Happy New Years!

On my way to the smallest town I know to do who knows what with minimal company. It's different from my usual new year's tradition which consisted of drinking, dancing, drinking, boys, drinking...you get the idea. I guess it's just a reality of getting old + boring.

Drink, be safe and countdown with Mary J. Blige on TV...

RE: my profile

profile: n. ...2. a short biographical or character sketch...

The one thing I hate more than generalizing all my likes, dislikes and life experiences is the thought of being judged by my generalized likes, dislikes and life experiences.


Heart Shaped Hurt:

Prior to the holidays I, like many other students, was working my ass off trying to complete a model (amongst other things) for my mid-term reviews. During this exhausting and sleepless period I had managed to give myself a nice little blood blister on the palm of my hand while attempting to cut a piece of copper rod with what could have been kid-proof scissors. Interestingly enough the damage turned out to look a lot like a heart and the once painful and unattractive blister turned into a beloved scar. Now, three and a half weeks later with the blister healed and minimal trace of its existence, I have but one question: Why doesn't someone permanently mark the forgotten scars acquired on their body and create a human archive of misfortune?...Maybe it's just asking for certain casualty...

Hope you're having a good time getting all cheery on eggnog + rum!

About *me* ::



Hola! ...I'm a Barceholic...

The 5-year Plan: Ok, so I am assuming that if you’ve made it this far you probably want to know a little bit more about me. I’m a graduate student studying Architecture at Carleton University. I also have a degree in Psychology from the University of Western Ontario which should’ve been a BFA seeing that I spent the majority of my time in a darkroom while keeping my nose close to many an art book. My time at Carleton has been a rich and insightful education. I have become my own worst critic who constantly challenges and reinvents the limits of my creative capacity. I’ve learned to think critically and pursue intuitive processes of making in all aspects of my work.

I’m a hybrid. I’m placeless. I’m (sub)urban. I'm still learning...

I hope to make beautiful things: architecture, sculpture, and photography.

Design permeates all aspects of our lives – practical or superfluous it’s all important and takes on many forms which are expressions of an idea or ideal.

I have convinced myself that I will someday have a retrospective in the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Why the CP? Well, it may not be the most prolific building I’ve ever experienced but it houses some of the most inspirational and progressive artists, designers and architects of the past century. If being in the likes of Joseph Beuys, Eva Hesse, Marcel Duchamp, Alberto Giacometti, REM Koolhaas, and Renzo Piano doesn’t make you wish you had paid more attention to all those Bob Ross videos, than I don’t know what would. How I am going to achieve this is still questionable...

Reality Check: Here is some information about my thesis for you nerds interested in the renewal of the “suburban” (Insert preferred buzz word: edge city/ post-suburban/ x-urban etc.) landscape in relation to its pubic realm. This may sound banal and indicative of a ‘Seaside’ New Urbanistic approach. Believe me: it’s not.

Now the problem with generating a new language or typology for the suburban territory is a difficult, but important issue. Yes, we all love the idea of the centralized downtown core, but we have to acknowledge a need for the redefinition of the suburbs since it is a continuously expanding area that is undergoing a transformation with the introduction of the ‘Big Box Store’ communities (for example: Wal-Mart mega stores and co.). Large enclosed malls that were once the focus and often the most used ‘public’ space of the suburbs are now shifting in program to accommodate the movement of commercial enterprises outwards to the periphery of the city.

The problem I have here is a lack of executed and innovative idea(s) in this area of my research. Finding some kind of precedent for a strategy to approach the suburbs in order to create a meaningful pubic realm has been difficult…

Some of the following intellectuals and texts are my current inspirations which will hopefully lead me extract some sort of approach in dealing with my suburban nightmare...

Allen, Stan. “Field Conditions.” Points + Lines: Diagrams and Projects for the City. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999. 92-135.
Deutsche, Rosalyn. “Agoraphobia”. Evictions: Art and Spatial Politics. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1996.
Deutsche, Rosalyn. “Uneven Development: Public Art in New York City.” Out of Site: A Social Criticism of Architecture. Ed. Diane Ghirardo. Seattle: Bay Press,1991. 157-216.
Easterling, Keller. Organization Space: Landscapes, Highways, and Houses in America. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1999.
Koolhaas, Rem. “Generic City.” S,M,L,XL. Ed. Jennifer Sigler. New York: Monacelli Press, 1995. 1248-1994.
Lerup, Lars. After the City. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2000.
Miles, Malcolm. Art Space and the City: public art and urban futures. New York:
Routledge, 1997.

The Rest: Well, that’s the ultra-skinny profile of my life right now…books, semi-conscious dreamscapes and hours spent in front of the computer…dammit, I need to get out more…

Calatrava in Bilbao, Spain (left) + Seville, Spain (right)


Guggenheim. Bilbao, Spain

Valencia, Spain
Santiago Calatrava's City of Arts and Sciences

Studio balcony, Barcelona

Valencia, Spain

On the train in Cordoba, Spain.

Ciutat Vella, Barcelona

Beginning in January 1st 2005 until April 4th 2005, 15 students from my program went to Barcelona, Spain to study architecture. What I learned was a hell of a lot more than just architecture. Rather, a way of life substantially different from what I’ve known and become accustomed to. Due to Francisco Franco’s reign in 1939, the then culturally and politically repressed people of Barcelona turned to anarchistic protest in the 70’s to rupture Franco’s dictatorship. It worked, thankfully. Although the people of Barcelona seem to have a strong identity with their province (place) and their culture, it seems that there is a sense of tension or anxiety to its relatively new reconstruction. But it’s just that, which makes it such a wonderful place to be. The old and new are juxtaposed just about everywhere you go, which makes for a complex and multi-layered experience. I won’t go on too much about how amazing the many cultural institutions, exhibits, architecture, city organization, general urban lifestyle etc. are, instead I’ve posted up a few pics. Enjoy...