Been away too long

It's been exactly 20 days since I have posted anything here, and I don't like it. The past few weeks have been quite busy with required work and extra-curricular stuff. Sitting down to write a fairly-intelligent grouping of words turned into several attempts not amounting to anything, and then realizing I had a deadline to meet for something else. But this time I'm back.

Apart from time restraints, I believe the biggest reason for not sharing much publicly is because I am, and have been, chest deep in the 2nd stage of culture shock. Until a few days ago I thought my culture shock was over with when I realized minor differences and somewhat accepted the fact that communicating would be difficult for my stay. But then someone informed me that culture shock is a much longer and complicated experience. To verify, I checked out Wikipedia, and she was right. The 2nd stage is a bitch. The "Negotiation Phase" as it is called is described as "After a few days, weeks, or months, minor differences between the old and new culture are resolved. One may long for food the way it is prepared in one's native country, may find the pace of life too fast or slow, may find the people's habits annoying, etc." This sentence is too nice. Currently, I cannot believe how I find myself disliking some aspects of this city. It does not help that Monterrey really is not a nice city, really, that's not culture shock talking. I even found myself starting to write a blog post describing the things that I did not like, but realized that I did not start this thing to complain or make blanket statements, but rather to put some intelligent (maybe) thoughts out there so that I can organize my thoughts and to hopefully get some good responses. Therefore I will not publicly state what I find annoying or what I currently do not find appealing. I'll save that for emails and instant messages when I can also brag about the nice weather compared to the snow I would normally be in at this time (I still can't believe I get to miss January-March in Muncie, so truly happy about that).

But today I received an email from Bryan Finoki from Subtopia about a little book quote chain that is happening. And I'm using this as a spring board back into writing. And it's working. I keep jotting down notes for several more blog posts in the near future. The rules to the blogtivity (can I claim that word, Google?) are:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.


Well, the nearest book was a tough call as I had a neat stack of three that was impossible to determine which was closer to me (feet, head, hands?). So I opened each to find the most interesting, and I was quite surprised to find a common theme between all three, and even more surprised at how they directly related to a major goal in two of the projects I am working on.

The first book, Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World, by Robert Neuwirth has page 123 in a chapter about Mumbai, India and states "[Sunder] guesses that Dharavi is home to 5,000 small printing businesses, and that there are more than 1,000 businesses related to the clothing industry with more than 50 sewing machines, and perhaps 3,000 businesses with fewer than 50 machines. Although it's impossible to know exactly, since all of these businesses are technically illegal, and therefore don't report income or pay taxes, the total turnover of all these firms probably amounts to $1 million a day. But, of course, even as Dharavi has developed, Mumbai has developed, too." This slice from the book kind of distorts the point of the chapter. In the last sentence, if Dharavi and Mumbai are switched, it would make more sense. The point to be made is that all parts of a city will adjust to survive. This part of the city is viewed by the legal city as an eyesore and a tax burden, but there is a huge amount of money being made here, which is what the legal city is based upon. We do not know if the operations of these businesses are efficient or were planned well, but we do know that they exist, and will continue to exist, on their own. Just because something is ignored does not mean it will simply go away. The ideal situation is to have this area acknowledged and to have it become part of the overall planning process. This is where the other two books step in.

The next book was Good Deeds, Good Design: Community Service Through Architecture, edited by Bryan Bell. Page 123, which is a piece written by Mark S. Goldman titled "The DreamTree Project: Forging Community Relationships," offers us "On the day that I assisted an elder from the Taos Pueblo, a sustainable community since ca. 1200 AD, in a ceremony blessing the DreamTree Shelter and its future residents, I reflected on the enthusiasm of the multicultural staff. Not only had we really created a place for homeless teenagers to be safe, but we had also built a home in which they could live with genuine pride." This is only two sentences because the chapter ends, but it is a good excerpt. The final 3 sentences comes from Studio at Large: Architecture in Services of Global Communities by Sergio Palleroni and Christina Eichbaum Merkelbach. Page 123, which describes a straw-bale house project, tells us "This house changed her life. She has been instrumental in getting several other straw-bale buildings built in the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations, and she has become a more vocal advocate for other issues on the reservation, such as cultural heritage and children's education opportunities. Trailers now form a courtyard behind her house where she runs an after-school study and reading center and a Crow cultural heritage center."

This idea of designing and building something as a catalyst for other things, more than just buildings, still seems like a cool and almost innovative idea; and it upsets me a bit. My fellow students at Ball State and myself have all had this goal in our projects, but it is often not the first step in the design process. Allow me to explain. Early in our education, the idea that your design is the culmination of all the surrounding contexts and functions is very common. Your project will solve any problems in the immediate surroundings. This may have happened in real life a few times, but really it's a design-ego building exercise, and it is difficult to put that aside--that feeling of fixing many problems with one design. The idea of a god working hard for several days and then stepping back and resting as she watches the creation function like clockwork. Well not even the God that is credited with the original creation had a screaming success, so how can a person who has 5-6 years of "superior education?" do better? My point being, it's difficult to alter this approach and to think of your project as a step in the process of many steps.

The studio project I am working on (group project) involves a nearby community that is in an area of constant development. These communities are not necessarily ignored, although there are several informal communities (either placed there by the government after illegally settling somewhere else, or actually settling illegally). But their unique, individual characteristics are not being thoughtfully considered in the master plan, nor are the individual characteristics of the land they are on. The goal of this studio is to start a master plan the evolves from conversations with social workers, urban developers, the people in the community, and with site visits. The project will actually be about 3-4 years, or 6-8 studio projects. We are just the beginning. Now that does not mean that we are half-assing it or anything, but it is a very appropriate and realistic approach to a project that will allow us to monitor what happens next. This is similar to what the book excerpts describe; that the projects had results that extend far beyond AutoCAD or trace-paper. Ideas are born by the people who use the result of the project, and they evolve naturally, not forced from a master plan. Also, the community is not left by itself to fend for itself, as is described in Shadow Cities. The community in the book is successful, but they are still illegal and can be stopped at anytime. It is not the ideal solution.

