I am inspired by the lectures that we heard this week. My immediate reactions have led me to the possibility of centering my thesis project in the Gateway district. It is particularly interesting to create a facility and urban space that could draw multiple ethnicities, economic statuses and interests. I have also been thinking about what sort of building would be successful and achieving these goals. While I am unsure what this might be, I am interested in doing some research so see if there are successful cultural center or something similar that achieves this. My studio this term is exploring the idea of resilient design, design that can maintain success and activity through the ages. This is something that I would like to incorporate into my thesis project. Although I am not sure what type of building I will be creating, my research of an organism has given me some ideas for the facility. I looked into why tress develop a spiral grain and found some interesting answers. When water is scarce and only half a tree’s roots are exposed to the water, the spiral grain allows water to be distributed to all of a tree, verses a straight-grained tree where the water would only reach the branches directly above the roots. This gave me an idea about having the water and other essential elements for a building be exposed with the structure, so that it alludes to the importance of all elements in a building.  I am still unsure about how this would work, or if it is possible, but just an initial idea. These are my thoughts for now.