Wandering Around Kalangala

I don't know who lives here.

We came across this building that appeared to be undergoing a renovation or restoration.  There were piles of different materials lying around the building site, which gave me a chance to look at some of them a little more closely.

Big pieces of stone, probably to build a wall.

Aggregate.

What's in the bag? I'm guessing materials for cement...?

At first we were afraid of this pig because it sounded like it was growling, until we realized its probably the laziest pig in the world.

 

There are so many different facial expressions you can make while sitting in the grass.

These are some more really great buildings I encountered along the way of our wanderings around town.

This is part 2 of a series of postings about my few days spent on the Ssese Islands. Click here to read part 1.


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The Boat Ride To The Ssese Islands And A Really Big Tree

Me and Almas took a matatu to Entebbe, where we hopped on a boda boda to the ferry station, and took a 3 hour ferry ride to the big island in the middle of Lake Victoria, part of a collection of islands called the Ssese Islands.

We passed other little islands on the way...

Feet and Alvaro.

Finally we arrived at Kalangala!

We stayed at a really awesome place called Hornbill Campsite, run by a lovely crazy german couple that's been living there for over 20 years running the campsite.  If you go there, you have to stay at Hornbill. Its the only worthwhile place to stay there. 

This is a small nest I saw in a plant on the lake.  Birds are good architects.

I love this white building.

There was a really big tree...we decided to investigate.

Big tree makes a good seat.

Tried to climb it, but couldn't find a strong enough vine.

200 Posts; 200 Impressions

I just realized that my last post was the 200th post, so in honor of this very small special occasion, you can watch this video.  Do you think its funny?

Meanwhile...Back In Kampala...

Sportsman cigarettes, Waragi, and BlueBand.  Ah yes, the good life.

Lil' Almas...

Isn't she fabulous??

Awww...aren't they cute?

John Cleese On Creativity

John Cleese is a genius.

Back To School: Probe #1

Well, that's enough of Africa for now... (there will be more though. I can assure you)

Its time to get back to reality and back to school here in New York in the Gritty City.  We have been given the assignment to design an Urban Agrarian Center on the Harlem River in the Bronx (near Fordham University).  Our site is really beautiful, by the water, and has been taken over by wild plants and trash that have been growing there over the last few years.  It seems to be out of use for now. But we are going to take it over and make it into something where people can grow food, learn about urban farming, eat good local organic food, and hang out in a nice new public park on the river.

Here's an aerial photo of the site:

See that strange looping ramp off the bridge? The site is just north of that.

This is a model of the ramp and bridge done in Rhino.

But first, our professor has asked us to conduct a probe, or rather an analysis (if you don't like the word probe, which I don't) of the site's properties, from a purely geometric and architectonic standpoint.

So here you have it...some photos from the first probe.

Here's the boring explanation...

4 major vectors were established on the site based on existing infrastructure.  These were offset at equal intervals to create a strange new grid, completely derived from the site's own properties. Then points were marked at any place where an element of the site intersected with a line of the grid. These points were suspended over the model of the site (tiny silver bells hung from white thread, hung from a piece of plexi). That's what the photos above are. These are all the images I have at the moment. Process photos perhaps to follow. 

Resources:

Wassily Kandinsky's Point and Line To Plan
Paul Klee's Pedagogical Sketchbook
And these Paul Klee drawings and paintings:

Old Man Counting
1929
Etching

Highway and by-ways
1929
Oil on Canvas

Mourning
1934
Water-color and gouache on paper on cardboard

And of course let's not forget our sun study.  Done in Google SketchUp.

Wild Animals!

 

Adorable Baby Elephant!

Baboon Family Portrait.

A Strange New Species, Yet To Be Named.

Grazing Hippos.

Swimming Hippos.

Angry Splashing Elephant.  Stay Away!

Warthog Family.

Murchison Falls.

 Inquisitive Antelope.

I Can't Remember What These Are Called.

Hello Giraffes!

Beautiful Birds.

Dead Animal.

Baby Chimp! 

They're not so different from us...

Snail.

These rhinoceros photos are from the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, where they are working on reintroducing rhinos into the wild. 

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