Another project that has a very defined goal involves the community of San Felipe that I have written about before. The goal of this project is to reintroduce traditional building methods and materials to the community. This reasons are to provide houses that are more comfortable, are sustainable, and have a true sense of place. This prototype house is a clear example of a catalyst for future development.

Well this simple book-quoting-chain thing turned into more writing than I expected, but it is good to be able to share more thoughts. And to finish the deal, here are five blogs that I find interesting, ranging in subject matter: bldgblog (very interesting stuff discovered here), Design Altruism Project (interesting thoughts and work), A Matter of Life and Death (blog of someone that lives in Monterrey), Slums: The Problem (A semi-blog by Lebbeus Woods), Inhabitat (a site that generally has good environmentally-friendly product news).

Getting my hands dirty for the first time

Saturday the 9th was the first day where physical results could be seen. It started with me wanting to get involved with the volunteering organization here at Tec. There is a project entitled 10 casas x 10 familias, where employees of Tec are provided decent housing, as some of them do not currently have it. The architecture department designs the houses and then student volunteers build the houses later in the semester. All students at Tec have to complete 400 hours of social service, so the volunteering program is very popular. The situation of one woman who is a part of the program was briefly explained to me. She is currently living in a house made of corrugated metal pieces on a very uneven surface of rocks, and one room cannot be used as the sewage from the neighboring house has begun to seep into the house. It is good that Tec is doing something, but I wonder if other situations are being missed.

Then I remember some situations in Indiana. The houses may not be in as crude a state, but there is a lot to endure, especially now with the temperatures at night and the flooding that recently took place. Does BSU know about the living conditions of their employees? Are they doing anything to find out? If so I have no idea about it. But everyone in the architecture program here in Monterrey knows about 10x10. And what is so cool about this is that the homeowners are involved from the beginning. With every decision.

I chose this project because it is a very good thing that is happening, but also I want to improve my knowledge of building within the community, learn Spanish words for building related terms, and simply to get out of the house and do something memorable. When I signed up with the volunteering organizers, I found out that 10x10 was being headed by a graduate student I had met a few times, and actually works with Pedro (my professor) quite a bit. So I sought him out on Friday and he said to meet up the next morning at 9:00 am to start working. First he showed me some of what has been happening.

Let me first say that some of the facilities at ITESM are amazing. There is a whole part of one of the buildings, a very large part, that is full of student experiments in sciences, computing, construction, and stuff I haven't even seen yet. The coolest thing I have seen is some students working on an earthquake-proof house. This is an adobe house with many layers of wire, but the entire structure is built on a platform that can mimic the motion of an earthquake. There are also sensors being implemented into the construction for further data. It looks so cool. They were working on it on Saturday and I asked when the shaking is going to happen. One of the students told me 7-10 days. I hope I don't miss it.

Well, with such a nice place to work and plenty of room for storage, many ideas are being born. With 10x10, the goal is to make good houses that are easy to build, do not cost a lot, and have principles of sustainable actions. The wall materials that are being investigated are fiberglass form work that was used to pour concrete in the construction of the Tec parking garage as well as refrigerator doors that came out of the factory with small defects. Pedro has actually put refrigerator doors on part of his house.

Right now there is a small experimental structure that is completed that used the concrete form work, but the house using refrigerator doors is only about 1/4 done, and there are many issues to work out, namely keeping water out. Two photos can see seen below. More can be found here.





Saturday morning began with some loading of materials and then heading to the job site, which is a piece of land on Tec property where agriculture research is also being done and there was a pen of chickens too. Some time was spent on the job site, with some of the new students debating strategies with Roberto, the graduate student who is in charge of the operation. The conversation was in Spanish, but I believe it consisted of Roberto telling the younger kids that the goal was not to complete the house as soon as possible, but to investigate different ways to put the materials together. And also to use safety on the job site. After the discussion we dismantled a section of 6 doors that had been assembled to a steel frame with the expectation of somehow putting the assembly onto the roof. They realized there was no feasible way to do it, so we took it apart and started carrying the doors up to the roof and installing them. After awhile, Roberto took me to see some other things.

His thesis project is similar to what my studio project is this semester. A studio from a year ago went into a community very near Tec called Alfonso Reyes. This community used to live illegally somewhere else but was relocated by the city to a piece of land that borders a canal that is occasionally the overflow area for raw sewage. The community originally wanted a church built, but after some discussions, they changed their mind and wanted a classroom for children to learn computer skills. The structure is 90% done and further development of a master plan is in the process. This last part is Roberto's thesis project; studying the outcome of the work done so far and finding out what to do next.

When we arrived at Alfonso Reyes, it was determined that the plan was to collect several semi-large stones so that a concrete pad could be constructed. In order to save money and amount of concrete, the area to be paved is covered with rocks and then the concrete fills the gaps and binds the rocks together. Not only does it save money, but it looks more unique than a regular concrete pad. The problem is getting the rocks.

I soon learned that we were going into the adjacent canal to get the rocks, the same one that has been used as raw sewage overflow. The canal was fairly dry, but the underside of the rocks were not, and every time I touched something gooey, a little part of me said "stop, this is gross." But I gritted my teeth and kept on, making a mental note not to touch my eyes or mouth. We worked for about 1.5 hours and searched in two locations. It was actually kind of a fun activity, despite the smell. There were 4 of us students and 6 men from the community.

