Learning Portfolio
Michael Patterson Spring 2016 Jerry Lum
Table of Contents:
1. What’s Your Sign? a. Collage b. 3D Build of Sign c. Second Iteration of Sign 2. A Journey of Discover to a Place Of Wonder 3. Designing A Wall 4.
What’s your sign? In figuring out what my sign was I had to make 3 dierent collages, that each represented who I am. In the beginning, this was quite hard for me to come up with something that I felt truly represented me. But after much deliberation and rough thoughts. I finally was able to create something.
Collage Literal Design
Abstract Design
My First Sign For My Sign I went with a Man who had lassoed the moon but was yanked o earth and now being pulled through space. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of trying to put it together and create something the helped to represent me. The reason I went with this was to represent my drive to always do, what in my eyes, seems impossible.
Second Itera,on
For my second iteration of my sign, It did not transform as much as it could have but I felt that my craft was much better. This time I ended up putting my guy planted on the Earth to Symbolize that while doing the impossible you can firmly stay planted on the ground.
A Journey of Discovery, To a Place of Wonder.
For my journey of discovery I went to Mt. Davidson. I had never been there before and was not to sure what to expect. But it was a beautiful day to be outside and explore. Once you start walking on trail you quickly become immersed in the shade of the tree canopies. Only to be led down a narrow trail that winded up and dropped you o at an intersection of stairs and a large path. While walking down the narrow path,
and with every step the city noise fades and you give yourself back to nature, for a little bit. Until you get to the top and it gives you this massive opening with a monstrous cross that looms over you. But Just across from it gives you a sweeping panoramic view of San Francisco and the bay.
Final Project North of 3 Trees
Over the last couple of months I have been working in a group to build a life size structure. This project has taught me many dierent aspects of architecture as well as how to work within a group.
One of the first steps in coming together as a group came with selecting a site. I was drawn to the “North of 3 Trees� site as were the other members of my group: Victor, Yeheun, and Joinghua. What drew me most to the site was the vary aspects of each end of it including the trees, contouring retaining wall, and the accessibility of views. I felt as though these elements, most specifically the retaining wall, created a very dramatic feeling to the site. Coming together as a group, we felt that the natural elements in the location would allow us to create a unique and diverse site specific structure. In trying to come up with a model, the first iteration of my design was not site specific. I had trouble with the aspects of site specificity. In previous models, I did not design based on specifics such as working with distinct elements of a site. Coming up with a model that incorporated these site specific components challenged my ability to design appropriately.
Because my first model did not work with the elements of the site I decided to start over completely with my second model. In starting my second model, I chose to design by looking at the site for inspiration. When analyzing the site I was inspired by a group of three trees near the location. I chose to incorporate these three trees into my design. As previously mentioned, another element of the site that I really wanted to work with was the contouring retaining wall. So in my second model I used my inspiration from the three trees and retaining wall to create a design that was site specific.
After we met as a group, we decided to go with my structural design as it was the most architectural and the most feasible to build. After deciding to work with my model, we incorporated dierent aspects of design to further perfect the model. For instance, Victors design had ascending poles with sheets in between them running along the retaining wall. We decided to incorporate this into our model by having an ascending structure contouring with retaining wall. Another component we incorporated into the model was the Fibonacci Sequence. Since we were looking to nature for inspiration, we wanted to have the separations feel natural in rhythm and spacing to not feel as man made. Our overall goal with our design was to have people push past their surroundings and explore beyond what we believe are boundaries.
After finalizing our model, we met as a group to discuss how to best build our structure. We reviewed the dierent materials we could use to make the structure we envisioned while staying within our budget. At first we weren’t sure what sizing of the wood we should use or the bolt patterning to hold the structure together. However we eventually came up with a singular approach that would repeat itself throughout the entirety of the design. Upon deciding on the materials we would use, our next step was to buy the materials so that we could start building.
When it came to actually building the structure we found that the only members of the group with previous construction experience was myself and Joinghua. I was also the only member with accessible tools that we could use. This created somewhat of a challenge for our group because no one could work when I was not there. However, we agreed on meeting times that could work for most everyone in the group to try and work together and get as much done as we could with each meeting
When we were there we worked together with a systematic approach so that we could prefabricate most of the structure before it actually went up. We assigned duties to each individual so that everyone felt like they were incorporated into the manufacturing process of the structure. We chose to start building the structure contouring the retaining wall because we felt that this piece would not only be the most diďŹƒcult to build but also the most time consuming. We then worked on putting up the last two pieces of the structure. Surprisingly because we prefabricated the individual pieces of the structure, we did not run into any diďŹƒculty putting the structure up. The structure actually went up quite smoothly. The one challenge we faced in putting up the pieces of the structure was finding time in which we could all meet to get the structure up. There were times that I felt that I tried to take the initiative and put parts of the structure up by myself so that we could appropriately manage our building time.
When looking at the final structure I was very pleased with the outcome due to the simplicity and stability of the structure. Everyday I anticipated that the structure may have fallen over by the time I saw it. However good structural planning and the faith of everyone in our group it stood strong. I think in the end we were all surprised at how well our first live structure turned out.
