Component 1 Danielius Grab
Brief
Specification
The client is an astrophysicist who has currently had a breakthrough and discovered and proved the existence of worm holes, he has won the Nobel prize for his work. He is now retiring and deciding to get a home for himself with an observatory so he can do astrophotography. The client is asking for a modern house in a dark location, far away from light pollution and preferably in high altitudes to minimize atmospheric aberration. He doesn’t mind any design: modern, post modern, contemporary, old fashioned, etc. the house would have to use renewable energy as it would be far from the national grid. Maximize the use of nature and make the whole building blend in with the surroundings as it is “renewable.”
The house should include an observatory place for the client to view the stars and a whole house with bedrooms kitchen and all the living necessities. The house will be built far away from other homes so logistics will be considered and local roads. The house will be in high altitudes so the house will most likely be a hillside house so efficiency with materials and natural surroundings will be key. For example have a good use of natural lighting to minimize light used during day time. Have sustainable energy to power the house as it will be far away from the national grid. Solar panels and wind turbines will most likely be used. •
Observatory
•
Dark location on hilltop
About the Client
•
Sustainable energy with a modern design. Make it blend in.
•
Minimize harm to surroundings
The client is an astrophysicist with of course a passion in physics and astronomy. Outside of his career he likes cars, reading books, nature and photography. I could use the client’s interest and create ideas for a home for them. For example I could use unique shapes from a car. Go to a museum and gather some images about space and astronomy and use that for design ideas.
•
Add a library and office working space
•
Make sure star viewing conditions are good.
•
Have a great view and good natural lighting.
Location A home for my client needs would have to be most likely built on a cliff/ hill. This is because the higher you are the less light pollution there is around you. But you will most likely be far from the national grid so you will need to supply your own energy/ heating/ gas etc. To pick a location I would need to pick something that is far from any city but not too far from the national grid. And somewhere that is at least 1km above the nearest city
Trout Point Lodge
In this location there is a lodge that has been built and north of it there is plenty of space to build a home right next to the river so we can use the current from the river to generate electricity. It is not far from the main road so transportation wont be to much of a problem
A perfect location is found in Nova Scotia was the location is quite, full of nature and most importantly abundant from light pollution. In the bottom left corner there is a patch of land were there is no color and that shows that there is no apparent light pollution. That would be a perfect location to build a home and it wont necessarily have to be up at high altitudes but that means you will need flat land to see the whole horizon. This location although is very nature reserved and destroying any habitats will not be possible, so I will be building around habitats and implementing the building to the environment. For example I would be building around the trees rather than chopping them down.
Main road
100 m
200m
Modern homes example- design ideas
The point of me drawing all these buildings from secondary sources is to understand how buildings on hilltops are usually designed. What I have realized is that there is always some section of the building that is hanging over the ground or empty space. This is probably done to give the illusion that the building is hanging and really make it blend in with the hill top. Gives the adrenaline of hanging over nothing. i like the idea because
Modern sustainable homes
Modern Tesla home proposed by Elon Musk for A sustainable future. Includes A home battery, Solar powered tiles and an electric car. Good use of sustainable energy. This would be useful as my project will be located in the middle of nowhere, so using all the energy around the building is vital to keep it warm and have electricity. Good use of natural lighting. Many skylights and the interior is in white so the whole interior brightens up.
Hillside homes
Observatories
Observatories really stand out in a way and to create a home that looks like a home and not a building from university will be a challenge to face. The observatories always tend to be dome shape and having a dome shape with a linear design house may not look good, it would just look weird, so instead I have to build around it and create a functional observatory with a nice design to match to the rest of the building
Inspiration drawing for modern homes Frank Lloyd Writes famous holiday home – (Falling water) is a primary example of a modern house that is still looked at as inspiration even though of its 83 years of age. This building has simplicity and complexity of many variations which makes it a very interesting building. The linear design of it really attracts modern architects and society is always amazed by the final outcome of these types of buildings. I will use this icon as inspiration for my project. With architecture it is almost like fashion, there are trends that come and go. In this case Falling water was created in 1935 but we still see this type of design world wide. This is because contemporary architects look back to post modern or even modern architecture. Architects always get inspiration from previous generation architects and the cycle repeats every 100 years or so. So looking at work such as falling water is a good way to find inspiration for my work.
Pen drawings from secondary sources.
Long studio by 30x40 designs
This is the long studio designed by Eric Reindholdt as his personal office and work space. Its designed as a barn and uses as much of the space, for example as the roof is triangular the interior roof is not flat like in traditional houses, but instead the ceiling follows a triangular shape and uses as much of the space as possible, in the bottom left corner the image shows a platform built as a storage unit so the are looks nice and clean. Also on the exterior of the building there is a creative solution for storage as shown in the bottom right image. The logs are placed almost inside the studio so they are not protruding and almost look like a textile art on the wall. There is also a good use of skylights where it brightens up the interior well. This is more so done because the ceiling color is white and it reflects most of the light back into the interior space. In other words this barn is built in a way where it is multifunctional and can be rearranged to fulfil different purposes. I watched one video by Eric and he says all his furniture is not fixed so he can move them around. This is a perfect example of using the best out of the space you have and also using it efficiently.