At one moment, one of the men, Moya, collected a few corn-cob looking things that were growing. Roberto told me that they were used for showering. It is amazing at the little things that one can learn from simply getting out of the cushy university environment. A shower sponge from just a few hundred meters away instead of paying for one at the store and having to wait in line with snotty-nose kids all around. What is to be noted from this observation is not the fact that Moya is overly intelligent for making use of this natural material, as it is required due to the fact that money can not be spent for such things, but rather the fact that it is surprising to get something very useful without spending money. When we need something, we give someone else money to get it, a simple process. Many people do not know what is growing in their back yards, or their back yards simply exist to show others that they know how to drive a lawn mower in a straight line for an extended period of time. I am thankful that I grew up in a house that grew a lot of it's food during the summer months, but there is so much about our 4-acre property that I never really knew. 3 of the 4 acres were pretty much left to grow wild. What kind of things grew and lived in these unknown acres? Without straying too far, the point is that such a simple act of collecting a plant to shower with struck me as unique. And it would strike most people the same way.

A similar event happened during the first visit to San Felipe. When some of the men were showing me the water collection areas in the desert, they showed me a plant that they chewed that made your breath fresh. It did not taste great, but it was not horrible. After a few minutes, they told me that it was also a digestive system cleaner. I stopped eating it immediately as I did not want a surprise reaction to some desert plant during my first night in rural Mexico. Some of the guys laughed at me when I spit out the plant after finally deciphering what it was they were telling me.

I want to make it clear that I'm not attempting to romanticize these actions. In the case of Alfonso Reyes, the people do not have a choice whether or not to use found materials for everyday life. But I find myself asking myself, "what gives me the right to come in thinking I know about sustainable design when I don't even know the environment around me?" William McDonough has said (paraphrased) that most architects don't even know how to find solar noon. It's true, I have no idea, and it makes me uncomfortable that I don't know. I'm sure this was taught to us in one of the 9:00 sessions of Natural Systems back in 2nd or 3rd year, which is also the least favorite class of anyone in the architecture program. Anyway, there is a big disconnect between ideals and reality. And the sad part, this has all been said before. Now I'm saying it like it's a new idea. And someone else will say it again. I want to blame education for not teaching me this stuff, but I know it's more my fault, perhaps not a conscious fault, but a fault nonetheless in the sense that I have not made a big effort.

The subtitle of my thesis proposal: "Working with and Learning From ignored communities." Both objectives started and somewhat completed this weekend. I may miss the concrete box in the sky back in Muncie, but it is good to be here.

Getting to, and being in Real de Catorce

I awoke at 7:00 am in San Felipe, the small village where one of the projects is based. Actually I had woken up many times earlier because the roosters were very loud. I stepped outside and was able to watch the sun rise over the mountain.



The plan for the morning was to get a ride to the main road at 7:30 and wait for a bus that was supposed to show up at around 8 am in order to go to Matehuala (30 miles away), and from there catch a bus to Real de Catorce to meet up with the rest of the tour group.

My ride arrived on time and we had a little discussion on the way to the main road. It turns out he has worked in several states on roof construction, as was planning to go back to Minnasota this coming Summer. We arrived at the main road and I went and stood beside the sign with a bus on it. There was another woman waiting, so I asked her if this was the bus stop to get to Matehuala. She said yes, but did not appear she wanted to talk any further, so I left her alone. Several minutes passed, about 15, and judging from the other woman's demeanour, the bus was late. Just then a good-sized tan van pulls over and motions for us to get in. I was hesitant for a split second, but decided to jump in after making sure the driver was headed to Matehuala. Inside was the driver, his wife who was seated on a makeshift seat between the two front seats, and another women who had been picked up earlier. We headed on down the road listening to traditional Mexican music. After 3 more bus stops, we had 12 people in the van. It was designed to seat 9, but it was not too crowded.

Soon we were in Matehuala, I paid my 30 pesos ($3) and asked how to get to the bus station. The driver told me to go around the block to a taxi stand. I did just that and got a taxi to the bus station for 25 pesos. I could have walked, but it's ok. I went to the desk and found that I had to wait 3 hours for the next bus. I spent the first hour in the bus station failing miserably at crossword puzzles, then I wandered around and sat in a park for awhile, then I got some food. Before I knew it, it was time to make it back to the station and I got on the bus. We took off and Spiderman 2 began playing with low volume and Spanish subtitles.

After about an hour there was a sign for Real de Catorce and we turned onto a narrow road made of bricks. This road lasted about 15 miles. Then we arrived at the entrance to the town, which is a 3 km tunnel. Real de Catorce used to be a mining town, but now it is mainly a tourist attraction, but it still has the feel of a real town. We switched into a smaller bus like sardines, and headed into the tunnel. Just as we entered the tunnel I saw that the school group was just arriving, so I was just in time.

The rest of the trip consisted of typical tour stuff. We rode horses up a mountain and explored old mining buildings and went a few meters into an old mine. While on my horse, a water bottle in my backpack opened, so both the horse and I got a little wet. Another story about the horses, they did not like to passed by each other, so when one horse tried to pass another, the horse in front would usually just cut off the other, but there were times when biting was involved.

Than night we were encouraged to attend a wedding reception being held in town. It was interesting for a few minutes. The groom's friends had a tradition of completely soaking the groom with beer, soda, water, anything in a bottle. And they did a fine job, then paraded the groom around the room on their shoulders.

We left the wedding and were led to an old arena where we were told we were going to watch a cock fight. I said no thanks and started to leave, but one of the tour guides said there were no blades on the feet, so I was able to justify it by saying that mild rooster confrontations occur everyday on farms all over the world. The roosters actually ended up becoming friends by the end of the "fight."

The night ended with the tour guides telling us to go find beer and bring it back to the hotel (which we had rented every room) and we would have a small party. It was a fun time.

The next morning was spent learning from some Indians from Jalisco who taught us a craft involving tiny beads. The tradition is to eat peyote, hallucinate, then draw the visions you had with the beads. We were not provided the inspiring peyote, but were given the craft materials. Most of us did not do so well with the tiny pieces of plastic, but some people did a good job.

The same Indian gave us a blessing ceremony for the trip home involving blowing smoke on us and splashing water on us. I wonder if he made that part up on the spot.

We left the town by piling into the back of two pickup trucks and being led out of the city like a bunch of livestock be hauled to the slaughterhouse. I found it funny.

