Andrew D. Akins 2011 - 2015
Selected Works
Education 2012 - 2015 | University of California, Los Angeles Master of Architecture 2006 - 2010 | University of Illinois at Chicago Bachelor of Science, Architectural Studies Spring 2009 | Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) Study Abroad
Professional 09.2012 - 08.2015 | University of California, Los Angeles [Los Angeles, CA] Wood Shop Technician / CNC Coordinator Student manager of wood shop and digital fabrication tools for UCLA Architecture. Managed and serviced all machines, including CNC
mills, laser cutters, 3d printers, and vacuum formers. Coordinator for CNC machines, including scheduling and teaching of software, and ordering parts.
08.2010 - 08.2015 | Bureau Spectacular [Chicago, IL and Los Angeles, CA] Designer / Project Leader / Fabricator Involved on all projects ranging from installations to buildings. Worked on drawing sets, diagrams, models, fabrication and other duties.
Project Lead on Three Little Worlds [2012] and Hefner/Beuys House [2012]. Involved in twelve published projects, including Township of Domestic Parts, [Venice Biennale 2014]
06.2013 - 09.2013 | Ball - Nogues Studio [Los Angeles, CA] Intern / Fabricator Fabricated and installed a permanent installation in the International Terminal of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Responsibilities
included organizational and team work skills, preparing and reading shop drawings, and fabrication of installation.
12.2011 - 02.2012 | UrbanLab [Chicago, IL] Intern Worked on PS1 YAP entry Virtual Water. Responsible for digital modelling, physical models and transportation of final design packet.
Also worked on Navy Pier re-design competition Great Pier, building study models and digital modelling.
04.2011 - 06.2011 | Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture [Chicago, IL] Intern Responsible for digital modelling, 2d drawing sets, including plans, sections, and site plans. Worked closely with in-house model shop.
Projects range in scale from high rise to airport. Worked in teams from five to twenty-five people.
Student Work
Professional Work
VGD_TWR Shanghai Series 1 Professor: Neil Denari - Spring 2015
006 - 011
Virtual Water (PS1 YAP 2012) UrbanLab - 2012
080 - 085
DRK_TWR Shangahi Series 2 Professor: Neil Denari - Spring 2015
012 - 017
Air Garden Ball Nogues - 2013
086 - 091
ERC_TWR Shangahi Series 3 Professor: Neil Denari - Spring 2015
018 - 023
White Elephant Bureau Spectacular - 2011
092 - 103
Bi(h)ome Professor: Kevin Daly and Dana Cuff - Spring 2015
026 - 031
2013 UCLA Spring Fashion Show Professor: Craig Hodgets - Spring 2013
032 - 037
Scary Monsters // Hexenhaus Professor: Jason Payne - Winter 2013
038 - 045
Turgid Vaults Professor: Jason Payne - Fall 2012
046 - 049
Daisy Chain Professor: Andrew Kovacs - Spring 2014
050 - 061
Wiggle Wall Professor: Mohammed Sharif - Spring 2013
062- 069
Misc. Drawings 070 - 077 University of California, Los Angeles - Fall 2012 - Spring 2015
Student Work University of California, Los Angeles Fall 2012 - Spring 2015
VGD_TWR
Video Game Design Tower Professor: Neil Denari - Spring 2015 University of California, Los Angeles What is the future of online entertainment? Video Games account for nearly 3% of internet traffic globally, which consists of over 475 million active daily users in China alone. The vast majority of these users come from North America and East Asia. Over $25 billion is spent on video game software and hardware globally per year. $6 billion is spent on PC games in China alone. This industry is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and is rapidly expanding across the United States, South Korea and China. Internet cafes are a popular destination for young Chinese gamers, gathering to public computers and high speed internet at a low premium. The number of domestically produced video games increases every year in China, due in part to the censorship of Western games. Console gaming did not have a presence in China until the early 1990’s and as a result, arcade games are still increasingly popular. This tower is designed to be the headquarters for a video game design company in Shanghai that specializes in all platforms of gaming, including console, PC, arcade and Oculus. The building has a central core which services all 24 floors totalling 97 meters in height. Each floor contains different programs, including arcades, internet cafes, video game testing, design offices, corporate offices and store. The facade is a two storey panelling system, which conceals a somewhat typical glass curtain wall. The facade panels performs as a double skin, screening the sun from the outside and framing the views at varying heights from the inside. Each facade panel spans every other floor slab, allowing for small balconies on alternating floors. The two story perforations on the exterior skin are framed by a thick black border, which emphasises the geometry and graphic quality of the facade. The facade perforations occasionally wrap the corner of the building, revealing the depth of the second skin and embraces the curtain wall facade behind.
