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Week 1 8/20 Concept Generation, What’s Your Sign? Making a sign for myself offers some challenges. Which traits are most representative of me? How do I find symbols for these traits that are clear without being trite or cliche? Once I have my symbols, how on earth am I supposed to integrate them? I worked with the personality adjectives of caring, loyal and nervous. For caring I looked at images of nests and holding hands. For loyalty I thought of letters and stamps to convey a connection despite difficulties of distance. For nervousness I thought of bees, cliffs, nervous mice. I couldn’t think how any of these elements could be combined. (This is when I should have asked for direction!) I tried a few different compositions, trying to get one of each element in each little collage. They were layered rather than woven/connected. Jerry rightly likened this sort of simple combination to a scrapbook page. I could have chopped up the images and used components of them. I could have repeated them or changed their positions. But I used these I accepted my collages as a starting point for a 3D sign. ● Caring ● Loyal ● Nervous
Week 2 What’s My Sign, First Version 8/25 For my first sign rendition, I used the idea of a cliff to represent the nervousness. A girl at the edge of the cliff shows us what it takes to be caring and loyal. I put an envelope under her hand, but the class didn’t notice it. I enjoyed the process. I was working as a sculptor does, using my hands to shape something to discover what works. The human figure was rendered with a wire armature, and strips of fabric with fabric stiffener. I was worried it looked too rough and so made a clay version but it was too heavy to tack to a wall (one of our project requirements).
The feedback from the class was helpful. Were there other ways to let the word “LEAP” reach out for readability? Could a second figure be oriented away from the first, giving both sides of the sign that human interest? Is the first figure reaching for something? Could she?
8/26 What’s Your Sign, 2nd Versions I knew the second iteration would be an in between stepthat we will be doing a third version. So I decided to make a couple of quick and easy versions to explore my ideas. The first sign integrates a second figure, and dangles the word leap from a tree branch beneath the cliff. The cliff itself changes shapes to look more branch likesomething I had contemplated in the beginning but not executed. I wanted to see how it looked. The original figure is now reaching out to grab a flower off of the tree branch. Will she make it? I added a second figure oriented to the right side of the sign.
In the next version, I wanted to have the figure reaching for something that dangles. I couldn’t sort out the cantilever that would suspend the dangling item. I wanted it to be invisible but how? So I let it hang from an obvious structurea sort of scaffold. The feel is much less organic. It seems more urban and edgy.
8/27 My classmates liked how the bright color of the pink flower drew the eye. Could the figure be closer to actually reaching it? Turning the cliff into sort of a branch made a lightness to the project that resonated well. Could there be more correlation in the lines of the bracket and the end of the branch? The scaffold suggested a grid that could fill up with other elements of my personality. Maybe the squares suggest steps along my path. I think this is less dynamic and so I plan to expound on my ‘branch’ version.
Charcoal Gesture Drawings We turned to gesture drawing in this class. Charcoal is very malleable and responds readily to changes in pressure and to layering. What kinds of lines can we get from our piece of charcoal? This picture came out upside down, but I find I like it better this way. I think I have a lot to learn here!
Jerry asked us to identify feelings that a building can elicit. We came up with awe, comfort, joy, dauntedamong others. The class selected joy and daunted as traits to render in charcoal. To me Joy has an upward, dynamic feeling. Daunting feels heavy and permanentunwilling to go away. This is what I came up with.
We also talked about wall sections and the different moods and feelings and impressions they impart. We were challenged to come up with 16 approaches to designing a wall. 9/1/15 What’s Your Sign, Final Version Today we submitted our final versions of the What’s Your Sign project. I approached this final version trying to visualize alterations based on my class’s feedback. Can there be more elements of the journey of who I am? Can two figures create interest on both sides of the sign?
I used the branch structure to lighten the sign. I took a stiff foam, cut it to my desired shape, and reinforced it with tongue depressors. I cut out and attached a foam core backing and then set about wrapping the foam in brown paper. I would eventually remove the foam core and go to a cardboard backing, with a shorter branch as it was easier to suspend.