The trip was interesting and I'm glad I got to see the town. The best part was getting there on my own. I now feel comfortable taking the buses from town to town, which is actually very common as not nearly everyone has a car. Pictures of this trip can be found here.

My first experience with rural Mexico

One of the most memorable moments thus far took place on the 25th and 26th of January. Some quick background: I have three classes here at Tec. One is studio, one is a Mexican history class (fascinating stuff and is actually helping to explain and give depth some of my observations), and a class entitled Viviendo (dwelling or living). The purpose of this class is to study the vernacular architecture of the rural Altiplano region of Mexico, which is basically a desert area in the northern part of the country. (This class takes the place of ARCH 526, Fundamentals of Historic Preservation). This class is focused on a very small village (20 families, less than 100 people) named San Felipe. San Felipe is an ejido, or communal village, and traditionally relies on local resources for survival. In recent years, the people of San Felipe have begun using materials such as concrete and corrugated metal from distant places. These materials are easier and faster to build with, but they cost more, are uncomfortable in cold and hot weather, are harmful to the environment, lose the sense of place that is San Felipe, and simply are not as pleasing to the eye. Most of the people in San Felipe have relatives in the United States that send them money, and some of the men in the village have (and continue to) spent time in the United States working, usually in the summer and usually in construction. This foreign influence has two noticeable affects on the construction of the village. First is the idea that using concrete and metal, which go through many steps of transportation and manufacturing after raw materials are extracted from the earth, have a higher social standard than a house made of elements that are very close to their natural state (i.e. earth blocks, reed ceilings, thatch roofs, etc.). Second, the construction techniques of buildings in the U.S. are learned and implemented into San Felipe. The purpose of the class, other than documentation, is to continue work on a prototype house that uses vernacular and traditional building materials and methods as much as possible, while using new materials when needed.

Earlier I listed problems that arise with the use of concrete and metal. I first struggled, and still do to a degree, with justifying some of these problems. I felt like we were imposing problems onto the community. The idea that the materials were removing the sense of place from San Felipe and the fact that they were not pleasing to the eye seemed judgmental. But that is what architecture often is, making judgments about built structures, judging the proposed work of others, and judging our own decisions. I realized I was hesitant to recognize some of these problems because I did not want to come across as condescending. But by being afraid to be condescending I was not putting this community on a level playing field, in the architectural sense. Because the people of San Felipe have a different lifestyle that I am not familiar with and because I had the impression that they did not have a lot of resources to choose from, I felt bad being critical of their choices. But not being critical and standing by while someone makes a bad or uninformed choice when I am in the position to be a source of information or a resource of labor, than I will not be able to do any good and will not be able to gain true understanding. As long as I am approaching the situation in a top-down/people-in-need-of-help style instead of an approach that has the future condition, stability, knowledge, and sustainability of San Felipe as the focus than I might as well have never gotten involved in the project. But realizations like this (no matter how ashamed you sometimes feel having them) are great to have, and I'm glad that the last year has been full of them.

So these were the thoughts in my head going into this project, most of them before I had made my way to San Felipe. At 6:30 am, I arrived at the campus of Tec to meet up with Pedro Pacheco, my professor, and two others who were going to San Felipe on the first visit of the semester. (Side note: There are several projects headed by Tec that are focused on San Felipe including capture and storing of rainwater for human drinking, irrigation, and animal consumption; better agricultural methods; improved latrines; production of biofuel; strengthening of the ejido (communal) system; creation of business opportunities from agriculture; and the building of a sustainable prototype house.)

We began the 3 hour journey in a good sized pickup truck, the four of us. We soon stopped for coffee (why everyone has to drink coffee I will never understand) and I was unfortunate to discover we were also meeting another person who would be joining us in the truck. He turned out to be quite large, which means he automatically got shotgun while I got backseat, middle, feet on the hump. But after tons of beautiful scenery, some breakfast that included green eggs (due to the salsa verde), a cd of a Mexican comic which had everyone cracking up (except for the non-Spanish speaker), and a short nap, we were soon there. And by there I mean a 4-mile long lane just off the main highway leading off into the distance. The lane was dirt, had several ruts, and not-so-subtly suggested not traveling over 10 mph.

After a few minutes on the lane we came to the crest of the hill and looked over a small valley, and in that valley in the distance began to appear some earth-colored one-story structures in a near-grid pattern. This was my first glimpse of San Felipe. We entered the village and parked in front of the community building known as Casa Vida. Within minutes nearly all the men in the village made their way to the the building (it is hard to enter the village without everyone knowing it). I had two surprises immediately. First was the dress of the men. I wasn't sure what I was expecting exactly, but it was not what I saw. They were dressed exactly like my uncles do on their farm in Indiana. I wasn't expecting primitive rags or anything, but I was expecting something somewhat Mexican or traditional. But why would they wear the kind of clothes that requires either special ordering or actually making them rather than wearing clothes that are easy to get. The second striking thing was that only men showed up to the building. In fact, that entire day I only came within speaking range with seven women and girls.

The conversation in the Casa Vida went on for 2 hours. I know this because I recorded it on a digital recorder with hopes of listening to it later to better understand what was said, the length seems daunting, however. From what I understood, the directer of Tec programs gave a summary of the progress that had been made and then some of the people of the community voiced concerns or thoughts they had.

We then took a short tour of some of the village including a prototype house the people of the village have started on their own, the prototype house that Pedro has started, some of the houses that people live in, a house that has been abandoned after the owner died, and just walking through the paths between the buildings.

Pedro & Sergio discuss the height of the community prototype building.

A traditional ceiling. This is not able to collect water and also can be full of dust and insects.

A traditional chimney that houses the cooking area.

While visiting the prototype house I saw a demonstration comparing two types of blocks made from local earth. The comparison was dropping them from chest height. One retained its original shape, the other chose to become many smaller earthen pieces and dust. There was a larger stack of the later block type, I don't think that is a good sign.

