Project Two: Room and Narrative

A place to remember for a solitary socialite,

void of any memory of her previous life

A library for a woman who has forgotten. 

Project Two: Room and Narrative

Drawings: Poche and Axonometric

Project Two: Room and Narrative

Precendents

Literature

Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" came to mind after I thought of the character's "quest" for knowledge. 

Paper Architecture

Brodsky and Utkin's "Villa Claustrophobia" portrays an interesting building that makes its occupants look completely "into" the building, giving a sense of isolation and claustrophobia.

Project Two: Room and Narrative

A Woman in the Sun (1961) by Edward Hopper 

When I first viewed this painting there were three elements that spoke to me most:

High healed shoes: corporate society, banal, restricted

Beside the naked woman, as the only evidence of her previous attire, the shoes seem to suggest the idea of stripping away from society; breaking away and searching for sense of individuality.

Hills: tranquility, isolation, solitude

Light from an unseen window: duality, limbo

It is unclear whether the painting is set during dawn or sunset, creating a sense of duality, or even a middle ground.  Is it the beginning or is it the end?

Such ideas eventually led to my narrative:

A place to remember for a solitary socialite,

void of any memory of her previous life.

From this narrative I derived an objective for the women's room.  I wanted to create a space that would help the woman remember, a place to facilitate her longing for knowledge.  To acquire such knowledge, to perhaps trigger her memory, the ideal space for her would be a library.  

This library would not be divided into certain genres, nor would it have a specific route, it would be a space meant for wandering around with one pause at the centre.   A reading room bathed by light and almost completely enclosed. 

The walls will look like pages from a series of opened books, flicked open to enclose a space, light will filter into the shelves in random strips as if focusing on certain books during certain times of the day.  

The woman 

will feel lost in these rooms 

but not agitated 

until finally she acquires the 

knowledge she is after.

Villa Muller Model Photographs

Poche

Parti Diagrams

A true appreciation of the Villa Muller can only be experienced with an understanding of Adolf Loos' concept of the Raumplan.  The Raumplan revolved around the idea that space, rather than structure can be designed.  Spaces are not divided into various rooms, but instead, are interwoven into one another, essentially creating a whole.  Because of this, the Villa Muller and its various levels are not merely flat plains stacked upon one another, alternatively, they are various pockets (of different heights) occupying an array of plains.    

"I do not design plans, facades, sections, I design space.  Actually there is neither a ground floor, an upper floor or a basement, there are merely interconnected spaces, vestibules, terraces.  Every room needs a specific height - the dining room a different one from the pantry - therefore the floors are on varying levels.  After this, one must connect the spaces with one another so that the transition is unnoticeable and natural, but also the most practical."

- Adolf Loos

Enclosure: 

- There are various forms of enclosure encompassed in the Villa Muller, the two focused on the diagram revolve around the spaces used by the owners of the Villa.

- The main living space (central to the bottom diagram) seem to echo a "room matrix", with spaces open to one another, each appear to flow into one another.

- The 'level' above is occupied by the bedrooms of the occupants, it is far more private in enclosure, mainly Victorian 'corridor' in plan and indeed in section.

Structure:

- There is an integration of two structural systems in the Villa Muller, the load bearing wall and column structure.  

Geometry:

- To accomodate for the rather complicated section of the Villa due to various wall heights and levels, the plan follows a rather basic proportional system.

- The interior follows a ratio of 2:3; the dining is 1/6th of the arrangment

Circulation:

-  There is a [social] hierarchy clearly present in the section of the Villa Muller

-  Areas accessed by the occupants of the Villa (orange) access spaces through stairs placed at the centre of the Villa with a view of each level.  

-  Servants' circulation through the Villa is placed at the corner of the Villa, less open to the various spaces and limited to services spaces (kitchen and bathroom) 

Circulation continued:

- The entrance and its link to the main living space incorporates a 'theatrical entrance', an occupant/visitor must climb steps upwards and then turn left then right to finally access the main living space.

- Entrance to the main living space also includes an intersection of the various spaces of the Villa.  The 'theatrical entrance' is met by a crossroad.

Program:

-  An hierarchal approach to the plan is also evident. 

-  The private quarters of the sleeping area (space explicitly for the Villa's main occupants) is interlocked on top of the main living space which is on top of the servant's quarters.

Architectural Communication 1 - Reflections

The Architectural communications course this semester definitely provided an abundance of 'key lessons', that will surely apply to the rest of the Architecture degree.  Each workshop, though unique provided opportunities to build on the knowledge and skills gained from previous workshops, giving much room for development as well as learning.   

