Anthropomorphism

This is one of our first projects of the year, but I am late documenting it, so I decided to post the photographs. The model is made of layers of sanded foam, then coated with mod podge, and sprayed with grey primer. I first drafted a line drawing of the figure, then pulled the lines off the paper to make the structure. I then morphed the lines into a object represent different parts of the human body.

Apple Retail 5th Ave. NYC

This is the floor plan and elevation reproduced for our presentation of the Apple retail store located on 5th ave. in New York City. Drawn in AutoCAD, the first picture is an elevation of the facade of the glass cube that sits on the street corner and the stairs/ elevator that lead down into the store. The part of the building that you can see from the street is a 32ft. glass cube with a giant chrome apple hanging from the middle of the ceiling above the elevator. Model and drawings by Anne, Alexis, Andrew, and Camilla.

Timber Frame Final

Concluding the Timber Frame proposal, I constructed a 1/2 scale model and an 18"x24" presentation board. To model I learned to pour concrete. My first attempt was alright but very messy and I had problems with leaking so I decided to pour a second time, which turned out much cleaner. I decided to just represent the structure of the roof instead of focus on the joints right now. If my proposal is chosen then I can work with a team to figure out the exact joints to use for my roof. For the poster I decided to explore Photoshop and create an image that shows what the roof looks like in the site. I wanted to represent the shadow that this structure will supply the space. I couldn't think of any text or alternate images that would enhance my poster so I kept with my theme of simplicity and remained with the single image.

Ruins of a Salt Maker

what happens to a building after its initial purpose has been served?

will it be reused or simply demolished?

what will happen to the materials?

will they end up in a landfill or serve another purpose?

i theorize that elements of new construction and renovation can be combined through the design process to make buildings last indefinitely.

by thinking of buildings as changing entities one may allow them to adapt to the surrounding environment.

like nature, the building changes. it weathers, it molds, it stains. it rots like a tree and grows back like a seedling.

process is of major importance. nothing is stagnant, everything is in motion. gravity is slowly tearing down walls. rain is slowly corroding roofs. some materials last a life time and some last a day. knowing how materials act together can determine the lifetime of a structure.

the cast-in-place concrete pillars provide a foundation that will last hundreds of years. the pillars are notched in a way that accommodates a timber substructure, which in turn, creates the interior spaces. the use of notched pillars can create different sizes and configurations of interior spaces. this allows the inhabitants to change the structure based on specific needs.

buildings crumble.

Roof in Flight

The wings of a bird are both elegant and powerful. The simple motion of the wings moving up and down creates lift, engaging the ground and sky with each stroke. With rotating the boards in increments, you create a perfectly balanced structure that is both beautiful and strong. I only used 8 of the available 4x6's in an attempt to create the most powerful manifestation of my idea with the lest amount of materials. There is also an option to cover the structure with canvas, creating a pristine white covering that could be adorned with screen printed images or could be cut to create interesting shadows or to frame certain instances in the sky. A simple elegance approach was taken when when i started to think about this project and i feel this was a suitable "roof" for the pillars in Burchard Plaza.

The High-Wire Plaza

In creating a exhibition space for high-wire walkers, inspired by the words of Phillipe Petit, I choose to stick to a simple concept. One of the most fascinating things I found while researching high wire walking was how at a high enough heights, the wire for walking seems to disappear to the observer on the ground, and gives the illusion of the walker performing on air. I wanted to apply this idea of 'vanishing into the sky' while designing the towers of the plaza. A spiral is never ending, so I chose to create four spiraling towers that the viewer could imagine continuously spiraling into the sky until a final disappearance into the heavens. Each tower contains multiple platforms that could have wires or safety nets strung between them at different heights, and are supported by large cores that would serve as stairwells for walkers to transport their gear up and down the towers. The plaza provides a new passageway to and from Cowgill and the surrounding buildings, as well as a large open space for spectators.

Timber Framing Brainstorming

In our pursuit to design and build a Timber Frame roof for the four columns in Burchard Plaza, I cut scale pieces of the wood and began to play with different layouts. Realizing that the amount of wood we have could not solidly cover the surface of the space, I decided to approach a grid system. To expedite the process, since we only have 2 weeks to design, model, and "posterize" our ideas, I decided to create a scheme then photograph it quickly and then move to another idea. Generating multiple iterations helped me quickly narrow down what I want to make of this project. I'm trying to keep my ideas simple but elegant. I then poured a concrete base for my model and have started working with photoshop to really envision my design of the roof on the columns.

composite ideogram

these are images of my process for beginning the salt maker's house. the first is a composite ideogram i composed using found images that relate to the site and the materials/requirements for the project: an inverted locomotive, a brine shrimp, the electron shell of copper, and the chemical composition of salt. each image has its own importance and was carefully selected based on how i imagined the building could possibly appear and function, paying close attention to space (both white and black), depth, contrast, form, and so on. i assembled these images in the same way one would assemble a drawing, and there was nothing arbitrary about the process or the decisions. i simply used this ideogram to supplement a mental sketch, allowing each element to affect the outcome, or what would eventually become the building. from this, i overlaid lines and shapes in developing a drawing that helped me to understand the interaction of space and movement through the building. every piece is connected and every part becomes the whole. this drawing is a sum of its parts and it allowed me to think spatially about the potential of each part within a larger scheme. the last image is an overlay of the drawing on the ideogram, detailing the relationship between the two and highlighting each source of derivation.

One Times Square

For the past few weeks, our studio has split into groups for a class called The Art of Building. The assignment was to find buildings with signage and study their facades. Our group chose the One Times Square Building in New York City. We decided to create two models, one of the original 1905 building, then of the current 2010 building. The building has undergone some drastic changes over the last 100 years in which one could say the building has gotten progressively worse by replacing the beautiful stone work with sleek walls and slapping un-organized advertisements along the facade. At the same time however, one cannot deny the unique atmosphere Times Square gives off by being surrounded in a sea of signage.

Library at Eberswalde

Here is a close up of the two concrete slabs that we have poured thus far. They are to scale representations of the actual slabs used in the construction. More to come!

Library at Eberswalde

For our Art of Building group, the five of us decided to study the Library at Eberswalde, Germany by Herzog & De Meuron. Our class was focusing on signage and we were all interested in screen printing, so we decided to study this building. The process includes screen printing a retarder onto the plexiglass with the desired image and then mixing the concrete and pouring it into the mold. Wait 48 hours and then voila! You have a concrete slab with your screen printed image. Our building's model is a combination of plexiglass for the windows and matte-board for the concrete surfaces which have been xyloled with the images from the original building.