LUNATIC

A Logo design I worked on this semester. Lunatic is one of my very dear friend's fashion and accessories line. I like to keep things simple and sometimes it is the little things that really help make a difference. That's why I went for something simple, something people can relate to easily. My friend is pretty obsessed with the Moon, and who can blame her, I think it is gorgeous! That's the reason we worked in that direction.

some other options I worked on...

PACIFICA

Here are some interior perspectives I drew for a front beach condo I designed in Ensenada, Mexico. I wanted the place to feel very modern, but at the same time represent what the place was all about, the Ocean. I used a old wooden boat as a coffee table, submarine inspired lighting fixtures, wine barrels for outdoor tables. Hope you guys like it!

Beauty is the promise of happiness

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II Milan, Italy

Instead of attempting to find an answer to what happiness is and what the certain ways to achieve it are, we may look at the role that architecture plays in the process of achieving a certain level of contentment.

Living in a world where our everyday lives are largely a product of structural and historical processes,we come to an understanding that everyone is looking for something; physically and/or emotionally. There are individuals who will travel to the ends of the Earth in order to encounter beauty. Each of these hypothetical

locations share a common trait: they are considered sacred. Additionally, these locations are rich in aesthetic experience. My own interest in the meeting of the physical and emotional state in the progression of architecture, lies in the specific origin and meaning of objects, forms, and shapes that encompass architecture as a sacred place(s). These forms and shapes are often derived from natural objects and not necessarily from divine presence; they are places filled with history, a composition consisting of balance and harmony between surroundings.

A person does not necessarily need religious expression to experience a sacred place. In majority,these places consistently speak of the littleness of human beings within a larger natural and cosmological landscape. Human life is not entirely about materialistic success in which we measure different monetary standards, like wealth or reputation. The emotional state and feeling you encounter upon entering these sacred locations, are not based on the need to define yourself in any specific term(s). The freedoms from oneself are enough to transform your thoughts, and can often alter your entire physical experience as well. Unfortunately,

for example, malls and/or department stores were built with the same concept; all the happiness you can find under one roof.

I recently began a position working in retail, and have found myself paying more attention to the physical and emotional connections that consumers making during shopping experiences. I can see them physically standing outside our store, admiring the ornately placed merchandise on mannequins in the window display. An essential and vital part of the retail industry is the idea of creating a waiting list, which in turn keeps consumers informed on restocking of items that will eventually bring them back to our “sacred” location;a shopping haven. Paco Underhill mentioned in his book, “What makes the science of shopping interesting is that things change and we still get surprised. We can now measure our evolution by the way we shop and what we shop for.” Everything in the store seems perfectly placed; with attention to detail, composition,scale and good lighting some of the factors that draws the eye of the consumer in. The science behind persuasion and the act of shopping are extremely interesting. Customers have grown accustomed to browsing stores where everything for sale is on display; they will usually ask any sales associate to show them where the items on a mannequin are, and with luck, they end up buying the whole outfit.

Even though, we now have the alternative of shopping online, most people still prefer the entire experience of shopping. They may come prepared to the store, with print outs of all the articles they know they want, but there’s still the need to have the sensual experience. Something about touching and feeling the fabrics, which adds an additional sensory aspect to said experience. It is thus very important to place strong detail on merchandising; to draw the eye of the consumer in. It is not solely about placing items neatly on hangers or tables; accessibility to the consumer is also key. If they can’t reach and feel the goods, they are often able to remove themselves from the ability to purchase an item. I’ve witnessed the lack of merchandise being sold, simply due to its physical proximity to consumers hands; reachability is key. I can attest to this theory, as we are constantly changing the location of every item, which eventually do sell.

In regards to my personal experience in creating hypothetical environments, as well as experiencing physical and architectural objects in reality, there is a certain aspect of beauty relating to proportion and longevity when considering existing surroundings.

Comparison between a Cathedral and Galeries Lafayette in Paris

Olson Kundig Designs Office Made From Wind Turbine Parts

Design For Sustainability

There is no doubt our world is transforming, physical signs of environmental change are all around us. Problems like global warming, lack of natural resources, the extinction of species and peak oil had to occur in order for our society to wake up from this so called life and actually start doing something about it. We are destroying our planet and ourselves with it, which means, we can not continue doing things as we used to. It is time for a new way of thinking. A time for sustainable living.

