Studio Exercise 3

For this week's studio we had to begin creating our own presentation board based on the materials that we gathered in the previous week. Throughout the tutorial I experimented with my layout and the placement of my images. After consulting my tutor we decided to change a few elements to create a better flow across the presentation board.

Above is a draft of my presentation board and how I would like to layout my material. I wanted to achieve a flowing layout without overdoing the colours or the style too much. I believe my main focus are the plans so I placed them in a prominent position across the board whilst placing photographs in the background to support my line work.

Research Exercise 2

For this research task, we were required to find 3 examples of graphic presentations styles and methods and to analyse each of these examples stating the facts that make the board effective based on my personal view.

This is the first example of a presentation board that I have selected to talk about.  The primary reason of why I like this particular presentation board is mainly due to its layout. The use of the perspective view positioned so prominently in the centre of the page allows one to to start to notice the various use of materials that are shaded in different colours that you would not be able to notice instantly in a real photograph such as the one positioned behind the perspective view. However, the use of the photograph blended in with the background also brings a sense of reality to aid the perspective sketch in portraying the design. The elevations of the building also play a role in allowing one to understand the design even further for this particular project.

Source: http://nicholasnelson.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/The-Mercer.jpg

This presentation board in my opinion is a great example of board conveying its content. To clarify further, the colour scheme and layout of this particular board strongly compliment the content that is on the board itself. The content conveys a futuristic prototype of a designed product and when looking at the layout and colour scheme of this board, one can instantly gain the futuristic feeling. It is a feeling that is almost develops naturally when looking at this presentation board.

Source: http://s3images.coroflot.com/user_files/individual_files/original_246503_Fy9LPONEA3py3TbkiiO10rne6.jpg

My last example of a presentation board is an excellent one in terms of its layout and positioning of content. The top part of this board shows a real photograph of the subject which in this case is a house and the viewer of this board can instantly understand or partially understand what the remaining content on this presentation board will be about. The text columns are delicately and evenly spaced to create for easier reading. Each paragraph is supported by an image so that the reader can relate to the content of the paragraph when looking at the image next to it. The use of subtle colours is a good choice to disallow specific elements from dominating the board. All in all this presentation board is excellent in its layout and use of colours as well as relating images to text.

Source: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/hans2463/architecture/hansmann%20boards%20print-2.jpg

Studio Exercise 3

The first part of this week's studio was to put together a material's pack of the building that I selected. The material's pack included plans, elevations, sections and 3D views if any. The built form that I chose is the S House by Nicolas Schuybroek. Below are the materials that I found on this house.

Floor Plan

Roof Plan

Elevation

3D Floor Plan

3D Section

The next part of this week's tutorial was to use the materials that we gathered on our built form and we had to -

• use colour to represent the difference between public, semi-private, and private spaces (plan and section).
• use colour (on another set of drawings) to represent the primary, secondary, and tertiary movement paths through the building (plan and section).
• Use line work to indicate the major 'edges' and primary forms (primitives?) that can be extracted from the built form. Simplify the building to these forms in one or two 3D views.

Ground floor plan showing public, semi private and private space in the S House.

The 3D section of the S House indicating the public, semi private and private spaces.

This plan view shows the primary, secondary and tertiary movements throughout the S House

The main primitive used in the S House is a rectangular prism that forms the majority of the spaces.

Week 4

For this week, we did not have any particular tasks to do but to progress further with our designs for the final primitive form. Following last week's exercises of establishing sizes of spaces and experimenting with compositions of primitives, I have progressed further and have developed my final primitive. My final primitive is made up of a wedge, a pyramid and a cone. My main method of construction is using these shapes as the main shell of the house and then using horizontal floor plates as shown below to build the spaces in the design schedule.

My first initial thoughts about my final form is that it can only improve, I can begin using my final primitive to shape my house and can make fine alterations to the shape of my final form as needed to ensure the adequacy of my design.

Side elevation showing the proposed floor heights and final primitive features

A front elevation showing the proposed floor heights and final primitive features

This is the wedge primitive with wall and floor thickness. This will be part of the shell of the house. 

