Week 4

This week's tasks were all about finality. finishing up what we have done and taking our ideas to their conceptual conclusion. What I found frustrating about this weeks task was the sheer volume of small tasks which needed to be completed in order to consider this experiment "done". Apart from that small qualm, I actually enjoyed completing my model and being able to see the finished product and feel satisfied. the finished product.

 

 This is an animation i made of my model which details an experience through from the top studio (Banksy) down to the Gallery area, with a hint of the stair well to Mueck's studio.

The textures in the animation are both hand drawn and downloaded and i chose a path i felt would best illustrate the important material elements of my building.

This next animation is more holistic; it is designed to take the building apart  so that the viewer can understand the interplay of the forms, yet it is also designed to hone in on key elements of the design and present them in the context of the viewer.

 

 The final animation i made was to do with the staircase down into Mueck's studio; the staircase is meant to be enclosed and forceful, opening into a wider more relaxing space. the animation also endeavors to demonstrate how Mueck's studio sit underneath the rest of the gallery.

The end result:

stairs

For the exercise in stairs, we were required to model and experiment with different stairs and their respective sections. As an example in modeling I decided to do a spiral staircase so I could learn how to use the array tool and learn how to utilise components. For my model however I wanted to use an institutional style stair well... with a twist, as well as a simple, ornamental stone staircase.

Spiral staircase.

I like the concept of a spiral staircase, and i feel the capacity for curves expressive. Being a tall person however; I find them quite hard work and depending on the radius, quite awkward underfoot. Although visually appealing, this design did not fit into my model.

section

stair well

I fell the stair well offers a lot for an architect, especially when designing for a client such as Muek. With the stair well I can easily control the spacial awareness of the person on the stair; I can offer tunnels and wide glassy reliefs, building a sense of anticipation to the final goal of the studio. This control compliments the was in which Muek controls the spacial awareness of his responders; his manipulation of scale often causes the responder to feel that they are invading or being impressed upon by the sculpture. Because of this, this stair offers a juxtaposition between claustrophobia and agoraphobia.

Notice the combination of glass, solid and partial panels culmination in the open air suspended stair into the studio.

section.

I also tried to avoid the convention of a stair well to wrap underneath itself like a helix. i wanted mne to feel more like a tunnel than a stairwell. This can be seen especially in this elevation:

elevation

The other stair case goes from the gallery space up to Banksy's studio. This stair case is open and free, symbolic of Banksy's art which crosses boundaries and escapes so much stigma and attention through anonymity. The studio which Baksy is situated in has no sense of anonymity, it's wide open views encourage public scrutiny, just like the works do. As for the anonymity of the artist?... they have been good enough to protect that so far so I'm sure they can manage; if anything it adds drama.

elevation

toying with materials

section showing construction and portico.

More developed model with front stairs

more developed model with rear stair well.

Here are some hand drawn sketches from my notebook, detailing the conception of the stairs I finally inserted:

This stair case was never perused. Initially one of my studios had a mezzanine lever, into which this stair was cut. but i abandoned that idea.

This design features prominently as the design of the stairs leading up to Banksy's studio.

This stairwell design is the design i used to drop down from the gallery into Mueck's studio.

This stair design is a hanging stair, supported by the long verticals; this staircase was used to connect the stairwell to Mueck's studio.

as seen at the start of the post and mentioned above.

Textures week 3

For this week we were required to come up with 36 words which described a sectional material property (NOT a geometric property... as we were repeatedly told.)


The words my group came up with were:
ABOVE:

• Brittle, Fragile, Luminous, Flaky, Corroded, Anodized, Flexible, Elastic, Lightweight, Malleable, Ductile, Transparent.

MIDDLE:

• Hard, Soft, Dense, Plastic, Conductive, Insular, Homogeneous, Heterogeneous, Squishy, Fibrous, Turgid, Flaccid.

BELOW:

• Metallic, Crystaline, Ceramic, Galvanised, Alloyed, Precipitated, Aerated, Tensile, Composite, Planar, Matrix, Rigid

Hard, Soft, Malleable, Grainy, Brittle, Fragile.

Crystaline, ceramic, transparent, luminous, flaky, corroded|| anodized, galvanized, alloyed, precipitated, aerated, liquid, plastic, dense.

flexible, tensile,conductive, insular, composite, homogeneous, heterogeneous, elastic || Planar, lightweight, composite, turgid, flaccid, fibrous, matrix, ductile.

From these 36, we were then then required to chose at least 3 to be included into our sketchup model. My 7 favourites which I am considering using are; Anodised, Brittle, Corroded, Dense, Ductile, Fibrous, and Heterogeneous:

anodised

brittle

corroded

dense

ductile

fiberous

heterogeneous

Sections and sketchup.

These are a selection of some of the sections I drew. I am familiar with the concept of a section, yet I still found it challenging to use the space in the way the tutors wanted. My toughest challenge was trying hard to not be practical. As an engineer, practicality is a massive element of invisioning a design; these did not need to be practical sketches.

Male/large
Mocking/squatting

Aboriginal/postmodern
Networking/postmodern

Earthen/male
Aboriginal/provocative

Networking/large
Male/mocking

Squatting/provocative
Large/male

Provocative/postmodern
Squatting/provocative

Provocative/squatting
Male/large

Large/squatting
Postmodern/male

Mocking/postmodern
Large/male

Transforming these images into sketchup was initially a problem. However, as I played around with the program I slowly got my bearings and was able to produce a model I was quite happy with:

original attempt

original attempt

The large dome is the gallery which has a glass floor looking down on Muek's studio. the closed stair case and underground location aid in Muek's concepts of disproportion and sensory confrontation dealt with in his sculptures. Banksy's studio is much more open with alot more light, more suited to painting and multimedia. In an ironic gesture, Banksy's studio has full frontage on two sides. Although the artist remains anonymous, his work reaches delves far into the human condition and demonstrates significant speculative and analytical vision. it is this vision which is being enabled by the studio... rather than the anonymity.

Eagle eye view to illustrate layout and interplay of forms.

These paintings are works I did in 2008 for the HSC. They scored very highly overall which was particularly satisfying given how much time they absorbed.
They use a combination of visual metaphor and more explicit frames to depict the moment a heart attack and stroke changed forever the life of a dear friends grandfather.

These oddly shaped and formed Turkish rock dwellings represent a time where home and nature had a far more tangible affiliation. The strange formations are thought to have been formed by a combination of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. the soft but structurally sound rock was then burrowed into by locals for shelter. A considerable irony given the birth of the formation.

The simple rugged beauty of the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica was striking. What this type of landscape reminds me of more however is the simplicity of the lives of Costa Ricans. my entire time in Costa Rica I couldnt overcome my amazement at their ability to flourish in the simple joys of living life in a beautiful country.

Muek. Male, squatting, large.

Malangi. Aboriginal, networking, earthen.

Banksy. Postmodern, mocking, provocative.