Pathways, Edges, & Boundaries

This project was all about creating an artifact that would connect the Maude Gatewood Studio Arts building with the parking lot next to it. It was also our first project that included a lot of research. In the end, each of us would need to cast an object out of concrete and place it somewhere in the parking lot or next to the building.

For the research portion, I was in the Environmental group. We had to focus on the environmental elements that affect the parking lot. I was in the subgroup that monitored traffic patterns and what impacts them. We noticed that people weave through the parking lot instead of walking down walkways and sidewalks. We could also tell that the islands get filled with puddles in the rain, preventing people from walking on them. People also tend to walk on the edges of the islands. Drivers tend to speed while driving through the parking lot. These are all elements that we new could affect our design.

After we presented our findings, we got put into new groups. These 5 groups (Gateway, Oasis, Mirage, Desert, and Building Edge) were the groups that we would cast our concrete in. Here are some of my first sketches and ideas:

I thought it was important to make sure the edges were covered in concrete since people walk on them. Besides that the Mirage island didn't really have a clear walking pattern already created. We also had to deal with the emergency poll, which could possibly limit what we could put there.
Throw Up sheet:
Originally we came up with an idea that consisted of a series of pillars that would show progression to or away from the emergency poll. Also, the class as a whole decided we wanted to incorporate circles and squares into all of the designs. We decided to cover our ground plane in circle and square stepping stones. However, due to the limits concrete has, we had to simplify this design. Here is a link to our process.

We were struggling with our design and had a meeting with Tommy to get some more insight. Then we came up with our final idea. We were going to simplify the ground plane in a way the placed more importance on the emergency pole. We would make a pattern of circle and square pavers around the emergency pole as a place to stand when it's in use. On the curved edges, we would make a half circle shape out of seven rectangle pavers.


With this plan, we moved onto building our molds and casting our objects. This photo shows the first time the group experimented with concrete and texture. Kitty Litter was used as the aggregate, so we decided to use pea gravel the next time to make it stronger. You can also see we tried out a wire brush texture. We liked this look somewhat but needed to work on it.


We worked on casting for a few days and then were the first group to finish them. My plan and section drawing of one of our pieces: Finally the project was done and all that was left was the exhibit. Here is a photo of the cut-outs that we worked on and put on the window.


Bray and I printed and cut out the title letters, which is more challenging then you think.

For the exhibit we tried to stay with neutral colors. A lot of brown was used because so many of us used cardboard in this project.

Our final concrete pavers out on site. Next semester we will dig out the islands to set them permanently.

Although it wasn't our original design, we saw what happened when we placed four circles together. We decided we liked this so we'll make two more circles next semester to complete the design.

Drafting

This was an exercise about orthographic shapes. We had to figure out the missing sides of the shape, which can be very hard. Although I found it a lot easier then when we did it earlier in the semester.We had to come up with 10 north signs and also practice drawing scales.

For this drawing, I did the poche on the back in order to avoid smearing.

For this one, we had to focus on depth when adding the trees and shading the different layers. You also do this with line weight. Objects closer to you have thicker lines.
This was the first drawing we worked with poche on. You shade in everything that is cut through.

Perspective

1 point perspective of my bag

1 point perspective of my desk

2 point perspective of my living room



Clockwise: 2 point exterior, 1 point interior,exaggerated lighting of object, top view of object

Shadowplay

Contour of my studio desk in pen. Working on shadows using cross-hatching.

Site plans

From pg. 147:



Site plan of my house:

I re-did the site plan to not show the sides of the building. I also used color to emphasize the property lines.

Dialog

For this project, we had to use our 12 skewers and 12 4x6 bristol cards to create a dialog between two spaces. I had an idea from the beginning to construct two spaces within a triangle shape with a 90 degree angle. I wanted to fold the cards so that the two spaces were clearly defined, with a gap inbetween them.

First sketches:

First sketch model:

This first sketch model shows my general idea, however I had leftover cards and skewers that I needed to put somewhere. The extra ones are basically applied on the sides and bottom.

Second iteration:

Had to use an extra stick to show what angle I wanted the flaps to be. This shows my idea a lot better, however I couldn't get the flaps to stay put so the extra stick in the middle is holding them in place.

Third iteration:

This model was getting close, but it still wasn't sturdy and I couldn't get the flaps to line up in the same angle. I liked the arcade effect of the skewers hanging over the edges. The gap between the two spaces was still in this iteration and I was debating whether this created a third space or not.

Final:

Finally, I decided to bind the cards together to create six planes. This helped make the structure a lot stronger. The dimensions of the cards and skewers made it so the top skewers hung over the edge about an inch. The bottom skewers were about 1/2" away from the edge. This creates a line of continuation and stimulates the dialog between the two spaces.

I used globs of hot glue to keep the skewers in place and to make sure they kept the right angle. I shaped them with the hot glue gun so that they weren't sloppy.

The dialog between the two spaces exists because they share the same space and work together to create a right triangle. One space is much more dominant then the other.

Graphic, two elevations, and plan:

Architectural details

Unity

For the Unity project, we had to take 12 4x6 bristol board cards and 12 bamboo skewers and create something that was unified. It could be anything we wanted, as long as the skewers and cards showed unity. To start this project, I decided to fold the paper around the skewers and see what I could come up with. My first sketches and iteration:


Around each fold of the paper there are two skewers outlining that edge. There are some things I decided to change about this idea. First I turned it upside down and liked the shadows that were created inside the structure. However, I didn't like the overlap of the cards. They were just glued together and it didn't add anything to idea. I also got the idea from the critique to put the skewers in between the cards, which would create a space the same width of the skewer.

I made a second iteration addressing all of these things, but it didn't stay together very well. The cards on the top only came out 2 inches and didn't touch. I realized this is what made the structure so sturdy and that they needed to be connected.

For the final iteration, I made sure that my craft was much better. I had the cards touching on the top only on the corners. This way there wouldn't be any overlap, yet it was still sturdy. The final:

Some things I really like about this project are the tips of the skewers sticking out at the top and the depth created on the sides. The 12x12 graphic, gesture drawing, contour drawing, elevation and plan view:


I used the following techniques to create unity in this object: simplification, proximity, pattern, closure, continuation, alignment, and similarity. The skewers in their vertical position create a straight continuous line, even though they are covered for the most part. The cards are bound around the skewers creating a closed inside space. The three modules of 4 skewers and two cards create a simplified pattern around the structure. All of these elements create a strong sense of unity.