Bonus video of the circulation of the school, and moving lifts.
Uploaded CryEngine 3 environment
Saturday 29 June 2013
PLANS AND SECTIONS
I wanted my gallery to be light and airy, and have a space for after-hours presentations and informal or small lectures. There are no windows and minimal textures as to not distract from the view. Ramps were used for optimal viewing and circulation.
On the ramp to the third floor of the gallery
In the informal lecture theatre of the gallery
The main lecture theatre is a place for teachers to impart their wisdom. The skylights and domed ceiling are evocative of the sky, and instil excitement and wonder in the students.
The library has an open plan and a very simple layout to maximise usage of the space. Study areas and the lift encourage students to utilise the library.
Second floor of the library
The studios, workshops and computer labs building consists of several levels and a central walkway. The walkway provides some separation between the classes for noise control, while letting lots of light in since there are few windows.
There is a downstairs study space for students to go directly after classes.
Studio rooms and the walkway
Ground floor study area
The offices have a simple, compact layout since there are few staff. Shared offices and entrances encourage socialisation.
Following current models, there is a student office at the front for students to address concerns about their program.
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Please refer to the video for more information on the school.
FOLLY AND ELEVATORS
The folly was informed by my concept that you must create new concepts from old concepts. I interpreted this as a hierarchy, putting the dean's elevator at the top while the students arrive at a lower level.
Folly, with applied texture and a view of the valley.
Elevators both mid-flight. The quarter cylinder lift, for the dean, rises out of the dean's office and above the valley. The dean can survey the school and valley and relax before attending the lunch.
The spherical lift, for the students, takes a more direct route down under the school and straight to the folly. This is much more efficient, and maintains the hierarchy. The lift starts within the library to instil a sense of greater knowledge and inspire students before the lunch.
Student's elevator, accessible from the library.
Dean's elevator mid-flight.
DESIGN PROCESS: HYPERRATIONALITY
I was inspired by the design process for the Seattle Library by Joshua Prince-Ramus and Rem Koolhaas of OMA. I saw their design process as "hyperrational", statistically analysing the current and future spatial requirements for the library and then arranging the boxes according to environmental factors and circulation.
Below is an infographic of my design process.
Below is an infographic of my design process.
The final hierarchy decided on were the teaching spaces taking precedence. Since lecture theatres, studios, workshops would be utilised everyday by both teaching staff and students, it had the highest usage and therefore deserved the central position. Within that, lecture theatres were at the top in accordance with my theory that you can break the rules once you know the rules. However, circulation was also very important as I did not want any unused spaces, so the school was ultimately arranged according to a mixture of the two.
AESTHETIC PROCESS
Zaha Hadid once designed an opera house as a necklace: the theatres were the "jewels" of the necklace, suspended by a "chain" of surrounding operational spaces.
Aesthetically, I wanted my school to emulate something similar. It would then naturally become a school that was a bridge across a valley. The "jewels" would be the buildings of the school.
The "chain" would be the circulation spaces, so the students and staff could admire the surrounding environment. Within the buildings, there were few windows so they could concentrate on their work. I wanted the bridges to be even more functional, so some span across two buildings to provide shade, while others have seats and trees built in for social spaces.
Saturday 1 June 2013
Monday 27 May 2013
ARTICLE MASHUP
What happens to a
sensibility and tradition, so central to the 20th-century architectural canon,
in the face of dramatically altered 21st-century economic and political
realities?
In
modernity there can be no such thing as an integrated identity; reason cannot
guarantee an actual balance of inner and outer being. Architecture should be like a tree, which, although it
has its own internal growth mechanisms, is shaped and formed by the context of
available light, space, nutrients and airflow.
Modern architecture can embody enlightened social policy, or
practically demonstrated that it can provide physical comfort, even in a harsh
natural environment. Architecture expresses
quotidian reality; it must provide comfort, reassure its inhabitants, and
satisfy their vision of the world or at least that part of the world they call
home. The model of designing seems not one of adoption of
the freedom of technology but one of resistance, of finding the inner animal
through constraint.
While succumbing to ordered life imposed by the rationalist grid,
freedom is experienced in the boundless jungle of communications technologies. Ornament masks the authenticity
and integrity of materials; in the modern world, their naked beauty should
suffice.
--
Bell, D. “The irritation of architecture”, Journal of architectural education 64,
no. 2, (2011): 113 – 126.
Jakovich, J. Ito, T. “The animal inside us: freedom and restraint clash, twist and form anew when Toyo Ito sketches for Joanne Jakovich”, Architecture Australia 98, no. 3, (2009): 21 - 23.
Mellins, T. “Up top: Scandinavian modernist architectural identity is not so monolithic”, Architectural record 189, no. 7, (2001): 77 – 80.
Articles found via Avery Index of Architecture Periodicals
Monday 13 May 2013
CRYENGINE ENVIRONMENT WK 2
My second draft CryEngine environment was inspired by the mountains of Dalat in central Vietnam. It was a mixture of rainforests and hills and valleys that was quite unusual, but beautiful.
Sunday 12 May 2013
CRYENGINE VALLEY WK 1
I was inspired the To Sua ocean trench in Samoa. I wanted to create an environment that was different to the scrubby, rocky mountains in experiment 2.
I experimented with voxels to paint an overhang but I found it turned white from a distance.
Sunday 5 May 2013
CRYENGINE 3 ENVIRONMENT
The environment I created for my monuments was inspired by the Australian landscape, which is surrounded by water and encompasses a wide range of landscapes. The range of landscapes separates the monuments and allows me to create a distinctive meeting place for the students.
The land surrounding the river and the Tange monument was inspired by the Australian coastline, which often integrates a beach with bushland. It is relatively flat, allowing the monument to dominate the landscape and emphasises the concept of brutalism.
The meeting place in the environment is an island accessible swimming from both monuments so there is no preference given to either monument. I attempted to make it like an oasis, with a rock pool and a landing beach to encourage students to meet there and trees and appropriately sized rocks to encourage students to linger.
The monument to Sejima was located in a rocky, alpine environment inspired by the Sonoran desert in North America. Although harsh, it is strangely beautiful and the river and cliff emphasised Sejima's habit of "lifting up" her designs. It was placed further from the island meeting place to given an equal significance to Tange's monument, which was placed in shallow water.
Uploaded package to Google Drive.
TEXTURES FOR EXPERIMENT 2
Other textures were used on the monuments but the three textures mentioned here were the main ones.
MONUMENTS FOR TANGE AND SEJIMA
This monument to Kenzo Tange was inspired by the concept of brutalism. I used large solid blocks juxtaposed by slender planes to create a monument that interrupted the environment and demanded a response. The textures applied reference unfinished concrete, a texture Tange was fond of using to show structure and construction. I placed it at the mouth of the river to emphasise its power and size. I informed my design with Sejima's design principle of pure functionality by putting in stairs and a landing that encourages the viewer to pause and view the surroundings they have power over.
The result is a monument that brutal structure that dominates the landscape, which transfers this power to someone who interacts with the monument.
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For my monument to Kazuyo Sejima, I created an "outdoors room", inspired by the concept of integrating the interior and the exterior. The hollowed out walls allowed light to penetrate while maintaining a sense of enclosure within the monument while an oversized platform extends out over the waterfall to encourage the user to jump into the lake. I used Tange's concept of modernising tradition with the translucent, textured walls which are a modern take on the traditional Japanese screen door.
The result was a quiet and delicate monument that showcased the surrounding environment.
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