On SURVEILLANCE architecture

 

Psalm 127:1

King James Version

127 Except the Lord build the house, 

they labour in vain that build it: 

except the Lord keep the city, 

the watchman waketh but in vain.

This will be a short feature on surveillance architecture.

No, not on the design of cctv's and all that.

But more on the shape of buildings.

And what is housed in those structures.

A few come to mind:

Jeremy Bentham and Willey Reveley's "panopticon":

"Bentham commissioned drawings from an architect, Willey Reveley. Bentham reasoned that if the prisoners of the panopticon prison could be seen but never knew when they were watched, the prisoners would need to follow the rules. Bentham also thought that Reveley's prison design could be used for factories, asylums, hospitals, and schools."

-- Wikipedia

America's "NSA":

"The main NSA headquarters and operations building is what James Bamford, author of Body of Secrets, describes as "a modern boxy structure" that appears similar to "any stylish office building."[161] The building is covered with one-way dark glass, which is lined with copper shielding in order to prevent espionage by trapping in signals and sounds."

-- Wikipedia

UK's "The Doughnut":

"The Doughnut is the nickname given (due to its resemblance to a doughnut) to the headquarters of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ),[1][3] a British cryptography and intelligence agency. It is located on a 71 hectares (176 acres) site in Benhall, in the suburbs of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in South West England."

-- Wikipedia

America's "33 Thomas Street":

"33 Thomas Street (formerly the AT&T Long Lines Building) is a 550-foot-tall (170 m) windowless skyscraper in the Tribeca neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States... Designed in the Brutalist architectural style, it is a telephone exchange or wire center building which contained three major 4ESS switches used for interexchange (long distance) telephony, as well as a number of other switches used for competitive local exchange carrier services. "

-- Wikipedia

Curiously-shaped buildings, right?

Surely, it's for both function, and form.

As student of architecture, we were asked to think on those two.

Not enough times.

Form, versus function.

Which matters more in our digital surveillance societies?

Why the surveillance at all?

Who are we spying on?

What privacy have we got left?

What about you?

What is your occupation?

What is your pre-occupation?

May it be of the LORD, instead of the world.

Ephesians 5:11-12

King James Version

11 And have no fellowship 

with the unfruitful works of darkness, 

but rather reprove them.

12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things 

which are done of them in secret.

Colossians 3:1-2

King James Version

3 If ye then be risen with Christ, 

seek those things which are above, 

where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

2 Set your affection on things above, 

not on things on the earth.

1 John 2:15-16

King James Version

15 Love not the world, 

neither the things that are in the world. 

If any man love the world, 

the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world, 

the lust of the flesh, 

and the lust of the eyes, 

and the pride of life, 

is not of the Father, 

but is of the world.

1 John 2:17

King James Version

17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: 

but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Related material:

JESUS sees THROUGH us

The way of nations

Sins of society

On NOT spying

born again looks at tech

Image: Clipart Library

All other images: Wikipedia

GOOD for BRAIN health

 Isaiah 64:8

King James Version

8 But now, 

O Lord, 

thou art our father; 

we are the clay, 

and thou our potter; 

and we all are the work of thy hand.

Has it really been that long?

That I've been inspired by a structure?

Thanks to a feature I saw on cable today.

Frank Gehry's structure was stunning.

A fantastic, convoluted structure.

And I learned that building was called Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.

So very fitting it would also be located at quirky Las Vegas, Nevada.

Wikipedia reports:

"The center is approximately 65,000 sq ft (6,000 m2) and includes 13 examination rooms, offices for health care practitioners and researchers, a "Museum of the Mind", and a community auditorium. The center also serves as the headquarters for Keep Memory Alive, the Las Vegas Alzheimer's Association and the Las Vegas Parkinson's Disease Association."

Had this building appeared when I was studying Architecture, perhaps, I may have become a full-fledged architect.

Perhaps.

But GOD had other plans.

He made sure there was nothing especially interesting at school.

I've always loved studying, but there was hardly time to digest stuff.

Sure, we studied Sir Banister Fletcher's "A History of Architecture".

But history of architecture is a study in itself, and cannot be surface study.

At least, for me.

I liked to absorb what I study.

Gehry's brain health structure is a 12-year-old beauty, and it came too late for me.

Still, I can appreciate its quirky, wavy lines, use of materials, and spotless facilities.

Methinks it's good for my brain health.

I had been fed a diet of pyramids, Greek temples, European churches, American buildings, a host of other popular architects.

But I did hear of Frank Gehry then.

Just didn't realize his works were revolutionary.

