[P] Week

portfolio

"A set of pieces of creative work collected by someone to display their skills to a potential customer or employer"
Throughout the whole semester and a half we have been working on many different projects each week. The above image is an example of one of our assignments. Right from the start our teachers let us know how important it was to save all of our work not only for our own personal reflection, but also for future inspiration and reference. I followed their advise, so I kept all of my hard copies in a portfolio bag and put it all onto my blog to view it more readily.

periphery
" The outer limits or edge of an area or object."

Most of the items included in my portfolio were drafting projects. When I first started drafting I started to view spaces differently. I started to think about exterior and interior, and like we discussed in class, what separates the two. When an object or space is hollow there is a boundary we see that separates the space from the outside world. This boundary is the periphery. With our portal project we experimented with how to make that transition from exterior to interior, or vise versa, easier, or more appealing.

perspective
"The state of existing in space before the eye”
"A mental view or outlook"

The above image is a rendering of one of my projects from a tilted or axonometric perspective.
When putting a portfolio together, especially when the portfolio includes buildings or spaces that you’ve drafted, it is important to keep in mind how the person looking at your work will view it. Because we have knowledge that not all people have, we will understand things more easily, but when you think of the average person you realize you have to include more information so that they can understand what they are looking at. They have a different perspective of your work than you do.
Perspective can also be a physical placement. For example, when viewing a room there are many different angles from which it can be viewed, which will result in many different drawings, or renderings.

"The practice of drawing, as described by Vitruvius, also sounds remarkably modern, for he writes of ground plans (ichnographical) being laid out with compass and ruler, of elevation drawings (orthographic) being 'a vertical image of the front', and of perspective (scaenographia) with shaded and retreating lines converging at a vanishing point." [Roth]

process
"A series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end."

All of the work we kept was to, in the end, review our own work to see how we have developed over time. Looking at my sketchbook from first semester I’ve already seen an improvement in the way that I take notes. This process and development of my thinking and artistic capabilities will in the end make me a better designer.

In our portal project we had to go through a long process of designing a portal that fulfills commodity, firmness, and delight. The commodity part of this project was that this portal had to tie the work of each group member’s previous projects, and the temple of Queen Hatshepsut all together to make a visually pleasing and structurally sound portal. This was a very difficult thought process, along with physical process too. Coming up with the design was equally as difficult as creating the physical structure and installing it properly. It was a learning process.


professional
"Having or showing great skill"

(Image taken from: http://www.iparenting.com/graphics/dad0103.jpg)
 

With all of these new skills that we're learning and developing our main goal for the end of this process is to become a professional. In this case this means mastering the art of drafting, drawing, developing art skills in general.
We are not only learning the skills that it takes to become professionals, but we study the people who have been professionals for years and how they did so. For example, when we took the field trip to Highpoint University a couple weeks ago we heard Alexander Julian speak. I really enjoyed this. It was so interesting to hear him talk about his own work; what he liked; what he disliked. What interested me most were the designs that were most successful. It was also interesting to hear how some of his previous designs that were considered radical, are very plain compared to today’s fashion. This just solidified in my mind how what we consider to be “good design” will be forever changing.

Portal Panel Door Installation

The picture below is our final product for our portal/panel project. I think it was successful in conveying the nature of the temple of queen Hatshepsut. I enjoyed this project immensely, it was a good way to learn how to use several precedents and tie them all together to make one structure. 

Walt Disney Concert Hall

For my building project i have chosen the Walt Disney Concert hall, located in downtown Los Angeles, California. This structure, built by Frank Gehry, opened on October 23, 2003. Because this hall had to meet sonic expectations it took a lot of time to complete. Construction on this building began in 1996 and the groundbreaking ceremony was held in 1999. Even after these three years Frank Gehry took more time to perfect the sound quality of the concert hall and the entire building was complete in 2003. 

Initially when researching twenty first century architecture i chose this building because of its connection to Walt Disney. But after researching further I chose this building because of its extremely unique structure. The exterior of this building looks more like a sculpture than a building. It is visually interesting and appealing, it serves several different functions and, it is structurally sound. 
I am very enthusiastic about this project and to learn more about this building and how it was designed and built. 

