"uncomfortable"

Revised Welcome Mat Photos

Interview Transcript with Agnes Papkie

Name: Agnes Papkie Country of Origin: Switzerland Marital Status: Married to Willie Papkie (originally from Germany) Language: German/ French/ English Children: 3 daughters What is Switzerland like, compared to America? -Switzerland, in my mind is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is a lot easier to get around there because there are way more opportunities with trasportation. There are a lot of festivals and beer gardens and everyone is very social. The outdoors is of great importance and most people enjoy it. Switzerland is just a magical place and I was very fortunate to have grown up there. Do you still have family over there? -Yes, most of my family is back there. Why did you decide to come to America? -You know, over there it is very important to be fluent in several launguages. I mainly wanted to come to America to learn English and have that experience and just kind of ended up staying. I had no intention of staying when I left Switzerland. How did you make the decision to stay? -I was working as a secretary and met my husband Willie, who is from Germany and he came to America with his family to get away from the war (WWII). He was an engineer. We fell in love, got married, and did well with money and ended up staying in America. Do you celebrate any holidays from Switzerland? -We mostly celebrate the same holidays, however, Christmas was a lot different. We celebrated Santa Claus on December 6th and then celebrated Jesus on December 25th, which makes a lot more sense to me. Christmas was always extra special and there was a huge importance placed on the Christmas tree. New Years was also different, two minutes before midnight and two minutes after, church bells from every town were rung to symbolize moving on to the next year. It was simply beautiful. What were some challenges of moving to another country? -Mostly the communication barrier, which was why I came to America in the first place, to learn English. There weren't too many other significant problems. We were very fortunate. Do you ever miss Switzerland? -Of course, but Willie and I go to Germany and Switzerland several times a year, so we are happy with that.

iar 202 collage

iar212- pattern perception

With this first photoshop 'run down,' I was uncertain as to what to do. I'm not experienced in this program at all. The task of relating a form of architecture to nature, I found very hard to do through this program. With the nature subject, I automatically thought of a bee hive and all the traffic that occurs throughout and related that back to architecture in general and came up with this image.

welcome mat

Close up view

Computing In Architectual Design

Today we live in a country that is fueled by computer technology. Computers and related technology make up a huge part of out lives, more so than any other era. Technology itself has advanced so far in the past decade, we are all eager to see as to what is next. Since our society is one that is based on these ideals, doesn't that make us an unstable society? And haven't we lost important ideals along with it? I feel that with all the advancements of technology we have lost a certain magic about something that is man made or hand done. I feel that technology has its perks of profeciency and the idea of you have everything at your fingertips, and a get it now attitude. In design today, I think technology has hindered aspects as well as improved them. I feel computer technologies have assisted designers in creating work that is profecient and done more quickly. However, I think that with doing most things on-line or with computer aid we loose an important quality in our work. It lacks a sensuality and just a personal touch that, in my opinion, makes your design. In conclusion, I think that design in the future will start to be even more engulfed with the technology era. I think that with doing things more quickly, less thought will be evoked throughout the design process. With design, I think that technology balances on the fence of helpful, and hindering.