The ***le speaks for itself on this one fellas... but this is what its all about. A year ago I graduated from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln and competed my Masters of Architecture degree with my thesis on Hot Rod Theory. I was fortunate enough to have a mentor who respected the idea of the machine and held no regard with going outside of the norm which gave me the ability to explore hot rods and architecture. I've been toying with the idea of adding this to the HAMB for about a year now and just decided I'd toss it up to see what the rest of you thought. There is a bit of reading BUT the majority of it is made up from images of hamb cars and traditional hot rods, as I've used the hamb as a library of images for the entire thesis. Let me know what you think! below is the abstract. follow the link to down load the thesis (caution it might take a minute or two to download from the University server) http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/archthesis/102/ Abstract: This thesis investigation will focus on the cultivation of a new design theory as a third option focusing on the area a****st the existing strategies of Historic Preservation and Adaptive Reuse. Preemptively before the theory can be developed, an understanding of the term Hot Rod must be clearly understood to fully realize the merits it may hold for architecture. The link between Hot Rod and Architecture as a generative exploration, from which architecture can relate specifically, brings out their historical significance. Both of which have individually shared and lost within a subculture to mainstream cultural transition. Understandably, with the usage of the term Hot Rod predefined definitions are immediately defined and adopted. In reaction to the misinformation time will be setup to clearly state the importance of identifying and understanding the initial concept of what the term Hot Rod means. Due to the influences of technology and mainstream culture the origins of hot rod have been lost to a new style today. In turn, research will begin by composing a theory to express the characteristics inherent of the essence that is hot rod. The adaptation to architecture will begin by acknowledging the two similar design strategies most closely related to the concept of hot rod: Historic Preservation and Adaptive Reuse. Programs that hold merit as informative design strategies in architecture today however lack a layer of adaptability which is devoid of existence within architecture; the middle ground, or a third ulterior motive. Historic Preservation yields results of a true restoration process which restores a selected project though adds to it a policy of government regulation that protects the architecture from any denaturing of what the project was initially built as. Where adaptive reuse lies in the realm of new program based in old function. Many of the new adaptive reuse projects in existence sustain no resemblance of what the initial function of the buildings once were. The proposal of a third consideration is one that remedies a similar result as to rejuvenating a building of obsolescence, but maintains and improves upon where the building is without repurposing its foremost function. The act of rejuvenating an object begins to extract where the idea of hot rod can be understood in its natural state as traditional hot rodding opposed to what it can be known today as street rodding. Traditional hot rodding can be summarized by identifying clapped out automobiles, and resurrecting them proportionally to their primary intended function by the means first introduced to the sub-culture procuring speed from nothing. Through this process, the resurrection of these once obsolete cars are revived as livid performance machines capable of competing within categories of todays modern performance vehicles; rendering the need a question of the necessity of new when compared to the obsolescent. The ending conclusion will be how the thesis will be framed in regards to the way it will be orchestrated and explored; to ask a question of hot rod theory and answer it through the production of three levels of hot rod architecture.
Ill tell you what I think, I think I have my reading cut out for me for a while. Sounds really interesting!! Downloading it right now!
I have to agree. I don't know if you were shooting for a particular word count or what, but there are statements (or I should say collections of words) in your abstract that aren't even gramatically correct. And many of the statements don't actually say anything. Sorry man
To be honest, the abstract was just a submission do***ent written prior to the project being developed and to satisfy some level of architecture school jargon. For hamb sake, by p*** it if your interested, the thesis itself is much more visually interesting.
I don't know guys, just about every abstract I've ever read has sounded like this...and that's a lot of them. His topic has some promise, so I'm going to read it.
The I pad is having some serious trouble with this link. Olds boy, could you pm me a link to it so I can check it out with the computer at work tomorrow?
To the right on the webpage (if you follow the link) there is a download ****on. Sorry for the confusion.
I started reading it, I never saw the actual real definition of HOT ROD from it's origins of a motor with hot rods from an internal perspective of engineering. As I see it, your an architectural graduate with a love for hot rods and you tried to mix the two, you would have been better of doing a Mech. Eng degree. It's an interesting read and it helped you get your masters, I'm just wondering if anyone on your review committee actually had an understanding of hot rodding, it's true origins and history. Eventually we get to a slide projector a book case and a recliner only to find on page 80 hot rod theory - the rejuvenation of obsolescent architecture dispersed throughoutcities and landscapes, by hopping up the building while maintaining the initial functional programmed goal of the building. This is where I just don't understand how one can be related to the other. my .02
Thanks for the feedback. My committee was comprised of architects and architecture theorists. SO in the first part of my presentation I attempted to explain the essence of what hot rod could be boiled down to. There is an architect by the name of Wes Jones that has somewhat made a living off of calling his work hot rod architecture. Which I set out to prove as somewhat faulty as he plays up the image and look of his work over its performative potential.