The pyramid primitive consisting of wall thickness part of the overall shell of the house.

Upon initial thoughts, this cone primitive will be used as an atrium allowing light into the house through a void.

 My next steps for the upcoming weeks is to start establishing the internal layout of my house and then linking these spaces through means of staircases, ramps or the like.

Week 3

This week's exercise is to establish the basic form of the overall primitive and the scale and proportions of the various spaces that will make up the house.

The first step that I undertook was to establish the size of each bedroom in terms of width, length and height and then categorise these spaces into my own definition. I decided to split these spaces into 3 main zones, habitable spaces, non-habitable spaces and services using different colours. Below is my own definition of each terminology mentioned. 

Habitable Spaces: Are the spaces that primarily allow the user to sleep in such as bedrooms.

Non-Habitable Spaces: Are the spaces that the users of the house can use throughout their day to carry out various activities such as the kitchen for eating and the living room for the family to gather in.

Services: Are spaces such as laundries, bathrooms and garages which users can use to preform their daily routines such as washing clothes or keeping their vehicle sheltered.  

I then established the sizes of each space keeping in mind the allocated overall 250 m2 floor space restriction but also ensuring that I provide sufficient space to allow for comfort. The spaces and their respective sizes are shown below. (All measurements are in metres)

Master Bedroom: 5 x 4 = 20 m2 + 2 x 3 = 6 m2 (Ensuite) Total = 49 m2

Bedroom 1: 3 x 3 = 9 m2

Bedroom 2: 3.5 x 3.5 = 12.25 m2

Bedroom 3: 4 x 3.5 = 14 m2

Study Guest Room: 4 x 3 = 12 m2

Total = 96.25 m2 - 259.87 m3

Living Room: 5 x 5 = 25 m2

Kitchen: 3.25 x 3.25 = 10.56 m2

Dining: 3.5 x 3 = 10.5 m2

Total: 46.06 m2 - 124. 36 m3

Double Garage: 6 x 6 = 36 m2 (5.5 x 5.5 minimum according to Australian Standards)

Children's Bathroom: 3 x 3 = 9 m2

Guest Toilet: 1.5 x 2 = 3 m2

Laundry: 3 x 2.5 = 7.5 m2

Total = 55.5 m2 - 149.85 m3

Total Floor Area = 197.81 (remaining = 52.19 for additional spaces if needed)

Volume based on average ceiling height of 2.7 m = 197.81 x 2.7 = 535 m3 ( remaining = 365 m3)

Establishing the layout and sizes of each space that will make up the house is such an essential process that has to be carried out to ensure a quality design. My first initial thoughts that I developed due to this short exercise that I carried out is to assign each zone to a single primitive so 3 zones = 3 primitives. As per the guidelines that no individual primitive can represent more than 60% of the total form, and no primitive can represent less than 20% of the total. My initial thoughts are to assign the larger habitable zone to a primitive which will make up 60% of the final form and the smaller non-habitable zone to a smaller 20% primitive. 

Below are a few screen captures showing each space as a simple box and each zone colour coded as per its category.

I then experimented with each of spaces by orienting them to try and find the best relationship between each of the spaces to better understand how my final layout might look like and also how vital it is for each space to relate to the adjacent space to help create a successful design. After experimenting with a few possible layouts I narrowed down my selection to 1 layout that I think best represents the relationship between each of the spaces.

The selected layout: I imagined that my final primitive form will be made up of two main levels, the ground floor level and the first floor level. On the ground floor I placed the double garage with the laundry right next to it because both a laundry always includes an egress to the outdoor area so an additional egress can be placed between the garage and the laundry to allow for the access of the outdoor area from the garage without needing to access any of the internal areas of the house.

I then placed the living area next to the garage space as this space would be the main social point of the house and where the guests will be hosted in upon arriving so it makes sense to place the living area next to the entry and the garage. I also placed the guest toilet close to the garage and living area to isolate guests from entering other spaces.