I went through a few versions of figures. They had to be light. They had to read well without getting too cartoony. I tried air dry clay (too heavy), paper base clay (which I rendered too large), plaster gauze (too thin and difficult to shape on a wire armature). I went back to the paper based clay and made smaller figures.
9/1 What’s Your Sign? Final Version I was pleased with the final product as a sign, and with the execution specifically. To improve it further, I would try an approach that was less literal/realistic. The class responded well to my earlier ‘scaffolding’ version because it was less literal. I would have been happy to run through about 20 versions to see what works best. But now we’re on to something new.
9/1 Continued Today in class we spent some time putting down our thoughts and discoveries about a) design language, b) design process, c) craft and construction and d) active classroom engagement. Design Language My approach to design thinking is still a little unsophisticated. I am glad to be meeting with a class and talking about design concepts as I continue to train my eye and develop my visual vocabulary. I enjoy the classroom discussions about things like ‘conversation’, ‘tension’, ‘momentum’ and ‘reward’. The experience of a design is so subjective and it is interesting to get the input of the different students. I wanted my sign design to be graceful and organic. I have a long history in dance, and the movement and growth of stationary shapes is important to me. I am on the hunt for the ultimate design term vocabulary list. I would like to learn more. Craft and Construction It is important to me as an environmentalist to use what I have and to “waste not”. As a designer I want to feel the integrity of the materials. I am not big on plastics and polyesters. I am newly appreciating the beauty of something so mundane as concrete. I like seeing the construction in a design. With Ben’s mask sign, I asked him to tell me how he made the wall bracket. It was a revelation! What ingenuity. He’s setting the bar high for our class. I am daunted by difficult materials. How can you cleanly cut foam core? It takes a lot of my time, I might fail anyway, and I have other things to think about. This will be a challenge for me.
Active Engagement “Awareness and Anticipation, Openness to Constructive Criticism” Well I criticize myself plenty before I turn my assignments in. I have thought through a lot of things that might be considered failures or disappointments. I build answers to all of these critiques in my head. I know there is a thin line between understanding and excuses. I have been thinking a lot about Dignity lately. What does it mean personally? Can it become a bigger part of our popular culture some how? I think dignity asks me to do my best work and receive criticism with grace. As for classroom engagement, that comes easily to me. I’ll want to be someone who can support others in their efforts to speak up.
Week 3 9/2 Experience an Environment: The Cathedral of Christ the Light and Slide Presentation Shanell and I went to Oakland to see the cathedral. Neither of us had visited before but both of us wanted to. We took photos for our environmental experience project. The building was astounding. The light in the space is a living visitor, gracing us, moving, and we know leaving with the sunset. Down in the mausoleum there isn’t natural sunlight any more. But the lighting design dances and lives in its own way. Some marble panels reflect shining light. Some glow within. Arcing pathways sometimes spill light from a distance, showing you a promise of transformation. Here is a link to the presentation of my 10 favorite photographs. Now I am trying to pick a word to express what it feels like to be at the cathedral. It is peaceful for sure. The light and the size and the natural materials aid that. It is modern in feel. Some churches make you feel very small, but that was not my experience here. My body was small in the space, but the way that
the walls curved around the sanctuary is something like an embrace. The smaller chapels off the main sanctuary were very pedestrian and cozy, with lavender walls and frames of plain golden canvasses. I keep thinking about the way that the light is a vivid participant in the space. I don’t know what it would feel like to be there after sundown. That would certainly change things. At noon on a beautiful day, the light comes from the sun in the sky and then filters down through the ceiling and walls, through the stencil image of Jesus over the altar, and lands on the floors and the pews and the visitors. Walking under to the mausoleum which is illuminated with artificial light, you find that the sun also pierces through a skylight, shining through a cross onto the altar tomb.
Possible words brainstorm: 1. Filtering, Piercing, Connected ~ the sun flows everywhere 2. Solar, Woven 3. Peaceful, Harmonious, Welcoming I am trying to think of a word that connects Heaven and Earth, that connects one person to another. There’s something about the universe or about community.
