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SDN2001 Spatial Design Studio 3

C O N T E N T

fleeting space

transformer

mapping atmosphere..........................................6 precedent studies.............................................10 idea sketches....................................................11 materiality experiment......................................12 installation experiment......................................15 final installation.................................................20 time-lapse photographs....................................24 presentation drawing........................................26

conceptual models............................................30 idea sketches....................................................34 3D model development.....................................36 presentation drawing........................................42 technical drawing..............................................46 detailed drawing...............................................48 reflection..........................................................50 reference..........................................................52

FLEETING SPACE

Flame ’Flame’ is a series of mirror boards installation that captures the essence and enhances the change of sunlight during the daytime to create a beautiful light reflection at site. By folding each mirror board into patterned geometries helps to alter the regular flat reflection into a uniquely complex flaming light effect that shines bright during the morning to noon. The mirror papers come in a variety of colors that can be easily arranged in a particular order to mimic a gigantic rainbow rather than restricting to certain color combinations. This helps to make the installation more visually appealing and captivating as well as to vivify the mundane bridge site into a temporally translucent canvas.

mapping sunlight Since my project mainly focuses on the sunlight element, I need to find a site that perfectly serves my interest in creating light phenomena. Initially, I was struggling a lot to find an ideal site as most of the time, the morning weather was either not enough sunny or the sun was too subtle, in other words, or densely cloudy and gloomy. Therefore, throughout the project, I kept going back and forth at more than one site (the bridge between building G and F and the window corner of building F) to finalize which one worked the best at what time the sun was the strongest. After some experimentation and observation, I was able to learn where the sun traveled throughout the day in the following sun plan and sun map. While the bridge works the best from 11 am to 13 pm, the other one is more ideal in the afternoon, specifically from 13 pm to 17 pm, depending on occassions when the likelihood of the weather is sunny or overcast.

Site plan recording sun path over a day

9 am

2 pm

10 am

3 pm

11 am

4 pm

12 pm

5 pm

1 pm

6 pm

Time-lapse photographs of the site bridge & sundial recording sunlight & shadow from 9am to 6pm.

In this sunlight mapping, I used a hand-made sundial as a guide to trace the change of light and shadow on the bridge from morning to evening. This change was then crucially recorded into a series of time-lapse photographs to distinctively show the difference between each time period. Afterward, as suggested by my tutor, I also digitally traced out the light and shadow on each sundial recorded and put it into a circular path to actually mimic like a clock, a sun clock.

Sunlight & Shadow Mapping using Sundial

To give better understanding and notion of what time the site works the best during sunny days, I also put together the sun mappings recorded at different time events in a more simplified form. The bright yellow represents the zone where the sun shines the brightest, while the darker zone displays when the sun reflection weakens with the striped shadows on it.

Sunlight Mapping on Bridge

precedents studies

Chris Wood, Spyra, 2014.

Stephen Knapps, First symphony, 2006.

Olifur Elliasson, The exploration of the centre of the sun, 2017.

Daniel Buren, Catch as catch can, 2014.

idea sketches The following idea sketches draw bits of inspiration from the previous precedents. However, at the end of the project, I was only able to experiment with 3/4 ideas as I was running out of time to do the color window. Also, this idea seems to be a lot more ambitious and require a lot of time to cover up the entire window.

materiality experiment The materialities that I mainly used for this project were metallic cellophane and foil/mirror papers as their reflective qualities are something I am appealed with and highly interested to work on. The instructed feedback given by my tutor was that I needed to find a way to fractionalize or transform those cellophane and mirror papers into patterned fragments that would create more intriguingly complex light reflection perhaps. This would also show that there is some hand-making involved rather than just barely put there.

Experiments with mirror foil papers

Experiments with metallic cellophane papers

Besides, another idea that came up to mind was to create a liquified rainbow out of a mirror soaked in water. The challenge of this experiment was to position a perfect angle that could maximize the sunlight to create the clearest rainbow as possible, which mine, on the other hand, was very blurry, looking almost ‘chaotic’.

Rainbow experiments using mini mirrors and water 14

installation experiment exper.

For this experiment, I hung the cellophane that I cut into small pieces onto cardboard under the bridge rail to see how reflective it was during the early morning. I also left one end of the cellophane unglued so that I could test how the wind flow affected the movement of the light reflection on the bridge wall. This was done when the weather that day was quite overcast, so there was very little light reflection coming out.

Cellophane framed on cardboard hung on the bridge rail at 10 am, cloudy weather.

exper.

I further created even more framed cellophane and suspended them in different angles and heights using a 2-meter long string as a structure to see how effective these models can reflect the sunlight outside the window onto the surrounding wall and floor. Not to my surprise, this experiment was not very successful as there might be plenty of cellophane, but not many were reflecting because I could not get the angle right.