The kitchen and dining room were placed next to the living room which best highlights the non-habitable zone and also creates an open plan living allowing for natural circulation and an overall passive design. 

The final space to be included on the ground floor area is the study / guest room which guests can access without having to gain access to the first floor area. In doing so, I was able to create privacy on the first floor of the house. 

The first floor of the house is made up of a large master bedroom and 3 bedrooms that are placed around a central bathroom. I was not interested in orienting my areas into 3 primitives at this stage but was interested in establishing a relationship between each of these spaces. A few screen captures of the oriented spaces can be viewed below.

I then began experimenting with primitives by creating some composition of 3 selected primitives based on on the proportions allowed in the brief for this experiment. Below are a few screen captures showing my first composition.

Composition 1 : Wedge, Pyramid and Cylinder

My main focus of this composition was to create an overall form that would support for horizontal floor plates. I was able to achieve a rectangular form using the wedge and pyramid that are sufficient enough to allow for a 2 storey house but also added a cylinder that could be regarded as an atrium to allow for natural sunlight in the house through a void. In other words this irregular shaped external skin would be made up of an internal straight and perpendicular structure.

Composition 2: Pyramid, Box and Sphere

In this particular composition, I wanted to experiment with the idea of linking 2 zones together via a central zone. As shown in the above screen captures, the green zones and the red zone are linked using a type of a bridge. I believe that this composition creates for more privacy but is also more unique in conveying the relationship between various spaces.

All in all, this week's exercise has enabled me to establish the sizes and heights of my spaces, the relationship of each space to another and most importantly how I'm able to use primitive shapes to convey design ideas which each represent a unique theory.

Week 2

This week's exercise was a rather interesting one as we were required to develop models of the work produced by our chosen designer using paper. I selected a few of my designer's work (Nicholas Schuybroek) and the results are below.

This was my first attempt at the Chopin Center located in Warshaw, Poland. The shape of this building was a simple rectangular prism with some type of skin used as the facade. I thought that the best method to represent the facade of this building was by cutting out triangular cut outs of the rectangular prism that I created thus achieving the shape and form of this building.

Image courtesy of http://www.ns-architects.com

This particular building by Nicholas is a competition entry for a science museum located in Burssels Belgium. I created this building by folding the paper multiple times and cutting each layer that was formed at a different angle and then folding the paper in a circle as shown above. 

Image courtesy of http://www.ns-architects.com

The final building was the an additional exercise introduced to us during class where we had the freedom of using multiple sheets of paper to recreate another building that our designer has produced. I chose to re-model this grand stand concert located in Montreal Canada. I found out that using one single sheet of paper was actually easier than using multiple sheets of paper. I traced out the trussed and support structure and use a blade to cut out the trusses as shown above.

Image courtesy of http://www.ns-architects.com

Chosen Designer

The designer that I have chosen who interests me is Nicholas Schuybroek. Upon viewing images and samples of his work, I was inspired by his interiors and would want to learn more about Nicholas and his work at this semester progresses.

Below I have attached a few images of Nicholas Schuybroek's interiors.

 Source: Sofilium, April 1, 2013, http://sofiliumm.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/interior-architecture-by-nicolas-schuybroek/.

Week 1

As part of our first exercise for this course, we were instructed to develop 3D sketches based on a set of floor plans that were given to us by our tutor. I was limited to the information provided on the floor plans and found it reasonably difficult to interpret the individual buildings and their characteristics and turn them into a 3D sketch of a whole building. This exercise has however enabled me to enhance my skills in analysing plans and most importantly understand how vital 3D illustrations and visuals can be in aiding the client understand the project more clearly.

I believe that being able to use 3D visuals and models to present the project to the client can create a better relationship between the designer and the client thus creating a more efficient and sustainable workflow. Therefore, I believe that even though this week's exercise was difficult to attempt, it was a great opportunity to put my current skills into practice and educate myself of alternative methods to improve my skills.

My attempt at the 3D sketching exercise can be viewed below.