"the usage of the term Hot Rod predefined definitions are immediately defined and adopted" << My favorite. Should be an interesting read, I'm d/l it now.... very slow. Could be the university web server has been slashdotted.
Basically, it was an attempt to develop an approach to architecture based of the idea behind the hot rod. With a hot rod being described as a culmination of performative automotive parts put together into one car that would make it able to be compe***ive and more performative than it was initially designed to be. So then take this idea of hot rod and put it into architecture by adapting run down, or forgotten buildings and reconditioning them with new technologies and additive components to allow old buildings to be put onto a level of compe***ion with new more efficient buildings of today rather than tearing buildings down, or in hot rod terms, taking old tin to the s****per.
I dig it -except that a Hot Rod is often defined in the eyes of it's beholder. Okay, so then by this definition, my house is a hot rod. Originally built in 1881- it's been "hot rodded" several times. An addition in 1927. New HVAC and electrical in the past 15 years. Stripped to the studs and rewired, insulated and sheet rocked.. Most folks refer to that as renovation, no? Isn't that what you're talking about? Even more avant-garde renovations - such as the Michael E Lee Chin Crystal at the Royal Ontario Museum ( http://www.rom.on.ca/about/crystal/index.php ) were referred to in the press as renovations- and this was a m***ive update to the building, enhancing it's 'performance' and 'function', while adding 'form'. I'm not asking you to re-defend your thesis, I'm really just trying to follow along. Cheers
Okay, that's making more sense. Here's my take, without having downloaded and read the whole enchilada. Hot rods have both form and function. Buildings have both form and function. The forms have overlapping meaning, but the functions ... not really. A hot rod's performance is typically measured as speed and/or acceleration. Today, a building's performance is typically measured as efficiency, in my mind. So, the two performances are going in different directions. The notion of forms works. Fix up an old house to be more efficient (while retaining its appealing form) instead of tearing it down and building a new (typically hideous) house. Thanks, Kurt
Does "performative" have a different definition in architecture? per·for·ma·tive adjective Philosophy, Linguistics . 1. (of an expression or statement) performing an act by the very fact of being uttered, as with the expression I promise, that performs the act of promising.
Oldsboy, thank you for the abstract. Very interesting to read your thread, indeed. I'm a Creative Director for spatial communication. So I create rooms like museums, representations, thematic stagings for brands or other ins***utions. I've read a few works from people who elaborate about hot rodding, or maybe more general custom culture, in relation to other crafts, or in the first instance our general creative behavior. I got your point and I you got me hooked on... PS: You might find it interesting, that I am often asked to point on a key element in a design, to break in the existing ideas or to heat up a certain design detail. Without my help, my colleagues (architects, graphic and stage designers...) see me as more radical or outside the box thinking just because I am "the hot rod guy".
I hear ya Oldsboy. I'm an architect myself, and Wes Jones is one of my influences for sure. There's definitely a bit of grammatical confusion there in your writing, compounded by unnecessarily complex architectural jargon (not your fault - that's how the academics and theorists like to train you to talk about architectural design, helping to enforce some semblance of aristocracy over those who would aspire to understand.) It might be helpful to the group to post up some of Mr. Jones' writings on the topic, particularly that snippet from Instrumental Form (you have the book, right?) The bit where he describes the "souped-up" hot-rodding ethos emphasizing its "low-tech America roots" vs. the "haute-tech" store-bought performance ethos of a brand-new Ferrari. The tie-in of course is a very American-developed ingenuity translated to architecture. I can see quite easily the direction you're going as it relates to the adaptive re-use of facilities for purposes other than originally intended, thus reducing the need for new, wasteful construction when the bones of the original structure are still good. I like the thesis proposal, and wish you luck!
Efficiency is performance, i.e. squeeze as much work as possible out of the smallest amount of resource possible. getting the most power from the least amount of fuel flowing through the lines.
The Jalopy Journal
