Eritrea, to see relics of Modern Architecture in a (now) post-colonial setting

Eritrea, in Africa, is the subject of a recent New York Times travel article and slide show (source for the photo above by Shawn Baldwin for the Times). An excellent book on Africa and its paradoxes, seen through sympathetic European eyes, is The Shadow of the Sun, by Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski.

Places in need

Some places still go through problems that do not happen in others. It's hard to focus on one destination since there are many places with different kinds of problems. A traveler would choose a destination to find a problem to see their culture and also to help. The World Vision is one of the organizations where they find children with problems and problems in their environment and find a solution for them with the donations that were given by other people with the desire to help. Some travelers or people visit those places in need as a volunteer.

The problems can come from health issues where they do not have anyone or anything that can treat their health problems. Lack of food and water can be a problem in their living, and drinking contaminated water can lead to diseases. Most of these problems happen in the poor countries or places that still live in the past. Natural disaster, where it gives a big effect on people and their living is one of the problems that no one can stop.

The World Vision tries to find problems and solutions for a better future for those children in need. Designers should choose a destination from these places and visit to find a problem and a solution for the problem. They can be architectures, the everyday objects, and shelters/houses that protect people from natural disaster.

Cappadocia

Cappadocia meaning "the land of beautiful horses", was an extensive inland district of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). The name continued to be used in western sources and in the Christian tradition throughout history and is still widely used as an international tourism concept to define a region of exceptional natural wonders characterized by fairy chimneys and a unique historical and cultural heritage.

Honestly, I had never heard of this place before but I ran across some picture of this when I was Google-ing the cave dwellings of the southwestern part of Noth America. I was instantly intrigued by the images that came up. So for me, I feel that curiosity lies in what I dont know-which is how did they do this?! If I were to go here, given the fact that this is a natural rock structure, I would try to grab a piece of the volcanic rock...don't tell anyone!

Doctors Without Borders

I find this weeks label a little troublesome, because I think it's missing something. I don't know why a person would travel to find a problem if that is all they intended to do. Now if they traveled to find a problem in order to help solve the problem, that is a completely different scenario. But if you just want to find a problem you don't need to travel very far, if at all. We all find problems at home, in our country, in our school, and ourselves. I know this extremely bleak and for some reason I don't really feel like talking about design this week. When I first saw the "find a problem" label the first thing I thought of was Doctors Without Borders or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). I was bumming around on their website and I found out that they are conducting a touring refugee camp exhibition. This is an interactive exhibition where "guided by MSF aid workers, visitors are asked to imagine that they are among the millions of people fleeing persecution in, for example, Somalia, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, or Sudan.The exhibit is made up of materials used by MSF in its emergency medical work around the world, including emergency refugee housing, a food distribution tent, water pump, health clinic, vaccination tent, therapeutic feeding center, and a cholera treatment center"(doctorswithoutborders.org). This exhibit started in Canada and will be making several stops throughout California. As much as I didn't want to discuss design, this is a designed exhibit of a designed experience that could be valuable for designers looking for ways to create alternative solutions for horrific situations.

Vanuatu

Vanuatu is an island located in the South Pacific Ocean made up mostly of jungles and villages within them. Here, one of the most essentials components of everyday life are the fish markets. In the past decade, however, foreign companies have been diminishing the population of fish at rates too fast for fish to be replenished. The coral reefs along the island’s coast are homes to numerous tropical fish. Since the arrival of foreign fishing companies to these waters, there has been a vast decline of the population of the underwater species living there. Catches declined with 90,000 tons in 1999 to 30,000 in 2001. With a 50% decline of tropical fish, there has also been a corresponding decline in other fish species, including ones that the Vanuatu people have depended on to survive. Islanders have been forced to live off of less nutritious, imported goods, which include mutton flaps, corned beef, turkey tails, and tinned fish. In addition, the nation’s economy depends heavily on tourism that draws people to the island for their tropical habited waters. The quick death of the tropical life, though, will not only lessen the amount of healthy food but also reduce the number of attractions.

