Review of Week 2 - Nathan Hayes

Name: Nathan Hayes

Student ID: 5496594

Group: 3 - Second Life

Blog address: www.n8architecture.wordpress.com

Well, from the outset I can say that there was a lot, and a lot of development that went into this project and judging by my seemingly average amount of notes that I wrote down on my project, in hindsight I probably spent a lot of time viewing and being explaining the entire concept by Nathan than I did systematically having to write it all down which I commend him for immensely. Nathan is a very eloquent speaker, he provided us with an in depth insight into his building from the get-go and although I could potentially write an essay on his entire process, I will attempt to do his project justice with a few paragraphs.

From the first look onto his project, my impression was initially one of viewing what I term as "bubble architecture", by that I mean a very contemporary, abstraction of form (mostly large expanses of very curved and drop like 'melted wax' forms ). With my personal design aesthetic being very different stylistically, concentrating more on a mixture of industrial and orthogonal lines, I was rather skeptical at first whether I would be able to fully appreciate what Nathan had accomplished.

Nathan explained to use a few of his development processes with particular emphasis on the use of extensive beams over the top of his large abstract forms being an influence from his last animation project and his desire to create monolithic forms accompanied by hundreds and hundreds of beams. Looking at his blog as reading his posts, I can definitely see a large amount of effort and play being invested into looking at the different forms that could be created by the manipulation of beam placement. The most interesting thing I probably learnt was from Nathan showing us the way that he was able to give the beams in Second Life a physical gravity force, dropping them above a 'bed' of monolithic prims and watching the different variations of crevices they fell into and subsequently the overlapping they formed.

Nathan described his building form as a form of "architecture that was censoring" and while a few days later I may understand it very differently from what he may have intended , I perceived this notion in regards to sustenance as an architecture that was not allowing you to feel that visual sustenance feeling without fully experiencing it spatially (although he may refute that). I conclude that from the experience that Nathan gave me especially on the day, giving me the proverbial "steering wheel" and letting me guide his avatar over the top of his structure. The top of the structure covered with a large bramble of steel pipes in a variety of colors and shapes, covered with a alpha channel pattern in my mind cleverly reflect the idea of it being almost a physical artistic manifestation of the troubles of the world, with our innate need to get through this posing a challenge (and was reflected in the rather difficult controlling of the avatar of that top hump). On a quick note, while I did understand the metaphorical parts of this area in relation to sustenance, I would have however liked to see a more controlled color pattern, even to an extent just a symbolic black or mixture or grays that would have made this idea of the steel poles being troubles of life more evident (though that could be just my semi- conservative side coming out), but even then I enjoyed the experience which is exactly what architecture in Second Life should aim to achieve.

After this, you arrive at the end of the building with what can only be described as a pristine view across the Second Life horizon as you take a seat on the provided chair, again alluding to the visual sustenance that Nathan described. I further understood this as a architectural sustenance as well with what I think should be every buildings purpose in providing function and a visual experience that celebrates the life of man and the natural world around us.

Finally, I credit Nathan on taking some extra time out on showing us 3D Max, the use of Portable Cam Studio on the computer to tape his videos that he has on his blog and a variety of different tool uses on Second Life. And going back to my thoughts on "bubble architecture", my initial thoughts were potentially a bit wrong. While it still isn't "my thing", I respect and fully understand both the idea of sustenance in this building, at least in my own mind, as well as the immense and creditable design process that went into designing a building where one can remove themselves from society and most importantly that "journey" feeling. Paraphrasing Nathan's words, it is one of those structures you just need to have a think about".