ARCHITECTURE DESIGN STUDIO: EARTH S1, 2016 EARTH BOOK VAISHNAVI MURALIDHAR 706872
(HEATHER MITCHELTREE - STUDIO 19)
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1.0 THREE RELATIONSHIPS 1.1 Point/Line/Plane 1.2 Frame & Infill 1.3 Mass
2.0 HERRING ISLAND. A PLACE FOR KEEPING SECRETS 2.1 Site analysis 2.2 Conceptacle 2.3 Concept and Sketch design 2.4 Design Development 2.5 Final Design drawings 2.6 Final Design Model
3.0 REFLECTION 4.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY
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1.0 THREE RELATIONSHIPS
MASS 7
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1.1 POINT/LINE/PLANE P/L/P represents a transition or a flow from one dimension to another. It is this concept that has been developed in my idea. The exploration of ‘Earth’ as a concept led me me to the idea of extrusion and subtraction. These two techniques build a relationship between the different elements of the design. Also, there is a sense of a gradient that ties together the concepts of Earth and P/L/P. With movement from one view to another – plan to east elevation and from East elevation to North elevation – the P/L/P transition creates and breaks monotony. While all the elements taper in one direction in the plan view, in the East and West elevations, the ‘points’ break that monotony. They sit on the extruded Earth plane at varying heights that break any kind of gradient that a person would otherwise experience while walking along the structure. As the viewer moves from East or West elevation to the North, the ‘points’ turn to ‘lines’, and the ‘line’ turns to ‘plane’. Once again, the viewer experiences a new gradient - wherein the structure tapers towards him/her. This transition from one state to another/creating and breaking monotony comes to light only when people move around and utilise the space – changing their perspective of the structure. In this case, it is the people’s interaction with the space that makes P/L/P a successful architectural language.
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PRECEDENT IMAGE: Bunker 599 by RAAAF + Atelier Lyon The pathwat that slices through this heavy block creates a sense of tension in the design where it looks like the two halves are being forced apart. A simple element such as the pathway, transformed a heavy contruction bunker - that was once a box to hide in - into a structure that is now completely exposed, chaging it’s character completely.
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1.2 MASS When I think of ‘Mass’, the words ‘heavy’ and ‘strong’ come to mind. In this section, the usage of narrow passages that one would have to crawl through creates a sense of high tension between the two bodies of mass – giving the body it’s power and weight. The clear passageways break the mass into two, but with further attention, it can be noticed that even the mass (on it’s own) is broken up/layered. Despite the division, the mass still holds itself in one piece by letting its various parts mould into each other. This design looks at the experientiality of a space. The opacity of mass allows the existence of secret pockets. These pockets are either discovered or left behind as one moves through the space – giving a person a sense of uncertainty as he/she moves through the space. The detached, larger triangular space at the very end of this journey gives rise to the ‘hidden’ aspect of the design. Will a person be released from this tense atmosphere into this more open space? Would they have to dig through the dense mass or is there another channel – invisible in this section of this opaque mass? This section – cut through the mass- speaks about a journey through a tense atmosphere, playing on the idea of an uncertainty and sudden releases in tension.
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CONICAL CONNECTION + GENERAL CHAOS
1.2 Frame & Infill: Selected Precedents from your Blog + Selected images of your model and clean scans of your F&I drawing(s) CONICAL DISCONNECTION
+ GENERAL DEFINITION
PRECEDENT IMAGE: Gaiola by Leon Ferrari, 1984 This is a perfect example of a case where the Infill works as both, Frame and Infill. It is a structure that helps experience a change in feel of a space as you move through it or around it. While it can seem highly chaotic and clustered from one angle, it can also seem very clean from another.
CONICAL CONNECTION + GENERAL CHAOS
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1.3 FRAME AND INFILL Frame and Infill - as an architectural language- focusses on structures that stand above ground. The utilisation of frames helps the architect create specific views that he/she would like the viewers to focus on. In this design, frame and infill has helped create a space that provides multiple views and alters perspective with movement through and around the structure. The characteristics of this language along with the opportunities it provides in design is enourmous. In this design, the relationship between frame and infill is what brings out two modes: CONICAL CONNECTION + GENERAL CHAOS and CONICAL DISCONNECTION + GENERAL DEFINITION Movement through the space would give you either of the two above modes at any particular instant.
