Opus Post 9: [Re]actions

Rotation- 

The way people move through the renaissance and Baroque cathedrals was like a rotation in the ways the statues and reliefs illustrate chronological stories of the bible encouraging  church goers to rotate around the space. 

Movement- 

For my final MDF "3rd Skin" the slats of MDF are layered and positioned in a random manner to relate to the bark I was inspired by. The bark itself implies movement in that it seemes to be made of plate clusteres of bark. The way each cluster plate layers on to the next makes me think of techtonic plates merging together creating  mountains and cliffs. The cantilevering nature of my final model is used to relate to this idea of cluster plates merging to create overhangs within the clustered whole of the bark.

Reflection-

In engaging light for our projects I wanted for my layered slats to reflect shadows on to each other as well as the floor. In the above pictures this can be seen as light passes through the negative spaces of the slats. The way light passes through minimal spaces can be related to gothic cathedrals in that large (small in comparison to the interior) stain glass windows illuminate focal points of the interior such as the kineto.

Source-

Illumination-

During our critique on monday we placed our projects up against the walls with direct light. The direct light seemed to be amplified to a much greater degree when it passed through the spaces of our projects. I can see how a totally different mood can come over a room when something is placed with lighting to manipulate shadows. 

Opus Post 8: Grammar:Syntax

Audience-

For our diagrams each student had to find out how we could integrate our audience with our diagrams. Instead of placing captions on or below the perspectives we decided to paste strings to certain perspectives and run them to places on the diagrams where their focal point corresponds. This way someone who has never stepped inside our building can connect the focal point of the string to the perspective and integrate themselves into the diagram as well as the perspectives. The visual tool of creating diagrams to link to a space is related to renaissance designers in the ways they chose to present their cathedrals to the public. scenes projected in bas relief in interior and exterior walls in order to educate the mostly illiterate public on stories of the bible. The expressions through body language of the statues brings observers into the mood of the depicted scene. 

[RE]visions-

This week our main project focus is on developing a light fixture/mainipulating product that relates to something we found in nature such as a leaf or rock. We are to make the final product out of 1/4" Medium Density  Fiber Board (MDF). Because it is going to be something somewhat large and made out of a strong planar material I want my piece to be functional perhaps like a piece of furniture. I found a nice piece of bark with lots of "plates" or bark clusters that come together to create the whole. The pieces of bark are also layered very thinly and finely. From the bark I made many drawings- visions of what my bark is as well as what it can be. Each drawing is a re-vision of a certain characteristic of the bark. From these drawings I created a small 3":1' model based on the stratification and layering of the bark. Making the model really helped me to realize better than a drawing what my desk/table would look like. The small model showed me how the base is awkwardly tall for the table top. In making the full scale prototype out of cardboard I made the base relate more in size to the table top, but in many ways its shape is still not quite connected to the top. Perhaps I will introduce the slats into the main structure of the desk somehow.

 

Character-

In picking furniture drawings for Suzanne's class, I chose pieces that had character in that the pieces themselves seemed to have dictate their own backdrop.

Transition-

From creating my first small scale model to the full scale prototype there is a much faster transition of making it as I already understand how the table will look. Also from the first model I've learned how the transition from the table surface to the legs is awkward. however in order to remediate this I had the slats "trickle" down the main stem of the prototype so that the transition from base to top isn't so awkward. I understand that the base still does not connect as well as it could which I will address in further revisions. 

Datum-

A line, plane or volume that organizes forms into a pattern within a space

600-1200 Square Foot Plan, sections and Isometric View

Crit Room (401) Plan

Opus Post 7: P Week

Periphery- 

A periphery is an external boundary. The nile river for the ancient Egyptians was a periphery to the after life. The East side of the nile is afterlife where Egyptians symbolically go when they die (Blakemore 1-25). The Acropolis of Greece fulfilled a similar religious boundary in that its height as well as its wall separates religious officials from commoners. The commoners rely on the priests to communicate to the gods. The commoners protect Athens as it is a city on a hill from which lookout posts are able to see potential threats.

Portfolio- 

A portfolio is a body of work someone amasses for the purposes of presentation. Architecture is a portfolio in that each piece represents and is a progression from past developments. Our first year portfolios mostly comprise of our foundations not only in architecture but in drawing capability. By fourth year our design and drawing capabilities will be much more polished and each of us will perhaps find our own design and drawing style. Each country has its own portfolio of architecture in that it takes from other countries to create its own style and making that work public so that other countries can take from their design. When we see the "international style" skyscraper it hardly resembles pre and ancient historic architecture but all of its verticality and essential structure comes from those who came before us. 

Process-

When we enter an interior, often times parts of the structure show (whether they be dry wall sheathed engaged columns or parts of steel framing) allowing us to understand how the building stands and how it was built. The Romans perhaps had the same experience in their emulation of Greek architecture in that they made thier own progression from the idealized Greek columns to thier own iterations and composites. The ways in which the Egyptians progressed from the uncomfortable straight back chairs to eventually transforming to angled back chairs is an example how the ideal form (straight posture) is sacrificed for comfort (Blakemore 1-25). 

Perspective-

In creating our Portal project presentaions, I decided to make a claymation based around the baths of Caracalla and since the office door we had belonged to Shawn and Rich, I decided to incorporate them as well. I wanted the portal to seem like a passage/perspective to another time which Shawn and Rich unknowingly stumble upon. The portal has opened and the Romans and Spartans fight for the Baths and anyone who gets in their way is brought into the battle... 

In many ways when we enter an interior (unless it's been remodeled) we are brought into the perspective of the time. When I go to my grandmother's house everything right down to the carpet looks and smells like another time. The pictures on the old antique dressers are black and white. When you see the old dressers, tables, silver and chairs, the painstaking craft of each piece elicits an imagination of a world where things are hand made rather than mass produced in China. 

I've learned from perspective drawings recently that they help you to understand an exterior or interior space very intimately. You're observing how each line connects as well as reasoning how the structure works. The perspectives below are of the Bryan Business building and the EUC. 

Find this and my "portfolio" of other claymations under this youtube url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKbLL75WjnI

Professional-

Architecture seemed to make a large leap in its creation as it transitoned to the renaissance in the 14th and 15th centuries. Patronism became a widespread resource for large public buildings rather than sole governmental funding (Blakemore 91-112). The professionalism of this era was brought on by architects such as Brunelleschi (1377-1446), Francesco Di Giorgio (1459-1501), and Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) who were often commissioned by the papacy or some private wealthy family such as the Medici (Blakemore 91-112). 

Citations-

Blakemore, R. G. (2006). History of Interior Design and Furniture. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Portal Pictures

My MHRA Building Detail