Block that survived the fall.

Did not survive the fall.

It was interesting to see the current state of the prototype house as there are construction methods I am not familiar with and will get to experience first hand as I begin to work on the house later on in the semester.



We made our way to what I consider the most elaborate house in the village (paint, details, garden layout, respect that people seemed to have for the owner) for lunch. It was delicious.

The hand-washing area just outside the kitchen.

Pedro then showed me some of the details of the abandoned house, which was falling apart, which is very nice as it allows us to see the layers of a traditionally-built house. I will definitely be spending more time in that house. He also showed me some failed attempts at recent building. The residents of San Felipe have forgotten some of the aspects of traditional building and have tried to mix traditional building with concrete. The results have been unfinished corners with rebar skeletons reaching up into the sky and un-roofed walls.



Another thing Pedro had me notice were the different fences. There were the usual chain-link or barbed wire, then there were what he calls "living fences" made of cactus and plant fibers, and then a mix of of the two ("half-living" or "comatose" fences perhaps?).





By this time it was about 3:30 in the afternoon and the men from Tec were ready to leave. I was signed up for a trip organized by the school to Real de Catorce, which was 2 hours further south. Rather than travel the 3 hours back to Monterrey and then travel 5 hours the next morning to Real de Catorce, I planned to stay the night in San Felipe and then catch a bus to Real de Catorce on my own in the morning. Pedro insisted that this plan would work out. I was skeptical but went along with it. Before the others left we made sure that I had a place to stay by asking the men at the meeting if anyone would be ok with letting me have a room. There was about a 15 second silence, then a man named Sergio said it would be ok. Also, Damasio and Jesus agreed to show me around the village for a while.

Immediately after the others from Tec left, I went to look at the water collection tanks that are fed by the roof of the Casa Vida and began asking some questions in bad Spanish.



Damasio must have grown bored because he wandered off. San Felipe receives all of it water for drinking, cooking, and bathing from rain. The groundwater in the area is contaminated with arsenic, from natural practices. For awhile the people were getting their water from a nearby pond, the same pond that local animals were drinking from. The result was serious and common stomach problems. Tec got involved and helped to set up a rainwater collection system. Now the people have a fresh supply of water, but they must use it sparingly. Jesus told me that the tanks were currently about 1/3 full. I asked Jesus how much it rained, but he was hesitant to tell me an amount or schedule. He said it rains when it rains, it's very unpredictable. The last time it rained was about 4 months ago.

We then wandered over to the primary school, which is one room. It was made of concrete blocks and a metal roof. I asked why these materials were used, and Jesus told me that the government has paid for and built the school, therefore the government picked the materials. There were also 3 empty buildings within the school lot that were once the houses for the teachers, but are now unused. From what I understood, the teacher comes from outside the community now, and I do not think that there is class every day of the week.

I then suggested we visit Jesus's house, he seemed pleased that I wanted to see it. We neared the house and I saw that it was made of concrete blocks and a metal roof. I asked about the temperature in the summer, and he said that it was not bad. He left two sides of the common room open air to allow for air flow, and he explains that this keeps the house cool. He made it very clear that only half the house was finished, as one side did not yet have plaster on the inside. I thought it was funny how there seemed to a chicken on every piece of furniture, until Jesus chased them out. Compared to the traditional houses I was in earlier, this house did not seem as inviting. It seemed like a shelter, not a home. But Jesus seemed happy that he had chosen to use concrete and metal.

Roof detail on Jesus's house.

After the short tour, Jesus explained that he wanted to be with his family and excused me. I had no idea where to go next, so I headed to the house where we had eaten lunch since it was my favorite house so far. As I approached the house I saw that there were 5 men sitting around the table in one of the rooms. I asked if I could join them and they offered a seat. We spent a few moments talking about the meeting earlier and I also learned that two of the men, who were just a few years older than me, were from Monterrey and could speak decent English. This was helpful so that when I did not know a word in Spanish I could ask for a translation instead of fumbling around for another way to say something. We also started talking about the rainwater collection and they asked me if I had seen the storage tanks outside the village. I was not aware they existed, so we jumped in a pickup and headed out into the nearby desert.

There were 4 water collection areas near the village that was used to water the cattle and goats, some of which are semi wild. Each storage area has water filtered by gravel and is surrounded by a chain link fence and meter-high berm to protect from contamination.



After the tour of the water storage areas, the two visitors from Monterrey left for home and the other men excused me. Not knowing what to do next, I discovered that the village teenage boys were playing volleyball. By the time I reached the court it was minutes to dusk so the game was winding down. I asked them what people did at night, and they told me that sleeping was popular. They all decided to go elsewhere, so I hit the streets again. As I was looking for something to do, I noticed that a popular activity of the late teens was to simply drive around and kick up dust just outside of the village. Realizing I could be hit if I stayed in the street, I wandered to the small store beside the Casa Vida where I saw a few people sitting. There were 3 men and two boys sitting and listening to some music playing from a parked car. We made some small talk then it was time for the store to close (8 pm) and they all headed home. I did manage to ask them if every weekend was like this, and they said they have fiestas with nearby villages at least once a month. So there is a regular dose of excitement.

With nothing else to do, I went to Sergio's house were I found him working on the back axle to his truck. He invited me to sit down and watch some TV to improve my Spanish, which I did. He soon invited me to eat some dinner, where I got to taste some of the water collected from the rain. All day I was contemplating whether or not I should risk drinking the water, but once it was offered to me I thought, "what's the worst that could happen?" and went for it. The worst that happened was a moth fell into the glass and drowned, and I got a fresh glass. I then returned to the TV and become re-acquainted with a Mexican soap opera I had seen a few years ago. It was so horribly dramatic, but it was entertaining.

