3rd year critiques

On Monday December 6th I listened to the the 3rd year studio as they presented their final projects.  They had it set up so you walked into this closed area with their projects surrounding you on the walls.  They individually had to design a psychiatric hospital and with another person, or in one case two other people, had to design an apartment/lounge area.  For the hospital, they had three different client areas to attend to: Adolescent Female Unit, Adolescent Male Unit, and Children's Unit.  I was really impressed with all of the presentations and thought they all had a clear design.  After they had all presented their individual projects, Stoel asked us which we thought was better: if the presenter read off of notecard, off their board, or if they memorized what they would say.  He said he though that it was more effective of a presentation of they memorized what they would say because they could stay facing the audience and be more open to questions.  He said that reading off the board was the least effective because the presenter was turned away from his or her audience so they wouldn't seem as open.  Out of all the presentations, there was one that seemed clearly different to me.  Kalai Gonzalez' board was a lot sketchier looking than everyone else's and seemed to have a theme behind each unit.  His Adolescent Female Unit was represented by the sky and a crane, his Adolescent Male Unit was represented by land and an elephant, and his Children's Unit was represented by water and a koi fish.  The koi fish is supposed to represent courage, strength, and endurance.

My favorite concept for the psychiatric hospital was Cassandra Gustafson's.  Her inspiration was a seashell.  "A seashell serves as a temporary home and refuge to many organisms, just as Central Regional Hospital serves as a temporary home for its clients." 

After each person presented their individual project, they got together with their partner and present their group project.  This was to design a building on 106 West Parish Street and turn it into apartments and a lounge area.  Out of all the presentations, my favorite was the group of Smith, Dean, and Loloci.  I really enjoyed how they brought in natural light to the top two floors of apartments using a light shaft.  Also, they explained how the windows on the bottom level opened up to the street so walkers could hear what was going on inside and maybe want to make them go there.  The had a place for a band and had different levels on the ground floor so they could be viewed from different angles.  Besides their project, I also thought their presentation was the best.  They knew what they were going to say and presented their idea very clearly.  

Because they had a group of three people, they also had to make something that could go in their building.  They designed a light fixture made out of recyclable materials that created a soft light.  I talked to Dean about it when they had finished presenting and she explained how she made the paper that was used in the fixture.  She also said that the curved cuts corresponded with the larger curves so it could show more light.  I asked her where she would most likely see this and she said it could fit in the residential area, the wine bar, or really anywhere in the building.

Luminaire

phase 1: phenomenological analysis
Observe a natural solar light phenomenon, e.g. sunrise, sunset, light filtered through trees, light reflecting off of water, light in the mist, etc.  Create a record of the phenomenon in three media:  photography/video, drawing, and diagrammatic model.  In documenting your observations, describe the phenomenological characteristics:  color range, intensity/brightness, angle and direction of the sun, time of day, sky conditions, reflective light, shadows, shade, etc.


The light effect I chose for my project was light reflecting off a man-made waterfall that was bordered by wood.  I chose this because I really enjoyed how the light reflected off of different parts of the water and was strongest at the source of light, but still had an interesting effect on the water and it got farther from the source.  My original idea for my parti involved wire and that held vellum in a curved shape.  I distorted my picture of my light effect to show how the light is distorted as it hits the falling water.

phase 2: design development
Design a luminaire using wood and any materials that you used in previous projects.  Your luminaire should create a field of light based on your previous phenomenological analysis that articulates the surface upon which it is cast.  The light source is to be a compact fluorescent bulb in a standard electric bulb socket.


My idea of having a curved luminaire maintained throughout the whole project, but changed from vellum to wood.  I wanted to create on object made up of three-five curved pieces of wood.  I also knew that I wanted to use a shiny piece of thin metal with the wood.  My first idea involved lining the metal with mirrors to create even more of a reflection, but once I tried this I thought the effect was portrayed better by just using the metal sheet.  I chose metal and wood because I thought the juxtaposition of the two worked really well together.  Wood and aluminum are both in a sense man made objects, but the source of both is a element found in nature.  At first, I talked to both Tommy about how to make bent wood, and he told me I would have to create a mold and clamp.  I then talked to Stoel about it and he suggested I should make each layer of wood small, so it would create a sort of pyramid effect but Matt said he didn't know if it would be possible. The first type of wood I tried was balsa, but found out that there was a chance it would be too light for my project so I ended up using veneer.  I am glad I chose this wood because it was more of the color I wanted and it look more finished that the balsa did.

