Recap: Movement

Walking City from Universal Everything on Vimeo.

Hey guys,

Here are the videos and links I showed the other day to give you a bit of inspiration when it comes to your TWO moving elements

Chris

https://uk.pinterest.com/dezeen/moving-buildings/

https://www.instagram.com/sparksarchitects/?hl=en

https://www.dezeen.com/2015/07/14/henning-larsen-syddansk-universitet-sdu-kolding-campus-building-denmark-green-standards-university/

https://www.dezeen.com/2014/08/22/rotating-rooms-sharifi-ha-house-next-office-tehran-iran/

https://www.dezeen.com/2016/07/04/sliding-spinning-walls-house-moving-landscapes-matharoo-associates-india-edmund-sumner/

https://www.dezeen.com/2013/08/20/open-house-by-matthew-mazzotta/

EXP2: Feedback + General Comments

Hi guys,

The following is some general comments and feedback on your submissions for EXP2;

Sustainability – a number of people wanted to emphasise ‘sustainability’ as an area of focus in their projects. This is a very noble gesture, however not as straight forward a task than you might think. Sustainability is much more than ‘green washing’ which is an easy trap to fall into. Simply proposing that having plants on your building, using timber as a key material or a lake next to your tram stop is not necessarily sustainable… yes, plants sequester carbon dioxide, however you need to analyse your proposal in a whole life cycle perspective. If you plant a tree on top of your tram stop and it consumes gallons upon gallons of water to maintain the plants health, not to mention the electricity to run the pumps to get the water up to that height, and don’t forget the weight of all those trees, soil and water means the structure needs to be oversized using five times as much concrete (concrete is a hugely unsustainable material) may mean that your sustainable ideas may not be as sustainable as you might have thought. Now, I do appreciate that you are first year students and experimenting with concepts that are new to you so this did not bear too much weight on your marks, I just want you to be aware. If you want to use landscaping all over your building because it looks cool, then just emphasise that aspect - “You wanted to create a direct connection with the built environment and the natural environment in a context where the natural environment is typically subdued by the built so that people were given a sense of calm and a moment of enjoyment along a busy arterial road”. Done.

Process – a few people are still getting lost on the importance of the process as much as the final product. Yes, an impressive final design is important, but as first year students the process is equally important. A few of you are catching on that adhering to the original concept doesn’t mean you can’t develop the design to a point where the physical resemblance to the original concept is not immediately apparent, but this is very different to simply going through the motions for each of the development steps and then doing something totally different for the final design. Here is an example of how the design developed for one student but the adherence to the process is clearly demonstrated. 

Materiality – A lot of people are using materials as a way to “prop up” their designs. A simple test I encourage you all to do is to make your entire design one colour. If the ideas and the architecture are convincing enough without adding material, you’re on the right track. You can now use your created textures to emphasise or highlight a particular aspect of the design. You can also use shades of white/grey/black to demonstrate materiality but I would discourage you from using actual materials, trust me, it might look cool but it doesn’t go far to communicate architectural skill in these early projects. For your final assignment I would discourage you from using timber, steel, concrete, etc. materials – I’m more interested in the thoughtful arrangement of form, mass, light, shadow and vantage points than I am in the thoughtful use of real-world materials. Even restrain yourselves with the use of glass for entire roofs, walls, etc. unless you are also proposing the structural system that will support such an extensive glass element.

People – people are a great addition to explain your design but sometimes they can be distracting if there are too many moonwalking lumion people. Try to either animate the walkers so that they are moving, or use people in static locations, or simply restrain yourself from going overboard with putting too many people in. 

Animations – when you have an animation make sure the camera doesn’t crash through walls, or people or trees. This is first person perspective… it’s hard to watch a video comfortably if I’m being dragged through walls and columns!!

Generic elements – putting things into your design such as escalators, turnstiles, ticket machines and traffic lights emphasises a sort of sensibility to your design but in a negative way. At this point in your design careers we’re looking for you to shake off the shackles of ‘normal society’ and think outside the box. A design that creatively diverts traffic around the tram stop (such as the image below) is a more thoughtful and architectural solution than putting in traffic lights so that pedestrians can cross the road safely. Also, things like escalators simply take the attention away from your design and can make things look ugly. Design everything! Here’s an example of a designed sign and tap on/tap off.

