Project 3: Art Gallery

Site 1 :
The site is in Newtown, a place that is quite artistic and Bohemian. It is quite crowd as there is a train station nearby. Thus, many people can pass by this place. Moreover, there is a park at the back of the site. I think it is quite a good place for designing an art gallery.

plan view - this site is quite long and narrow.

street view
it is a very crowd and noisy place. People are all around this street every day.

a park at the back

Client:
My client is called Stephan Zirwes, who is a German aerial photographer. He likes taking photos in an aerial view. Thus, the objects in the photos become very tiny. Sometimes, he would make some small sculptures for his photos. Most of his photos have a landscape background. Therefore, I think what he is trying is say is that actually everyone is very tiny in the world.




Design theme : My design theme is trying to make the people feel very small in this gallery and integrate the gallery into the context site.

Precedents:

1. Orsay Museum: The artworks are everywhere in the gallery. The visitors can see the artworks from different angles.

2. British Museum: One of the significent elements in this museum is the glass roof, which can create a feeling of extensity and as if there is no roof in the gallery.

I think I can use these elements into my own design.

Drawings:

site plan

precedents

plans and sections

room plan and section - small room at the front

perspective - office and workshop

perspective - gallery

Model:

1:500 site model :
the facade faces the city, thus its height is similar to the neighbour buildings.

the height of the gallery keeps changing in order to integrate with the landscape at the courtyard.

the roof is full of skylights

courtyard

a small display area at the front to show the pedestrians what is inside the gallery. The facade is quite similar to the neighbour building in order to integrate with the cityscape.

There are some small sculptures hanging on the roof. The shadow of the sculptures cast on the floor is similar to the photos of Stephan.

The photos are posted on the wall. When people are walking on the ramp, they can see the photos in different distances and different angles. The contour lines in the display area are like the real landscape, so the sculptures can place on the floor. And the visitors have to look down to see the sculptures, which is like how Stephan takes his photos.

The private rooms are put at the back in order to avoid the noisy places. Moreover, these private rooms can be surrounded by the green area thanks to the courtyard and the park at the back.

the shadows on the private rooms are not so distracting. The office and workshop are brighter.

the stockroom has fewer skylights so that it would be darker. It is suitable for storing artwork in a dark place.

schematic models - I kept modifying my ideas with a similar concept.

Project 2: Room and Narrative

"A Lady writing a Letter with her Maid" - Jan Vermeer

Most of the elements in this paintings are folded and they are all fabric.
Thus, I developed my narrative to : A fashion designer is experimenting the texture of fabric by folding it .
The main focus is on fabric and folding.

Plan

Sections

Axonometric drawing

Materials used in the model:
-white cardboard
-paper
-balsa wood
-foamcore (base)

The whole form is like a fabric being folded.

Big openings near the working space to allow more sunlight to come through and fewer skylights on the roof since the shadows might be distracting to the designer when she is working. Thus, there are more skylights on the 'thinking space' for getting more inspirations and fewer on the 'working spcae'.

The 'threads' on the roof provide the enclosure and feeling of privacy to the fashion designer.

Light passes through the skylights and cast some interesting shadows which is like the pattern of fabric on the floor.

ARCH1201 - Project 1

ARTIFICE - House for Dr Bartholomeusz - Geoffrey Bawa
The house for Dr Bartholomeusz was originally designed as a private residence, but this project was cancelled by the client and Bawa turned it into his own office. It is located in Colombo, Sri Lanka and builted in 1961-63.

parti

structure
As this house is located in Sri Lanka, which is a tropical area, the house is very lightweight. Most part of the house is supported by thin walls and thin columns. The whole structure is quite simple. Some walls on the ground level is thicker and it shows that the walls are load-bearing.

program
The space enclosed by thick lines are the private space and these interconnected rooms are linked by the corridors.

geometry
This house is mainly formed by squares and rectangles. The small squares are connected and formed a bigger square and finally form a long rectangle. There are some triangles in the section, which are the roofs and verandahs.

enclosure
Most of the privated space is greatly enclosed by walls with small windows, while the open space is enclosed by the vegetations.Thus the feeling of staying inside and outside the rooms would be quite different.

circulation
The main circulation is quite a straight road and it may follow the form of the house, which is a long and thin rectangle. This circulation is fairly simple on the left hand side, and probably people would stay in the backyard on the right hand side. Thus the circulation becomes more interesting because of the vegetations at the sides.


poche

section

plan
These poche drawings show how the natural lighting cast on this house. Since the private space is greatly enclosed by the walls and most of the openings on the walls are quite small. These enclosed space has a big contrast with the open space, which is full of vegetations. I have added some colours on the trees in order to show the green ambiance of the courtyard.

model

The sectional model shows the longitudinal section as it can show more about the rooms. The roofs and ceilings can be taken off so that how the interconnected rooms and corridors link together can be explained easily.