9/6 Okay, I think I’ve got it. Mix community and continuity/eternity (light) with transparency and vertical ascension, and I think you come to hope. So my collage word will be Hopeful. I did some online research for hope in architecture. There is a lot I don’t like. But these are interesting. From Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania
The Shigeru Ban house without walls and
the design for the Busan Opera House Lobby
Week 4, 9/7 Collage: Hopeful With this second opportunity for making a collage, I dove in. I ran with the mixture of pieces of photos for my first rendition. I tried to acknowledge the structural shape of the building and to capture the filtered light through a weaving effect. I departed from any realistic representation and I let the shapes dictate aspects of the composition. I spent a long time on it. And then I stepped back at the end and thought it didn’t look ‘hopeful’ at all. 1st and 2nd Hope Collages Another consideration was Jerry’s recommendation that we look at architectural collages online. I thought my initial attempt was a little off base. I lost entirely any sense of the building I was using. So I did 3 more collages which I treated less preciously. After a slow start I quickly churned them out which gave me a lot more to work with. This is evidence that it is useful to work in broader strokes when starting a project.
3rd Hope Collage
4th Hope Collage
9/10 Gesture Drawings We worked on more gesture drawings in class. We were working with the idea of wonder. The first two drawings you see were more 2 of my most successful. Something about the expansiveness, the ascension, and the amount of negative space proved evocative. The third drawing was after considering elements of the class’s drawings that were successful. The last picture is just a funny juxtaposition of a cat going where he oughtn’t. (The drawings are folded from biking home without an effective means of protecting them. Will photograph them before transport next time.)
Precedence Research After our class gesture drawings I decided to explore examples of faceted walls and walls with small windows. I was thinking about how repeating elements tracing outside of the boundaries create a feeling
of wonder. Also, so many of the drawings had a central point from which other lines radiated. These are some of my favorite photos. Clockwise from top left: Villa F Guest House, somebody’s pretty guesthouse, European Investment Bank in Luxembourg, and a rendering of Medinah station in Saudi Arabia.
This contemporary small house remodel reminded me how the element of time can be highlighted by a wall. So I started looking into old walls.
Cloisters, NYC
In the above image, I love the walkway tracing along this wall and disappearing in through the opening. Metaphorical Position on the Wall of Wonder: Inspired by these images, I use the wall as a visual reminder of the passage of time. I do love how old things transport the imagination. What was the world like when this place was built?
Week 5, 9/15 Wall of Wonder Model, First Version
I decided to use small, fractured but repeating elements to suggest a path of expansion. The little square windows are tracing away from the window, away from the curved initiation of the wall on the left. The last window breaks away from the wall, puncturing the upper edge. I like the feeling of movement in something so stationary. The tall window suggests ascension, another visualized aspect of wonder. Using white paint brightened the chipboard. It also gave a sense of texture and direction.
The wall did not specifically include a place to sit or lie down, but the deep window sill offers an opportunity. Jerry suggested an ergonomic shape to the window to make it more inviting. Racquel suggested bringing blocks the shape and size of the little windows to act as steps up to the perch. Inspiring, right? I would like to play with the angle of the window sills and headers to get more sunlight into the space. I found the 1/4 scale to be a challenge. My initial design had a large arched window but I was frustrated by the execution and chose to simplify. I thought this was also a nice chance to try something apart from the curving lines I’m often drawn to. The Narrative, 1st pass The visitor approaches the wall. It is roughly textured but light in colorcreating a tension between strength and delicacy. A tall window is toward the left side of the wall. It is tall enough to offer passage through, but being 3 feet off the ground must be a window instead. As the visitor’s eye reads across the wall to the right, she sees three more windows. These are small and square. The third and final one lacks a header, instead opening as a perforation to the sky. The wall encourages the visitor to think about her place in time. It also welcomes her to spend some of her time here, relaxing, being in contemplative beauty.