I went to bed somewhat dreading the experience with finding the bus stop and waiting for the bus that was supposed to come. I also reflected on the high points of the day. I hoped I made a good impression on most of the people by giving my best attempt at Spanish and by asking questions. The people are not unfriendly, but they are not really outgoing to strangers either. When I started a conversation, they were happy to talk. I will be visiting again soon to continue documentation, and then work on the prototype house will begin in late-February or March. Much will be learned.

Everyday Life in Monterrey

Not all of these posts are going to be reflections on architecture related topics or trying to analyze things. That would become boring. This particular post is to share with you what a nearly-typical day in Monterrey has been for me.

I think the first thing I have to mention is the odd relationship the school has with its students, especially the international students. ITESM is very paternalistic (they use that word themselves) in the sense of personal lives. For example, if you live in a dorm room, you can never have a person of the opposite sex in your room. Ever. The best you can do is be in the common room on their floor, and if you wanted to see the room I suppose you would have to take pictures or rig up a system of mirrors that make a visual link from the common room to the dorm room.

So with the rules the way they are, one would think they would be paternalistic in the sense that they will help you with administrative stuff. Incorrect. Signing up for classes was a hassle for every single person. Registering your student visa is completely on your own, unless you hire a legal firm to help you. Printing in a computer lab is the hardest thing I have had to do in several years. But with all these experiences you learn a lot. I don't know what I've learned, but I feel more comfortable being here knowing that I have been able to do things on my own. Do not get the impression that people are not helpful here; rather, organizations are not helpful. Individuals are extremely helpful. You can stop anyone on the street, sidewalk, in a store, wherever and they are more than happy to help you, even if you sound like a moron in Spanish. Organizations like to confuse you, so that they do not run out of work, so that they always seem busy. And I swear they purposefully hire people that do not know any English in the computer labs just so international students do not go to them for technical help. Not that they have to speak English, but I find it suspicious that it is the only department on campus that does not speak any English. I have so much more respect for international students in the USA, since expecting an American to know your home language is laughable.

One really cool thing about campus is that there is wildlife on it. And I'm talking more than squirrels and rabbits. There are 4 deer, many ducks, and 1 peacock.



There are also many stray cats, and occasionally you get to see a security officer chasing around a stray dog (I believe there are about 2 billion stray dogs in Mexico. I am not exaggerating when I say you can see a stray dog every hour if you are looking for one, no matter where you are). The entire campus is surrounded by a fence, therefore the animals stay inside. Also there is security at every gate, so outsiders are not allowed in. It is a snooty private school.

I do not live on campus, I live with a host family. They are very nice and helpful. There is the mother and father, Martha and Julio, and their two sons, Ober and Alan. Alan set up my cheap-ass cell phone since I couldn't decipher the Spanish electronic voice telling me what to do. Martha took me to Tec the first day to show me around, and she showed me the bus system (more on that later). They all live on the first floor. I, along with 5 other guys, all Mexican, live on the second floor. We each have our own room on the second floor, so that is nice. Also, I get fed 3 times a day, except Sundays. And the arrangement is cheaper than the dorms.

The upstairs, outdoor terrace that leads to my room. The window is not my room, unfortunately

Movement. The bus system. My roommate told me that there are 4 million buses in this city. I think he meant to say 4 thousand (mil is Spanish for thousand, thus the possible mix up). Either way, there are very, very, very many buses in this city. And it is the best and cheapest way to get around (in the day). At night cabs are the way to go, and they are cheap. I haven't paid more than $6, and I've gone somewhat far. In Muncie, it costs $8 no matter where you go. Back to buses. Not only do you get places fairly quickly, but the drivers are bred to be extremely aggressive and always take the right of way. Also, stop signs are for decorations, and the stop signs with blinking LED lights that mean actually stop only serve as prettier, more festive decorations. Nearly every bus has a custom horn. Some are trolley sounds, some are sirens, some are whistles, the rest are various noises. All drivers use their horn, custom or not. And all drivers probably go through 5 clutches a month (the buses are all manual transmission). Another person's perspective on the Monterrey buses can be found here. I haven't gotten on the wrong bus yet, but I have missed my stop once and had to walk beside a major highway with no sidewalk to get to a safe place to call my host family to pick me up.

That brings me to the roads. Monterrey is all sprawl, but they have found a pretty good solution to traffic. Each major road through a city (like McGalliard in Muncie or 86th street in Indy) has the usual 3-4 lanes of traffic per side, but it also has a secondary road running beside it for local traffic and buses. There are constant on-and-off exits, so traffic keeps moving.



There are occasionally mild back-ups on the secondary roads due to buses taking both lanes of traffic at a bus stop or the occasional mandatory red-light.

Nightlife. The first two times I went out it was with other international students: some other Americans, a Canadian, a person from France (Frenchian?), and we met up with other countries at the bars. Theses experiences were what I expected. The places were meant for students and were tourist friendly. Although the bartenders like to bring you surprises, like the 2-liter plastic beer bottle I received complete with a bucket of ice. Then my second weekend I experienced a real Mexican club. I had a lot of reading to do and I was expecting to stay in so that I could meet up with people the next day. It's 12:30 am, I'm getting ready for bed, and one of my roommates says to go out with him and his friends. I remind him of the time, and he states that 1:00 am is the normal hour to go out in Mexico. Not wanting to miss out on what sounded like a good learning experience, I put my contacts back in and jumped in the car. The place was huge. More than half of the guys had on cowboy hats. There were hundreds of people. The music was all live: reggaeton (which I don't particularly like), Norteno, other styles I don't yet know the name of. It was a fun experience. I finally talked my roommate into leaving at just before 5:00 am (the place was open until 10:00 am). One new thing for me was that you have to get a ticket from the bartender before you can leave. I think it is to make sure you paid. This took about 5 minutes for me to understand due to the foreign language and loud music.

I've also done a few days of sight seeing. Photos of those can be found on the right hand side of the page. Last weekend I spent in a very small rural town and then in Real de Catorce, an old mining town. Tonight (Thursday) I am leaving on another trip to Guanajuato (10 hours away, hooray bus rides!) and we will be gone until very early Monday morning (which is Constitution Day, no school!). Some posts on those will be upcoming.

