Fodr Portfolio

CONTENTS

Foundations of Design: Representation is mainly about teaching us how to represent our ideas, and how to convey our concepts and ideas to other people briefly and clearly. Through this subject, I have a brief understanding of what is design and what kind of work a designer does, and it also taught me many necessary skills in design.

Module One is about croissant drawing. I improved my hand-drawing skills and learned how to present an object through elevation, isometric view, section, and plan. Everything in Module One is connected with observation and representation. Through Module Two, learned how to present my ideas by drawing on sheets and then transferred them into digital form by using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. And I was also required to imagine and design what the invisible world would look like, and how to create a totally new world through 2-D elevations. Another computer software Rhino was introduced to me in Module three. learned some basic orders and modeling skills with the help of weekly workshops and Tech Studios. It is interesting and inspiring for me to design by adjusting the parameters instead of drawing or doing something by hand. Module four can be seen as a combination work, as it requires skills of the previous three modules, like Adobe suite and Rhino. Moreover, am free to construct my own city by grabbing some ideas from an interesting story.

There are no right answers for design works. What we should do is refine and modify our work again and again. And think that is the most important and precious idea that FODR wants to convey to us. Remember that design is a process of refining and improving, and also design should be treated as a teamwork, as we can always learn or grab something from our peers and other people.

HOW TO DRAW A CROISSANT?

How To Capture A Croissant?

This page is about the photos of the croissant that I chose. To capture the exterior form, I took three pictures from three different viewpoints, which are the short elevation, long elevation and the plan.

And then I cut the croissant three times so that the interior structure of the croissant can be presented clearly. Then all the photos were put into photoshop to make some editions so that the pictures of the croissant can be more vivid and the contrast was also improved.

LONG ELEVATION

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Croissant crafted at Starbucks Module 1, 2021

Ziheng Zhou

SECTION C

How To Draw A Croissant?

A lighting pad was used instead of butter papers to trace the outlines of the croissant. Cause from my point of view that more details can be better presented by just using print papers from my point of view.

And I used 6B pencils to do the tracing, and 2H,2B and 4B for the hatching. Different kinds of pencils enabled me to show the different colors and the textures of the croissant which are very essential to make my drawing more vivid and realistic. For the highlight parts, I did less shading or used an eraser to make sure that they looked lighter than other parts of the croissant.

LONG ELEVATION

SECTION B

Croissant crafted at Starbucks Module 1, 2021

Ziheng Zhou

SECTION C

How To Project A Croissant?

This page is about axonometric projections, and it shows the connections and relationships between 3-dimension and flatness. It indicates that plane images can also carry sufficient information and details.

I outlined the croissant and the three sections and turned them for 45 degrees. I used grids to make sure that the outlines of sections were still accurate in axonometric view. And then I combined and modified these elements in Photoshop to make them a whole.

SECTION A

SECTION B

SECTION C

Croissant crafted at Starbucks Module 1, 2021

Ziheng Zhou

FLATNESS VS. PROJECTION

Building Blocks & Color Palette

These two elevations consist of many complex objects and interactions. It is really hard to imagine and create the 3D Mario world at the very beginning.

Derived from the two elevations which I was given, selected six main elements to create my Mario World. And, color plays a very important role in forming the Mario world. As a result, I tried to make a color palette to make sure that the world looks more organized. Color can present the textures of the objects, and it can also influence the overall tone of the drawing.

Firstly, tried to build the two elevations on the tracing papers with the six elements that I chose. And soon I just found that there were plenty of "hidden spaces" behind the mountains and clouds for me to create my own world. So I attempted to build the world in the middle, and, here came the prototype of a brand new 3D Mario world.

And then, I used Adobe Illustrator to trace the hand drawing. More adjustments were made and more ideas poped up through this process. I was thinking about how the 3D world was created and what the route of adventure should be like.

Axonometric Drawing & Concepts

In my work, as you can see, clouds are the most noticeable and considerable element among all the six elements, as I just attempted to form the light and mysterious atmosphere in my work. Many elements like blocks and pipes were hidden behind the clouds, which cannot be found in the two elevations. By doing this, as they were hidden in the clouds with fascinating and mysterious, I was able to create a world completely different from the original world for Mario to do his adventure, the grounds and the clouds were connected by the pipes and the mountains. And Mario is provided the opportunity to travel up and down, which makes the whole world more interesting and more attractive.

There are mountains and clouds behind the front grounds in both two elevations, so I decided to use them as the connections and joints of the two projections. With the mountains interact with the clouds, the whole new Mario world is presented lively and harmoniously. Then, besides the layouts in the given pictures, I was allowed to create my own world with creativity, which seems to be a practical way of practising the ability of design. Through this module, I know that flatness is not only the flatness, there are more possibilities and hidden spaces for me to explore.

Research and Process

Question 1: What is Pictorial Space according to Le Corbusier?

