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December 2022
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Animals of the Zodiac - Boar 20108/12/2010 Boar is steady, determined, prepared and honest. I got a feeling of strength and bristles, with strong protrusions and connections to the earth. The architecture incorporates earth roofs, and protruding forms held together with stone and other solid forms.
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Animals of the Zodiac - Ram 20108/12/2010 Sheep or ram - is peaceful, prosperous, graceful, careful, and balanced. I got a sense similar to Ox, except smoother, and more graceful. Working out sections that show multiple levels and opportunities for light.
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Animals of the Zodiac - Rabbit 20107/21/2010 Rabbit is wise, merciful, beautiful, and empathetic. This characterization has a partial glass roof, and partial earth roof. This house provides a sense of secure comfort.
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Animals of the Zodiac - Snake 20107/21/2010 Snake is coiled and ready. Almost like stone, but fast and flexible. Highly cultured and very intelligent. I love this sketch because it reminds me of early stealth fighters, full of facets and interesting forms. As you can tell, it's important to have the plan look like the elevation.
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Animals of the Zodiac - Dragon 20107/21/2010 Wise, intelligent, filled with vitality and great strength. Dragon truly is "Invincible", so I did another one to Pat Benetar's song as well. This one feels like dragon for some reason.
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Animals of the Zodiac - Rooster 20107/21/2010 Rooster is proud, strong, aggressive. A house for rooster is flamboyant, and fun. Sketched while listening to Pat Benetar's "Invincible" which for me characterizes the rooster. This house's roof does not shed water, but catches it instead. Still needs work on the solar fins concept. I think it needs to be more flamboyant in the vertical direction. Next stage of development will probably develop this "crest" a little further.
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Animals of the Zodiac - Horse 20107/21/2010 Initial sketches for a home with a horse characterization. Full of energy, and joyful. Self reliance, sophistication, resilient, confident. It has physical and emotional characterizations of "horse". Elevation top, plan at bottom. My goal is to finish early sketches for each animal, and then work them into a format for exhibition. It is a discovery of taking human traits that embody the animals, and then translating these intangible qualities into a stage for living and personal expression.
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Animals of the Zodiac - Dog 20107/21/2010 Initial character sketches for a "dog" personality. Ideas stem from a dog at rest, loyalty, determination, solidity, faith, inclusion. top is an elevation, bottom is a plan.
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Animals of the Zodiac - Monkey 20107/21/2010 Initial sketches for a house that characterizes "monkey". Lots of movement, complexity and fun! Monkey 2010 - initial characterization sketches.
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Economic Leading Indicator7/20/2010 As some of you may know, I am the author of the newsletter, the Hawaii Leading Indicator. Economizing my energy, this blog will serve as the outlet to which my opinions about the economy shall be published. I won't focus entirely on economy, but also on other trends that impact our decisions to do business and consume.
Why listen to an architect? Here's why. My clients bring news. These clients are planners, developers, and very wealthy individuals who's main focus in life is to keep a pulse on economic indicators. When fear is out of the picture, these clients call me and begin early stage planning of their new ventures. My practice has strict confidentiality rules to protect clients, but I do write about trends. Trends forecast future events. Current trends: Lots of movement on the high end residential side as interest rates are kept low. High-end clients are lining up at the door. Commercial is slow as investors and developers wait for the ARM's that flooded the market 2 & 3 years ago become due. Short term rates will stay low as we go through this process. It will give relief to commercial and ARM holders. The Fed knows this and cannot raise interest rates until this wave passes in late 2011 and early 2012. This wave of low interest rates will continue until most of the ARMS have converted to longer terms or we have at least spread out this tsunami's volume. The world economy cannot take another credit crunch, so interest rates will be kept low. Hyperinflation will only result as a major catastrophe unfolds that the Fed cannot control. The intent is to keep interest rates low for several years. STAGNATION is a good word for this. Currently, my clients still see all of this as uncertain, and will not move on commercial projects unitl the public shows more confidence. War War with Iran is on the horizon. Predictions of this have come about 2 years ago as US defense contractors were filling very large orders of purchasing of ships and planes by Israel. Now mavens who follow the politics of the Israel/Iran conflict are predicting an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites. The US needs to secure Afghanistan in order to sandwich Iran geographically. The chess match is almost played out, and checkmate is being set up. If you look at a map surrounding Iran, which countries are friendly toward the US, or are under US control? War is a lucrative business, and it keeps empires profitable. Particularly when the economy is not healthy. How does all of this affect the world market for luxury items? Including architecture? The world will stratify even further into have's and have not's. The class system will no longer be by national class, but by global class. The US will stratify into the super wealthy and the poor. The American middle class is already losing ground, while China's middle class is exploding. So on a global scale, our middle class is growing, just not in the United States. Different architects cater to different tastes. Those who work for the people design for the people. Those who design for the wealthy, will continue to design for the wealthy, but on a scale of service that is much different than the recent past. The rich will expect services as well tailored as the Ritz Carleton does for hotel services. That's all I have for now on trends!
