Movement: Santiago Calatrava

When considering movement in architecture, there is no better example that comes to my mind than Santiago Calatrava. Here is a timelapse of the Milwaukee Art Museum:

Milwaukee Art Museum - Time Lapse from Victor Velazquez on Vimeo.

And if you're intrigued about Calatrava here is a great 12min doco about him:
Architect Santiago Calatrava - NOWNESS from NOWNESS on Vimeo.

Recap: Movement

Walking City from Universal Everything on Vimeo.

Hey guys,

Here are videos and links to give you a bit of inspiration when it comes to your TWO moving elements

Chris

https://uk.pinterest.com/dezeen/moving-buildings/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNRWGbWDyV_/

https://www.dezeen.com/2015/07/14/henning-larsen-syddansk-universitet-sdu-kolding-campus-building-denmark-green-standards-university/

https://www.dezeen.com/2014/08/22/rotating-rooms-sharifi-ha-house-next-office-tehran-iran/

https://www.dezeen.com/2016/07/04/sliding-spinning-walls-house-moving-landscapes-matharoo-associates-india-edmund-sumner/

https://www.dezeen.com/2013/08/20/open-house-by-matthew-mazzotta/

Perspective & Axonometric Sketching

Hi guys

As part of EXP2 you will be experimenting with some forms of hand sketching in 3D projection.
The first type is perspective projection (which are further categorised as either 1-point or 2-point perspective). The second type is axonometric projection (which is a form of parallel projection).

You may have come across these terms in Sketchup, but now you'll learn a bit of the technical side behind these forms of 3D projection.

We'll discuss more about these techniques in our studios but to help you familiarise yourself with the technical aspects here are two helpful Youtube videos.

Week 5: Today's studio moved online

Hi team,

We are in strange times at the moment. Russell has suggested that in an effort to relieve everyone's stress and concern today's tutorial will be undertaken online. This will give everyone, including those that had decided they did not want to attend the campus an opportunity to discuss their project with me today.

In order to do so please download, install and sign up to Microsoft Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/

Once you have logged into Teams you should be able to begin a conversation with me. My contact email in Teams is architect@ironbarkarchitecture.com.au. If you are having difficulty, send me an email to this same address telling me what your email address is and I'll try to add you from my end.

I'm not sure how this will best work. I have set up my webcam so we can do a video call to discuss your project, but if that doesn't work, or you don't have a webcam we can just discuss as a chat via Teams without the video.

We'll be going over Experiment 1 designs today, and once underway I will try and allocate time to discuss with each of you one-on-one. If we run out of time, or the day ends up in a total mess due to general confusion, we'll try to arrange another time that we can discuss.

If you are at the University you can use the faculty facilities to do this otherwise just take yourselves home and reach out to me from there.

There is no class next week and as a faculty we will work out a better remote teaching system for the week after, to ensure you get the best education we can give you in these trying times.

Thank you for your patience and understanding

Chris

Recap: Material/Texture

Hey guys,

Here are the videos we watched in Studio with regard to materials and texture. Have a think about the impact using one material can have upon an occupant over another material. What sort of experience do you want to elicit? Is it warmth, comfort, movement, anticipation, etc. etc. How might you conjure these feelings with different use of texture? This is the point of the abstraction of your 36 descriptive words.

Texture in architecture can be a powerful force. Think about what I spoke about the Berlin Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.. the sense of fear, change, anxiety, loss, disorientation, instability. These emotions are in part a result of the form and configuration but also of the textures and materials. The smooth bare concrete blocks from a distance appear the same and repetitive, perhaps like a crowd of people, but on closer inspection, each block is a slightly different size, shape and angle, furthermore, some have developed cracks, chips, blemishes... they are all individual - this is a very powerful notion when you consider what it is a memorial for.

Think about how a different material used at the Berlin Memorial would perhaps not be as successful at communicating the intended message... Like pink blocks?

Sketchup

Hi Guys,

In addition to the tutorials that you should be doing via Sketchup's website (www.sketchup.com/learn) here's some other video's for a bit of guidance;

Another good resource is the Sketchucation website. They have a mass of tutorials categorized by difficulty;
Beginner: http://sketchucation.com/resources/tutorials/beginner
Intermediate: http://sketchucation.com/resources/tutorials/intermediate
Advanced: http://sketchucation.com/resources/tutorials/advanced

You may also want to look at Artisan Tools https://artisan4sketchup.com/download-artisan/

Recap: Stairs

Hi guys,

Recapping yesterdays studio on stair design:
When you are creating your stairs think about what makes your stair significant and distinctive either at the macro level (zoomed out. ie. the shape or path of the whole stair), the micro level (zoomed in. ie. how the stair treads fit together), or both.

