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.