Assignment 2: Deadline midnight tonight!

Just a quick note to let you all know that it has been a pleasure working with you and I look forward to seeing how your work develops over the next couple of years. If you are still working to finish your submission for Saturday night, don't forget to check back through the comments on any of the assignment related blog posts for questions and answers that have been posted there over the last couple of weeks. Good luck!

Assignment 2: DA Sample Docs

The set of documents used to submit a development application to council for this site have been posted into a folder called "DA Samples" in the same folder as the model for the neighbours as posted last week:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tkpczyos3bphj98/KGIHmlmX8V

This should give you a good sense of the sort of material that is required in a full DA submission, as well as some additional direction for you as you prepare the material for your own submission. As noted previously, I do not expect you to produce a Statement of Environmental Effects (SoEE) to the length that you see here, nor as complete a set of drawings, but you do need to have explained your project FULLY, and to have addressed, in the SoEE, all of the potential council concerns.

Good luck everybody, I look forward to seeing what you have put together at the end of next week!

Assignment 2: Change in requirements

In the interest of your interests...  I have decided that you are no longer required to submit material in relation to items 18 and 19 of the DA submission checklist (these are non-core items). This means you do NOT need to produce a Concept Drainage Plan or a Site Waste Minimisation and Management Plan.

You do still need to produce material in relation to checklist items 1-9, 12-13, 15

Assignment 2: Neighbour model

To make life just a touch easier, here is a model of the neighbouring buildings. I have saved it in Revit (release 2014) format, DWG, and DAE (which can be used in Sketchup).

 https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tkpczyos3bphj98/KGIHmlmX8V

Assignment 2: Studio Crit

The week 13 studio will be used to provide students with a critique of their progress on this assignment. While we do not expect that your work will be completed (and indeed, this is your opportunity to garner feedback that you can use to refine your final submission), it does need to be sufficiently developed to allow you to demonstrate and explain the project to a jury member unfamiliar with the project.

You will have a 10 minute time slot assigned to you, and in this time you will need to be able to:

1. show and explain the design
2. discuss the design requirements and style based on your developed research client brief
3. demonstrate how your design reflects the style of your research client ( how your design is recognisably that of your client)
4. respond to questions and commentary from the jury members and from other students

We would suggest you plan for approximately 6 minutes of presentation and 4 minutes of discussion. Note that this crit forms part of the mark for assignment 2. Marks will be based on your ability to tell the story of your project, not on the level of completion of the project.

Final submission for the project is NO LATER THAN midnight, Saturday, November 16 (but hey, you can submit earlier if you like!).

Assignment 2: The Brief

The client (your research designer / artist) would like to ensure that the following needs are met by your design:

First, a rooming list:

1. Master bedroom (with walk in robe and ensuite)
2. minimum two other general bedrooms
1. a bathroom associated with these two bedrooms
2. must include a bath and seperate shower
3. a study / guest bedroom
4. a studio / workshop
1. for drawing and art projects, music, etc
5. Formal living room
1. fireplace
6. Formal dining room
7. informal family area
8. kids play room
9. WC
10. Kitchen
1. double wall oven
2. 2 bowl sink
3. island benchtop with free standing range hood
4. walk-in pantry if possible
11. Laundry (sufficient to do washing, ironing, etc inside the room)
12. 2 car garage (with additional storage space)

Next, relationships:

1. Bedrooms should be grouped together, although the study / guest bedroom should be associated with the public areas of the house rather than the other bedrooms. Nevertheless, ensure that this room is also able to maintain some degree of privacy when in use by guests.
2. the walk in robe should be used as a buffer between the bedroom and ensuite. Can also be used as an entrance into bedroom suite, but then must have doors on robes to make it look better
3. would like a small balcony off of the master bedroom
4. kitchen to be the hub of the house
5. kids play room to be associated with bedrooms 2+3
6. garage to have internal access from house

Fianlly, comments:

1. Want a WOW! reaction when visitors enter our home
2. lots and lots of natural light - big windows, skylights, etc
3. want a house that is warm in winter and cool in summer, and inexpensive to run
4. ensuite does not need a bath tub, but should have a large shower, with a waterfall rose and an adjustable rose
5. would like a minimum of 8 lineal metres of hanging in the WIR
6. master bedroom should have a view
7. king size bed in the master bedroom
8. kitchen should be big enough for visitors to hang out in when entertaining
9. Laundry should be big enough to work in effectively
10. would love a home theatre if you can make it fit!
11. high ceilings

