Project III - Final Requirements

Due Monday November 25:

Final Review

Minimum Requirements:

Be prepared to talk about how you have dealt with the existing site conditions.

• site model (with your massing studies inserted) at 1/16”=1’-0”

• site section at 1/16”=1’-0”

• relevant site analysis

Drawings must include context and the artwork drawn to scale, and the sections should

include scaled figures.

• plans at 1/8”=1’-0”

• sections at 1/8”=1’-0” (at least 2)

• model at 1/8”=1’-0” which includes site context

• paraline drawing (can be cut away or exploded) at 1/16” = 1’-0” or 1/8” = 1’-0” (with diagram overlays)

• 3 perspectives (with a view of each art piece)

• relevant diagrams

REMEMBER TO BRING

• printed images of the art (know name of artist and the artwork)

• art abstractions

• relevant process including study models, sketches (photocopied, scanned/printed, or trimmed originals)

Project III - Exercise 08

Exercise 08 due Monday November 18:

•  Construct 1 model at 1/8” = 1’-0”.  Hybridize and breed earlier iterations together to refine your structure.  Keep going back to the concept that is driving the decisions you are making. Don’t be afraid to question or revise your concept as you discover new relationships.

•  Using your axonometric drawings from Thursday's class as underlays, begin generating diagrams on trace paper addressing the following:

- circulation

- views

- material (opacity/porosity, texture, color)

- exterior envelope

- interior structure

•  Draft two sections of your scheme. Remember, don’t just document your models with these drawings, but rather focus on representing the intent for the design. Since these sections are at a larger scale, you can provide more information than could be built into the models and you should especially consider material thickness.

• 1 long section at 1/8”=1’-0”

• 1 short section at 1/8”=1’-0”

Explore the procession/path of the visitor and the different relationships (whether internal or external)

between the artworks themselves, the viewer and the artworks, and the viewer and other viewers. Don’t

forget to include the art works drawn to scale and a scale figure (traced, not drawn freehand).

Project III - Exercise 07

Exercise 07 due Thursday November 14:

•  In class on Thursday we will be doing a drawing workshop on axonometric and perspective drawing. You must bring a drafted plan and section at 1/8” scale of your scheme within the site to class in order to complete the in-class exercise. If you want a preview of the process for constructing these before Thursday, you can refer to Chapter 5 in “Architectural Graphics” by Frank Ching. It is available in the BAC library at call number:    NA2700 .C46 2003

• Formalize your concept statement in writing (1-4 sentences) and post it to the blog.  Your concept statement should be pithy and succinct, yet abstract and able to adapt to many design moves.

Project III - Exercise 06

Monday November 4:

Review and discuss Exercise 05


Exercise 06 due Monday November 11:

•  Working from the studies you generated for today, create at least 6 design proposals. For each proposal, build a 1/16” = 1’-0” model. Model through a combination of iteration and variation.  Use your site model for context and insert your models into this site for evaluation. Model with material that is expedient, but consistent with your thoughts about how the program (art), circulation, site, and other researched factors work together.

•  For each scheme, create a series of sketches (plans, sections, diagrams, perspectives) which show how the massing influences or reacts to site conditions. The type of drawing you create will vary depending on the information you are trying to communicate. Take some time to think about what type of drawing best describes the conditions you are interested in. These can be drafted or done freehand. The important thing is to work through and communicate your concept. Consider circulation, sequence and views.

Project III - Exercise 04 & 05

Exercise 04 due Thursday October 31:

•  Visit the site.  In order to gain a better understanding, visit the site at different times of day and days of the week, so plan on returning several times throughout the project.  Catalog your thoughts and impressions through sketches, diagrams, and photography. In particular, consider: traffic patterns (including cars, public transportation, pedestrians and bicycles), sun/shade and air patterns, textures, ground conditions (including vegetation, hardscape, and soils), as well as more atmospheric qualities of sound.  Think about the way you are representing this information. Are you communicating it through the type of notation, the density and orientation of your marks, their texture or tone? It may be helpful to use plan and sections as an underlay.