Seeing the documentary, and videos on the link below, woke my dormant brain cells, regarding design.

We all need a good dose of inspiration.

As born again, GOD lifted my thinking to another level.

Of really serving man, and not ego.

Thus, the PRAISE village I was creating in my mind.

And now, Gehry gave me more ideas.

Curiously, Frank Gehry had a particular affinity for fish design.

Such that, it was incorporated in his buildings in various countries.

I also learned he had Russian-Polish Jewish roots.

And I think to myself, it would be great if he believed in JESUS, who asked His disciples:

Matthew 4:19

King James Version

19 And he saith unto them, 

Follow me, 

and I will make you fishers of men.

I am happy that SPIRIT alerted me to Gehry's work today.

May all our work honor JESUS.

And may it always be useful to man.

Ephesians 2:10

King James Version

10 For we are his workmanship, 

created in Christ Jesus unto good works, 

which God hath before ordained 

that we should walk in them.

SPIRIT gives believers lots of inspiration.

He gives us life!

I thank Him for today.

And every day.

2 Corinthians 3:6

King James Version

6 Who also hath made us 

able ministers of the new testament; 

not of the letter, 

but of the spirit: 

for the letter killeth, 

but the spirit giveth life.

Related material:

DOC Frank Gehry - Architecture In Motion

Frank Gehry's TED Talk in February 1990 - My days as a young rebel

CLEVELAND CLINIC LOU RUVO CENTER FOR BRAIN HEALTH

9 Things You Didn’t Know about Frank Gehry

13 Iconic (and Wacky) Frank Gehry Buildings

13 Outstanding Frank Gehry Buildings and Their History

Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health by Frank Gehry

Robert Harding photos

Image: Cygnusloop99

Designing For People

The LORD JESUS said:

John 15:12

King James Version

12 This is my commandment, 

That ye love one another, 

as I have loved you.

If there's one steady thing about my unsteady, varied career in design, communications, and entrepreneurship was this:

I always designed for people.

Everything, whether it's a tiny house, a room, a jacket, a bag, books, a workshop, a letter, a blog, a post -- everything had to be designed to serve people well.

I was designing for living, breathing humans, imagining them happy, and content, without the fuss of having to care over possessions or getting confused about ideas.

I wanted everyone to have freedom of movement, of thought, of enjoyment, of ease.

As a designer, I cringed at the idea the people I serve would have to buy expensive stuff, and left to care for the item, when the item should serve them first.

My heart has always been for the people, and since I was trained in Architecture and Anthropometrics, and did research in Ergonomics, every detail was taken into consideration.

Of course, I could hardly go by the books, as not everyone is of a standard height, or width.

There are nearly eight billion people in the world right now.

It would drive a designer nuts, to chart all the varied sizes of people, in order to design perfectly well for them.

But we, designers, could sure use the rarest sense of all -- COMMON sense.

I also took note of the "flow", wherein I put myself in the shoes of the client, or customer, and took my brain on a spin, visualizing how objects, structures, and policies must serve man.

When I use, or touch certain objects, ride certain vehicles, sit on certain furniture, or go on slick buildings and establishments, I can literally feel the "pinch" on my spirit, when something feels laborious, or uncomfortable.

Such as a delicate cup that will shatter easily.

Or sharp edges of a table, where I imagine a child bumping his tiny head on.

Or shiny, slick, but slippery floors.

I literally shiver at the thought objects and structures would "hurt" people. 

Designers must have heart, that's what.

We must not design for our own ego.

That has always been a principle for me, in most everything I do.

After becoming a born-again Christian for nearly a year now, the learning has been exquisite, and ego must not be found, if I serve the LORD of all.

The learning has been taken to the HIGHEST level -- the only level I care to serve my fellow human beings.

All the more design must "serve the needs of man".

I have this common-sense theory, wherein I feel the best designer of homes for families, would be wives who truly love their families.

They'd know the flow, the furniture, the colors, the furnishings necessary for their families.

They also won't ask the husband to spend for what they may not have.

She won't ask kids to have rooms that are more her look and color.

She will make sure everyone's happy and comfortable, and not there to please her.

There is no diva in this humble lady.

We designers must assist this lady every way we can.

Of course, I look at many structures and establishments around me, or the policies that govern us, and again, I cringe, as more often than not, it is to serve the ego of owners, designers, and officials, not really the end consumers.

Where before, condominiums in the big cities where I live are low structures, now they're all towering Babylons.

Where before, the units and rooms are large and spacious, they have become expensive, tiny boxes that cramp their poor occupants -- physically, and financially.

