Arch 101 Portfolio Victor Wong 2016 Professor Jerry Lum
Architecture 101 Portfolio Week 1 to week 4 - Three words and Symbols Week 5 to week 8 - Wall Iteration/ Narrative Week 9 to week 11 – Final Group Project Week 12 to week 16 – The structure of the group project
Three Words and Symbols • •
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Adventurous, Mysterious, Authentic. From the three words, we were to find images that represented each word. As the week went by, we were then to make a sign out of the three words by combining all the images together into one thing. In the end, I ended up with the Cat as a sign. As the sign was progressing, I added on a 3-D perspective and a hanger for the sign to hang straight from the wall. We went to different places in all parts of San Francisco and we applied the nature or area into our design. With that said, it was more and more difficult to expand on with my ideas due to the limited creativity that I had. Overall, the project was really easy but at the same time a difficulty with the materials and what they can reach with their limits.
From this project, the materials seemed to be the most difficult for me. Even though it sounded easy, I had the most difficult time. With the aluminum foil and the cardboard that I had picked out, it worked hand in hand with one another. The glue in sticking the two together was difficult because Elmer’s glue (wet) kept making wrinkles in the aluminum and the super glue was the same. I would have never imagined that the Elmer’s glue stick would work perfectly with both the materials. Of course I had to learn the hard way that colored markers didn’t work well with the aluminum so I had to improvise and use the Permanent colored markers for it to stick. This project really help me improve my craftsmanship towards using aluminum and the cardboard for this sign that I have made. To be honest though, this project gave me nightmares sometimes because I am not as creative as I should be for this major.
Wall and Iterations/ Narratives • • •
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For this project, we had to make a wall. With the wall made, we were to break down the wall in what it means. As we progressed throughout the week, we started to work more on improvements on the wall and iterations. As that was being expanded on, we then were to build a wall that was parallel to the original wall that we had from before. The wall could be in any shape or form but as long as it had some meaning to the later expansion for the walls later down the line. As the walls improved, so did the iterations. We were then discovering that narratives could be derived from the walls we were improving upon. From there, narration of the walls and or buildings would be a big factor in our work.
With this project, it was a difficult one. Not only was it hard with the materials, but the idea and foundation of an iteration of the building was quite difficult for me. And as the days became weeks, the iterations became more and more complicated due to the expansion of ideas in the walls itself. The first wall was hard enough and now it got even harder because now you will have two walls. And each wall will have parallelism which was alright temporarily until the symmetry was eventually nonexistent. For me, that was a problem because I can only make things symmetrical. As I progressed, my craftsmanship became a bit better in making rooms and walls with the cardboard and the exac-to knife.
Wall Iteration / Narrative (Continued) •
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As I ended up finishing the first set of walls, I decided to expand on the second set of walls and it felt like a more improved version compared to my first ones. At that point, the creativity and the narrative of my walls had a whole story to it. Though it was just a rough draft, it really ran together really well. The narrative was that one side represented my past and the other side with the windows represented the progression of time. As one side of the wall crumbled, the other side progressed and became nicer. There were two pieces that attached from the old to new and that represented the balance to make up for who I was. In the end, I didn’t like how it was together and I ended up scrapping it and making a new wall.
Wall Iteration / Narrative (Continued) With all the projects and the improvements that I thought I did, I still find that I lack the creativity in making and expanding in the projects. I feel as if my strengths are also my weaknesses because for everything that I do, I find faults within them. It may seem strange but that has always been how I felt with work that I work on.
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As the third set of walls were produced, I added a ton of details to the building / Monumental Area. I included patterns and a small door that led people in, but the front of the building is an abandoned building which has partially caved in. From there, using the environment, you used the concrete and I made a design into an inside/outside park. Thought it seems ridiculous, I seemed to like the concept of old and new in my narrative because buildings also experience the out with the old and into the new. As you walk in deeper within the monumental collapsed building, you follow a trail that leads you to the walls slowly lowering down to your level. With benches and grass and trees inside the place, you can have a nice and relaxing place to spend your day off in. But the biggest trick is that the building looks plain and falling apart, it is a part of humans to go and adventure to new and interesting places and this is one place they would want to go.
