold in there.
With his seat in the meat
And his face in the fish
And his big hairy paws
In the buttery dish,
He's nibbling the noodles,
He's munching the rice,
He's slurping the soda,
He's licking the ice.
And he lets out a roar
If you open the door.
And it gives me a scare
To know he's in there—
That polary bear
In our Fridgitydaire.

T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)

2007-06-20T23:47:00.000-04:00

The Naming of Cats

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey--
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter--
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover--
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

Margaret Atwood (1939-present)

2007-06-20T23:24:00.000-04:00

IT IS DANGEROUS TO READ NEWSPAPERS

While I was building neat
castles in the sandbox,
the hasty pits were
filling with bulldozed corpses

and as I walked to the school
washed and combed, my feet
stepping on the cracks in the cement
detonated red bombs.

Now I am grownup
and literate, and I sit in my chair
as quietly as a fuse

and the jungles are flaming, the under-
brush is charged with soldiers,
the names on the difficult
maps go up in smoke.

I am the cause, I am a stockpile of chemical
toys, my body
is a deadly gadget,
I reach out in love, my hands are guns,
my good intentions are completely lethal.

Even my
passive eyes transmute
everything I look at to the pocked
black and white of a war photo,
how
can I stop myself

It is dangerous to read newspapers.

Each time I hit a key
on my electric typewriter,
speaking of peaceful trees

another village explodes.

I studied this poem when I was a senior in high school at the American International School of Kuwait. I think it speaks volumes about the complex nature of war and our inevitable interaction with it. It's one of those rare works of art, for me, that continually shows me something new when I come back to it after some time has passed. I think it's extraordinarily deep and beautiful and terrifying.

Emily Dickinson (1880-1886)

2007-06-20T22:48:00.000-04:00

V. TIME AND ETERNITY.

XXXIV.

The daisy follows soft the sun,
And when his golden walk is done,
Sits shyly at his feet.
He, waking, finds the flower near.
"Wherefore, marauder, art thou here?"
"Because, sir, love is sweet!"

We are the flower, Thou the sun!
Forgive us, if as days decline,
We nearer steal to Thee, --
Enamoured of the parting west,
The peace, the flight, the amethyst,
Night's possibility!

E.E. Cummings (1894-1962)

2007-06-20T17:12:00.000-04:00

SNOW

cru
is
ingw Hi
sperf
ul
lydesc

BYS FLUTTERFULLY IF

(endbegi ndesignb ecend)tang
lesp
ang
le
s
ofC omego

CRINGE WITHS

lilt(
-ing-
lyful
of)!
(s
r

BIRDS BECAUSE AGAINS

emarkable
s)h?
y&a
(from n
o(into whe)re f
ind)
nd
ArE

GLIB SCARCELYEST AMONGS FLOWERING

The posting of this poem is dedicated to my good friend Nouha Fokeladeh, who introduced me to the work of E.E. Cummings about 10 years ago.

Whirling

2007-06-20T16:28:00.000-04:00

07 - Moscow, Samarkand, and Cairo

2007-02-01T02:45:00.000-05:00

Still in Cairo, and will be for the next 4 days. Off to the citadel today, and the pyramids tomorrow.

06 - Moscow, Samarkand, and Cairo

2007-01-31T02:38:00.000-05:00

05 - Moscow, Samarkand, and Cairo

2007-01-31T02:18:00.000-05:00

We arrived in Cairo last night. I'm writing from Africa.
In Bukhara, we stayed in a 16th century residence of a Jewish merchant. It really was pure madness. All the sanity of the place was strained and disposed. Every single room was drastically different than every other room. All surfaces were decorated with pseudo Arabesque patterns. the city is totally walkable. You can just walk places like nobuddy's business. Just walk around. i saw what i was told to be the tomb of Job. Sadly there was no one around to let us inside. There are roughly 120 caravansarais in Bukhara, which were used by travelers along the Silk Route to rest and feed their camels. They also carry a type of detergent called "Barf" that you can buy at one of the markets.

04 - Moscow, Samarkand, and Cairo

2007-01-30T08:17:00.000-05:00

Went to Samarkand and Bukhara.
No email available.
Back in Moscow for a brief layover.
Headed to Cairo.
Will write again asap.

03 - Moscow, Samarkand, and Cairo

2007-01-22T15:55:00.000-05:00

We arrived safely in Moscow this afternoon at about 3pm. I was, and am, very tired. I wasn't able to sleep on the plane and I have not slept since Saturday night. It was nice to be able to read for an extended period of time. I finished A Painted House by John Grisham.

I feel fine, and am looking forward to a delightful night's sleep.

Our first contact was a russian girl from the Godzilla hostel just north of the kremlin district. She met us at the airport and helped us get cabs to the hostel. Once we made it to the hostel Niko found us and took us out to see the city and get dinner. Niko (an indirect contact of Mark Goulthorpe's) is a German guy, local architect, moved here about 3 years ago for work. He says the construction industry in Russia is booming right now. Tomorrow I think Niko is going to take us to see Federation Tower.

It's snowing outside.

The Importance of Knowing God's Word

2007-01-21T12:21:00.000-05:00

]NEW KING JAMES VERSION[

Hebrews 4:12

12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

James 1:21-25

21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

John 15:5-7

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will^[a] ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

Acts 20:32

32 “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Psalm 119:11

11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

01 - Moscow, Samarkand, and Cairo

2007-01-21T11:57:00.000-05:00

Today I leave for about 3 weeks to travel with my last MIT architecture studio to Moscow (Russia), Samarkand (Uzbekistan), and Cairo (Egypt). The focus of our trip is to study arabesque design in Islamic architecture. The stop in Moscow is really just a bonus. The focus of our research will be in Samarkand and Cairo. Our two professors are Mark Goulthorpe and Arindam Dutta. The students selected for the studio are below. We'll be back to start the spring semester on FEB 6.

AZRA AKSAMIJA
PETER JOHN DEPASQUALE
SARAH DUNBAR
KATHLEEN MICHELE FLYNN
MARGARET HWANG
CASEY ADAM RENNER
JUSTIN SHEA
MATTHEW ALEXANDER TRIMBLE
CHRISTOPHER CORYN KEMPSTER
SADIA SULTANA SHIRAZI

Park Street Small Group

2007-01-03T00:35:00.000-05:00

]NEW KING JAMES VERSION[ biblegateway.com

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—
31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.
27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

2007-01-02T15:58:00.000-05:00

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son.