tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10677094598443345072024-03-14T00:46:39.494-05:00Foggy StuporGOATstudio presents, from the sticky streets of the Crescent City, musings, insights and ideas designed to snap you out of your Foggy Stupor.GOAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362881703285786941noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1067709459844334507.post-27965783405184783482013-09-25T21:47:00.002-05:002013-09-25T22:05:00.162-05:00RE-LAUNCH: Are We There Yet?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #cccccc;">by C. VanWingen</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'd like to tell you that we've been conquering the world, one ridiculously stupendous building at a time. Mostly, though we've been doing what most other archi-kids have to do out of school; biding our time. Since last posting to Foggy Stupor, the GOAT team has had some shake ups, has explored some alternate career paths, and has added some new faces. I think we've finally shaken out the cobwebs.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the first post I wrote to the world, I announced "We are GOATstudio and we are ready." Turns out, that was not entirely true. However, from the turmoil, we have emerged stronger, more confident, less cynical, and more ready to grow into the design leaders we have always believed ourselves destined to be (hence the only slightly presumptive "Greatest Of All Time" moniker; consider it an IOU to the design world). I'm not making any bold promises this time, though. I just ask that you stop in from time to time, keep us honest, and remind us that we still owe you a big one.</span></span></div>
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GOAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362881703285786941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1067709459844334507.post-66627382083229619412011-08-29T15:39:00.006-05:002013-09-25T21:33:20.066-05:00SIX YEARS AND STILL SCREWED UP: Riding with Ms. Betty Ross<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
by C. VanWingen<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.nola.com/photogallery/photo/9944585-standard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://media.nola.com/photogallery/photo/9944585-standard.jpg" height="230" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo by raisinface</td></tr>
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Occasionally, my day job requires that I travel to Houston, a city that offends nearly all of my urban sensibilities. A few days ago, however, my visit to that wasteland of freeways and shopping malls took an interesting turn.</div>
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After reaching Texas in a particularly foul mood (I missed my first flight because apparently arriving 2 minutes early for departure is about 18 minutes too late), I jumped into a waiting cab. News of the anticipated fare ($54! Thanks urban sprawl) did little to improve my humor. I perked up measurably though, when I learned that my driver, Ms. Betty Ross, was from New Orleans. At least I wouldn’t have to suffer the 40 minute (!) voyage in silence with some blissfully ignorant Texan.</div>
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Ms. Betty, it turns out, is from the Lower 9<sup>th</sup> Ward. Like so many, the animated mother of two fled her home 6 years ago and lost nearly everything. Her story seemed to differ little from those that I had heard dozens of times over the last few years. I listened politely, as I always do, and she offered her deeply personal story freely, as they always do. </div>
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What made this situation special was that I had never heard the tale of the storm from someone that had not returned to New Orleans. Every other time, the teller seemed genuinely happy to have come through the ordeal and returned home. Ms. Betty did not seem happy. There was a small but noticeable layer of rage in her tone that seemed to be directed not at the storm, nor at the government, but at the people that lived there now (like me).</div>
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Ms. Betty insisted that there was still a part of her that wanted to return. When I asked “when?” she responded plainly “not until it gets rebuilt”. She just shook her head while I listed all the projects and accomplishments that we’ve been hailing as “progress”. She explained that the only time she hadn’t felt safe in Houston was when she shared her neighborhood with fellow evacuees (they attempted to break into her new home twice). Security was a new, pleasant feeling that she had never enjoyed in NOLA and she wasn’t ready to give up. The superior roads, schools, housing, and job market didn’t hurt either.</div>
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Ms. Betty’s beef with New Orleans emanated from an expectation that “rebuilt” should mean “better.” She has no interest in returning to the city she left six years ago. She wants to live in a more resilient, productive, and secure New Orleans, a city superior to the one she and her family & friends escaped.</div>