All the workshops I accomplished (Fluid Thoughts to Actions, Atlas of Colour and Material Modeling) have allowed me to develop my skills in drawing, model making, presentation and especially viewing architecture.  Each have also opened my eyes to weaknesses I was never fully aware of.  Particularly, the issue that I feel, seemed to underly every workshop which was how to view and hence express or create a space.  It wasnt until I completed Fluid Thoughts to Actions that I realised how little 'space' my drawings expressed,  and how I created too much narrative behind each of my creations.  There was also an experimental element to this workshop that encouraged a braver use of tools and materials which I never thought I could apply to architecture.  With all this in mind, it was easier to enter into the following workshop which was Atlas of Colour, I was far more ready to experiment with new materials and ideas than I was in the previous workshop.  Through precedent studies and various exercises that at first seemed pointless (such as imagining your essence as a colour) I was able to gain an appreciation for colour in architecture as well as in the expression of architecture.  While I did not use 'colour' in the following Material Modeling workshop, the presentation skills (verbal) accumulatively gained from the previous workshops as well as the confidence and experimentation practiced in both, provided a far more braver creative approach to material modeling.  Hence, a far less rigid model in approach.

While I have learnt so much this semester, the 'lessons' that I value most in this course are the experimentation in the expression of architecture as well as how architecture can be 'looked' at. Both have allowed me to see my weaknesses in this course and have as a result given me the opportunity to fix them. 

Material Modeling - transformative actions

The two transformative actions used in this model were "folding in fragments" and "selective removal", and corresponded with the idea of materials behaving like other materials.

With a combination of balsa wood and white card, it was my aim in this model to give the materials a paper-like appearance, hence, mentally, both transformative actions were translated to "scrunching" and "ripping".

The original model I had to work with was David Lindaya's (http://davidlindaya.blogspot.com/)

home which follows a triangular plan.  The 'space' in this house was initially very full and enclosed, through the transformative actions, I translated these elements to a far more open building, removing the roof and most of the second floor.

Aspects of the model that I am happy with are those that were constructed well, like the whitecard walls  and the facade of the building (first image)

My discontent in the model is focused on the parts not assembled as well,  or did not fit my original 'vision'.  Smudged glue on the whitecard, little chips on some parts of the balsa wood as well as a dent of the base's coreflute- though minor - are all construction elements that would, in the future, be handled with more caution. 

Material Modeling - first two exercises

- Speed material modeling: the initial and (to me) the most difficult task, mainly because of the time limit applied.  However, since time has been a major issue in modelmaking this semester, the knowledge this activity has given (that I am capable of making a cube in 20 minutes) will definitely influence my approach to modelmaking and speed.

- This activity (group work with David and Sean) reinforced the point made earlier.

Key lesson: material modeling involves mind over matter. (just DO it)

- Third exercise: 1:50 sectional model of my house provided an opportunity to apply the 'lesson' learnt.  

- The construction of the stairs provided a perfect example of 'mind over matter', though initially daunting, making the stairs was quite enjoyable.

Atlas of Colour - images of final atlas

Time, as it has been for the past year, was a major influence on how I completed the major project in this workshop.  Although I am happy with the Atlas as a whole, there were many compromises made in the assembly of the atlas that I made due to a mismanagement of time.  

- The main compromise that involved a loss was the NAVIGATION method behind the atlas.  A linear sequence replaced my early very high aim of creating a three dimensional contents page that showed glimpses of different chapters and navigated through the whole atlas.  

- The colours I chose as 'my' colours were predominately autumn/earthy colours, and provided the colour scheme of the atlas.  This, combined with the sensitivity to paper choice expressed in the precedent study of Steven Holl's Questions of Perception: Phenomenology of Architecture influenced the assembly of my atlas.  

- key lesson: paper choice can provide subtleties to a presentation that can make or break it.  (note the difference between these images and the digital version of them in the previous entry)

- Very happy with the brown paper most images were printed in.  It somehow enriches the colour of an image without making overpower the page.

-  The tunnel:  I was interested in creating a tunnel that blurred the line between two dimensional and three dimensional space.  To accomplish this, I combined images of spaces with the spaces created through tunneling.  

- This part of the atlas would have been far more successful if I used more solid material, like cardboard instead of bond paper and layered more material.  (Compromises made due to a lack of time)

Atlas of Colour - some work

This workshop was arguably the most time consuming of all five, although very enjoyable.  It introduced many factors about colour that, although I was aware of, I never related to architecture and taught an array of methods and techniques in displaying/expressing individual work and architecture.  

Individual colour scheme watercolour 

Colour wheel collage

Expressive mixed media (watercolour, gouche, ink)

- valuable lesson:  the back of a paintbrush can serve as a very handy gestural/expressive tool when using ink to create line work.

Tonal keys

Face map watercolour

Face map with line work