Credits

Starring Jennifer Fain, Ana Nekozyreva, Elssie Montero, Leslie Montero, Yvette Candy Candelario, Metisha Larocca, Jennifer Lopez, Dove Alexandria, Julianna, Asia Arias, Alexia Tel, Priscilla Branc, Valerie Urbina, and Paulina Cossio.

Makeup Paola Orlando at Timothy Priano and Daniela at Atomic Assistants Agency.

Special Thanks Ryan Trecartin, Lizzie Fitch, Eliza Ryan, Raul Lopez, Maria Cueva, Ashland Mines, Daniel Fisher, Telfar Clemens, Klaus Bisenbach, and The Mondrian South Beach.

What made me start working out is I wanted to look good naked. Now I look good naked. What makes you think that I’m gonna put clothes on it so that you can’t tell that I look good naked?
Are you insane?

At Project No. 8 Roxanne wears Emilio Cavallini arm band and Adidas Slvr wedge pumps.

Victoria's Secret Pink tank and Faux/Real necklace.

How is that possible that everyone thinks I’m great except the people who should think I’m great?

Norma Kamali bathing suit with Ed Hardy tattoo sleeve.

So you’re not going to be stronger because you use a steroid. You were already strong before you started. A steroid just allows you to do it for a longer time so you’re able to create more muscle. Now in terms of myself, yeah I have, and the ones that I’ve used were to make me harder on stage. Twwiiice as hard!—so where I’m just gonna be see through; you’re looking at my lungs on stage.

VPL dress worn with Faux/Real body bracelet and matching wrist bracelet.

Roxanne wears her own competition suit and boots at BOSIDAMJANOVIC Gallery.

All I am is muscle and eyes and teeth and some abs. That’s it!

American Apparel crop top, Chinatown thong, Dries Van Noten belt and vintage briefs.

Peeled is when you look at me and you can see right through me. You can look at stuff on me and see the fibers in the muscle moving underneath my skin.

You have those who absolutely adore what I do and like who I am and like what I embody. Then you have the other side of the public, which can’t wrap their thoughts around it at all.

Dress by American Apparel, bra and panties by Victoria's Secret Pink.

I’m not putting a handcuff on your potential. The only person doing that is you. I just chose to unshackle mine.

Norma Kamali bathing suit with Cesare Paciotti shoes.

I know some very unique looking women, all across the spectrum, and when I say unique looking women I mean unique women period. Drag queens, transvestites, body builders, you name it, the whole gamut and they are quite elegant and just amazingly feminine without having to have not one breast amongst them.

2XU compression top, Y3 bathing suit and Z-CoiL shock-absorbing footwear.

2XU compression top, Y3 bathing suit and Z-CoiL shock-absorbing footwear.

In terms of superhuman, not so much. I’m just a more open version of human.

Ports 1961 top with American Apparel leggings and counterfeit Chanel underwear.

Vintage Steven Sprouse for Target miniskirt with vintage Narciso Rodriguez sports bra and Patricia von Musulin ring.

You’re gonna be a magnificent human being!

Under Armour turtleneck with American Apparel underwear, Mended Veil necklace, and Sock Man socks.

Vintage Narciso Rodriguez sports bra.

The world is set up to tell you what you can’t do, who you can’t be, and what you can’t look like. Your job on this planet is to tell them who you are, why you’re here, and what you’re capable of doing.

Credits

Photography Jason Nocito
Styling Avena Gallagher

Interview and Audio Production S. Adrian Massey III
Special Thanks to Bidoun, Project No.8, and BOSIDAMJANOVIC Gallery.

Music
Mary J Blige - Just Fine
S. Adrian - Alpha
Noisia - Diplodocus
Ssion - Nothing Happens at Nite
Cliff Richards - Mistletoe and Wine
Alireza Eftekhari - Ghalandarvar
Mims - This Is Why I'm Hot
Tweet - Oops (Oh My)
Swans - A Screw
Masters at Work - Ha Dance
Armand Van Helden - Witch Doctor
Bambabounce - All Eyez on Me Ha Vocal
Cheryl Lynn - Got to Be Real
SWV - Anything

DIS Magazine and Paul Greenhouse traveled to Glenpointe, New Jersey to cover the Team Universe National Figure Competition and follow Kelly Keiser during her final hours before the show. After months of preparation, training, and stacking proteins, Kelly’s extensions are clipped, her makeup is set, her tan is impressive, and her physical transformation is complete.