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Today, it has been six year since the levees breached (!) and we have failed Ms. Betty and everyone like her. We have compromised on our <a href="http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/08/new_orleans_levees_get_a_near-.html#incart_hbx">infrastructural reconstruction</a>. We have allowed corruption and waste to creep back into City Hall (though Ms. Betty did seem pleased that “Egghead Ray” is gone). The crime rate has returned to unacceptable levels. The neighborhoods that survived continue to decay and those that were washed away remain desolate and isolated. The keys to the city’s recovery and future have been handed to aristocrats and criminals.</div>
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Granted, some of these shortcomings were to be expected under such difficult circumstances. But many of our issues are the result of our own inexcusable and backward sense of <a href="http://www.nola.com/nolavie/index.ssf/2011/08/new_orleans_rhythms_move_to_a.html#incart_hbx">pride</a> in the city’s rampant delinquency and incompetence. It’s all part of the “charm.” We live in the “City that Care Forgot.” From crumbling infrastructure, to endless seas of blight, from political sleaze to freaking MURDER, we have let our leadership off the hook with this misguided “que sera, sera” attitude.</div>
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Simply put, we forgot to care about our city. Disjointed sidewalks, street flooding, poverty, narcotics, embezzlement, police brutality, traffic congestion, broken levees, deleted e-mails, no-bid contracts, and MURDER are not charming. These are signs of a delusional populace and crappy leadership. Ms. Betty deserves better.</div>
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GOAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362881703285786941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1067709459844334507.post-11589211095131726542011-07-28T16:47:00.005-05:002013-09-25T21:33:40.816-05:00SH[it]PO: The Incomprehensible Hypocrisy of Preservation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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by C. VanWingen<br />
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I leave you all alone for a couple weeks and look what happens; if you haven’t already heard, brace yourself. Phyllis Wheatley Elementary School, Charles Colbert's Modern masterpiece and the former future home of GOATstudio was demolished on June 22nd. While on vacation, I had a perfectly chilled Oberon ruined by the news that the demo schedule had been fast-tracked. Apparently, New Orleans now has the unfortunate distinction of being the first city to destroy a building under the protection of the World Monuments Fund. Lucky for me, I don’t bear the sentimental burden of attachment to this building that so many seemed to. To me, Phyllis Wheatley was little more than a beautiful building in disrepair with a sweet location across the street from the world’s best fried chicken (Willie Mae’s; check it out and become a believer). It would have made a great, if insanely expensive, home for a design studio (or food co-op, or art market, or office park, or a…). If I’m honest, the only inconvenience this loss causes me is that I’ll have to start hunting for a new run-down, dilapidated site to renew as the home of our little endeavor. Fortunately, there is no shortage of potential sites in this city that fit that description.</div>
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Others, however, spent <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">years</i> fighting for this building’s preservation. A former professor of mine vocally and passionately advocated its importance for as long as I’ve known him, and managed to rally the support of hundreds throughout the region. Their work spawned a number of fundraising groups, social networking efforts, viral videos, petitions, and celebrity endorsements. Undoubtedly, the demolition has dealt these folks a significant blow, perhaps even shaking the belief and commitment they once had in community activism. I just thought the damn place would make a nice office. The passion of so many, however, drove us to step forward with an <a href="http://noherd.blogspot.com/2011/06/goatstudio-wants-to-save-phyllis.html">outside-the-box business proposal</a>, a willingness to fight for funding, and enough naiveté to believe someone important would listen. The outpouring of support was incredible. Had we received a stay-of-execution, I believe we could have resurrected the iconic building and had access to all the fried chicken we could handle for years to come. With so much public support and national attention, a viable proposal, and such a plucky attitude, how could we fail? With little political, economic, or social pressure to move forward with demolition, how did this happen?</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cT8eQZI55BA/TjHUJAS02-I/AAAAAAAAAFU/akbSn0mS1Vo/s1600/Wheatley+Rebuild+05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cT8eQZI55BA/TjHUJAS02-I/AAAAAAAAAFU/akbSn0mS1Vo/s320/Wheatley+Rebuild+05.jpg" height="218" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by <a href="http://noherd.com/">GOATstudio</a></td></tr>