Pictorial space is that which cannot be entered or circulated through according to Le Corbusier. It is irremediably space viewed from a distance, and is therefore eternally resigned to frontality. He insists upon the rigid frontality of all objects experienced from a distance, and further, that frontality and distance combine to allow knowledge of the real only by inference.

Question 2: The Flatness of Le Corbusier’s paintings are attributable to two properties. What are they? And what are these pitted against?

The two properties are the “pure extension” and “color and texture”. The object is registered as pure extension, as flat; crisply contoured shape which never breaks rank with the picture’s frontality to suggest a turning of one of its facets into depth.Besides, color and texture are handled in a manner which calls attention to the inherent superficiality of secondary qualities. So that distance or depth in the painting becomes no longer a matter of representing the space separating one object and another in the real world.

Question 3: Explain the difference between Pictorial (in this case perspectival) space and Projection?

Perspective could be understood as a special case of anamorphosis, and they are rendered at one and the same time more flexible from an instrumental point of view, and more universal from a philosophic point of view. Perspective is the view from a certain point, with vanishing points in the perspective drawing. Projection shows the accurate shape of an object. All the lines are scaled in the same way and they can be measured.

Question 4: Where did Axonometric projection first arise, and why?

Axonometric projection firstly created and utilized in a military context. Initially, it was applied to trace the 3-D trajectories of artillery projectiles. Perspective records what already exists, whereas axonometric projection constructs that which does not yet exist. Axonometric projection tends to be measurable and precise, and that is why they were used in military contexts.

SURFACE VS. PATTERN

Painting & Sample Analysis

The painting sample that I was given is one of the small slices of Mystical Nativity, created by Fra Filippo Lippi.

The dominant element of the painting sample is the giant curve, from top right to bottom left. And this curve is the division of darkness and brightness, shadow and light, high point and low point, which means a lot in my further model making. The right part of the sample is lower than other parts of the drawing, with more shadows and fewer textures. In contrast, the left part looks lighter and higher than the right part, with elaborate textures and shadows which make the whole drawing more vivid and interesting.

Terrain Analysis

The top right of the terrain is actually the highest point, so it is tricky for me to develop, as the top right should be the lowest part according to the drawing sample, and the questions for me are how to balance the depth and the height, and how to connect them in harmony. So, I just tried to descend the points in the right top corner and made a sharp drop between the central curve and the lowest part.

Hybrid And Unrolled Panels

I used five panels to ensure the complexity and also, the central curve was transformed into the extremely sharp and slope pyramid in the middle of the hybrid work.

The hardest part of these studies is how to develop them, how to develop one study to another study. As we cannot make any adjustments by hand, all the modifications are done by using many variables through Rhino. As a result, we can hardly control all the points and imagine what the work will be like after changing variables. There is always an ocean of mysteries and unknowns in the model-making process.

PANEL 01

PANEL 04

PANEL 05

PANEL 03

PANEL 02

COMPOSITE

I think the composite work should be the most important work as it is the combination of the 2-dimension and 3-dimension. The painting sample provides the textures and shadows to form the model. So, we know that the darker should be lower.

REFLECTION

The fabric stretches from the top right to the bottom left, with many complex textures on the left of the central curve and more shadows on the right. In order to cater to these features, I tried to descend the right part of the drapery to make it look lower and darker. But I did not make a lot of modifications to the panel shapes, and I just focused on the shadows and the outline of the fabric. When it comes to the left part, more complex textures are expressed by using the rotate3D function and control bar. The central curve is the dividing line between the left and right, the light and shadow, which are the core elements of the design.

Artefact work is a good way to connect the 2D drawing and 3D model. In previous processes, we can hardly control all the points and imagine what the work will be like after changing variables and parameters. But here we can decide what the model should look like by dragging or rotating the control points. I folded the right part to make sure that they are lower than other parts, and I also made adjustments to explore the textures.

In the composite, we are free to imagine what the outside of the drape would be like, what kind of features it has. And as you can see, in my composite, I extended the fabric to the top right and bottom left. This adjustment was the reflection of the main curve in the middle, and it brought harmony and interest to the work.

Softness is always used to describe the fabric, and the pyramid panels that are used in this module represent the hardness. How can we combine softness and hardness? In my opinion, the amount is the only solution. Softness is shown in the combination of a considerable number of hard objects, and module three is strong evidence of that.

Research and Process

Question 1: What are the three elementary types of developable surfaces? Provide a brief description.

The three elementary types of developable surfaces are cylinders, cones and tangent surfaces. A cylinder surface is formed by a family of parallel lines. To model a cylinder surface, we may prescribe a profile curve and extrude it in some direction by a parallel extrusion. Given a profile curve and a vertex point, the cone consists of all lines connecting vertex point with points of profile curve. The tangent surface is more intricate. It is formed by a curve, a tangent line, and the surface between them.

Question 2: Why is the understanding of developable surface critical in the understanding of architectural geometry?

