Campus Space

In the Role of Design and Space the author writes about a family who decides to view the Mid-Rocky University campus. They are confused as well as disappointed due to the fact that no signs nor directions to the administration office can be found. It takes them longer than normal to find the office. It is clear that the administration itself is either unaware or doesn't care enough about their visitors to apply more material to make getting around the campus easier. My first year of high school and college have both been very similar to the situation this family was in. Both times I thought i had a good idea where my classes where but about four minutes before class is about to begin I get lost. Not only because the building is hidden but because the rout to get simply to the second floor is unseen it takes about five minutes and two laps around the first floor to find the hidden staircase. As you can most likely understand anyone could get frustrated when trying to find a building or a classroom at a fairly large college or high school.  This would definitely change the behavior of the people going or just visiting these campuses. Students not only get frustrated because they cant find the class but then they get to the class late and miss important information. A persons behavior will also change just being in a certain location in general. If your at a school I am sure you do not feel as if you were in a theme park or club. There is a certain level of excitement that comes along with the space your in the controls how much energy you gain for the activities that go on in that area. 

Comics In L.A.

Los Angeles has a population of 3,792,621 people this makes it the second most populated city in America behind New York City. L.A. was founded in September 4, 1781 by Felipe de Neve who was a Spanish Governor, however N.Y.C. can be traced back as far as 1624 making it much older. New York City also only has an area of 305 square miles. All factors are detrimental when thinking about using a major city as the base of a comic strip. Everyone knows New York City as the base of great Comics such as Spider-Man and as you can see they have many prime facts as to why they chose the great city. Now although Los Angeles may not have the numbers is is a very well known city with a lot of potential. So without solely looking at the facts as to why it is not a great comic city look at the great stories that could come from all of its perks. Consider Hollywood, a numerous amount of famous actors and actresses live in Los Angeles and could easily make a great comic strip story. Another great idea that could come from having a comic focused on in L.A. is unfortunately the amount of major gangs and violence that goes on daily. We honestly need a superhero to keep the grime down. We may not have the crowding or the Gothic look that N.Y.C. has but we definitely have an interesting and lively style that may potentially change or at least give comics a new look.

Comic Book Space

This article "I Am New York" explores the connection between New York and Marvels Comic books. It explains the relationship New York has with numerous super hero's especially Spider Man. Whedon and Cassaday say that "Spider-Man's comments about a 'whole life' spent in New York, about being 'part of a greater whole' and 'enmeshed,' speak largely to the enduring importance of New York City in the Marvel Universe." You could not find a more perfect quote to specifically explain how much New York and Marvel Comics depend on each other. Later in the article Kirby explains that "This idea of Marvel sutured to the real world through New York has also enabled the easy transition of Marvel product into other visual media, as demonstrated through Sony's highly successful Spider-Man movie franchise." This is another great point and one that just opens more and more points of view that could be looked into on the subject. The friendship between New York and Marvel Comics has made many great thinkers dream.

Public Space

Why it is a Great Park

There is a park about half of a mile from my house that is called Lazy Jay Park. This park is approximately one block long and half of a block wide, the land has been a public space for as long as I have been alive. Lazy Jay is a great fairly large park with lots of space for sports and other activities. It also has a great play area with swings and slides. Lazy Jay is a great place to bring your child to teach them how to interact with other children or even teach them sports such as how to catch a baseball.  The location of the park is on the outskirts of the San Fernando Valley which is nice because personally living on the outskirts you find that you have to drive further to get to most things such as a grocery store or the mall. Knowing that the government notices this and would place a park in the middle of all the homes is comforting. Whenever someone in that area decides to take a walk or bike ride they are more than welcome to ride through the park and get some exercising done. Many people go to the park and there are a lot of groups that gather there to get projects and meetings done. Lazy Jay is well groomed and taken care of on a regular basis so it is not at all a damper on the community, it actually makes it much better.

Reasons to Renovate

The ways in which I would renovate Lazy Jay Park would be to add more concrete to it. I have been living in the same house since I was one years old and since elementary school I have been skateboarding. I grew up getting to know many skateboarders who lived in the area. Almost every one of those friends of mine who used to skateboard do not today and one main reason for that is because there are no places to practice relatively close. If a skate park were to be added to Lazy Jay even a small one the amount of kids that would normally be home on their computers or playing video games would be out exercising. If the skate park was anywhere close to decent people from further away would come to visit it and the small businesses around it would potentially get more business which is always a good thing. The skate park could also put on events and all around support the community. The park as of now is focused mainly on the part of the community that plays sports, jogs, and has kids under the age of 10. This leaves a good amount of people in the community with absolutely no use for Lazy Jay Park. If anything another part of the community the skateboarders would have a place to go and people interested in skateboarding even a little bit would be able to go and watch stunts be performed free of charge. Another great reason for building a skate park within Lazy Jay is the mere idea of taking those skateboarders who are normally busy bothering store owners by skateboarding in front of their establishments and giving them an alternative place to skate freely.

