FINAL LEARNING PORTFOLIO
Enkhtuvshin Ganbold ARCH 101
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1. Objectives 2. Iteration #8 3. Iteration #9 4. Final Assignment Proposal 5. Conceptualization 6. Design Refinement 7. Final Presentation/ Narration 8. Critique 9. Conclusion
Objectives of the second half of the semester The goal of my work in the second half of the semester was to use all the skills and knowledge that learned and developed over the first half of the semester through my constructed and collage studies. As the class was asked to design the next iterative constructions as hierarchical in their level of complexity and density that have multiple perceivable yet related groups of elements such as primary, secondary, tertiary, every detail we design in our construction had to be thought out and explanatory for its purpose. For example, shape, size, proportion, transitions, and organization of the work, which are the parts that all contribute to express one’s design intention, are to be related and “conversational” to each other as each part creates a context in which the other parts belong. Each work was to be constantly questioned by the student and critiqued by and gotten feed back from the classmates for development of one’s next iteration. The intention of my design language in the first half of the semester was to express delicate, sophisticated and liberated qualities and characteristics of dove, and my next set of work developed on that initial intention. Thus, the portfolio will present an evolution of my work, through which I tried to express the elegant and serene characteristics of dove with the experience and time that Arch 101 provided.
Iteration # 8
The collage studies inspired me, as I worked on my next iterations after the midterm. Depicting a sense of space was a primary goal in my collage, so I attempted to create a sense of space within the image of a wing motion. Circles that dominated and inspired my collage studies are used to create my construction/iteration #8. Lines That are directed toward the circle invite one’s eye into the circle, and layers of circles and lines together with the welcoming then create sense of space.
In addition to the circle, iteration #7, on which I’d worked before the collage studies had the shape that represents a wing as the primary shape. So to keep my current iteration identical to the previous ones, I still used that wing shape. Also, the wing shapes are still communicative of the meaning behind my work, the serenity.
Successes
Success at this point was that there was more variation in the thickness of wires I used than I did in previous works. Fish net, which was incorporated as skin in iteration 7, now was replaced by a technique of closely netting spaces between thicker wire by thinner wire. So as those wire “ surfaces” layered on top of another, they crisscross each other and create a visual complexity to one’s eye. The wing shapes start from the horizontal position to vertical position gradually, and with the tip that points upward, the construction looks graceful.
Failures
I felt as though I was fixated and did not really express a mo7on; instead my structure looked stable. One of the reason that felt so was that the largest shape was sat on the ground, and the shapes decreased in size when they ascend. Also, excluding surface from the design might have been a backward step since now there isn’t a play between different materials. Connec7ng the wing shapes with wires made me feel that it suggests the exact opposite of what I was trying express, the freedom of movement. For example, wires that connect the first and second wing shape to the boFom, seem to be stopping the mo7on.
Conclusion At this point, I felt that really need to create a model that is actually more expressive of a motion. I needed to start sketching and put down my ideas in Words and drawings so that a product that comes out as a result would be more significant in terms of its expressive language. Because I didn’t use sketches or notes that I could back up my design, what I have designed didn’t feel precious or valuable to me. Or maybe it was simply because the design itself wasn’t attractive. Keeping elements that I liked in the iteration # 8, I was determined to create my next construction as attractive and fully expressive of my intention, designing delicate and graceful quality and characteristics of a wing and its motion.
Iteration # 9
Objectives of iteration #9
• construct work that is visually identical to the previous works • work with constructive thoughts and plan • get out of the fixation and create a work that is emotionally intriguing • be the ownership of my work and know exactly why any element is designed in particular way
My next iteration evolved with the inspiration that I got from the collage studies. I further developed the intention I had in my iteration # 8, which was to create sense of space, as I designed the iteration # 9.