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Typical Plan
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Axonometric 9
Typical Elevations
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Detial Axonometric
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DRK_TWR
Dark Tower // Nightclub/Server/Laundromat/Chapel Professor: Neil Denari - Spring 2015 University of California, Los Angeles What are the urban implications of a tower with no windows? Facade of implies the content of a building. There are clues and ingrained notions of facade that we subconsciously understand in a building’s facade. But what if the building limited these clues? There is a level of discomfort in not knowing, or even not being able to guess the contents of a building. Taking clues from the AT&T building in Manhattan, this tower plays off of the mystique and discomfort of a seemingly blank facade. A rigid formal massing and relentless repetition leave the passers-by with little to no insight to the activities that exist inside. The grayscale facade is a direct interpretation of the interior. Every program inside requires no windows, thrives in the dark, sometimes seedy, often debaucherous, occasionally monotonous but always exists in artificial light. Bars and nightclubs with live bands and DJ’s, VIP lounges and bottle service sprinkle their way throughout the building. With little to no wayfinding mechanisms, these exclusive clubs are hidden to those who aren’t in the know. Packed nightclubs lead way to servers rooms and high volume digital storage that take over entire floors and are rarely occupied by anyone. Similarly, self storage facilities often go with little to no occupancy on a regular basis, filled with discarded items and unwanted heirlooms. Typically the higher floors on a tower fetch the highest real estate value, but a tower without a view has no incentive to go higher. In this case, the lowest floors fetch the higher prices, and going up is only an inconvenience in an elevator ride. The very top of the building offers the only opportunity for natural light in the form of skylights. The deep coffered ceilings and skylights house a small chapel at the crown of the otherwise seedy and debaucherous tower. 12
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Typical Plans
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Axonometric
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Elevations
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Axonometrics
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ERC_TWR
Elderly Recreation Tower Professor: Neil Denari - Spring 2015 University of California, Los Angeles Why do the elderly need to inhabit the tower? The average life expectancy rate increases every year with the help of modern medicines and better education. The last generation before the single child rule in China will soon be retiring. This group of people accounts for the largest age group in China. The resources for aging adults need to be considered. The “sandwich generation” will soon be caring for the generations both above and below them within the next ten years. The verticality of the tower This tower is an exercise in proportions and scale, where the proportions are flipped and the scale of the floorplates increase as the tower ascends. The growing floorplate size is utilized by different types of activities that require more or less space. The trunk of the tower holds small scale activities (majong, checkers, ping pong) while the top hold larger scale activities (bingo, dojo, ballroom, water aerobics). The more physically demanding activities occur closer to the top to encourage exercise, while the undemanding activities exist at more accessible floors. The facade mimics the formal changes within the tower and establishes a modularity that can be read through the windows and panelization. The floorplan is a three spoked configuration. Each spoke extends at each level. At the one-third and two-third mark, the spokes elongate to create a staggering effect in elevation. The plan begins at 15 meters wide at the base and grows to 25m wide at it’s maximum height. 18
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01
Typical Plans
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Axonometric
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RF +91.6m
29F +87.6m
28F +84.6m
27F +81.6m
26F +78.6m
25F +75.6m
24F +72.6m
23F +69.6m
22F +66.6m
21F +63.6m
20F +60.6m
19F +57.6m
18F +54.6m
17F +51.6m
16F +48.8m
15F +45.6m
14F +42.6m
13F +39.6m
12F +36.6m
11F +33.6m
10F +30.6m
9F +27.6m
8F +24.6m
7F +21.6m
6F +18.6m
5F +15.6m
4F +12.6m
3F +9.6m
2F +6.6m
1F +3.6m
Elevation
G +0.0m
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Generative Plans 23
Exhibition Photos
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Exhibition Photos 25
Bi(h)ome
Backyard Homes Initiative Professor: Kevin Daly & Dana Cuff - Spring 2015 University of California, Los Angeles
Andrew Akins, Garth Britzman, Dee Chang, Katie Chuh, Ciro Dimson, Adrien Forney, Kara Moore, Dami Olufoweshe, Lyo Liu, Trenman Yau, Sarah Sibohan Johnson, Mark Lagola, Nawid Piracha