House on the neck by 30x40 designs This house is also a building by Eric Reindholdt. This building is carefully crafted to preserve natural light and brighten up the interior as much as possible. It uses mutual colors to blend it with the environment as well as using natural materials such as wood and stone. This building is built next to a lake and is specifically oriented to capture as much sunlight during the winter and summer, but not make the interior too bright in the summer so it does not get hot as displayed by the drawing. Consequently you will have less intense light in the summer so it would not be too hot in the inside. And in the winter the light will reflect as much so the interior would be as bright as possible Summer light
Winter light
Random Generated ideas in black and white These are a set of drawings Created as m own design idea using all the buildings I have recorded in the previous slides. The bottom image was completely random and I took a typical looking skyline view and from that generated a different elevation layered structure. The colored building to the right was inspired by the buildings made on the ninth slide. It uses cuboids and just layers them on top of each other which is a really simple design idea and quite effective.
Hillside homes sketches – different pen thickness drawing style black and white
Here are some elevation drawings showing the inside of a building as well as the whole structure itself. Images are from Pinterest. This is a very useful way of drawing especially if I will be making a hillside home as a final design idea. A plan drawing will give you limited perception of how the space will look but a section drawing will make it more clear on ho the building will work.
Drawing plans with tracing paper
Here is a set of perspective photos on the far right of a building I found on Pinterest. I used tracing paper to draw each floor’s plan and then layered them both on top – first and second floor and combined them to create one single drawing whilst seeing what is on the second and first floor. Tracing is good to use as you can layer different combination of plan drawings
Organic + connecting places. Organic: -Natural forms and shapes -Geology / crystals / rocks etc. -Trees / flowers -Patterns / beehives / leaf stems -Water / fluids -Canyons -Nebulas/ galaxies
Connecting places: -Man meets nature -Old meets new -Water + land -Hills + forest -Landscape + night sky
Secondary source examples
Primary images for organic + client interests
Primary images for organic + client interests
Sketches of Mustang Lights – developing the idea to idea 1
Here I am exploring different combinations of a simple structure to make it look more interesting
Model of mustang lights house. Idea 1 This model is made from drawings from the previous page
This is not a final solution, this is only to generate ideas and have a sense of development in what I'm doing. This model will help me develop towards the final solution
Mustang lights - development
These building designs are generated by my previous model. What I did here was experiment with orientation, so what I did was take the original structure and rotated it in different angles. This allowed me to get new ideas and different perspectives of the building. The idea I came up with was creating a hanging building on the edge of a cliff which is overlooking the ocean. An example can be seen from the secondary image on the previous image. Then using that shape I used the idea of shape morphing and used that to create for ideas. Due to rotating my building and have it hanging of the edge of a cliff, of created a structure where there are two separate buildings which are connected by a bridge. I used the bridge and made it as a source of natural light. The bridge could be made out of all glass and would overlook the view of the ocean as well as capturing all the light reflected by the ocean and the light coming from above from the sun.
Lastly, as I was morphing the shape I created a triangular and trapezium design which I like and I could use that to develop a building using these shapes.
Building Exploration with triangles
Material experimentation
Here is a composite of images where it shows the materials being used in a set environment. I took a block of concrete I randomly found and used that as my terrain. After I gathered some scrap materials such as wood, acrylic and wire. I arranged them so it would create an interesting shape and also matched them by colour, so it would compliment the concrete base and make the building look warm compared to the cold look of the concrete. What I found out by doing this is that matching colours/ materials in a set environment can really change the mood of the whole building. What I also found out is that the wood really matches with concrete as they are both natural materials, which consequently allows the building to blend with the environment.
Daniel Libeskind
Here is used the idea of linear shapes and created a pattern for a wall texture for my final outcome of my building. Using inspiration form Daniel Libeskind buildings I managed to create linear designs for a wall texture.
This model was created by random pieces of card being cut up and creating very sophisticated structures. What I did was simplify the model and get really basic structures that could be used as a layout of my final outcome.
Models created with tin foil and wire. The idea I got from this was A barn shape. I got this shape out of my previous designs with the block structures and I implemented a triangular feature to have a barn shape in conclusion. I really like this shape as it is really minimalist but also quite unique as you would not see a convensional home built in that type of shape. Although I do believe that the shape I got out of this is a little too plane as there are more interesting features of these models; such as the curve bend of the model. All I got out of it was just a triangle which seems pretty forced. I will explore ideas with the barn style and the later implement more interesting forms.
Barn Style
Developing bungalow layout with previous designs
Here I took the basic idea of using some graph axis to give a layout of a building. I like this layout as it stacks the two buildings together in a natural looking way.
Developing graph axis design
Combining barn with parabola
Adding skylights + windows
The building is built in a dark location so any stars will be visible on a clear night. My idea of using skylights was to allow the client to have a home as an observatory, rather than for the client to go outside and look at the stars. What I did was make the skylights go across the top of the parabola where all the bedrooms will be situated. During night time the client will be able to look at the stars whilst in bed and in the comfort of their home
Using Tracing paper to create rough plan sketch. The first image is composed of all the sections of the house. First one is the barn, second is the space which is inside the ground and the last place is where the parabola will be sitting on top of the whole structure.
