Jingwen Huang Professor Jerry Lum Fall 2015
Week 1
Project No.1 What’s Your Sign? Phrase 1: Concept Generation --Step 1: What are the words that best describe yourself? Pick three from the list and prioritize them. The three words that I chose for myself are: Optimistic, Friendly, and Quiet. Then I searched on the internet to see what the images could best correlate with them. For optimistic, the results turned out to be smiling faces and sunshine. For, friendly, the important aspect was light color. The searching results for quiet were not what I wanted, so I changed the searching word to be peaceful. Then I got some beautiful images about the peaceful nature.
Step 2: Making collages The images at the right side are my three collages made by the images I searched before. The first one was very simple, which was one letter of my first name, “J”. I was not satisfied with it because it didn’t show any aspects of me. Then I generated the second and the third ones. The second one was based on a growing tree but was in the shape of hands, which I meant to be growing and gaining knowledge. As I simply placed the images separated on each of the fingers, I didn’t see the value of them.
As I was not satisfied with both of the collages, I tried to make the third one. I searched the term “collage� online and found out that the collages are formed as a particular shape. I was thinking: Could I also make my third collage based on an object or image? I chose the shape to be a ballet dancer, which not only showed a sense of beauty but also showed the words: optimistic, friendly, and quiet.
Phase 2: Build It. I took the dancer to be the best collage and decided to build the sign based on it. The first sign I made was a simple large dancer. I used thick foam board to enhance the thickness of the sign, but it also added up to the difficulties of cutting. I chose to use watercolor to draw simple pattern on the dress of the dancer. The hanging was not good. Although it achieved the function of holding the sign below, it had nothing to do with the sign itself. Besides, it was not graceful or beautiful.
Week 2 I learned from my class and got suggestion for the second sign. The second one is also based on the form of dancer. Instead of just one dancer, I decided to make multiple of them. In order to show a sense of movement and rhythm, I used white strings to connect them with the hanging. I still used watercolor to draw on them, but I used different color so that it could make people feel happy. I also changed the hanging to be a thin circle and a little dancer. In this way, the sign could be generated as a whole. Each part was connected in meaning.
Conclusion of Project 1 --Design as a language: Design is a process to translate out thoughts into a readable form. As stated in chapter one of the textbook, architecture can also be representational. We design things to inspire others, to evoke inner sense or feelings of others. We design things to show certain aspects of ourselves. --Design Process/ Evolution of Your Work I changed the scale of the sign in order to add movement. I also changed the hanging to better enhance the whole design. --Craft: Materials and Construction Methods I used thinner foam board to do the second one because it is easier to cut. From the process, I understood what my professor said in class, that only if you actually worked on the project could you know what was going on and what was the better method to do it. “Architecture is a gesture. Not every purposed movement of the human body is a gesture. Just as little as every functional building is architecture.� -- Ludwig Wittgenstein, Dhilosopher
Week 3 Project No.3: Perceiving, Experiencing, and Interpreting Spaces and Places Project No.3A: Documenting Our Journals This assignment raises our awareness of observing the environment and being more engaged in the designing process. I went to the Yerba Buena Garden near downtown San Francisco. I have never noticed that there is such a beautiful public garden there before. This assignment gave me a chance to visit it. It is a peaceful place with attractive environment. I couldn’t help sitting there and watching what people were doing. I had a wonderful afternoon there.
Stairway going up to the garden, the entrance of it. The plants make people expect what to see after going up. The long corridor beside a cafĂŠ. Warm sunshine and attractive environment
Looking up when standing at the stairway. The special design makes you feel that you can breathe freely instead of being covered by the pathway on top.
The wooden bench on both sides of the corridor. Feeling alone at sunset.
The wall of the pool. It combines flowing water, sunshine, shadow, and the rough rocky surface at the same time.
Walking down from one side of the pool. The unique surface not only shows a sense of repetition, but also catches interesting shadow on it.
The waterfall and the sunshine.