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How is it that one cannot replace a door knob in the French Quarter or install a new mailbox in place of their obscenely undersized model in the Irish Channel without incurring the wrath of SHPO, but this travesty can occur without that aristocratic bunch of hypocrites even raising a finger? That is what eats at me about this situation and by extension, this city. These assholes are directly responsible for Adam the Mailman’s bi-weekly mangling of my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rolling Stone</i>, but they cannot “preserve” one of the most significant representations of an entire era of regional architecture. Bullocks.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8EIaTZ-GEPU/TjHW3wrbkYI/AAAAAAAAAFY/LXdNUlJ_q2A/s1600/IMAG0027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8EIaTZ-GEPU/TjHW3wrbkYI/AAAAAAAAAFY/LXdNUlJ_q2A/s320/IMAG0027.jpg" height="191" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My anorexic, historically irreplaceable mailbox</td></tr>
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Being an architect(ish), I am often asked by those that do not know any better, “What is your favorite building in New Orleans?” Occasionally, I offer a smart-ass reply like “Loyola’s parking garage” or “the abandoned plant on the river.” Usually, however, I try to explain that my love for this place has more to do with my future in it than its past without me. I love the rich, historic fabric that the city is known for and would generally agree that it deserves protection from the too-often undiscerning advances of the developer’s wrecking ball. But when did we decide that “rich, historical fabric” only applies to shit built before 1940? Seriously. If my mailbox is more historically significant than the Wheatley School, that is the message that I am getting; that this beautiful, vibrant city has not been capable of making any significant architectural contributions since WWII. Imagine if you were an artist and your city’s controlling lobbies told you that the only acceptable subject matter to paint was St. Louis Cathedral, or a chef that could only serve Creole, or a musician relegated solely to jazz, because these are the things that make New Orleans "unique". It is the same as telling an architect that the only design worthy of the city’s lexicon was built a century ago (cheap replicas are also acceptable; see <a href="http://blog.nola.com/dougmaccash/2009/01/post_14.html">New Urbanism</a>).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ugh... This guy.</td></tr>
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Ironically, it seems that the State Historic Preservation Office is causing irreversible damage to New Orleans’ architectural legacy. Lost Modernist gems like Wheatley, laughable Post-Modern follies like the Piazza d’Italia (probably the next to go), and contemporary projects like Make It Right, deserve a place in our historical narrative as much as any 19<sup>th</sup> century cathedral or pre-war shotgun. New Orleans deserves to be more than a museum.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Rant over. RIP Wheatley,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Colin Van</span><br />
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GOAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362881703285786941noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1067709459844334507.post-31940600139651924572011-06-15T11:52:00.002-05:002013-09-25T21:29:24.802-05:00IN RESPONSE: GOATstudio wants to save Phillis Wheatley Elementary<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bbbbbb; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">by M. Moran</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #bbbbbb; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">When New Orleanians want to know about one another, after a brief tête-á-tête, we ask, “…so, where d’ja go to school?”(high school, not college). “What neighborhood ‘d’ja grow up in?” and “who are your people?” We are giving one another permission to tell our stories.</span><br />
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When we engage in this ritual, we are instinctively seeking common threads so we can weave together our stories. We are a people who seek connection; because, at some visceral level, we have known from the beginning, we need connection to survive where we have chosen to live.<br />
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Consistently, buildings and the spaces between them provide shared memory-pegs over which we drape our stories, while we identify the connections: our high school, the church where we whispered carefully truncated Confessions, the park shelter where we stole a first kiss, our home, the cemetery where we buried a brother, too young; and the theater where one confronted bigotry, another, wearing coat and tie, saw Ben-Hur and ate white ice cream.<br />
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Each place provides a unique and vital touchstone that anchors our cultural stories. This is the cultural meaning of buildings. We connect through them. Personal connection is how we know who we are, where we fit, and why we matter.<br />
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Why then do we have this morbid inclination to self-mutilate, by habitually demolishing our most vivid memory pegs, the icons of our meme?<br />
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I believe it is because we are a tacky but gentle, bon temps rouler culture. We would rather Live within our cultural ecosystem than think about it. Content, nearly napping at Dos Jefes Cigar Bar, we listen to Washboard Chaz and contemplate fractals of cigar smoke among the banana leaves. We laugh. We do not line up to hear a doctor of women’s studies white-rap Ferlinghetti covers at a smoke-free coffee shop.<br />