Presentation – as a whole you guys are presenting your work fantastically. Here is a project from another studio that stood out. Not only was it a good project but it was presented in a professional and impressionable way.

Textures – another aspect of your work across the board that stood out were your textures. Here’s one of my favourites - beautiful and simple.

Finishing details – don’t overlook the finishing touches such as balustrades for stairs, and don’t just whack any old balustrade on there… Design everything!!

Cohesiveness – the most successful designs were the ones that took a holistic approach to the design and every facet builds off the same concept – otherwise things look disjointed and ‘bitsy’.

Overall I was hugely impressed with what you guys put together. Now let's dig deep for the home stretch with EXP3: The Bridge!!!

Resource: Spatial requirements

Here's a link to view the Metric Design Handbook: https://goo.gl/D5loeZ

You can thank Alson for finding the link!

Sketchup: Artisan Tools

The most popular Sketchup plugin that deals with designing complex curves and geometry is called Artisan Tools. Many students have used it in the past to great effect.

https://artisan4sketchup.com/  here is a pdf user guide and a link to some video tutorials

UNSW Kensington Campus

Hey guys, you can download the UNSW Campus sketchup model here

EXP2 Client Concepts

Vo Trong Nghia
Tradition brings warmth to contemporary architecture
Architecture mimics natural elements and cultural values
Architecture is a response to the qualities and characteristics of natural materials
The distance between nature and architecture can change people’s experience
Dissolve the distinction between the interior and exterior

Carlo Scarpa
Complexity meets simplicity
Be honest with your material use
The space between is more important
Integration of the old and new creates harmony
Monolithic architecture becomes refined in the detail

Recap: Material / Texture

Hey guys,

Here are the videos we watched in Studio with regard to materials and texture. Have a think about the impact using one material can have upon an occupant over another material. What sort of experience do you want to elicit? Is it warmth, comfort, movement, anticipation, etc. etc. How might you conjure these feelings with different use of texture? This is the point of the abstraction of your 36 descriptive words.

Texture in architecture can be a powerful force. Think about what I spoke about the Berlin Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.. the sense of fear, change, anxiety, loss, disorientation, instability. These emotions are in part a result of the form and configuration but also of the textures and materials. The smooth bare concrete blocks from a distance appear the same and repetitive, perhaps like a crowd of people, but on closer inspection, each block is a slightly different size, shape and angle, furthermore, some have developed cracks, chips, blemishes... they are all individual - this is a very powerful notion when you consider what it is a memorial for.

Think about how a different material used at the Berlin Memorial would perhaps not be as successful at communicating the intended message... Like pink blocks?

Checklist: So Far

Guys

I know you've been given a lot to work through, but it's important you stay on top of things as we're not going to slow down with the tasks we give you and each new task builds off the previous one so being behind is only going to slow you down further!

Here's a checklist of the things that should have done since starting experiment one and uploaded to your blog BEFORE studio next Thursday;

R Post three images of your creative work

R Find a creative work from Magnus Walker, Issey Miyake & Louise Bourgeois

R Describe each work with a noun, verb and adjective

* Draw 18 sections exploring the relationship of above and below a datum

*  Undertake the sketchup tutorials here

* Develop one of your sections in 3 dimensions with Sketchup Make

* Save two screenshots of your 3D model to your blog

* Design two stairs (one from above, one from below) to suit your 3D model

* Represent each stair with at least two sections/details

* Design a second pair of stairs (one from above, one from below) to suit a different one of your above/below sections

* Represent each stair with at least two sections/details 

* Develop your second section with the stair design included in 3 dimensions with Sketchup Make

* Save two screenshots of your 3D model to your blog

You should be able to check of every one of these items and then you can claim to be up to date and ready to tackle the tasks that will be set next week where we will start exploring textures and materiality.

Recap: Stairs

To give you a bit of insight into the process of a stair being created I thought I might share a post by an American architect, Bob Borson. Bob is not a particularly famous architect but he does nice work and has a fantastic blog called "Life of an Architect" which you may like to follow as it is informative and more often than not, quite funny.

Here is an excerpt from the post "Modern Stairs"

"..the stairs look very simple, at least they look simple to me – and that was the point. Despite all the complicated codes and regulations associated with stairs, despite all the moving parts that went into creating this stairwell, when you look a the finished product, you don’t see any of that."

