Some Inspiration

So more designing for today.  Friday is our mid crit.. Yikes!  Here are some pictures and places I'm using for inspiration:

The Tate Modern Museum.  This building has spaces sticking out into the main space (see the aqua colored rectangles).  <http://art-museum-guide.com/tate-modern-museum.html>

NYU Department of Philosophy by Steven Holl Architects with an interesting set of stairs.  <http://www.dezeen.com/2007/10/05/nyu-department-of-philosophy-by-steven-holl-architects/>

The entrance to the Paris Opera.  Showing a grand staircase.  <http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=160943&page=14>

Pictoral Collage

Here are the pictures of my pictoral collage.  The pictoral collage is a further study of site analysis.  All the pictured used for this collage were taken from the trip to Harvard.

The main idea behind this is that there is a bar running diagonally from the bottom left corner to the top right corner which represents my long, linear site.  The stairs used to make this bar represent the rigidness of Harvard Yard (by the library) vs. the red pieces which show the chaos and organic-ness of the Carpenters Center.  Going out from the site are pathways connecting to other buildings on the site and eventually the trees in the top left and bottom right corners.  (If you click on the images they will get bigger.)

Whole collage on the wall

Whole collage

Detail of the Library

Detail of the Carpenters Center

Detail of the Weld Building

Beginnings of a Building

So we've finally started working on the design for our film archive.  Today we needed to have three schemes with a plan, section, and model for each.  The schemes come from 1) something from the cubist investigation, 2) something from the machines for seeing, and 3) something from the site investigation/map.

My first idea from the cubist painting is a long, linear building which slopes down and goes under ground (like a rhombus).  This takes the idea of the long building I used in the building we created for the cubist site project and takes the idea of part of the building being underground.  Above ground, one would see a wedge.

My second idea, from the site project, incorporated weaving into my building.  The archive would be raised over the library and Emerson Building and the first floor would weave around the two buildings and the second floor would weave opposite the first floor.

My last idea came from the machines for seeing.  I used the machine for seeing nothing and the idea that what is in the center can me reflected up, down, and side to side.  This "+" shape could then be turned and become an "x" stacked on top.  The final idea was a stack of + x +.  This idea was almost immediately shot down.  This building didn't relate to the site or the other designs because it was more of a tower than a linear project.

The wedge got good reviews.  It's a bold statement and could be easily placed on the site.  The weaving project was turned on its side and could be stretched or made multiples of to make it longer.  The last solution put the weave in the wedge.  The weave becomes a weaving of program and the wedge remains the bold statement.

"Draw-del" part deux

Here are two pictures of the almost finished draw-del.  The site is represented by the long woven pieces in the middle of the page.  The weave symbolizes the bringing together of the rigidity and order of Harvard Yard and the chaos of the Carpenters Center.  The purple blocks (which need to be changed to a paper cut out of a less dramatic color) represent buildings that make up the limits for the site.  The long cuts through the paper represent pathways or roads that cut through the site.  The two walls on either end of the site show the different end conditions (one flat, the other bent and curved and going in different directions).  The two blocks that pop out represent the part of the site that is closed by buildings on both sides, thus squeezing the site.

"Draw-del" part un

So I started off today too abstract.  I was thinking about the relationship between my two end points and considering the organization of Harvard Yard vs. the chaos of the Carpenters Center.  My original draw-del idea was to show Harvard Yard as a woven pattern in the paper, and show the Carpenters Center by bending paper and using crumpled paper to show the chaos.  This however was too metaphoric.

So I looked at some examples of map draw-dels done in the past and realized that my map should actually look like a map... whoops.  I think I'm going in the right direction now, I have cut out the pathways and road to show motion through the site.  I have also cut out the site and lowered it.  Two of the buildings that are across from another pop out to show where the site squeezes and the buildings that define the site are shown by a cut out from an areal photograph.  Lastly, I put a straight wall in front of the Weld building and a bent wall in front of the Carpenters Center.

Harvard Site

So I am going to go with the "sliding" site between the library and the Emerson building this site interests me because I feel like the library and the Emerson building can be seen as sliding between the end points where the Carpenter Center and the Weld building.  This is shown in the diagram below.

This diagram shows another interesting part of the site, the end conditions on the short sides.  One side is flat (the Weld side) while the Carpenter Center side is jagged and "rude" or unlike the normal Harvard lines like Corbusier wanted.

This diagram shows the massing of the buildings around the site on campus.

The world is my oyster?

The new project was assigned yesterday and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.  We are now starting the process of designing our building, but not thinking about our building yet.  We are to find a site for our building (which will be The Harvard Film Archive) on the Harvard campus, somewhere in view of Corbusier's Carpenter Center.  This, however, is harder than you'd think as there is no room for a building on the Harvard Campus.. awesome.

But first we're thinking more abstract and just looking for a space we find interesting on the campus.  This space doesn't actually have to be big enough for a building but should have some relation to the Carpenter Center.  Having never been to Harvard before, I'm relying solely on Bing maps and Goggle maps until Friday when we visit the site.  For sites, right now I'm looking at the space from the Memorial Church to about halfway through the Widener Library.  I am also considering a narrow strip that slides between the Widener Library and the Emerson building and extends from the Weld building to the Carpenter Center.

Harvard Campus Map

Bing Areal View

Documentation due next Friday are a "drawdel" or drawing/model and a photo collage that not only expresses the site/area but also the character of the site.

So the world is my oyster, I can do anything I want.  Now I just have to find the question that leads me to the drawing...

Successful crit today!  Here are some pictures, crit notes to follow.

My wall

Axon of Machine 1 with lenses pulled out

Machine 1 with top closed (in the opposite direction of the drawing)

Machine 1 with top pulled back to allow light on the lenses

Drawing of Machine 2 - Left: representation of how the image changes going trough the machine - Right: Exploded axon of the machine (see below)

Zoom of axon of Machine 2

Machine 2

View through Machine 2

As far as notes from the crit go, most of the discussion was on Machine 1 and how it gave the viewer too many options.  This because the viewer can change the order of the lenses, how many lenses are in the machine at one time, the amount of light going into the machine, and what the machine is looking at.  A possible fix to this would be giving the machine a stand, like a tri-pod, that focused it only on the landscape.

Machine 2 was my favorite, although looking through it too much tends to give me a headache.  I'm not entirely pleased with my drawings for Machine 2 so I hope to fix that this weekend.