YOUTUBE VIDEO

Bonus video of the circulation of the school, and moving lifts.

Uploaded CryEngine 3 environment

Uploaded SketchUp model (school + folly + elevators)

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.

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.

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.

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.

WEEK 2 PROGRESS

 

For this environment, I attempted to create a river leading to a lake, surrounded by land. The river would be bordered on either side by gradually rising terrain and a steeper mountain around around the lake.

The monuments would be placed atop a cliff overlooking the lake, and at the mouth of the river.

Original site plan (sketch)

CRYENGINE ENVIRONMENT 1

The first CryEngine environment, a desert and rocky outcrops with a monument from SketchUp.

Original drawing