Why am I here? This is the real first post.

The actual first post was a response to my first weeks. It is a bit harsh, but the first weeks were stressful. I was on the way to see some caves (my first cave experience) and I saw these pockets of bad housing and it ruined my day. But this is the real start.

WHY AM I IN MEXICO?!?!?!?

Well, I will start with an excerpt from my thesis proposal. I end my "World View as an Architect" section with:

"Critical thinking of architectural education leads to the realization that people in the architectural profession have been taught to ignore many parts of society. Due to lack of a better term, these can be called ignored communities and include the homeless, homeless children, illegal immigrants, legal migrant workers, deportees, women in difficult situations, and even whole nations. The lifestyles of these people are unfamiliar to most architects. The building types and methods, if their rudimentary stacks of materials are even granted the title of building types and methods, are unfamiliar to most architects. The needs of these people are often misinterpreted by most architects. As a result they are simply ignored or forced to accept wrong solutions and the negative results are ignored. It is not that architects are bad people, but currently there is no time in a form- and recognition-based profession to fully address these issues."

I follow this paragraph with my "Statement of Inquiry" which is the heart of the proposal:

"As a student who has had many years of formal architectural education and many months of formal professional architectural experience, what is there to be learned from these ignored communities? And how can an experience in working with people of an ignored community go to influence architectural education?
To clarify a bit more, what I find troubling about current architectural education is that we spend several semesters being taught about theoretical and historical figures and movements in architecture. This is crucial to our education, but we are at a disadvantage when we are not taught the realities of the current world we live in. How can valid and interesting theories be correctly implemented into a world that is not clearly understood? We can continue to discuss for several semesters about whether modernism, Eisenman, Gehry, and new urbanism are good and bad, but should we not also include the rest of the world that has no obvious connections to those topics? If our studios train us to have the ability to make design inferences in the traditional way, can our skill be improved in the non-traditional way? And can others benefit from this process?
I feel that these questions must be included in the education process for the same reasons that historic preservation, environmental sustainability, new urbanism, and others are included: there is a need and a desire to study and work in this area. Many students are not interested in historic preservation and do not agree with the approaches of new urbanism, but they are covered in education. In the same way, the building methods and building needs of ignored communities must also be addressed for the architectural profession to become socially responsible and to make socially responsible contributions.
My concentration for graduate school has been sustainability. In regards to the triple bottom line that sustainability is often taught from, I have noticed that social equity is lacking while economical and ecological factors dominate projects. Working with ignored communities will allow for more of a balance within the triple bottom line and also creates a simple integration into the traditional way this concept is taught in architectural education.
The most apparent way that working with an ignored community can highlight social equity would be to witness first hand the actual inequality that takes place within these communities, or even regions..."

As my fellow students at BSU know, there are 30-something other pages that support these ideas, and if any of you would like to browse or read the rest of my proposal, it can be found here. I suggest checking out the "World View as and Architect," "Literature Review," and "Case Studies" sections.

So this is the gist of it; the sneak peak with the deep voice and bright flashes of light. Stay tuned for more as Jesse describes his brief first visit to the community that the studio project will be focused on where he saw firsthand true slum conditions. But nothing will prepare you for the story of spending the night in rural Mexico, drinking water collected from rain, being forced to communicate broken Spanish as he is left behind by the rest of his companions, and catching a ride in a van on the side of the interstate when the bus fails to show up.

But really, I'll put some experiences and thoughts up very soon. In the meantime I'd love to hear from you all. I'd prefer emails over IM chats as I can choose to read emails at anytime and I usually do not go into detailed talks with IM. My email is jesse.alan.miller@gmail.com So tell me how things are going with you!

Twenty-something naivety ready to take on the world

Before the work begins: my first impressions.

Hello all. This is the first record of my semester in Monterrey. First off is a view of part of the city.



The school I attend is in the lower left corner and I live up near the upper right corner near the bottom of the mountain, Cerro de la Silla (Saddle Hill).

This week the actual introduction to the studio project will take place and a visit to the community will be arranged. On Friday I am taking a trip to the very small community (less than 100 people) of San Felipe, 3 hours south of Monterrey, where I will be working with another community to fulfill my ARCH 526 class. But this is much more than a requirement. This is a huge project that reaches beyond architecture. In San Felipe the climate is changing (less water), the lifestyles are changing (traditional farming is harder and money is coming from relatives in the US), and the building methods and materials are changing. To put it very briefly, several departments of ITESM are working with this community in areas of rainwater harvesting, greenhouses, restoration of native plant life, and mixing traditional building methods with some modern materials; the later of which I will be participating in. The goal of this University involvment is to empower the community with knowledge and allow them to spread this knowledge (for a small price) to other similar communities. This is already happening in regards to rainwater harvesting.

With that introduction I will get right into what thoughts I have had in the past week regarding thesis and architecture in general.

One of the points I make in my proposal is that I want to remain in contact with the work I do this semester--that may mean revisiting something that might actually be built/implemented or keeping in communication with people who may continue the work, or maybe even staying to finish the job. The method is not what I am focused on at the moment, rather the knowledge that I will be paying attention to whatever results in the future. This past week I noticed a public project that did not appear to consider future implications.

On a trip to the Grutas de Garcia (Garcia Caves) north of Monterrey, I traveled through some of the industrial metropolitan areas of Monterrey. I passed large industrial parks; I passed abandoned centers where poultry was once raised; I passed individual factories; and I also passed unusual groups of housing. These groups of housing (there were probably around 10 of them that I saw) each covered an area of about 4-5 square kilometers. These groups appeared as massive megablocks in the middle of the desert landscape. There was a small number of access roads that led to the walled in megablocks. Viewing over the walls led to the site of hundreds, if not thousands of identical living units. They may have varied by size according to street, but from a distance it was a perfect grid of identical houses all connected by hundreds of power lines held together by hundreds of telephone poles.

