Isaac Seah Winter Semester Portfolio
Despite shifts in the technological landscape, the fundamentals in architecture representation has remained consistent. Concepts of color, perspective and scale continue to be crucial to the design process. With knowledge of these concepts, how can we cast a narrative on how the industry’s association with representation has changed over the years? This collection of work seeks to explore concepts of representation through a series of commentaries on the different approaches to architectural representation. The first segment engages with the concept of style in architecture representation. How can architecture representation be manipulated to tell a story? The second segment provides a commentary on the shifting landscape of architecture representation through the exercise of designing a public space. How does a designer evolve his style and how has storytelling changed with the emergence of modern technology? The final segment builds upon the second segment and physicalizes representation from 2D into 3D, as with every architectural project. Pushing beyond the confines of digital or physical representation, the final segment questions the “represented space� that people experience. What lies beyond the pristine and smooth surfaces of the spaces that we experience? This compilation seeks to address some of the questions raised through the application of color, perspective, scale and design thought. Instructor: Dan Briker Teaching Assistant: Stephen Brophy
Index 1.
Thematic Explorations
2.
Collage || BIM || SIMULATION
3.
Beyond Our Surfaces
Thematic Explorations Collage and Atmosphere
One of the earliest questions an architectural designer has to engage with, is the program of a building. How will it be used by its occupants? More often than not, the answer to this question follows the architectural project to the very end and becomes a representation tool for the designer to his clientelle and stakeholders of the project. In this project, the story of an iconic space is reintepreted and recreated through various means of visual manipulation. The key element in question is the Salk Institue, often acclaimed by architecture critics as one of the world’s boldest structures. Instead of accepting the Salk Institue in its default state as a research lab, this project abstracts the building’s architectural elements and casts them into vastly differing functions. The strict symmetry of the Salk Institute and the base image called for an approach that respected the confines and linear properties of the space, enforcing emphasis on the one point perspective of the image. The resulting images sought to respect this empahsis while giving new life to this iconic space. Along a parallel direction, the project also serves as a means of exploring different styles of representation that have been made available with the presence of technology. Visual elements that sheds light on utopian, dystopian and realistic renditions of the Salk Institute are freely explored through multiple iterations before arriving at 4 final resolutions.
A Rainy Day A rainy day at the Salk Institute but operations go on as usual. Scientists scurry around in their lab coats while discussing about topics that are of interest to their fellow collaborators. The crestfallen weather has no impact on the optimistic scientific community.
A Movie Set The Salk Institute’s unqiue geometry and concrete material makes the environment the perfect candidate for a movie set with a futuristic setting. The above scene depicts a landing spacecraft with scientists taking samples of the unusual specimen floating above the surface.
One Point Perspective This image explicity breaks down the strict lines of the Salk Institute. By creating voids along the frame and having the entourage run towards the center of the image, the one-point perspective enjoys a large emphasis, almost as if the environment was collapsing towards the center of the canvas.
Shopping Arcade The flat surfaces of the Salk Institute almost makes the linear environment resemble a shopping district where bright billboards are on display, beckoning the pedestrians to enter the various shops in the region.
Collage || BIM || Simulation Designing the Image
In this project a public plaza for a new town was designed through the action of composing. Starting off with a base image, various architectural elements were to be composited into the image by applying an iterative approach through a process of trial and error. The architectural elements that were required to be in each iteration included a plaza populated with people, instituional/cultural buildings, a mid-rise office with commercial ground floor, a mid-rise residential building, the skyline of a future town and landscape features of the environment. Moving beyond the key requirements for the project, the underlying theme was the exploration of different representational methods employed by architectural designers. While the previous project explored concepts of story-telling and staging, this project explores various mediums of how designs may be envisioned and created. It is undeniable that in the 20th century, forward-looking architects like Superstudio relied mainly on the medium of image collaging to envision spaces that could possibly be created in the future. When observing the present, the act of envisioning spaces has vastly transformed. Instead of simply examining and designing the aesthetics of architectural spaces, architects work with the service systems of their projects, as much as with the facade of buildings. This phenomena of becoming an “overseer� of the entire building, down to the mechanical systems may be attributed to the emergence of Building Information Modelling where the architectural designer and his fellow consultants can collaborate on a single digital model and comprehensively understand the consequence of every single design decision. Finally, the simulation iterations cast us into the future where design decisions are no longer simply made based on big data collected from the BIM model. Rather, we can digitally experience the designed environment before committing to the design. Entire cities can be experienced with technologies that allow for environmental simulation and virtual reality for spatial immersion.
