Isometric Views

Voices

PRESENCE

When it comes to design, presence in my opinion is the ability for ones work to stand on its own without explanation to a viewer from the designer personally. It is also a feeling that is felt when experiencing someone's work. I feel like overall in the previous week I exemplified presence both in my drawing and studio courses. For Suzanne, the newest phase in our project was to take 5(out of the 12) thumbnails we previously sketched and emulate the style of an inspiration artist of our choice. I feel as though I succeeded in taking the artists different techniques and incorporating them into my work. When we presented the drawings on Tuesday, my work in my opinion created presence by itself. Our pathways phase of found in translation required us to create one model from the 3 previous models constructed that incorporated the successful qualities. I feel as though my final model held its own presence because the pathways were clear as well as the word that I focused on which was contrast. The Romans wanted to create presence through their architecture specifically focusing on the interiors. "Images of stylized reality, captured in the glittering mosaics, evoke a spiritual presence in an outer wordly atmosphere of resplendent grandeur." (Roth, 298)

METRIC

"You cannot manage what you cannot(or do not) measure..." (Unknown)

As designers, we have to use metric in a literal and not so literal way. Of course being able to understand scale and different metric systems as we are learning in Stoel's class with the completion of Pat's Chair is the literal and very important side of metric. We must be able to also apply the concept of metric by choosing solutions and ways in which we go about designing a space or structure. I found that in doing my 8" x11" drawings of the MHRA building, I had to use a system of metric in applying people/scale figures to my space because as I was drawing movement was occurring all around me. In my sketches I had to get a feel for the placement and gestures of these people since I couldn't just freeze time. Creating a pathway model also enabled my thinking to become metric in a sense because I had to find ways to satisfy the requirements of the project such as focusing on one word (with my word being contrast), using only black and white, and incorporating a scale figure within. "In the most profound centers which have perfect wholeness, there is at the heart a void which is like water, infinite in depth, surrounded by and contrasted with other clutter of stuff and fabric all around it." (Alexander, 222) This void that he is speaking of is what we as designers must fill and know when, where, and how to incorporate it within the space or design.

DUALITY
The duality in which was created in our 5 inspiration drawings was in my opinion very abstract, but very understandable. The whole idea of duality focuses on multiples or twos and in that you find common ground as well as differences. In those drawings it is almost as if the duality of the two styles creates its own style, and I find that to be very interesting. Drafting holds a duality in itself in which different line weights are created to form an overall better view of a plan or section. White and black create a duality of contrast depending on how they are used together or separate. Since contrast was my word, the duality that I wanted to create was one of not just color, but also shape and size.
MOMENTS
Moments in life and in design are those times when it seems like life stands still for a split second. Moments go hand in hand with presence. When something has presence it creates moments in which you feel like it is just you and the structure or piece that you are focusing on. The moments in experiencing the early Christian churches I would assume occur at various times. For instance, when a viewer looks above at the high vaulted ceilings and the architectural detail, the presence of heaven may be felt. They may feel one with the space physically and one with God spiritually. "In an atmosphere of shimmering light from countless windows, reflected from high, mosaic lined domes, and the flickering of innumerable lamps and candles filtered through the rising haze of pungent incense, the early Christian and, later, the Byzantine Church celebrated the fusion of secular and religious rule and the endeavor to create a blemished simulacrum pointing to heavenly perfection." (Roth, 298)
PRECEDENT

The use of an "inspiration sketch" to further develop our MHRA project is successful in the way that it challenges us to emulate a precedented style as well as incorporate our style with in it. Drafting the crit space in our building is helping us understand the concepts of floor plans and we are encouraged to find precedents of representing windows, doors, etc. to create our own style. The Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu as a precedent is helping us structure our portal panel. While we are not remaking the ziggurat, we are taking the important elements such as the heirarchy and the progression of moving the eye upward to further our design innovations. Precedents dont have to be still standing today. The architects of the medieval period recognized this when they decided to use the remains and memories from invasions in Rome. "The memory of Rome lingered as well, especially in Southern France, where many Roman ruins served as models..." (Roth, 313-314) Although the structures were destroyed, they still acted as precedents in that they created such strong features and details.

Tying it Together:

This weeks words took my knowledge and my investigation to another level in defining and understanding how to use them in everyday life and in design. I never thought to use metric in my vocabulary unless I was specifically talking about drafting until I realized that metric is more than just a definition, it is a concept(especially for designers). Presence happens all around us, but it is when we make that distinct connection with someone or something that a moment is created. As I become more of a designer, I finding inspiration in so much, whether it be from another designer or a thought or memory that I have. Duality as a designer is an important quality to with hold because you must be versitle enough with your style considering the fact that you never know what your client may want.

Works Cited:

Alexander, Christopher. The Nature of Order. 2002. The Center for the Environmental

Structure. Berkley, California.