In an effort to expand its base and market to the mainstream, bodybuilding has recently evolved to include a larger spectrum of body types, particularly in the women’s division. Below the proper Bodybuilding class are Physique, Figure, and Bikini. Each of these has different requirements and ideals, in terms of muscle mass and bodyfat. In 2010, the National Physique Committee (NPC) expanded men’s bodybuilding to include a new Physique division. Extreme muscularity is marked down, while presence and personality are marked up. The men wear board shorts that must be just above the knee and up to one inch below the navel. They are asked merely to walk to the center of the stage perform quarter turns with an optional pose of hand on the hip or in the pocket. It is because of the body type, outfit requirement, and catalog-ready presentation that this new category is often referred to as the “Abercrombie” division.

We also learned that Jan Tana is the premiere tanning lotion, sparkly tans are grounds for disqualification, Swarovski crystals are a must, and pushing a dehydration too far can make a contestant very, very shaky.

Credits

Starring Kelly Keiser
Direction and Editing Paul Greenhouse
Video Paul Greenhouse and Marco Roso
Photography Marco Roso
Production Lauren Boyle

Sculpting Panty available at After Eight. Control Body Shaper by ShapeFX. Compression Arm Sleeves by 2XU.

Sports Bra by Under Armour. Headband by Nike.

Open Bust Shaper available at After Eight. Bra by ShapeFX.

Footwear by Z-CoiL. Headband by Nike.

U-Plunge Bra and Sleek and Seamless High Waisted Thong by ShapeFX. Compression Leggings by 2XU.

Full Body Compression Body Shaper by Leonisa. FootUndeez by Capezio.

ClimaCool Shorts by Adidas. Body Shaper available at After Eight. Bra by ShapeFX.

Nike Pro Combat Shorts. Padded Compression Sleeve by Adidas. Push Up Smoother by ShapeFX. Footwear by Newton.

Wrap Around Convertible Bra by TriFil. Padded Football Pants by Rawlings.

Butt Enhancing Panty available at After Eight. ClimaCool Sports Bra by Adidas.

Padded shorts by POC. Celebrity Style Body Shaper by Leonisa. 2XU Femme Tri Top. Footwear by Z-CoiL.

Convertible Bra by TriFil. Sculpting Panty available at After Eight. Compression Shorts by Under Armour.

Silicone Panty available at After Eight. Sculpting Shapewear Capri by ShapeFX. 2XU Femme Tri Top.

Silicone Panty available at After Eight. Nike Pro Combat Hyperstrong Shorts. Body Shaper by Leonisa. Footwear by Newton Running.

Under Armour Recharge Energy Legging. Footwear by Newton Running.

Credits

Model posing with her poster.

Still from Dr. Zhivago by David Lean

In a recent architecture lecture given at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the word “tectonics” was used 48 times; the word “beauty” once.

Are we continuing the sensibility of the high-moderns who proclaimed architecture free from any notion of style? Other disciplines like product design, interior design, and a wide range of media arts seem thoroughly engrossed in style—and by extension issues of aesthetics, beauty and taste.

In the realm of critical theory, people like Sylvia Lavin, Wes Jones and Sarah Whiting have been calling for an acknowledgment of style for the past few years. While compelling, their call to action has lacked clear direction for architects on how to proceed. Architects themselves seem uncomfortable with questions of taste and judgment. How would they defend their aesthetic decisions?

Ken McCown via Flickr

Duck by Robert Venturi Photo by Chioke via Flickr

St. Colleta by Michael Graves Photo by J A McDonald via Flickr

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation by Charles Jencks Photo by Jean Elgar

Instead of holding onto their territory, architects have found solace in efficiency, economy, and the elegance of the diagram.

In other words, stylistic and conceptual minimalism. REX’s Seattle Public Library is beautiful, elegant, efficient, and economical, purged of any objectionable extravagances. (See its architect Joshua Prince-Ramos’s TED talk.) This style does, of course, have a place in the built world, but are there other visions that we might investigate, styles that might speak to an aesthetic culture?

