DIGITAL DESIGN MODULE 1 Semester 1, 2018 Oliver McNamara 910844 Studio 7 Dan Parker
week One
Reading: Zeara Polo, A. 2010. Between Ideas and Matters.
According to Zeara-Polo, the diagram does not play a representational role in the design process but provides an organisational and can have a performative quality depending on how it is deployed. Explain how Diagram is different from Signs and Symbols? Symbols in their most basic function serve to represent information, akin to signs, they are visual vehicles for communicating meanings to an audience. In contrast, a diagram is employed to organize physical spaces or content. In some cases, it prescribes the performative nature of a space, and in conjunction denotes relationships within space. Furthermore, the diagram has been vital in advancing communication methods of non-representational architecture. Although diagrams hold key information about the organization and relationships in spaces, it requires a mediation in which constructed diagrammatic language can enter into real space. Moreover, diagrams do not an exact correlation real work constructions, but rather the way in which these structures could be organised.
Zaera Polo’s ‘circulation diagram’ for ‘Yokohama International Ferry Port’ (Photo 1)
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week One
Precedent Analysis
These are the three groupings I divided the Bad Hair sculpture into, each distinguished by colour, size, and shape. Each has been assigned a layer in Rhino to keep the modeling process streamlined. These were followed outlined in the plane drawings of the precedent.
Translating the plans and elevations into an actualised 3D model provided challenges in scaling and structural details. The focus of my 3D construction was to remain accurate and aesthetically aligned with the original work, which came about through attention to detail.
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week Two
Reading: Hertzberger H. 2005. The in-between and The Habitable Space Between Things, from Lessons for Students in Architecture.
Herzberger discuss how design should not be extreme in its functionality. Use your precedent study to explain how the pavilion allows for an appropriation of use. The ‘Bad Hair’ pavilion, designed by the AA school, is a work of exceptional versatility as it eludes a singular function or purpose. Initially, the construction presents a highly irregular and eye-catching visual presentation; perhaps many could consider it just a visual piece. More perceptive uses have been discovered since these include; using the extruded sections of wood as a meeting place or seat. Across the pavilion the wood sticks out multiple times, clearly viewed from the top view (appendix), each separated by positioning, but not by the physical barrier. This separation between protrusions allows each person to feel private in their seated area, without the presence of physical barriers. While the seat is a function, the pavilion is also a place of exploration, and perhaps disruption as its extended parts manipulate the flow of foot-traffic around it. Therefore the act of impeding peoples movement further draws attention to itself.
OMA Yokohama diagram (Photo 2)
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week Two
Isometric
Bad Hair Isometric The isometric is the combining of the three thresholds to form the concept of the ‘Bad Hair’ pavilion. To ensure the communication of the physical features was accurate more attention was given to constructing the beams, with curves built up of points and twisting features to illustrate sectioning off of space. In the final isometric view, the limited openings were apparent, as well as how the beams extend the threshold of the pavilion unevenly on different sides. When the threshold points are denoted the circulation of the pavilion becomes evident, with minimal access to its interior space, users would be limited in their inhabitance of the pavilion. Hence, this limiting of structure to provide shelter opens up other practical uses, allowing extended threshold points to become resting places, each similar but separated by space. Further the initial impression of the structure as a random arrangement of wooden beams, seeking to emulate messy hair, rather reveals itself to be a carefully planned and conceptualised work.
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week Two Diagrams
Circulation Diagram On the left was my initial diagram of circulation. It is visually concise, but at closer examination inconclusive in how the curved lines indicate movement. Therefore I translated these movement lines to the exterior of the diagram above. This in effect allowed the adding elements within the circle or circulation zone. The closed circles indicate private zones, while the loops are suggestive of human explorations into the pavilion.
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Appendix
Process
Initial iterations of the circulation diagram, with a focus on the flow of movement around (or past) the pavilion.
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Appendix Process
All three sections of the pavilion overlayed. Each displaying a threshold.
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Appendix
Process
A top view of the constructed layers on the left and on the right an isometric view of the model. Both models outline the three layers through colour.
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Refences
Photo 1 “AD Classics: Yokohama International Passenger Terminal/Foreign Office Architects (FOA)”, David Langdon ArchDaily, last modified 7 October 2014. Accessed 9 March 2018 https://www.archdaily.com/554132/ad-classics-yokohama-international-passengerterminal-foreign-office-architects-foa/
Photo 2 “Yokohama Masterplan” OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture), last modified September 5 2017. Accessed 3 March 2018 http://oma.eu/projects/yokohama-masterplan