Vanuatu’s people were the first to become refugees of climate change, in effect to global warming. About 100 residents were left no other choice than to move to higher grounds because of the rising sea levels that had destroyed their homes. Small Pacific islands of low coastal areas are under threat from storms, flooding, deadly mosquitoes, and diseases that have risen in levels, from skin diseases to malaria.

As a designer, places like the South Pacific island of Vanuatu should be visited to use design as a method to help solve problems. Such significant problems will take much effort and time to find solutions to. However, designers should use these drawbacks to a once-content nation to think about solutions, preventions, and cautions to design that could apply to the area in need of a helping hand or elsewhere where similar situations may exist.

Catherine

Baghdad, Iraq

Travel is an outlet that offers an opportunity for people with different cultures to interact and in turn allows people to experience things out of their own norms. This is also a great way for people to see ones own culture in relationship to others. Through out my travels I have come across many different cultures. What I have found is that even if the traveler doesn't really know what ones culture is it is possible to figure that out abroad. I also believe that by interacting with these cultures you can adapt and partake in their everyday life as a respectful observer to further understand these foreign ways of life.
When thinking of the word "threshold", I look at it in its most literal architectural definition as a boundary separating two spaces. This idea does play a major role in travel. Here it describes a metaphorical transition into a new unknown environment. I feel that a destination that brings up this issue of threshold would have to be a place like Baghdad, Iraq. Obviously given our current war in this country this would not be a safe trip but I do feel that it would be an amazing opportunity to explore the "other side" so to speak and see how architecture plays a role in war torn countries.
Iraq, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert. It shares borders with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the west, Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, and Iran to the east. It has a very narrow section of coastline at Umm Qasr on the Persian Gulf. There are two major flowing rivers: the Tigris and the Euphrates. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
The capital city, Baghdad, is in the center-east. Iraq's rich history dates back to ancient Mesopotamia. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is identified as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing (which I believe would be a great place to visit especially for all of the graphic design majors).
I believe that by exploring this city one would be able to see how architecture serves as both a form of protection as well as more than a structure but a piece of life. Something that can be built and just as easily taken away.

South Africa

What is an education? Why might it be said that a designer should see certain things to complete his or her education? What are those sights (or sites!) and what do they "teach"?

An education is was is learned be it from a school lecture, book, experiment, or first hand encounter. As a Designer I tend to learn most from the latter. As I have found out though my journey to becoming an architect I have found the most valuable was of learning was through the form of travel. Travel offers a sense of freedom and surprise. It allows for one to follow their own path of interest and more importantly enables one to take knowledge into their own hands.

As a designer I don't believe that it is possible where to tell someone to go based on the fact that interests shift from person to person. What I have found to be the best way to travel is to go where you want. This is what I love so much about traveling...the freedom.

I have had the unique opportunity to travel to many places through out the World ranging from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa and Asia. All of which taught me more than I could ever imagine. One of the most inspirational trips for me was my trip to South Africa where I spent three weeks going from Capetown to Namibia, then Botswana to Zimbabwe. Here I was able to experience multiple architectural forms ranging from the most elaborate to the most humble-all of which built upon my base of book knowledge acquired from my academic career.

Beijing, China

Beijing, the capital of China, has the most intereting envioremental experience for the visitors, and its own people in Beijing. The Forbidden city is located in the center of Beijing, surrround with all these modern design buildings, makes it interesting. The local Chinese in Beijing are just like the ancient architecture surrounding by the modern design buildings, they don't actually interfare with eachother. It seems the modern changes in Beijing is too fast for the Chinese in Beijing to realized, and a lot of them still live the same way, like the elder Chinese man would wear a tank top at a summer night,holding a fan sitting infront of some modern buildings to have a chat with other people. The surroudings does not change the locals cultures, it is interesting to observe how chinese interact with all these modern things. The traffict light is not only a figure sign but it also has a bicycle sign.