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It is what distinguishes us from say, Portland, Oregon or Seattle.<br />
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James P. Carse, author of Finite and Infinite Games, would see New Orleans as passively living in an Infinite Game, in which the object of the game is to keep playing. By perpetuating the play, the game continually evolves.<br />
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On the other hand, for most of America, life is a Finite Game, with rules and boundaries that are designed to end the game and declare a winner. The unit of measure on the scorecard: Usually money; sometimes, political ascendancy.<br />
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The finite game-players among us see no benefit in perpetuating play with no winner. Like the timber brokers who clear-cut the Amazon jungle – they just don’t see the problem with addictive Taking, where there seems to be so much [more to take].<br />
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So, while we smile at smoke fractals, Professional Takers are stealing the Rivergate and replacing it with a Styrofoam casino; certain no one will notice. Playing the same Finite Game, some preservationists stand on their favorite decade, certain in their rectitude, and wag condescending fingers at the ignorant. Win or lose, condescension is their trophy.<br />
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The soldiers currently engaged in battles for buildings, are focused only on winning, because that’s how the game is set up. This is why they come to the game table girded only by their positions. None arrives with ideas, altruism or a willingness to creatively explore for sustainable solutions.<br />
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The current campaign to save the Wheatly School looks like the Stanley Cup Finals Winners, losers and gaudy trophies. The challenge requires the elegance of Charles Darwin and The Preservation of the Species (The ultimate infinite game).<br />
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My dear Goats, think of the Wheatley School as the steel and glass home of The Wheatley Center for Infinite Play, where the rules require that the Game is infinite, and the results of the play, are sustainable and Open-Source. Design is Play is Design.<br />
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Preservationists, Politicians, Real Estate bullies, Architects, will all game with those of us who once languished in the patio at Dos Jefes in a cloud of self-congratulation.<br />
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The Wheatley Center for Infinite Play will become the memory-peg that marks an ongoing, collective understanding that,<br />
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“It’s not about Me.”</span></span><br />
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GOAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362881703285786941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1067709459844334507.post-69659726669609269672011-06-09T11:15:00.001-05:002013-09-25T21:31:53.371-05:00PRESERVE THIS: GOATstudio wants to save Phillis Wheatley Elementary<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>A letter to John Klingman, professor of architecture at Tulane University and resident expert on Charles Culbert's Phillis Wheatley Elementary School:</i><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Dear John,</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I believe I have a potential solution to the planned demolition of Phillis Wheatley Elementary School, a cause that I know to be very important to you. It seems clear that the Recovery School District has no intention of compromising and rehabilitating the site for reintegration into the city's education system. I believe there may be an alternative program that would require minimal alteration to Charles Colbert's vision and still allow the site to function as an anchor for the surrounding community, as it did before the storm.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Radha Mistry and I have recently launched a design studio here in New Orleans; while still in our infancy, we have already had some <a href="http://www.archdaily.com/137458/nola-modern-proposal-goatstudio/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ArchDaily+%28Arch+Daily%29">nationally recognized success</a>. One of the foundational concepts of our business plan is what I have been calling an "<i>Innovation Incubator</i>". The idea is for GOATstudio to shoulder the financial and organizational burdens of a design_fabrication office's start-up (software licensing, shop tools, plotters, studio space, insurance, laser cutters, routers, etc.) and then rent access to space, tools and advice to young entrepreneurs in a number of burgeoning design fields (architecture, furniture, graphic, and interior design, fabrication for the film industry, etc.), all with our studio as the nucleus. This would effectively establish a new, truly collaborative, cross-disciplinary work model in an industry that has long been thirsting for evolution. Additionally, community services like trade classes, outreach events, and neighborhood design_build projects will help the practice(s) develop a better, more symbiotic relationship with the community than would be possible independently.