ARCH 101 In-‐Progress Portolio
Towers Nicastro-‐Aikman Tues-‐Thursday Jerry Lum
Table of Contents What’s Your Sign………………………………..3 What’s Your Sign V.2 …………………….…..5 A Journey of Discovery……………………….7 Wall of Wonder………………………………….13 Wall of Wonder V.2 …………………………..15 Place of Wonder………………………………..21 Journey to Wonder……………………………27
Journey to Wonder V.2 ………………….34
What’s Your Sign? • This Ice-‐breaker exercise was done to explore each individuals personal traits and characterisTcs that made them who they are. • While thinking about who I was I began to run into some trouble. While not a quesTon oVen pondered upon by myself, but frequently asked, I dug deep to find out who I really was. • Eventually I came to the conclusion that the three traits that characterized me were; curious, adventurous, and determined. • The next challenge was to find out what those specific words idenTfied with and to mash them all together into a sign that accurately portrayed them while working together in unison. • The old saying, “curiosity killed the cat” stuck with me and is what was the focal point of the first iteraTon. What personifies curiosity more than a cat?
• The idea behind each trait is shown in the cat • First, curiosity represented by the cat itself. • Second, adventurous by the cat balancing on a box to reach the spheres. • And third, determined by the cat stretching to reach, giving its all.
What’s Your Sign V.2 • For the second iteraTon I stuck with the main theme of a cat balancing on a box but changed to the support and the object the cat was reaching to from a set of clear spheres to a balloon mobile. • The main challenge was construcTng the support frame. With no prior experience making anything of the sorts it was a trial and error experiment. • Doing some research on store front signs, I came to the conclusion that the weight needed to be balanced at each point. So the weight bringing the front down was countered by the top which was then countered by the pressure pushed against the bo`om.
A Journey of Discovery A trip to a place with nothing but a camera and the thirst for exploraTon. • StarTng off by my home in the presidio I tried to take noTce of the things I normally wouldn’t. • The brick clad buildings along with the contrasTng materials line the historic streets creaTng a warm and inviTng feeling.
The shadows that sprawl along the buildings create a stark contrast that
Wall of Wonder • The first iteraTon of the wall of wonder that started off as a sketch using rapid vis. • The idea was to create a curved wall that engulfed the inhabitant to give them the feeling of security as well as peaked their curiosity. • The original plan was to cover the outside and inside of the wall with small branches to create the feeling of being in a birds nest.
Wall of Wonder V.2 • AVer exploring the idea of what a wall could be through rapid vis I took to sketchup to conceptualize an idea. • AVer seeing what was possible I realized I was limiTng myself to what I thought a wall was and could be. • Through sketchup I went about creaTng the wall with an almost gestural approach. Meaning I laid the lines wherever arbitrarily. • I felt in order to elicit wonder I had to first experience wonder.
The challenge I faced most making this model was physical construcTon. Measuring and cucng accurately was difficult for a beginner which is quite evident by the uneven joints and edges.
The second version of this concept was given more thought as to who and what would be occupying it and how they could explore the area. I thought why limit my design to just appealing to humans curiosity when cats can also get in on the fun. I took the experience I gained from the previous model to Tghten up this one to give a cleaner presentaTon.
Place of Wonder The place of wonder was first brought about using a rough model. For this there was no measuring, just cucng. If something was cut incorrectly, I used it as inspiraTon to see what could be done with the new piece. The part that was most stuck on was the window. Similar to the previous models, the window lacked inspiraTon. It was similar to the original problem that I faced where I limited myself to what a wall could be. I limited myself to what a window could be.
What I wanted to focus most on in the new iteraTon was to break down the barrier that I had with the windows and create something that laid an interesTng shadow pa`ern on the plane below.
Similar to the previous model, this was also done using rough model tacTcs. However, there was more thought that went behind each cut and how each piece could work together to create unity among the structure as a whole.
Journey to Wonder
This model had more direcTon and flow than the previous to give the sense of a journey that a person could take through the structure. The inspiraTon behind this were aquariums. This idea for this parTcular model was to be overlooking the ocean so the giant seaweed structure on top would cast shadows over the enTre model as well as the area behind it. The first level was made shorter to give a Tght feeling, almost squished. This is because of the super high pressure at the bo`om of the ocean.
The stairs represent a coral reef with the tall geometric pillars supporTng the flowing pedals on top.
Companion piece
Journey to Wonder V.2
I took various ideas that people had given me in the previous models criTque to improve upon within the next iteraTon. First was to have the steps align with the different levels to create a stronger sense of unity among the steps. Instead of the pillars under the steps like the previous, I went with a solid wall of Tles that created a cave-‐like structure under the stairs. The original plan for the the frames coming from the first floor up and over the second was to create a wave similar to the previous.
PotenTal configuraTon between past models
First and most recent models put side to side to show a dramaTc improvement and willingness to push boundaries