Where before, these units and rooms are sold, or rented, at a fair market price, now, they have soared as high as their Babylonian aspirations, which, to my Christ-centered heart, signify tenant "expiration".

People can't breathe with the high cost of living, as if all you're here on earth for, is to pay rent, or mortgage.

I imagine a lot of heads nodding.  

Because I love details that people don't normally pay attention to, I suppose I became a more aware writer, designer, and entrepreneur.

Trained to imagine structures and potential design, I can literally visualize everything, to the last detail.

I owe all that to God, of course, thus, the heavy, initial training, before I could even write this post you're reading now.

I also thank God, that He gave me the heart to really care for people.

Perhaps, that's all I really have.

Not so much the technical knowledge, for I shunned too much high tech.

I left all the structural computations, plumbing details, electrical specifications, to the proper "authorities".

I prefer low tech/high heart, my ears closely attuned to God's heart, not addicted to trends, but focused on how to make people genuinely happy, comfortable, safe, and secure.

Is that at all possible?

For sure!

Be a follower of CHRIST, and He will show you the WAY.

Betcha didn't expect that, huh?

I don't blame you, they didn't teach me that either at Architecture school.

It was all nuts, bolts, until I turned into a nut, and bolted.

Kidding.

Well, kinda.

But I always speak from experience, so you can't really say I'm a pretender.

When you follow Jesus, whether you're a designer, or in any other profession, your heart and thinking will be opened up wide, and you will begin to really, really "see".

You will see what the unawakened human heart can't see.

You will think what the jaded human mind can't think.

You will see through the LENS of the Holy Spirit, the TEACHER of All Things, the One who helps us remember to focus on what matters most -- GOD, and others.

When you reach that point, all your "designs" (whether structures, education, policies, finance, law, clothes, furniture, transportation, reading material, media) will be kind to humans.

That is the ultimate.

To design as GOD would.

Updated 24 January 2022

A Simple Home Rocks!

Hebrews 3:4

King James Version

4 For every house is builded by some man; 

but he that built all things is God.

What a beautiful find yesterday!

Reading some marketers' mails online, and clicking on the appropriate links, I came across the very awesome Low Cost Log Homes of KY website.

The image you see above was its frontispiece, and it depicted EXACTLY my idea of a simple, sturdy, and straightforward home.

Just a simple, rectangular design, with a deck out in front.

A perfect, low-maintenance way to live and entertain simply.

I could stare at this beauty all day long, and imagine how lovely it would be to live in one.

I live in the Philippines, but somehow this American design is the one I wish to share with you, for it has captured my heart with its simple, unadorned beauty.

We know how people are, where many wish their homes to be as huge, complicated, or expensive as their neighbor's.

Well, I'm not one of those people.

I've designed and researched tiny, affordable rooms, and homes.  

I've even visited building trade fairs where I could find alternative home designs -- and I've found many.

In college, I've even applied to study low-cost housing in Asian Institute of Technology* in Thailand, in my desire to really get to the bottom of it.

Despite the Deans of Architecture and Engineering giving letters of recommendation on my behalf for the scholarship, AIT thought my grades too low.

Oh well, no one had high grades in Architecture anyway har har. 

My heart has always been closest to those who cannot afford expensive homes.

There is a way to live simply, and happily, and I can assure you, if your heart is right with the LORD, having a roof over your head, whether just a tiny, rented room, or a simple, basic home suffices.

In these days of covid, I can barely imagine how many families in the less fortunate neighborhoods, manage to fit in.

So, when I see a simple, sturdy, and straightforward home like the one above, and priced low, my heart soars, wanting to share it with your right away!

Even the website is tiny, and simple.

And yet, the links and tabs are all you need.

Nothing flashy or complicated, so refreshingly wonderful!

Exactly what my designer's heart loves, and respects!

If your heart is like mine, grounded, and yet looking up at God for all my simple needs, then please click this Low Cost Log Homes link once more.

*Just a little funny thought: Nearly 20 years after having applied to that AIT scholarship in Thailand, and being turned down, God comes in and makes me marketing communications consultant for a local university. And guess who was the dean there, this time? The VERY same head of that AIT university. Funny how things come around, eh? Anyway, the Dean and I had a good laugh about that one. Actually, he was speechless, but I found him to be a kind person, too! 

Of course, my revolutionary heart wished people would look upon the DESIRE, and INTENT of the student, and not on the foolish grades, or capability to pay tuition. Those don't really mean anything in my books, except it did in theirs. But I guess I can put up my own school one day, where grades are the last to be considered. I'd rather look upon the heart, the mind, and spirit of each student, praying that God show me how to serve each student, and family, and to help them reach their fullest God-given potential. Oh, that would be a dream!