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTES:

You will notice that there are no comments above in relation to style or form for the design. You will need to review this brief in relation to your previous exercise (when you wrote a brief for your research designer), reconcile the differences, and use that information to determine the stylistic cues appropriate to your design. This means that it should be possible to identify who your research subject is based on the style of your design. Remember, the tutors are there to help, so ask them if you are unsure of how to do this! Consider the processes you went through with the paper folding exercise in relation to abstracting a design, and also the work done creating posters in relation to your research subject. These two exercises revolved around the underlying design cues in that work, and how to read them effectively. You can now take those results and reverse the process - take the abstracted results you obtained and turn them back into more complex forms for their expression in a residential context.

As we want to use this exercise as the basis for representational studies, you will be expected  to finalise the brief and develop your design within the next two weeks, leaving you with 3 weeks to prepare the material for your final submission. During the week 10 studio you will be asked to demonstrate your reconciled brief, and in week 11 you will be asked to show your resolved design. This is your big push week! If you do not succeed in finalising the design in time for the week 11 studio, it is unlikely you will be able to complete the assignment itself for the end of the semester...

If you have any questions, ask them TODAY!! Answers will be collated and added to the blog for all students to see and make use of.

Assignment 2: Commentary

Some questions and comments in relation to the Stage 1 requirements for Assignment 2: DA submission

Submission is due as a blog post no later than midnight, Thursday, October 10th. There are two parts to the submission, with three deliverables:

1. Site analysis
1. a drawing overlay of the survey showing information relating the site to its environment and neighbourhood
2. a short text description of the site and surroundings, no more than 2-300 words
1. refer to the DA checklist and the DCP (pages 6-7) for some ideas of what the site analysis should include
1. THIS example, from Parramatta City Council, is over the top, but does give some idea of the types of information that could be included
2. HERE is a more typical, if somewhat basic version (as part of a full DA set)
3. Lake Macquarie City Council has a good explanation of what a site analysis needs HERE
4. and you can find discussion of site analysis in place like Wikipedia
2. this drawing can be electronic (Revit, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc) or a hand drawing, but needs to incorporate the use of colour and bold graphic symbology to tell the story of the site.
2. Planning Controls
1. A chart laying out all relevant controls, descriptions of what the controls mean and how they work, and the numerical results of applying those controls to our site
2. Drawings that translate the controls in your chart in graphic form onto the actual site. This will need to be both plan and sectional drawings

You should also be spending time in the next two weeks to ensure you have Revit up and running and to work through some of the training materials, so that you will have a bit of a head start when you get the building design brief  in the week 10 lecture.

Finally, think some more about the exercise you did in week 7 in building a brief for your research designer / artist. That person / company will be your client for this house, so you will be needing to interpret their style in terms of the brief provided in week 10. Make sure you understand that style...

Assignment 2: DA Submission

You are to put together a DA (development application) submission for a house for your research architect/artist/designer. As this is a DA submission, you will find your deliverables list here:

http://www.mosman.nsw.gov.au/file_download/177/DA_form.pdf

• Pages 4-7 contain a checklist of items that must be submitted as part of a DA. Therefore, this is what you must submit for your assignment. Note that not all items on the checklist are required...
• YOU are the applicant
• Your client is the owner

• You WILL need to supply material for items: 1-9, 12-13, 15, 18-19
• You do NOT need to supply material for items: 10-11, 14, 16-17, 20-32
• You will ALSO be required to import your model into Lumion and provide renderings and animations of the DA submission - remember that the DA is also the final opportunity to lock-in or 'sell' your design to the client!.
• Design and documentation is to be undertaken using Autodesk Revit, and visualisation is to be undertaken using Lumion. 
• If you do not already have these programs installed on your personal machines you will need to do so by week 10. It is your responsibility to undertake the training material that accompanies these programs. Tutors will endeavour to help with questions and issues wherever possible, but do not have enough time available to hold your hand all the way through the process.
• Autodesk has free educational versions of its' software available to you, and Lumion has a free version available for download
• note that the free version of Lumion has very limited libraries of objects and it would be worth buying the full version while you are a student.