Final Group Project – Iteration and Combination of Ideas • So the ideas of groups of people in 4’s and 5’s are to pick one group members idea and build it up to human scale or it would be a combination of everyone’s idea into one structure. • Our group decided on Michael’s idea which was an open spaced structure with sectioning. • For the idea to expand further, we stayed after class to continue to build the structure that we wanted. • As week 11 approached, the ideas were settled and the construction began. • All students were given a gift card with the amount of $250. We were then all assigned a position in the group as the project manager, landscape manager, accountant, photographer. • If the amount to go over what was given, we were to pitch in the amount and split it amongst each person in the group. • The consequence for not showing up to the group consists of a free meal for each individual in the group from whoever did not show up from the group.
Final Group Project – Construction
• When the first week of construction began, it was a bit rough due to the calculations of the cuts in the wood and the drilling of the holes. The bolts were not perfectly going through the structure so tweaks were needed to improve on the craft on the wood. After doing some testing and finishing our first prototype, we discovered that the best way and the most efficient way were to use one sample and apply it throughout the whole structure rather than doing each one piece individually. • And so the work continues and more calculations were required. • We started off with the hardest structure which was the one with the lifted wood that hung over the overpass near the pathway behind the Batmale hall and the trees and bushes across from where we were building at. • With the first structure, we wanted to increase the height of each vertical stand by 4 inches so we started off at 5 feet and ended with 8 feet. • As for the angle, we started at the 5 foot stand at a 90 degree and it increased up to an angle of 135 at 8 feet.
For the structure to really hold up, we decided to place the spacing of a mathematical equation called the Fibonacci sequence which is something like : 1+1+2+3+5+8+13+21 etc. We stopped at 34 inches at the 8 foot structure because that was what we needed to finish the structure off with.
Week 14 progress to week 16
With the weeks closing in and taking us a while with the first structure, we finally finished after a month. We decided to have safeties latched onto the first structure due to the weight it is being carried. Eyebolts were placed in the 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 8th placement and was tied to a tree with tensioning eyebolts for the structure to not tip over. We had many fail-safes included in our structure if it were to topple over. Of course we had the eyebolts, but we also had 4 stakes implanted within the structure into the ground for stability and to hold up the structure. Not only that, we have the Fibonacci sequence applied to the bottom and top of the structure and that held up the structure quite a bit.
• The second structure was not so hard due to the ease and lightness of the structure compared to the first one. As you can see, we had to figure out the diameter from the tree to about 3 feet (6feet total from tree to end of second structure) and have a distance of 3 feet from the first structure to the second structure. • When we figured that out, we figured the distance from the 12 6 foot vertical stems from one another and it was about 5 inches with a cut of 45 degrees.
• Once we began, the stakes were put in and were cut the same as the ones in the first structure. • The 4 foot wood cut to be placed on the top of the structure were then placed in and angled, tightened, and secured with bolts. • The process took about three hours and there were no complications with this particular one. • The only problem was the slant that the hill had that threw off the calculations a bit but all was not lost.
• With the third and final structure at hand, it took about the same time as the second structure. • It was a bit heavier due to the 8 foot vertical stems attached with the 4 feet wood attached to the top of the structures. • The same process was used but with this one, it was shaped like an ellipse.
Final Thoughts
• Strengths – Calculations, Timing, Team work, • Weaknesses – How wood works due to circumstances, Time management, Food. • What I learned – Stronger building techniques, Unlimited expanding ideas, a deeper connection with teammates, and the communication skills have improved.
So our presentations had various questions pointed directly at us. First of all, the structure we finished with was satisfying. Knowing that we were able to start off with just a model and worked our way up to this point of a human sized structure still amazed me up until this point. I never would have imagined that with such a limited amount of time, we would finish all of this. I learned that with the work that I have done, has not only opened my eyes as an individual but also as a group member. This has made my ideas expand like no other and is still growing due to this project.