9/17 Wall of Wonder, 2nd Iteration
For this model, I explored taller walls and bigger windows. If tall is good, is taller better? I think it ended up dwarfing the person, and the wall becomes a little intimidating. Then, if some paint texture good, is all paint texture better? Here the answer seems to be no. The shift in texture seems to invite possibility. Continuous texture answers all your questions which is less enticing. In this version I also angled the window headers up toward the sky to get the most light I could in such small openings. To adjust the shape of the larger window, I added a shade with a triangular opening. I do think that in conjunction with the pillows, it makes the window a more inviting perch.
From my instructor and fellow students I received the following feedback: let the texture change, maybe while reflecting the placement of the smaller windows. Can the smaller windows evolve from the bigger one until they trace their way out of the room? Can the small windows retain the more random placement from the first version? Can more blocks spill into the room, reflecting the curve of the wall and the slope of the windows? Can both wall ends curve in or is symmetry too predictable? I was thrilled to see all the different approaches that different designers brought to the class. I was blown away by some of the ideas and the evident effort. There are so many different ways it could go. Today in class we worked in small groups to discuss a model and to sketch as we came up with our impressions. I found this to be tricky talking with 2 others, while drawing on my own page. We played with ways the design could evolve even further, and then we would quietly draw by ourselves. This type of practice seems useful for design meetings. During a client presentation, feedback could be incorporated quickly, brainstorming could be pinned down, more ideas could be generated. Presenting our own project in 3rd person was another challenge. It formalized the style of speech. It focused the presentation on the model instead of the speaker. I can also imagine this style of speech coming into future presentations, meetings and seminars.
Week 6 9/22 We reviewed our expanding and evolving Walls of Wonder today. We tried our hands at sketching other students’ models and working in lines to depict and explain the architectural elements. These are my drawings of Marat’s interesting and intricate work. Jerry took my model and showed several ways that it could be drawn and then rethought. (See his work in the image to the right.) The endless number of options is astounding. But it is nice to think that you can build something with the assurance that you have considered every angle (figuratively and literally).
I have been working with an evolving model. I have worked to retain successful elements. This means that every rendition I bring in is similar in a lot of ways the the previous one. When I hit a stumbling blocklike how will I put a ceiling overhead of a curving wall, I just have to make something work. I am taking it as a challenge. On the other hand, I have been very impressed at how Raquel and Deyuan have brought in different ideas every time they make something. I think there are advantages to both approachescoaxing, adjusting and problem solving on one side, and brainstorming and establishing a broader range of ideas on the other. To explore the evolution of the next phase, I created some rough paper models. This version is evocative of grace and peace, perfect for repose, and so I proceeded. This is where I introduced the repeating vertical windows. You can see I contemplated altering the sill height and shape, an idea I took on later when adding a partial second story.
3rd model of the Window Wall , now with a second wall, a floor, and a ceiling. The domed ceiling was challenging to render but offers gracefulness to the spacious room. Paint texture is used sparingly. A ramp is introduced as a means to approach the space. This space lacked a journey. Jerry asked me to introduce one in the next iteration.
Narrative, 2nd version: I used as a template the breakdown of Maya Lin’s design proposal for the Vietnam Memorial. 1. Describe what you feel are the most significant aspects and qualities of your selected site: The vertical windows on the left carry around and drift away on the right. The ceiling ascends in the corner of the room. The feeling is one of upward movement. The ascension also offers a path outside of the room. The texture of the walls reminds the visitor of time past, while the repeating windows and access to light represent possibility. 2. Describe what a first time visitor to your site will see and experience: A visitor will first notice the tall repeating windows and the light spilling in like steps across the floor. Following the windows windows from left to right culminates in a corner staircase that takes the visitor out of doors. Once through the last window, a path catches the visitor and lets them slowly down to the earth. 3. Describe what your project primarily represents: My design represents eternity. There is a contrast between the concrete, the temporal which inevitably disintegrates, and the mind boggling age of the planet and of the stars. The structure will last a very long time, but it’s nothing in the scheme of things. I take inspiration from the work of the Long Now Foundation. “Civilization is revving itself into a pathologically short attention span. . . . Some sort of balancing corrective to the shortsightedness is neededsome mechanism or myth which encourages the long view and the taking of longterm responsibility, where 'longterm' is measured at least in centuries.”