In order to plan and design your building, and to fulfil the requirements of the DA application, you will need to refer to several documents including the Mosman DCP and LEP. These documents contain planning controls and requirements for development in Mosman:

Residential DCP (PDF 15MB)
Mosman Local Environmental Plan 2012 (PDF 871KB)
Mosman LEP 2012 - Land Zoning (LZN) map (PDF 2MB)
Mosman LEP 2012 - Height of Buildings (HOB) map (PDF 550KB)
Mosman LEP 2012 - Foreshore Building Line (FBL) map (PDF 490KB)
Mosman LEP 2012 - Floor Space Ratio (FSR) map (PDF 608KB)

A client brief (scope of works) will be provided to you in week 10 (immediately post the coming semester break and non teaching weeks), and you will need to relate this to the week 7 studio exercise to determine how to apply the information about your specific client's needs to the site. During weeks 10 and 11 we will use the lecture times (and parts of the studio time as well) to talk about aspects of the DA process.

Stage 1:

Between now and week 10 you are required to research all of the relevant information in relation to the site. It is up to you to determine what information (and controls) are relevant, and what they mean in relation to the site. The links above give you everything you need to carry out this task. You must provide a checklist of all of the relevant controls, with their rules, and the resulting calculation specific to the project site. You must also produce a drawing showing the application of those controls in graphic terms (such as building envelope setbacks, height controls, etc), and another drawing for the site analysis (Item 4 from the DA checklist, as well as pages 6-7 from the Mosman Residential DCP). These must be submitted (via your blog) no later than midnight, Thursday, October 10th.

The site is #5 Wyargine Street, Balmoral, and you can download the site survey, in DWG and PDF format, here. Site photos and other material will be made available in week 10. Please note that the site has a new home on it, but you will be using the survey and other information as if that project had not yet been undertaken; as such a site visit is not deemed necessary.

Studio Exercise 4: Week 7

This week you are going to write a brief, from the point of view of the client. As we have discussed, representation can occur through drawings (both technical and emotive), physical forms such as models, film and animation as shown this morning, and as written or verbal description.

Today you will explore the latter.

Part 1:
Do some research on your selected architect / artist / designer to determine what they might look for in the design of a home for themselves. Can you find any information on family? What about their cultural roots? What can you say about their design style? Think through these and other questions and write up a section on your blog that defines how this person would define their needs and desires in a home.

If it is a company you are using as your research topic, treat them as a person...  If there is no family that you can identify, then you are defining a bachelor pad....

Part 2:
Put together a brief. Remember that in this document you must define not only what you want (as the client) but why. In this circumstance your brief must be capable of being understood by your architect without you there to explain it, so it should include not only a  list of explanations about room sizes, but also how they will be used, how your family interacts in the home, how you entertain, how you like to work in the kitchen and other general living spaces, etc. A document of this nature will run to at least 4 pages of material combining the lists of spaces and the explanation of those spaces. Also be sure that you explain the architectural style that you want for your home, and include images that help to explain what you are after.

This material must be completed and uploaded to your blog by the end of studio.

Ahhh, bugger!

Just a quick one to apologise...  :-) The previous two posts (Embedding in PDFs and Note on Deliverables) were intended to go online last weekend, and I'm not sure what I did, but... I screwed up! Sorry! Anyway, here they are, let me know if anyone still has any questions.

Deliverables for Assignment 1

Just a reminder....

You will need to submit:

1. a SketchUp model
2. a PDF file containing screenshots of the views of your SketchUp model:
1. A written description of your project. While this has no pre-defined length, it needs to be sufficient to make the form, relationships, movement and other aspects of your project understandable to your reader. I would assume this would take at least 2-300 words....
2. Plans for each level. This must include Room names and other notes, and dimensioning sufficient to understand the building overall, the individual rooms, the windows and doors. It is not expected that you will dimension it to the level of genuine working drawings, but you must cover all the basics.It is assumed that these are created within SketchUp. You are NOT expected to be producing plans in some other program!
3.  a cross-section. This should also be annotated and dimensioned. Dimensioning can be very basic, and should be more about vertical dimensions than anything else.
4. elevations of each major façade
5. a series of 3D views that explain the form and relationship of the primitives
6. animation that shows your built form. Approximately 10-20 seconds long 
7. a schedule of all spaces
8. a calculation sheet for areas and volumes

Note that for marking purposes, the PDF file should be all that the tutor requires to review and mark the assignment, and should be produced with that in mind. The SketchUp model itself will be used if the tutor wishes to look deeper at certain aspects of your project and so can do so directly. Also, the studio in Week 7 will include time for these models to be put into a Primitives Village in Lumion, which will later be used to discuss some of the Lumion processes you will look at during the last part of the course.