This is my first try at bending wood.  I didn't use a mold for it because the balsa wood was thin enough that you could hold it in the shape you wanted it in and it would dry like that.  I also layered a thin sheet of aluminum along the curve of the wood to see how it would look.

This is the second try at bending wood.  It is still balsa wood but I used a mold for this one to see how it would work.  It was a lot harder than I thought it would because because if you made even the smallest error while using the band saw, you would see it in the final piece of wood.  I wasn't sure how much the wood would be able to bed so I didn't create as much of a curve as I wanted for this one.

This is the mold I used to make the second piece of curved wood.  I didn't have a thick enough piece to use as the mold so I first had to glue two 2x4s together.

The most frustrating part of the project was making a place to put the light.  I kept putting it off and wanted to see how stable the four pieces would be once I put them together.  To connect the pieces I drilled holes on each side of the thiner edge of the wood.  I made two sets at the bottom inward curve and one set at the top, creating six holes on each piece of wood.  Once I connected the four pieces and had it standing, I then played around with the strips of aluminum sheet.  I first tried my original idea, which was to have the strips run along each four strips of wood.  I didn't like how that looked and didn't like how it captured the light when I held the lightbulb in place.  After trying a few other ways, I ended up making twelve strips of metal sheet that ran horizontally, connecting all four pieces but leaving one opening so you could better view the light effect.  The strip that runs along the deepest curve is the thickest piece, and the other pieces that are either above or below it get smaller in increments.  

The next think I made was the base for the lightbulb.  I cut a circle out of veneer I had left over and a hold in the middle to put the bulb in.  I then bent wire around the wood pieces and hot glued them on to the bottom of the thin piece of wood.  The last think I did was create something to dim the brightness of the lightbulb.  My original idea was to cut thin strips of pine so you could still see the light through the grains of wood.  I spent a lot of time using the table saw to try to make the strips thin enough, and when I had enough I glues three together so  it would be tall enough to completely cover the bulb.  I used gorilla glue and waited for it to dry, but the glue expanded and it didn't look neat.  I then decided to make a metal cylinder using the same sheet metal as the rest of the project.  I attached four smaller pieces of wood to relate it more to the four larger pieces of curved wood and raised the cylinder so light would escape at the bottom.  

This is my project when the lightbulb is turned off but the over head light is on.  You can see the twelve horizontal strips of aluminum metal that are wrapped on the inside of the four curved pieces of wood.

This picture mainly highlights the effect of the light on the bands closest too the light source.

phase 3: documentation

Develop a composite drawing on an 18"x24" piece of Canson paper.  This drawing should include: a plan, an elevation, a section, and an expressive rendition of the field of light created by your luminaire.  You may select three colored pencils or pastels to use for the drawing.

I did my documentation on grey canson paper and used yellow, silver, and white colored pencils.

Goldsworthy?

During one of my classes while I was stumbling I came across Swiss artist Sylvain Meyer.  Her work is considered land art which emerged in the United States in the late 60's and early 70's.  When I first saw her art, I immediately thought of Andy Goldsworthy and how similar their work is.  They both use all natural materials with nature being the backdrop.  "Sculptures are not placed into the landscape except in the sense that elements of the landscape actually become the sculpture."

Metal & Wood

As I was looking through websites one day, I found this picture of an eco friendly house.  What made me notice it the most was the effect of light not only on the wood, but also the metal material.  The light on the side of the house against the wood isn't too bright or harsh but has a soft effect, which is what I want to create with my luminaire.  I also really enjoyed how straight and neat the wood looked along the side of the house.

Wood System

For my project, I knew I wanted to create a circular wood system.  At first, I had the outer circle with 27 blocks instead of 9, and 14 in the inside circle.  I laid this out on my desk and realized it would be too much drilling and less stable if I used that many pieces.  I then changed the inside and outside circle so they would each have 9 so there are 18 blocks total.  This ties into the length of the original piece of 2x4x18.  There are two connectors on the 9 outer circle blocks and one on the 9 inner circle blocks.  If I had just used one, I wold have been a lot less stable and fall apart.