Infill
Building a relationship between FRAME & INFILL
TYING UP the two components
CONICAL FRAME - gives the space some BODY. - acts like the INFILL
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2.0 HERRING ISLAND A PLACE FOR KEEPING SECRETS
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2.1 SITE ANALYSIS In the 1830s, the British people’s thirst for establishing settlements resulted in the formation of quarries to procure bluestone. This act of digging up land resulted in the Indigenous people being pushed out of their habitats (the grasslands). Once all the resources from that specific area of land had been consumed, they would then move to a new area to build a quarry - leaving behind a large pit. Herring Island was created as an excuse to deposit and stack all the river residue and silt from the Yarra and also to fill up the large pit that was left behind. The use of the island was then taken one step further and was linked to it’s past - the times when the Indigenous owned the land. Today, despite being draped by the indigenous flora and fauna, the artificiality of the island speaks of the loss and absence of the indigenous culture that was lost with and within the pit.
The site choice is strongly linked to the key concept - “ABSENSE” Something hollow, Something empty. A pit. The Island’s topography indicates the presense of only one natural valley/pit, allowing me to use it as a hint to the secret. This pit on Herring Island has been used as a representation of the absense of the Indegenous people and their culture.
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RICHMOND QUARRY, 1912
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2.2 CONCEPTACLE In all the three tectonic exercises, my ideas genreally tended to revolve around the use of conical forms. Carrying that language forward, my conceptacle design grew into an idea that strongly represented my concept. Absense of the Indegenous culture - after being suppressed beneath the island due to thirst for creating new establishment - is represented by an almost invisible and inaccessible pit below ground. The blocks and fragments of mass that stand above ground piercing through the air are all held together by by a fragile link. The connections between the pieces are representative of the cultural link - indicating how weak it is, in it’s current state. The Indegenous culture that was lost is now a secret that can never be revealed.
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2.3 CONCEPT AND SKETCH DESIGN
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This design works on the tension and Interplay between various elements. It uses form to build on anticipation. The extruded mass, frames and lines that poke through the structure - all give the people within the space a direction to follow and a chance to discover newer and more secretive spaces.
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2.4 DESIGN DEVELOPMENT In order to retain the general topography of the island, the pit is created using a series of steps and slopes creating numerous spaces for hiding and even just for the simple purpose of shelter.
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2.5 FINAL DESIGN DRAWINGS
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SITE PLAN 25
2.5 FINAL DESIGN DRAWINGS
Section Line
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SECTION A 27
2.5 FINAL DESIGN DRAWINGS
Section Line
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FLOOR PLAN/HORIZONTAL SECTION B 29
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2.6 FINAL DESIGN MODEL
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3.0 REFLECTION Studio Earth has been a challenging, yet fruitful subject in terms of the experiences I have had through the course of the subject. The Design thinking process - from making quick sketch designs, to making models and presenting them to an audience - helped me build a design development process that I could follow for future projects. Following the process would definitely give me the opportuity to evaluate and better my designs at the right stages instead of trying to make them better at the very end. One of the biggest challanges I faced in this subject was - tying up the three architectural languages in a way that it builds a relationship between the three, throughout the design. In the initial stages of my design for Herring Island, I was able to use the three languages - but in a way that made them individual of each other, instead of allowing one to connect with the other. It took a lot more thinking, sketch designs and evaluating than I expected to get to the final stage of my design. Over the course of the semester, though, I have learnt to use softwares that I had never used before. While there is a lot more to learn in each of the softwares, I am quite happy about the fact that I could present my drawings and designs in new ways. Overall, following this subject’s design approach has been quite fulfiling helping me improve my design thinking and gain new skill sets.
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4.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY ARTWORKS OF HERRING ISLAND PARK Herringisland.org. (2016). ARTWORKS OF HERRING ISLAND PARK. [online] Available at: http://www. herringisland.org/arts.htm [Accessed 15 May 2016]. GAIOLA - FRAME & INFILL - PRECEDENT IMAGE “León Ferrari | Gaiola (1984)”. Pinterest. N.p., 2016. Web. 5 June 2016. HERITAGE STORY Clark, M. (2000). Victoria’s Heritage. 1st ed. [ebook] Melbourne, pp.1-3. Available at: http://parkweb.vic.gov. au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/315520/Heritage-story-Herring-Island-the-island-of-dreams.pdf [Accessed 15 May 2016]. PICTURE VICTORIA Picture Victoria, (1912). 1913 Richmond Council’s Quarry. [image] Available at: http://www.picturevictoria. vic.gov.au/site/yarra_melbourne/Richmond/20676.html [Accessed 16 May 2016]. BUNKER 599 - MASS - PRECEDENT IMAGE RAAAF, (2012). Bunker 599 / RAAAF + Atelier Lyon. [image] Available at: http://www.archdaily.com/256984/ bunker-599-rietveld-landscape [Accessed 17 Mar. 2016]. RICHMOND HISTORY Richmond History - Part 1. 1st ed. Melbourne: N.p. Web. 25 May 2016.
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