Stewart Brand 4. Describe the details of what your audience will see and experience as they engage your work and relate these details to your metaphors: The staircase and the window sills bring to mind cloisters and churches, maybe even grand public libraries. They invite you to stop, to sit, to touch, to take a deep breath. Moments like this help us relate to the people that passed through before us and those that will follow. The arcing ceiling reaches its peak in the corner of the room. It is a truncated chapel roof. The rest is up to you. 5. Tell us how you are provoking your audience to wonder, question, and think in an intended direction of thought; for whom is your work intended?: This design is intended to create a sense of peace for each visitor while also enhancing a sense of expansiveness. The unexpected curve near the corner, the asymmetrical slope of the ceiling, the diminishing window size should all ask the visitor to investigate further, to recirculate and to understand the space anew. And yet many of the elements are familiar and inviting. 6. Tell us more about your work in terms of the physical aspects and qualities, its organization, and its relationships to significant existing conditions at your local site and beyond. The room is organized to act as an invitation. The repetition of the windows and of the railing outside lead you along. The corner staircase is a pinnacle of movement until reaching the threshold you can see that there is more. The setting would be most enhanced with lots of trees and greenery all around. This would increase the sense of the eternal and the instinct to seek repose.
9/24 We brought in rough, sketchlike models to quickly explore further evolutions of our walls. In hopes of creating a compelling journey, I experimented with a second story, with balconies and landing places, and with a strikingly vertical space with a spiral stair inside. Side by side, these two look like a California Mission. I was not excited with these versions but I thought they demonstrated possibilities regarding height, and stairs to other places. I retained these concepts in my next iteration. In class we discussed the generation of plans and elevation. Jerry encouraged us to use renderings to analyze and assess our plans and to develop them toward a more evocative expression of wonder. In architectural plans, perspective and a vanishing point is unnecessary. Things are rendered flatly, which I think helps with understanding actual measurements. From drawings, a designer can consider proportions, scale, elements, relationships, unity, balance, rhythm, shape, form, line, relationships. . . . The doors and windows and stairs are the elements of the design. The lines of logic are the grammatical rules. Jerry suggested we make rough models until we were inspired and then turn to drawings and overlays to explore the possibilities and the logistics.
Week 7 9/29 Our class was visited by admissions representatives from the Boston Architectural College. The school looks inspiring and prestigious. I loved imagining attending. They have a remote masters program, though it is intended for working designers. I have less experience than I think they expect. My current plan is to focus on developing my portfolio and my rendering skills at CCSF and see about doing architectural interiors here in the Bay Area.
Evolution of rough models and creation of plans and elevations I took my models from the week before and combined them, incorporating the tower into the building to become a partial second story. I played with the placement of a balcony, an open staircase, an evolution of vertical window openings. There was still a California Mission feeling which was unintentional and therefore requiring further investigation/adjustments. I looked into this through my drawings. I ended up moving the staircase to the other wall and making the interior balcony smaller. I was able to picture these adjustments on the page.
I decided to take out the definitive tower of the rough model and make it more like a mountainous peak. That made it feel more natural, ethereal and less church like. I decided to reflect that angle in the roofline and the staircase too.
We made another iteration of the wall based on our rough models and plans. This is the evolution of my Towerless California Mission. The slope of the roof line became translucent panelsfacilitating the feel of elevation, while rendering the ceiling simpler. I incorporated the journey with the ramp up the entryway, the stairs to a second story platform, and egress to a balcony.