Based on the feedback, I could have refined these by making less of them, more patterns, and bigger for better reflective quality. Also, better choice of materials could also be done by using more refined ones instead of cardboard.

Also framed cellophane hung on a long rope near the exit entrance at building F from 2-6pm.

exper.

The third experiment on the origami mirror lantern was the most interesting to work on for me personally. The original concept was then actually transformed into another better version for my final installation Initially, as I tested out folding multiple mirror papers into lanterns, they were not as reflective as I expected compared to when they remained still and flat, though I thought the form and shape of the origami lanterns would add a charming look to them. This might be because most of the glossy surfaces were being closed and restricted due to being taped between so there would not be as much surface area exposing the direct sunlight.

Foil paper foled iand taped into lantern balls hung on the bridge rail at 11am, sunny weater, just after a rain.

However, when I opened the papers out with the folded marks on them, the light reflection surprisingly came out a lot better than the previous one, which was something that I was unaware of. Therefore, I felt that perhaps the swirly firelike effect could be an ideal focus for my final installation, something unique and different from others.

Foled foil papers without taping hung on bridge rail at 11am.

final installation The origami colored mirrors came out a lot more beautiful than I expected, though it was derived and transformed from my unsuccessful initial version. I did some more final testing on installing my work to fully captures the strong sunlight at noon, and the flaming light effects came out spectacular.

Furthermore, as the papers were hung in the arching path, looking like hammocks, it was very difficult to tie on at the right angle as all nine mirrors combined are too heavy to lift up at once.

However, I still had a feeling that the the installation was still quite problematic. Although the light reflection was stunning, not all was reflecting, especially the ones that were hung against the sunlight or facing backward (the ones with colors of red, yellow, and dark blue). In other words, there was no consistency in the reflection as some were too strong and overpowering whilst some others were too subtle, almost fading if seeing closely.

Also, this caused a disruptive obstacle on the bridge, especially for the visually impaired that they need the handrail of the bridge to hold on, as this might trip them up.

Draft final mockup - completed installation in different colors hung as hammocks on site, recorded from 11am to 1pm. 21

Nevertheless, what was even more surprising was that when I untied my installation down lying flat on the bridge when the sun was still strong across the site, the light reflection of the mirror actually covered up the entire bridge side elevation, which seemed to be even dramatically brighter and more effective than the previous one. Also, this approach happened to be a lot easier, more simple, and less timeconsuming since I don’t have to estimate and hang with the strings in the right length and angle. Hence, I decided to stick with it by just laying the whole long sheet of color mirrors flat on the ground.

Final completed work laying flat, recorded from 10am to 1pm.

time-lapse photographs After finalizing what I wanted to do for my final video, I also took a series of time-lapse photographs capturing the change in light effect with the time prioritizingly spanning from 10 am to 14 pm, 30 minutes separatively.

10:00

10:30

11:00

11:30

12:00

12:30

13:00

13:30

14:00

Short Section

presentation drawing These are the drawings of my installation in situ on site, with views of plan, side elevation, front and back elevation to give a better understanding of how the overall space looks like after finalizing my work. In response to my tutor’s feedback on my very first drawing, they looked almost like a diagram, which seemed to be flat and mundane, and it did not convey much sense of feeling to the viewers. I needed to contextualize my drawings which could be solved by collaging the actual images of parts of the site and installation within for better grasping and understanding and more clear visualization of the context of my work.

Plan

Right Elevation

Long Section

TRANSFORMER

Blossom ‘Blossom’ is a series of scenographic OLED structures floating in the air that aims to temporarily transform the Hansen Hall into a dynamically exhilarating place for a 2-week HRAFF event. By laser-cutting the sheets accordingly to the quartered curved path, this helps the design to vertically expand and contract at night and day respectively. During the day, the main spiral structure will remain flat as a flower-like canopy that shades ambient ceiling light above. When it comes to the nighttime, the flattened canopies will be expanded vertically into gigantic swirly semi-private domes that shine colorful luminous LED light. The design proposal also comes with multiple ‘stepper’ boxes sustainably made of cardboard that will both be used as storage for merchandise at day and stand tables for a nighttime bar. Placed above the boxes, the spiral canopies act as intelligent ornaments/decorations, which create invisible lighting spaces or signages surrounding certain areas, indirectly hinting the visitors to look at the merchandise display underneath or the bar zone at night.

conceptual models

Expanding / Contracting

Joinery - Hinging

Expanding / Contracting

Expanding / Contracting - Twisting

Expanding / Contracting + Scenographic

Joinery - Spinning

Amongst all the conceptual maquettes using mainly the origami and folding techniques, I felt that I was mostly replicating a certain ‘formula’ of modelling rather than me coming up with my own transformative ideas. Also, since most of my experimentative models are quite simple in forms and shapes, and that the ideas of origami transformation are quite common and popular, I decided to go with a harder route, which is the spiral swirly structure that expands from just a single piece of paper in circlular shape.

