SE: Habitat '67 construction barricade

SE: Habitat '67

Chosen building for my spatial experience construction barricade project, Moshe Safdie designed this pre-fab housing structure for Expo 67 in Montreal.
source

DP: the book.

This is what I want my book to include.

DP: proposed timeline for the semester

Process Timeline (weeks 4-14)

WEEK 3

Monday 2/8: formal presentation of completed research, turn in proposed design solution and timeline of process. (homework: experiment with inventive fold-outs for book. Try to re-create the ones Josh found, and then develop new ones. start to think about how they could be applied to the content. assemble all content for book (easily accessible), begin finding a way to organize it, flow, rhythm, etc. decide what needs to be written out, as essays, stories, interviews, what needs to be an infographic, where user input could possibly work, timelines, etc.)

Wednesday 2/10: studio work/desk crits (homework for the weekend: solidify order of content for book, flow, pacing, etc. start thinking about brand/identity/aesthetics. Sketch out initial ideas, but don’t go too far… just start thinking about it)

WEEK 4

Monday 2/15: presentation of work-in-progress. (homework: put identity work on back burner, focus on writing out needed pieces. Develop tone, and carry it across all essays/stories/interviews)

Wednesday 2/17: studio work/desk crits. (homework: continue working on writing all textual elements. Finish writing everything for Monday)

WEEK 5

Monday 2/22: presentation of work-in-progress (homework: solidify brand/identity/aesthetic. Start developing infographics and timelines)

Wednesday 2/24: studio work/desk crits (homework: continue designing infographics/timelines. finish all for monday)

WEEK 6

Monday 3/1: prepare for midterm presentation (homework: create a general layout of book, incorporating the writing, infographics, timelines, etc. and leaving space for illustration, photography, user input, hand-lettering, etc. take into account fold-outs and expanding sections… don’t think too deeply about the layout yet… it’s just to get ideas flowing. Assemble midterm presentation, and practice presentation at least 5 times)

Wednesday 3/3: midterm presentation. (homework: put feedback to use while still fresh and make significant progress for next class) (homework: apply feedback, and continue work on layout of book and developing interesting fold-outs)

WEEK 7

Monday 3/8: studio work/desk crits (homework: continue work on layout, refining everything. Create a full scale mockup of book for wednesday, leaving space for the visually-rich aspects, like illustration, photography, hand-lettering of section markers, etc. fill out senior show submission forms)

Wednesday 3/10: individual or small group crits, while class is working (must show significant progress since midterm presentation). turn in senior show submission form. (homework: make revisions based on small group crit, and begin thinking about an outside package for book. Sketch out ideas, and begin work on hand-lettering, illustration, photography, and user input space).

Monday 3/15: spring break! (Colorado trip!)

Wednesday 3/19: spring break! (homework: 2^nd half: keep working on visuals, and develop a list of agents to contact for publishing)

WEEK 8

Monday 3/22: studio work/desk crits (homework: continue work on illustrations/hand lettering/photography. Write out solid gold queries for potential agents!)

Wednesday 3/24: studio work/desk crits (homework: send out queries to all potential agents, and wait for feedback. Finish all visual pieces and parts to inside of book. Work on cover and packaging)

WEEK 9

Monday 3/29: present work-in-progress (homework: continue work on cover and packaging. Maybe rethink parts of the layout to better fit with packaging solutions?... time for revisions and refining)

Wednesday 3/31: studio work/desk crits (homework: more refining of any parts of the book that need it.

WEEK 10

Monday 4/5: present work-in-progress (homework: more revisions. Go back and copy edit all text. Send out to someone to read over, and make sure everything sounds great. Go back through the book, and check for flow, pacing. What can be changed to make this better??)

Wednesday 4/7: studio work/desk crits (homework: this is the two-week marker for queries to agents. Any word? If not, assemble new list of potential agents, and rethink query. Send out queries on Monday. Create second full mockup of book. prepare for 1^st preliminary presentation, and practice 5 times)

WEEK 11

Monday 4/12: 1^st formal preliminary presentation (homework: research paper stocks, printing methods, etc. make any revisions based on presentation or printed 3d mockup)

Wednesday 4/14: studio work/desk crits (homework: continue revisions. Prepare for second preliminary presentation. practice 5 times. Keep on top of agent queries. If no word, continue to send to new prospects, if you do have an interested agent, follow through)

WEEK 12

Monday 4/19: 2^nd formal preliminary presentation (homework: create FINAL BOOK, two copies. these are technically mockups, but they should look perfect, selling quality. photograph book. tie up all loose ends.)