I felt the one area we lacked in was our presentation of the structure. We did not prepare as well as we should have. Because of this our presentation lacked sustenance I felt that our structure was not portrayed as we hoped it would be. Had we perfected our presentation, our message would have been clear and concise instead of being abstract in letting the audience decide what our message was.
Reflection: When I was first assigned this project I was excited and nervous at the same time. I didn’t feel as though I would actually be able to do it as it felt very intimidating and overwhelming. Now that the project is complete and coming to an end, I am proud of what I have accomplished. I am so happy that I ended up sticking it through to the end. This project helped to show me that I can actually create and design architectural structures of any magnitude. During this project I not only got to learn about architectural design and the process of creating my first life size structure but I really gained a deeper understanding of how to function in a group. Looking back at when I first started in this class I can see a vast amount of personal growth and development. This was one of the most personally challenging classes I have ever taken. It’s made me look at everything in a new light for inspiration as well as come to an understanding of my own abilities to design. I feel like I have learned so much in this class both in theoretical and practical education. Something I truly value that this class has engrained into me is the thought that I should never give up and that one day my quantity will lead to my quality. With that being said, I should always do the work even if I feel it’s not substantial enough. Overall I am glad I got to experience this class with you (Jerry) in your last semester at City College. You helped to reaffirm my love for design as well as rekindle the fire that I thought was once gone. Thank You! Michael Patterson
Final Project- North of 3 Trees Over the last couple of months I have been working in a group to build a life size structure. The project has taught me many dierent aspects of architecture as well as how to work in a group. One of the first steps in coming together as a group came with selecting a site. I was drawn to the “North of 3 Treesâ€? site as were the other members of my group: Victor, Yeheun, and Joinghua. What drew me most to the site was the vary aspects of each end of it including the trees, contouring retaining wall, and the accessibility of views. I felt as though these elements, most specifically the retaining wall, created a very dramatic feeling to the site. Coming together as a group, we felt that the natural elements in the location would allow us to create a unique and diverse site specific structure. In trying to come up with a model, the first iteration of my design was not site specific. I had trouble with the aspects of site specificity. In previous models, I did not design based on specifics such as working with distinct elements of a site. Coming up with a model that incorporated these site specific components challenged my ability to design appropriately. Because my first model did not work with the elements of the site I decided to start over completely with my second model. In starting my second model, I chose to design by looking at the site for inspiration specifically. When analyzing the site I was inspired by a group of three trees near the location. I chose to incorporate these three trees into my design. As previously mentioned, another element of the site that I really wanted to work with was the contouring retaining wall. So in my second model I used my inspiration from the three trees and retaining wall to create a design that was site specific.
After we met as a group, we decided to go with my structural design as it was the most architectural and the most feasible to build. After deciding to work with my model, we incorporated different aspects of design to further perfect the model. For instance, Victors design had ascending poles with sheets in between them running along the retaining wall. We decided to incorporate this into our model by having an ascending structure contouring with retaining wall. Another component we incorporated into the model was the Fibonacci Sequence. Since we were looking to nature for inspiration, we wanted to have the separations feel natural in rhythm and spacing to not feel as man made. Our overall goal with our design was to have people push past their surroundings and explore beyond what we believe are boundaries. After finalizing our model, we met as a group to discuss how to best build our structure. We reviewed the different materials we could use to make the structure we envisioned while staying within our budget. At first we weren’t sure what sizing of the wood we should use or the bolt patterning to hold the structure together. However we eventually came up with a singular approach that would repeat itself throughout the entirety of the design. Upon deciding on the materials we would use, our next step was to buy the materials so that we could start building. When it came to actually building the structure we found that the only members of the group with previous construction experience was myself and Joinghua. I was also the only member with accessible tools that we could use. This created somewhat of a challenge for our group because no one could work when I was not there. However, we agreed on meeting times that could work for most everyone in the group to try and work together and get as much done as we could with each meeting.
When we were there we worked together with a systematic approach so that we could prefabricate most of the structure before it actually went up. We assigned duties to each individual so that everyone felt like they were incorporated into the manufacturing process of the structure. We chose to start building the structure contouring the retaining wall because we felt that this piece would not only be the most diďŹƒcult to build but also the most time consuming. We then worked on putting up the last two pieces of the structure. Surprisingly because we prefabricated the individual pieces of the structure, we did not run into any diďŹƒculty putting the structure up. The structure actually went up quite smoothly. The one challenge we faced in putting up the pieces of the structure was finding time in which we could all meet to get the structure up. There were times that I felt that I tried to take the initiative and put parts of the structure up by myself so that we could appropriately manage our building time. When looking at the final structure I was very pleased with the outcome due to the simplicity and stability of the structure. Everyday I anticipated that the structure may have fallen over by the time I saw it. However good structural planning and the faith of everyone in our group it stood strong. I think in the end we were all surprised at how well our first live structure turned out. I felt the one area we lacked in was our presentation of the structure. We did not prepare as well as we should have. Because of this our presentation lacked sustenance I felt that our structure was not portrayed as we hoped it would be. Had we perfected our presentation, our message would have been clear and concise instead of being abstract in letting the audience decide what our message was.