Developed as an extension of cityLAB’s Backyard Homes study, the Backyard BI(h)OME is an ultra-modern, lightweight accessory dwelling unit that has the potential to meet the current demand for 100,000 additional housing units in Los Angeles while also serving as a biome by providing habitats for other species, too. The BI(h)OME is flexibly designed to meet the needs of almost any household (housing for an elderly parent, a returning college graduate, a rental unit, etc.) while maintaining the benefits of of easy maintenance and affordability. The environmental impact of the structure over its entire life cycle is between ten and a hundred times less than a conventional auxiliary dwelling. In addition to this, the BI(h)OME is designed to accommodate multiple species in several ways: at the base of the BI(h)OME, the rocks in a gabion wall provide habitat; one wall of the BI(h)OME can be configured as an edible garden; modular units can be added to provide homes for bats, bugs, or birds; and a grey water drainage system can water surrounding vegetation.
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UCLA Spring Fashion Show 2013 Runway and Lighting Design Professor: Craig Hodgetts - Spring 2013 University of California, Los Angeles Andrew Akins, Kaveh Arbab, Aiden Carty
The Fashion Club at UCLA holds an annual Spring Fashion Show on campus, using all student fashion designers, models and coordinators. The school of architecture had never been involved in the runway design until we approached them about collaborating. We were given a small budget for materials and were asked to create a canopy for the runway. Knowing that we needed to get a lot our of the materials, we decided to focus the design around vacuum formed PET-G panels. The panels were light-weight and we could get a lot of variation out of a few similar panels. Four molds comprised over 60 of the panels and two unique panels were created. The final design cost less than $800 in materials and was assembled in under four hours. Each panel was individually back lit by it’s own LED light to create waves of light that moved across the runway. The panels were all painted white to diffuse and soften the light behind it.
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Scary Monsters // Hexenhaus Professor: Jason Payne Winter 2013 University of California, Los Angeles Austin Kaa, Andrew Akins
Within a galaxy of rogue planets or ALT houses one would naturally gravitate toward being the outlier or Pluto. One house which measured against the metric of the existing canon asks the question of if it belongs or if it is too strange already? If planetesimals are measured against planets to gain their specific definition as objects so too Hexenhaus required measure against an existing canonical house to affirm its status as truly strange. Mies’ Farnsworth House severed as the initial inspiration for Hexenhaus as the client Axel Bruchhåuser wanted to clear forest to build a version of the Farnsworth House whereas Alison Smithson had long been critical of Mies‘ Farnsworth House so the Farnsworth House became a shared interest for client and architect alike. Whereas the Farnsworth house deployed glass walls to bring in the views of the forest and trees Hexenhaus sprawls out of the as found toward the forest and trees but leaves behind a space which is something else entirely. Alison Smithson wrote, “Our conscious concern since the mid-1970’s has been with an aesthetic of overlapping and grids; because we believe there is space for illusion between superimposed layers; a place for the activities and interpretations of those who occupy it.” It is toward this goal that a tectonic detail in the Farnsworth House is literally expanded, the space between the column and the glass gives way to a host of joinery of wood and glass in Hexenhaus. The space between the column and the glass is the seed for the space of experience. Hexenhaus pushes the column further away from the terminal edge of the ‘as found’ not towards a transparency which brings in the forest and trees but toward a much different goal. Hexenhaus’ space between is neither opening the inside or bringing the outside in it is announcing the autonomy of the space between by creating a phenomenological experience of neither inside not outside but something else, something new. Hexenhaus’ lattice sprawls into the landscape and leaves behind a space of something else, it exploits a tectonic detail toward the creation of a volume layered with lattices and grids which confuses the existing tree with the artificial tree. The fixed trees and the flex trees of these spaces are the tactic toward a space which is truly critical of the Farnsworth House’s fixed glass and fixed columns. The Farnsworth comparison shows differences both tactically and figurally between the two houses and ultimately fixes Hexenhaus as something truly strange in the creation of spaces which neither bring in the interior or open to the exterior but do something else. This is the moment the true strangeness of Hexenhaus is realized and its status as Pluto the outlier is shown, as the project’s spaces which sprawled out can be evaluated individually as satellites. Each satellite becomes its own autonomous object and each satellite object has its own unique strangeness which is highlighted when the objects are considered as individual satellites rather than in reference to the existing house.