I went on experimenting with how my design can be lighted up in the dark during nighttime as I felt that it could help to elevate my design very well. With the paper that expands into a gigantic hollow structure with luminous colorful light on, this could create an intriguing sense when stepping inside as if the visitors are nestled in a semi-private playground sculpture, as well as mysterious and dynamic feeling when looked across multiple structures from the outside.

Refined chosen physical model exploring nighttime transformation

idea sketches

Sketches of design functions -

It is important for me to note that since the structure is made with thin delicate OLED sheets, which deters from hanging objects on for the sake of function, there might be possibilities that it will end up becoming a decoration with no function. While the delicacy of the design can be a benefit since it alters how the human will interact and treat the design more gently, I need to think how my design can be both decorative and functional at the same time. Also, since I want to do a merchandise stall, it is important to note that the merchandises have to be stored somewhere in the very same site; they can’t be moved anywhere from the hall. 34

Sketches of draft plan and sections -

By placing each canopy in different sizes and heights helps to make the interior feel more spatially dynamic and more intriguing as if the visitors are walking through a forest, but I have to be careful not to put too many as well as not too large.

Sketches of design mechanism -

Apart from using a pulley system which contains loft blocks and pulley ropes attached on top, it is critically important that I need to think of how it will be flattened during the day as there has to be some supporting items to contract it flat, not just lifting up and down, which was later solved in page 48.

3D model development exper.

form & new command

Although the project itself is already hard to considering there were a lot of tasks to work on under very limited time, but I still went with an uneasy route, an odd shape and structure that I have never done before. The first few trials came out somewhat similar to my original choice of ideas, but it looked almost like a Christmas tree, which doesn’t relate to the theme of the client, which is about human rights.

First attempts on using the ‘FlowAlongSurface’ command to mimic the swirly shape of the original physical model

However, knowing that my iterations of 3D models would almost impossibly come out the same as the physical model due to my CAD skills are still very limited, and there were still a lot of interim tasks of the project to work on, so I decided to move on with I had. In fact, I could have gone with other alternative route for the final presentation work. I could have used photographs of my physical models in colored light and then edited them into collages, or I could have manually drawn them as well. However, I felt that it would be hard for me to capture the immersive quality of the interior atmosphere since neither my drawing nor photography skills are good as well, and both also might take a lot of time so I just went with Rhino.

Transformation of the designs in 3 versions

exper.

function & layout

After finalizing my design into a few different shapes of cones and semi-spheres, which still look like Christmas trees, I went on testing out how my designs could be distributed across the hall, and how it could serve certain functions as listed in the brief.

Initially, I struggled a lot with creating the best and most interesting layout as possible, as most of my trials came out either too busy and random without any logical sense. With that in mind, by placing many of them, it was hard for me not to place them between the columns, which made laying out even more difficult for me.

After the mid-review session with the other tutor, I need to rethink how my design could actually serve a function as well as how it could be interacted by human, because at the moment, it looked more towards of a decoration or simply an ornamentive sculpture hanging in the air.

exp.

atmosphere & lighting

Learning that my design can actually be a functional ornament, an ‘intelligent ornament’, which means it can act as a signage creating invisible lighting space around certain areas. This will help the visitors to see what the highlighted products of the merchandise stalls are by placing the gigantic spiral canopy above.

For the last iteration, I wanted to focus on the overall spatial experiences by experimenting with V-ray lighting for my first time. Because of my improper research on the materiality, which is the OLED sheets, the lighting outcome of my draft iteration came out very strange and unnatural. While the light of OLED supposes to be glowy bright but still ambient on one surface, mine appeared almost like a child-like disco party as if I lost control with it that end up looking insanely exaggerated.

Before

After

presentation drawing

After

Acting on my tutor feedback, by blurring the background helps me to communicate better on how my design functions as well as to add a sense of hierarchy and a shallow depth of field. This also helps the drawings to look more dimensional and more spatially dynamic which I really like.

Daytime Merchandise Stall 43

Nighttime Bar & Opening Party As much as I like how my perspective drawings during the daytime came out, unfortunately, the night ones are my least favorite. As my design material is the OLED light sheets, I tried to spend so much time on getting the glow effect right, to the point I overcomplicated unnecessarily for nothing. Not only the effect appears to be somewhat misleading as it seems to be neither too bright nor too dark, but it also looks very flat. Had I installed less, the process of coloring each ones could have been easier and perhaps more effective. Also, the scale in the human figures seem to be a bit odd as well. This is because of the camera angle that I found it quite tricky to get it right, which is something that I should practice more for further projects.