Sustainability is a long term approach to the environmental protection and process improvements. Zero impact is the basis for intergenerational equity, our future generations should have the right to enjoy the Earth as we know it.

We may say design is interconnected with everything. The way we live, the composition of things, where we work, how we interact with people and the impact on our planet. This is reason why designers have to acknowledge the importance of their work. Sustainable design prevents pollution from the start and calls for systems thinking, which recognizes the connection between the economy, the environment and social responsibility. Unfortunately, the concept of sustainable design is relatively brand new for most people. As dependent as we are of Nature, we some how managed to move in a different direction and worked against it.

Our planet is now running out of resources, consumption levels are exuberant and demand just keeps on growing. Acknowledging that human actions are the primary cause of the rapid changes we see in nature today, would probably be the first step towards solving our problems. Still, only a few people seem to be concerned about this situation. It saddens and makes me furious at the same time, how hard it is to persuade people into changing their lifestyle. I am aware how difficult this can be. Unfortunately, time is running out and in order for the problem to be solved we have to work together. We are all part of a system. So why do people haven’t changed their way of thinking? Could it be a matter of evolving ethics, culture, politics or even religion?

In order to understand our behavior, we need to peel back the layers of the past and explore the roots of power on the modern world. Oil or “Black Gold” as people like to call it, is the bloodstream of our economy. We founded our entire economy on a non-renewable resource, a product that took millions of years to form and that we all knew it would come to an end. Animals, plants and other living things had to die, then compressed at the bottom of the ocean and over the years and with a series of chemical reactions, they would turn into oil.

But what is so fascinating about oil? Well, this non-renewable resource has the ability to replace 25,000 hours of human labor with just one simple barrel. This isn’t rocket science. Mankind had found a compacted liquid, transportable and cheap alternative to energy. Of course the idea seemed very attractive at the moment. Petroleum revolutionized civilization. The industrial production began and the wellspring from which the modern United States emerged. It was such a convenient time for this amazing discovery. After WWII our government had to come up with a solution to reactivating the economy. Now we were able to create a vast variety of products, therefore, retail analyst Victor Lebow came up with an idea. The Nature of Postwar Retail Competition. In said article, the author assumed:

( I ) that American business will come through the war with its vitality still “bunyanesque”, with its capacity for enterprise and venturing undiminished; ( 2 ) that American business leaders are still capable of learning, and that they have drawn sharp lessons from the events of the last twenty years; ( 3 ) that the goal of industry will be full production for an expanding market provided by a people on a rising living standard.

Basically, our government was trying to revive our economy with consumer goods. That being the case, a lot of projects started to develop, the 1950’s housing boom, the green revolution and modern technology. At the same time, cities were becoming a terrible place to live in, they turned into noisy and polluted places, filled with byproducts from nearby industries. People didn’t want to live here anymore. So based on the idea of consumption, suburbia was born. Everyone started moving out of the city with a false belief, people were tricked into thinking they were achieving a more pristine country lifestyle. When in fact, they were developing a complete dependancy on a set of wheels. By living out of the city, most people spent all their day confined inside their cars, going back and forth to work.

We were mesmerized by technology and by being one of the largest economies in the world, that we are now victims of our own success. Our corporations have become bigger and more powerful than our government. They run our economy, nothing else matters to them except consumption. Corporations are destroying our world, exploiting the United States and other third world countries natural resources. And to keep up with the demand, they forgot about the Earth’s carrying capacity. We are consuming at a rate that doesn’t leave margin for natural resources to regenerate. In the United States, the average ecological footprint is about 31 acres per person and we only have about 5 acres per person available.

Society has been living in a happy go spending world, where people have been unconsciously drawn into thinking that’s what life is all about. We are running a planet based on consumption, we have been programmed to consume. With designed obsolescence they have convinced us into buying stuff, that will break easily and somehow we still continue on buying. And then we also have perceived obsolescence, where they make us feel like complete losers, by not wearing the latest pair of Jimmy Choo boots or owning the newest iPhone version. And what about the american dream? The whole suburban project was the worst misuse of postwar wealth I can think of, it is a living arrangement with no future. So, if we have history to learn from, how come we still don’t manage to overcome economic problems? Our economic issues are actually getting worse with time. And in addition, our level of happiness has been decreasing since the 1950’s happy peek. We have more stuff, but less time for things that makes us happy.