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Unfolded Plan
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Glass to Glass Connection
Double Top Plate
Fascia
Not ted by
Treehaus Exploded Axonometric
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Irregualr Bracing (Not Structurally Needed)
Glass to Glass Connection
Reference to Sun
Post Adjacent to Beam
Double Top Plate
Fascia
Fascia
No Fascia
Reference to Moon
Beam Not Supported by Post
Double Fascia
Sun and Moon Pavillion Exploded Axonometric 41
125 Degrees
133 Degrees
Riverbank Window (1985)
Porch Addition 1 Exploded Axonometric
Axel’s Porch (1985-1987)
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1/2” Radius
1-1/8” Radius
Entrance Porch (1998)
Porch Addition 2 Exploded Axonometric 43
93 Degrees
122 Degrees
1/8� Radius
Entrance Porch (1998)
Porch Addition 3 1 Exploded Axonometric
Riverbank Window (1985)
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Riverbank Window (1985)
Porch Addition 4 Exploded Axonometric 45
Turgid Vaults
Professor: Jason Payne - Fall 2012 Trenman Yau, Andrew Akins University of California, Los Angeles The studio prompt asked students to look at Gothic vaulting types, specifically the anomalies amongst existing Cathedrals. This particular project was to look at Lincoln Cathedral in Lincoln, Lincolnshire England. The anomaly exists in the choir of the church, where the only built “scissor vault� exists in the world. The directionality of the vaults at Lincoln Cathedral cause a different reading of the bay. The existing vault is a rib based geometry that is laterally asymmetrical. The scissor vault is a manipulated sexpartite vault, where instead of being read from transverse arch to transverse arch, it is read by the diagonal ribs. By shifting the reading of the vault to a diagonal orientation, the newly defined bay overlaps with its adjacent bay. The shift also leaves two end pieces at the end of the new vaulting system. The configuration of the overlapping bay system can be manipulated by these end pieces. A series of silicone models were made to test the plasticity and how the geometry would react when pressure was applied in several directions. Different models with different densities allowed for a variety of manipulations to be considered. The final product is the result of compression forcing the ribs of the vault to congeal into one surface, and ballooning in section. Pressure is applied on opposite sides so the object is rotationally symmetrical with the most deformation occurring nearest the area of pressure. The previously straight ridge line buckles at either end. Because even pressure is applied on opposite sides there are three fixed points, the legs opposite of the pressure and the very center. The manipulations were exercised through the physical models and exposed areas of potential deformation. These areas were examined and amplified through the design process. After the deformation occurs, the new object reads as a bulging vault with turgid tendencies. The new object is a deviation of its original form but operates in ways which the previous could not.
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Bay arches begin to cant outwards over the legs. Most dramatic near the initial transformation.
+0 EL
+0 EL
Direction of Compression
Fixed
+1.36 EL
+1.21 EL
of this operation and relative to the degree of rotation.