Have a read of the full blog post here: http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/modern-stairs-the-timeline/

When you are creating your stairs think about what makes your stair significant and distinctive either at the macro level (zoomed out. ie. the shape or path of the whole stair), the micro level (zoomed in. ie. how the stair treads fit together), or both.

Remember you are creating a pair of stairs for two developed sections, and should have two sketched sections/details for each stair. So a total of at least 8 sections/details (representing 4 stairs).

Sketchup

Hi Guys,

In addition to the tutorials that you should be doing via Sketchup's website (www.sketchup.com/learn) here's some other video's for a bit of guidance;

Another good resource is the Sketchucation website. They have a mass of tutorials categorized by difficulty;
Beginner: http://sketchucation.com/resources/tutorials/beginner
Intermediate: http://sketchucation.com/resources/tutorials/intermediate
Advanced: http://sketchucation.com/resources/tutorials/advanced

Recap: Sections

As you all know, week one's task was to create 18 sketch sections "exploring the relationship between two of the projects you chose and the ground line as a datum". I know some of you were a little overwhelmed by the abstract nature of this task, but fear not... that is mostly the point! Architects view the world differently to everybody else, I promise that by the end of first year you will be seeing the world through new eyes, and once you have these new eyes, you will never look at anything the same again! However, seeing the world differently doesn't happen magically - tasks that focus on thinking abstractly will help you to see the world [and architecture] in the way that is different to how everyone else see's it.

A couple of pointers to keep in mind for your sections;

SECTION:No matter how beautiful your drawings are, if you are not focusing on the idea of exploring a section, you're heading down the wrong path, keep on track and keep it to sections [for now at least]. Think about how a section allows you to better understand the relationship of spaces that might not be understood without a section. Have a think about the Pantheon in Rome... for all it's beauty, this is a space that cannot be truly understood without a section.

Remember to treat your hatching as a means to express the difference between solid and void. Perhaps you will use denser hatching to show very solid and loose hatching to show not very solid, or you may use a consistent hatch - whatever the choice, take pride in your hatching and undertake it with care. Space lines evenly. If your lines are supposed to be in the same direction, make sure that they are.

DATUM (above ground or below?):An area where many were heading off track was by drawing "objects" - an object does not have a relationship with a datum (if datum is a difficult concept for you, think of the surface of the ground as being a datum, however a datum is not restricted to being the ground line). Each of your sketch sections should have a distinct below ground space and a distinct above ground space. How your sketch interacts with the datum is up to you... are you entirely above, or entirely below, or are you exploring the relationship both above and below at the same time?

An easy way to judge if you've heading off track:- look at your drawings, could you easily switch the sketch at the bottom with the sketch at the top with little consequence? A below ground space should only belong at the bottom of the page, if not, you're probably still drawing objects!

ABSTRACT YOUR IDEAS:Remember, we're not looking for you to draw a literal interpretation of each of your chosen words. You should try to tap into the essence of the word or the idea of the word. I don't need to be able to identify what your word was just by looking at the sketch, but once I know the word, it should suit the sketch drawn. Sharp lines for an aggressive adjective and soft, gentle curves for a gentle adjective are easy ones, but try to explore the grey are between these extremes.

If you find this part difficult, try breaking your word down - what does this word actually mean? What are its synonyms? What feelings or emotions does this word evoke? What sort of lines would I draw if I was feeling that emotion?

Here are some built examples and their sections incorporating their underground spaces;

Emilio Ambasz - Casa de Retiro Espiritual

Tonkin Zulaikha Greer - Paddington Reservoir Gardens, Sydney

Tadao Ando - Chichu Art Museum, Naoshima

Cheers
Chris

Welcome

Hey Guys

To those of you in my studio group this is where I will post info relevant to your projects as well as somewhere we can communicate with one another. Feel free to comment on any post and I'll do my best to respond as quickly as I can.

I will also create a link to each students blog here so you can follow and establish a dialogue with your fellow students. Please post a comment on this post to tell me your blog address and use the awesome inc. default template when making your blog.

Please ensure that each week you post the previous weeks work as I will be reviewing before each studio.

Thanks
Chris