Right to the City

The article The End of Public Space? is an article about the fight over what some call a national land mark. Peoples Park is piece of land in danger of being replaced with buildings that would become an extension of the University of California. The Chancellor of the University has proposed to build dormitories on the property that they legally own. However Peoples Park has become home to many homeless people who are scared that the place they feel free to roam will be taken away. Others argue with the school saying that by making the park no longer public you are taking away part of the community's freedom.

Favorite Quotes

- "...defenders of the park were zealous in their determination that no new structures be built there and that some of the traditional structures -- such as the stage and the 'free box' be preserved at all cost."

I chose this quote because it really hit home to how these people feel about the park. Not only would they hate for anything to change Peoples Park but they want the park to be preserved forever.

-"... not that it was a dangerous or out-of-control place but rather that it was working as it should." 

This quote is relevant because the park is and always has been working completely fine and has not disturbed the community and in many was has probably saved the community a lot of trouble because without the park there would be no place for the homeless to go.

Ideal Study Space

Imagine a room with wood floor making it easy for any chair with wheels to glide from one side to the other especially a customized lazyboy recliner made especially for working on any task. This chair would be equipped with the greatest pencil sharpener whole puncher wireless mouse that is hooked up to the two enormous flat screen monitors that make up one of the four walls. These two flat screens make typing essays, reports and blog posts as easy as possible. There are also compartments attached to this chair for storage and placed in one of the many storage compartments is a remote that controls not only the large monitors but three fans that hang from the ceiling for when it gets hot and the heater that is directed towards the object that the next button controls which is a desk that is as wide as one of the entire walls. This desk is automatically collapsible to make room for other activities and projects and because it is attached to the wall it does not have legs to keep it up. This allows more leg room which makes whoever is studying much more comfortable. The main points to this study space are comfort, simplicity, and organization. Comfort has already been explained, the simplicity comes with the amount of furniture in the room. The only furniture in the entire room is the desk and the chair. The walls are painted a light grey that is not too bright and not too dark to maintain a professional style. The desk is white and has two led lights built into it so that when projects that concern drawing or tracing come up they can be done with ease. The entire ceiling is also made up of lights making no one part of the room darker or brighter than the other. Going back to the simple colors in the room the lazyboy is made up of actual wood with a nice shiny clear coat finish and black leather, again to make it look simple and professional. The remote I spoke about previously would also have a button on it that would deal specifically with two windows. One window is located on one wall and takes up the entire upper half and the other is on the opposite wall with the same dimensions. These are placed in this way so that once you decide to roll the windows down you get a nice air flow that goes straight through the center of the room. You can also control the blinds and tell them whether to be shut or open or up or down. My last edition to this great dream work space would be artwork all around hung up on the walls that aren’t being used. These pieces of work would be my own, pieces that I myself have created. They would be beautiful vibrant pieces that I can change without taking them down I can move them around my wall like an app on an ipad.

My Study Space

My study space consists of a fairly wide authentic looking wooden desk. On this desk sits my laptop that hooks up to another monitor so I can view two pages at once. Next to my Laptop on the left side sits my printer. The lighting comes from four lights all facing different directions from the center of the ceiling giving a respectful amount of light to all four walls. I like to keep everything very clean and in order so that when I do sit down to work I have no distractions and can focus on certain tasks. The theme I would give my room would be professional. Although it is not necessarily boring I do have many framed posters and canvases on my walls to make the room more artsy and interesting. This is something I like about my workspace as well as the fact that it is an area where I can go and disappear from the world around me with nothing but a door to get in and out and a window that pears out over the houses in my neighborhood. I also like the fact that my entire house is located on the outskirts of the San Fernando Valley so it is already very quite. Some things I do not like about my work space is that I occasionally like distractions when I work I feel as if when I am in an environment that is completely quite makes me a little depressed. I cannot stand to stay in my work area too long without at least putting on some music or taking a break from the silence anyway possible. Another dislike I have with my workspace is something that I cannot do without. My computer consists of the Internet, which is very hard to resist, and is one of my biggest distractions. Although I do have the Internet to distract me I have made sure that there is no way a television would ever be place in my workspace. One piece of furniture that I am proud to have in my workspace that is a minor distraction but would never take out is a record player. Although it is a little distracting I find that I actually get work done faster when listening to music. My workroom has a combination of colorful paintings and other artwork as well as business like grey walls and wooden antique like furniture. The only space I have for storage is under my bed so I do have a lot of storage type boxes sitting in corners which ends up taking up a lot of space so my desk is quite close to my bed and when I set down to work I end up having trouble getting around because my floor is carpeted and my chair is supposed to be able to role around but sadly it does not. This is a pain but on the good side it makes it so when I do sit down I will not get up for a wile.