ARCHITECTURE DESIGN STUDIO: EARTH S1, 2016 EARTH SEMESTER BOOK Eloyse McCall #698656 Scott Woods: STUDIO 5
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CONTENTS 1.0 THREE RELATIONSHIPS 1.1 Point / Line / Plane 1.2 Mass 1.3 Frame & Infill 2.0 HERRING ISLAND. SOMETHING LIKE A PAVILION 2.1 Site analysis 2.2 Conceptacle 2.3 Design Development & Precedents 2.4 Concept & Sketch Design 2.5 Final Design Drawings 2.6 Final Design Model 3.0 Reflection 4.0 Bibliography
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1.0 THREE RELATIONSHIPS
Point / line / plane : on Mass :
below
Frame & infill :
above
The three defining elements of space are conceived through an exploration of their relationship to the three tectonics
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1.1 POINT / LINE / PLANE ON GROUND
folding geometry.. weaving constellations..
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PRECEDENT / POINT LINE PLANE Naum Gabo Constructed Head No. 2 (1916) Stainless steel planes fold into and interlock with one another to create a maze of points and lines
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PRECEDENT / POINT LINE PLANE Lothar Gรถtz Construction for Alexander Rodchenko (4) (2010) Acrylic and colour pencil on paper a clutter of lines meet, and give birth to new geometry through overlap
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PRECEDENT / POINT LINE PLANE Lothar Gรถtz Construction for Alexander Rodchenko (4) (2010) Acrylic and colour pencil on paper
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3D DESIGN CONCEPT / POINT LINE PLANE The web Boxboard, cotton thread, metal mesh A series of planes, both curved and linear, are erected on the ground plain. A constellation of lines joins the planes together, and creates new geometric shapes within it. Lines leave pivotal points upon piercing the planes and at each moment of overlap in the web.
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1.2 MASS BELOW GROUND
irregularity has a soft edge
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PRECEDENT / MASS Nicolas de Staël Rue Gauguet (1949) Oil on plywood panel De Staël paints these dense blocks of shape and colour, where the use of different tonal values create a sense of hierarchy in light and space. This, along with the representation of form without definitive shape is what I’ve interpreted as mass and attempted to bring into my own work.
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PRECEDENT / MASS Albert Gleizes El Camino, Meudon (c. 1910) Oil on canvas Works of cubism and abstraction particularly guided me in my mass design concept. Gleizes’ paintings evoke mystery through their dark, brooding shapes and their soft, inviting edges
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2D DESIGN CONCEPT / MASS A Discourse Between Light and Dark Oil on canvas
The fundamental intent of my work was to create no obvious allusion to a recognisable figure or object but still draw the eye in, as if it can discern something, yet isn’t sure what. I wanted to portray mass as the play of volumes brought together in light and shade. Although each space has a definitive boundary, they interlock, with the intention of creating a sense of unity and cohesion of the separate masses. It doesn’t have a specific orientation, and as such, with each rotation the same shapes define new volumes of light and space. It can be imagined that these shapes represent mystical pockets of space beneath the earth that are only fully revealed where the solid mass is cut through.
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1.3 FRAME & INFILL ABOVE GROUND where there is matter within the frame void, there is infill
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PRECEDENT / FRAME & INFILL Tomás Saraceno Installation: Galaxies Forming Along Filaments, like Droplets Along the Strands of a Spider’s Web (2009) 53rd Biennale di Venezia Hand-knotted strings
The seemingly infinite web of intersecting lines generates a plethora of varied geometric shapes that amass in orb framelike structures. As an above-ground structure, looking up into it provides the viewer with a constellation of intersecting shapes and lines that fill each shape closest in view. Due to the complexity of the structure, every angle and movement of the viewer’s eye will generate a different view of infill.
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PRECEDENT / FRAME & INFILL
Sou Fujimoto Architects Inside/Outside Tree (2009) Acrylic The planes of the triangular forms are transparent, the thickness of the acrylic lends the forms opacity at their edges, creating a complex of lines. The geometry of these lines overlapping and meeting other lines creates a sort of abstract frame of chaos. Where the planes multiply in number increasingly towards the centre of the “cube”, the layering of transparent planes creates “infill” between the frame structure.
