Week 4 - Panels and Exhibition

Continuing from last week’s blog, where we agreed on a final design, our next step was to work together to create 3 A1 panels. Although out design is quite simple in its form, with four people working on drawings, we thought it could be quite difficult to for everyone to be working from an image in our minds. We though the best and easiest way to overcome this and to produce the drawings fastest would be to construct a scaled model that everyone could use as a reference. We began by drawing the shape the poles would follow onto a base, which can be seen below.

After this, we began to construct the poles which were made from dowel of varying sizes at the scale of 1:20. The different diameters of the dowel represented different materials, for example, the thickest dowel would by the concrete pylons and the thinnest dowel would be the metal structures which represent the city. The poles would all be at varying lengths to represent the organic natural form of a mangrove. We measured and cut the dowel and used a saw to cut them to length, then sanded the ends to make them smooth which can be seen below.

Once the dowel was cut to size, we tested the structure by gluing one of the lengths of dowel to the base using Tarzan’s Grip Glue which can be seen below.

This test was successful and the dowel stood soundly. From there we began to glue the rest of the dowel to the base, following the guide line. There was no real plan to where each would go, only that there had to be clusters in certain places to block and create the views along the path. The pictures below show the final stages of our model construction.

From this stage, we had a group meeting to discuss who would do what, according to our strengths and weaknesses. We planned to hand draw, the use Photoshop to create renders and use photographs to create the perspective views. This proved more difficult than originally thought, because of the lack of access to the site, we were limited to what pictures we could find online and what pictures we could take from the edges of the site. After we found these pictures, from the initial drawing stage to the final panels, we did really encounter any major problems aside from the perspectives. Everyone worked well together and helped each other when another person was struggling. We used InDesign to create our panels and decided to use a representation of the Brisbane River running along them to connect them as a set.

After some image quality issues that arose when printing were solved, we were able to mount our panels onto foam core in preparing for our exhibition. The images below are JPEG’s of our final panels.

 The exhibition itself was very fun and it was interesting to see how other groups had designed their folies. Although there was a great variety in designs, I think many of the groups also used the Brisbane River and natural environment as inspiration for their structures.  

In the lecture, Yasu and the tutors introduced the theme groups to us in preparation for next week’s tutorial where we begin to work with our chosen theme group. A number of the topics are very closely related to our folie design which would make the transition between projects a lot easier. The ones that interested me most because of this were the diagramming, nature and human body themed groups. 

Week 3 - Design Refinement

Our first group meeting since last week was a sharing session where we talked about our ideas and how we could mix them together to work towards a design. I shared my ideas about the flowing water over structures and how the public could interact and change elements. Laura, Sasha and Bima had similar ideas about water but after discussing moving elements, we thought it would better to engage the viewers in another way that is not overly kinetic. One of the main reasons for this is the cost of maintenance and upkeep. We decided we would still use running water as a metaphor for the movement in and around the site, the water, the people and the traffic. Below is one of designs which show a winding structure which has river water flowing along it. 

After working through some more designs individually, we met together at the site as a group to discuss ideas. Whilst at the site, we began discussing the surrounding natural environment focussing mainly on the river and the mangroves. We thought we could use the mangroves as part of the learning by abstracting the form of the mangrove. After researching the structure and biology of mangroves, we discovered how vital they are to the ecosystem because of how the filter the water and create a safe haven within their root system. Below is a sketch of the basic root structure of a mangrove.

Incorporating vertical structures into our designs to represent the root structure was the next stage of our design process. We drafted a variety of plans the incorporated water flowing in and around vertical elements. Some examples of our designs can be seen below.

Our idea of incorporating the river water in our design would mean that pumps and filters would be needed to ensure constant water flow. Although this idea would be aesthetically pleasing both visually and acoustically, we believed that there may be issues with the quality of the water, safety with children and maintenance. We decided to design structures that represented the water and river but did not include running water. Still using the vertical structures to represent the mangroves, we drafted ideas of how we could represent flow of water. We came up with the idea of using people moving through a structure to create the illusion of water. The structures would run loosely parallel to each other to represent how mangroves line the river and would snake along in a line, loosely following the form of the Brisbane River. As people wonder through this structure, they follow the flow of the river and important views are revealed to them.  The pictures below show rough sketches of this plan which will be refined and used for our final design project.

