Andrew Reach

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I was invited to do a lecture at the University of Washington Rome Center for CIRCUS MAXIMUS – DIATOMIC DIALOGUES,  Astra Zarina International Architects Speaker Series at Palazzo Pio in the heart of Rome. It was sponsored by City Meta Lab. The other speakers were from Urban Office Architects in Milan, Massimo Marinelli and Tatiana Mardare.  I did the lecture on March 19 live streamed via zoom in Rome at the Palazzo Pio that now houses the University of Washington Rome Center. The palazzo was built in 1450 It is built upon the ruins of the Temple of Venus, which once crowned a theater complex built by Pompey the Great. 

My lecture was titled ART-ITECTURES and in it I say:

Architecture never left; it lives inside me, continually drawing me in directions unknown with hybrid tectonic form making synthesizing architecture and sculptural art. An explorer needs a vessel, and mine is 3d modeling software, allowing me to travel where my imagination takes me.  I get lost in the virtual space, an escape hatch from pain. Pain is inspiration; Fuel for fire.

Also, something new for me. I’ve been thinking about this for sometime, years actually but never had the courage to do it, which is to make music. In my videos, I’ve been using music, not my own, and realized this would be an opportunity to have original music composed by me that is choreographed specifically for each video. So I got a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) Keyboard and learned the basics of how to compose music with it and with that, magically, as I don’t understand how organically I took to it, composed three new musical compositions in 3 of the videos I showed in the lecture.

In the virtual world, my 3d models live in video. Digital technology has upended the visualization of architecture from the analog era I learned architecture in. With a physical model of which I built many, one can physically experience it in the round. So I have all these 3d models that can’t be experienced like a traditional physical architectural model. I’ve thought about bringing them into the Metaverse but it has not become accessible to the many, so my work around is video, where the virtual camera is a stand-in for the physical body as it moves around and inside the models. As architecture is music expressed in physical form, I’ve begun to compose music to accompany the movements the camera navigates. 

For best viewing experience, watch on YouTube (click link at bottom). Check that setting is on 1440p HD resolution and unmute sound.

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For best viewing experience, click Watch on YouTube. Make sure setting is set to 1440p HD and unmute sound.

apps: moi and blender
Original music composed by Andrew Reach
app: waveform

I’ve been trying to get my head around the terribleness that is happening in our country. It’s frightening. Such cruelty. Such lawlessness. Such greed. Such racism, homophobia and hatred of the “other”. Such cravenness for power. Way too many adjectives to list that can’t describe this dystopian reality. I needed to create something for my sanity as a backstop, something for me to lean on that expresses the better nature of our humanity.
Forged with six MODEL CITIZENS, TOTEMELISK is inspired by ancient Egypt, the First Nations of the Pacific Northwest and Mesoamerican cultures. MODEL CITIZENS are sentinels that represent a world citizenry with democratic ideals that respect all peoples from every walk of life and care for the common good. The common good is a broad term that encompasses ensuring that everyone, regardless of economic status, religious affiliation or agnostic, gender, race, sexual orientation and disability and the entire spectrum of humanity too long to list, has access to clean air, clean water, nutrition, education, a livable wage, good working conditions, culture, a viable livable earth and most important the pursuit of happiness. MODEL CITIZENS have a common structure; 4 legs, a cubic body and a vertical pinnacle representing the spine. Within this common structure, is carved out different personas. We are all the same and all unique.” Our shared humanity is a beautiful thing to be celebrated, not torn down and to be pitted against one another.

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For best viewing experience, watch on youtube (click link at bottom). Check that setting is on HD resolution and unmute sound.

Apps: MOI, Blender and Waveform (for original music)

Forged from the sloping angles of a rhombohedron, titanium members weave together to form hash signs on its four sides and on top as social media weaves into the fabric of our technological times.  This symbol turns the data of billions of souls vying to be seen and heard into meta-data, categorizes it and makes it searchable;  to share joys, beauty, injustices, grief…. and so much more, elevating our humanity.  Yet, represented by the perfection of its titanium surface scarred by scratches, these forces of light are tempered by the forces of darkness by its use to tear down our humanity.  One can sit on its timber benches and reflect on this symbols’ meaning to them in their personal lives as the reflecting pools reflect its aqua color onto its surface.

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