Both the model and the PDF should be uploaded as a blog post to your site by midnight on Sunday, September 8th, so that your tutors can download and review them. Late submissions WILL BE marked down progressively, and rejected altogether if more than 48 hours late (unless by prior arrangement).

Embedding multimedia into PDF files

As the primary submission method for assignment 1 is the PDF file, and you are also required to provide numerous images, videos and other material, you will need to know how to get all of that material into a PDF file. Here are some tutorials to help you with that process:

TeacherLink: Acrobat with Multimedia Tutorial - a very good comprehensive tutorial.
Dig Rep Studio 2012 - Jacky Yuen - tutorial from last year's studio, embedding models into PDF
Embed a model into a PDF - a good one for getting a SketchUp model into your PDF file

There are plenty more resources out there you can find that help with this process. These are just a few to get you started. Indeed, this likely should do all you need, but if you do find a different one that you think is particularly good, please add a link to it in the comments!

Progress: Assignment 1

At this point (7 days until tutor-led crit, submission in 9 days, Sunday, September 8th) you should have a 'locked-down' building design, the model of the built form should be complete, your design for the layout of internal space should be complete, and the modelling of that internal space should be substantially underway, if not close to completion.

This means that you should be completely done with the model by Monday or Tuesday at the latest, giving you a further 4 days to prep the deliverables for the crit on Friday. I have reproduced the deliverables list here:

Deliverables:

1. A computer model of the building, using SketchUp
1. 3x representative 3D views
2. animation (10-20 seconds) around the building (using SketchUp bookmarked views) to show the building from all angles
2. 1x cross section
3. plans of each level (dimensioned)
4. elevations
5. schedule of spaces (including areas)
6. calculations of building areas and volumes

You should be aiming to present a 'completed' assignment to the crit on Friday, so that the jury (tutor and students) can respond to the entire project. Best case? There are no comments forthcoming from the crit, and as a result you can submit there and then and have the weekend off! Otherwise, you will have 58 hours to use comments received during the crit to improve your submission for midnight Sunday.

Submission is via PDF file with embedded views and animation, as well as the SketchUp model itself. I will post some information on embedding multimedia into PDF across the weekend.

Studio Exercise 3

Stage 3: Posterboards

Over the last few weeks you have looked at several different aspects of how to represent a chosen idea (a building / a painting or sketch) in both 2D and 3D, how to extract information from one representational form in order to reproduce it in another form, and how to abstract an idea. Last week you spent time developing a kit of parts of the different representations of your chosen research subject, and then also interpreting that work and developing imagery to suit the interpretation.

This week I want you to take all of those parts and produce two presentation boards that synthesize the materials you have collected and analysis you have done. You will need to use, at a minimum (you can do more than this if you want to), the abstracted form of your paper folding exercise, 2 of your analysis views from last week's studio work, and at least two other representations of your research subject. This material must then be brought together in a coherent, graphical form on 1 or 2 presentation boards that represent the ideas you have discovered. These boards will be presented electronically only, so precise sizing is not critical, but you might consider them in terms of an A3 printout for sizing purposes.

Note that these boards should be able to convey those ideas WITHOUT you there to interpret them for the viewer! Also, your boards should not just be a parade of image by image by image, but should be trying to use ideas of overlay, overlap, overlook (!) to give the board a stylistic richness that attracts the viewer.

During the last week you should have spent time looking at examples of presentation boards from previous students, from design practices, and any other sources you could locate. Additionally, you were expected to provide some commentary on why you like the boards you chose to add to your blog - what worked about them, what didn't work. Use this process to help you define how your own boards might work, but try and come up with a style and an idea that represent you and the way that you look at your research subject.