Thirty years ago, a series of American architects asked precisely these questions. They explored the relationship between the vernacular and the avant-garde, they interrogated the nature of history and context, and they separated morality from aesthetic production. Although promising, most of their work focused on the façade, not the interior. Their techniques and the potential of opportunistic borrowing, blatant reference, and pastiche are currently an under explored area of the architectural discipline.

This study investigates the potential of opportunistic borrowing and blatant reference — a postmodern approach pioneered by architects like Michael Graves, Robert Venturi and Charles Jencks — through a renovation that reinstates a movie palace into a 99 cent store in Brooklyn.

There are two major characteristics of the site.

The first is an urban landscape in which transportation infrastructure is dominant. Within a few hundred yards are massive pieces of infrastructure: the Williamsburg Bridge, the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, the JMZ line of the New York City Subway system, Broadway Avenue, a four lane road and commercial hub. Indeed, constructions and demolitions of these structures have had a direct effect on the area. For example, the construction of the BQE corresponded with a major recession.

Williamsburgh Brooklyn Demographics

The proximity of these different types of urban systems gives rise to the second characteristic condition of the site: a diverse set of inhabitants made up of distinct groups. Currently, the site consists of a stubborn population that can be broken into three types: hipsters, Hasidic Jews, and Hispanics. Each has not only different age distributions, households, spending patterns, and racial makeup but also very separate neighborhoods and buildings. However, they all share the urban circulation spaces.

The site of the building itself is located at the nexus of all of these systems: directly on Broadway, at the Myrtle stop of the JMZ, one block from the Williamsburg Bridge, and two blocks from the BQE.

Laurie Mallet House New York City, New York, USA, 1986 From Domwae.com

Structure

Eiffel’s strategies of truss deformation in The Statue of Liberty showed how a regular truss system could form an ornamental (figural) sculpture while maintaining passageways for internal circulation.

Program

OMA’s Dutch Embassy in Berlin features continuous vertical circulation of ramps that continue, unbroken, from the parking lot to the roof. In addition to framing views and being programmed itself, the circulation space must also negotiate with the programmatic elements of each floor. The plans, specifically, provided a rich case study in this type of architectural maneuver.

Nostalgia

The Laurie Mallet House by Site Architects is a renovation in Greenwich Village in New York City that incorporates plaster cast elements from the previous building into the new design. Literal reference enhances the effect of temporal juxtaposition.

“…the building could be read as a theater where the poche space is a midrise apartment building. Or, when we reverse the relationship, mid-rise apartments with a theater as their circulation space.”

John Snavely Plan 03

John Snavely Section 01

During the production of this thesis, there were a number of unexpected questions and problems, many of which could be further areas for research and study.

To begin, there was the constant struggle to avoid kitsch. Discerning between what is high and low cultural output becomes a minefield of value judgments of which most architects are understandably wary. The payoff, however, was a building with very conventional spaces but a very unusual appearance, proof of the incredible value of appearance. This issue of appearance also created problems in terms of the architectural representation of the project. Extremely conventional modes of representation (inked drawings on vellum in black and white) were used to buttress the project against its own visual provocations. Although these restrictions aided in the success of the project, they were still restrictions. In a thesis that focused on “looks,” careful representation became an integral part of the gradual specification of the vision. This was imperative, since using an intuitive notion of beauty often worked against the development of stricter design processes.

On a more practical plane, certain assumptions made about the economic feasibility of highly ornamented places, while not entirely impossible, represent a design problem that this thesis failed to tackle. Although we are closer today then ever before to building highly ornate spaces, they still incur a greater cost than those unadorned. Even places built of foam and plaster (as the movie theaters of today are) like the Paris or Venice Casino in Las Vegas require a great deal of finesse to craft properly.

Pastiche and blatant historical reference also brought difficult questions into the process. How literal can you be without being insipid? Is there a place for the intellect to perform in this type of project? In short, my own judgment was repeatedly called into question.

Yet, a thesis in Architecture is not only supposed to identify a problem and propose an architectural solution but also, according to Sheila Kennedy of Kennedy-Violich, “offer a set of criteria for evaluation.”

This phase of evaluation and judgment is far richer than we, as architects, are practicing it. There are judgments and values that we’ve left unspoken, as if we all agree on their nature and origin. This thesis replaces all the criteria for evaluation spoken and unspoken with a single question:

John Snavely Plans & Sections

Is this beautiful architecture?

Credits

Written and Produced by John Snavely

Edited by S. Adrian Massey, III