Concrete Competition Postponement

The concrete competiton was postponed until Friday due to extreme heat in the DC area. This will give me ample time to work on my entry. I will be working on making masonry units that can act as planters. While researching the idea, I happened to stumble on a proposal for such an idea.






Rael San Fratello Architects have laid the groundwork for such experimentations. I hope to create my own unique forms and actually construct these, something RSF has yet to do. I will update the blog with some preliminary sketches and forms in the upcoming days.

Thesis Abstract

Friday was the day I was supposed to formalize my thesis. I handed in what I have attached below:






I intend to work and experiment with Grasshopper and Rhino as a tool for my digital fabrication interests. By learning these tools simultaneously with my thesis, I will begin to form an overall design philosophy. I try to do all of my projects in this format, by laying out a list of guidelines beforehand to direct the project. Although, I do not know what my final building will be, I have laid the groundwork and will go from there.

Other Responsibilities

As the first week of classes have now come and gone, I am left with the fact that I did hardly any work on my thesis. The reason for this is that I have an abundance of other activities and responsibilities during the semester. This blog will sometimes delve into the activities, so I wanted to give my readers a heads up. These are my other activities:

-GTA Position: This year I received a Graduate Teaching Assistantship. The GTA position is for computer lab maintenance as well as social networking for the school. Currently, I am in charge of the WAAC's Twitter and Facebook accounts, as well as the giant monitor in the front lobby. This is a new feature at the WAAC, so I am sure there will be a large amount of experimentation I will be conducting this academic year.

-Digital Fabrication Project: I am leading a team of 4 students into an in - depth study of digital fabrication. The site of the project is up in the air, but the project will continue under the Design Build class the WAAC offers. I am certain that there will be weeks where all I do is work on this project, but the project does tie into my thesis, so it will be beneficial. I wrote a rough draft of a syllabus below:







WAAC AIAS Co-Chair: I have responsibilities to run the WAAC's chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students. We are a student organization that focuses on the connection between education and practice. We just had an opening BBQ for the entire school on Friday that went well. I will keep the blog updated on various events that are run throughout the year.


Concrete Competition: This brings me to what I am currently working on, the Concrete Competition. We are given one cubic foot of concrete to do with what we wish. We cast on Monday. I have been working on a masonry unit that have built in planters. I hope to have the final design up tomorrow morning. Until then, here are some precedents:

The Prologue

Welcome to my Thesis! I hope to update this blog as much as possible over the course of the year. I wanted to give you a brief background of myself before I get started.





School: Virginia Tech- Washington Alexandria Architecture Center


Name (Age) - Joseph Iwaskiw (22)- M.ARCH II Thesis


Brief background/experiences:

I am the oldest of five in a family and grew up right outside of Baltimore. In high school, I was interested in both mathematics and computer science. My original undergraduate major was to be in computer science, but I changed my mind in the final minutes and decided to go with architecture. I decided on architecture to broaden my artistic talents, as I had always been creative but never had an outlet to fully utilize my talents. I attended the University of Maryland, and immediately fell in love with architecture. I graduated in 2009 with a B.S. in Architecture. With jobs nowhere to be found, I decided the best thing to do was to go back and get my professional degree in graduate school. I decided on Virginia Tech on the last day possible. I transferred up to the Washington Alexandria Campus before school started to be closer to the urban environment.



Why you chose your school/program:

I chose Virginia Tech for a number of reasons. I was accepted at a variety of schools, including Parsons and Pratt in New York, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Maryland, and Virginia Tech. I decided the most prudent thing to do was to choose a school that would be financially viable in recessionary times. I was left with Cincinnati, UMD, and Virginia Tech. After visiting all three, I decided on VT because they not only had the most serious and innovative studios, but also a faculty and alumni base that was unprecedented. After choosing VT, I decided the best course of action for me was to transfer up to the WAAC. This would allow me to be near a vibrant community with an urban emphasis on my designs. The WAAC really allows you to design your own course of study, providing resources and faculty at your disposal, which is perfect for me. I have no regrets and have never looked back.



Architecture interests:

My architecture interests take a holistic approach, but I do have a discipline of favor. I believe that you need all the information you can get to be the best architect, however, my favorite discipline is that of digital fabrication. My heavy background of mathematics and computer science comes in handy here, as you could guess. I try to bring both the computer and the hand together, giving the architect total control, as I believe that this is where architecture is headed in the future. This will allow the architect to create something in his mind (digitize), and then see it from start to finish as he crafts it himself (fabrication). I also love the connect between the free-form line and the rigid line. The formal ideas of the recent past (blob-tecture comes to mind) can now become hard line construction drawings and fabricated pieces that create an installation that is in tune with both math and art. I hope to study this more closely in my final year of school.



Other interests:

In my leisure time, if it is available, I enjoy a variety of affairs. Sports is my number one option. I play in a variety of recreational leagues around Northern Virginia. I also enjoy working out and biking. The bike paths in the DC area are phenomenal, and every once in awhile I will go cycle to clear my mind. I also enjoy watching sports. I am a big University of Maryland, Baltimore Ravens, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Wizards, and Washington Capitols fan. Cooking is another one of my interests. I try to cook something new twice a week. Involving both a craft and science, cooking allows me instant gratification of my work, something that architecture does not always do. Other interests include fishing, sociology, history, and traveling.


I hope this post will give you a better understanding of my thesis as it manifests itself. I look forward to having a great year of documenting my work.