Charette exhibition

Primer provided an introduction to the history of Notre Dame and the Ile de la Cite. We were tasked with investigating, documenting and finally presenting research into both Paris and Notre Dames history, analysing how intrinsically linked the cathedral is to the City. This research served to form a contextual foundation, into which we could begin to develop our own projects. Primer was mostly group work, and it afforded us a great opportunity to get to know everyone in the Studio.

We produced three models of Notre Dame for Primer. Two models were made of wire, one at 1:500 of the entire cathedral, a second at 1:200 of a single bay in section. These were intended to show the cathedrals structural composition.

The second was a 1:500 model of Notre Dame as it stands today, constructed out of 3mm MDF, that fitted on a site model of the Ile de la Cite. Both formed part of an analysis into the structure and construction of the cathedral, with the aim of understanding why the cathedral was such an important architectural achievement in its own right.

Gaudi’s Rope Model

For our structure model we used Gaudi’s weighted rope model created for the design of the Sagrada Familia as a precedent.