The demand for consumer goods is huge and people keep forgetting where things come from. Our planet is a sustainable system, but we need to determine the conditions that would allow human beings to live forever. The Earth being a finite planet, demands for things that belong in a close loop system. Recycling is a great contribution to the problem, but it is not enough. We need to start designing from cradle to cradle, which basically means avoiding waste and pollution. Our poor designs not only are destroying the environment, but they are also disrupting our health. Since most of our products contain toxic materials, I can’t imagine the consequences people who make them suffer. These people are mainly from third world countries, with no other choice than to work for long hours and receive a minimum wage in return. The main reason for externalized cost would be to maintain low prices, so that we can keep on consuming like there is no tomorrow. But what will happen when we ran out of oil? Every country is fitting for the last scraps, instead of coming up with lasting solutions to the problem. We have to accept there’s a peak and the time to face the opposite side of the mountain is getting closer. During the last 150 years, we’ve seen the growth of everything, industry, transport, trade, agriculture. But, all of these growth was possible thanks to the supply of cheap oil based energy.

Another thing that concerns me is what we are eating today. Food has changed more in the last fifty years, than in the previous ten thousand. Things like the so called green revolution, the use of petroleum base chemicals and the way farming has changed have altered our food so much, to the point that it is becoming dangerous. In a modern supermarket we are able to find an average of forty seven thousand products. With so many options to choose from, non-fat, low-fat, cholesterol free and so on, we still have the highest levels of obesity and thousands of health issues. In the past, we didn’t actually thought about healthy eating. It is all thanks to huge corporations that have taken over the food industry and the only thing they really care for is profit. So now, it’s not even an ecological problem, but a human health problem too. We have allowed ourselves to be so disconnected and ignorant about something as intimate as the food we eat.

We are facing a difficult situation here, that explains why it is so hard for people to acknowledge the problem. We are the solution. Mass production is not only affecting our environment, but also our health. Ultimately, we have two options. We can get the population to understand that if they want to continue consuming energy the way they are, we’ll always be in a constant war. Or, we can began to prepare for something new, which is the end of oil and the search for alternative technologies for energy. Alternatives that are cleaner, safer and have less impact in our social, political and economical matters. Redesigning our way of living by using ecology as inspiration.

Many new sustainable concept theories exist now days. We have biophilia, a hypothesis that suggests human beings have an affinity for things that have life in them. The term literally means “love of life or living systems”. Then there’s Biomimicry, which is a design discipline that uses nature as a model, measure and mentor. Another similar one is ecological design, it integrates human activity with patterns of nature. They all share the same principles and know what works and lasts here on Earth, natural processes can teach us how to design without harming the environment. All systems are interconnected, another reason to design from cradle to cradle. Keep in mind that waste equals food. And most importantly, follow the four basic steps towards sustainability: decrease in extraction, decrease in waste, terminate hurting ecosystems and equity.

Our job as designers is to integrate human life with nature’s processes. Since the beginning of time nature has solved many of the problems we are struggling with. All nature’s creatures are talented engineers. In ancient times, human civilizations started designing with what they could find on site, they created architecture as an immediate response to nature. Knowing what works, we still favored development, industrialization, technology and individualism. Today’s economy has led us to believe that creating something and distributing it as fast and cheap as possible are the most important concerns. Instead of worrying if the material was appropriate or by which means was it created. Each design should respond to a specific place or purpose, trying to emulate something is not the solution.

Designers have the responsibility of creating with positive intentions, always keeping in mind that the more we design new things, the more we encourage consumerism. In the demanding world that we are living in, we need to rethink cities as they are. The preservation of our planet relies on designing one that returns human spirituality, which will reconnect us with our ancestral origins and the environment. We have seen this happen throughout time, past civilizations have risen and fallen due to some ecological problem. Having past cultures to learn from, we can not underestimate the importance of nature and realize how inspiring it can be.

Designers are taught to make "new" when it isn't really better or when "old" doesn't need replacing. Often, designers are complacent when their engineering and marketing colleagues suggest (or insist on) low quality over longevity, cheap materials, or bad usability.