+7.66 EL
causes the ridge to bend both the center, allowing for a symmetrical transformation.
+6.41 EL +6.41 EL
+6.41 EL
Fixed
+7.66 EL
Congealment
Congealment
Bounding arches are original transverse arches from precedent.
Area of most deformation
+1.21 EL
+1.36 EL
Direction of Compression
Fixed
+0 EL
+0 EL
Annotated Reflected Ceiling Plan 47
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Sections
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Axonometric 49
Daisy Chain
Professor: Andrew Kovacs - Spring 2014 University of California, Los Angeles The hotel dropoff, as it currently exists in the Beverly Hills hotel, is a fixed point on the ground level in the front of the hotel. Often times demarcated by an awning or lettering displaying the establishment’s signature. But it rarely goes deeper than that. Examples exist where the hotel separates itself from the road and creates a promenade which leads to the dropoff, such as the Beverly Hills Hotel, but this is an entirely external process which has little impact on the architecture.The dropoff is the gateway to the alternate world that is the hotel. It is the threshold between the experience inside and the realities outside. This project takes the drop off and extends it throughout the building and ultimately disappears altogether. The dropoff is no longer a fixed point, but any number of paths through the building. By providing parking on the balcony of each room, the hotel users are encouraged to utilize the buildings vehicular infrastructure and experience the building by car before they are able to interact on foot. The relationship between car and building is emphasized over the experience of the person and the tower becomes overwhelmed by ramps with the car claiming dominance over the tower.
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Generative Plans 51
VW
VW
VW
Typical Plan 1
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Typical Axonometric 1 53
Typical Plan 2
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VW
VW
VW
Typical Axonometric 2 55
VW
VW
VW
VW
Typical Plan 3
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Typical Axonometric 3 57
VW
VW VW
Racetrack
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VW
VW
VW
VW
Drift Car Track 59
VW VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW VW
VW
VW
Various Plans
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Site Axonometric 61
Wiggle Wall (A Nomadic Envelope Assemblage) Professor: Mohammed Sharif - Spring 2013 Ciro Dimson, Andrew Akins University of California, Los Angeles
In Rudolf Schindler’s manifesto, Space Architecture, the architect expressed a desire to realize a new conception of modernist spatial plasticity using modern materials and contemporary building techniques typified by frank and straightforward detailing approaches. Adapting the local vernacular stick frame construction, Schindler developed his own framing technique, the “Schindler Frame”, which achieved tectonic thinness and lightness and spatio-environmental integration between interiors, envelope and the landscape of a benign Southern California climate. Our precedent study, the How House, is a perfect example of such a pursuit. Ever one to think of simple and speedy techniques that married constructional know-how with affectively pleasurable formal and environmental experiences Schindler also devised the “Panel-Post” system. This invention - comprising a pre-fabricated system of cruciform wood columns and lightweight infill panels - exudes a playful, proto erector-set like quality and reminds us of the flexible and informal qualities of the lifestyle, which Schindler’s architecture sought to promote and frame through a rigorous rule-based ordering language.. Drawing from Schindler’s “Panel-Post” system, his adaptive thinking and geometrically ordered Bohemianism (remember those sleeping baskets on the roof of the King’s Road House?), our wall assembly instantiates and animates Schindler’s beloved horizontal ordering proportions in three dimensions. To do so Wiggle Wall uses fabric, off-the-shelf extruded aluminum columns and aluminum telescoping rods thereby creating a dynamic junction between structure and skin. The telescoping rods and elastic fabric expand and contract kinetically to create an envelope that is defined by both users and the elements. Its fluctuating wayward profile expands from thick to thin to continuously change section and surface expressions. The clip-on nature of its cable and mast-like framework also signals an architecture of adaptability, mobility - of nomadism. In sum Wiggle Wall is an assemblage of malleable fabric and precisely milled parts whose buoyant body and silhouette is in a state of perpetual, playful flux. Its seeming waywardness reminds us of the tensions between the largely static composure of architecture and the dynamic processes of life and nature. Wiggle Wall’s values also remind us of those of Schindler’s client James Eads How, an early homeless activist and professional hobo, because they demonstrate how seemingly static domesticity can be invigorated with a heightened sense of movement and transience. Moreover we think that Wiggle Wall’s luminosity, translucency, elasticity and precise skeletal framework would have delighted Rudi himself and reminded him of the contemporary relevance of his Space Architecture manifesto.