Wall of Wonder Narrative #3 & Meaning Hannah Denmark October 2, 2015 Hiking up a trail in the early morning, I approach the building from the west. A yellow glow fills the sky. The silhouette of a structure emerges from the light. The building reveals itself to be taller than it is wide, with a form projecting out to the right. Coming closer, I can see the texture to the projection which turns out to be a railing on a 2nd story balcony. As the building comes into better view, I detect fenestrations along the visible wall. The first one is very small and merges into the left hand corner. The next is lower set but a little larger. And then further on there’s another. Before my eyes get to the right edge of the wall the windows have become tall enough to contain me, were I to pass through. A path leads to the right of the building and I take it. The southern wall has a door at the near corner. I see the ramp that will lead me to it, but it points away from me so I will have to walk the length of the building to reach it. Along the way, very tall vertical windows repeat, but step down in height. They mark time as I walk to the ramp. Through them I can see the skeletal form of a staircase. It steps down in the same direction and angle as the staircase. I step onto the ramp and start back toward the door. I can now see more clearly the stairs and their structure. I can also see those irregular windows of the western wall. At the doorway I have a full view of the room. The open staircase descends from over my head, down to my right. The light of the morning floods in from my right as I see the space is open on two sides. It seems to be an outdoor room, a protective covering. I could here seek respite from wind or rain. It is also a culmination of my hike in nature. As I step down three stairs to enter the room. I can drop my backpack on a platform to the left of the steps, so I do. If I want to sit and drink water or sketch in my notebook I will sit on a wider ledge that is to my right. But it isn’t time for that yet. I want to know where those stairs lead. (I actually know where they lead, but I want to experience it for myself!)
The base of the stairs is all the way to the right and I head that way. The staircase seems to float next to the vertical repeating windows. With no railings on either side, I am intentional about the placement of my feet and aware of my balance. I don’t want to tip either way by accident. With this heightened awareness of my body, I ascend. To my left, the increasing window height acknowledges my movement. Ahead I can see through the stair treads to segments of those western wall windows. They move and shift with each step that I take. When my eyes reach the landing at the top of the stairs, my view of the ground floor is masked but I can see now an open door onto a balcony. Here it is! The pinnacle of my journey. I step out into the breeze and the fresh air. The sun still rises at my back. It is peaking up over the horizon and it bathes everything before me in a rosy, glorious glow. I breathe. I close my eyes and feel the wind moving across me. I feel a sense of boundlessness. I feel a deep rooted and powerful respect for the Earth. I am powerfully grateful for this reminder of my little place in it all. On Meaning This design is intended to create a sense of peace for each visitor while also enhancing a sense of expansiveness. The room is organized to act as an invitation. The repetition of the windows leads you along. The larger staircase takes you to the pinnacle of movement rewarding you with balcony and a view. It is a peaceful place above it all. The setting would be most enhanced with lots of trees and greenery all around, perhaps on a mountainside. This would increase the sense of the eternal and the instinct to seek repose. My design represents eternity. There is a contrast between the concrete, the temporal, which inevitably disintegrates; and the mind boggling age of the planet and of the stars. The structure will last a very long time, but it’s nothing in the scheme of things. I take inspiration from the work of the Long Now Foundation. “Civilization is revving itself into a pathologically short attention span. . . . Some sort of balancing corrective to the shortsightedness is neededsome mechanism or myth which encourages the long view and the taking of longterm responsibility, where 'longterm' is measured at least in centuries.” Stewart Brand
approach under a flying balcony, walk a path flanked by windows, notice window heights are irregular, a ramp skims the wall enter the room under stairs, the room has high windows too, the stairs are open and sunny, the path upstairs is clear windows flow off the edge, and the visit ends with breeze and a view.
10/6 The storyboard above is created from images I found online. I had started this process for our assignment but then abandoned it. After seeing Jessica’s storyboard using researched images, I decided it was a process worth completing. Here is a link to the other storyboard I created (represented loosely in slides) utilizing photographs of my model. Taking pictures directly from my work made a clear representation of a visitor’s experience.
