I think that in continuing with the theme of hybrid/synthetic weather I can alter the color of the cloud, but only in natural shades. In this way I am creating the illusion of a natural cloud at a time that it would not appear that way. For instance, one fluffy white cloud on a cloudless day, or a angry cloud on a otherwise nice day. Conversely, if the whole sky is hazy and gray, the cloud can be pristine white. It calls into question the naturality of the cloud that i am making, and presents it as something that is both a part of the weather, but under different control. I can light the cloud very bright white, as a utopian cloud, or dark grey/ green as a stormy angry cloud. It can even be bright white in the middle of the night!

Cloud ecologies within the City

So much to do, so little time! Our final review is merely a week away, and at this point I need to decide what is the most important to finish and work on in that short amount of time. The 3/4 review held recently revealed much about my project to me. Most importantly, I think that I need to work on how I introduce my project. Secondly, my representations need a significant amount of work. Lastly, I still need to display even more information about how my project as a whole operates.

The reviewers told me that I need to make my project fun. I think that they are right, but I am struggling with how to do this. Do I make changes to my design so it incorporates fun things somehow? Is it merely a way of introducing the project better? What is it about a cloud that is fun? I went back into the Blur building and the AD Energies articles to try to understand what i gain experientially from the use of a cloud, or atmospheres. I guess what I am having the most difficulty trying to understand is how I can explain that just being in a cloud is fun? I'm trying to understand from what they said. For example, do I need to add slides as something fun, or do I just need to provided a better understanding of the experience of the spaces?

I think overall I need to steer the conversation from about how the project works to how the project is experienced by people. When moving through the project, senses will be heightened. The constant woosh of water traveling all around you, and the lack of clarity in vision combines to heighten the senses of visitors. Entering the project is a jolt after the desensitation experienced from the over-advertised, over-sensitized world of New York City around. In the spaces you realize that you have become oversensitized, and the project, as it cleanses the water around it, it cleanses and reinvigorates the people within. They realize their lack of focus, and become acutely aware of the synthetic ecology existing around them. The damp and earthy smell is a backdrop upon which they once again come to terms with their hermetically sealed environments that they spend their days in. It alters their perceptive abilities. In my project they are no longer sealed to the weather, but in fact it comes to them. Sometimes the city is revealed in gusts of wind. The tranquility experienced can be ripped from the visitors in moments when the global weather is more powerful. Other times the cloud expands to be a part of the global weather. Perhaps on perfect days, only Brooklyn has clouds over it, and we begin to question how much power the project actually has. Other days, the project seems impossibly ineffective in the face of gale-force winds.

The project itself is a hybrid form of weather. It uses the natural weather, but is augmented through temperature, humidity, and dust particles. Sometimes the cloud may take over the street-impeding driving abilities. Maybe it can even cause rainfall- in only a 500 foot radius. It uses what is available in the atmosphere, and magnifies its potential to create a weather phenomenon that usually only occurs hundreds of feet up in the atmosphere. By bringing this phenomenon to within human interaction, it causes us to reconsider our control over the weather, ecologies, and the way in which we live in cities.

I think that this is how I need to present my project. The means to which I have achieved these experiences are (at least from the viewpoint of the critics I think) not as important as the affect that it has on its visitors and inhabitants. To achieve this conversation about my project, many things need to change.

I need to introduce my project differently. Explain the experiences of the project, and its affect locally and globally

My representation needs to change. Well, actually, i'm not sure that dark storm clouds are not bad. I certainly need to have some utopic clouds. A large range of representations needs to occur for thursday both at the small and large scale, and in different weather conditions.

I tried my plan drawings again, inverting them to white lines on black, to achieve white clouds. At least to make the drawings seem utopic, I think that the only color they can be is pristine white. Other colors make it seem sickly or dangerous. Even the original clouds looked ominous. I'm still not sure that i have achieved what I am looking for in the new plans however. I need to do many renders, and somehow figure out to add textures into them as well, to make them dirty.

As I have been all semester long, I am having difficulty figuring out how to display the information about my complex process of water symbiosis. At this point I really just feel like if I show all the information about the workings of my project, it will just be the illusion of information, and work. The reviewers will look at it for a minute or two, then look to the rest of the project and not look at it again, but apparently my project is unbelievable without it. How can I show that I chose trout instead of salmon and the countless other design decisions that i've made throughout the process? Should I have a board for each step of the process, providing very intricate details? Although I am fully capable of making it (I am taking Finance this semester and have taken Accounting), I do not think that a Revenue model of the project is appropriate, with the amount of time left. In fact, I think that if I made it, some reviewers would tell me that I wasted my time. My project would be profitable, after all the decisions I've made, I made sure of it.

It was suggested that I remove the car hostel from the project. Once again, I disagree with the reviewers. They made a very perceptive and accurate comment, however about the living conditions. Everything will be wet, and mold and mildew will grow. I believe, however that the cars may be able to counteract that effect of mold and mildew. They have seals to all their components- with the exception of the heating and cooling systems- that I believe would be able to keep out most humidity. Additionally, I can supply watertight storage for the inhabitants. I look forward to your opinion of their comment. Car hostel- stay or go?

I think, overall I need to add visual complexity to my drawings, create more diagrams, many more renderings, and rework my presentation of the project.

I look forward to your comments on my many questions.