You will have the full studio period to carry out this project, but you will also need to ensure you have left yourself with sufficient time to get the results up on to your blog. Your tutor will be reviewing and marking your boards starting immediately post studio, so if you have not competed your blog post by the end of the studio, you will be marked down.

Also make sure that you have gotten an opportunity for a chat with your tutor about assignment 1. There will be tutor led critiques of your assignment in next week's studio, and then it will be due by the end of next week, so this is the last opportunity before you put together your presentation materials...

Research Exercise 2

This exercise is a follow on from Studio Exercise 3. In Week 5 you will be creating a presentation board to bring the week 4 studio exercise and this research exercise together.

Find at least 3 examples of graphic presentations styles, and methods and analyse what it is that makes the board effective from your perspective (others will have different reactions to the same boards...). Post the presentation boards on to your blog (with attribution!) and write a couple of sentences as an explanation of why you like each one. This should result in you having some background and ideas from which to get started putting together your own boards during the week 5 studio.

These boards are intended to be a set of graphic designs that 'sell' the design to the viewer. They are not necessarily a direct, literal, display of factual information (such as plans), although they certainly should include such material where it suits your broader purpose. Rather, they should evoke emotion, interest, intent - whether through design, colour, movement, or other contrivance. They might be conceived as a graphic version of the abstraction process you went through as part of the paper folding exercise.

An example of a presentation board can be found here:  http://marthamasliarch1390.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/final-submission.html. This is a board produced as part of the final submission in last year's Digital Representation Studio. I do not intend that you spend as much time producing this as Martha will have put into the example shown here. Another example is: http://mwsl-arch1390.blogspot.com.au. Have a look at other boards from the same class. We will be looking at presentation materials and styles as part of the lecture time in Week 5, and this will lead directly on to working on the boards in the studio time.

Studio Exercise 3

Stage 1: (should be completed by 12:30pm)

For buildings / built forms:
Gather together a 'materials pack' that has the various views needed to provide a 'complete' understanding of your building. This should include at least plans, elevations, sections, and various 3D views. If you are unable to find all of the representations you need online, then you will need to have a go at drawing some of them up yourself.

For artwork:
Examine your chosen piece of art and abstract it into a 3D form. Pretend that the artist has taken a 3 dimensional starting point and turned it into a piece of art - your job is to turn it back into it's original 3D form.

Stage 2: (to be completed by end of studio)

For buildings / built forms:
Analyse the various materials you have collected and provide some analytic / interpretive responses:

• 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 linework 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
• If you are doing a bridge (ie. Calatrava), then consider creating a simple structural forces flow diagram... how does this thing hold itself up?

For Artwork:

Draw plans and an elevation or section for your artwork. Explain the process used to develop the 3D form from the artwork. Indicate the relationship between the elements in the painting and their position / scale in the 3D environment.

Note that the results from this exercise will be used within the next research and studio exercises, so make sure you have ended up with a good set of data!

FAQ: Assignment 1

Some of the questions that have been asked in relation to Assignment 1:

1. Can I distort the basic primitive shape?
1. As long as the original primitive is still easily identifiable, yes. A good test is if another student who does not know your project can immediately identify the shape as the primitive in question. Also, a distortion must not turn the primitive into another recognisable form. In other words, changing the diameter of one end of a cylinder turns it into a truncated cone, and is no longer considered a cylinder. However, flattening out a torus to an elliptical cross-section can still be easily recognised as a torus, and only as a torus.
2. Edges parallel to the ground...
1. As  noted in the brief, only one surface can be parallel to the ground. This means more than one edge CAN be parallel to the ground.
2. Don't forget to check your top surfaces. A pyramid that is exactly upside down will have its' top parallel to the ground. A cylinder will have its' chord (the imaginary line running down the centre of the cylinder) parallel to the ground, as will a torus.
3. A box breaks this rule. Technically, a box on the ground has both its top and bottom surfaces parallel to the ground. This is ok for this assignment.
3. Can I use 3 of the same primitives?
1. No. The building envelope (it's basic external form) must be made up of 3 (only) primitives, and they must be 3 different primitives. In other words, you could use a box, a cylinder, and a pyramid - or - a torus, a cone, and a box - or - a cone, a torus and a cylinder - BUT - using a box, a cylinder and a box is not acceptable.
4. How much must objects be tilted?
1. Once you tilt an object, the tilt must be at least 10 degrees
5. Must we furnish the spaces?
1. Yes, this is part of the demonstration that the spaces you have designed are actually useable. A good source for furnishings is the Google 3D Warehouse, but the source doesn't matter for this exercise.
6. Can we exclude parts of our shapes?
1. Yes, but the base form of the primitive must still be recognisable
7. Can I put my building into CryEngine?
1. Yes, but the base deliverables as previously defined must still be delivered in Sketchup. CryEngine (or other environments) can be used to provide additional views beyond those in the brief if desired.

