Ailie miller - 538625
Ailie Miller
Studio Air - ABPL30048 - Semester 1, 2013 - Group 3 - Daniel & Kirilly
My mother always thought it was strange how much time I’d spend reading the real-estate section of the newspaper as a teenager. She also thought my obsession with The Sims when I was ten was a bit extreme. But then, the realization struck that perhaps I wanted to be an architect. Since that moment in year 6 nothing else really sparked my interest, and the further into this course that I get, my decision only ever seems to be reaffirmed, and I know that I’ve made the right choice. Born in England to a family of Scots and spending a brief three year stint in Singapore, it was in 2000 that we moved to Australia, and Melbourne has remained as my home since, just don’t tell anyone that I prefer Sydney.
Besides my love for a city with hills, harbors, and cobbled stones, there are a few things that are currently driving me nuts:
Though my first pet hate is definitely one of individual preference, the construction of buildings that seem to want to scream at you that, ‘I’m something new and different’ really do irritate me. I simply do not understand why anyone would design a building that only addresses the ‘style of now’. In how many years is it going to become an eyesore? I do believe modern buildings can be beautiful, tasteful, stand the test of time, and become something iconic. But to me, to be able to achieve this, simplicity and traditional elements is the only way. By being respectful to the buildings environment, neighbors, and not resembling a snorkel mask, I think modern buildings can be brilliant, and they have some of the most functional and impressive interior spaces around. Currently, I’m sitting facing an orange house, with a green gate. Which I feel only proves my point on the over use of colour. If this house were white, black, or something neutral, it would probably be really quite beautiful, and yes boring. Which is why I’ve come to the conclusion that I like, small white buildings and giant black shiny, matt skyscrapers. They’re almost the building form of the perfection of a little black dress, and jeans with a white tee. I feel that by reducing the emphasis on colour, texture and materiality becomes more important. Which are more refined details that I quite like to discover in buildings. I also feel it creates a more homogenous environment, if all the buildings weren’t in clashing colour tones vying for attention. I also really appreciate garden space, and find it deeply upsetting at the decision to maximize internal space at the cost of the external. Sadly I feel that in a lot of buildings, the outdoor retreat is overlooked and underappreciated.
Almost next to nothing. My struggle with rhino in virtual environments essentially scared me away from ever trying to work with it again. My Bodyspace project was an abstracted representation of the degenerative affects of Alzheimer’s on the brain, where this degeneration was expressed with mold. This form was then modeled in clay, cut up to create curves, lofted in rhino, and then using my own octagon surface panel pattern, the design was then unraveled into 32 strips, printed and laser cut at the FabLab, and manually put together. Though I found the whole experience to be a bit of a nightmare, it was a valuable subject, and I was very proud of what I’d been able to achieve in my first 12 weeks of becoming an architecture student.
So these are probably the three main things that get me frustrated about the architecture world. Though usually I find that I’m pretty much in awe by the brilliance of peoples minds and designs. Ailie miller - 538625
Discourse
of
Architecture:
Studio Air - ABPL30048 - Semester 1, 2013 - Group 3 - Daniel & Kirilly
Architecture is a functional form of art. It’s intended to provide a function, but to be something more than just a practical object it has to evoke some kind of idea or emotion. Being able to encourage thinking, analysis, observations and interpretations of what is physically in front of you, is to me, what art is all about. The ability to provoke thought. This ability to encourage thinking and reflection is intricately tied with the idea of architecture as a social representative medium. By encouraging social engagement, architecture can be used to promote positive social behavior. It is able to do this simply by existing, almost as a ‘backdrop’ to people’s lives. I see it something like a giant version of an Ikea store, and each different building is just a giant interpretation of one of the little made-up Ikea rooms. Each providing and presenting something different, designed for different stages in life and encouraging a different styles of living. Looking at architecture as a ‘backdrop’ enables the architect to control how people live and behave, thus enabling the encouragement of positive social behavior and norms. In reference to my two chosen precedents, floating solar sphere for Stockholm, both designs show architecture as an art form critiquing society.
Plans for Stockholmsporten, by BIG architects
http://www.designboom.com/architecture/big-architects-stockholmsporten-master-plan-winning-design/
The Sky Mirror in New York commons.wikimedia.org
The Sky Mirror in London alisonlucy.worldpress.com
Anish Kapoor’s Sky Mirror, was a £900,000 art installation of 200. I was fortunate enough to have seen in Sydney and was blown away by its simplicity and beauty. When a work of art is as large as this, it is 10m in diameter, and is featured in such prominent social settings, Sydney Harbor, New York 5th Avenue, and London, having been some of its temporary exhibition sites, it is possible to start categorizing it under the title of architecture. This giant concaved reflective stainless steel mirror, encourages the discussion of, society and art.
Winston Churchill
Bjark Ingles Group, BIG, had the winning proposal for a new junction of two of Europe’s major Highways, and entrance to Stockholmsporten. Its most defining feature is a giant hovering reflective sphere over the junction, which also provides solar energy for the surrounding town area. This sphere shares a physical similarity to Kapoors Sky Mirror, but it also reflects some of the same social critique ideas, nature as art, architecture as art, society and the environment, and social interactions. The design is more than just a giant floating reflective ball, it creates 580sqm that is divided into pie slices of natural vegetation, wetlands and forests. These are connected via bike paths, which join onto public whilst also providing enough energy to support itself and for the 235 residents.
This monumental piece of work, is able to be so thought provoking in its simplicity, and for this it’s a truly great piece of work.
These two works of art/architecture, are both encouraging an individual interpretation, and emphasize the importance of social space. However it is the reception and response of these works, which will dictate how successful they are in achieving their goals.
Ailie miller - 538625