Cloud Atlas

cloud atlas the line between sky and ground

AD3 drawing energy [Kerrera]

Emma Blundell Elena Sorokina Hayley Van Sickle

CONTENT Chapter 2.

[Programme Statement]

[Kerrera Fieldwork] Enclosure | Exposure

Chapter 1.

[Instrument] Cloud Atlas | Wind Matrix

Chapter 3.

[Mediation] Shifting landscape

Chapter 4.

[Programme] Flight trajectories

Chapter 5.

[Proposal] Occupying Horizons

‘We perceive landscapes as being a combination of both sky and earth. On the other hand...we only think about the ground. Surely a landscape of only ground design is incomplete?’

JUNYA ISHIGAMI “Another scale of architecture”

[project statement] In our exploration of the intangible qualities of air we focused on occupying the line between sky and ground and our seeming suspension between these expanses. We perceive the sky with the same sensibilities that are typically applied to the ground; something that can be observed, sampled, and intervened within. Occupying this line, our project focuses on the idea of flight, proposing a hang gliding school. Designed for the public, the institute allows for up to ten people to come and stay for up to a week as part of an intensive flying course. The institute is designed with the option to expand capacity for events such as interclub gliding competitions. The act of flight, and the relationships of flux between sky and ground directly links to our mediation instrument.

[instrument] Building and testing our instrument informed us of the balance between flexibility and rigidity and registered moments of flipping between ground and sky. Using the atmosphere as a vehicle for mediation the instrument creates patterns, fragmenting the landscape.

TIM PRENTICE ‘yellow zinger’ and ‘easel windframe’

1.

Invisible flux Instrument prototypes 1

ame’

1.

Instrument prototypes 3

1.

Instrument prototypes

5

1.

Instrument prototypes 7

1.

[Construction] Shifts and Connections Instrument design development from vertical [wind/fluxes] to horizontal [ground/sky]

9

70 째

1.

250 째

360 째

[Construction] 1:2 instrument Frames and Limits: technical design 11

1.

Flexibility and Rigidity Instrument movement and rotation 13

1.

[Grassmarket testing] Edinburgh 15

[Grassmarket testing] 17

[Grassmarket testing] 19

[Grassmarket testing] 21

KERRERA fieldwork

Through sampling three areas of the site with varying levels of enclosure and exposure we were able to understand the flip between sky and ground within the context of Kerrera. A fragmented landscape emerges, reflecting the intangible qualities of the valley. Using the wind as a vehicle for mediation, our instrument shifted with the prevailing wind directions, registering the momentary conditions on site.

[Weather Log] 11 October 2012

10:30

arrival

2.

11:30

12:30

13:30

14:30

15:30

16:30

25

12 October

17:30

2.

18:30

10:30

11:30

12:30

13:30

14:30

departure

27

2.

29

2.

KERRERA selected recordings 29

2.

KERRERA selected recordings 31 25

[mediation] Extending our sampling over the landscape developed three specific attitudes to site along our chosen transect. Moments of flipping between sky and ground are mediated within the drawing. A process of extracting the two-dimensional drawing into a three-dimensional model narrates a landscape measured by our instrument.

3.

GPS section

squares | reflection and turbulence

frame shifts | wind patterns

GPS route

journey | temporality wind speed | predicted and recorded sky | cloud cover [instrument]

instrument MEDIATION drawing 37

‘The [story] begins life as a two-dimensional sheet of paper. The paper is then…fused into a narrative, occupying a territory that is both real and surreal… to partially occupy the third dimension.’

CJ LIM “SHORT STORIES: London in two and a half dimensions”

3.

MEDIATION model two to three dimensions 39

[programme] From the tensions between enclosure and exposure along a trajectory, ideas of flight emerge. Having recorded the specific atmospheric and ground condition on site, the programme operates between the two. The design occupies the valley in which we tested our instrument on Kerrera. The three specific sections in which we tested have become the three major segments of our building, linked through a larger landscaping strategy. The three major segments of our programme are dwelling, hangar and a teaching centre as well as a cafĂŠ.

4.

Hang Glider construction 43

4.

Hang Glider choreography speculating on site 45

AIR AND SEA | barge glider collection 4.

Mediated Site choreography of territory 47

‘A cloud is one new image for architecture. Clouds appear as a phenomenon of nature...In something lying between natural phenomena and built structure there may be new potential for architecture.’

JUNYA ISHIGAMI “Another scale of architecture”

4.

Masterplan model negotiating lines and planes of topography 51

4.

Masterplan model Embedding architecture | Extruding landscape 53

vegetation zones [fieldwork] 4.

public section

glider | thermals

barge | water

glider | take off and paths

choreography of site 55

MEDIATED TOPOGRAPHIES

[embedding]

[extruding]

4.

materiality investigations sectional models exploring possible tensile structures 57

[tethering]

4.

materiality investigations 59

61

[proposal] Dwelling: groundward Centre: horizon Hangar: skyward The landscaping strategy creates a longer circulation route, linking the different aspects of the programme together. The institute is rooted to the ground and looking to the sky: the balance between enclosure and exposure is already prevalent in the nature of the valley, and is indirectly relevant to the tensions between sky and ground in which flight operates. As such our buildings hover as a threshold of these tensions, between the privacy of enclosure [dwelling] and the freedom of exposure [flight]. The duality between landscape and building is amplified. As part of broader environmental exchanges, namely the funnelling of wind and turbulence, which our instrument started to record, our buildings are attuned to meteorological conditions and utilise the wind flow for passive cooling, ventilation and sheltering strategies. Specifically, the roof of the centre and the hangar are shaped to funnel wind up to the take-off points, encouraging uplift. The public registers meteorological conditions both through lessons offered by the school as part of the flying course, as is required to become a registered pilot, and also through the architecture, which offers different threshold spaces allowing for understanding through a direct inhabitation of the landscape.

Mediation drawing Site strategy | Design proposal between sky and ground

[ground]

[dwelling] -5.

[sky]

[centre] --

[hangar] --> 65

1:200 plan dwelling 67

5.

1:200 section dwelling 69 65

5.

1:200 section dwelling 71

5.

[dwelling] 73

5.

[dwelling] 75

5.

skylights | opening

trees | opening

green roof | fragmentation and extension cafe water drainage

office and staffroom

1:200 plan centre landscaping 77

5.

1:200 plan centre ground floor 79

5.

1:200 plan centre first floor|cafe 81

5.

1:200 section centre 83

5.

[centre] 85

5.

[centre] 87

5.

35

1:200 plan hangar 89

5.

1:200 section hangar 91 35

5.

[hangar] 93

instrument | 1:2

skylights

routes | unfolding sections frame and wind shifts [dwelling] 5.

[centre]

water transportation

fieldwork

[hangar]

Mediation section The line between sky and ground process | design ---> enclosure > flight 95

cloud atlas