Light Artists: Tadao Ando

Church of the Light

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

Tadao Ando

Light is something that is visible or affords illumination.  It is a form of energy that travels freely through space and is electromagnetic radiation.

Tadao Ando is one of Japan’s most celebrated architects.  His work is characteristically simple due to the emptiness his architecture creates, because only light space surrounds the surfaces in his buildings.  His large walls are powerful, but still allow light in, which creates stillness.  A few of his architectural projects include Water Temple in 1991, Church of the Light in 1988, and The Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth, Texas in 2002.

For me, the most intriguing part of Ando’s work is the calm feeling it creates.  He uses light and shadow in unsuspecting ways, and even though his works look simple, you can tell there was a lot of thought put into where the shadow and light will become noticeable.  Most of his architectural projects use large, grey wall juxtaposed against soft light.

Tadao Ando’s architecture projects are similar to Abu Dhabi.  Dhabi’s work is simple and clean looking and uses light in similar ways, although he uses the reflection of light more than Ando does.

Christopher Wedding

Last Thursday, I attended Green Building: The Next Generation.  This was a lecture by Christopher Wedding who is Manager of R&D and Sustainability for Cherokee Investment Partners (CIP) and Cherokee Gives back.  He is also the Founder of IronOak Innovations, which specializes in advisory services, new product development, and lecturing.  IronOak supports business executives, investors, architecture, and entrepreneurs, and other organizations that think about the big picture and have innovative product and services development, along with much more.  To fully understand how impressive Wedding is you need to understand everything that he has already accomplished.  He earned his PhD from UNC Chapel Hill in Environmental Management and Policy, his MS also at UNC Chapel Hill in Environmental Management and Policy, is a LEED Accredited Professional by the US Green Building Council, and is an Ambassador of the International Living Building Institute.  While his lecture included many companies that I had never heard of and parts were specifically directed to the professionals that also attended the lecture, I was still overwhelmed by the amazing work he has done and how he helps the environment.  His slides included many interesting facts about environmental building and architecture.  He spoke about how he never thought his past career choices would have led him to what he is doing today and that it is a lot of hard work. Wedding was very inspiring and I would love to learn more about what he is doing and how to effectively influence the Green Building movement.

12 Twigs Project

Design I

In this model, I peeled the bark at the notches or around the notches so six sticks would be mostly yellow with brown notches and six sticks would be mostly brown with yellow notches.

Subproject

This is my developed subproject.  I played around with different colors of rope to see what effect it would have and how it would compliment the yellow color.  I also payed attention to the spacing of the yellow cutouts.

Design II

In this model, I used wire instead of rope.  I wanted to see what different binding agents looked like with the twigs and how well the wire would hold compared to the rope.  This is also the first model I made where I carefully cut the yellow pieces and used a band saw to cut the ends so it looked neater.

Close View of Binding

Final Design

Andy Goldsworthy

The other day in Environmental Design we watched Rivers and Tides-Working with Time.  I was completely amazed and inspired by Goldsworthy's work and dedication.  The focus he puts into every aspect of his work and the way he uses nature and turns simple things into amazing works of art is so inspiring.  His respect and understanding of nature is really helpful to the project we are doing now.  Watching his projects fall apart and seeing him continue and try different ways to make things is encouraging while making our stick project.

project 1: create a place for a leaf

Sketching I
At first I wanted to create a place made of three pieces of paper to suspend the leaf in midair.  That later chanced to also adding a basket-like structure at the bottom but I couldn't find a good way to hold the paper together and still add the cut-out vein design I wanted.

Sketching II
Then I decided that instead of suspending the leaf I wanted to create individual strands of paper to cushion the leaf. 

Design I
My first design used two pieces of paper to make four strands that went in between the  points of the leaf. 

Design II
For this design I reversed the paper so instead of where the two strands crossed being under the leaf, it is now on top. 

Final Design
I used the same technique from Design II but added another strand so there would be a strand of paper coming from each point of the leaf and one where the stem would have been.  I also used the same design from Design I to push a vein design into the paper.

Where do you find inspiration?

I find inspiration in many different everyday things.  Mainly though, I think nature and past experiences are my biggest inspiration.  I think there is so much beauty in nature that can be translated so many different ways into a design.  Past experiences also play a large role.  Conversations with friends, family, or teachers have brought about new ideas that lead to new forms of inspiration.