Expressive words that I found to be useful and inspirational for my design: smooth, flowing, free, quick, dynamic, fluid, vibratory, sharp, precise, flicker, uncontrollable, elegant, gentle, soft. sleek, even, developing, light, graceful, sharp, energetic, thrusting, stretching, exciting, romantic, extended, reaching, rhythmic, rapid, instant, speedy, fast, sudden, continuous, uninterrupted, flashing, lively‌ Flowing- long, smooth, graceful, and without sudden interruption or change of direction Dynamic- pertaining to or characterized by energy or effective action; vigorously active or forceful; energetic   Uncontrollable- incapable of being controlled or restrained Graceful- characterized by elegance or beauty of form, manner, movement, or speech; elegant Lively- 1. full of suggestive of life or vital energy; active, vigorous, or brisk 2. animated, spirited, vivacious, or sprightly 3. eventful, stirring, or exciting 4. bustling with activity; astir 5. strong, keen, or distinct, vivid 6. striking, telling, or effective, as an expression or instance 7. rebounding quickly; springing back; resilient
I thought of one flap as being so fast and blurry. So, as my abstract wing flaps one point to another, there is to be circles with no details. When a wing comes to the maximum point, it pauses to go back. To express that instant frozen moment, there is to be shape of a wing with its details
Not only a wing, but feathers that create it inspired my work. Depicting the quality of feather was part my design intention. Feathers are naturally designed in such perfection. They are light but very strong, and they are flexible but very tough. Also they appear solid but feels soft. Such qualities are intended to be expressed here in my construction. For example, There is a tension as small circles are on the bottom and bigger ones are on top. It makes the model easily movable and gives a feeling of lightness and flexibility Although wire is solid, it is also a flexible material, which has the similar quality of a feather.
Also, the lines that are in the very top shape are organized in order, expressing the naturally perfect design of a feather. Slight touch will move the model and it keeps moving back and forth, which successfully depicts the back and forth motion of a wing flap. It can be also depicts some of the characteristics of a bird. Its motion is fun and pleasant to watch, which can be representative of the playful and peaceful characters of a bird, specifically a dove. The deign has the shapes and elements that are identical to my previous work. So achieving my objection as keeping those elements were a success.
Conclusion Proposing a set of goal before I start working, again, confirmed that much more productive than not. It is actually most essential part of designing. In general, I felt way happier to look at my work and wanted more feedback from my classmates. Because if I knew that my work lacks something, such as craft, meaning, or design issues, I would like to resolve it by my self first, then get it critiqued. As I saw smiles on my classmates’ faces as they observed my work, it too put a smile on my face and encouraged me to work on my next design process.
Final Proposal Mobiles: Moving Sculpture that Expresses Self, Place, Space and Time Eight weeks to the end of the semester, our design course was assigned to explore, challenge, and construct the idea of a mobile that fully responds to the site and expresses something unseen and unexpressed about our personalities. We were required to do research to study mechanics of mobiles and get inspired by different ideas, then to propose our Draft Project Proposal, which presented our design intention, and critical questions framing design process and solution tat attempt to answer.
Final Project Objectives Design a mobile that • abstractly expresses my personal quality as a representation of peace as an idea of full harmony and absence of hostility • has identical qualities and characteristics my previous constructions, which are also representative of peace. • responds to its site both visually and conceptually
What will be abstractly expressed in terms of personal qualities and Characteristics that will impact the “personality� of the design? This assignment, creating a mobile that expresses my personality, seemed to me just a perfect topic. Thinking of what I have done in the past through my art work was inspired by doves and their flights. They also became the inspiration to create my iterative models in the beginning of the semester till this moment. Since my intensions were to express the movement of flight, fact that now we were actually required to design a mobile was both an opportunity and a challenge to brig my intention to the next level. Doves’ graceful and peaceful yet unrestrained qualities attract me, and those are the qualities I want to acquire. Depicting those characteristics of doves in the mobile, then would fulfill the assignment, expressing self.
What will be abstractly expressed in terms of personal qualities and Characteristics that will impact the “personality” of the design? Not only the external inspiration, the flying doves, but also my internal wish and beliefs urge me to be peaceful person. The fact that I am named Enkhtuvshin, which means “Peace” in Mongolian, has inspired me to live a peaceful life and be a person that is regarded as same as what my name means or how my parents hoped me to be. I also want to achieve peace because of my personal values or Christian beliefs. Being empathetic, kind, loving, and compassionate to others are that of my values I strive for. Not only do I want to achieve tranquility myself, but I also hope and wish that the whole world to be harmonious. As ocean is made of many drop of water, I believe that a peaceful world can be made of many peace-searching individuals. Such ideas will be expressed in my mobile as a representation of Self.
Significant aspects and qualities of the selected site The greater goal of the work is to influence the audience whom it interacts with. Since the site is an area where students or my audiences like to gather, my work has more chance to be discovered and observed. In addition, the site itself actually promotes a complementary background to reinforce the message. For instance, as the tall and curvilinear concrete wall surrounds and creates the courtyard, the wall serves as a protective shelter that establishes a warm and intimate space. Since the wall blocks the prevailing northwestern wind, not only is there a restful and safe area provided, but it also creates a conceptual sense that the enclosure eliminates the sound of noises from the outside world, creating peace within. So when students take a break in the courtyard from their work, they, at least for a moment, may disconnect from their stresses and reenergize as they explore the moving design, whose goal is to walk them into a state of comfort and peace.