The curved stone chair allows people to sit around. It makes people feel close and relaxed
At a corner of the meadow. A quiet pathway will lead you there. It is a circle space with a small pool and some irregular stones for people to sit
The exit of the garden. It looks like a railway station with the curved metallic top
Project No.3B: Making Collage After I analyzed my selected ten images, I found that the most important aspect of the place I visited is peaceful. Then I came up with a series of adjective words that describe my journal: Peaceful, enjoyable, comfortable, and relaxing. The next step was to print there images out and find a way to generate them into a collage. For the first one, I cut the images into pieces and separated them. I tried to find a logical way to connect the different parts together, but it came out to have sharp edges and didn’t evoke any feelings in others. So for the second one, I tried to integrate the different parts of the environment as a whole and evoke a sense of leisure and peace. But the second one failed because it is not a collage.
Week 4
Charcoal Drawing— Exploring Possibilities Before using charcoal to do gesture drawing, we used it to see what different effects it can create. We began with drawing the thinnest and thickest line to examine how thin and thick it could be by changing the angles of the charcoal. Then we examined how light to dark it transferred by pressing on the charcoal.
Then we were asked to use charcoal to express speed. We drew lines to show fast and slow. I expressed movement by moving the charcoal up and down and changing angles. Next, we used charcoal to define space. It is the most challenging part for me because I didn’t know how to show it. So I just used lines to mark out a space between them.
Week 4 Project No.4: Make a Wall, Make a Window, Evoke Wonder Possible Position: The wall is a living thing that responds to changing conditions inside and outside, and connect inside and outside. Precedence Research The image on the right side is the Church of Light in Ibaraki, Japan designed by Tadao Ando. The contrast of darkness and brightness created by the cross opening evokes a sense of wonder. By letting in certain amount of light, explorers can feel that the church is mysterious and sacred.
This is Corbusier’s Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, France. Corbusier designed a wall that has multiple windows with different sizes. The light effect created by these windows is remarkable. I can also see the contrast between the darkness of the room and the multiple indirect light sources. Besides, the glass windows shape unique light effect.
This is the Suzhou Museum designed by I.M. Pei located in China. The images were taken from the internet. It shows respect for the nature, and enhances the harmony between human and the environment.
Gesture Drawing: On the class, we used charcoal to draw certain aspects that are related to an evocative space. First, we were asked to draw how wonder was in our minds. In my view, wonder is your interest to explore and experience. I drew it without thinking too much because wonder doesn’t require careful thinking. For the second one, we were asked to draw the possible shadow that can be created by light. I chose to draw as above because I think light spreads in all directions. Therefore, it can create shadows in many ways. For the third one, we drew to define the shadow of the second drawing. At first I didn’t understand, but after I asked my classmates and observed what they did, I had a clearer idea.
Week 5
Gesture Drawing: The fourth one was to draw what multiple light sources would look like. I didn’t do well on this one because I had no idea about what to draw. The next one was to draw the image that shown by our professor. I tried to show how it change from light to dark because of the indirect light source. The last one was to draw Corbusier’s Notre Dame du Haut. I chose some windows to depict. Some were above light source and some were below. The way to distinguish them is to examine how the light diffused after coming through the windows.
Building the Model!
The narrative exploration a. What are the most significant aspects and qualities of your constructed design? Looking at the wall from a distance, it appears to have two different sections which give people two different experiences. The whole wall is designed to be curving from left to right, which makes the sight to follow it.
b. What will a first time viewer of your work see and experience? Looking at the left part, the wall is tall and long. There is not a lot of light coming from outside. It doesn’t provide a very clear view for people to look from distance, but it attracts them to take a closer look and peek at the outside from the long, thin strips. The right part, on the other side, is very different. It is short. It has a larger opening which allows direct view. And the amount of sunlight is warm for people to sit there and daydream.
c. What does your design primarily represent? The constructed wall model is designed to give people who have different moods a place to settle their minds. The left one allows the depressive emotions to be calmed down. It is also a good place to meditate. besides, the right part makes people feel warm and happy. d. What are the details of what your audience will see and experience as they engage your work and how these details relate to your metaphors? The whole design is composed of three layers. Looking at the left of the tall wall, one can see a series of long, thin window strips. But not all the window strips allow light to come through. To take a closer look at it, only two of them allow people to look at outside, and the others are blocked at either the second layer or the third. The little amount of light coming through can give people a place to calm down and think deeply. Walking from left to right, the middle is a set of folded space, which not only connects the two parts, but also separates them in order to give better experience. The right of the wall is low and lovely. It has a round shape opening that allows a lot of light coming through. It creates a warm atmosphere which is different from the left part. It makes people feel relax and allows them to daydream.
