The Gray Papers

THESIS PROPOSAL

So I knew I wanted to propose building under the overpass. Bridge commerce is just such a cool idea. For my project, urban agriculture was the central interest. I looked at the ways in which the Western world manages their agricultural processes, versus small towns.

I had recently spent time in South America where all their practices are deemed organic. Animals are raised and slaughtered on site of the home and therefore people better understand the place their food is coming from.

I began to look at how we find occasion to eat meat. One of the primary reasons people turn to vegetarianism is to protest industrial farming methods and unnatural processes. 

I looked at some interesting sources such as Michael Pollen’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Temple Grandin’s Psychology of Humane Slaughter.

This is an agenda of smaller ideas that was intended to embody bigger ones and help me in my design. 

+ small-scale urban agriculture

+ the retail food industry

+ how we connect to what we eat

+ reverence of natural processes

+ vernacular temples

+ ecology of technology

+ economic advantages

+ the future of dining out

+ livestock varieties

+ butchery/abbatoirs

Photo: digital rendering.

LIGHT SKETCHES

Some sketches I did for class on how light can permeate spaces.

At the time I remember I had a piece of John Cage’s sheet music and I was drawing comparisons between light and music to understand how hospital patients might experience natural light differently during recovery.

I also looked at how nature uses light. I was sketching begonias a lot because they use reflective lenses to absorb more sunlight. Reminiscent of daylighting for interiors where reflective systems are used to move natural light around. 

Its said that natural lighting in work spaces increases productivity and boosts morale. Part of studies into how to make cubicle life more humane. 

This was a design charette for Hermann-Miller in third? year Biomimicry at OCAD. 

Photo: ink scans digital by me, sheet of John Cage’s music.

I have journals going back to when I was six years old. I am thinking I am going to publish some here to go with my work. Most are funny and make no sense, they are just trains of thought. Embarrassment for the sake of art, lessens the blow. The first one is recent. 

FRIDAY MARCH 19 2010. 

PREAMBLE

I want this to be an outpouring of my ideas for my work—not something precious. I always have trouble distilling my thoughts and directives so this is it—this is my distillery. I have been feeling a mental block lately—exhaustive projects and lack of daylight have left me senseless. I spent too much time in front of a computer—email, facebook, my blackberry, msn, when did I stop writing by hand? Raw, streaming thought process. I remember when….three years ago? When I decided I wanted to do less thinking, and more doing. Now, I have done a lot. I can do a lot, but it is not always thoughtful. This disturbs me—doing things without thought. Thoughtful art and design is like sewing, poetry, musical instruments, printed news, snail-mail, true romance—a dying art. I used to relish in complexity, now I crave the poignant efficiency of simplicity done correctly—it emancipates man from the clutter of materialism. The only thing that should be cluttered is a garden. Or a field, a forest, an ocean. But more or less nature gives itself space and cuts to the chase as fast as it can to achieve the highest function in the simplest method—properly while remaining distinguished from others. A subtle, yet unique gesture. 

Photo—rendering of herding patterns, charcoal, ink, digital

“It is probably true quite generally that in the history of human thinking the most fruitful developments frequently take place at those points where two different lines of thought meet. These lines may have their roots in quite different parts of human culture, in different times or different cultural environments or different religious traditions: hence if they actually meet, that is, if they are at least so much related to each other that a real interaction can take place, then one may hope that new and interesting developments may follow.”

-Werner Heisenberg

Photo—Rosedale Subway, Winter 2010, Toronto

STATEMENT OF INTENT: THE WEST DONLANDS SITE

So I decided to pursue urban agriculture as an area of study and wanted to propose a facility that would make use of the overpass columns of the Eastern Avenue overpass. 

Overpasses are expensive to maintain and are up for potential demolition as a result. This is already happening with some parts of the Gardiner Expressway in the East End of Toronto. Re-examining their potential maybe worthwhile as these are powerful pieces of engineering that are capable of providing the framework for commercial industries. 

This site was once a settlement for Irish Immigrants in the 1830’s and has been home to industrial practices as well. As a result, there are some ground water issues and pollution in the shouldering Don River that pose a threat to the surrounding wildlife.

There are over 1500 species of birds alone that traverse the pathways of the Don River. In recent years environmentalists have been mobilizing for restoration of the ecology there. A good example of this is The Evergreen Brickworks Project. 

Photo—Under Eastern Ave, West Donlands, Fall 2010

THESIS: IDEATIONS

My thesis explored the re-establishment of unused civic infrastructure and the urban food process. In other words, I looked at how cities get food, how they are nourished essentially. I began to look at urban ecology and transportation and the way that our roads and pathways are the veins of a city like the veins of a living entity.

How we will feed the cities of the future is a sustainability issue. So urban agriculture is on the rise, and this point of reference is where my work began.  

I did some map studies and creative renderings. Here is one…I mapped migratory pathways of humans and wildlife together. The map is historical but the overall product is meant to be loosely informative. 

Photo—Migratory Pathways Toronto, digital.

THE INCUBATOR: PHASE I

I am a recent graduate from the Environmental Design program at OCAD U in Toronto. This is my first independent online collection which means the content was created by me to a large degree.  

Let it be known I am shy about my work sometimes and I needed to find some way that it could speak for itself in a clear and concise manner. So here we gather at its new residence, while I learn some code and build it a dream home (aka. design a more official website).

I will try not to bore with technical jargon, geometry, juxtaposition, geography and other things that tend not to have mass appeal, and also try not to be too narcissistic (leave that to other online pandemics).

This is a strictly professional way of organizing my portfolio and generating inspiration for myself and maybe even others.  

All examples of my work; objects, drawings, renderings, pieces of writing, and photography can be considered original intellectual property unless otherwise cited clearly.

And so I begin…

Photo—Sketch for Human Hive, ink.

“We would rather be ruined than changed; We would rather die in our dread, Than climb the cross of the moment, And let our illusions die.” -W.H Auden

Photo—Quito, Ecuador