Andrew Schroeder

I’m planning on traveling to Vietnam (and possibly Cambodia) November 10 – 28th. Although I’ve always been fascinated by Southeast Asia (particularly the former French colony of Indochina), I’ve never had the guts to actually pony up and buy the ticket until now.

So, with my bags already packed several months in advance, I’m ready to take off on another (much needed) break from the daily grind to focus on art and research.

I’m devoting my time on this trip to photographing the use and reuse of former French colonial architecture. In particular, I’m very interested to see how the buildings are being assimilated into the new, globalized architectural forms of late capitalism. I find it both ironic and fascinating that the colonial structures, which symbolized the the first developments of global economic culture are now disappearing.

Reclaiming space: I have to hand it to the city of Minneapolis. Every so often, a new feature of the urban landscape appears like an apparition. Most recently, rental bike stations have been colonizing (in a positive way) the unused scraps of public space throughout the city. Kudos Minneapolis.

Disasters of Humanity Tourism

Yesterday I purchased my ticket to travel to Vietnam in November. While in the region, I am hoping to travel to Cambodia. Mainly, I want to see the obvious ruins of Angkor Wat, but I am now also debating a trip to Phnom Penh to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.

My reasons for traveling to Southeast Asia are completely personal. I’m not going there for business or research. I’m headed in that direction mostly because I need a break to regain my focus on architecture and photography. It is impossible for me to do this without immersing myself in the people in this area actually live and make use of space.

Is it ethical to travel to a place where crimes against humanity have been committed? (Especially if I am coming from a beach resort in Nha Trang?)

The Geotaggers’ World Atlas #14: Amsterdam on Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

I avoided making New Years resolutions this time around… but find that I have delayed all of my resolutions, plans for change, and regrets for my birthday… this Saturday. Most people feel like the “milestone” years are something like 18, 21, 30… but for me, 28 is turning out to be a pivotal year. I’m finally feeling like I can grasp the idea of “satisfaction” and the joy that could come from controlling one’s actions, environment, and lifestyle.

Case in point, I’m in love with this design for a home. It seems like the perfect mix of environments, inside and outside, private and public. The only thing that I would change would be the transparency of the glass. It would have to be adjustable…

Tiny House Design , Archive » Tiny House Cluster Under Glass.

Flickr Photo Download: 20100403_0102.

Calhoun Square in Uptown, Minneapolis is undergoing a transformation to make it a viable commercial space. So far they have succeeded in making several transitional public spaces. We’ll see how this plays out. Will the tenants be drawn to these new spaces? Most importantly, will any people actually fill these new environments?

I began working inside downtown Minneapolis in the summer of 2008. At the time, I didn’t think about how working inside of a carpeted and climate-controlled urbanized shopping mall would effect me. Now, nearly two years later, I can say that I have been profoundly effected. After working within the architecture of corporate America on the tundra, I think I am ready to live and work on a space-station. Think about it, just for a passing second – I spend almost my entire day in an air-sealed, sterilized, series of tubes-esque work environment surrounded by a barely habitable climate. The next step has to be a similar environment orbiting the earth…