Tuesday, January 2, 2007

My name is Joe Berardi. I am 27 years old and a graduate of the undergraduate architecture program at The Ohio State University. I currently live in Bexley Ohio, a small suburb east of Columbus. I live there with my fiancee, Missy, and three cats. A lot of our time has recently been spent remodeling our kitchen (33 weeks worth of work and injuries), which is now 99.9% complete.
Since graduating, I worked in a small firm that did various types of design work from residential projects to mixed use projects. For the past two years, I work in a commercial office, working on various types of projects from store design to a synagogue.
My interest in the program is that it allows me the opportunity to continue my education as well as continuing to work.

3 comments:

Herb Childress said...

Welcome, Joe.

I like the Piano quote about style. Last semester, one of my students was doing a research paper on William Wurster, and she developed what I think is an ingenious formulation: style = principles - context. In other words, if you can take the same moves and put them in a new city or fill them with a different program, then they're just fashion. And nothing looks as out-of-date as last year's styles.

Joe said...

I think that is a great way to sum things up. I think with Pianos work there is a sense of coherence, not exactly in the actual appearence, but the intent and the intangibles, vs. someone like Frank Gehry and the "Bilbao Effect." It seems that a large majority of his major commissions in some shape or form is in the same "Style" as the Guggenheim.

Carli Sekella said...

What an interesting thought!

When I would think cookie cutter, my mind immediately flies to the suburbs, or more increasingly, Small Town USA where great Mom & Pop stores are driven away in favor of the local WalMart or McDonalds. But to think of Frank Gehry as cookie cutter - now THAT is thought provoking. There is no sarcasm in that statement!

I believe Gehry is a love-him-or-hate-him kind of guy, and I am much more firmly planted towards that hate end for the very reason that he does seem to have a "style" that is very obvious. And, to bring your other post into this one - I think that Gehry is probably the most famous architect to be hired as an afterthought. He is brought onto a project because people want that form for their building, no matter the program requirements.