Design Portfolio

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure

Design Portfolio Alexandra Louise Faure Qualification/s: Bachelor of Environments (ARCHITECTURE MAJOR), University of Melbourne Years completed: 2014 Contact: 0447674550 / alexandrafaureteale@gmail.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS Design Studios The Mystery Theatre - Studio Sparks (2014) The Gateway to Wyndham - Studio Air (2013) Australian Cultural Centre - Studio Earth (2013) Learning from the Masters - Studio Water (2012) Community City Square Activation - A Human Scale City Installation (2015) Visual Communication Describe your Environment, Freehand Drawing (201-2015) Study of Movement - School of Fish (2014) Data Collection and Analytical Diagrams (2013) Volunteer Work Earthship Academy, Easter Island (2014) - Learning and Applying Earthbag Construction, Nepal (2015) - Project Research and Staging

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure For EDS Sparks, we were asked to design on the western edge of the city a theatre complex dedicated to the author of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Conan Doyle. The complex was to include a proscenium theatre (five hundred people), a black box (two hundred and fifty people), a cinema (two hundred and fifty people) and a restaurant.

University of Melbourne Subject: Architecture Design Studio Fire, 2014

The site was bounded by three streets (Spencer, Bourke and Godfrey) and the Savoy Hotel.

Historically, Bourke Street has been Melbourne’s entertainment hub; home to many theatres, cinemas and retail shops. Spencer Street on the other hand was considered quite unfashionable and unattractive but since the Nineties it has been part of a revitalisation city program. As the theatre complex was to be in front of Southern Cross, major transportation hub, it had the potential to be a landmark, a focal point for a scattered neighbourhood. It was interesting to notice the different pace of circulation around the site: the intense activity of Spencer, the constant flow on Bourke and the serenity and calm of Godfrey.

Another thing that caught my attention was the lack of greenery in the area.

Looking at the character of Sherlock Holmes in various plays, books, movies and tv-series: a few personality traits were recurrent and seemed quite significant: his eccentricity, fascination for mysteries and obsession with solving them rationally.

I wanted to create a landmark that would engage with the people and would bring back some greenery to the area, making it more liveable for everyone. I based my design on the idea of movement, the idea of disguise and deceiving the eye and the concept of solving a mystery throughout the whole building (inside and out).

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure

Site Plan. 1:1000 @A3

Ground, First and Second Floor Plans 1:500 @A3

University of Melbourne Subject: Architecture Design Studio Fire, 2014

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure

Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth Floor Plans 1:500 @A3

In my research, various artists that have experimented with movement and illusion for decades such as Carlos Cruz Diez and his outstanding amount of kinetic art pieces and installations were of great inspiration. I also looked at various designs such as the museum of Quai Branly by Jean Nouvel and its green façades.

I created the façades with the idea in mind that they would represent a disguise, like a ribbon, its shape changing in accordance to the intensity of movement of the streets surrounding the site. As the size of the kinetic piece increases from Bourke to Spencer, the green wall expands as one gets further in Godfrey Street.

The kinetic piece itself was based on the curtain design I created for the cinema. The verticality of the strips represent the urban setting and the gloomy colours, a crime scene.

Sherlock is portrayed through his internationally recognisable silhouette, in similar colours but with oblique strips, letting the spectator speculate about deeper meanings.

One enters the building as if entering Sherlock Holmes’ mind, pursuing clues, seeking the truth.

The vertical openings in the kinetic facade represent moments of clarity, breakthroughs. As one goes further up the building, the interior walls go from being very angular to more organic and curved, signifying a clearer understanding of the crime. The garden on the Fourth floor allows for looking at the problem from

DESIGN PORTFOLIO

University of Melbourne Subject: Architecture Design Studio Fire, 2014

Alexandra Faure new perspectives. Finally, the restaurant and roof top garden, offering panoramic views beyond Southern Cross, represent the truth being revealed. The light fittings and back walls were inspired by Sherlock’s famous violin and put in juxtaposition with the angularity of the panoramic windows, recalling the darker side of uncovering truth within most cases.

The theatre complex sets a new intricate layer in the cityscape, its architecture embraces movement and provides an environment where actors and spectators can exchange roles.

I quite enjoyed this studio for various reasons: the challenge and complexities of a seven-storey architectural program, getting inspired by pop culture and various arts and learning to do as much as possible in a given time.

East, North and West Elevations. 1:500 @A3

Pictures of Model. Not to Scale.

DESIGN PORTFOLIO

University of Melbourne Subject: Architecture Design Studio Fire, 2014

Alexandra Faure

Artist Impression of Lobby and Restaurant, Not to scale.

Long and Short Sections.

1:300 @A3

University of Melbourne Subject: Architecture Design Studio Air, 2014

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure

The project for ADS Air was done with the collaboration of two other students: Christopher Krambias and Grady Peterson.

Concept model and prototype.

Daytime render.

Not to scale.

For Studio EDS we were asked to design an installation along the freeway to Wyndham, Victoria that was to represent the city and its aspirations.