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Since conceiving of this scheme, I have imagined its ideal site as a rehabilitated warehouse, church, or perhaps a school, in one of New Orleans' many in-need, culturally vibrant neighborhoods. I also imagined that any application of this model would take a lot of planning and capital, making it at least a couple years off. Unfortunately, the Wheatley School does not have the luxury of years.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">With the recent national attention the site has received and the emotional outpouring of local support, I imagine the City of NO is desperate for a viable, well-funded adaptive reuse proposal to come along and save them from the coming public relations disaster that demolition would spark. The road-blocks such a proposal would face are numerous and imposing; funding, zoning, bureaucracy, time, and the condition/size of the site are significant hurdles, no doubt. However, I think an ambitious campaign led by impassioned people has a real chance. Changing the program from a school alleviates the need for significant expansion and alteration, thus significantly reducing the stated $21 million rehab price tag. There are a number of significant grant opportunities for innovative start-up concepts, historic preservation, and community centric proposals. The national exposure can be translated into an ambitious crowd-funding campaign. Local support can be funneled to fundraising events and donation drives. I believe the funding and support is out there and with a quality proposal and cash in hand, the numerous other hurdles suddenly seem much less imposing.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Is this all naively ambitious? Absolutely. That may as well be the <a href="http://noherd.com/">GOATstudio</a> organizational motto. But naive ambition may be this landmark's last hope. In order to make a go of this, we will need the help of passionate people, especially those that have the influence and experience to lend this endeavor some legitimacy. We believe in this project. I would love to talk with you more about it at the earliest opportunity.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Cheers,</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Colin VanWingen</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">GOATstudio, Co_Founder</span></div>
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GOAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362881703285786941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1067709459844334507.post-85301091993706668792011-05-24T19:42:00.000-05:002013-09-25T21:33:08.459-05:00RISE UP: The Man, the System, and the Rebellion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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by C. VanWingen</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The recently convened AIA National Convention in New Orleans threw into stark relief some of the fundamental flaws that plague the architectural profession today.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">If you are a young designer, fresh out of school, with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt, and a spunky, optimistic attitude, these are your career options:</span><br />
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Search desperately for a job at an established office that may or may not (probably won't) be doing stimulating work, that will pay you next to nothing, and demand 12 hours of your day without overtime pay thanks to an obscure loophole in the <span class="apple-style-span">1938 Fair Labor Standards Act. With the 2-3 hours a day you are not working or sleeping, you should probably be studying for the ARE, LEED, etc exams. Luckily, you won't have any disposable cash to spend on a social life anyway.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="apple-style-span"></span></span>You can move to Europe and use your degree to quickly start a practice and be roundly appreciated by a culture that generally venerates architects, designers, and the built environment. Unfortunately, you would also be in Europe. And if you decided to return, Pritzker Prize in hand, you could no longer use the words "architect" or "architecture" to describe what you do.</li>
<li>You can quit, go off and make good money as a welder or a carpenter or something, gradually pay off your student loans, start a happy family, and look back at these as the dark days.</li>
<li>You can hunker down, carve out a niche in the cramped design market, and fight for those design principles you spent the better part of a decade honing. Eventually, with a lot of effort and sacrifice, you can make a decent living, while maintaining your soul, and doing the work you love. There is just one catch; this path makes you a threat to the "legitimacy" of the entire profession. Should you slip up and use the word "architect," the AIA, NCARB, and KGB will pursue you as if you were slinging knock-off Versace handbags on the corner. Never mind that the word is clearly printed on your accredited Master's degree.</li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Licensure is important. It ensures that you can deliver the product that you are selling. If you can pass the licensing exam, shouldn't the burden of proof be sufficiently satisfied? Of course. That is, unless the purpose of the system is not to ensure that one is qualified, but to ensure that dues paying members of the architectural elite are entitled to a consistently replenished supply of cheap, obedient labor.<br />