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Hopes and dreams7/9/2010 "Without dreams of hope and pride a man will die
Though his flesh still moves his heart sleeps in the grave Without land man never dreams cause he's not free All men need a place to live with dignity. Take the crumbs from starving soldiers, they won't die Lord said not by bread alone does man survive Take the food from hungry children, they won't cry Food alone won't ease the hunger in their eyes." -Chuck Mangione "The Children of Sanchez" Let's consider "bread" in this case as money... Although many of us dream of having enough money, it's not money that we want, but the ability to dream that reflect our hopes, so that we can make ourselves, our friends, our parents, our ancestors, and our children proud. Man does not survive on bread, but on the things that stirs his heart to go further than food or cash. Luxuries are like that. They are symbols or trophies of our achievements. That we can say to those around us that we've made it, and that they should be proud of us. Numbers on a bank statement just don't cut it. The "bread" has to be turned into something much more - legendary and almost mythical. No matter what castle you may live in, your home is the ultimate luxury. There is nothing (other than people and possibly pets) that we spend more money, time, effort and energy in than in our homes. And why not? We use it every day. We show it off (as best we can) to our friends, family and children. It is the stage of our entire lives. It gives us pleasure, and it gives us a nest egg. We try to pass it on to our children and their children... and rightfully so. Homes should not be disposable. A house is not merely an object we live in, but rather a symbol of personal achievement. It's not just real estate that is easily flipped, but rather the edification of our hopes, dreams, and the grail to move up to bigger dreams. It gives us freedom to express ourselves, and space to be ourselves in private; to act like a lunatic, or to meditate and pray. It's our life, our property, our hope and pride, - our spring from which all dreams flow. The home is our place where memories, personal myths and legends are made and kept forever.
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what does Hale mean?7/7/2010 I get a lot of questions about my name. Yes it is strange, and rare - particularly for a first name. People often ask what my name means. Here in Hawaii, people often call me " ha le" pronounced ha lay. My mother gave me the name as pronounced "hayle" Here's the strangest thing, though.. and there really are no accidents - Hale in hawaiian means "house". yes, my mother is very wise.
Most dictionaries will say it means health, or hero. But after searching and reading about how the word hale was used in old english, it was used more as a reference to "life force". I don't think it is too much of a stretch to jump from hero to health to life force. They are really all connected. The spirit within the body that connects to life itself. In Greek, hale means breath. The ancients probably needed a definition for the life force within us, and "Hale" seems to come the closest. The Chinese came up with a different term - "chi" or "ki" in Japanese. So when people ask me what my name means, I usually tell them it's old English for "chi". And if they don't know what chi is, then that's when I ask if they've seen star wars. btw, i do practice tai-chi chuan. here's the kicker... what is the relationship between "house" and "life force"? Maybe it all is coming full circle. by the way, "ha" in hawaiian means breath.
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Hale Takazawa's Philosophy of Design7/7/2010 About my work. I'll soon be posting sketches of current schemes on the boards. All of my work is done freehand. I sometimes will use sketchup for the next stage of design, or then go straight to revit. however, all creative development is done free-hand. It is a direct connection to creativity, and it will always be this way. The first moves in anything make all the difference! Like a game of chess.
"you are legendary" say it to yourself, "I am legendary!" Of course we don't like to talk this way of ourselves, but you must believe it, and surround yourself with that belief. Because it really is the truth. It will be sad if you don't take my word for it until you stand at heaven's gate. It's better to be alive and realize this! If you are to be my client, you must believe this of yourself. I expect it - or the inspiration that derives from it will only be as strong as the belief in yourself. Creativity doesn't flow in a medium of self-doubt. the architecture that flows through my hands shows my clients a reflection of their power, strength, radiance, and beauty (which by the way, is a by-product of the first 3). It says of them, " I am an individual, and this work is my story." My work is about formality and rebellion. Complex but controlled. tension and breaking through. rationalization and then moving away from it. it has to be fun, and smart out of the box, and away from mainstream. but still rooted in the mature building traditions of architecture, sculpture, jewelry, craftsmanship, and engineering - just pushing it to the limit at times... when appropriate. alot like american Jazz, and Rock. in fact it is the American way! Sometimes the work has a personality - like Ghandi - peaceful yet explosive. Mature and thoughtful, yet full of action and strength. Volatile, but calm on the exterior. Kind of like Tai-chi or Yoga. If you don't know what the last statement means, try practicing it for a few sessions...
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The architect6/30/2010 Currently reading about the social and psychological variables of luxury. And this is the first time I am finally reading a book about the business of luxury and how different it is from all other business...
the following is a quote from The Luxury Strategy by Kapferer and Bastien.: "Historically, luxury was the creation of a talented craftsmen, using the very rarest materials, who accepted commissions from a client or patron. These craftsmen were known in their day, but their fame did not endure. That is how castles and private mansions were built and furnished. In France, everything changed when at the end of the 18th century craftsmen stopped accepting private commissions after someone came up with the ideas of making models, before they too were sold. What we were witnessing at that time was a radical reversal of the relationship between omnipotent client and craftsman. No longer was the craftsman prepared to go cap-in-hand to visit the client; instead, people went to them to see their latest collection, their new creations. The age of the nameless craftsman was now long gone - enter now on stage the creative designer and their retinue, their followers. Not to mention the reputation of their name." This is an interesting statement considering that we architects behave primarily like craftsmen because our clientèle(Patrons) who commission one-of-a kind works. We are truly an ancient profession. This architect however chooses to behave more like the modern day designer. I will take on commissions, but my primary work will be to provide designs each year based on the individual stories of people that I can recreate into modern myth and legend.
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About this blog6/20/2010 This blog is about the world, wealth, and the future. It is a perspective or window on how I see the world.
As an architect, entrepreneur, and person who is trained to see the big picture: - in time frames longer than 1 or 2 generations, -in terms of civilization building, - in the push for human creativity expressed through our environment, art, and human activities. My time is spent visualizing, and communicating those visions. happy reading! -hale Blog Rules: 1. I will relate my thoughts with the following bias: the world is never in a state of destruction, or in heavy competition, but rather in a state of creation - so much that there is enough for all. My bias is toward the world becoming rich. 2. The second bias in this blog assumes: Wealth in all its forms is good. And that seeking wealth is seeking to expand life itself - a fuller expression. 3. The third bias in this blog: Death, destruction and failure is merely a new beginning. All thoughts and fear of these demons will appear only as re-birth, resurrection, and opportunity. |