Our gateway concept is an innovative installation that promotes environmental awareness through responding to its surroundings.

The forms wilt and rise in different positions depending on the level of pollution being emitted by the vehicles driving past.

Unless other freeway art projects, our design will put the City Council of Wyndham in the forefront of design technology. Rather than being a regular static shape, it will be a forever changing forest alive and responding to the audience in a personal way. This will create a unique experience, a sense of intrigue and memorability.

The main goal behind the studio was to get students to enter the architectural discourse by discovering new software such as Rhino, Grasshopper and their various plug-ins and understand their limits and possibilities.

To assist us in our design task, we developed two systems: one that would detect movement and trigger the deformation of our forms at the right time and a second that would simulate the entire experience, thus helping us to assure accuracy.

In our exploration of movement recognition we ended up using a RM90 camera filter. All visible light was blocked out and an infrared light was shunned onto the webcam. This meant that there was only one moving element in the webcam. The regularity of our result along with various similar researches was evidence that our algorithm could be used in practice.

As simulation secured the accuracy of our design, it was a great opportunity to understand every aspect of it, test, refine details and always improve our proposal. Various simulations were undertaken regarding the speed of deformation, the bending factor, size of shapes and placement on site. Overall it was also a great way to make sure the sensations we wanted the audience to feel would be provided. It also allowed us to produce a video and to share more interactively our concept.

BASE GEOMETRY

RIGHT MOVEMENT

LEFT MOVEMENT

UPWARD MOVEMENT

UPWARD+RIGHT MOVEMENT

UPWARD+LEFT MOVEMENT

LOFTED CURVES

MESH FROM IMAGE

MESH FROM SECOND IMAGE

POLYLINES

TRIANGULATED SURFACE

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure

University of Melbourne Subject: Architecture Design Studio Air , 2014

University of Melbourne Subject: Architecture Design Studio Air, 2014

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure

Using these software enabled us to reach a certain accuracy that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise but also somehow controlled our creative process.

After looking at various projects such as the Technorama Facade by Ned Kahn (Switzerland, 2002), the design behind air dancers and the incredible installation A Hundred and Eight, we knew what kind of technology and algorithm we had to design.

The aesthetic of the shapes is what varied a lot throughout the semester. The Japanese artist Mari Funaki was a real inspiration. Her jewellery, objects and installations were a great example of the elegance and dramatic gesture we were striving for.

To us, the subtlety of the shapes was of great importance as to provoke intrigue, debate and boost architecture discourse on both ways and means. To further link our message to Wyndham City Species Abstraction Process

Kinetic Model

and broader region, we selected five species of the endangered flora and fauna of the area. With Pablo Picasso’s bull exercise in mind, we began the abstraction of their shape.

This abstraction process was done many times as to be able to have shapes aesthetically interesting but also simple enough for us to be able to use them with our algorithm.

In that sense, we experienced first hand the limits of the software we used, although limits that with more time and practice could definitely be overcome.

Overall Studio ADS Air was a very challenging and exciting subject as it entailed learning various programs in a very short amount of time and apply them in ways we hadn’t thought of before. In the future, I would love to take some of these concepts and take the time to refine them further.

Species Reactions

Cardboard Models

Studio EDS Earth, was a design for Herring Island on the Yarra River.

We were to design an Aboriginal Cultural Centre that would represent the intricate relationship between the indigenous people of Australia and its settlers.

The project was to incorporate three significant aspects: an art gallery focusing on the values of the aboriginal culture, one representing the non-indigenous Australians and a Garden of Unity, representing the effort of moving forward from History, acknowledge and understand each other.

Site Plan. 1:1000 @A3

Despite having completely different approaches to life, both cultures have had in the past interests for the same places. Indigenous people seem more at ease with nature, their culture revolves around it, they have a deep connection with the land that goes beyond physical and emotional attachment. Lands are linked to their spirituality, their whole history. For settlers, what’s visible is less menacing and they naturally “subdivide and civilise�.

These different ways of approaching life can be summarised in the difference between making the site suit the plan or the plan suit the site.

I wanted this design to move forward from the loss and terror associated with the relationship between both cultures, and focus on celebrating their differences but also unity.

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure

Early sketches. Not to scale

University of Melbourne Subject: Architecture Design Studio Earth, 2013

University of Melbourne Subject: Architecture Design Studio Earth, 2013

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure The Manna Gum is part of the species indigenous to Melbourne region. Nowadays, the Victorian Government put in place initiatives to positively impact the flora and fauna of the island. This particular iconic specie was used as a starting point for my design response to the brief, both cultures being represented here as part of a whole, two leafs of the same branch, positioned in a way as to embody an atmosphere of equilibrium -unity and difference.

Both rooms have the same shape in plan and represent the individuality of the cultures by different uses of space, structure, technology and materiality.

The aboriginal section, presents materials with natural finishes and textures and seems to be part of the environment; the weaving technique echoing much older indigenous traditions. In contrast the adjacent structure is two storeys and made of concrete, steel and glass - a much more elevated and visible form also representative of the urge non-indigenous Australians have to recreate natural materials through processes rather than use rugged or untouched material in built works.