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What if someone had a viable alternative path? What if there were an organized network of business savvy young people that could rely on one another to navigate this convoluted system, find jobs, and produce work efficiently and legally? What if the current experience-based economy that is architectural practice were adapted to incorporate and value talent, drive, and innovation? What if you could make money now and tomorrow with the skill set you left school with? What if your jaded, pessimistic, depressing future of corporate servitude could be completely avoided?<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It just so happens that blazing that path is exactly what GOATstudio has in mind. Stay tuned.</span></div>
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GOAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362881703285786941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1067709459844334507.post-13132669199849750362011-05-19T10:01:00.000-05:002013-09-25T21:41:29.725-05:00WHAT?!: Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally-World!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://waheedaharris.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/go-girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://waheedaharris.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/go-girl.jpg" height="196" width="320" /></a></div>
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The following is an emotional plea for the respect and preservation of the nation's most fascinating super store, the NOLA Wal-Mart on Tchoupitoulas... Set to a rigorous bounce beat!</div>
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Much, much more on this Wal-Mart soon (it really may be the most interesting place in an amazing city).</div>
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GOAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362881703285786941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1067709459844334507.post-3847040160846321202011-05-17T15:34:00.000-05:002013-09-25T21:42:37.261-05:00URBAN FABRIC: Ode to Old Entergy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oOuapf8HyhQ/TdKswIziPNI/AAAAAAAAABY/Rq2kwb7AUr8/s1600/867604842_old_entergy_plant__graffiti__8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oOuapf8HyhQ/TdKswIziPNI/AAAAAAAAABY/Rq2kwb7AUr8/s320/867604842_old_entergy_plant__graffiti__8.jpg" height="320" width="313" /></a></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The impression from a distance is one of foregone majesty; her smoke stacks are visible on the horizon from any point in the city west of the downtown high rises, her perch over the river is regal and timeless. Upon approach, her textures deepen and the scars of neglect, vandalism, and over a century of brutal sun, wind and water become her most prominent features. The plant is imposing and foreboding from the street, packed with excitement and danger. Once inside, however, the experience is downright religious; hundreds of clerestories caked in dust filter the harsh Louisiana sun; a tangle of rusted beams, trusses and catwalks extend to the primary space’s ceiling 100 feet overhead; decades of art contributed by some of the world’s most notable urban artists give the brick walls an extraordinary, vivid veneer worthy of any museum; pools of water in the plant’s lower reaches, remaining from tragedies past, bounce the light in a way that creates a sense tranquility and nobility, even in this scene of utter dilapidation. The Old Entergy Building, located deep within the Tchoupitoulas industrial corridor on the banks of the Mississippi River, is slated to become a <a href="http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/03/development_of_bass_pro_shop_i.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc;">Bass Pro Shop this summer</span></a>.</span></div>
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GOAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362881703285786941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1067709459844334507.post-15419785128452636712011-05-09T15:56:00.000-05:002013-09-25T21:44:07.114-05:00INTRO: GOATstudio and the Foggy Stupor blog<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
by C. VanWingen<br />
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The Foggy Stupor blog started as a cross-country conversation between Radha and I (the founders of GOATstudio) about all that intrigued, disturbed, excited, or confused us in the world of design. We progressively expanded our circle of friends and topics until we discussed just about anything with just about anyone that had an opinion.</div>
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To this point, online anonymity has fostered little more than bile and bitterness from trolls and teenagers. It has the potential, however, to encourage honest, thoughtful debate between intelligent and inspired individuals. It might be a bit of a reach, but the vision I have for this blog is just that; a forum for discussion and deliberation on design related topics (often loosely related), free of trolls, judgment, and pretension.<br />