Week 8 10/6 Wall of Wonder Model Today we discussed a 4th version of our walls. Our narratives are consciously intertwined with these structures. I spoke to the class about the peace, ascension, and connection to people through time that I was trying to achieve through my model. Classmates liked the railings on the ramp, the windows that perforate the edge of the western wall, and the varying viewpoints into the space offered by the different types of windows. Suggestions I took away from today include a wider balcony that better echoes the other diagonal lines in the walls, more consistency in the lintels under the eaves so that there was a connection between windows on adjacent walls. Jerry suggested carrying the roof line out farther over the balcony to encourage the gaze on its upward path. Also could the far eastern corner extend out further from the space? I feel like that’s getting pretty space age for me but I will at least tape an extension to my current version to check it out. Also the balcony support could offer another opening through which one could glimpse and move toward the ramp.
10/8 Complementing Piece Inspired by Ben’s work with an additional wall piece, we brought in an additional structure meant to enhance the experience of the design. I settled on a large archway that would look like it was a remnant from another building.
Sometimes a man made structure enhances the beauty of nature. The Golden Gate Bridge is a prime example. The bridge defines the path into the bay, pulls the two coastlines into a relationship, and gives us a graceful definition to the sky above and the water below. In my model, the apparently old archway was meant to heighten the wildness of the (admittedly imaginary) surrounding forest. I thought it was out of scale. Jerry asked that I examine how the pieces of the archway resonate with the pieces of the existing room. Also, if I introduce a path, it is essential that I consider the pathway it leads you on. Using it as a sculptural point of interest does not justify its symbolic and functional pull.
10/13 Final Wall of Wonder For this rendition of the wall I wanted to revisit the complimentary piece. I decided to keep my the basic shape of my existing wall the same. I improved the structure of the balcony by supporting it with a wall panel with repeating windows. I gave up the incline to the balcony but instead repeated the expanding footprint of the ramp. The complimentary piece from the week before had not been particularly successful. I decided to repeat (with alterations) the new wall panel under the balcony with doorways through each one, creating aligned slivers of a tunnel. I sketched it out, considered the relationship of the different elements, and played with floor plan and rise and came up with a rendition that I found harmonious. But once I built it, I worried that these pieces were too much of a departure from the existing space. They also placed a lot of emphasis on the balcony sideand I thought, it was lopsided. It was becoming very detailed and busy. The balcony lost its status as something special, alone and beautiful.
So next I made a long wall with one doorway and one small window. I ran it as an extension from the curved portion of the wall. Not bad, but not great. It created a directionality away from the original window wall, and I knew from my introduction of an archway the week before that I needed to have a good reason for that direction. I was having trouble thinking of something new. Simplicity has been one of my goals in this project and everything I did changed the orientation, the experience, the hierarchy. I went after a 4th wall. I thought about the wall sections that we played with at the beginning. Could the new wall enhance the directionality of the journey up to the balcony? I angled the lower half of the wall into the space. I mirrored the gentle angles of the ramp and balcony. I wanted to repeat windows from the existing experience but not exactly. I chose the opposing wall’s tall vertical windows, but I made two more and then set them behind a translucent screen. I liked how together with the other wall pieces it created a cube, but it also left behind dynamic cutouts. I think they enhanced the sense of wonder by letting light through new, seemingly skyhigh shapes. And yet the regularity of the cube left things peaceful. It answered back the suggestions of the opposing wall. (Though Jerry aptly noted, “That one is undermined by craft issues!” It’s good to have a sense of humor too.)
I presented all four versions of the complimentary walls to my class mates. Jerry and fellow classmate Ben began picking up the pieces and arranging them together. The repeating doorways came off from the curved wall, finishing with the the original larger archway. The long wall with a door skimmed away from the perforated wall. The tall translucent wall stood where I originally imagined it. Jerry liked the overall effect and pointed out there was a new courtyard that had been created and required further exploration. Moving away from simplicity altogether, the four new elements expanded into the surrounding space, creating a combination of spaces with even more possibilities. Across the table, Towers had combined his two stand alone pieces making a striking combination of curving waves and a expanding rectangles. It was lovely to look upon. The potential never ends. Playfulness seems to be a key element of innovation.
These are the parts diagrams for the model with one of the complimentary walls. We did not present these in class. Not sure whether I’ve got it right.