Image: Low Cost Log Homes

Related material:

The IDEAL home

Revolutionary Design Book

Perhaps, I was destined for design, after all, for when I was in High School, a classmate, Miriam, gave me a bunch of books.

She said her brother -- a student of Architecture -- wanted to give it to me.

There was a thick, black book on design, and classic books on oil painting, anatomy sketching, and sculpture.

I immediately latched on to the design book, and read it with great interest.

I also followed the oil painting book, and after I graduated from Architecture in the mid-80s, I had taught myself how to paint in oil, using my mom's flat knife, as a spatula, and making do with the brushes I could find.

I even created my own canvases, just with the imaginative, raw knowledge I had, even painting scrap plywood white paint, as if mimicking a canvas.

As is always the case in my art, great urgency dictated whatever materials were immediately available will have to do, lest the Muse depart from me.

With art, everything becomes possible, and that black design book really stretched my natural bent and love for simple, comfortable, compassionate design.

George C. Chilton's "Design: Serving the Needs of Man", became my main reference when I got to Architecture school.

From this, all other studies for me were judged, and often found wanting.

The amazing Chilton book showed how the helicopter was fashioned after dragonflies, how submarines were fashioned from squid, and of course, it all made sense to me.

It showed how man's design was fashioned after God's design -- nature.

The original blueprints were God's, all this time!

How very beautiful, and intelligent!

Architecture didn't teach me that.

Chilton's book did.

Originally, I wanted to become an archaeologist, an anthropologist, a sociologist, or even a psychologist, so this new knowledge was riveting.

I know, I know, I wanted to become a journalist, too.

I wanted to be so many things, because many things interested me.

But since I was brought into Architecture, I merely shifted to truly designing for man, and not necessarily, architecturally.

There were so many more aspects of design that begged to be studied, and I was an eager, and voracious student.

Of course, design was but one aspect of life, and life was my best teacher.

When I seemed to pass many tests and hardships from life, my design got better.

And when I found God, and started following Jesus, my thinking radically shifted.

I was no longer obsessed knowing self.

I had become fully-attuned to God alone, and I also found my raw desire and knowledge for design and comfort, perfection and precision, had sound basis, after all.

More than ever, design was meant to serve the God in man.

Updated 24 January 2022

Comfort Nut

I may not have been crazy about Architecture, but I sure got crazy about wooden furniture when I first opened my world arts and crafts shop in the big city in mid-1995.

Trained in Anthropometrics, from studying "Architectural Graphic Sandards", I became particular about comfort and measurement.

Of how we had to design everything, using human averages like height of counters, shelves, stair risers, landings, size of rooms, bathrooms, height and width of doorways -- everything that needed to serve man.

Of course, our thick textbook was published in the U.S., and here we are, designing for our tinier race, so we made the necessary adjustments, or at least, I did.

After Architecture, I got really precise with most everything I did, for it made sense.

But, unlike many other designers, I was particular about comfort.

If it wasn't comfortable, it had no place in my heart.

I only design for comfort.

You'll be stylish if you're comfortable.

So, I wasn't crazy about style.

Comfort always came first for me, for I'd always put myself in the shoes of my "client", in whatever I was tasked to do.

I was intrigued by one of the more humble elite from the big city in the late 90s.

This lovely lady married a Frenchman, who designed chairs.

I could see they liked alternative living, and was not taken up with all the wealth her father and family had.

It was also at this point that I was selling world arts and crafts, and had become familiar with such.

Then I began liking turn-of-the-century wooden furniture when I did have that shop in 1995.

I loved sitting on wooden chairs, without cushions, for the wood loves use.

Eventually, the wood takes on natural patina, which makes me like the furniture even better.

I bought wooden dressers, tables, huge cabinets, bowls -- but lightweight ones -- to re-sell at my shop.

I would wipe the furniture with mildly damp cloth, and finally a dry cloth, and the sheen would be marvelous.

I liked well-designed, comfortable chairs and tables.

The simpler, the better.

I was a practical designer and user.

My life must not be possessed by possessions.

If anything, things had to be utilitarian.

I'd review famous architects we were taught, look at their designs, and find them a bit stiff, and uncomfortable, even impractical.

But my classmates ooh'd and aah'd.

I always reminded myself that we design for people.

People come first.

Whether it's a car or a home, even a toy, people came first.

I was trained differently, from a book I learned to love.

And that will be for the next post.

(Image source from this blog.)

Updated 24 January 2022