Any developable surface can be mapped into the plane without stretching or tearing. A developable surface contains only parabolic surface points or flat points. It can be shown that the three basic types of developable surfaces are all developable surfaces in the following sense: Any developable surface is a composition of such developable ruled surfaces. Understanding the surface is like understanding the mechanism of the space.

Question 3: What is digital fabrication and how does it change the understanding of two dimensional representations?

Digital fabrication, in particular, has spurred a design revolution, yielding a wealth of architectural invention and innovation. Digital fabrication is mostly controlled by the computer, without being designed by humans. Digital practices have the potential to narrow the gap between representation and building, affording a hypothetically seamless connection between design and making. It allows designers to have better understandings of two-dimensional planes, which can be unrolled and construct three-dimensional objects.

Question 4: Suggest two reasons why folding is used extensively in the formal expression of building design?

When folds are introduced into otherwise planar materials, those materials gain stiffness and rigidity, can span distance, and can often be self-supporting. Folding is materially economical, visually appealing, and effective at multiple scales. Folding expands the three-dimensional vocabulary of surface by naturally producing deformation and inflection.

FRAME VS. FIELD

Isaura, city of the thousand wells, is said to rise over a deep, subterranean lake . On all sides, wherever the inhabitants dig long vertical holes in the ground, they succeed in drawing up water, as far as the city extends, and no farther. Its green border repeats the dark outline of the buried lake; an invisible landscape conditions the visible one ; everything that moves in the sunlight is driven by the lapping wave enclosed beneath the rock’s calcareous sky.

Consequently two forms of religion exist in Isaura.

The city’s gods, according to some people, live in the

FIGURES

depths, in the black lake that feeds the underground streams. According to others, the gods live in the buckets that rise, suspended from a cable, as they appear over the edge of the wells, in the revolving pulleys, in the windlasses of the norias, in the pump handles, in the blades of the windmills that draw the water up from the drillings, in the t restles that support the twisting probes, in the reservoirs perched on stilts over the roofs, in the slender arches of the aqueducts, in all the columns of water, the vertical pipes, the plungers, the drains, all the way up to the weathercocks that surmount the airy scaffoldings of Isaura, a city that moves entirely upward.

Final Isometric Drawing

The passage is about Isaura, a city of the thousand wells. In the very beginning, considered that wells may be the most important elements, with interactions between residents and the city happen there. And I also noticed that the city rose over a subterranean lake. So the main idea of my work is about the lake, wells and the connections between them.

The model was divided into two parts, the upper city and the underground city I moved and rotated the bricks to represent the flow of the lake, but what’s important is the connection between the two cities. The ceilings, vaults, bricks, columns, and other elements have erupted from the lake, and two holes are created. Then the bricks and ceilings they form a community center place for people to have activities there. The lake conditions the shape of Isaura and serves the residents.

At the bottom, the two giant spirals and some curves represent the transference and direction of the lake. And think that the two holes should carry the frequent activities and communications, and that’s why I put some weight and atmosphere notations there.

Different places often have different atmospheres, even though they are in the same city, so there are two themes for my two perspectives, dynamic and static. Perspective one is about dynamic. As you can see here, to achieve a dynamic atmosphere, the background that I chose is a rainy town. And the figures are all in pairs, like the dancing couple, a wife leans on her husband, and three kids who are running and laughing there. And the floating bricks, ceilings, and uneven floors also represent the movement. Everything here is about dynamic.

The theme of my second perspective is static. Very similar to the previous perspective, the explosive bricks and vaults, but they are connected by the chains, and they are still a whole. The people here are all doing their own things, without any interruptions. And I also added some smokes, ashes, and lights to enhance the atmosphere of peace and static here.

Smokes and lights are also used to enhance the peace and static.

Research and Process

Question 1: What are Durer’s rules for perpectival projection?

Firstly, all perpendiculars or “orthogonals” meet at the so-called central vanishing point, which is determined by the perpendicular drawn from the eye to the picture plane. Second, all parallels, in whatever direction they lie, have a common vanishing point. Third, equal dimensions diminish progressively as they recede in space, so that any portion of the pictureassuming that the location of the eye is known- is calculable from the preceding or following portion.

Question 2: Describe homogenous space?

A homogenous space is a logical but infinite space. In this space, every element is strongly joint and linked together in order.

Question 3: What is the difference between autographic and allographic practice?

Autographic practice asks the work to be done by the own hand of the original artist. It needs to be authentic and cannot be the reproduction of others. Allographic practice, on the other hand, can be reproduction or reinterpretation. The work cannot be exactly the same, but the central idea or inspiration can be similar.

Question 4: Why do architects need new representational techniques?

New representation techniques are needed because the traditional ones cannot catch up with the evolving architecture. It is insufficient and inconvenient to depict the new world by old techniques. The abstract designs are often able to be conveyed by architects.