FIRST YEAR SEMESTER 2 JENNIFER GREIG
NC STATE COLLEGE OF DESIGN
JGREIG@NCSU.EDU
949-480-7426
MAY 2017
COLOR+ COMPOSITION
EXPERIEN
NCE+MASS
SYSTEMS+TENSION
COLOR+ COMPOSITION
IDEATION GESTALT
GRADIENT
PROPORTION
PATTERN
CONTRAST
As the first project in architecture studio, my partner and I started by exploring ten compositional terms to further develop our understanding of form through the use of photography. Then, we developed the ideas of concepts into 2D diagrams, before transitioning into 3D through modeling. RHYTHM
SYMMETRY
ASYMMETRY
EMPHASIS
ECONOMY
ESTABLISHMENT OF FORM After gaining an initial understanding of these terms, we combined two concepts to experiment how adding another term can further enrich a model. Through iterations of these hybrids, we developed more and more craft at every new model we made.
GRADIENT+RHYTHM
ECONOMY+PROPORTION
GESTALT+ASYMMETRY
FORM THROUGH COLOR EXPLORATION
Through the use of three colored non-dimable LEDs: red, blue and green and a white background, we discovered the effects of the colored light blending and transforming our white models into seemingly new form.
DISCOVERING COLOR INTERACTIONS DEPTH+COLOR
To further understand how color interacts with form, we developed a pattern from the color photographs and used this pattern to attain different effects with color: depth, vibrance, color relativity, and emphasis. And to truly experience the effects of color I collected color samples instead of working on a computer.
RELATIVITY+COLOR
As Joseph Albers experimented with, a color can seem lighter if placed on a darker background and a color can look darker if placed on a lighter background, especially if it is a vibrant one. As a third element, a distracting color helps make colors seem different or more similar than they actually are. Here in my pattern, the banana-shaped form and the chevron are the same color, while the center diamond is a different color.Transitioning back into 3D, the patterns became relief models using shadow and applied color to reflect.
FINAL COMPOSITION+ COLOR MODELS Applying color to our initial white models we explored the blending and emphasis, color can bring to a model. Brainstorming ideas through sketches first before using them to develop our final models.
EXPERIENCE+MASS
IDEATION To start the project we were challenged to define what stereotomic is. I defined it as: a technique of exploiting a solid through subtractive and additive geometric form cuts. The heavy nature of this form is made visible through the shifting of forms and contrast with light and depth. Therefore, I started to focus on shifting mass, folds and light shafts.
PROCESS MODELS I got interested in the idea of a cube with proportional shifts and cutouts, and how an individual must feel inside a massive cube with small apertures of light in the dark space.
REFINEMENT THROUGH MOLD MAKING Apertures and the grid like proportioning system of my cube inspired my mold making to be of layered lasercut foamboard, that leaves a layered texture on the concrete. Eventually, I added wood layers into my models to highlight relationships between elements.
FINAL STEREOTOMIC MODEL Spacial sequence through light and darkness was formed through the apertures, and created an interior cube space that is both enclosed yet open to surrounding views. The layered module integrates the apertures to the concrete, which itself is formed from a shifted cube using a grid system. These apertures also separate different spaces, within the cube: an atrium, path, and a destination with an outlook. I imagine this structure to be placed in a forest setting on a rocky hillside, relating the concrete to the natural rock and the layers of wood with the layering of the tree trunks.
SYSTEMS+TENSION
IDEATION This project focused on tectonic structures, systems of joints connecting similar and different materials. Each week a new material was introduced: wood, wire and paper. And lastly a hybrid was formed exploring linear with planar elements. To begin understanding complex systems, diagramming became an important tool throughout the project. Therefore, to begin ideating I began diagramming with the use of an image.
WOOD JOINTS+MODEL As I started discovering the properties of wood, I got enamored by the idea of joining the material together without the use of adhesives. I was always curious how people of the past joined wood through wrapping, so I tested with string and then thin wire. Securing the wire with notches or holes in the wood helped anchor a point which allowed for tension. It felt counterintuitive that the bass wood was limited to move at the joint even though just a thin wire was between them.
The linear system became clustered in organization with the use of the wire, due to a tensile force wanting to hold them all together. This allowed for an accordion like model that was able to expand and contract with the force of my hands.
WIRE JOINTS+MODEL After experimenting with tension on the wood model, I wanted to translate the idea of tension of the wood into the wire . Since wire has memory, bending wire into a half circle created outward tension and became the basis for my studies. I created a system with three members attached to a bent one, which stayed together through a a wire loop slipped on the top because the three members were pulling in different directions. In my model, I simplified the system through only using what was structurally needed, and the joints allowed for a controlled movement of the modules.
PAPER JOINTS+MODEL Paper allowed for tension to be expressed in a bulging fashion. To continue the sequence with wood and wire, I realized that there was a triangular system, extended joints, lack of adhesives and a tensile repetition. The module became a triangle notched into a triangle, which were attached to each other through a system of weaving. Diagrams became a major aid to clarify the weaving system.
HYBRID MODEL STUDIES To further expand my material knowledge, I introduced fabric to my system. Most intriguing was the appearance of stretched fabric which made the force of tension visible. In order to hold the fabric, I needed a sturdy material that woudn’t bend, so I came back to using bass wood. Through the drilling of tight holes into wood members, I could bend smaller members into an arch, resembling the previous wire model and the bulges of the paper model. The wood structure related back to my initial wood model through the extension of the joint. Also, another triangualr system was formed through one triangle being composed of three modules.
FINAL HYBRID The use of black panty hose allowed for a greater contrast with the wood members. The extended joints made the use of smaller and larger stretched pieces of fabric possible, and I left one side without one to emphasize the system. The system is composed of three interconnected triangles with seven modules in total. Each module faces a pair determined by the side without the stretched fabric. As a fabric tensile structure, I imagine this to be a kind of outdoor shading pavillion due to the layering of the fabric allowing for different shadow intensities on the ground.
JENNIFER GREIG
NC STATE COLLEGE OF DESIGN
JGREIG@NCSU.EDU
949-480-7426
MAY 2017