1. In Progress
A Journey to Better Living
Jordan T. Robinson
Professor Roymeico Carter
Senior Projects
Art 526

2. T
his Concentration of research
relates to the ongoing
conversation regarding environmental
conservation, cultural restoration, and
the redefinition of “our” relationship
between humanity and nature through
architecture. My project is a design
proposal for a living sculpture under
request of a professor at NC A&T SU.
Under the professor’s request, the living
sculpture is related to the topics of
sustainable design. His work also adds
onto the topic to a bigger conversation.
The work he, and other students , have
done relates to an area I am exploring
with my personal work. The relationships
between each person and nature are as
intrinsic as our connections we find in
our environmental studies. It is important
we look into these relationships and
work to improve them as a species.
The project proposed three
conceptual designs. Each concept
carries weight for conversations that
circulate around the same topics of
sustainable designs. The conversations
these designs relate to challenge the
purpose of sustainable design, and
strengthens it through questioning and
debate. These three sculptures are
designed to pave the beginning content
for that conversation.
The first question to address, that
also challenges the debate between
the advancement of technology and
gnosticism, will also define one of
many purposes for continuing the
“progression” while respecting the
gnostic views. This question will be
further examined in the next page.
Only a brief overview, a mild
description of each design, my design
process, the results of my project and
my pechakucha will be discussed in
this portfolio. More information can be
found on the website I have designed to
house and organize the content I have
found for the duration of this research
project. To contact me, please use the
information on this page.
I ultimately want to build on this
and reform humanity’s perspective on
nature as a “landlord willing to let us
live in its spaces” than a resource for us
to harvest for our own purposes. Using
my skills in 3D Sculpture; Animation;
Illustration; and Photography/
Cinema, I work diligently on producing
intellectually strong content as a
contribution to better design.
NC A&T SU Visual Arts
Jordan T. Robinson
Illustrator, Animator, Designer
(704) 942 7177
jordanrobinson0@gmail.com
inprogressphysandspir.wordpress.com

3. Iwould first would like to
acknowledge those who have
help me along the way. The first
acknowledgement is towards the God I
believe in, for giving me the opportunity
to understand the world through a set of
lends I may not have been able to see
otherwise, and walking with me in my
walk of life. Next are my parents, Kevin
and Patrice Robinson for their devotion
to ensuring my brothers and I developed
into the men we are now. To Roy,
Todd, Janet, Canady, Adam, Harriet,
Brooks, Santmyre, Hooker, Barnhill, and
McClinton, my mentors, I thank them
for their time and care to helping many
artists and I progress to the stages we
are in now. Lastly, I extend my thanks to
you, the viewer, for your time to read this
document.
Now to address the first question.
What is a living sculpture and
why build one at all? In truth, we do not
need one, but this statement is in the same
context as the statement, “You do not
need a house, nor clothes, nor a car, etc.”
Humanity has survived for multitudes of
years living without most things we have
in contemporary times. In fact, many
cultures, such as the Mongolian Nomads,
have lived for thousands of years; living
with the herds of livestock they help raise.
There has been an ongoing
conversation among scholars,
philosophers, and the public known as
the Gnostic debate. There are many
variants of it, but the overall debate is
wether we, humanity, need to progress
in technology or return to “biblical”
times or times of the ancient civilizations.
Although I agree with the solution to
return to our natural state, I believe we
are too far detached from that lifestyle
and will need to take steps. My work
carries on some of the conversation, “if
we are to continue to ‘progress’ we must
do so more appropriately” And provides
three ideas for consideration as more
research on sustainable design continues.
A living sculpture is a structure
capable of supporting vegetation, and/
or emulating a form of biomimicry. Bio
mimicry is the emulation, or copying, of a
natural process that supports life. For an
example, the glass jar experiment every
7th grade student conducts in grade
school performs a form of biomimicry,
because the student copies the water
cycle, a natural process that supports life.
Combined with this, I focused researching
visual works of art form both the De
Stijl and Minimalist art movements for
their focus on the essentials of a created
object and leave vast open spaces that
would serve as a great living space for
vegetation, and wildlife, to take form.

4. Nature’sCitywaschronologically
the first idea to explore. In my
research, many designers, engineers,
architects, and those related to manmade
constructs have discovered interesting
ways to make our creations more capable
of imitating, or manipulating, the natural
realm. From ideas of growing one’s home
to reconstructing an entire food chain,
there is some form of biomimicry involved.
The city is designed to foster the
vegetation it houses throughout
the seasons, and the weather. Each tray
houses the variety of plants in the same
structure most modern apartments. This
sculpture is designed to reconstruct the
food chain by possessing the food that
will attract the insects, that will attract the
rest of the food chain.
After designing this sculpture, I
then was guided to search the
spiritual fields to find usable content in
the discussion. Despite the interesting
ideas many designers are finding, there
still seems to be an internal issue with
humanity that needs to be addressed.