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Axonometric of Wall System
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Rendering of Wall System 65
Section 66
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Installation
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Model Photo 69
Miscellaneous Projects
University of California, Los Angeles 2012-2015
The following drawings and models are from various projects and classes taken at UCLA.
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Winter 2015 Rethinking Perloff Hall Professor: Hitoshi Abe
Plan -Cut Axonometric 71
Fall 2013 Housing Studio Professor: Craig Hodgetts
First Floor Axonometric
Second Floor Axonometric
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Zoomed Unit Axonometric 73
Winter 2014 Steel House Professor: Hadrian Predock
Studio / Gallery 487 sq ft +.75 Garage + MEP 409 ft +0
Studio / Gallery 96 sq ft +0
Kitchen / Dining 583 sq ft +.75
Studio / Gallery 216 sq ft +0
Studio / Gallery 130 sq ft +.75
First Floor Plan
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Master Bed 488 sq ft +12.75
Living Room 337 sq ft +13.5
Mezzanine 139 sq ft +15
Bedroom 267 sq ft +14.25
OďŹƒce / Flex Space 188 sq ft +12 Mezzanine 140 sq ft +11.25
Reading Room 232sq ft +13.5
Second Floor Plan 75
Spring 2013 Structures Studio Precedent Professor: Kevin Daly
Model Photo - Pier Luigi Nervi - Palazzo del Lavoro
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Model Photo - Pier Luigi Nervi - Palazzo del Lavoro 77
Professional Work UrbanLab, Chicago, IL 2011
Ball Nogues Studio, Los Angeles, CA Summer 2013
Bureau Spectacular, Chicago, IL 2010-2015
Virtual Water (PS1 YAP 2012)
UrbanLab 2012 Martin Felsen, Sarah Dunn, Katherine Eberly, Jeff Macias, Andrew Akins The public courtyard of PS1 has a Water Footprint of over 300,000 gallons of rainwater per year – over 100,000 gallons of rainwater during the summer. Our Virtual Water project collects, cleans, conserves and uses thousands of gallons of this summertime rain. After cleansing, rainwater flows between and over conical canopies to create six unique water-based atmospheres. The atmospheres include (1) a Stream or “Living Machine” that cleans collected rainwater with plants, and demonstrates how nature cleans water with minimal energy inputs; (2) a Waterfall Fish Pond that supplies critical nutrients to the plants in the Living Machine, and demonstrates relations between fish and their wetland environments to clean water; (3) a Splash Pool for visitors to play in shallow biofiltered water; (4) an active Mist/Sprinkler environment that cools visitors in the summer; (5) a Drip Rain Puddle that creates a serene dripping sound during and after a rain storm; and (6) a Reflecting Pool Lounge that is a shaded gathering space and water storage fountain.