Intention of inviting one in to peace and tranquility is supported not only by the comfort-making wall but also by the composition of relief sculptures affixed to the enclosing wall. Approaching the wall, one would inevitably engage with the sculpture that conveys serenity. Six pieces of concrete-relief sculptures depict seemingly infinite number of faces who closed their eyes and have genuine smiles on their faces. Having closed eyes and  smiles the faces suggest that they are in state of harmony, being completely undisturbed and relaxed yet happy. Watching their faces one feels nothing but joy. Because there is such a great comfort and sense of security, warmness and silence created by the wall and the work on it, one is induced to release comfort and peace in response. The blocks of faces are placed as though they intend to continue. Six block sculptures are not just creating another big rectangular and closed peace as even numbered as they are. Four of the blocks actually create a larger square. Then the 5th block is placed at the top right side, creating an empty space at its bottom, which instills a feeling that another block is supposed to be or can be there. Similarly, the last or the 6th block is hung at the bottom left side of the rest of the peaces, top of which side is now occupied by the mobile sculpture.
The theory of those sculptures’ being infinite presented not only by style of their arrangement but also by the condition of the wall on which they are placed. The bolts that were previously placed on the wall seem to have been intended to hang more of those pieces of sculptures. And some of those bolts are now used for placing my mobile, as though they are actually fulfilling the initial intention, of which that there are more sculptures to be hung. Moreover holes in which the bolts get screwed in are actually made across the wall as far as the wall stretches, having two feet inches apart from each other both vertically and horizontally. Such facts complement the idea that more and more of the faces can be added, which then represents that more peace can be created. So while the four feet square inches of blocks hang on the wall, the same four feet tall mobile sculpture hangs next to or the left top of the composition. Thus, it becomes the part of the whole in its unique form and contributes to the creation of peace.
Research Finding and Inspirations  Some of my initial inspirations were work of Theo Jansen as his work was first introduced during a class lecture. As I was doing the research work that was created based on his mechanism looked more simple but interesting. Fact that its sails move like wing probably the reason since I was thinking of waving wings to be my mobile. Also, just as an inspiration, I was amazed by the work of Reuben Margolin, who is inspired by waves of water and a way in which caterpillar walks.
Researching and looking at already designed mobiles very fun and inspirational. However, just thinking of creating something similar in terms of mechanics and ways which those extremely complicated kinetic sculptures move, was really overwhelming. So the best option was to look for kinetic sculptures that are mobilized by simple engineering, such as weight balance or by wind. For that case, I could see myself designing construction that is based on the classic mobile sculptures of Calder. Also, mobile sculptures by Jack Pavlik seemed simple, using asymmetric shape of metal’s weight to move them.
Conceptualization During this period, we discussed about how we can express our personalities through our design using tectonic language and recourses that we can use to give motion to our mobiles. We did gestural studies and were asked to design small scale international constructions. The gestural studies were helpful for understanding the essentials of communicating our intention to express our personal qualities through the hierarchy of tectonic language. The largest and simplest shape should represent the most important quality, and the smaller ones represent the less important characters. I learned that some gestures that meant to express a specific quality can become destructive to other gestures that represent some other personalities.
personalities that one can have, for example, are: Curious, creative, methodical, languid, energetic, simple, complex, adventurous, patient, brave, courageous, heroic, enlightened, sophisticated, humorous, foolish, silly, naïve, ingenious, organized, serious, formal, inform, graceful, tentative, shy, paralyzed, animated, logical, peaceful, practical, precise, quiet, calm, interested, secure, thorough, responsible, dependable, stable, traditional, well-developed, perceptive, observational, kind, generous, loyal, faithful, leading, controlling, flexible, open-minded, original, forceful, intuitive, concerned, ignorant, respected, individualistic, reflective, idealistic, adaptable, laid-back, talented, mentally-quick, intelligent, clever, understanding, analytical, determined, competent, exciting, friendly, capable, action-oriented, focused, risk-taking, impatient, respectful, sensitive, skillful, athletic, hard-working, people-oriented, fun, loving, attractive, warm-hearted, popular, conscientious, positive, enthusiastic, idealistic, boring, managing, resourceful, neglectful, outspoken, assertive, well-informed, empathetic, compassionate, disorganized, efficient‌
Personalities that I primarily chose to express in my mobile are: Peaceful- characterized by peace; free from war, strife, commotion, violence, or disorder Graceful- characterized by elegance or beauty of form, manner, movement, or speech Sensitive- 1. endowed with sensation; having perception through the senses 2. readily or excessively affected by external agencies or influences 3. having acute mental or emotional sensibility; aware of and responsive to the feelings of other 4. easily pained, annoyed, etc. 5. pertaining to or connected with the senses or sensation 6. requiring tact or caution; delicate; touchy 7. constructed to indicate, measure, or be affected by small amounts of changes, as a balance or thermometer 8. having a low threshold of sensation or feelings 9. highly responsive to certain agents, as photographic plates, films, paper 10. affected or likely to be affected by a specified stimulus.