Then I stacked all the tracing paper together to have an idea of what the whole plan of the building would look like. This helps me so that I could visually see the whole structure under one view and can identify where the main structure points are and where the week points would be so I would have an idea where to add the walls on the building. This will make the building stable and not collapse when built.
Now that I had the layout sketched out I was now able to add all the interior details of the building such as where the kitchen will be and where the toilet walls will be and where the doors will swing. I did this with both the bottom floor and the top floor. What I decide on was to make the parabola shape the bedroom area and the ground floor to be the main living space. Just like any other traditional layout. My reasoning to this was so that I can have the skylight of the parabola be in the same room as the clients bedroom, so when he is laying in bed he can be looking at the stars.
Its nice that I used tracing paper as I can make multiple different layouts and just stack them on top of the plan layout. I don’t have to redraw the same shape over and over again.
Developing interior spaces
Interior drawings using one point perspective of the plan drawing for the final design These sets of images can really give a depth of how the place would look like inside. Its pretty hard to visualise what the space would look like from just plan drawings, so some one point perspective drawings will make visualising more easier. With these drawings you can easily match different materials for the walls and furniture so the client can be confident with what furniture they will buy.
Creating the model This model is created with precise measurements from the plan drawing of this building. Using the parabolic function to find the length of the arc actually gives me accurate results. As we found before that the length would be 5.65 cm and when I built the actual model, I came to the fact that the base of the parabola is 3cm and the height is 2.25cam which is exactly what was given by the parabolic function f(x) = -x^2 + 3x. It shows how mathematics can be useful to create a model and how it makes things more accurate and makes the model look more professional The materials I used for the parabola was thick plastic. When I cut out the shape and bent it into its supposed form the plastic would force itself out and go flat. What I did was drilled 4 holes on either side of the base (about 0.4cm above the base) and stuck 4 tooth picks through the holes so it would keep the whole structure in shape. The I cut out the tooth picks what where sticking out of the structure and sanded it, so the wooden picks would be level with the plastic parabola. To finish it of I painted it white which gave it a nice finish.
The base of the building was made from a block of MDF which was glued on a foam board base. Then I used some water colour paint and markers to add some colours that would resemble the real building.
For the barn I used the same plastic as the parabola but also added wooden tooth picks on the exterior of the model to show how the real structure would look like if it were built with actual materials.
Final Model
This model was built so it would also be modular. This was done like this so the client could see the interior space visually and decide where to put furniture. As for the observatory, the building will be built in a very dark place so all the client will need is a flat area and some clear skies in order for them to do astrophotography. With extra funding and thought it would be possible to make a separate building as an observatory for the client.
Changing design
The reason I changed my design was because I did not like the curved shape, it was out of proportion with the barn structure at the base of the building and because the difference in designs had too much contrast between each other. They were clashing together which did not make it look like a peaceful and humble home. What I did was create something that will compliment the rest of the building without making it too simple and boring.
More Detailed Interior Drawings This part is the barn section of the building. I am showing how the interior space could look like if this was a real building. I would have this part of the building full of windows to allow the natural light in and have a view of the river that flows in this location. To enjoy the full view I would place a coffee table with some chairs so you can have a full 180ยบ view of the surroundings. There is a water feature flowing under the barn so we can have a glass floor viewing the water flowing, I could also put some fish there to make it more interesting and bring life to the building.
1st Floor Space
Evaluation This is a fully functional home with plenty skylights to be able to view the night sky. The location is placed in a dark location with light pollution being negligible in this area. I have learnt many new things developing this house, from learning how to develop interesting organic forms and choosing the most suitable materials to choosing a suitable location. The process I went about to follow was using the clients interests and developing a suitable design based on the images I used, after that I made my own physical models based on random materials and forms and developed some interesting designs. I used those designs which finally ended up to a finished solution.
This House has a river flowing next to it, which uses the natural forces of the river to produce hydroelectric power. Some of the water is also filtrated and is used as drinking water for the house. The house would also be equipped with Solar panels on the faรงade of the house that is not facing the front drive through. This house would be able to run on electricity without relying on the grid. It would in fact make more electricity than it will use. Overall this building has a peaceful connection between nature and allows a lot of natural light to enter the house. Those skylights are useful for the night so the client can look at the night sky and observe any astronomical objects. The house is the right distance away from civilization, so light pollution is at a minimum. The house is fully sustainable and will run on clean energy. There is an amazing view of the mountains with a nice and functional interior. I believe I have fully met the brief and that my client would be satisfied with what I have come up with.
The function of the building is well thought out and sustainable in my opinion. It has a functional living space for family and relaxing, a bedroom with a beautiful views of the mountains, and other bedrooms that have not been shown in the CAD. It has all the essentials that a home might need.
To make the project more complete and better, I could have implemented a better environment to my CAD renders and illustrated more of the interior spaces. I could have made more detailed Design showing how the natural light will effect the interior (sun study) and have a more detailed process of the interior and supply a mood board to the client.