Week 6
This is the second version for a place of wonder. In addition to the existed wall, I added three walls to make it a complete space. The south is the existed wall with long strips and a circle window. The east is a curve declining wall, which forms a closed space with the south wall. The west wall is composed of several long horizontal strips with different slopes. They are meant to create an uninterrupted sight line for people looking at the outside. The floor has unique patterns similar to the south wall. The whole space looks like a piano, which gives a sense of elegance.
With the suggestion given by the class and the analysis of the sections and plans, I decided to changed the west wall with a series of long strips. I changed it because it didn’t integrate with the other parts of the model. From the analysis, I knew that curvilinear is the major feature of my design, so I made the new wall with curve line above. I also made two half circular space below, which allow storage or rest.
Storyboard
Week 7
Narrative: When one approaches the place, you can see that the entrance has a wide opening that attracts you to walk in. It is a long dark passageway that leads you to the place. As you walk in, the passageway becomes narrower, and the height of the ceiling is declining. There is also a split at the upper right between the ceiling the wall. Meanwhile, the split is also changing from narrow to wide. Combining all these elements together, one can feel how the space and also the amount of light coming through is changing, which directs you to go inside and explore more about it. The passageway is curve, and it makes you expect that the space has something to do with curvilinear. Standing at the end of the passageway, you will see a bright and broad space with special patterns on the flat ground.
Narrative: Looking straight you can see a low wall with a round shape opening that allows direct sunshine to come through. There is a long bench attached to the wall that allows people to sit and daydream. Looking to the right, you can see a wall with a series of windows that follow the curve of the wall. There are two half oval spaces beneath. One concaves inward, the other one concaves outward. This particular space can function as chairs or a place to store things. They can also be a funny zone for children or pets to play.
The ceiling of this part is oblique and the upper right is wider. Walking to the left, there are stairs leading you to go up. The left part of the space is elevated to provide a sense of privacy. The left wall curves inward and forms a tall, closed interspace. Standing at the center of the elevated space, the right side is a tall long wall with a series of long, thin window strips. The wall has three layers. But not all the windows of theses layers allow light to come through. It attracts people to take a closer look at it. As you approaches the wall, you can find out that only two of the windows allow people to look through them. The design is meant to create a safe zone for those with depressive emotions to calm down.
Week 8 This is a rough model made according to my storyboard and narrative. Based on what I had before, I made some changes. One is that I elevated the left part so that it can be separated from the right part in order to create a closed space. I also changed the circle window, made it the same as the other one. In addition, I added a curve passageway higher than the inner wall.
I took the China Pavilion of 2015 Milan World Exposition in Italy as an example to study. I tried to make a curve ceiling like that, but I failed. I spent time in exploring the right way to make it and had no answer. From the class, I realized that my ceiling is separated from my whole place, and they are not the same style. And it also had the problem of matching the original model below.
Week 9
After trying different approaches to design the roof, including several changes of the previous version, I decided to abandon the original idea because I can’t find a way to integrate it into the existed model. I decided to make it simpler by cutting openings. In order to unify with my concept, which is to provide an open space and a private space in contrast, I made the openings narrower as it waves in. At the end of the roof, there is no cutting opening but some different ways. From the critique I got in class, I knew I could make it better by unifying the intervals with the long window strips on the wall. Besides, I could change the extended part of the roof which goes beyond the walls and make it more interesting.
Analysis by Jerry in class: Reasons why the previous one was not unified with the original model— 1. It is a saddle frame while the original one is curvilinear. 2. It is symmetrical. 3. It touches the ground outside of the existed walls without any integration. 4. Rhythm of opening and structure were independent of existed walls. Shapes of roof opening foreign-trapezoids. 5. The scale is larger than the existed scale. 6. Arbitrary opening as result of roof to top edges of my walls. Ways to improve current design— 1. Morph the existed curve into the roof. May make it as a metaphor such as a flower when the opening of the lower part gets larger. 2. Make it supporting columns more interesting, such as making it go beyond the roof and becoming a sculpture. 3. Integrate the openings with the window strips on the wall.