Remember you are creating a pair of stairs for two developed sections, and should have two sketched sections/details for each stair. So a total of at least 8 sections/details (representing 4 stairs). Then Select one of the stairs you designed in class to develop in 3d using SketchUp Make (don't forget to think about the SCALE of your stair. Import a 2D person as a reference).

This was the concept sketch I made for a stair in one of my projects:

And these were the construction drawings:

This was the detail between myself and the builder to work out how to conceal the fixings:

This is the stair under construction. You can see the recessed brackets:

And this is some photos of the finished product:

Recap: Section Poetry

Hi all

Here is the video from our studio of Utzon's unbuilt Silkeborg Museum. There are some great lessons within this video to emphasise the ideas of DATUM, ABOVE, BELOW, IN-BETWEEN, SECTION, SOLID/VOID, THICKNESS, SPACE and ATMOSPHERE. But most of all this video demonstrates that where the section cuts, only reveals part of the story... the form of the building changes before and beyond the section cut, the building is not just an extrusion of the section!


Silkeborg Museum Section Poetry – FATAMORGANA from Utzon Center on Vimeo.

Studio Introduction

Week One: Task For Today

At the start of each studio you should go to the course blog (http://www.russelllowe.com/arch1101_2020/index.htm) where you will find a new link each week including a "task for today" and "independent study" to be completed prior to the next studio.

This week's task is to create 18 sketch sections "exploring the relationship between two of the projects you chose and the ground line as a datum". Some of you may be perplexed by the abstract nature of this task, but fear not... that is mostly the point! Architects view the world differently to everybody else, I promise that by the end of first year you will be seeing the world through new eyes, and once you have these new eyes, you will never look at anything the same again! However, seeing the world differently doesn't happen overnight - tasks that focus on thinking abstractly will help you to see the world [and architecture] in this new way.

A couple of pointers to keep in mind for your sections;

SECTION:
No matter how beautiful your drawings are, if you are not focused on the idea of drawing a section, you're heading down the wrong path, keep on track and keep it to sections (for now at least). Think about how a section allows you to better understand the relationship of spaces that might not be understood without a section. Have a think about the Pantheon in Rome... for all it's beauty, this is a space that cannot be truly understood without a section.

Remember to treat your hatching as a means to express the difference between solid and void. Perhaps you will use denser hatching to show very solid and loose hatching to show not very solid, or you may use a consistent hatch - whatever the choice, take pride in your hatching and undertake it with care. Space lines evenly. If your lines are supposed to be in the same direction, make sure that they are.

DATUM (above ground or below?):
An area where many people will fall off track is by starting to draw "objects" - an object does not have a relationship with a datum (if datum is a difficult concept for you, think of the surface of the Earth as being a datum point, however a datum is not restricted to being the ground plane, each and every floor of a multi-storey building could be considered a datum). Each of your sketch sections should have a distinct below ground space and a distinct above ground space. How your sketch interacts with the datum is up to you... are you entirely above, or entirely below, or are you exploring the relationship both above and below at the same time?

An easy way to judge if you've heading off track:- look at your drawings, could you easily switch the sketch at the bottom with the sketch at the top with little consequence? A below ground space should only belong at the bottom of the page, if not, you're probably still drawing objects!

ABSTRACT YOUR IDEAS:
Remember, we're not looking for you to draw a literal interpretation of each of your chosen words. You should try to tap into the essence of the word or the idea of the word. I don't need to be able to identify what your word was just by looking at the sketch, but once I know the word, it should suit the sketch drawn. Sharp lines for an aggressive adjective and soft, gentle curves for a gentle adjective are easy ones, but try to explore the grey are between these extremities.

If you find this part difficult, try breaking your word down - what does this word actually mean? What are its synonyms? What feelings or emotions does this word evoke? What sort of lines would I draw if I was feeling that emotion?

Here are some built examples and their sections incorporating their underground spaces;

Emilio Ambasz - Casa de Retiro Espiritual

Tonkin Zulaikha Greer - Paddington Reservoir Gardens, Sydney

Tadao Ando - Chichu Art Museum, Naoshima

Cheers
Chris

First Post: Welcome

This blog is where I will post info relevant to your projects that may help you with the weekly tasks. It will also serve as the platform where we can communicate with one another. Feel free to comment on any post (if you post a comment on your own blog posts it will not notify me, but if you comment on one of my posts it will notify me and I will be able to respond quicker).

Please comment below with;

• Your name and student number (post the name you prefer me to address you by)
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