Exercise 05 due Monday November 4:

• Produce (6) site analysis diagrams.  We’ll have a little time to work on these in class on Thursday, but what you need to prepare prior to Thursday’s class is the information that you will be diagramming. You should have a plan of how you will communicate, through diagrams, each layer of information. The final hard-lined diagrammes will be due on Monday

•  Conceptualize the space(s) for the display and experience of each artwork. Continuing from this week, sketch through 3 possible ways to interact with each artwork. Produce well thought out sketches of sectional, planar, and perspective studies or sketch models exploring the relationships between the works as well as sequencing and human experience of the artworks. Each piece of art should be displayed in a space devoted to that work, however, these spaces can overlap or be connected.

Consider the following:

What is the scale of the space in relation to the work of art?

What is the nature of the relationship between the artwork and the space containing the artwork?

What is the relationship between the artwork and the context? (sky, street, etc)

What is the relationship between your three selected pieces? Are the other pieces visible? If so, are they in the distance, foreground, periphery etc.

Project III - Exercise 03

Project III objectives are as follows:

• to further your understanding of human dimensions and how the human body engages in positions of rest and movement
• to further your understanding of human experience: spatial relationships, scale, procession, view, threshold, and transition
• to work with larger and more complex systems through the negotiation of a physical site
• to understand systems present in the character and construction of the art pieces and how they are to be viewed and experienced


Exercise 03 due Monday October 28:

• Using the “memory drawings” from class as a basis for extrapolating a third dimension, build constructions at a size that fits within your site model, at least two iterations for each piece. The purpose of this part of the assignment is to generate a conceptual framework that has a physical expression. The degree to which to the construction integrates with the surrounding context is up to you, however, it must be presented within the site model on Monday.

• Think about how the pieces will relate to one another spatially. Loosely sketch out some initial thoughts on their relationships (plan, section, axon etc). Consider that each piece of art should be displayed in a space devoted to that work, however, these spaces can overlap or be connected. Do you want to stretch out the experience and create an elongated sequence? Are you interested in the viewer having a sense of all pieces at once? While you are brainstorming, generate a list of keywords and ideas that are important to you when considering the experience of the works.
Next week we will delve into the physical experience of the site and the associated systems and conditions that are present when working with a space situated in the urban environment. Eventually, you will join all three elements together: the experience of the artwork + the overall form of the gallery + how it works within the site

Project III - Exercise 02

Exercise 02 due Thursday October 24:

• Finish the site model you started in class. The model should be constructed using chipboard at a scale of 1/16” = 1’-0”.

• Consider the intrinsic qualities of each art work you selected. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you picture each piece? Does it relate to its materiality, construction, scale, narrative, emotion? What is the underlying structure of the piece? What are its most basic components and how are they assembled? What is the feeling it evokes? On chipboard (at least 11” x 17”), one for each artwork, interpret through graphic means what you feel is the spirit of each piece.

The compositions should examine and describe your pieces in broad terms. These will perhaps no longer look like each of your chosen pieces. The goal is not to represent the work as it exists, instead, it should describe the essence of the work or a specific quality that is embedded within the work that you find compelling.

Experiment with a variety of techniques and means of representation.

Project III - Exercise 01

Thursday October 17: Field Trip to ICA

Through sketches and drawings, note your observations of the following:
 - How is the art placed in relationship to the architecture? Exterior landscape?
 - How is the art placed in relationship to the viewer?
 - How does the viewer’s position change according to the medium of the work?
 - How do people move through the spaces? What is the overall sequence through the museum
as well as the path of visitors within each room?
 - What are the types of program spaces in the museum?

Project III will deal with the design of a series of spaces for viewing art.  You will be asked to choose 3 pieces from the following selection of works. These works explore a variety of relationships between viewer and the work, viewer and other viewers, viewer and environment, and the work and environment.

