PORTFOLIO ENVS10004
Hermione Hines 835035
Semester 2 2016
9:00am-10:00am
At the start of the day the large grass area is mostly empty as the entire site is used for individuals to walk through to access buildings.
11:00am-12:00pm
1:00pm-3:00pm People tend to gather on the edges of concrete blocks as they stop on their way through the site to talk or eat.
MOVEMENT MAPPING The central space is a common area for action as students move between the MSD and Union house. People moving are most likely to find the shortest routes between buildings thus explaining the movement intensities on the outskirts of the lawn and through the middle bare areas were used for stationary activities.
Merge of all intensities Areas of the site close to buildings have the highest intensity levels and the grass area is used for sitting.
Students leave and enter buildings around this time with the heaviest concentration of people around union house
Students enjoyed sitting on the grass area alone or in groups that were quite evenly spread
Intensities were mainly located at entry and exit points to buildings and also around food areas such as Union House and Cafes - many students gather here to talk and eat.
SITE ANALYSIS
INTENSITIES AND MOVEMENT MAPPING I loved exploring the site through focusing on mapping how individuals and groups of people naturally used the space. This displayed a form of navigation and circulation that resonated with fluidity and dynamism, as well as practicality and ease of movement, important notions that I decided to expand on in my design.
A series of beautiful surfaces which pile up and create a surface topography that is suggestive of structural organisation derived from organic systems (irregularity and ease in connections).
SPATIAL COMPOSITION
Even though some planes are transparent, the edges create a linear punctuation that are visually pleasing and accentuate the linearity of the shapes.
Inspired by slate quarries and an installation of broken glass by Robert Smithson, my model focused on sporadically fallen sections and planes coming together in an elegant and composed manner. The vertical, horizontal and diagonal opaque planes provide structural support, contrasted with the transparent sections suggesting ephemeral structure. There is a sense of inherent instability between parts, yet the conglomerate as a whole is aesthetically pleasing. The build up of planes on ground level balances and supports the ‘wing’ structure attached.
LANDFORMING
The first part of my model, is the creation of a series of plaster-made fault lines. I then played with these impressions of the voids derived from fault lines, by replicating and recreating the forms using small pieces of balsa wood, that in fact suggest the opposite process which is that of extrusion. Thus I am playing with polarity, where the plaster forms have captured negative space, while the balsa wood forms have become the extrusion of those voids (this creates a mini mountain, that is actually the inverted void). The pieces of balsa are kept on a horizontal plane to mimic the shear forces of fault lines created from earthquakes.
My model functions as one entity which challenges the stable identity associated with pure form as the status of the walls and edges are called into question. The sense of enclosure is disrupted creating tension and a dialectical relationship between the forms.
ASSEMBLAGE
In my grafted model, there is a sense of disruption, deviation, dislocation, distortion, formal conflict and collision between the transparent prisms (which function as macro versions of my landforming models), and the white planes (resonating with my spatial composition model). There is thus a third seam that has been created from the two forms. This implied dynamism becomes physical disturbance, as the difference between the two forms is clear but on closer examination the lines break up between them, thus they are inseparably entangled.
Occupy – in the form of a dream In the form of a dream, something I saw was transformed. Like a wish fulfillment. I saw one day, cloud and starling formations in the sky. And then I had a dream. The dream went like this - the starlings, the clouds.. Sky...form.. Sky forms. In my dream I could layer, I could enter, I could move, away from tradition? In my dream the sky became the site to occupy structures, clusters, spaces, forms. In my dream these clusters were multi potent. They could be places to live, work, store, grow. In my dream these forms could be tethered or move. In my dream these structures could transform wind and solar energy. In my dream the land based problems of overcrowding, resource exhaustion and greenhouse gas emission could be addressed by sky based occupations. In my dream I was big and small all at once. In my dream there were no constraints to imagining a better world. It all felt real. It was possible.
SPATIO-TEMPORAL NARRATIVE
My collage was inspired by organic and natural forms, such as those of flocks of starlings that are influenced by light and air. The formations of the clouds also suggest some sort of transient structural form in the sky. These new and dynamic forms may ‘shatter’ traditional architectural creations and create a new way of experiencing space.
My superimposition was created by overlaying the plan of my assemblage model, sections of the movement diagram from the site analysis, and my narrative collage. I love the harmony created by using transparency as a binding factor of the different elements, yet also the contrast between the geometric and natural forms. I chose to include subtle sections of the movement diagram because I felt that it resonated well with the organic theme of the collage. The plan of the superimposition is homogeneous, thus I took lines, spaces and negative spaces from my superimposition collage and translated them as the same thickness of line in my plan - this greatly helped me in my final project with forms.
SUPERIMPOSITION AND EXPERIENCE COLLAGES
In my experience collage, was highly influenced by materials and shapes that were evident in my superimposition collage and plan. I tried to create an evocative assemblage of forms that resonated with light, shadow, natural and geometric forms. Through designing for an experience whilst incorporating my response to concrete, I was presented with new concepts helping me in my final outcome.
FINAL DESIGN FULL SECTION
My final outcome is that of a series of organically formed concrete structures in articulation with constructed glass prisms which together create a dynamic and sculptural experience. This was a form led design process; allowing the formal and material elements lead to notions of function and experience. This allowed me to articulate the interactions between these features in a coherent way in conjunction with the site. The clarity and exposure of the white, raw concrete versus that of the landscape adds a layer of temporality as the forms and surfaces will change with perpetual use and exposure to the elements, so there is a relationship between people and space and the environment.
Example of interior of structure corridors and movement between spaces.
FINAL DESIGN PARTIAL SECTION
The overall structure is created from the fluidity of the organic forms pitched against those of the transparent prisms; the articulations between create the overall experience and heighten the sense of contrast between unexpected and expected relationships reflecting the program itself. The transparency of the prisms guides people within the structure without them feeling as if they are walking into something completely dark and foreboding. They act as an introduction into the structure allowing for people to adjust to entering the confines of the spaces.
The concrete forms acquire meaning through elementary nature of light. Light protruding into the structure from below indicates the passage of time, as well as giving a presence to the forms through its purity and casting of shadows. Shadows reverberate the organic forms, as they provide contrast between parts of the form engulfed in light with those that are not. Light also renders sections of the concrete exposed through its glow effect, revealing the vulnerabilities and rawness of the material. Paring the ephemeral experience of light with the permanence of the concrete, creates a multifaceted effect by adding a softness to the material while producing the glow that transcends the building volumes.
FINAL DESIGN PLAN AND MODEL
When I looked at the innate patterns of movement of individuals through the concrete lawn, I found there to be longitudinal and diagonal tendencies of movement. My structure adhered to this, as I transformed these patterns into sequence. There are also implications of placing parts of my building into the subsurface of the ground, as this creates a fluidity between the form and the site, as well as using unseen space as a place for experience to occur.
FINAL DESIGN MODEL
There are two layers of intention in my scheme; representation and function. Representation: of points of meeting between people, conjunctions between organic forms and the constructed prisms, and possibility and purpose. There are diverse networks of paths and entry and exit points throughout the site, so circulation is dynamic, creating a blend of erratic and systematic points of intersection between people. Function: Lack of a single clear focal point within the site facilitates experiences of sinuous motion and attraction towards the form. There is an aesthetic experience as individuals may respond to the site in state of curiosity and satiation.