If you have additional questions or comments, please post them here and I will add them to the list.

Calculations spreadsheet

Steve has created an excel spreadsheet for calculating stairs, areas and volumes which may help you designing your project 1 house!  Follow this link to have a look:

 

http://arch1390-2013sp.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/calculations-spreadsheet.html

 

Also note that entity info in SketchUp will tell you the area and volume of your individual primitives, BUT when you overlap those primitives the total volume will of course be different (and presumably less!).

 

Can anyone suggest a way to calculate the resulting volume in SketchUp?

Time settings

Could everyone please set the clocks correctly for their blogs? Many of you seem to have posted your studio exercise blogs the night before actually doing them (ie. Thursday night)!!! Please make sure you have it set to Australian Eastern Standard Time.

Week 2 exercise submissions

You are expected to make two blog posts related to this week's work:

Post 1: Studio Exercise results
Blog the process you have gone through and results you have achieved in the paper folding exercise. Use images of the designs that you were using for information, photos of your models to help explain how you have interpreted the original design and what led you to the form you have tried to express in the folded paper. Explain what difference it made when you were able to use multiple pieces to get to the same result.

This blog post must be done as part of the studio time (by 2pm today!).

Post 2: Weekly progress
Create a SketchUp model with each room as a seperate box (at approx the correct sizes). Play with stacking them, moving them around, rotating them - changing the relationships to see how this affects the primitive form within which they might fit. Capture images of your various combinations to show in your blog.

In addition, create at least two compositions of 3 primitives (in the proportions required in the brief). Present some views of the composition and explain why you have chosen that relationship (how you are thinking to place spaces, etc)

This blog post must be completed and uploaded prior to the following weeks' lecture (week 3)

Assignment 1: 'Primitive' Design

This exercise is intended to drive an appreciation of  several aspects of design thinking and representation.

You are to design, model and document a private residence, using geometric primitives to define the external form (the 'envelope').

Primitives are the most basic geometric forms that most 3D programs use for the construction of more complex objects. They include : Cube (or Box), Sphere, Pyramid, Torus, Cone, Cylinder

In this case we are using primitives not as building blocks to more complex shapes per se, but as the defining forms for our building. Therefore, you must select three shapes (no repeats!) from those shown above and combine / overlap them to form a building that has a floor plan of approximately 250m2 (this is presumed to be across more than one floor), and a maximum volume of 900m3. While the primitives should overlap in some way to provide for continuous internal space, the original primitive shapes must be clearly recognisable / definable in the final form. Also, no individual primitive can represent more than 60% of the total form, and no primitive can represent less than 20% of the total. Finally, only one of your primitives may have a surface parallel to the ground plane (although internally floors and ceiling presumably are parallel to the ground...)! You may add minor external forms such as stairs, ramps, railings beyond the envelope, and you may cut holes in the primitives for windows, balconies, and the like.

For the purpose of this exercise, do not be concerned over the structural question of how your building might be supported. If the entire structure was resting on just one corner of a tilted cube, that is ok!

The following is the spatial brief for the house:

• 3 bedrooms (master bed with ensuite bathroom)
• master bedroom should be minimum 20m2
• childrens bedrooms should be minimum 3m in any dimension
• Study / guest room
• Kitchen
• Living Room
• Separate dining room
• Childrens bathroom
• Guest toilet
• Laundry
• parking for 2 cars
• can be garage or open air

Deliverables:

1. A computer model of the building, using SketchUp
1. 3x representative 3D views
2. animation (10-20 seconds) around the building (using sketchup bookmarked views) to show the building from all angles
2. 1x cross section
3. plans of each level (dimensioned)
4. elevations
5. schedule of spaces (including areas)
6. calculations of building areas and volumes
7. weekly progress blog posts (this forms part of your course participation marks)

 This assignment is due at the end of Week 6. Submission is via PDF file with embedded views and animation, as well as the SketchUp model itself. There will be tutor-led critiques in the studio time in week 6, and you will then have a couple of days to respond to any commentary / suggestions before submission by midnight on Sunday, September 8th (NOT Saturday the 7th as noted in the course outline!).

