Week9 - 10 words.

1. Natural
2. Ambiguous
3. Flowing
4. Dramatic
5. Mysterious
6. Free
7. Encompassing
8. Inspiring
9. Isolating.
10. Unseen

Week9 - 250 words.

The complexity of the original design, due to the use of multi curved shapes as the basis of the overall structure is difficult to model, but having said that, the shapes in the building gives it a mysterious feel.
Utzon envisioned an interior similar to the cave in Tatung that houses many statues of Buddha, this idea of a canvases interior and the ramp system is central to his design for the museum. I intend to keep the interior and the canvases spaces as close to the original design as possible, but I have doubts about the ramp system in the building, although the original intend was to allow art work of large scale to be view in a continuous way, but the system makes it difficult for circulating the visitors, especially the ramps that are only meant for one person. Ideally the ramps will serve an aesthetic and functional purpose. But is it important to sacrifice a bit of the aesthetic aspect of the design for a bit more functionality? I'll have to say yes, but adding functionality doesn't mean it has to completely destroy the original concept of the ramp system. Apart from the problems with the ramp the original design and concept how the art work will be display works, but of course many other aspect of the design hasn’t been tested yet, things like how the light will work when the art work is a paint.

Week8 - Assignment 2 Submission web address and animation

Go to the following for my assignment 2 submission. The template (redbridge) I used for the site is from free-css.com.

http://users.tpg.com.au/zerofe4r/ARCH1390/

I could not put this short sun shadow study on my web site submission, so I'll just put it here anyway.

Week6 - Mock Layout (really bad ones)

Having issues uploading this one.

Week5 - Koshino House.

"This building is located on the verdant slope of a national park. Tadao Ando arranged two organic concrete boxes in parallel so as to avoid the scattered trees, and had them buried half-way into the ground. The two boxes, of different sizes, are linked by an underground corridor and they also frank a courtyard. One volume comprises two levels; the lower level accommodates the living room, the kitchen and the dining room, and the upper level, the master bedroom. The living room is of double height and becomes the core of this building. The stepped courtyard generated between the two volumes functions as an outdoor living room, and wide stairs receive and reflect the natural light trickling through the trees and serve as an extension of the stage for everyday life. It is an autonomous exterior space, a part of nature that has been isolated and fashioned by man. The atelier was added four years after the house was completed. By introducing a curve into the rectilinear scheme, Ando arrived at a new composition. A wall describing a quarter-circle arc holds back the earth and defines a territory. Although this feature was not originally planned, the addition completes the entire composition."

Reference: Information/image posted by MICHEL on pushpullbar on 10/12/2007 http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1790&highlight=koshino+house (accessed: 28/08/2008)

Tadao Ando on the Koshino House.

"Light is the origin of all being. Striking the surface of things, light grants them an outline; gathering shadows behind things, it gives them depth. Things are articulated around borders of light and darkness, and obtain their individual form, discovering interrelationships, and become infinitely linked."

Reference: Francesco Dal Co, Tadao Ando's Complete Works, Published by Phaidon.

Week4 - Assignment 2 Research.

Building 1.
For one reason or another I had always wanted to do a 3D model of this building. It could be the dramatic central plaza which overlooks the ocean or the monolithic look of the modular buildings.

Reference: image - The Salk Institute, http://www.salk.edu/about/about_campus_architecture.php?sid=about&subsid=campus (accessed: 28/08/2008)

Building 2.
One of the many deconstructive building of Frank Gehry's. The building is interesting because of the surrounding historic Prague area that the building is situated in, with an unorthodox design, with the way that part of the facade flaring out and the added "jewelery" on top of the building it fits the streetscape surprisingly well.

Reference: image - Dancing House, Prague, http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/dancinghouse/index.htm (accessed: 28/08/2008)

Building 3.
I should have chose a better picture of the building that demonstrates how the light penetrates the cuts that are made into the side of the central box and the space that are left out on the curved room.

Reference: image - Koshino House by Tom Lee, http://cat2.mit.edu/arc/gallery/4203_final2/gal_banana/index.html (accessed: 28/08/2008)