Roth, Leland. Understanding Architecture. 2007. Westview Press. Boulder Colorado.

http://www.computerworlduk.com/technology/development/software/how-to/index.cfm?articleid=1584

Christina M. Scalise

Thumbnails

Parts: Whole

"Thus the personal order of nature appears in nature as much as in buildings and artifacts." (Alexander, 309) From that I realize that order is the source of everyday life. We as humans all have a rather standard order in which we go about our day. Although things may sometimes be "out of order," for the most part our world and everything in it is organized around order. In relation to design, order is one of if not the most important aspects. When designing something, there is a process that we must go through to get from point A to point B. Our project that is currently underway in Design Drawing is a great example of this. We first had to create floor plans of our given building. From there we went on to create thumbnails of important features that outline the building. Our next step is to refine those thumbnail sketches and get more detailed in what we see. The ending result will be a presentation of the information we have acquired by studying the building. Just the same in drafting, we have been gradually advancing in the creation, construction and visual recording of Pat's chair. From our fairytale stories that we received on the 1st day of class this semester, we are still building from the artifact project now in which we are creating pathways still relating to our fairytale and creation stories, but also moving to new concepts. The idea of order also makes me think of archetype, prototype, and hybrid because this combination of words is the process that establishes order. The archetype for our translations project is the fairytale. Taking inspiration from that story, we began to develop more ideas and create the prototype which in this instance would be the artifact that evolved from the story as well as the design process. From the artifact or prototype, then developed was the hybrid in which we had to progress from the creation of the artifact to creating the special place for it as well as embarking on something new in creating a wall frame. In drawing, we are using the same concept of archetype, protoype, and hybrid to develop our research and understading of the MHRA building. The same holds true with Pat's chair in drafting. From the archetype of understanding what the requirements and materials were, we then created the prototype which was the actual model, and now we are in the process of creating the hybrid which in this case is the different drafting drawings and elevations to better understand and even improve our intial ideas. The thumbnails that we were assigned to create for Suzanne's drawing class enables us to understand the entourage or interior/exterior surroundings that inhabit our building. Being an interior architecture major requires a keen sense of how to interpret and understand our surroundings and how they interact with everyday life.

“It started as a big idea, and in the process of designing it grew even bigger.” (Thomas O'Brien, Think Exist.com)In the passageway phase of found in translation, the idea of creating a functional passageway forces me as the designer to think about how a person experiencing the space would feel and how the entourage of materials, shapes and scale would influence their overall connection to the space. As Winston Churchill once said " we shape our buildings; and they shape us." Alexander goes on to ask "how do they affect us." (Alexander, 372) I feel like that is the question that we as designers need to ask ourselves. We should work to convey a way of feeling whether positive or negative that makes sense and relates to the space, and world around us. Hierarchy plays a big role in convey a feeling or marking importance. In making my 3 models for the pathways portion of the translation project, using heirarchy was an important factor in two of the three models. In balance, the heirarchy was important in that the taller walls communicated a new element of progression and advancement through the space. In gradient one of my main concepts was not just to create a gradient of colors but also to create a gradient of size(relatively a progression from smallest to largest or vice versa). The hierarchy of the linear element as well as the taller planar elements in comparison to the smaller gave that illusion. In both hierarchy not only showed levels of scale and importance, but it also acted as a part to the whole. "A natural hierarchy is simply an order of increasing wholeness" (A Brief history of Everything, Ken Wilber) Sources are a good foundation for things to come. The can act as an archetype in which they can give us inspirations and ideas of how to incorporate things in our own work. In finding 5 different sources that give us variation in how we sketch/draw, I found that my style is very similar to some of the artist and very different from others. With the 1st floor sketch of the MHRA building, I used Helen South's technique and found that I wasn't very successful in trying to do it just like hers, but when I added my own technique and put a touch of her style in it, it was successful. "The past is for inspiration, not imitation, for continuation, not repetition." (Israel Zangwill, Think Exist.com, 1)

Through sources we are able to create an ordered design that takes from the past, draws from the present and innovates the future. We highlight important structures and objects by using hierarchy to convey importance. By using archetypes, creating prototypes and eventually making hybrids we understand the cycles in which we create design and entourages.

Wk 3 OPUS

Scale is very important in representing something for what it really is. It gives a sense of reality in a model as well as in a draft of what is to come. In celebrating a place for my fairytale artifact, the scale of my artifact helped in assisting me with the width and dimensions for the rest of my model. I knew that I did not need to be too big simply because my artifact was a ring, and it didn't occupy much space. The scale of the Temple of Anon at Karnak is grand in scale to convey masculinity and hierarchy. The scale is also played off of the heavy weight construction. The scale of Pat's Chair gave a realistic representation of how it would be in life size. The Parthenon and the structure's that it inhabit it create unity because they were together to form a city. All though some buildings/structures hold more impotance than others, they are unified in building material and function. The wall construction combined with the location of my artifact also created unity. Individually they needed one another to satisfy the requirement for this project. One without the other would leave it unwhole of ununified. Sections help us understand complex or noncomplex things in a better manner. The artifact/wall section was successful in the way that we represented a corner because it exemplified or focused on one portion of a room or space rather than a whole area. The section plans that were done for Pat's chair emphasized the thickness of the MDF as well as taking a closer look at what the construction really was. The coffee house vignettes remind me of sections as well because instead of trying to capture the whole space, we focused on 3 specific sections or parts. My vignettes over the past few weeks have made me focus more on composition and quality. The word vignett automatically takes my mind to a whole piece of something rather than one single part. The 6 vignettes that I composed held an evolution from one story to another then to the final product which was to artifact wall. The coffee house vignettes helped me realize all of the elements that make it a whole such as lighting, partitions, counters, tables/chairs, customers, etc. Although vignettes sometimes "fade" off of the page, invisible boundaries are still present. I feel like vignettes represent boundaries in and abstract an unliteral way. In 221 we are understanding how something doesn't have to be "walled in" to create a boundary. The columns on the Parthenon don't connect directly to any wall or column to create a closing from the outside world, but they still create a visual boundary. The boundary that I chose to incorporate in my artifact wall was also a visual and not literal boundary. The "box" that my ring is encompased with doesn't connect or close but you can draw boundary lines from top to bottom.



Through scale, boundaries, and sections we began to create vignettes. Vignettes take all of these elements and exemplify the importance whether it be conveying hierarchy(scale), the limits and spaces(boundary) or the focus on one area(section). With this unity is created.