5. Mandala was conceived after
a critique with my mentors
about my progress. I wanted for include
the conversation of arrogance within
humanity and its creations, similar to the
narrative of multiple movies (i.e. Princess
Manonoke, Ferngully: The last Rain
Forest, and The Day the Earth Stood Still).
My question, though, was “What
could begin to address, and resolve the
issue of arrogance among the humanity
and its vanity in creation?” I looked into
the mandala, a spiritual tool, and ritual,
in buddhist culture. The process of making
the mandala can take long periods of
time, as the monks who construct it create
this beautiful illustration of colored sand
that depicts the world we all live in and
the life within it. By the time the monks
are done, they stand back and look at
the mandala and wipe it away for the
next cycle.
This tool teaches two things:
1. All things are temporal.
2. We must let are pride be earased.
The pride humans put into the
things they create is easily, and often,
committed. By designing a construct that is
supposed to be wiped away, is a process
we must consider as a cultural practice to
help combat against the prideful lifestyle
and allow nature to reclaim its presence
in our spaces in more ways than what
convention allows.
The image here is an arial view of
the sculpture, a mere shell. The piece itself
is designed to be consumed by nature
within a set amount of time. depending
on the type of vegetation to plant in the
shell, the mandala will be humanity’s
sacrifice, embodying the pride we out
into our “progress” and remind us as we
progress in technology we must remember
that nature does not need “our help”
with anything and the best sustainability
known is provided by non-human hands.

6. EdenTowerisalsoanothersacrifice
and serves as a “Memorial to
our efforts”. The concept this design
holds relates to the idea of making the
architecture we build in place of the trees
we tear down should serve the nature
around it, as well as the humans it serves.
The tower is designed to shelter and serve
a variety of insects, birds, other wildlife,
and vegetation, especially a tree planted
in the center. The tree is designed to grow
through the core of the sculpture, slowly
consuming it, and using the sculpture as
a structural support system until it mature
into adulthood.
In time, the tree will consume the
tower, and assume the responsibilities
it once had. In the worst case scenario,
humanity, with all its pride or not, should
at least serve the nature it “dominates”
and give back more to nature than what
we currently do.

7. The plants I considered had to do
at least one of two things:
1. Provide edible food for humans and
animals.
2. Attract the wildlife to help restart an
ecosystem.
Theplants,orvegetation,considered
includes gala apple trees for the center of
the sculptures that will consume their form
in time. Another plant was the strawberry
bush, which grows in a course of a
year. Grape vines and other vines will
grow the fastest, which will play a part in
consuming the structures.
Materials to build the structures
needed to be organic, or be made of
organize material. I first looked into
concrete for its plasticity and flexibility to
form the curvature of the mandala, then
using brick materials were considered as
an alternative. The rest of the materials
to use are wood based materials for their
hard structures and sturdy abilities.

8. In the process of my research I
looked into the works of Maya
Lin, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Todao Ando
for reference and information I could
implement in my work.
Maya Lin is my particular favorite
designer, and is known for her memorials,
such as the Vietnam memorial, and the
civil rights memorial.
Todao Ando is known for his
minimalist style architecture such as the
church of light and the water temple. His
work is the pursuit of the Zen buddhist
concept of stripping all creation to its
essentials, which is the basis for the
minimalist, and De Stijl Movement.
Frank Lloyd Wright was known
for his ability to define space in nature.
Falling water, although was a failed
experiment in some arguments, is one of
his well-known intentions of nurturing a
relationship with nature.
Frank Lloyd Wright Todao Ando Maya Lin

9. APechakucha is a presentation
with 20 slides. Each slide is on
display for 20 seconds before switching
to the next slide. The content of the
pechakucha can vary on the presenter.
I conducted my on pechakucha as a
was of advertising my reserch into nature
and sustainable design. In it, I establish
the mind-set and reasoning supporting my
project an the efforts I, and many other
designers before/after me, pursue.
After making my first pechakucha,
I then began working on a video
pechakucha where instead of 20 images
for 20 seconds, there are 20 video clips
for 20 seconds to show.

10. NC A&T SU Visual Arts
Jordan T. Robinson
Illustrator, Animator, Designer
(704) 942 7177
jordanrobinson0@gmail.com
inprogressphysandspir.wordpress.com
In conclusion, this project is only a
foot stone to the body of work I
wish to pursue. It is my personal goal to
find, and execute, ideas and concepts to
help humanity truly progress, physically
and spiritually. In my efforts, I do not want
to impose anything on anyone, and will
not do so, but show the world its condition
and offer the suggestions to help it. I am
fully aware of the fact these solutions are
not applicable across the board, and
there may not be a solution to some of
our problems, but I can at least contribute
to the improvement of mankind and try to
restore the elements that I believe makes
us human, compassion and respect.
This is the first step into my research
and the first mile stone of doing using
something I am passionate about to the
fullest extent.
Thank you for your time.
-Jordan-