Myong Choi Reflection Paper

Myong Choi

LA Past Lives

5/5/11

Reflection Paper

The Schindler House is an amazing architecture piece of artwork stemming from strong European influences as well as some Japanese influences. Starting from the 1920s, the Schindler House has remained as a staple of all modern architecture present in Los Angeles, and it continues to do so. The research accomplished during the class has resulted in a plethora of information.
The group dynamic was great. Although we each had similar skills, we were able to produce works that were outside of our skillsets. The goal of our project was to create a digital and practical example of the progression of the landscape from its original, rural surrounding to the present urban surrounding. For the digital example, we created a digital replica of the Schindler House with digital representations of the surrounding buildings slowly popping up. The physical example was also a scaled replica of the Schindler House. For both projects, we went with a minimalistic design since the Schindler House was extremely simplistic in design as a modern piece of architecture.
The class was enjoyable for several different reasons. One of the main reasons the class was so enjoyable resulted from the fact that we took on a different method of research. Typically, as a digital student, most research is done digitally from one location. However, for the LA Past Lives project, we did much more archival research at the Los Angeles Public Library, something that I personally have never done. The archival research was different because it required us to go out and obtain information that predates digital resources, thus requiring more work to be put into finding the proper and relevant information.
Another reason is that the group worked well to accomplish our goal. Since we were all digital majors and have worked together several times previously, we were able to reach decisions quickly, without any issues, and collaborate creatively without any possible creativity issues. None of us had any issues whatsoever when it came to working towards our main objective, which was to create a digital and practical example of our design based on the research.
The final reason for why I enjoyed the class is that the class allowed me to break from what I typically worked on. Being a digital major, I used the computer heavily, but the class allowed me to express myself creatively through a different method. Although we still had a digital output, the physical output still helped me to be creative outside of normal means.
In the end, the class was beneficial for me because of all these reasons. Admittedly, we ran out of time to finish the physical/practical output, but I am satisfied with the result. Had we more time, I would have liked to put more time into the physical output to add onto it based on our original design (from the map). The map is essentially, what I would have liked to go to for both outputs, but seeing as how we ran out of time, I am still satisfied with the final output.
Overall, the class was enjoyable and I learned a great deal from the class, such as learning new methods of research, working for the final time with my digital peers, and finally being able to work on a physical output.