Studio Exercise 2 - Paper Folding

Folding Task:

The studio task for week 2 is a folding exercise to get you in the process of exploring ideas thru a quick hands-on approach. You will each be given two sheets of A4 paper with which to create two folded objects. The paper can be folded, curved, cut or ripped, but MUST remain a single piece of paper.
 

For the first step you will create an interesting folded form based on an abstraction of your selected design through the photographs. An approach could be to think spatially, structurally, materially, or in terms of surfaces.
 

For the second step you will gather a series of drawings, models, diagrams and any forms of media created by your chosen artist/designer..

Interpret the media you have just gathered into your second folded form. Be selective. A good way to start could be by picking out recurring patterns, shapes, lines or motifs in the media, being aware of how elements are composed, or how your eye moves through the diagrams and drawings as you examine them. 

Take pictures of your folded objects with your camera phone or a digital camera. Be judicious in choosing the views and incorporate both close-up details and overall shots of your folded objects.

 

Resource: http://vimeo.com/laurencekingpublishing

This site has a collection of videos that talk about paper folding techniques, including:

http://vimeo.com/23804390

http://vimeo.com/41072878

http://vimeo.com/23792529

 

There are many other resources out there, but these should get you started. Remember, this is an interpretive exercise. We are looking for results that reflect some aspect of a design, not that just look like the design.

 

Post-Studio (Research Exercise 2): 

Blog the process and results you have gone through during today's paper folding exercise. Show the media you gathered  and explain how you interpreted them in ways that led to your folded paper results. Show the photos you took of the folded paper. Explain the folded paper forms.

 

 

This studio exercise is a reprise of an exercise previously run at UNSW by Jacky Yuen

Student blogs

Can all students in Group 2 (Wesley's group) please send me their blog address, either as a comment attached to this post, or via email.

Naturally, the same goes for the other groups, to your respective tutors. The student blogs will be listed and accessible via the tutors main blog page (and Group 2 will be accessible from here).

Thanks, Wes

Research Exercise 1: Design Influence

From the list below, choose a designer / artist whose work interests you, and who you would like to learn a bit more about during this semester. We will return to the work of your chosen person/firm at several points through the semester.

 

- Coop Himmelblau	- Emilio Ambasz
- Andrea Palladio	- Studio Gang Architects
- Friedensreich Hundertwasser	- Gian Lorenzo Bernini
- Antonio Gaudi	- Simon Murton
- Erich Mendelsohn	- Fariborz Sahba
- M C Escher	- Oscar Niemeyer
- Yona Friedman	- Piranesi (the prison etchings)
- Nicholas Schuybroek	- Santiago Calatrava
- Steven Holl (the watercolours)	- UNStudio
- Ruy Ohtake	- László Moholy-Nagy

 

 

Post to your blog your chosen artist/designer. Choose one of their works (could be a completed or unrealised building, a painting, or a sculpture) and post a series of photographs to your blog, including references of where the images are from. Describe what interests you about the work of this person.

 

This must be completed and uploaded to your blog prior to the Week 2 lecture. The description can be any length that suits you in describing the work, but must be at least 150-200 words.

Studio Exercise 1: Comparative sketching

As noted during the studio, this exercise was all about the errors and problems in interpretation when trying to work to a final result from insufficient information. Each tutor-led group was provided with a portion of the information that would make up a typical document set, and asked to produce a set of 3D views of the whole project. The information sets were:

• Group 1 - Vinh Nguyen
• A set of the plan drawings (including roof plan) only
• Group 2 - Wesley Benn
• A text description of the building form and a limited set of photo snippets (showing only portions of the building, and no overall images)
• Group 3 - Stephen Peter
• A set of the elevations and sections of the building only

No group had access to any 3D information, and (hopefully!) there wasn't any cross-pollination between the groups. You will have seen the different types of drawings coming from each group, and why different types of information will lead to different results.

