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. 

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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

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.

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.

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

Monument to Kenzo Tange

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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Monument to Kazuyo Sejima

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.

ELECTROLIQUID AGGREGATION AXONOMETRICS

Amalgamation of concepts and original axonometric drawings from Kenzo Tange and Kazuyo Sejima

 

Integration of interior and exterior + metabolism

 

 

Controlling the flow of light + a balance between technology and humanity

 

Brutalism + lifting up spaces