First and Ground Floor Plans. 1:100 @A3

The island allows for two different approaches to the building.

Coming from the South-West boat landing, users would be confronted to a structure hidden in the topography and behind trees -sign of our culture as a whole wanting to move to more ecological ways

University of Melbourne Subject: Architecture Design Studio Earth, 2013

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure of living. Coming from the second boat landing -the one part of the site- users would be able to grasp “the whole picture� from the first look.

The circulation through and around the building was thought as to represent a journey to understanding that we can divide in four sections: the first section being the recent history of Melbourne (from the first settlement to today ), the second part being the indigenous gallery (reflecting back on thousands of years in Australian History), the third being a walkway allowing the users to be visually confronted with the contrast between both cultures and finally the fourth the garden of unity which surround the built form as an expression of reconciliation and understanding.

West, North and East Elevations. 1:100 @A3 Early sketches. Not to scale

Long and Short Sections. 1:200 @A3 Site Plan. 1:1000 @A3

I really enjoyed Studio EDS Earth as it made me research Australian culture and pushed me into finding the poetics of communicating ideas architecturally.

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure

University of Melbourne Subject: Architecture Design Studio Earth, 2013

University of Melbourne Subject: Architecture Design Studio Water, 2012

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure

Analytical Diagrams of Casa Vieira de Castro (Vila Nova, Portugal) and the new design for the boathouse.

For my first studio, EDS Water, we were asked to design a boathouse along the Yarra in Kew, Victoria, using the principles of one of the twelve masters we were going to study throughout the semester.

I was assigned Alvaro Siza.

Researching his work, I was able to understand a few of his key principles. With these in mind, I played with simple geometric figures, adding and subtracting them with balance to create a unique and distinctive shape that also alternates between plane faรงades and panoramic windows.

Aerial View. Not to scale

As Siza systematically does, I gave great attention to the site.

The structure is made in a way as to embrace the topography and the shape of the river, thus not breaking the natural equilibrium of the area but “growing from the site itself”. Primordial importance was given to views and natural light (sunshine and shadows), creating a typical “panorama building”. The fenestration, also allowing different journeys throughout the design, creates an interesting relation between the inside and outside and creates a personal view for each space. Visual continuity was created by the unity in material, texture and colour. I decided to keep white concrete and glass as the main materials as the exercise consisted on bringing Alvaro Siza’s perspective to the project, although adding some timber detailing to link the structure more to the site and allow for self-expression.

The interior organisation was kept simple with a limited use of separating walls and the creation of large communal spaces.

The exercise taken throughout the semester in EDS Water was remarkably interesting to me as it required synthesising another’s approach to architecture and using it in a personal way.

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure

North, East and West Elevations. 1:100 @A3

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure For the past few years I maintained various sketchbooks where I have recorded all sorts of images of buildings, places, objects and people in the city; spending a few seconds to a few hours on them.

Visual Communication: Describe your Environment, 2012-2015

Visual Communication: Melbourne Built Environment, 2014

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure

Visual Communication: Analysis of Movement, 2014

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure This exercise explored the different ways a school of fish swims through the water while avoiding danger and searching food.

To communicate the results, I decided to portray them through a series of time lapse illustrations of three different situations: no predator, one predator and a few predators.

Visual Communication: Data Collection and Analytical Diagrams, 2014

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure The goal of this exercise was to present data collection in a creative way. In this case, I decided to analyse the trends in university students’ modes of transport.

Earthships are sustainable buildings made of recycled materials. Their design revolves around six principles: thermal/ solar heating and cooling, solar and wind electricity, contained sewage systems, the use of natural and recycled materials, water harvesting and food production.

Along with eighty volunteers, I stayed in Easter Island for five weeks to build a music school for local children using Earthship technology. As Academy students we helped building the school on site while also learning all the theory and technical aspects of Earthships during class.

Photo credits: Willow Noavi Photography (Megan and Caleb Opp), Isabel Fernanda Avellan, Mahani Teave, Christie Noble, Sergio Coelho and myself.

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure

Volunteer Work: Earthship Academy in Easter Island, 2014

Volunteer Work: Earthship Academy in Easter Island, 2014

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure

The design of the school is based on the pattern of an eight petal flower. In a month we were able to build three of the great domes and finish completely two rooms and a bathroom. To make sure everyone would learn something about everything, we were split in smaller groups and would have to do different types of work every day.

The Academy was organised hand in hand with local NGO Toki Rapa Nui and had a social, cultural and environmental mission.

Many locals participated and were able to teach many more the skills learned during this month and the construction continued. They now have built the whole structure and are in the process of giving more sophisticated finishes to the inside of the rooms.

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure

Volunteer Work: Earthship Academy in Easter Island, 2014

Volunteer Work: Earthship Academy in Easter Island, 2014

DESIGN PORTFOLIO Alexandra Faure