Peru -- Machu Picchu & Cuzco

The Inca

It is incredible that we know so little about a culture that once spanned most of South America. The cities, weaving, mummies and art that the Inca left behind are testament to their advanced and complex culture. The two most awe-inspiring sites are Machu Picchu and Cuzco in Peru, both situated high in the mountains. Even today, they are hard to reach. Machu Picchu is perched on a very steep slope, but what’s more impressive is in the way the Inca designed their city such that it was habitable even in such a harsh location. They cut terraces into the slope to be able to build homes and farm. They used an intricate, interlocking system to build walls. The walls were designed such that one key stone holds the entire structure in place. Remove that one stone, and the whole thing would fall apart. Cuzco was a bigger city, and more important to the Inca empire. Some say it was shaped liked an animal, a dog. In Cuzco, there still remain temples with inward sloping walls. The geometry is so perfect that the walls are still in perfect condition after all this time. For a designer curious to see the brilliant oddities of an old civilization, and their solutions to design problems, Peru is the perfect destination.

by Anja

Germany -- Weimar, Dessau & Berlin

The Bauhaus

To complete one’s design education, a trip to the birthplace of Bauhaus is absolutely paramount. The Bauhaus is legendary for its design principles and its body of work. Established in war torn Europe, it believed that fine arts and crafts should be merged, that art should serve the needs of society. Essentially, form should follow function. The influence of Bauhaus is so great, that it is still present in architecture, graphic and industrial design. For example, the Wassily chair by Marcel Breuer can be found most lobbies and designer homes. Some of the greatest graphic designers (Tsichold, Bayer) were associated with Bauhaus. The Bauhaus was first established in Weimar, Germany with Walter Gropius as the director. It later moved to Dessau and then to Berlin where the Nazi regime dismantled it. It is important for a designer to go to the 3 places that hosted Bauhaus to be able to delve into the movement. A trip to Germany is like a design pilgrimage, that humbles and inspires all those who make the journey.

by Anja

Times Square

Every New Yorker’s nightmare is making the attempt to get through New York City’s Times Square alive. The swarms of tourists are almost intolerable and when they take pictures of every single little thing you are baffled. There are just billboard signs upon billboard signs and store signs trying to compete with the rest by being the biggest, the boldest, the loudest, the most colorful. Those who design the signs and billboards, have to be aware of color use and typography. The goal is obviously to stand out more than those surrounding it. Well its hard to admit, but the place is pretty amazing. Now billboards are not just humungous sheets of paper with stupid model photographs selling cosmetics, but LED screens with moving type, or even actual motion clips. Walgreens will be installing the largest LED advertising billboard yet. The sign will have 12 millions light-emitting diodes which is 17,000 square feet of them, which is one third of an acre. It is a sign. For Walgreens. Why? But who cares. As a designer, this seems like a pretty big deal, that something to this degree is actually feasible and actually being put into effect. I would not say that the location is designed very well, but the amount of design packed, shoved, and over-loaded into such a small area is definitely a sight to see, for both the tourist and the designer.

Dogon Culture - Togu na

The Dogon are an African culture living in the south of Niger. They are very well known for their masks, wooden sculpture and architecture. A designer or architect should visit this other culture so see how the Dogon make sure of their surroundings. Nature supplies them with their way of life, for everything from food to shelter, and clothing to entertainment. The male society has a House of Words called the Toguna. This stands in every Dogon village. The roof is composed of multiple layers of sticks and grass that are about one mete thick creating a shelter for the wise men of the village. It has a low ceiling supported by carved or sculptured posts. The reason for this, is so that heated discussions and arguments, don’t break out into fights. The sculpted pillars express themes of fertility and procreation such as women’s breasts. The culture uses the idea of reproduction as an art form. It was not only a house of meeting to discuss village issues, it was also a form of a watch tower. Traditionally they were set high in the village so that the men could see if an enemy were close.
Designers and architects would appreciate how everything the Dogon designed, is designed for a good reason. Nothing was down without meaning for aesthetic purposes. Their beliefs and values show through in their sculptures and their architecture is designed to serve a specific purposes. Today, many things are designed to look the best or to attract the consumer, but some things can be well designed and functional at the same time.