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We have all had a rough review or a heated argument that left us flustered and speechless, only to come up with the perfect retort hours later. This is what the internet offers us; a pause in the debate to compose ourselves and craft a clever response. It evens the playing field between reviewer and reviewee, professor and student, professional and amateur.</div>
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We will post the topics, threads, images, and essays. That is only the first and least important step, however. The rest is up to you. Save the 140 character slams for Twitter. Craft your responses carefully and thoughtfully. With a little luck, this can develop into something that will help us all stay connected to one another and engaged with the design realm we have all worked so hard to get noticed by.</div>
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We will also be posting insights into our newly founded office, and the trials and tribulations we are facing as young entrepreneurs and designers. If you have topics that you would like to see brought up, you can tweet us (@noherd), Facebook us (GOATstudio), or e-mail us (<a href="mailto:info@noherd.com">info@noherd.com</a>), and we will be sure that you are heard. Between us, we can begin to mold the design professions according to our own visions, instead of those of our predecessors. </div>
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GOAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362881703285786941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1067709459844334507.post-42700995208428075112011-05-06T15:49:00.000-05:002013-09-25T21:45:26.242-05:00PLEASE DON'T LEAVE: Pro Sports and Place<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The relationship between professional sports franchises and the cities they represent seems to be teetering on the brink of collapse, particularly in the NBA. However, transiency in professional leagues is nothing new; indeed the two cities in imminent danger of the losing their NBA franchises, New Orleans and Sacramento, acquired their respective teams from other cities years ago. Furthermore, this would be the second NBA squad to leave the Crescent City since the merger [see photo]. Teams have been switching cities ever since they started representing them. Exactly half of the franchises in the NBA started in a place that they don’t currently occupy. </div>
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This transiency seems odd considering how much of the corporate identity and economy of each franchise is tied to its geographic location. Teams have city and state names stitched into their uniforms, rely on local government funding for their facilities, use local and regional imagery in their marketing materials and logos, and, most importantly, depend on season ticket revenue from residents living in the same region. The relationship is not purely parasitic, however. The economic, social, and political impact of professional sports organizations on their cities has been well documented [I’m guessing since I haven’t actually looked]. If this symbiotic relationship works, why are so many teams swapping locales?</div>
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Naturally, the superficial response is “market forces.” Certainly, one can imagine that the opportunity for profit is higher in Brooklyn than in New Jersey, in Anaheim than in Sacramento. It is not quite that simple, however. What does Oklahoma City have to offer that could not be had in Seattle, and what does Salt Lake City hold over New Orleans? The truth lies in the perks of novelty. It is much easier to market a franchise in a mid-sized city if it has a new arena, an optimistic outlook [no one is thinking about the Thunder’s imminent departure from Oklahoma yet], and a motivated local government than one with used facilities and fans tired of mediocrity and disloyalty. Revenues are buoyed by a change in venue, but only temporarily.</div>
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An argument could again be made dynamic companies are more competitive. Rosters change weekly. This is also nothing new, regardless of how people may feel about “The Decision.” LeBron’s flight to South Beach hardly outshines Shaq, Gretzky, or Wilt’s respective trips to LaLa Land. Something does seem different now, however. Organizational transiency makes teams too reliant on the whims of the individual players to maintain their marketability. Take the situation the New Orleans Hornets find themselves in, for example. Nearly all of their current value is tied to the marketability and competitiveness of their best player, Chris Paul. However, both the Hornets and Paul are rumored to be on their way out of the Dirty South. If Chris commits to the city, ticket and merchandising sales will continue and we may have a fighting chance of keeping the team. The paradox lies in that once he leaves, the only people that would care about a talentless Hornets squad are those that have emotionally invested themselves in the franchise; i.e. the people of New Orleans. The team will suddenly be dependent on the people of the city it is considering abandoning just to stay afloat. Or they could bail. The Hornets and NBA can either invest in the city for the long term, permanently ingraining itself into the culture and psyche of its people or flee for the fast cash and flash of a new market. Those guys are going to leave town faster than a GM executive driving a Camry through Flint.<br />
