ARCH 101: LEARNING PORTFOLIO
Olga Berchuk Quincey Spring 2016
TABLE OF CONTENT WHAT’S YOUR SIGN • Collages …………………………………………………………………………......2 • First sign ……………………………………………………………………………..5 • Second sign ………………………………………………………………………….6
JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY • Photo presentation ………………………………………………………………….7
MAKE A WALL, MAKE A WINDOW, EVOKE WONDER • The beginning ……………………………………………………………………....11 • The first model ………………………………………………………………………12 • The second model + narrative + study models…………………………………...14 • The final model + final narrative ……………………………………………….......16
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WHAT’S YOU SIGN? - Collages On my word collage I tried to put qualities I like about myself in straight font and pleasant colors and qualities I don’t quite like about myself – in sort of “Italian” font and less pleasant colors.
Since each quality evokes some emotions I put around faces demonstrating different emotions. What is also interesting about my personality is that I tend to associate myself as going through different “seasons” and different “times of the day” in my life. That’s why I demonstrated it with different nature notions. 3
On the second collage (to the left) I tried to use realistic images to demonstrate three qualities about myself that I have chosen: the heart and the compass for being independent, the girl reaching – for the stars and the fish jumping into bigger and bigger tank – for being ambitious, and the hand holding a house – for being practical and believing in clear down-to-earth values rather than imaginary unclear ones. On the third collage (to the right) I used more abstract by still clear enough images for demonstrating the same qualities. For independence I still used a heart, but a more abstract one; for ambitiousness this time I used an abstract butterfly because a butterfly comes into this world through a hard work of a caterpillar; for practicality I used cubes as cubes for me associate with being stable and reliable.
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- First Sign The first sign I made mostly using construction paper, as well as cardboard paper and acrylic paint. I used three main images of my third collage: heart for independence, butterflies for ambitiousness and cubes for stability. Interestingly, when I presented the sign in class, my peers read butterflies as lightness and easy-going spirit (which is also true about me), cubes as creativity (obviously because of different patterns of design paper), and the heart – as a vibrant personality with a big heart which has a whole diverse world inside. I was able to successfully hang it with the push pins onto the wall. 5
- Second Sign The second sign of mine appeared to be more unified still preserving the main concept and images. I used foam board and acrylic paints, as well as the design paper for the cubes like in the previous sign. There was still a butterfly for ambitiousness (but also lightness and outgoing personality); cubes – for stability (and creativity); and independence this time I decided to express with golden color as gold is a quite self-sufficient metal which signifies certain status in society and, therefore, can stand for independence. The abstract color pattern on the butterfly stands for different moments of life which flows into each other as life stages change. 6
JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY City College of San Francisco Wellness Center Just like a tree without leaves is not complete, a body without health, either physical or emotional, is not able to function well. On the foreground of the picture there are two trees, next to each other. When I saw them while approaching the Wellness Center, they made me stop, look closer and think... All humans are basically trees, some evergreen all year round, some going through different seasons and looking so differently in each of them. And the naked tree is hopefully not always like this which, I think, means that if we take good care of ourselves we get a chance to flourish even if we suffered depressed and leafless times of our lives. 7
I walked around before going inside and discovered another path to the Wellness Center. There was something magical about this staircase coming down towards the building, kind of emerging from the greenery. Everything around looked so light, with soft shadows, it smelled very fresh and felt very gentle when I kneeled down and touched the grass‌ The old tree seemed to me like an old wise friend, not meaning old in terms of age, but in terms of friendship lasting for years‌
Then, on the left of the tree I noticed a stump‌ When I looked closer I saw those numerous rings and thought about the long life that tree had and multiple things it witnessed around. So, one old tree was still there, the other was already gone and probably was used to produce some nice furniture or paper reminding us that we are surrounded by nature all the time even if we are inside, in small rooms or restricted office spaces.
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Inside the Wellness Center it felt nice and pleasant. The corridors were inviting to join classes, curves and light colors made the environment look cozy and comfortable. Big windows at the end of the corridors made it feel like there were endless paths to one’s wellness and harmony. It wasn’t very crowded in 10 in the morning but still people were coming and I could see those were the ones ready to breath in the freshness of a new day and continue their daily things recharged both physically and emotionally… I entered the yoga class… and immediately thought that the environment in it really served its purpose and resonated with yoga exercises which were about to begin. Maybe it’s because it had those huge windows on both walls which together shaped a nice bright corner where morning light was entering the room and filling it with natural warmth and coziness. The view of trees and hills was quite spirit-lifting, colors on the walls were creamy, warm and very eye-resting. The class was very spacious which means that even being inside one could breath freely… 9
Then I went to the pool. Looking at water has always charmed me, even if it is just still water and swimmers are not there yet. Blue color of the lanes, even the smell of the pool were vibrant. I touched the water and thought the temperature was just right, not to cold, not too hot, but perfect for starting your day with refreshing water activities. Water is one of the nature’s best energizers which reminds us how precious it is and how much we need it both on the inside and outside to stay happy and healthy!