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3D DESIGN CONCEPT / FRAME & INFILL Tension Balsa dowel, cotton thread, metal pins, foamboard The fundamental intent of my work was to allude to one singular frame whilst simultaneously providing infinite frames. The thread, the square and the pins, give an awareness that both frame and infill are present, but which is which can be left up to the viewer. Does the square fill the geometric web of threads, or do the threads fill the square? Does it have to be one or the other? For me, at its most basic, a frame is a set of lines that meet to create an open shape, and I’ve tried to recreate this concept consistently throughout this piece.
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2D DESIGN CONCEPT / FRAME & INFILL Tension Pencil and watercolour on watercolour paper My visual is an exploded narrative focusing on the process of the thread and its materiality becoming this geometric web. It represents the journey of the thread being pulled from its natural form to one of inflexible tension. The pins can be imagined as nodes pulling the thread, and the repetition of the frame is representative of the concept of portraying frames within frames.
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2.0 HERRING ISLAND. SOMETHING LIKE A PAVILION
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2.1 SITE ANALYSIS : ATMOSPHERE
My site analyis began as an exploration into atmosphere through kaleidoscopic visuals seen on the following pages. These visuals I’ve created represent the transition and integration of both the literal and conceptual sensory experiences of the site. In order to decipher a sort of haptic patternation, I was drawn towards the mechanism of the kaleidoscope. Light enters through one end and repeatedly reflects against the mirrors to create new patterns of colour. In this instance, the water surrounding the island is the mirror, constantly reflecting and bouncing senses back into the island. The visuals are all chaotic, but there are moments of harmony, and where these occur, there is harmony of the senses. These visuals attempt to document and analyse my perception of atmosphere at a selection of moments in stasis. The visual to the right is my original mapping of the atmosphere of the site, which is then manipulated into patternations.
Watercolour and digital manipulation
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2.2 CONCEPTACLE
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Conceptacle Balsa wood A formal arrangement of all three elements; point line plane, mass, and frame and infill, abstracted from my projects, form this conceptacle. I wanted to portray a mass play of volumes where each space is definitive and yet all are unified within the frame. This, with negative space, creates a sense of interlocking forms although none do in fact interlock. Points, lines, planes, transform into volumetric masses, encapsulated by the frame. Although I allude to a certain above- and below- ground, there is no specific orientation, the plane is symbolic of the transition of geometry, from points, lines and planes, to mass volumes. The volumes reflect the planes above, in a sort of imperfect symmetry, which is intrinsic to my interrelated ideas of ‘atmosphere’ and secrets on the island. This idea being that the island, as a completely separate entity, is a hub of atmosphere that doesn’t leave but in fact, recirculates from bouncing back into the island off the water. As if nothing leaves, what is usually transient remains and multiplies, reflects, mirrors...back into the island. This concept itself translates into secrets...secrets, and all else that is fleeting, now remains.
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Aleksandr Rodchenko Untitled (c.1920) Pencil on coloured paper
Lรกszlรณ Moholy-Nagy Composition no. 2 (1923-24) Woodcut
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2.3 DESIGN DEVELOPMENT & PRECEDENTS Aleksandr Rodchenko A Straight Edge and Compass Drawing (1915)
Moving on from my conceptacle and into final design development, I decided to anchor myself in the concept of point, line and plane. I believe that the three elements, including mass and frame & infill, are all transformations of each other. For me, visualising these transformations began with lines and planes, as seen in the precedents to the left. From these intersecting lines and planes, I could envision masses being born or frames subtracted from the space, and thus I began to design from point, line, plane as a sort of building block.
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2.4 CONCEPT & SKETCH DESIGN 1 + 1 + 1 = a 1 that is greater than all of those The way that I think and design is through sketching. This is a series of iterations that document my concept from its inception into its most final stages. When working through a process like this, there is no certain stop, or end point, there is only where you choose to terminate the process. This ambiguity has lead me to explore the formulae within my design process that guides me towards a final concept. For me, I have been trying to combine all three elements of the projects into one entity that is greater than them, thus 1+1+1=>1 However, it is not simply an additive or subtractive formula, the elements are not achieved through such simple methods. Each element is a transformation of one to become the next. These drawings are documented in chronological sequence of my mind and hand refining my ideas of the three relationships.
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1+1+1=? PLP extrusion = M
PLP + M + FI = ?
