Ixopo

The last two or three weeks have been a blur. This year is turning out to be even more demanding than the last and without God's unexplainable peace, which has been incredible, I'd be a total wreck. Thursday was my first hand in for the semester, and Friday followed with a pretty dismal set of results, but I look forward to a chance to right myself again next quarter.

Submission was completely hand draw, so I have no pictures to post of the project, although I'm not sure that I would either way, since the end results were rather disappointing..

Looking back on the project though, I must say I quite enjoyed it. I've learned a fair deal about how I respond to pressure (not very well) and been directed to do some pretty interesting research work.

The project was a Buddhist retreat for Port St. Johns, a small sea side town on the Wild Coast in the Eastern Cape. My main precedent study was of a retreat in Ixopo, an hour or so's drive from Durban. It's a really beautiful place that perfectly embodies the opening paragraph of Alan Paton's Cry the Beloved Country:

There is a lovely road that runs from Ixopo into the hills. These hills are grass covered and beyond any singing of it.

I took a few photos when we visited it about a month ago. There's certainly nothing architecturally outstanding about the place, but it has some serious vibe, and I found it an incredible example of just how strong a sense spirit or identity a certain place can have.

I have a few friends..

Believe it or not, I do.

My friend Nick took these a while back with his fish eye lens and my camera, I assume, since they're on my computer somehow. I was just clearing up my hard drive and noticed these and thought them quite nice. They're from a rad sunny day a little while back in September, at an exhibition put on by this guy.

Johannesburg, Facial hair and Clapham Grand

Its been quite a while since my last post, so this is going to be one of those long, boring, wordy catch up ones. I've been extremely busy with work, but since I officially finished Varsity for the year yesterday (assuming I don't have any sups to write) it looks like I'll have a lot more time on my hands, which means a lot more internetz.

So apart from work (which is super boring), some other things have been going on. I've written some new stuff, so that'll be up once I get round to doing some recordings; my moustache has grown considerably; and its two weeks today until I see the Killers in Jo'burg! Woooo! Excitement. I'll be staying with a friend of a friend who I have never met, but I assume she's awesome, because she takes some rather lovely photographs.

Mo Bro

The other night I went to Clapham Grand, a club in Durban. I'm certainly not a big clubber, partly because none of the clubs here play the sort of music I listen to, and partly because I've tended to do things I regret at these sorts of places, but I seem to have grown out of that.

Back to Clapham.

My first impression was so totally surreal that I almost turned around and walked right out. The DJ was playing Lady Gaga, hands were raised towards the speakers in the classic I-hear-you-and-I-like-what-you're-doing dance move, and on the two massive big screens above the dance floor, the Rugby was showing. It was magical

I realised as I was walking around, looking for somewhere to get a beer, that the past two years of studying Architecture have pretty much taken over the way I think about just about everything! I found myself analysing the whole place. Firstly, the dance floor is tiled. This is perhaps the worst design choice. It wasn't a particularly wet night, but somehow there was a wet, muddy layer across the whole floor. It was so bad that a cleaner had to wander around all night with a mop, wiping up the mess. As you can imagine, the floor was also rather slippery, which of course, is not cool.

The tiles are complemented by a raised, carpeted bar area just behind the dance floor. Yes, carpet. I would hate to see that carpet in the day light. It actually stuck to my feet as I walked. Enough said. The space between the bar counter and railing that surrounds the dance floor is a narrow corridor of maybe 1 and a half metres max. That's a generous estimate. Now add bar stools and people leaning against the railing on the other side. Now try and get two way traffic to and from the bathrooms past them. Not good. It does however have a rather nice upstairs area, and the wall paper and panels on the walls are super cool.

Its also got a great atmosphere. Its 20 for guys and 18 for girls, which means there's a lot less unnecessary in-your-face hook ups, drunken stumblers, and no stupid fights. I had quite a good time actually. Certainly don't see myself becoming a regular of "The Clap" though.

Ever The Pedestrian..

These past few days, I've found myself thrown headfirst into girl-world. Its a scary place. A lot of emotion. I mean a lot. I've always thought of myself as, for lack of a better term, something of a sensitive guy, but this pushed me far out of my comfort zone. The details are unimportant, but all I can say is, although the whole Men-are-from-Mars-women-are-from-Venus thing is a bit of a cliché, it really is true, and men don't realise that just about everything we say or do has an emotional implication to the women around us.

A word of advice, there are three things that one should not talk about in polite company; religion, politics, and Twilight.

I took a rather long walk today to sort some stuff out and thought I'd share some of my surroundings with you good people of the internet:

Yeah, so the edits are rather cheesy, but I was having fun alright!

Also, a little earlier a friend of mine sent me something that quite nearly made me wet myself.
If you want a good laugh check THIS out!
The second song on the play-list's an absolute killer.

Umhlanga Mixed Use Photos 3

Ok, Third (and last) post of photos from my awesome little roof top exploration mission. The other two are HERE and HERE.

Here's something really rad that I noticed. I'd always thought the big metal circular things were just (perhaps somewhat unattractive) decorative corner articulation elements, but it turn out they have a pretty interesting functional use...

...lightning conductors. That steel cable goes all the way round the roof of the building before running down to earth.

Well I thought that was pretty clever. Anyway..

Umhlanga Mixed Use Photos 2

This is a follow up to a previous post, about a precedent study I did for Varsity on mixed use buildings. These are part of a collection of photos I took in Umhlanga:

Ilchester Site

I've got this long running project for my Technology course at varsity, for which I have to do a PBS (practical building study) of a residential project from the ground up.. So all year I've been visiting this site kinda near my house and taking photos, and doing sketches, and all the rest, from foundation stages all the way up to this point..

I took these photos a little while ago (yes, another Wordpress re-post, but probably the last). Unfortunately, when I go in the week I kind of have to wait for the builders to pack up and leave so the lighting's not too great in some of the shots, but its all good..

I just love building sites. There's something about all the textures, and the colours, and the sense of something to come that just gets me so amped. This looks to be rather a pretentious, ugly big house.. But I think its quite beautiful at this stage.

Maybe it was just the Bon Iver in my ears, the half dark or the site itself, but there's something of an atmosphere all of its own to a place like this..