I went to a seminar/lecture this week on the "new office" and the idea of almost completely doing away with walls in an office setting. This means greater visibility and communication within offices fostering greater collaboration and a sense of teamwork. I remember reading a while back that they were doing this in the Hancock Building renovation in Boston, where even the private spaces that remained were entirely of glass. It was a promo lecture by "Environments at Work" and "Haworth" which I really liked because it went along with a lot of the ideas that have been swimming through my head this summer. They talked about creating offices that could be changed and adapted by the inhabitants and be converted over time for many different uses. The main reason I'd found out about the lecture was during my research for a project (we couldn't figure out how to get the plumbing and HVAC for a recreation center out of the building without running it down 2 flights first due to abnormally low ceiling heights and other existing conditions). I was looking into raised floors when their lecture and site popped up. I think it's a great effort they're making. It completely goes along with the ideas of sustainability, adaptability, and the "recycling" of spaces. Maybe the existing buildings can't be recycled per say- but there can be systems implemented to adapt these existing spaces into ones that can be reused for years to come. Maybe its just a matter of the structure, the initial wiring of the building, that makes the difference. If it is a simple space, it is open for all possibilities. With easy access to and for change- and few permanent fixtures, which is how we traditionally build (specifically for a purpose with little regard to the future needs), wouldn't a building be more successful?

On route 90 going into Boston, there are two examples of where the space above the highway system has been built over. One is a a hotel, the other, a supermarket. For how much of our cities are taken up with the road systems of on ramps, and off ramps and overpasses, why isn't this done more? Space is at such a premium and you see huge freestanding storage buildings and parking garages along the highway on prime real estate, yet there is so much space above and below the roads that isn't touched. Shouldn't architecture follow function, and its location reflect that function as well as practicality? I think there are much more creative ways to see the unused space of our cities, especially since with ever-growing populations, these previously ignored spaces are becoming more valuable. Wouldn't it make so much more sense, on a planning and organizational level, to place parking and storage and warehouses, possibly even shopping malls and grocery stores, at these large intersections of road where we have unused space? Easy access and high visibility, cheaper land, and central locals would make this a no-brainer I'd think.

To start, I've been working putting my borderline obsessive organizational skills to use at a firm this summer. I have been in charge of reorganizing the company materials library, setting up representative meetings and lunch and learns. This has added up to a whole lot of AIA and IDP credits, as well as a vast knowledge of a lot of seemingly random facts. What has really gotten my interest isn't the new push for "green" materials and manufacturing practices- but the start of recycling processes for new and used building materials. For instance:

• Gypsum Wallboard
• Wallcoverings
• Carpeting

The wallboard was of particular interest, since it is actually cheaper to recycle than to trash it, safer for the environment, and reselling the recycled raw material as slurry for concrete and as additive for new wallboard is very profitable. So why has it taken us so long to catch on? The man I spoke to was from Gypsum Recycling America.

The same can be done with carpeting, even if it can not be recycled to create new, (since it is composed of what is essentially oil), they can burn the old to create the energy to supply the manufacturing process. I just thought this was an amazing idea, and was surprised this wasn't a more common practice. NOTE TO SELF: I should get the links and spec sheets when I go into the office next.

I make lists for everything, groceries, to-do, short-term, long term, even songs I like. I'll often have six or seven at once. I try and make a new one every morning just to help set my mind on what I want to accomplish that day. It helps to keep me organized and from maybe forgetting something I may find important later. Some people collect junk, I collect thoughts on paper. I think of something interesting, and will jot it down on a napkin, scrap paper, receipts, even those little number tags from the deli line. Which is why I think this is a great design tool for Thesis Prep. I'm getting graded on something I do anyhow. This is slightly more sophisticated than my deli line tags, however. Many of the things I'm going to write down are going to be more of a list of thoughts for myself. Not necessarily ideas specifically made for a thesis project. It may just be something I found interesting or a rhetorical question I have.