Saturday, 2 August 2014

Hello Everyone a report from University

Greetings one and All. It is I Gowan James Ditchburn and I am here to tell you I am still alive. Well I think I am an over-long discussion with some philosophy students may make me rethink that.

Anyway this is where I live :-D. Okay it is not pretty (an understatement perhaps). This is Huia Residence a former nurses home (not nursing home) built in 1969 in the then favoured style... the same one everyone hates today.
Behold the brutalist beauty...
it holds 321 residents... which seems odd as I would have thought a brutalist architect would have despised such a humorous number and gone for something well even and possibly a multiple of 10. Then again renovations could have taken place to accommodate this number.

Now for where I learn/work/read the news (that is how I procrastinate... it is rather depressing). The Architecture and Planning building. AKA the longest running joke in the university because it is an architectural disaster.
This is literally the only image I could find, not a surprise
Now for all of you out there who love pictures of highways here is a picture I am pretty sure is taken from our studio room. Studio is our special place we share with the second year students and unlike other courses where that would mean building a stadium to house more than 1-2 thousand people all the first and second year planning students would just about form a Roman century. there is around 35 second years and 45 first years.
Can you spot Huia???
Well your probably wondering what I have been up to...

No modelling I am afraid. Although I am sure the owner of the corner shop has been stalking me as aircraft kitsets have magically appeared in her shop in recent days. including a 1/144 scale A380.
BUT
This semester I shall be making models although at a much smaller scale than what I am used to. But with access to lazer cutters and 3D printers I will be getting close to the cutting edge tech for our hobby.

So what have I been doing?

Well in halls I have made lots of friends some of whom have left us sadly because they did not pass or quit their courses. Tonight I shall take part in a quiz and I shall probably be studying (well I have to do it at some point).

In University the list of amazing things I have learnt is so long I shall not be able to cover it. For those of you who forgot I am taking a Bachelor of Urban Planning (Honours) or BUrbPlan(Hons). Yep there is no denying that the degree I hope to achieve has a ridiculously long name. As you would expect this means I have to cover a lot of things but even I was taken aback by the shear range of topics. For instance in this year alone I have an economics, a law, an urban issues (ecology), and visual literacy paper on top of my two studio papers, the introduction paper (which itself covered a range of topics) and a general education paper (I chose statistics).

Despite being somewhat overwhelmed I am enjoying every minute the things we cover are all highly relevant to the world we live in. Although at times it is depressing to hear about how many problems there are and how it is so hard to overcome them, climate change just wont go away, it is with a certain sense of pride that we carry on, knowing we will one day be at the front line combating these issues.

well that's about it from me.

Oh and if you want to have some help planning a miniature city please get in touch :-D it's what I love to do. I'll make sure your city is well laid out and would be a joy to live in! Just so you can bombard it and have tanks roll through it streets.
Posted by at
Labels:

13 comments:

  1. Archduke Piccolo2 August 2014 at 22:51

    Hi Gowan -
    You would problably enjoy the SimCity game...
    It took me a bit of a while to orient myself in the third of your pictures, it being near 40 years since I looked at such a view. I recognised Grafton Gully when I saw it, but it took the distant Mount Eden to realise the view looks south. The roadways are a lot more extensive nowadays. Middlemore Hospital main building hasn't changed, and do I see International House just sneaking into the picture on the right?

    These days I have no memory where the Architecture School is ... or was. But then a great deal has changed since the early 1970s
    Cheers,
    Ion

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Daisy Gowan Ditchburn3 August 2014 at 02:22

      Hi Ion.
      I do play SimCity games. SimCity 4 to be precise .
      Yes you may be able to see International House. I have a friend staying there and I have had a look around. It is a maze which is better than Huia the floors of deja vu... same layout again and again it starts to get really weird.

      Which building were you based in? even if it no longer exists there is an old model near the architecture and planning library that shows the university as it was (I have noticed quite a few differences).

      Delete
  2. Archduke Piccolo3 August 2014 at 05:52

    I don't think I ever saw the view from precisely that angle. But I would have I did spend a year in the Chem Block, a couple in the Physics, which was the building on the corner of Symonds and Alfred. For Maths we were all over the place.

    I did spend a few years at O'Rorke Hall, which, I might add, is very much changed from the geriatric building that used to house us. But I spent far too much time in the StudAss Building playing chess. Far, far, too much time...
    Cheers,
    Ion

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Daisy Gowan Ditchburn4 August 2014 at 00:32

      Ok well I have a lecture in the physics building. its opposite the architecture and planning one on the other side of Symonds street. The chemistry block was demolished and is now being re-built (I am pretty sure that is the case). I spend way to much time in studio looking at the news. which does add to the list of depressing things I hear about each day but I like to be informed.

      Delete
  3. Ben B.4 August 2014 at 01:30

    Good to hear that you are alive and enjoying your courses.
    Keep it up :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Daisy Gowan Ditchburn4 August 2014 at 02:26

      Thanks. good to see that you are still active. I think that I must allocate some time to catch up with what you have been doing on your blog

      Delete
  4. Uncle Brian10 August 2014 at 04:40

    Sounds like you have been enjoying yourself and working hard! Good to hear that you are doing well! Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Daisy Gowan Ditchburn13 August 2014 at 00:41

      Thanks. enjoying myself and working hard? 'Tis the hardest thing to balance work and play. And with my poor hand eye coordination balancing is something I struggle with.

      Delete
  5. Sam Wise12 August 2014 at 15:31

    Nice to have some news of you!
    it seems that all is good for you and I'm happy of that !
    I hope that you will have the opportunity to come back in the Hobby: you will be able to imagine and create big Cities for your figures and machines !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Daisy Gowan Ditchburn13 August 2014 at 00:45

      Thank you.

      I have always been imagining cities for them. And for everything else. Problem is being able to make them.

      Oh and if you want a plan I am your man. I cannot promise it to be any good. Also not a real plan just a mini one. I don't want to visit the high court for anything other than the type of field trip we did today.

      Delete
  6. David12 August 2014 at 17:47

    Hi Gowan!
    Nice to hear from you, and that you are doing fine! Enjoy and make the best of it!

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Daisy Gowan Ditchburn13 August 2014 at 00:46

      Thanks. I'll be full of plans for some crazy projects by the time I get back to work on my beloved models again.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous23 February 2015 at 04:52

    Hello Gowan

    Nice to see you alive. Please check out the guilds forum for my pm to you.

    Michael

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)