Wednesday 4/21: studio work/desk crits (homework: work on final presentation, practice at least 20 times! Revise visuals for final presentation. practice another 20 times)

WEEK 13

Monday 4/26: final presentation of degree project! (homework: if your book is not published yet (duh) then create very quick, truncated versions of book, at least 20 copies, to pass out during show (or something that could work like that)

Wednesday 4/28: production for show (homework: continue work on mini books, and create boards for my wall in the senior show)

Saturday 5/1: begin show installation

WEEK 14

Monday 5/3: install show (homework: continue making boards for show. find pedestals for books. Install)

Wednesday 5/5: install show (homework: tie up all loose ends, and relax!!)

Thursday 5/6: show opening: reception and presentation for industry guests

5/7-5/13: students will take turns hosting the show during the week

Friday 5/14: show closing: reception and presentation for family/friends

Saturday 5/15: commencement

DP: project and proposed design solution

Marrying for love is a cultural phenomenon that is only 200 years old. Within the last 40 years or so, human relationships in love and partnership have continued to go through drastic changes, with the emergence of the birth control pill, which divorced marriage forever from procreation, to the growth of the market economy, in which female workers were needed more and more to fill vacant positions in the capitalist boom. They were no longer restricted to domesticity, and household chores. The idea of the ‘traditional’ nuclear family is actually not very traditional at all. In fact, the trend of the breadwinning husband and the stay-at-home wife, marrying at a young age, and staying together in a life-long union for the purpose of producing children only lasted from the mid-40’s through the beginning of the 60’s. That’s only about a 20-year span of time when it was considered psychotic to not want to get married and stay married for the rest of your life.

So then, if this ‘normal’ model of committed human relationships only lasted two decades, then what is all the fuss about today? People are continually feeling threatened or upset about the ‘astronomical’ divorce rates, the later ages that people are getting married, to simply never getting married at all, same-sex marriages, open marriages, in-vitro fertilization, etc. What these people are missing is that marriage was never a fixed state. The meaning behind marriage, the purpose for it, how long it lasted, to how many people were a part of a single marriage has varied incredibly through the ages, and across cultures. It doesn’t stand still, it’s always in flux, and people need to realize that it’s okay. Yes, it is true that marriage is changing in a direction that we’ve never experienced before, but that’s no reason to be prejudiced against people who practice lifestyles that vary from your own. In the Netherlands, they have a culture-wide motto that they hold to: frisind, which means ‘free spirit, free mind’. To live and let live. Do what you want, and let others do the same. I want my project to illuminate that idea. To show my audience that there are a lot of ways to go about manifesting your love for someone, and they all are perfectly acceptable, and should be tolerated, if not celebrated!

In order to convey my message, I plan on developing a book, in which I write/curate all the content, and design the final artifact. I want this book to be more than just a collection of essays, interviews, and stories though. I want it to really engage the reader, and to do that, I feel it needs to also have relevant infographics of statistics and survey results, timelines of marriage history, space for user input and participation, inventive fold-outs, illustration, photography, hand lettering, and it needs a distinct brand identity, presented in a finished package or sleeve. And of course it needs to be published!

Based on a survey that I conducted on surveymonkey.com, it seems as though (generally speaking) only females are interested in this subject matter, as my respondents were vastly skewed toward the female margin. The age group was very spread out though, and I discovered that the reason some people were more open to new ideas was because they experienced other ways of life on a more personal level, and that’s how they came to accept it. For instance, one woman said that she grew up in a traditional household setting, knowing nothing about the variety of lifestyle choices out there, but once her career got her working with unusual people, she got to know them, and realized that they were the same as she was. Or other instances, where a teenage girl is very liberal despite her traditional upbringing, because she personally knows how hard it is being discriminated against because she is gay. Thus, I’m focusing my audience on suburban (as in, more sheltered) females, ranging in age from 16-50.

DP: Please take a moment...

...to answer a few questions that will really help me and my degree project. I appreciate the help!

Please click here to take the survey.