March is over. It has been a slow month in the wacky world of Mockitecture. Don't worry, though. Things will pick back up soon. Here is one last random mildly design related video, which happens to be hilarious.
March 31, 2009
March 24, 2009
March 21, 2009
March 20, 2009
March 15, 2009
Hands of God Studio
Fantasy Factory is a show based on the premise that Rob Dyrdek has all the money anyone could ask for, and the creativity to match. With basically no one to answer to, he spends his days in his "office," a warehouse in LA where he runs DC Shoe Co. The warehouse is also his blank canvas to do whatever he can dream up, with unlimited resources behind him. Sometimes it is as simple as buying a tennis ball gun and shooting everyone with it, but sometimes he takes on grander challenges.
In this episode, his cousin Drama tells him that he wants to be a record producer, but doesn't have the equipment. So Rob buys him everything he needs. The result is a hodge-podge of "maximalism," and a well-honed balance of meaning and non-meaning. The insane randomness of the space makes it not only work for these guys and express these guys, but also hilarious.
March 10, 2009
Competition Update
Life Without Buildings is hosting a fabulous competition, where a "flagrant disregard for logic" is encouraged. Entries are due by March 20. [more...]
March 6, 2009
The Godfather of Mockitecture?
I recently discovered the work of Gaetano Pesce, an Italian designer and wanted to share the good news with the rest of the eWorld! I may have just discovered the Godfather of Mockitecture!!! Images speak louder than words, so below are a few samples from his 1970 Moloch floor light, a playful experimentation with scale (4X, to be exact). Also below, an exerpt from the book 1000 Lights, which sums up his work quite poetically.
"Gaetano Pesce was and remains a willfully provocative voice in Italian design. He sees the subversion of convention as an expression of freedom and as something to explore. Pesce has experimented with materials and forms. His designs are among the most exuberant and challenging to emerge from the Anti-Design movement. Ever playful, while passionately committed to his ideas, he has turned his attention to the Moloch floor light (1970-71) and to the question of scale. Rather than redesign a successful existing concept, he has simply scaled it up four times the originally intended size, turning the conventional into the disconcerting."
March 5, 2009
badpaintingsofbarackobama.com
While my good friend and fellow thinker N O R T O N is worrying about the collapse of capitalism and post industrial decentralization, I am looking at bad paintings of Barack Obama.
[more...]
[more...]
March 4, 2009
Lonely Cities
As my colleague dontknockitecture is busy concerning himself over biogeographic theory, i am daydreaming about the end of urbanization as we know it...a tribute to Shrinking Cities and its glorious tales of the things we do in response to postindustrial decentralization:
buildings become islands, landscapes become oceans, cities become fields?
buildings become islands, landscapes become oceans, cities become fields? March 1, 2009
Finding The Greatest Decorated Shed Ever: An Application of Biogeographic Theories and Satellite Imagery
I tweeted this up a few days ago, and I apologize for the delay. It is an incredibly convoluted post, which took more time than usual to put together. In the search for the greatest decorated shed ever, I could not leave out any stops. This would require the big guns. Using sophisticated technology and advanced techniques, I have located a possibility for the greatest decorated shed in the history of mankind. So, here we go. Buckle up.
Based on the process in which geographers hypothesized bin Laden's whereabouts, I have put together a step by step graphic analysis of my own search for the greatest decorated shed. From the initial report:
The last known location of the "great decorated shed" phenomenon is Robert Venturi's Fire Station No. 4 in Columbus, Indiana. Ugly and Ordinary, this shed sets the bar high for contemporary sheds. In bin Ladens case, if he strays too far from the Tora Bora region and the tribal areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, his risk of being turned in becomes greater due to differing cultural and political settings. The shed phenomenon cannot stray too far, because the settings may lack the banality required to support such a pure form of Ugly and Ordinary. {henceforth (U&O)}
Last Known Location of Shed
Using the distance-decay theory, we can assertain that the phenomenon of Venturi's shed would have higher probabilty of residing with in certain distances of its last known location.
Regional Scale
There are two cities nearby which meet our characteristics. Indianapolis is a large metropolitan area approximately 40 miles north. Bloomington is a medium sized college town, approximately 30 miles west. Both are well connected to Columbus and have many similar social structures. Both are with in the distance we would expect the shed to presently reside. Species have better survival rates on large islands, much like someone hunted by the CIA would have better chances of being anonymous in a city. The shed would have the same inclination to go to a city where it can have other shed to compete against.