Here's what it in theory should be looking like (3D overview and exploded 3D plans)...

So...

Please scan and upload your sketches to your blog, and include a comment (minimum 150-200 words) on the exercise. Describe what could be easily understood and what could only be guessed at, and comment on  what this shows in terms of ths issue of any specific type of information. In other words, why can we not just design and build from a set of plans, or from a set of elevations and sections, etc.

This blog post must be online prior to the Week 2 lecture.

If you have problems with scanning, or anything related to your blog itself, please let me or your tutor know.

Welcome to ARCH 1390 - Digital Representation Studio!

Please put an hour or two aside in the next couple of days to get the following sorted:

1) Create a new blog in blogger for the purpose of ARCH1390. Do not use a blog you have created for a previous class. You will use this blog to demonstrate your weekly progress through the course. Please use the naming convention: "ARCH 1390-2013 - Student Name"

2) Keep note of the studio blog:  http://arch1390-2013.blogspot.com.au This blog will contain information you will need in relation to studio exercises, major assignments and any general notifications that happen during the semester. Note: It is YOUR responsibility to keep up to date with all of this information!

3) From the list below you will be selecting one designer/artist to study for the rest of the semester. Throughout the course of the studio you will be creating analytical, interpretive, and "reinventive" work through unpacking their designs and how they are represented in drawings, models, and other forms of media created by the firm / individual. Spend an hour googling the list below and see which you find most interesting. Choose someone to have a bit of fun with!

You will need to arrive at the decision by the end of week 1 (Midnight Sunday):

- Coop Himmelblau	- Emilio Ambasz
- Andrea Palladio	- Studio Gang Architects
- Friedensreich Hundertwasser	- Gian Lorenzo Bernini
- Antonio Gaudi	- Simon Murton
- Erich Mendelsohn	- Fariborz Sahba
- M C Escher	- Oscar Niemeyer
- Yona Friedman	- Piranesi (the prison etchings)
- Nicholas Schuybroek	- Santiago Calatrava
- Steven Holl (the watercolours)	- UNStudio
- Ruy Ohtake	- László Moholy-Nagy

4) There are two tutors involved in this year's studio; Stephen Peter and Vinh Nguyen, and so we have divided the students into three groups:

Group 1: Vinh                         Group 2: Wesley                    Group 3: Stephen               

Alexiou, Byron Pitsilioni	Abboud, Christopher	Barr, Martin Patrick
Chan, Vivien Man Yan	Binkanee, Aliv	Blanket, Jordon Dov
Chen, Xiaofeng	Cheng, Xiang	Christiansen, Niels Bergmann
Chen, Xiaoyue	Dobbs, Tiara Jacinta	Coronel, Jeremy Arnold
El Willy, Ribal	Johnson, Elliott Marcus	Fuchs, Ashley Jordana
Heraud, Dominique Patricia	Lam, Shanny	Lau, Sui Lun
Kaung Myat Htoo Kyi,	Le, Chilam	McDonald, Andrew John William
Kongkatong, Madhuda	Lee, Alexander Tuk-Sun	Miska, Barbara Ludmila
Liu, Yao	Nguyen, Sally	Mitchell, Peter Keith
Livaja, Tomislav	Olazo, Wendie	Molinder, Erik Lukas
Luo, Wei Victor Xiao	Rizal, Annisa Rivera	Pan, Neville
Manavella, Cecilia	Shahraki Moghaddam, Elham	Petersen, Sebastian Jagd
Odesh, Aram	Sudjono, Sammy	Sahani, Maurishka Ann
Ogle, Darcy Kegan	Tee, Christopher Yi Jue	Sinpraseuth, Matthew
Shalala, Jad	Wang, Shibin	Tan, Kelvin
Thai, Doyle Quan Nhu	Wong, Hung Kam	Waes, Saffat
Vukicevic, Milan	Yap, Nicklaus	Wong, William Kah Sing

Lectures will be held in Room M032, which is in the centre section of the Red Centre (access via the School of Mathematics). The studio will run across three rooms:
1004 - Group 1 with Vinh Nguyen
1005 - Group 2 with Wesley Benn
1006 - Group 3 with Stephen Peter