Category 1 (resolution/detail/distance)
Tara Donovan: choose from her “push pin” drawings in the series: “Drawing (Pins)”
Chuck Close: choose from “Lucas” (1987), “Self” (1997), “Phil” (2012)
Gego: choose one large-scale stainless steel wire composition

Category 2 (movement/body relationships/view)
Dan Graham: pick from his pavilions such as: “Square Bisected by Curve”, “Penultimate Curving Pavilion”
Anish Kapoor: pick from his “mirror” pieces such as: “Turning the World Inside Out”, “Non-Object (Spire)”
Sol Lewitt: "Incomplete Open Cubes"

Category 3 (time/performance/social experience)
Tony Orrico: choose a large-scale drawing
Steve Reich: “Pendulum Music”
Michael Gordon: “Timber”

Exercise 01 due Monday October 21:
•  Select 3 artworks for this project.  Choose one from each category above.  Research your selected artworks and artists, and prepare a presentation which introduces your selections and explains your view of the pieces to the rest of the class.  Include your own sketches and diagrams in the presentation (scan them).  Along with basic information including date, medium, location and dimensions, consider the following questions:
 - How does the piece fit within the artist’s greater body of work?
 - What ideas is the work trying to convey? What are the intentions of the artist?
 - What is the scale of the work and how do you imagine someone interacting with it?
 - How is the piece installed? Does the artist prefer certain methods of viewing?

Post the above to the blog by Monday, and bring a paper-format version to class on Monday. Formatting for the paper version is shown on the blog.

•  Draft a plan and elevation/section of each art piece (3 plans, 3 sections total) at 1/4”=1’-0”

Bring these drawings to class on Monday.

Over the weekend, we will be sending out midterm progress grades.  On Monday you will have time to speak with us regarding the grades and any other concerns you may have about the class since we are at the midpoint in the semester.

Project II - Exercise 13 due Monday October 21:
•  Photograph Project II models (including study models) and scan all drawings (including process sketches/drawings).

•  Produce a series of 8.5x11 page layouts (landscape orientation) which compile your documentation and which describe your process over the course of Project II.  Remember to think of these as being viewed within the context of a "book" or "portfolio" rather than as individual sheets pinned to a wall.  Be selective about which images and captions tell the story of the project development.  Bring the pages to class on Monday. 

Project II - Exercise 13

Exercise 13 due Monday October 21:

• Photograph Project II models (including study models) and scan all drawings (including process sketches/drawings).

• Produce a series of 8.5x11 page layouts (landscape orientation) which compile the documentation you have previously done and which describe your process over the course of Project II. Remember to think of these as being viewed within the context of a "book" or "portfolio" rather than as individual sheets pinned to a wall.  Be selective about which images and captions tell the story of the project development. Bring the pages to class on Monday.

Project II - Exercise 11

Thursday October 3:

Desk critiques / working session. Please continue to model iterations on your design in class (and beyond, as instructed)

As you continue to develop your proposal for Project II, refer to the following parameters:

•  Develop a scheme that negotiates between two distinct spaces accommodating contrasting modes of inhabitation.

•  Identify spatial qualities of each area and how they are differentiated (views, light, transitions, etc.)

•  Explore approach and context (e.g. how does your construct meet the ground?)

•  Consider sequence of movement to and through the design

•  Understand scale differences and employ varying levels of detail at different scales

•  Determine relationships: between spaces, between people, between landscape and construction

Exercise 11 due Monday October 7:

Write a concept statement.

A well-written concept statement is crucial not only to communicate the intent, motivations, and goals for a design project, but to guide the design process as well. Please write a concept statement and post it to the blog, along with a title. These may seem like unnecessary flourishes to your work, but really they can help encapsulate your ideas. When you link your motivations to a word, phrase, or concept, you can then develop a succinct understanding of your process.

Write the terms of critique.

Critics of your work should be made aware of how to judge your work. The concept statement is one way that critics can evaluate if you met your own goals, and terms of critique are another. These may be reflective questions, and should focus our attention not on the successes alone, but on your concerns, and unresolved questions. In short, these are the topics of your project that you want feedback on.