Draft Perspective Section Drawings Apart from those collaged drawings, initially, I was also aiming for creating rendered perspective section drawings as I thought it would communicate the overall interior atmosphere as well as the function and transformation of my design very clearly. While the presentation drawings suppose to communicate what the atmosphere and experience my design offers or it should invite the viewers a sense of what it is like to be there, these section drawings of mine look more towards technical drawings. As much as I like how they look, there is no ‘immersive’ quality as what a presentation drawing should have compared to the previous ones mentioned earlier.

technical drawing Overall, I feel like my technical drawings came out pretty decently, just barely good enough in terms of the most fundamentals conventions (line weights, sectional hatches, hidden/dashed lines) to communicate my work. Personally, had I had more time, I wish I could have added some stylized touches to perhaps distinctively show my ‘signature’ or ‘personality through my drawings, as at the moment, they all look quite plain and boring. However, such stylization of using colors and graphics for the aestheticism might confuse and detract the technicality of it as can be seen in the draft iteration above. Also, I wish I would have made my design less complicated. Since my design has a lot of intricate swirly forms and textures, the process of grouping each line accordingly to which one is which in Illustrator was extremely hard and time-consuming. After the final review, I need to work more on the lineweight of the section drawings.The lines where the section are cut could have been bolder as there seem to have no hierarchies in my drawings.

Draft stylized technical drawing

1 1

1. Merchandise stall 2. Pour area for sitting

1. Bar - Food & Drinks 2. Opening party / Group meeting area

detail drawing

reflection

fleeting space Unlike what I have been always doing before, this project heavily involves the process of handmaking as well as video documentation, the two main components which I am the weakest at, but I am glad that I was able to step out of my comfort zone and produce something amazing that I have never thought that I ever could. Initially, to be honest, I had this crazy idea of using the component of glow or neon under the very dark sky for my installation. I even struggled a lot to find a closed site on campus that restricts any external source of sunlight coming in for me to execute this concept. However, sooner I learnt that I need to adapt and rethink how I could still merge what was given and readily available at the site with my interest of colored light phenomena, rather than forcing a certain concept and trying so hard to make it happen. All in all, it was not an easy task to both understand and nail it at least decently, but the final outcome was absolutely regarding and I am really pleased with it, especially the color effect was so beautiful that I did not need any filter for my images. My only wish of improvement for myself is the ability to photograph and film my installation as captivating and immersive as possible since my final video and photogtaphs were documented in somehow ‘weird’ angles with noises around and somewhat low quality. Also, I wish I could have more time so I could have done more experiments as there might be some other more cooler stuffs that I have not had chances to experiment yet. Besides, since my installation involves the excitement of different colors, I also wish there would be more colors variety in the mirror papers at where I bought those materials from so I could mix and play with different color combinations rather than a pure rainbow order.

transformer Ironically, while the Fleeting Space project is my favorite to work on so far, the Transformer project, unfortunately, happens to be my least favorite. Not because of the requirements and the expectations are high or the workload in terms of ideas, thinking, drawings are heavy, but because mainly of my overcomplication. I felt like I tended to overcomplicate by focusing too much on the smallest detail, from wrapping the graphic logo of HRAFF into every single merchansie item to the glowing effect of the nighttime version which took me almost a week to come that far despite it still appearing strange, undesirably. More importantly, I was concerned that if I put less of my designs, this would leave too much spaces blank. After the final review, I learn that it is not always the best if the space is too busy, as negative spaces allow designs to breathe. By putting less, the presentation drawings phase would have been easier with less tangling strips of each models. During the final presentation review, I was surprised at how some work appeared simple yet communited really effectively. I was at times too ambitious with the intention to create more than 6 rendered presentation drawings, even if I knew the time was very tight and that I was struggling to finish even two on the same day, which in turn, postponed my final touches on other components. With that being said, I regret that I could have done much better had I simplified my work approach, and I wish I could have produced more presentation drawings to have a diversity, perhaps create a storyboard to communcate my work better. For future improvements, in terms of working methods and time management, I should have focused less on the smallest details and worked in a more simplified way. I feel that I will be even more self-sabotaged and backfired than I was in this project if I continue to overcomplicate everything in future projects.

reference https://olafureliasson.net/archive/artwork/WEK110469/the-exploration-of-the-centre-of-the-sun http://www.stephenknapp.com/public-art-2 https://usaartnews.com/events/fine-art/dichroic-glass-installations-by-chris-wood-reflect-light-in-a-rainbow-of-color https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/gallery/catch-catch-can-exhibition-daniel-7423930

Duy Anh Nguyen Nhat (Anh) 30126975 SDN2001 Project Journal 53