M obliteration = FI
M / ? = FI
FI surfacing = PLP
PLP x ? = M
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SITE PLAN
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FLOOR PLANS
2.5 FINAL DESIGN DRAWINGS
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SECTION
the pavilion is situated in the centre of my perceived realm
translucent geometric planes pierce the ground and seemingly transform into distorted volumetric versions of themselves
as if these mass volumes break into their most basic elements, a system of tunnels crosses and zig zags to join the spaces together, and then bursts the ground to form a geometric pattern above
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my final proposal is based upon the concept of distortion and how it is intertwined with the site and my idea of secrets I proposed the site, as an island, is a realm where the intangible, the transient, emotions, thoughts and therefore secrets, CANNOT leave rather they are reflected, transformed, permutated, distorted in the atmosphere of the island where they remain
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2.6 FINAL DESIGN MODEL
Distortion Polypropylene, nylon thread, boxboard
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I believe the three elements: point line plane, mass, and frame & infill are all transformations of each other planes extrude to volumes which break to frames & infill, which break further to points and lines, which then make up planes, and so the cycle goes I’ve attempted to create an architecture that both realises this transformation of elements and embodies my ideas of distortion occurring in the island’s atmosphere
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‘‘The taste of the apple... lies in the contact of the fruit with the palate, not in the fruit itself; in a similar way... poetry lies in the meeting of poem and reader, not in the lines of symbols printed on the pages of a book. What is essential is the aesthetic act, the thrill, the almost physical emotion that comes with each reading,’’
Jorge Luis Borges
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in attempting to realise the atmosphere I believe to be present, I’ve aimed to provide spaces that suggest and lead the user to experience my ideas
I believe atmosphere is a social construct and that it can be crafted, but I do not think
this means it isn’t genuine
the user will experience a continuation traversing the pavilion... on ground experiencing the light and shadow created by the towering shapes and patternation above... to then move down these shapes into disproportioned, impractical spaces... in each volume you can view the same object but from different, distorted perspectives due to the difficult, triangular nature of the volumes, the user must continually traverse and keep moving, continually transforming their experience of the space... moving again through a system of patternation to get from one space to the next
in doing this, the user will experience the transformation and distortion I’ve attempted
to create, and thus become part of the atmosphere I’ve constructed
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3.0 REFLECTION I thoroughly enjoyed the ‘Secrets’ project and its accompanying elemental/tectonic studies. The frequent small projects kept me creative and constantly designing and producing work. Through the semester, I’ve been able to further my 2D hand-made visuals, my 3D model making skills, and my digital software skills, and have especially delighted in the emphasis on combining art with architecture. The precedent studies have helped me explore my ideas in depth and affirmed the idea that you cannot design for the new without knowing what has been designed before. Design development used to be a process that would bore me, but now I am able to understand and be intrigued by the way my mind goes about this. In conclusion, the semester has tested me, but with positive outcomes as I have produced the best work that I’ve done thus far. I look forward to working with my tutors and those involved with the subject in the future.
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4.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY A Straightedge and Compass Drawing, photograph, viewed March, April, May, June 2016, https://au.pinterest.com/pin/508203139176571491/ A World History of Art, El camino, Meudon, photograph of oil on canvas, viewed March, April, May, June 2016, http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/gleizes1.html Davies, S 2008, Naum Gabo’s Constructed Head No. 2, photograph of steel sculpture, viewed March, April, May, June 2016, https://www.flickr.com/photos/gingersteve/2404476288 DOMOBAAL 2010, Construction for Alexander Rodchenko, photograph of acrylic and colour pencil on paper, viewed March, April, May, June 2016, http://www.contemporaryartsociety.org/event/project-07-lothar-gotz/ Museum of Fine Arts Boston 2011, Rue Gauguet, photograph of oil on canvas, viewed March, April, May, June 2016, http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/rue-gauguet-33591 Museum of Modern Art 2016, Composition no.2, photograph of woodcut, viewed March, April, May, June 2016, http://www.moma.org/collection/works/65607?locale=en Museum of Modern Art, Untitled, photograph of pencil on coloured paper, viewed March, April, May, June 2016, http://www.moma.org/collection/works/82300?locale=en Pallasmaa, J 2012, The eyes of the skin: architecture and the senses, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Cornwall. Parks Victoria, 2015, Herring island, viewed March, April, May 2016, http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/herring-island Studio Tomás Saraceno, installation view [from] Galaxies Forming Along Filaments, like Droplets Along the Strands of a Spider’s Web, photograph of art installation, viewed March, April, May, June 2016, http://tomassaraceno.com/projects/galaxies-forming-along-filaments/ Victoria and Albert Museum 2009, Inside/Outside Tree, photograph of model, viewed March, April, May, June 2016, http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1177335/architectural-model-sou-fujimoto-architects/
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