N_O_R_T_O_N calls it a duck turned decorated shed. It is a church with no steeple, but a neon "Jesus" sign instead. I was astounded when I saw this marvelous piece of mockitecture. It is the most glorious unwittingly high-folk architecture ever created. I feel truly priveleged to introduce the House of Victory to the world. These pictures were taken after scaling a fence and standing by the guard rail of I-70 west in Indianapolis. The best shots are from the highway. While struggling to get the right angle and light, a police officer approached me. I said I was just taking pictures of the building, and he let me go. He must be down with the shed.
P.S. The Runner-Up is "speedy text/racing sponsorship/looming warehouse/retractable roof" Lucas Oil Stadium...
After careful analysis, Bloomington is ruled out because it lacks banality. With a college and the its beautiful campus, the town of about 60,000 is not U&O enough for this shed. Using the process of elimination, we must move on to Indianapolis.
Local Scale
Using Life History Characteristics (aka Learning From Las Vegas) and another process of elimination: the definition of a decorated shed and physical analysis of potential buildings, three buildings have been selected. They meet the criteria set forth by Venturi, plus they have an added WOW factor. Upon completion of the study... The winner is House of Victory!!! In a landslide!
Based on the process in which geographers hypothesized bin Laden's whereabouts, I have put together a step by step graphic analysis of my own search for the greatest decorated shed. From the initial report:
Distance-decay theory states that as one goes further away from a precise location, there is an exponential decline in the turnover of species and a lower probability of finding the same composition of species. The theory of island biogeography states that large and close islands will have higher immigration rates and support more species with lower extinction rates than small isolated islands.
These theories can be applied over varying spatial scales to posit [the greatest decorated shed's] current location based on [its] last reputed geographic location. Distance-decay theory would predict that [it] is closest to the point where he was last reported and, by extension, within a region that has a similar physical environment and cultural composition (that is, similar religious and political beliefs).Global Scale
The last known location of the "great decorated shed" phenomenon is Robert Venturi's Fire Station No. 4 in Columbus, Indiana. Ugly and Ordinary, this shed sets the bar high for contemporary sheds. In bin Ladens case, if he strays too far from the Tora Bora region and the tribal areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, his risk of being turned in becomes greater due to differing cultural and political settings. The shed phenomenon cannot stray too far, because the settings may lack the banality required to support such a pure form of Ugly and Ordinary. {henceforth (U&O)}
Last Known Location of Shed 
Regional Scale
There are two cities nearby which meet our characteristics. Indianapolis is a large metropolitan area approximately 40 miles north. Bloomington is a medium sized college town, approximately 30 miles west. Both are well connected to Columbus and have many similar social structures. Both are with in the distance we would expect the shed to presently reside. Species have better survival rates on large islands, much like someone hunted by the CIA would have better chances of being anonymous in a city. The shed would have the same inclination to go to a city where it can have other shed to compete against.
N_O_R_T_O_N calls it a duck turned decorated shed. It is a church with no steeple, but a neon "Jesus" sign instead. I was astounded when I saw this marvelous piece of mockitecture. It is the most glorious unwittingly high-folk architecture ever created. I feel truly priveleged to introduce the House of Victory to the world. These pictures were taken after scaling a fence and standing by the guard rail of I-70 west in Indianapolis. The best shots are from the highway. While struggling to get the right angle and light, a police officer approached me. I said I was just taking pictures of the building, and he let me go. He must be down with the shed.P.S. The Runner-Up is "speedy text/racing sponsorship/looming warehouse/retractable roof" Lucas Oil Stadium...
After careful analysis, Bloomington is ruled out because it lacks banality. With a college and the its beautiful campus, the town of about 60,000 is not U&O enough for this shed. Using the process of elimination, we must move on to Indianapolis.Local Scale
Using Life History Characteristics (aka Learning From Las Vegas) and another process of elimination: the definition of a decorated shed and physical analysis of potential buildings, three buildings have been selected. They meet the criteria set forth by Venturi, plus they have an added WOW factor. Upon completion of the study... The winner is House of Victory!!! In a landslide!
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