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Air Garden
Ball-Nogues Studio 2013 The Air Garden embodies the qualities of light and space that are unique to Los Angeles. Like the city itself, it does not have a distinct beginning or end; inside or outside; back or front. It is both an object and an atmosphere. Its appearance is not static as it is predicated on changing quality of light in the north light well at any hour of the day. The Air Garden is a serene moment amidst the hectic action and movement within the airport. LAX is a city among cities that envelops the globe, networked through a system of concourses, gates, terminals and connecting flights; it is an international metropolis of movement. The Air Garden is a pause within this movement; a place for reflection and repose, an opportunity for the traveler to daydream. Within the confines of passport kiosks, security checkpoints, ticket counters, and other forms surveillance and control, it is our aim for this work to engender a sense of freedom The work is like a cloud inside the light well, which can be clearly described using a term from chemistry: suspension. A suspension is a heterogeneous fluid or gas with solid particles more or less evenly dispersed within in it. It is not opaque but more like a ubiquitous fog permeating the space. Therefore, the Air Garden will not obstruct the viewers’ perspective through the light well nor into the surrounding spaces that showcase the human activities of the airport. While the environment is interspersed with the metallic bead chain catenaries, it is also constructed from the negative space between the catenaries; sight extends into and throughout the building. The reflective qualities of the bead chain, that form the catenaries, create a sense of vastness through the play of light in space. Each one is a miniature convex mirror, capturing light from all corners of the space as well as from the adjacent balls. The project evokes a sense of immensity through this reflective dance of color and light. The consistent repetition of highlights on each bead produces a condition of being ensconced in a place that is both proximate and seemingly vast. Los Angeles is a region full of creative opportunity and innovation; Air Garden represents these characteristics. Here, creative economies thrive. The real meets the unreal and Air Garden is a metaphor for this through its presence as both painted gesture and atmosphere. Much like the infinite space in a traveler’s momentary lucid daydream, Los Angeles is a boundless expanse. Our city seems limitless when coasting its highway’s smooth curves that beautifully pattern its extensive landscape with measured grace and elegance. Air Garden embodies the sublime qualities of the utopian paradise we call home, Los Angeles.
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Thing inside a thing
An object that tumbles
Hard outside, soft inside Drawings by Jimenez Lai
White Elephant (privately soft)
Bureau Spectacular 2011 Jimenez Lai, Thomas Kelley, Cyrus Penarroyo, Andrew Akins The White Elephant is roughly 10’x10’x10’. It has three basic premises: 1. A building inside a building, somewhere between a super-furniture and a small house. 2. An object that tumbles to attain multiple orientations to blur the qualification plans and sections. 3. An object that is hard on the outside, soft on the inside. Its exterior is clad with translucent polycarbonate, and the interior is stuffed cowhide. It tumbles and changes orientation and can flip to eight different stances. What is a building that can tumble freely without gravity or fixed orientations, hard on the outside but soft on the inside, and obstructs the continuity of interior spaces like an elephant in a room? This installation is a freestanding micro building/macro furniture that questions projection, inside/outside, rigidity/fluidity and size/scale.
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Find centroids of a sphere
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Create surface from points
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Truncate ends, pull surface off ground.
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Facet surfaces, create openings 93
Eight sided figure, faces rest flat on ground.
Truncate ends, rests on six legs.
Faceted surfaces, each face different.
Puncture, allow for openings. 94
Study Model in Gallery
Tumble Sequence
Interior Mock-Up
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F C
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ABF
ABC
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ACD
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ADF 96
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CBE
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CDE 97
A +0'-0"
A +0'-0" D +9'-4 1/4"
F +0'-0" D +9'-9 1/4"
F +10'-3"
C +6'-3 1/2" C +0'-0"
E +7'-10 1/2"
E +10'-10 1/2" B +0'-0"
B +0'-0"
ABC
ABF
A +0'-0" B +6'-7 1/2" D +0'-0"
C +0'-0"
E +6'-10"
C +7'-5 3/4"
F +7'-10 3/4"
A +0'-0" B +9'-9" F +0'-0" D +0'-0" E +6-8 1/4"
ACD
ADF 98
E +0’-0” C +0'-0"
A +9'-0 1/2"
D + 7’ - 2 1/2”
B +0'-0"
C + 6’ - 1/3”
F +0’-0”
B +0’-0”
D +5'-10 1/4"
F +8'-11 3/4"
E +0'-0" A +7’ - 6 1/2”
BEF
CBE
A +7'-11 3/4"
C +10'-5"
C +0'-0" D +0'-0"
E +0'-0" B +5'-8 1/4"
B +11'-0"
A +9'-5" D +0'-0"
F +0'-0"
F +9'-3 1/2" E +0'-0"
CDE
DEF
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Thank you for your consideration.