A sad truth is that almost every solution designed today, even the most "sustainable" one, has more of a negative impact on the planet than a positive one. This means that the world would be better off if most of what was designed was never produced. This is changing, and it doesn't have to be the case in the future, but we have a long way to go in order to change this pattern.

We probably don’t realize it, but our buildings consume forty percent or maybe even more of the world’s energy. That is if we add up all the energy spent on making each building. They give form to our way of living, inside buildings we work, we live and we socialize. However, most of them are designed with no ecological principles. How is this possible if we have access to all the technology we could think of ? In the U.S. if someone is building a building, the chances of either leasing it or selling it are extremely high. They only care for saving money in cost production.

We need ambitious environmental guidance that reflects a smarter way of building. New green designs have some pretty high-tech stuff that I never thought possible. We have large mirror computer tracking devices that can reflect sun light, we can build with concrete that reduces CO2 emission and we can have a green roof growing at the top of a building. The only problem with all the new technology is that it is still really expensive, but not completely out of reach. Our government has to realize that this is an important step towards the future and that building green can solve part of our environmental problems. Nevertheless, people need to transform their way of living. A greener lifestyle calls for a critical shift in personal habits. I know it is not going to be easy, but we have no other choice. Sustainability is the way to go.

“We need, in the next twenty-five years or so, to do something never before done. We need to consciously redesign the entire material basis of our civilization.”

The Role of Nature and Ecology in Sustainable Design

biomimicry inspired cactus building

The concept of sustainable design appeared recently on our society, but all of this principals have been put to use a long time ago. Even though, we are aware of how dependent we are of Nature, we some how managed to move in a different direction and worked against it. Now that our environment is going to dramatic changes, we have to come to our senses and realize that we can not continue doing things as we used to.

Nature is the creator of life, and for life to happen natural processes are implied; we just need to learn more about these processes that have been working for Nature since the beginning of times and we can find solutions to the problems poor designs have created.

We now know what works and lasts here on Earth, natural processes can teach us how to design things without harming the environment. All systems are interconnected with one another, that is why all designs should be made from cradle to cradle and always following patterns of Nature. However, it is also very important to make sure we are living off renewable resources at the rate they are created, otherwise, we would be endangering our planet and screwing up future generations.

This cactus-inspired design for the Minister of Municipal Affairs & Agriculture building in Doha, Qatar. It's a fascinating example of biomimicry -- the skin of one of the hardiest plants of the desert is applied to the design of the facade of a desert building -- with hundreds of smart shades that open and close depending on the strength of the sun.

The energy-efficient structure was designed by Aesthetics architects GO Group, and the big cactus (not to be confused with that other towering figure currently living in Phoenix) also features an ancillary botanic dome, which is supposed to further its green rating.

Design in the sustainability movement

Human beings have been building their wealth by taking advantage of natural resources without putting much thought in the future and the environmental impact. Everything we do has its consequences and it has got to a point where we have to redesign our way of living.

Our job as designers is to integrate human life with nature’s processes. Since the beginning of time nature has solved many of the problems we are struggling with. All nature’s creatures are talented engineers, they know what works and what lasts here on Earth. Human civilizations started designing with what they could find on site, they created architecture as an immediate response to nature.

Knowing what works, we still favored development, industrialization, technology and individualism. Today’s economy has led us to believe that creating something and distributing it as fast and cheap as possible are the most important concerns. Instead of worrying if the material was appropriate or by which means was it created. Each design should respond to a specific place or purpose, trying to emulate something is not the solution. Designers have the responsibility of creating with positive intentions, always keeping in mind that the more we design new things, the more we encourage consumerism.

The preservation of our planet relies on designing one that returns human spirituality, which will reconnect us with our ancestral origins and the environment. We have seen this happen throughout time, past civilizations have risen and fallen due to some ecological problem. Having past cultures to learn from, we can not underestimate the importance of nature and see how inspiring it can be.

Two summers ago, I had the opportunity to visit Helsinki and came across with

this magnificent church. The Temppeliaukio Kirkko, or best know as the "Rock Church" is a

great example of architecture working with nature.

This modern building was designed in 1969, by architect brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen.

The underground church is built inside of a massive block of natural granite

in the middle of the ordinary residential square.