(Image taken from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/2001-0714-DisneyHall-construction.jpg)

(Image taken from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/28/Disney_Hall_construction.jpg)

(Image taken from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d6/WaltDisneyConcertHall.jpeg)

Macro:Micro

Having learned so much about architecture in this past semester and a half one of the most important things that I’ve learned is how people interact with a space. Early architects created a very successful way of leading people through a space by dividing it into a porch, court, and a hearth. Porch, the entrance to a space, is meant to purify a person for entrance. The porch leads to the court, which is a place for all people to gather. The court then leads to the hearth, which is only meant for specific people.

The division of space is not only meant to lead people through, but also acts as a division of wealth or power. People of the lowest class cannot enter into more than the porch. The general public may enter to the court, and only specific people may enter to the hearth. Some good examples of the porch, court, and hearth design are the Salisbury Cathedral in Italy and the Duomo. At both Cathedrals you are purified for entrance through the large archways. Then you are lead through the space to see the court, or main gathering space of the cathedral. Most anyone is allowed to enter the court, but when you progress through the space to the chapel, this section is only allowed for specific people.

In an analysis between these two buildings some things that i noticed was that they both used arches in their design. In both cathedrals you are forced to enter through an archway into a building filled with many arch formed windows. The Duomo had more circular aspects than the Salisbury cathedral. For example some windows in the Duomo are circular and it has a dome with an oculus. Both cathedrals use color in interesting and affective, but different ways. The salisbury cathedral has very intricate stained glass windows, it has painted statues and most importantly it has gorgeous tiled ceilings. The Duomo also incorporates tiles into its ocular domes and ceilings. But it also uses colored tile in on the walls too. The use of these colored tiles is extremely welcoming. It changes the visual and emotional experience of being in the cathedral very drastically.  

The image below is of one of the ocular domes in the Duomo of Florence, Italy. 

(Image taken from  http://www.geneburch.com/gallery/d/1368-3/Florence_Duomo.jpg)

This porch, court, and hearth design is a form of architectural composition. Composition can be defined as “the way in which a whole is made up.” These architects have composed these spaces very carefully to move people in the correct direction through the space. But what is it that actually makes us move through a space? Another aspect of design that we’ve experimented with the past few weeks has been the fact that there are many parts, or details that make up a single space. These details stand out from the overall design and work together to unify the space. These details attract people walking through a space and lead them in the correct pattern. We move from detail to detail.

The details leave impressions. Good details leave big impressions. Some first impressions have to do with the exterior of the building. One way to leave a lasting impression is to make the outside columns extravagant. The order of columns plays a very large role, in roman and greek cultures. 

In our drawing class this week we were assigned another area to focus on for our Curry building project. We were asked to go back to the building and notice the details that are unique to that building. I did multiple drawings of multiple details, and for one of my details I did the bridge connecting the Curry building to the building next to it. This is a detail completely unique to the curry building.
 

In order to convey architectural designs such as these an architect must create diagrams. Throughout the semester I’ve learned that it not only helps the clients understand the designer’s ideas, but it helps the designers themselves to develop their ideas. It helps them to see what may or may not work, what they like and what they don’t like. For example this semester we worked on a project called “Pat’s Chair” and for this project I had a very specific design in mind, but when I tried to construct a smaller scale version of it I had to change certain things to make it more functional or more visually appealing. A lot of the time a designer will have to create multiple models to realize how he wants the design to look, while still making it functional and good looking.

This image below is a photograph of a model of a wall i made. By making this model, or diagram, i was able to understand the way that a wall functions. I learned what needs to happen for a wall to serve it's purpose. Meaning, i learned exactly how precise the measurement and angles at which the wood is cut has to be; I learned the way the wood needs to be put together for it to function well, and i learned what it looks like. 

Winding up the third quarter of my freshman year of college i can honestly say that i have never been so motivated and mentally stimulated. I go home three nights out of the week feeling like my brain is completely fried but i love it. I'm pushing myself hard and learning so much. This week focused on the details that we notice in a building. We were asked to think about how and why they stand out, and what purpose they serve. This too has helped me to look at a space with a more critical and knowing eye. 

Portal Project Ideas

Black and White Project

wall project