Take a sequence of photographs that explores the visual approach to your design.  Imagine how you might want people to see your structure from afar, and how, through visual proximity, the experience changes.  Try to get down at “eye” level with the camera and gradually move closer to the model in order to simulate the approach. Now draw over these photographs, adding a level of detail (such as materials and refinement) and occupation (people in the scenes).

Project II - Exercise 10

At this point you have developed a scheme which negotiates between two different spaces.  You should identify how the various areas within the scheme are occupied and in what way they intersect.  You should consider aspects of light, views, and connection to the ground plane.

You will continue to expand upon your design by taking notice of moments of transition between spaces, between the context and the structure, between “interior” and “exterior” etc.  Are these thresholds clear or ambiguous?  Are they physically present or implied?

Exercise 10 due Thursday October 3:

•  Identify two moments of transition or threshold within your scheme. For each cropped transition produce 3 study models at 1”=1’-0” that explore the development of these transitions (these are sketch models that work through ideas) . You should not be limited by the thickness of your modeling material, thicken walls and modulate topography as necessary.  Use the models as a way to examine methods of intensifying, delineating, or integrating these moments of transition.

• Take 5 photos and post them on our blog of different types of thresholds existing in landscape, architecture, or urban environments. Label them with their location, the types of spaces they are mediating between, and how you identify them as thresholds. You should look for these thresholds in a variety of intimate or vast, public or private spaces and use this opportunity to be critical about the world you dwell in. Perhaps even carry a sketchbook and tape measure to record measurements and notes about the thresholds.

Project II - Exercise 08-09

Formalize your spatial ideas into a coherent proposal in models, drawings, and diagrams.

•  How are the various areas of occupation differentiated?

•  What are the boundaries and connections between spaces?  How are they defined?  Are they physically present or only implied?

•  How does the structure meet the ground/what is its relationship with the ground?

•  What are the qualities of light in the occupied spaces?

Exercise 08 due Sunday September 29:

•  Produce a series of sketches and diagrams that explain your project through distilled information graphics, or mapping of information onto conventional drawings. Post your diagrams to the blog by Sunday night.

Exercise 09 due Monday September 30:

•  Rework your ½” = 1’-0” model.  At this point you can use materials other than plaster (in addition to, or instead of) in order to explore and develop your proposal.  However, you are restricted to a maximum of two materials.  Models should represent your current ideas on the relationship between the human body, space, and the structure of the built work.  Consider using the following materials: chipboard, corrugated cardboard (clean with no labels), basswood (no barcodes), wood dowels, piano wire, plaster.

•  Draft a ⅛” = 1’-0” plan and section.  What is visible and important to show at this scale?  How does one approach the proposal?  Are there different experiences depending on the angle of approach?  What, if anything, can be seen and understood about each of the spaces from a distance?  The scale determines the level of granularity of how you study the built environment in relationship to the human body, view, connections, access, movement, space, tectonics.  

•  Using images, colors and textures (from magazines, newspapers, rubbings that you’ve taken, etc.) collage over the drafted plan.  Every color/texture should help describe the plan and inform the viewer of the general atmosphere that you are trying to create with your proposal.  Focus on pattern relationships and intersections as well as color blocking and composition. For examples, see the following:

http://www.bacdesignstudio.blogspot.com/2013/03/site-collage-examples.html

Project II - Exercise 07

Today we discussed the importance of scale both in terms of the interpersonal relationships that arise through inhabitation, as well as its role in design and representation.  Additionally, we introduced the idea of constructive order which may be defined as the fundamental organizing principle for the design.  As your project develops, the constructive order may also evolve, and you should strive to continually identify the order(s) you are working with.

As you continue to develop your proposal for Project II, refer to the following parameters:

•  Develop a scheme that negotiates between two distinct spaces accommodating contrasting modes of inhabitation.

•  Identify spatial qualities of each area and how they are differentiated (views, light, transitions, etc.)

•  Explore approach and context (e.g. how does your construct meet the ground?)