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The negative economic impact on the city will take time to overcome but the true casualty of the NBA’s imminent flight from New Orleans is the long term value of the franchise itself. Ask any first year MBA candidate what the most valuable asset an established company has and they will undoubtedly respond simply “brand.” Teams that have successfully tied themselves to a place are by far the most stable. Teams whose brand is tied to the team’s personnel suffer when popular players are traded, leave as free agents, or retire. The NFL is packed with teams that are incomprehensible in any other location [Packers, Steelers, Saints, 49ers, etc, etc] and it has little do with market size. These franchises are economic powerhouses <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">because of</i> their dependency on place, not in spite of it. Now imagine that the New Orleans Jazz had never fled for Utah. The team would have decades of memories, personalities, and loyalties to draw from and fall back on in the event that a franchise cornerstone chose to leave. Just as the Packers survived the departure of Favre, New Orleans would soldier on after CP3. </div>
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The argument that the city has not shown the Hornets the necessary support to sustain the franchise is superficial and short sighted. The team has been here only since 2002 and has been bad for most of that stretch. It takes time to develop a relationship with a community. It takes even more time to make oneself indispensable to that community. Why would local fans step up and invest in a team financially if they barely had the time to establish an emotional attachment to them before rumors began circulating that they were going to leave?</div>
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Cities will also suffer from continued transiency for reasons beyond the fiscal. Just as freeways, cookie cutter subdivisions, and shopping malls have propagated the American “non-place” phenomenon, franchise mobility hurts urban identity. Like it or not, sports are important to people and people make place. Competition encourages local pride and engagement. Engagement encourages investment. Investment benefits all the residents of a city; fans, athletes, and owners alike. </div>
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In the era of free-agency, long term organizational solvency is only possible through fixed occupancy. Cities need teams. Teams need cities. It is high time that the commitment started working both ways. It’s good business. </div>
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GOAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362881703285786941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1067709459844334507.post-54285801706437388032011-05-02T12:34:00.000-05:002013-09-25T21:46:09.419-05:00Initiation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The origins of what started as a humble little idea are not unlike those of any number of start-ups in creatively driven fields. The intention of starting an architectural design office was born out of a mounting frustration with limited existing opportunities for young professionals in a struggling economy, the gap between the optimism of academia and the “realities” of the professional world, and the drive to capitalize on our own ideas, talent, and potential. As discussions commenced, a multitude of hurdles threatened to derail our design studio before it gained momentum; the building industry’s economic collapse, the prohibitively high cost of start-up capital, and the questionable viability of traditional business models for architectural practice in the 21st century were respectively intimidating and collectively overwhelming. It was not long before it became clear that in order to survive and thrive, the well-beaten path would have to be adapted, if not altogether abandoned.<br />
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It takes a certain amount of unflappable [and occasionally foolhardy] confidence to stand at the precipice of one’s career and decide that the well-established route may not be the best one. It is because of and in tribute to this “swagger” that we have adopted the GO<span style="color: magenta;">A</span>T [Greatest of all Time] moniker. It has less to do with where we are starting than it does with where we are convinced we are headed and the dedication, passion, and innovation it will take to get there. We have made the choice to be more than an architectural design firm; we will provide a voice and forum for ideas, we will bring design into more lives and environments, we will subvert a system that values experience over talent and inspiration, we will increase the opportunities for young, creative professionals and infuse our industry with the passion and energy it has been lacking. We are GO<span style="color: magenta;">A</span>Tstudio and we are ready.</div>
GOAThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362881703285786941noreply@blogger.com0