The Fabulous Flamingo

I've found a few images of the Flamingo Resort from back in its glory days. It's too bad it does not completely embrace its own history in the design of the resort instead of only briefly acknowledging it through a handful of black and white photos in a back room on the casino floor. It is one of the few resorts along the Strip that has any true or contextual history at all. Although, I was lucky enough to find an older gentleman working in the casino who knew a great deal about the history of the Flamingo. All I had to do was ask.

Images from the 1940s - 1950s:


Images of the Flamingo today:

UNLV Charette Follow-Through: Desert Condition Example

Unlike other programs that only learn about architecture and design within a single climate zone, Ryerson and UNLV were able to leverage the charette as a platform to learn about the regional differences in construction practice, sustainable design strategies, and biomimetic approaches. 

It should be emphasized that all the work presented from the charette was done in large groups of seven students with relatively little familiarity with the design challenge.  Aside from the logistics and organizational behaviour issues that precipitate entropy and prolonged design decision making, the extremely limited time constraints created an interesting challenge for the students.  Fortunately the students were able to develop a good starting point for their designs during the charette.  The subsequent resolution executed by individual students at Ryerson kept the same rigor as they were only given 40 hours to reassess their design responses to the critical feedback from the charette at UNLV.

Once again, this is a sample of the material from the initial charette concept except in an arid condition:

Samples of Razmig's Design:

Samples of Marcella's Design:

Samples of Jessica's Design:

Broken Bones, Broken Hearts and Jellyfish

This is a very long overdue update. Here's what you missed:

1. I broke my right hand, actually it's just the fifth metacarpal (check out the xray!). But no fear, I don't think it has slowed me down too much.
2. My headphones have mysteriously gone missing from our studio. If you know anything about their whereabouts please let me know (Mitch? haha j/k). But seriously, I miss them a lot.

Ok so more importantly, I am no longer looking at the root systems of cliff vegetation (it was overrated) and have moved on to jellyfish, specifically a certain type of jellyfish by the name of Portuguese Man of War. It lingers mostly in the Atlantic near the Carribean, off the South American coast, in the Gulf of Mexico, and also are found as far north as the east coast of Canada. It's actually not a jellyfish, although it looks just like one, but something called a siphonophore. They differ in the fact that they are not a single organism but several combined together and attached via a shared exoskeleton. However, like jellyfish, they have cavities that are filled with gas allowing them to float.

Despite the fact that I've moved on from the cliff vegetation, my site remains essentially the same - the east coast of Newfoundland in the area of Cape Spear (see previous posts for images). Instead of the aforementioned observation bridge/deck, I'm now creating a network of modules that act as a beacon to warn tourists to remain off the rocks and to stay a good distance away from the ocean's waves. These beacons would float in the ocean at high tide and sit upon the rocks at low tide, anchored in position from below. The main body of the module lights up from within and is powered by tidal energy, generated through the currents/tide with a small turbine located under the body. The excess energy from this system would be sent to the existing lighthouse to aid in powering its existing light. The shape of the module itself does somewhat resemble the jellyfish in form but it is the process of how the jellyfish receives its energy (or food) from its tentacles below that mimics the tidal energy to power the light as well as the gas-filled body of the jellyfish that allow it to float. In the same sense, jellyfish are generally not animals that are in any way approachable and once seen in the ocean are generally avoided, especially by anyone swimming. Hopefully, these beacons will have the same warning effect.

Below are a few sketches of some iterations. More to come!

biomimicry: what not to do

Poor little Jess... sometimes nature fails too.
But don't worry, she's fine and laughing (though I suspect the pain killers have something to do with that.)

Newfie Tourism!

Ok so I know that this very much looks like I am promoting my home and native land but this tourism video will give you the idea of the cliffs that I am referring to. These ones are a little steeper than the ones at Cape Spear but this video is also of the landscape from the eastern portion of the province. Take a good look at the vegetation. Enjoy!

A little piece of the Rock...

Ok so here are a few photos surrounding the basis of my design so far, although most are on a foggy day in June. This photo is of Newfoundland's east coast within the area of Cape Spear, a national historic site and the most easterly point in North America. The site is about a 20 minute drive from the capital city of St. John's and is a huge tourist destination particularly in the summer months during iceberg and whale season.

My design is to create an observation deck that will extend out from the cliffs above the ocean. Every year the area is witness to a few deaths or missing persons as a result of people getting a little too close to the edges of the cliffs or, as the land slopes down, to the rocks where the waves of the Atlantic come crashing in. Hopefully an observation deck extending from the cliff will help to alleviate this problem. The premise or biomimicry of the design comes down to the vegetation that lines this coastline and somehow survives on the edges of the wave and wind beaten cliffs. Specifically, I'm looking at the root systems of these plants to understand how they manage to stay structurally stable while growing perpendicular to the cliff face itself. So far I've looked at a couple of species, mostly within the grass and fern families of coastal vegetation. The root systems of these plants are surprisingly shallow yet widespread as they attach themselves to the edges of rock or squeeze within the minimal amounts of soil that might exist between them. Along the cliff face are ancient volcanic rock or, further down the shore, granite. The rock looks as though it was sliced but over thousands of years the waves have softened its edges. However, the cliffs still have many grooves and cuts where soil and nutrients collect making it an ideal habitat for these coastal plants. It's in these locations that I've been studying the differing existing plant types as well as their root systems.


More to come!