interview with Perez

Interview with Genaro Perez Kelsey and Candice

Name: Genaro Perez
Country of birth: South Mexico
Age: 50
Occupation: Janitor at UNCG
How did he get to the USA?
Traveled from Southern Mexico to Northern Mexico, crossed a river, took off his clothes and then traveled through the desert for two days. Then he knocked on doors and finally came across and Indian man in Arizona and he gave him food. Perez then traveled by bus to Texas and got a job at a car dealership making one hundred dollars a week.
Family:
Perez left behind his three children in Mexico. The children’s mother and him are separated, yet they still keep in contact. Two of the children came to America a couple years later.
Life in America:
Jobs:
Job in Texas in car dealership
Maine picking blueberries
Florida picking tomatoes
New Jersey picking blueberries
Pennsylvania working in construction
Picking apples in Pennsylvania
Firewood company in Pennsylvania
North Carolina working at the Biltmore Hotel and Homewood Suites
North Carolina inspecting pills
North Carolina as a Janitor at UNCG
How did he adapt?
Learned language and customs of America through his girlfriend who was an English teacher at an apple farm. Also watched peoples faces and ate American food.
Challenges:
Only got jobs through word of mouth from fellow Mexicans. He missed his family incredibly, however he said that he was never discriminated against by fellow Americans.
Goals/Intentions/Dreams
He longs for his home country and would like to go back there in the next five to ten years after he retires to be with his mother.

Ideas for the Welcome Mat

Final Design Idea:

Computing in Architectural Design

Computing today has become an important element in the design process. In the beginning of computer development, they did not assist the designer or user to its fullest potential. The computer could only do so much for the designer.
Software such as CAD assisted the user in model construction and drafting.
It seemed as though it had a mind of its own. This software could correct mistakes the designer had made and even assisted them in dimensioning and made it easier for the designer to convey their ideas to their clients.
The computer has developed into its own environment. It could now control the actions of other objects, such as doors, surveillance, and electricity. This device has also allowed us to discover the internet, and the world with a touch of our fingertips.
In the future I could see computing systems actually taking over the design process, or even taking over jobs for people. I believe that computers will actually enable a thinking process that could correct its own mistakes and develop something on its own. I could also see computers control things such as cars, in controlling the speed of drivers with a touch of a button. This invention could even prevent car accidents or traffic jams.
Computers have ceased to amaze me. I believe computers will never stop being developed. There will always be something that they could help us with.

A Welcome Mat IAR 202

to kick of the new semester our first project is to design a welcome mat for a visitor from a country we selected from a hat, without using text. we need to create a prototype and is due at the end of the week.

My Country:

Jamaica

• art is influenced from culture
• island on west indies
• small
• made of volcanic hills, blue mountains, limestone plateau and coastal lowlands.
  
• discovered by Christopher Columbus on May 4, 1494
• resources include - sugar, coffee, spices , and tropical fruit
• constitutional parliamentary democracy
• weather: average 82
• currency: 62.50 to $1 US
• "Out of many, one people" - motto
• African and European influences ( include Music)
• English- main language, and Patois, a combination of english, spanish, portuguese and african
• landscapes made up of vibrant colors
• multi racial roots
• Economy: tourism, agriculture, mining, construction, and shipping

Symbols:

• Jamaican Coat of Arms
• Jamaican Bird: Doctor bird ( swallowtail humming bird)
• Jamaican Fruit: Ackee
• Jamaican Flower: Blue Mahoe
  
• Jamaican Tree: Lignum Vitae - wood of life

Ackee

Blue Mahoe

Jamaican Coat of Arms

Lignum Vitae

Doctor Bird

color palette ideas

intent narrative and detailed program

The intent of my design is to recapture the idea of evolution of life using color and objects, incorporating the good, bad and ugly materials and other materials that are needed. Keeping in mind to produce a relaxed appeal, I will be using natural colors including shades of green, brown, tan, and blue. Since the idea of the building is to feel like a home for these young girls, I will be using furniture and lighting fixtures that generate a domestic feel.

In each bedrooms there will be a bed (3’w.6’l.2’9”h) that will have storage drawers underneath, a dresser (2’w.3’l.7’h) a fold down nightstand (1’w.2’l.3”h) and a crib (2’6”w.5’l.4’h) with storage drawers underneath. The flooring for the bedroom will be carpeted with natural colored walls and a fan with lighting in each bedroom. For the bathrooms there will be a countertop with a sink and storage underneath. The countertops will have glass tile and the floor will be tile also. There will also be a mirror overtop the countertop with lighting fixtures overtop the mirror. There will also be a toilet and a shower/bath. In the storage area there are shelves that start at two feet above the floor. The shelving on the outside of the storage area will start at four feet above the ground. There will be lighting emphasizing the shelves and a large pendant lighting fixture in the center of the communal area. There will be reclaimed wood as the flooring for the communal area.

close to home

Past Present and FutureThis sketch shows the flow of the space, how each figure is spaced together to allow movement throughout the area. You can also see the base of the structure and where the posters are placed on them.

Looking at the Close to Home Exhibit in the Gatewood Studio Arts Building, there are many interesting facts about the history of modernism. The exhibit talks about some of Edward Loewenstein’s work and works of women who were enrolled in the program years ago. It was very interesting how the information was displayed. The structures inside of the exhibit provided a better visual connection with the viewer and the way they were arranged made a better flow of traffic and allowed you to be able to view all of the information provided in the exhibit. This installation provided information about the modernism era to the viewer in hands on fashion, allowing them to relate to modernism and giving them inspiration to design.

The exhibit can be entered from either side of the room. The information can be either viewed from earliest to most recent or visa versa. Inside the exhibit are laminated vertical structures that are stained, painted and nailed together. The information for the exhibit is displayed on posters that are attached to metal panels with magnets. The way these structures are designed is as though they are abstract views of houses, with a post and beam design. Since modernism is an idea of striping away ornamentation and focusing on the purpose and function of a design, these structures would be perfect for the exhibit.

The lights inside the exhibit are used to provide light for the posters as well as display shadows from the structures, making the exhibit more eye catching. The colors are very neutral except for the metal panels. The materials provide a metaphor for the dominate materials used for the design of modernism buildings, wood being the structure of the building, metal being the industrial aspect of the building and concrete on the floors as a design element for building materials.

In this illustration you can see the full structure. You can see the beams and the overhang, which is similar to a house structure.

Inside this exhibit there are posters that display events in that time era and magazines and other media that provided a way for design to travel around the world. There are also projectors and computers that provide further information. These technology items provide information that pops out to the viewer, since the screen is constantly changing. The computer does provide more information but because of its placement in the room (turned on the corner in the back of the room) it doesn’t necessarily help with the exhibit. The cables from these electronics are distracting from the structures. The images being displayed in the exhibit all have an idea of modernism, from the designs of the past women in the program to Edward Loewenstein’s buildings to the design of the structures by the students in the program this year.

In this illustration you can see the multiple structures being placed together to allow movement throughout the space. You can also see the skeletal structure inside the figures to replicate the structure inside of a home or building.