Shifting from gestural studies to constructing was big step, and it was actually the most difficult, confusing or challenging part. As I was struggling with many ideas of making the structure to move, expressing those of personality qualities seemed to be conflicting with my thoughts of mechanics and their design. Then, when we were asked to only create a part that moves without worrying about other things first, I felt a little ease was able to create something. It looked something similar to the image on the left, which was drawn before I constructed it. Unfortunately, it didn’t move the way I wanted it to move, I deconstructed it without documenting it. I didn’t like it for couple of reasons. First, since, each pieces were parallel to each other, they would get either on or under the one another and get all tangled up. Then It was unclear for me how I was going to placed it at my chosen site. An option for it would have been hanging, which I didn’t want to do.
Then I did little more research, trying to find a basic yet effective engineering technique to design my construction. The mechanism I was looking for also had to be effective and useful for my design expression. I liked this method since it was not complicated at all to construct. Also, its design seemed to be effective way to express a wing flight.
Yay, I was happy to finally construct something that moves properly. The circle shape was later to changed to a wing shape. Just having to construct this piece proved me that thinking or drawing something is totally different than having it physically in front of me.
Sizes that vary compared to one another, spaces between the placement of the circles, and also the thickness of the wire, all were the important components that determine the way the whole thing looks. I proved to myself that only making something, from which I can refer back to when I design the later iterations, helps to better my design. At this point, I thought that the wire I used was too thin. Also, there were only five different sizes of circles, which, which needed to be even more. After first five circles were placed from the biggest to smallest, the next set of circles continued from the smallest to the largest. This order goes till the other side/ or the end, which I figured created a symmetry. So the next step was to make each peaces different in sizes from the smallest to the largest and from the start to the end. There would then be an asymmetry as well as clear vision of beginning and the end of a cycle.
At least in my vision, I could see a abstract pattern, in which a bird’s wing is flapping that is not in a back and forth motion but in cycle motion. When the “spine” or the long horizontal wire turns around in cyclic motion, the wings also follow the motion. As one of the wing comes up and turns down, another one follows or repeats its that motion. However, how I read it didn’t visually make sense for others. Part of the reason I think was that a person had to turn the thing to give it a motion. Because at this point, the construction was so stable or rigid that id didn’t express any sense of flapping motion.
I was suggested to design a part that moves not by human force but a wind force, which was resolved easily. Since I still liked the part that creates the visual interest, I decided to keep it the way it was and figure out a way to display it vertically instead of horizontally. Then since I needed surfaces to catch wing to generate motion, I simply decided to attach a sail on the already existing design. Once the wing shaped wire frames have sails, it would they would turn itself by wind without a support of hands. In addition, a frame work had be designed to hold it up on the wall, so it will be able to respond to wind.
Design Refinement
Adding sails on to the wing shapes to catch the wind was a crucial step on the process of this project. Making wholes in each peaces was also a significant step toward communicating the idea of gracefulness aw well as making the mobile complex. As each pieces of wing slowly spirals up, the holes in them all together create a tunnel , through which one’s eye could travel. Since the that tunnel should be viewed from the bottom, the wings had to placed horizontally. This led me to design the surfaces that catch the wind. So I added the circular smaller pieces and placed them vertically. This also gave more of visual interest to the mobile. I was happy with the fact that the circle shape was an element that my previous iterations had, creating a relationship between them.
I was happy that my design was approved to be ready to get finalized. One of the issue, however, was that deciding on whether or not I should keep the same material I used at this point. Because once it was on the wall I had chosen to place, it didn’t visually relate to its context. What was suggested was to replace the white material to a reflective mylar, which will reflect its surroundings onto its surfaces. Also, the final work had to be at least twice as big than current size, which created another set of problems. As the mobile got bigger in on my next iteration before the final piece, the smaller circle shapes got big as well, but they looked too big to the point where I decided to place them inside the wholes of the wings.