The World Bank: "Wolfowitz visits Mexico"

This was affordable housing, there was no other explanation. My first thought was disgust at the lack of design effort that went into these megagroups. There did not even appear to be areas of landscape or parks within the city walls. Just dead mirror-imaged streets. The neighborhoods were clean (for the time being) but they did not look happy. I thought "This developer never had any intention of revisiting this spot to see if it was a success. This was just a pure efficiency job." But then I had other thoughts...

I couldn't help but relate these massive blocks to the factories and industrial parks that they were nearly adjacent to. Were these the houses for the workers of these factories? They were pretty far from the city center, but they looked low-cost, so it was possible that people lived here and commuted to the city, just like in the U.S. But I couldn't help relating these blocks to other similarities: the slave barracks of the plantation homes in the South; the relationship of the mine owner to the mine workers; the projects.

Were these homes sponsored by the industry that probably employed a lot of the people? The slave barracks image is extreme, but is it not a similar principle? Do these houses exist because of these factories? What happens when these industries pack up and leave for for another region, such as Asia? If these were sponsored in part by the industries, did they make regulations for the areas? Do they have some sort of control over the private lives of the people that live here? Even if the industries did not have any influence in these housing areas, the fact that they are in walls suggests that there are regulations to these areas. There is the feeling of the gated community of keeping people out, but it is reversed here and feels like it is keeping people in.

On the immediate border of these megablocks were a few stores. Since there was a sizeable distance to other stores I couldn't help but relate this situation to the old Mining Company Store stories. Not that these stores jacked up their prices, but did the people that live here have many other choices with their location? Was a multi-use strategy developed for this area? If so, why hasn't the commercial area phase begun?

The above question really bothered me so I did some research. It turns out that a developer named Homex has been doing a lot of low-income housing in the Monterrey area, as well as the rest of Mexico. The company is making incredible profits making cheap houses for poor people. Their business practice is to build the house as simple and as fast as possible (has that ever been beneficial to the consumer?). Currently 90% of their business and 85% of their profit is from low-income housing (homes with a cost of less than $60,000), but they plan on building more for middle and upper class people. An article (poorly translated) can be found here. Homex has amassed a fortune providing cheap, nearly identical residences for people who do not make a lot of money. Now, with a nice selection of funds and designers (who can justify and design with a good salary) they get to diversify their design portfolio by building for rich people. Even home-owned and founded companies are exploiting the people here.

But there's more. This article reports on a deal between Homex and my favorite place to shop Wal-Mart. The article states that each new Homex development with more than 2,000 units gives Wal-Mart the option to open up a new store to serve the complex. It goes on to say that current developments that grow beyond 5,000 units gives Wal-Mart the option to replace stores that may currently be there, which the article makes it appear are most likely Bodega Aurrerá. A quick look-up of that chain shows that Bodega Aurrerá is actaully owned by Wal-Mart, but just a cheaper version (believe it or not). Therefore, more people = a more expensive cheap-ass store that erradicates any local competition. AKA the Mining Company Store. I find it disturbing that the people who live in these low-income housing developments are mostly likely forced to shop at a store (due to lack of other feasible options) that buys from manufacturers who exploit workers, many of whom may be in Mexico.

Continuing with the observations, these superblocks had WALLS. Why? This just screams housing project. I really do not understand the walls surrounding each individual complex. These seem like prototypes for other areas. Or perhaps this was born from a prototype. Either way the sense of place appears to be missing and a sense of repetition and economic efficiency is abundant.

To sum up a long rant, this idea that was made for poor people really never considered the physical, spacial, visual, and moral feelings that would result. Completion was the only factor. Now I'm not worried that I will make a mistake like this, but it really inspired me to remember that as I go into the introduction of the work part of this thesis ther is the importance of leaving a project in a good way.


Another quick reference to my proposal: there is a framework I mention in my proposal, design as a learned skill, that I have thought about in a small way. To briefly explain design as a learned skill, it has to do with the fact that a design will be influenced by the culture in which the research/design is being done in. We (the students at TEC) have not begun designing for this specific project, but I was shown photographs of some work that has been done in another community by other students. In two weeks of being in Monterrey, I have noticed that 90% (I've only seen a few exceptions to this) of the houses have the same basic construction elements. They have gates or some form of security, they have flat or near flat roofs, and there is some sort of color added to some part of the house. The photographs of the project that worked with a community within Monterrey looked like an architectural student project for a poor community, complete with the inclined corrugated metal roof. It could have been nearly anywhere in the world and fit in, as long as it was in a poor community. I'm sure that this building (a classroom) is very good for the community, but what culture is this building really in? The culture of Monterrey or the culture of global poverty? Perhaps I am being unfairly critical of a project soley on appearance, but somehow my brain made a correlation to this research framework and the photographs of this project.

Just this morning I was briefly introduced to the other project I will be working on, the one within the small rural community of San Felipe. Pedro described that he has been facing a problem with the roof system. He explained that the community must use corrugated metal roofs in order to collect the rainwater, which is all they can use for water as the groundwater has a high level of arsenic as a result of natural processes. The problem with the metal roofs is the temperature problem. To summarize the discussion, I became aware of a reason and an investigation of how to use corrugated metal on this project. It was not used because it was cheap, but because it is a known method of collecting the rainwater the people use to survive. Therefore this method is a result of design as a learned skill. But even though this method was used on some buildings, there is still investigation into other materials and methods.



This project is a very good example to learn from as it continually looks toward other options for each structure. This is completely the opposite of the superblocks that pissed me off so much. Even though San Felipe has less than 100 people in the community and a massed produced "solution" would be incredibly easy, each structure is given equal attention and become unique. Similar to how the evolution of cities has been happening for years. The result is not an constantly mimicked set of drawings that CAD defecated onto roles of paper.

In the case of San Felipe vs. Homex-style-housing, natural evolution easily beats out "intelligent design."