•  Consider sequence of movement to and through the design

•  Understand scale differences and employ varying levels of detail at different scales

•  Determine relationships: between spaces, between people, between landscape and construction

Exercise 07 due Thursday September 26:

•  At a scale of 1/2” = 1’-0”, draft plans and sections of your models.  Use this drawing exercise to practice your technical drafting skills.  Incorporate the feedback you received in class, and approach these drawings as another medium through which you can develop your schemes further.  

•  Using your study in casting, the form of which was derived from both the model material and human-movement qualities, characterize the constructive order of your design work. You may define your constructive order through vignette drawings, taxonomies of connection methods, casting operations, simplified models, or purely through written description. The purpose of this exercise is to understand the language through which your design ideas speak. The constructive order should be connected to scale in a discrete manner.

Project II - Exercise 06

Exercise 06 due Monday September 23:

•  Read the selected chapter “Distances in Man” from The Hidden Dimension by Edward Hall (pg 69-78) available at the link on the blog.  We’ll have a short discussion about this Monday, but mainly try to incorporate elements from the reading into the following assignment.

Conceive of a construction where there are two distinct spaces which intersect at some point. These can relate to the spaces your have been investigating from class but, more importantly, should allow for 2 people in seated conversation and  3 people walking to co-exist within a single construction.  The goal is to begin to understand the interpersonal relationships that arise when you start to zoom out in scale and address the accommodation of more than one occupant.  Consider both planar and sectional relationships, privacy and communication...the spaces do not necessarily have to occur on the same level.  

•  Draw 3 schemes for the integration of these two types of spaces.  Use plan, section, and axon to sketch out your ideas.  Each scheme should explore a specific relationship that can be described using one or two words eg. interlocking, overlapping, isolated, extroverted etc.  

•  Further develop your sketched schemes in model form by making at least 3 castings (rockite or plaster) that accommodate the two types of occupation.  You may begin to incorporate another contrasting material into your constructions.  For example, you may choose to embed basswood sticks into your mold in order to define more open, airy, and less monolithic areas of occupation.  Castings should be constructed at a scale of ½” = 1’-0”.

Consider the following:

- What are the characteristics/keywords that define each type of occupation?  

- Does the activity occur in isolation or in the company of others?

- What does it imply in terms of view or communication?

- What leads into the sequence or happens after it?

Cut out and paste the appropriate scaled figures on chipboard backing to use as a reference when developing your spaces.  Bring these to class on Monday.

Project II - Exercise 05

Tonight we’ll cast the test molds, and review the drawings you've done for the motions of the body through space, with the knowledge of what the next part of the project will be.


Exercise 05 due Thursday September 19:

• Model the space the body occupies. Translate the body-in-motion into a spatial construct interpreting one of your 2-dimensional analyses into a 3-dimensional abstraction through casting. Think about expressing the body (in motion, abstracted) as a space created by the formwork required to cast it. Thus, you will need to model the “body” to create the space for it. Further abstraction, techniques, and methods of construction may be determined by your process of casting. This model should be cast in one of the materials used tonight at a scale of 1/2” = 1’-0”, or 1" = 1'-0", whichever is more scale-appropriate to the motion you are studying.

Bring in your Ex05 piece on Thursday, along with tools for a Thursday activity (keep an eye on email and the website/calendar for a list of what to bring).

Project II - Exercises 02-04

Project II learning goals

- Design for human inhabitation and scale

- Develop an understanding of threshold and spatial relationships

- Discover and develop intentional tectonic systems

- Cultivate spatial awareness

In-class exercise:

a. In pairs or groups of three, take turns photographing and recording measurements of the human body. These measurements will be your document of the scale of the human body. Sketch your surveys and note measurements in your sketchbook or on trace.

b. Map the flow of an action. In a sequence of stills, photograph the human body in the following movements:

• moving from a compact position to an open position, e.g. getting up from a chair, crouching to standing, sitting to laying etc.
• walking a distance of at least a few paces. Measure time/duration as well as distance traveled.