Collage Architecture representation, specifically in terms of collaging, has always been used for the representation of ideas. The employment of collage techniques in the 20th century was often loaded with political ideals and moonshot ideas that radically influenced landscapes. This image compiles and collages together different “moonshot� ideas and architectural realizations to relieve the idealistic creativity that was espoused by the architectural designers, reflecting the potential of collaging as creative process.
Building Information Modelling While the previous iteration fantansized about the creative pursuits of the architecture profession, this iteration brings us back to the ground and seeks to represent the reality of the architecture profession and the physical environment we live in. The evolution of architecture representation has led us into the realm of documentation in order to streamline processes and increase productivtiy. This iteration draws light to the concept of Building Information Modelling where a designer can model the world around him, in great detail. This allows us to understand and experience the built environment in its entirety, tempting you to “click rotate� to learn more about the environment.
Simulation 1 As the era of BIM draws closer to an end or rather, mass adoption, the next step for the architecture industry is to simulate material, scenarios and building performance, using the information they’ve collected through the building information modelling process. Through the manipulation of Big Data, entire cities can be visualized. The orange columns observed in the image represent erected infrastructure that generates hologrphic projections of buildings that are to be built in the given area, in this case, the vast desert plains. Additionally, a Processing script was written to create the pixelation effect that is observed in the image as a form of establishing a connection with this futuristic scenario.
Simulation 2 While the previous iteration explored the functional possibilities of the future, this image provides a visualization of how our cities may look like. The application of parametric design techniques are clearly observed in this image, with large skyscrapers and acceleartion curves populating the entire environment. In the midst of the bustling city, we observe that some of the skyscrapers are still being simulated as part of the urban fabric. The boundaries between the physical and digital is blurred once again.
Beyond our Surfaces Measuring the Image
This final segment builds upon one of the previous iterations, where the “designed� public space, created through the act of collaging becomes an architectural project in itself. By referencing the image, measurements and dimensions were subsequently derived to create plans and sections to create a 3D manifestation. Going beyond the asks of the project, stylistic choices had to be considered and factored to convey a comprehensive exploration of the systems beyond the surfaces of the architectural environments that people experience in urban spaces. The Pompidou, as well as the underground systems, presents a commentary of the hidden service layer and the complexity of the environment that surrounds us. The creation of the physcial model was broken into 2 segments, the service layer as well as the public layer. The process of creation is documented in the following pages. In retrospect, the creation of the physical model was an extremely iterative process where there was constant reference and correction of both the diagrams and the model. This back and forth process was present throughout the entire exercise and sheds light upon the organic nature of design.
Public Site Plan This plan depicts the layer of infrastructure that people experience on a day to day basis.Elements include the various mid-rise buildings, the famous Pompidou, roads as well as vehicles that make up physical environment that we experience. The vents situated prominently in the center of the site serves as a unique connection between the service layer situated underground, and the public layer situate above ground.
Service Site Plan This underground plan seeks to complement the public Plan by depicting the connections that are formed between the different layers of infrastructure embedded within the urban landscape.
Legend Electricity Water Air Ventilation
West Sectional - Elevation This diagram hypothesize about how the mechanical and service systems of the Pompidou get dispersed into the surrounding architectural environment. Under the ground surface, we observe a machine-like aesthetic that expresses the systematic properties of urban spaces where infrastructure supports the usability of the urban space. Through this diagram, we easily observe the contrast between what is and what isn’t experienced on the public layer.
North Sectional-Elevation The North Sectional Elevation features the main mechanical systems of the Pompidou. Referencing the colors used in the original Pompidou, the important systems included within the physical model have been highlighted. The huge vents potruding from the ground are also color coded to provided orientation with respects to the public site plan.
Constructing the Base The construction of the base of the model was executed in various stages. The process starts off by creating a lattice that could support the weight of the structure, followed by introducing elements of varying flexibility and joints that resemble real mechanical systems.
Close Ups The close up images of the public layer reveals the experential aspects of the “designed” public space.