Final Presentation and Narration
It is my intension that the viewers of my work feel a sense of peace, as their eyes are invited to slowly follow the spiral of curvilinear wispy forms. Its graceful, sensitive and peaceful qualities represent my personality, movement of which express my learning experience and personal transformation. This is how I want others to perceive me as I gain the empathy for others and wisdom that I constantly seek. In their reflections of themselves seen in the mylar surfaces, visitors embrace this approach of understanding of others. The work is both provocation and plea for one to reflect to one’s past and present personalities and achieve greater wisdom so that serenity spreads out. Placed outside on the courtyard wall and given the changing currents of wind, the design structure mobilizes in different rates. The movement expresses the journey transformation where I am challenged to gain knowledge. Wind, whose force that generates movement to my kinetic structure, can be used metaphorically as force for me to gain compassion and knowledge. Wind is a symbol of both my internal religious belief and external cultural values that help me achieve wisdom. My personal values to be loving, compassionate, forgiving and generous coincide with social values of being empathetic, understanding and supportive. Such values urge me to actually achieve them and are essentially one broader pathway to reach peace and wisdom.
As the nature of wind is sometimes forceful, gentle, and at moments nonexistent, one acquires those values through a long journey of life according to our chances given by the nature of life. Faster movement of the mobile represents my moments of struggle emotional turmoil. At points of our life, when life spins so fast, there is no control over the fast and strong wind, so one moves frenetically as life feels chaotic so that one has to do whatever it takes to survive or fall apart. When life blows its gentle wind, the structure turns around smoothly and gracefully, suggesting I feel somehow at ease and handle my life pleasantly with less hardship. Then, at times when there is no wind at all, the mobile stops and has time to spot the happy faces sculpted onto its surfaces. This also gives audiences an opportunity to look at their faces seen on the reflective surfaces. Similarly, when life doesn’t blow me with its forceful wind for a moment, I get a chance to reflect to my past experience and evaluate what have learned from the experiences and people that have passed their knowledge in me. Because through seeing what others value and belief, I learn, gain belief and set values in my life. As I gain more values and try to strive for them, people I interact with hopefully identify some of the qualities I value acquiring. Thus, as the wind produces various pressures and challenges me to respond, it helps me evaluate values out of my life experience and represents those of my internal belief and external cultural value.
Critique Most critical comments on my work were exactly in the areas I have problems with my design as well as its context. The jurors appreciated the crafts in the part that moves and that they understood the relation ship between my work and its attempted expression. However, they pointed out how poor the work was mounted on the wall and how weak the explanation of my site context was. It was said that the wood construction was poorly attached to the wall so that it shakes, which was obviously not part of the “mobile.” Not only the poor attachment, but also the way that framing was designed was ugly and looks as if it was made just to temporarily hold the actual moving part. It means that the mobile couldn’t fully respond to the site with its overall design. In addition, it was criticized that relating the face sculptures to my work was not a valid idea. What I believed can’t simply convince others’ opinion and change their point of view of how they personally interpret those faces.
Conclusion I am happy that I was able to make to the end of the semester, which means I am able to take the next step and take Arch 102. To be honest, however, I feel like I am not fully ready to move on course that will expect much more than what we were asked to do in 101. Part of it may be because I somehow had an easy time on completing my final project in the way I intended to do. In other words, as I worked on my final construction or project, I only focused on the part that it turns (the wings), and ignored the wood construction on which the main part was held. I realized it way too late that this issue was going to come up on the critique. If I had time, I would have tried to solve it. What I was afraid of was that it was going to be a whole new set up problem that would require a greater design and engineer skills than I’ve got. This thought suggests me that I was not satisfied with my final project and how lazy and weak I am not to to able to address those issues. Knowing how much more effort I should have to achieve a greater success makes me want to work work harder. I think that one who knows his weaknesses is the strongest because one knows that s/he needs to address the weaknesses. So with the awareness of how harder and better I should work on my projects, in mind, I could always improve as a designer.
I know that there is always a room for improvement, as one is given more time to explore and develop one’s work and gets feed backs and suggestions from others. After completing this project, and as I am reflecting back on how my work could have differ in so many ways, I am actually inspired. Although my final project wasn’t perfect, I could envision myself creating more complex and compelling work as there is the opportunity to take the next design course. Taking Arch 102 of course won’t simply fix my weaknesses, but not giving up for my goal to become an architect and overcome with the challenges one step at time will help. Although at times I felt overwhelmed, I truly enjoyed the course to make my first step to become an architect.