Inside, the church is circular an enclosed by walls of bare rock. The ceiling is the most astonishing thing, a giant disc made of cooper wire. The interior is lit by natural light streaming through 180 vertical window panes that connect the dome and the wall.

Sketching and Perspective Drawing

Here are some of my assignments...

Drawing Floor Plans and Elevations

Using an image provided in class, we drew the floor plan

in hard-lineat 1/8" or 1/4" scale.

One Point Perspective using plan projection

Using a plan provided, we drew a one point perspective of the room using

the plan projection method.

Two point perspective

We had to create a two point perspective using the plan provided. The view had to include the back wall, one side wall, the rug and table.

All assignments had to be retraced onto 11" x 17" vellum.

Shoes for the sole

Vivienne Westwood Anglomania + Melissa Spring/Summer collection 2010

50 million shoes have been sold. Each shoe takes one minute to produce. Melissa Shoes are made from MELFLEX plastic, a patented, hypo-allergenic, recyclable, and extremely flexible PVC. Recycled thermoplastic is injected into a mold at Brazilian shoe shop Melissa. Because they're mono-material, shoes can be easily recycled. The Brazilian based factory is totally rad in its recycling of 99.9% of factory water and waste, and they also go the distance by recycling overstock styles into next season's collection. Even better? Melissa Shoes employees are paid above average wages and benefits. What's not to like in these plastic fantastic accessories?

Zaha Hadid + Melissa Spring/Summer collection 2010

Molded plastic box for Melissa + Zaha Hadid Shoes

With designers like Vivienne Westwood, Campana Brothers and recently architect Zaha Hadid, you might just begin to like plastic shoes. This is a real cradle to cradle design, a unique and yet stylish well made shoe.

Campana + Melissa Spring/Summer 2010 collection

Sustainability

Whenever I heard the word sustainability the first thing that always came to my mind was recycling; I always thought that by recycling cans, reusing bottles and using both sides of a piece of paper was more than enough contribution. Now after obtaining my degree in Architecture and learning about the existence of sustainable design, I can say that my perspective has changed.

The concept of sustainability is basically an understanding between Nature and Human Beings, we can not subsist without our precious natural resources. Everything we do, we create and we expect from life should always reflect a concern for the environment; nature has already given us everything we need to survive, we just got carried away with an erroneous meaning to life.

We already got to a point where he have access to almost everything, processed food, appliances that with the press of a button can do wonders, trips to the moon, even artificial insemination; life has never been so comfortable for those who can actually afford it. For the idea of sustainability to succeed it is important that we all have true knowledge of what is really happening, education is a key element to the solution of many problems.

It was not until grad school where I had a class called theory in sustainable design, in which I learned how bad the problem was and started changing my anti-green habits. I started unplugging every electronic item when not needed (TV, DVD, microwave, blender, etc.), bought a thermos for my daily dose of water, I changed my light bulbs, I stopped using plastic bags for groceries, now that I moved to San Francisco I don’t need a car so I asked my parents to sell it. But most important, I always try to convince people to get involved in the matter and more concerned for the environment.

Here is an example of what green buildings look nowadays, this picture was taken at the roof of the Academy of Science Building designed by Renzo Piano, one of my favorites here in San Fran.

Grandma's chair

It's been a long summer and I am going crazy without things to do. Luckily my dear grandma asked me if I could give her some tips for remodeling her home. Her house is a gold mine where ever you look there's a project waiting to be done, so I decided to start with the dinning room.

My grandmother told me that most of her furniture is about 30 years old, so I really wanted to maintain its original aspect. I used liquid nail for all the loose pieces, sandpaper, jean fabric, bleach and spray paint.

COMIC CON

This weekend I had the chance to sneak into San Diego's Convention Center for the celebrity sighting and all the amazing costumes a lot of people put so much effort into making.

But my favorite was Iron Man, I'm very much in love with Robert Downey Jr and this guy's costume was so well crafted, I was hoping to meet the real Iron Man. But Matt Fraction the Iron Man's writer is hot! Next year I am definitely buying a ticket, so I won't get kicked out again.

marmalade at Puerto Rico

Last week I had a delicious dinner at one of my now favorite restaurants nestled in the colonial section of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

But other than the food, I completely fell in love with the interior design of this place. They have an interesting take in seating options and without being fancy they managed to create an excellent dinning experience.