The Gym! Balls flying up and down, people running, talking, screaming of excitement! That’s where life seems to never stop! Red stripes on the walls looked like blood running through veins making one’s heart beat faster and faster. It’s huge! It has a lot of light, smell, vibration. Although, it is formed of basic shapes, it has a feeling of a very diverse facility. The shiny floor of the gym reflecting all the ongoing activities makes it seem even more spacious visually. When you look at this exciting game, it makes you want to join in and be part of it because we all want to be a part of someone’s life… 10
MAKE A WALL, MAKE A WINDOW, EVOKE WONDER - The
Beginning -
This was my first attempt to draw a wall in SketchUp. Based on my journey to the Wellness Center, I was trying to show that usage of warm colors makes a place feel welcoming. And I also tried to emphasize proportion of the window and door to size of people in order to demonstrate that this would be a wall of a spacious place.
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- The First Model I needed to make two parallel walls but different from each other. So, my accent was on windows and how they serve purpose of whoever uses that particular room.
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In the children’s room wall the windows are of different height in order to take into account age and height of the children.
In the living room where parents sit the window is large and tall inviting sunshine in and signifying spaciousness of the place which also includes high ceilings. Inside walls are colored yellow for warm, welcoming and cozy home environment.
We all sometimes peep into windows and try to figure out what kind of life is going on behind them‌ 13
- The second model + Narrative + Study Models Rise and Fall “From far away I see some weird structure… The first wall I see looks like a worried or surprised face to me. But when I come closer I realize that it is just a random group of ovals and circles of different sizes. I can go through ovals and circles or I can just go around the wall where I see a staircase. It seems weightless as it doesn’t have a base, so before climbing up the stairs I decide to go under it where I see another wall with different polygon shapes. But when I go a bit further away from it looks like a happy face to me. Hm… How interesting, circles and polygons, a sad face and a happy face. I guess that means that we all are happy or sad, worried or excited in different moments of our lives… Then I come back to the staircase and start going up and then down and then up again until I reach a surface of a huge cube which is like a stage or a podium and it definitely seems very stable unlike the staircase itself which seems to be kind of bouncing in the air. Hm, up and down, up and down. I guess we all have our rises and falls in life, we rise and fall and get up and move on and rise again until our path leads us to some stable existence when we can finally say we are satisfied with what our life is…” The structure emerges in a park-line area on a grassy field where the surface assigned for its basis is covered with material recommended for playgrounds. Since the structure itself appeals for climbing and potentially falling there has to be safety element in its floor coverage. The two parallel walls with geometric-figures openings, as well as the rise-and-fall staircase with the cube, are made of rustproof metal and colored in light brown resonating with color of ground and trees in the park. The structure is design to provoke audience to question themselves on which periods of their lives were the periods of their rises and their falls and whether any lessons were taken from those experiences, whether they managed to get rid of regrets and that desperate desire to rewind life and start some things all over without making mistakes, whether they finally realized that those mistakes were inevitable part of their life and couldn’t have been avoided, and whether they already reached the firmness under their feet and the stability they were searching for or whether it still had to take something else to get there…
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During the analysis of my model in class I was recommended to surround the structure by walls, at least partially, to make it more mysterious to the audience, as well as add passes to guide audience through the structure and make the two walls and the staircases more connected to each other with the help of bridges and ramps. The study models elements were based on these recommendations.
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- The final model + final narrative Plan
Having considered comments made in class, I tried to make my final model of the abstract Wall of Wonder more intriguing, diverse and exiting‌ 16
Four elevations Elevated entrance leading directly into one of the openings made it more exiting to approach. More passes, ramps and bridges have been added to answer the question of how I would lead the audience through the structure. In order to make it more intriguing I added walls with openings around it. 17
In order to preserve the concept of Rise and Fall ramps and staircases are going up and down making the exiting adventure close to what we often experience in life. 18
Rise and Fall “From far away we see some weird structure partially surrounded by walls with intriguing openings… We are curious about what lies behind those walls, so we are approaching it using the elevated pathway suddenly going down and then up into a big opening which looks somewhat like a big monster’s mouth. There are a lot of other round, oval, curvy openings in the first wall that we see. They have different sizes for both kids and adults to be able to go through. After going through the wall we see stairs and ramps going up and down connecting two cubes, bigger and smaller one. It’s fun to go up and down stairs and ramps or even go underneath them playing hide-and-seek. And from the bigger cube we can go down a slide leading us into one of the openings in the second wall which has a lot of polygon shapes: triangles, squares, rectangles etc also invite to go through. On the other side of the second wall there is a path leading us back to the stairs on the smaller cube making us go up and down again, and when we reach the bigger cube and go down, we are kind of curious of how the outside world looks like through the narrow openings in one of the surrounding walls, whether it knows of this little adventurous shelter we are in…” The structure is designed for children to have fun and play and for adults to have fun and think, maybe to even question themselves on which periods of their lives were the periods of their rises and their falls and whether any lessons were taken from those experiences, whether they managed to get rid of regrets and that desperate desire to rewind life and start some things all over without making mistakes, whether they finally realized that those mistakes were inevitable part of their life and couldn’t have been avoided, and whether they already reached the firmness under their feet and the stability they were searching for or whether it still had to take something else to get there… There are paths, curves, ramps showing many different ways of how to get around the structure and offering different options of what a visitor could do first: climb, go through, go around, go up the stairs or under the staircase, go on ramps and emerge on a different side of either of the walls etc… It is supposed to show the visitor that we have a lot of choices in this life and we, of course, often wonder which one to make. However, as we can see from the structure, whatever path we take, at some point we will get to experience all the parts of it, which means that whatever road we first take on our life journey it will eventually lead us to where we are supposed to be and to what we are supposed to go through. You can’t escape yourself… 19