Week 2 - Initial Research and Ideas

This was a very progressive week for the project where we visited the site, met our design groups and had our first studio session. Our initial site visit was very fast due to time and weather constraints but we gained a sufficient insight to begin brainstorming using the themes ‘abstraction, metaphor and scaling’. We have not chosen a specific point on the site for our folie, but instead we are waiting to see what the design turns out to be to enable to place the folie in the most appropriate place. During our first studio session, we brainstormed about elements in and around the site that we could use as inspiration for the form of the folie. Many ideas came up such as the Story Bridge, Brisbane River, the history of the site, the surrounding nature, scale of the city, Kangaroo Point and the surrounding architecture on both sides of the river. We eventually decided to focus on the Brisbane River as a constant element and how within it, there are many changing elements such as the tides, floods, boats (both commercial and recreational) and the natural elements such the marine life and mangroves.

After deciding on our theme, we began to brainstorm how we could relate this into a structure. The structure has to reflect a constant element that has a variety of variables. In terms of the learning factory of the folie, because of the changing elements, we thought the user could learn through discovery. Using tactics such as movement, interactive sections and screening, we could open certain parts of the folie up to inspire people to take information away and further their learning. We got inspiration from Steven Holl’s ‘Art and Architecture’ Project in 1993, where the facade of the wall has sections which swivel and move to enable people to pass through which can be seen below.

 Shftoptplus. 2011. "Steven Holl's Art and Architecture" Accessed March 3rd, 2012 http://shftoptplus-uts-2010s1.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/steven-holl-vito-acconci-storefront-for.html 

As this is our first team design project, we thought it would be practical to continue from this point individually to gain as many ideas as possible before next week. So using ‘Art and Architecture’ as inspiration, I have been brainstorming ways to create and interactive folie that reflects the Brisbane River. I began by thinking about how to divide and create spaces within a larger area. Some of which can be seen below.

Using shapes to create spaces is on original idea, but I thought it may be possible to have a collection of shapes, connected together that can be moved by the user to open and divide spaces. The theory of screening can be achieved by using these shapes and certain angles. I did not find this was giving me the results that I wanted and I was finding it difficult to relate these ideas to the site and the river. I began to research into kinetic art and installations to find inspiration from the creations of others. I discovered an artist named Steven Weis who creates environmental installations from recycled materials. He created a piece last year for “Floating Land”, an annual exhibition held on the Sunshine Coast (Shorthouse 2011). The project called “Water Wall” is a kinetic installation that is based on acoustics and reflects the movement of water around the world (Shorthouse 2011). The piece works by a viewer pulling on a section of rope which starts off a stream of water flowing through the artwork, creating sounds as it travels. Below is a picture of the artist in front of Water Wall and a video can be found by following the reference link.  

Shorthouse, Janel. 2011. “Water Wall activates at Floating Land”. Accessed March 3^rd, 2012.  http://www.abc.net.au/local/videos/2011/05/30/3230904.htm

Steven Weis’s idea of flowing water over objects to create sound inspired me to incorporate this into my ideas. Not only can water be used to reference the Brisbane River, but also to create screens of falling water to hide and releve views and also to create an interactive section by having users change the course of the flowing water by changing the layout of the folie. Below are some of the ideas that I have generated after viewing Steven Weis’s work.

 I am meeting with the rest of my group on Tuesday where we will swap ideas and try to incorporate everything into a cohesive and successful design.

Week 1 - Types of Learning

For our first design project, we must create a learning space in Howard Smith Wharf. Yasu asked us to push our idea of what learning is and how this will affect the design and feeling of the space. This got me thinking about different types of learning and how people react to different things. During my research, I found the way that people react to learning are similar to the way people react to spaces and objects. Throughout school, I was always told there are three types of learning: auditory, visual and kinaesthetic. These styles of learning relate to how information is given to a person and which is the easiest for them to absorb and understand it. I researched further into the types of learning and found numerous studies and models that project how people are able to absorb and retain new things. Models by Kolb and Honey and Mumford caught my attention, not only because they are similar to the original three types of learning, but also how easily the styles can be reflected back to architecture. Below is a Model that combines both Kolb and Honey and Mumford’s theories.

Stephen Jennings. 2007 “Kolb and Honey and Mumford’s Learning Models” Accessed March 1^st, 2012.

http://pmj.bmj.com/content/83/982/518.full 

Doing, feeling, watching and thinking, I know from experience that whenever I enter a space, my mind goes through a similar process to learn about the space. Firstly, walking through the space to explore it, and then watching the people around me and how they interact with each other and the space. I usually then analyse what I have seen and reflect back on it after I have left. Now that I have identified a logical way that people approach, not only educational learning, but learning out in the world, I will be able to reflect back on this while I am walking to the site on Monday. Hopefully watching for the different types of learning around the site (ie: people sitting and reflecting, people actively engaging with spaces) I will not only get a better insight into the site, but also be able to design a learning space suitable for Howard Smith Wharf.