Attend to the scales of movement of different parts of the body, e.g. the range of movement of the head vs the arm, the impact of these movements (being able to touch something vs. being able to see something). Capture the actions from multiple angles and in series of tightly spaced photos.

Exercise 02 due Monday September 16:

•  Using the photos and measurements you gathered in class, produce a series of drawings that describes the two separate activities in space over time. Treat this exercise both as an analysis of the motion, and as an analysis of the amount (and shape) of space the body occupied in each case. Experiment with a variety of ways of representing the information. For instance, you might track one part of the body as it moves across space. Or perhaps you create a boundary line capturing the outermost points of the body throughout the movement. Start to identify the similarities and differences between the two activities. What are the important aspects of each action? View? Linear movement?  

Bring in a series of drawings for each activity. They should be constructed and drawn at the scale of 1” = 1’-0”

Exercise 03 due Monday September 16:

We will be casting in plaster for this project and will need to test out the material and the casting technique before we can design for it. Please produce a test mold and bring to class on Monday. It should be made with foam core, all joints should be fully taped with heavy-duty cellophane packing tape, and the top should be open to accept the pour. Also, please bring a small bucket, latex gloves, stirring stick, rockite or plaster of paris, and latex gloves. We'll do the casting in class as a group.

Exercise 04 due Sunday September 15:

• On our blog, post brief responses to the following questions (supplemental or example images encouraged):

-How does human scale and proportion influence the built environment?

-How does the built environment influence human occupation?

Remember to periodically check the blog for reference images, links etc.

Project I - Exercise 05 & Project II - Exercise 01

This week we are wrapping up Project I and beginning Project II.  In Project II, you will continue to explore spatial ideas and relationships that were addressed in the previous project.  In addition, you will examine ideas of scale and proportion through human occupation.  While this is a new project, you should still work to apply concepts from the last few weeks to this assignment.

Exercise 05 due Thursday September 12:

•  Photograph the previous assignment and scan all drawings.  

•  If you are already familiar with computer programs such as Photoshop and/or InDesign, produce a series of 8.5x11 page layouts (landscape orientation) which compile the documentation you have previously done and which describe your process over the course of project 1 in a paragraph or so.  If you are not yet familiar with these computer programs, create a layout with printouts of the photos you have taken.  Be selective about which images and captions tell the story of the project development.  Bring the layouts to class on Thursday.

Project II

Exercise 01 due Thursday September 12:

•  With the given print out or PDF file, digitally or manually cut out the figures and selectively collage them into your photographs.  With these figures you are indicating a scale to the construction you made.  How might people occupy such a space?  Does it act as a landscape, a piece of furniture, and interior etc?  Post one such collage (or photo of the collage) on our blog.

Project 1 - Exercise 04

The new characteristic of thickness (which the chipboard inherently possesses) will have affected the way that you worked and produced your variations in the previous exercise.  Folding, crumpling, scoring, and the other operations you may have developed in order to achieve rigidity and structure also present possibilities for creating volume, depth, interior and exterior spaces etc. which subsequently allows the plane to evolve into a spatial idea.

Exercise 04 due Monday September 9 (Project I Review):

•  Synthesize elements from your various models into 1 construction which meets the requirements assigned. Think about craft and presentation.  

1. Marble must change speed, change direction, and come to a stop,

2. Marble must be visible and invisible,

3. Marble must pass through at least one plane

•  Draft one plan and at least one section on vellum at full scale. These will begin to show the 3-dimensional nature of each design represented in 2-dimensions.  Use lineweight to represent hierarchy and depth. As a reference, cut lines should be drawn using 2B-4B leads and background should be drawn using 2H-4H leads.

•  On trace, bring at least (3) diagrams of the final constructions, including but not limited to: speed, directionality, structure/structural lines, massing, path of the marble etc.  Practice thinking through drawing.  

•  Bring in previous models and sketches to show your thought process and development

Consider the following:

Can the marble occupy an outside and an inside? How are these defined?

How has the planar study developed into a spatial proposal?