Our Decentralized Neo-Rural Future

December 3, 2015 by libertect

Our Decentralized Neo-Rural Future By William E Bodell III What is the Neo-Rural Movement? We at Stratum are founded on a body of experience working with rural communities, a population not commonly considered by design professionals, academics, or entrepreneurs. Our experience has revealed a wealth of untapped potential in the small towns in which we work, both in terms of skills and resources. The potential for growth in rural communities is enormous, yet all of the attention remains fixed on […]

Categories: Stratum, Technology, Thoughts, Uncategorized • Tags: Agriculture, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Ethereum, Housing, Information Technology, Neo-Rural, Real Estate, Technology

BTC@BKN: Bitcoin Interventions at Fulton Mall

January 8, 2015 by libertect

Introduction: Brooklyn’s Most Profitable Failure In “My Brooklyn”, the 2013 documentary by Kelly Anderson, Fulton Mall is described as a sort of last vestige of the black community that was so prominent in Brooklyn from the late 1970s until the early 2000s. Downtown Brooklyn was the nucleus of a tightly-knit yet predominantly lower-income community riding out one of the worst periods in urban history, in terms of crime and poverty in the city. This was in many ways the result […]

Categories: GSAPP Projects, Libertarian Issues, Portfolio, Technology, Thoughts • Tags: Architecture, Bitcoin, Information Technology, Portfolio, Tactical Urbanism, Technology

The Death and Life of Future Networked Cities: Jane Jacobs and the Internet of Things

December 19, 2014 by libertect

On April 10, 1968, Jane Jacobs was arrested and accused of criminal mischief and inciting a riot at a public hearing. The incident was the climax of a decade-long battle between the activist-journalist Jacobs and powerful New York City planner Robert Moses over the fate of her neighborhood Greenwich Village. In the resulting book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, published in 1961, Jacobs denounces the top down city planning of Moses, who took advantage of the American […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Actuators, Ambient Awareness, Architecture, Biourbanism, Cybernetics, Facebook, Google, Information Technology, Internet of Things, Jane Jacobs, NSA, P2P Urbanism, Privacy, Sensors, Snowden, Social Media, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Urban Ecology

Is Steven Johnson a Libertarian, or am I a Peer Progressive?

September 4, 2014 by libertect

As a self-proclaimed libertarian and a Millennial raised in the age of information, there have always been certain aspects of Libertarianism that I found most compelling. I believe in the power of capitalism because free markets enable the flow of information, and information abundance leads to innovation and progress. I get excited about decentralized power structures and self-organizing systems because I distrust the experts and authority figures who presume to know better than the collective knowledge of a large system […]

Categories: Book Review, Libertarian Issues, Technology, Thoughts • Tags: Campaign Finance Reform, Education Reform, Free Markets, Future Perfect, Intellectual Property, Kickstarter, Libertarianism, Peer-Progressive, Steven Johnson, Wikipedia

Algorithmic Boogie – Beijing Olympic Stadium Case Study – GSAPP ADR I ’13

January 28, 2014 by libertect

Here is another project from my first semester at Columbia University GSAPP for my Architectural Drawing and Representation class. The project was a semester long case study of the “Bird’s Nest” Beijing National Stadium, designed by Herzog and de Meuron. Using a variety of media, including axonometric projection, physical modelling and digital animation, I developed a critical understanding of the architects’ design intent. My project emphasized the layering of the building’s structure as an algorithmic progression, from the simple radial […]

Categories: GSAPP Projects, Portfolio • Tags: 3d Printing, Algorithmic Design, Animation, Architecture, Computer Aided Architectural Design, Digital Fabrication, Generative Design, GSAPP, Herzog and de Meuron, Laser cutting, Parametric Design, Portfolio

Tensile Cloud – Flat Lot Competition, 2013

January 22, 2014 by libertect

Here is another competition entry for my portfolio, this one for the Flat Lot competition hosted by the Flint Public Art Project. This was the first of two collaborative efforts between Kesra Mansuri, Dimitri Polychronopolous and myself, the second of which was Kinected Shingles, which I posted earlier this week. The competition brief asked entrants to “design and build a temporary structure reimagining the central surface parking lot in downtown Flint. Entrants were asked to provide seating, shade, cooling, and […]

Categories: Competitions, Portfolio • Tags: Algorithmic Design, Architecture, Competition, Flat Lot, Flint Michigan, Grasshopper, Kangaroo, Parametric Design, Parking Lot, Pavilion, Portfolio, Tensile Structure, Voronoi

Architecture Should Be Less Authoritarian

January 20, 2014 by libertect

Today I read a very insightful opinion piece on Dezeen by Sam Jacob, entitled “Architecture might have to become less architectural”, that argued that the architectural profession, which has lost a great deal of its influence to engineers, urban planners, community organizations and politicians, can never go back to the way things once were. As Jacob points out, “the terms of architecture’s engagement with the world have entirely changed.”  Whereas architecture used to be largely a publicly-funded endeavor, now “Architecture, […]

Categories: Architectural Theory, Technology, Thoughts • Tags: Architecture, Authoritarianism, Computation, Computer Aided Architectural Design, Frank Gehry, Frank Lloyd Wright, Information Technology, Jimenez Lai, Michael Meredith, Parametric Design, Technology

Kinected Shingles – TIMBER New England Competition, 2013

January 18, 2014 by libertect

Finally I’m getting around to uploading another project. Last summer I collaborated with my friends Kesra Mansuri and Dimitri Polychronopolous on a competition called TIMBER New England. The competition asked participants to design a pavilion for an exhibition at the Boston Society of Architects, which would employ novel wood fabrication techniques and draw inspiration from the rich history of timber construction in New England. We used laser-cut wood veneer, Arduino microcontrollers and Microsoft Kinect to create an interactive prototype for […]

Categories: Competitions, Portfolio • Tags: Architecture, Arduino, Competition, Digital Fabrication, Interactive, Kinect, Laser cutting, Prototype, Servos, Shingles, TIMBER New England

Why Libertarians should love Pave.com (and invest in me!)

January 10, 2014 by libertect

Since it was founded in 2009, Kickstarter.com has been incredibly successful in making “crowdfunding” a popular and effective way for independent thinkers, artists, and entrepreneurs to raise funds online. Innovative technologies, video games, and films have received millions in funding, with the Pebble smart watch raising more than $10 million. Libertarians have been particularly enthusiastic about the site, and Reason editor Nick Gillespie even wrote an article recently for Time.com about why Ayn Rand would have loved the site. Kickstarter […]

Categories: Libertarian Issues • Tags: 3d Printing, Architecture, Augmented Reality, Ayn Rand, Crowdfunding, Kickstarter, Libertarianism, Pave

New Amsterdam Hydroculture Center – GSAPP Fall ’13 Core I Studio

January 9, 2014 by libertect

Well, in keeping with my intentions for this blog to serve as a portfolio as well as a platform for developing my architectural and political theory, it’s about time I start posting my own projects. I will start with my most recent studio project, the New Amsterdam Hydroculture Center. With this project I attempted to synthesize my interest in emergent computation and algorithmic design with my libertarian belief in the power of free markets to drive social progress. Looking back on […]

Categories: GSAPP Projects • Tags: Architecture, Bubble Diagram, Farmer's market, Free market, Generative Design, GSAPP, Hydroponic Gardening, Legalization, Pool, Portfolio, Prohibition, Public Housing, Studio, Urban farming