Sprig 2021 Studio Report

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01. Presence

Using my new surface-level understanding of the perspective relationship between photographs and plans, I now had to develop them even further to meet the goals of the second project, viewfinder. We began this project with research of a selected architect and a photograph of one of their projects, I chose the Korman House by Louis Khan. Through my research of the esteemed architect I chose to start my journey of demonstrating the perspective concepts from a photograph of the entry way. I began in similar fashion to the first project, but now from the perspective of the photographer instead of myself, to do this I used a floor plan from Khan’s website and began to draw the same elements I had just learned how to do. This process was a bit complicated due to the inaccuracy of the floor plan, so I implemented the previous process of going back and forth to correct the areas that were lacking. For the third form of representation of the viewfinder I made an architectural model, and while this was not foreign to me because of my first semester studio, it was my first time doing so in efforts to interpolate between the plan and picture which would then fuse all three of the representational modes. To accomplish this task I studied the image and identified the beams, stairs, ceiling and floor openings that would be my architectural elements created to frame the view of my photograph. After I modeled these elements, I fused the floor plan, photograph, and model into my final representation where I used the cone of vision from the plan to extend into my model from the eye level of the photographer.

P L A C E

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02.Viewfinder

For my first project in my second semester of KU’s architecture program, I had to begin to develop skills of understanding perception and portraying the relationship between where I am and what I see. We were instructed to locate a room and have our project partner take a photo of us within it to then develop a visual communication of our perception of the space.

I chose the first-floor study space in my dorm, Downs Hall, as I was freshly recovering from hip surgery I didn’t want to go very far from my home as well as the fact that measurements were very hard for me to obtain. After we took this photo, we then measured the architectural elements that appeared in the image and began to create a scaled floor plan. After a draft was completed, I then indicated my center of vision, sight lines, and a cone of vision. As it was my first time drawing a measured floor plan, I had to build my knowledge of the architect’s scale to create the most accurate plan possible. To do this, I had to work diligently going back and forth from my sight lines and plans to obtain the most accurate representation of the connections between the photograph and the drawing. I focused mainly on the window elements of the room as they dominate not only the oblong shape but the purposes of the room itself. After I had created these connections and correct subsequent floor plan, I portrayed how my cone of vision translated from the plan itself to the space in the photograph.

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03. Sense

S C A L E M O T I O N

For the third project in perception we transitioned from observation to experience. To do so, we were prompted to take a series of photos that represented how we experienced architecture through motion itself in a collage. When developing my ideas for my motion I struggled to come up with an experience that challenged me to think outside of the box due to the lack of movement I was able to do at the time due to my hip surgery. I took many different approaches and almost gave up until I stayed after studio one morning and discussed with my professor, Barry Ballinger, where he helped me to understand that my struggle with recovering should be part of my story. With this newfound inspiration I decided to place my setting right outside of my dorm room where I walked up to the light pole and spun around it, portraying the idea that I can still enjoy and experience a space without having to run, jump, or do many of the things I was nowhere near being able to do. The circular shape of my collage was then prompted from my “spinning” action.

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04. Motion From the same proceeding actions that inspired the collage, I then developed my motion diagrams and model. To begin this process, I had to implement my understanding of scale to create “robots” of my motion and then grow my analytical skills to portray my ideas and translate my thought process in an intellectual and developed way. From the video of my movement I then captured significant movements in the range of motion.

I then developed my robots to use an overlay to diagram the relationship between the body moving and the fixed architectural elements. I finalized a composition of my motion to portray the shape of my movement in a way that I believed communicated my intentions in the best way possible. Halfway through this process however, I received news that my mother had been diagnosed with cancer and had to move to Minnesota to do her treatment at the Mayo clinic.

Before she left, I was going home at every opportunity I had to comfort her as I am the only sibling who is close enough. Balancing the overwhelming emotions I faced during this time and trying to maintain my drive to fully investigate my movement became extremely complicated. However, with the support and offered help from my professor and classmates, I was able to get enough diagramming completed to focus my model on the relationship of my hand and shoulder movement. My resulting model then encompassed the placement of the pole, represented by the vertical wooden piece, with smaller pieces representing my body’s approach to it with strings portraying my shoulder movement, and a blue paper forming around the movement of movement of my hands. The oblong trianFinal gle shape that resulted from these creations then prompted my growing dome shape around the “pole” as my abstract of the overall experience. This project carried a lot of weight for my growth throughout this year, and it helped me to lean on the creativeness I could implement in the architecture program rather than just trying to do exactly what I believe a professor wants. The process also built my character for how I was going to deal with the situations my mother was facing while keeping my drive to grow into the best architecture student I can be.

I will never forget this project.

Model

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05. Spacial Journey

Pariti Models from Variation

S E Q U E N C E

First Mock-up

Process

Second Mock-up

We then began our study into creating a spacial journey structure from an idea of movement rather than studying a place that already existed. I had to challenge myself a great deal to conceptualize how a movement could shape an interactive space using architectural elements. In the beginning stages of this process where I created diagrams of movement, I started to grow an understanding of where my goals for the project were headed which were then translated into four parti models. These first parti’s allowed me to then create three variations shown above for my finalized path. After these developments my understanding of sequence, threshold, and path-space relationships grew to transform my ideas into my first and second mock-up. This is when I really settled into my final plans to reassemble around the support space to investigate the visual connectivity even further.

Final Model From this investigation into my creations, my plans for how I would implement the kit of parts began to come to fruition. My final model was then characterized by the entrance at the doorway to the left, then directly up a curved ramp where the journey circles the back of the model and heads directly to a plane on the top left of the wall. I went further to develop three alternative paths to utilize as much possible space guided by the architectural elements.

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07. Site Analysis

06. Orthographics

S E Q U E N C E

The drawing portion of this project was challenging due to the abstract arrangement of my elements but in the end was extremely rewarding in regard to the newfound skills I developed in the process of trying to accurately transform my journey to scale. I wanted to focus on fully representing each level as I created the three separate paths for my orthographics to leave no unanswered questions for viewers. Accomplishing this tedious goal took countless trial and errors that pushed me as an illustrator and ultimately gave me a new appreciation for my skills in drawing. Once I felt confident in my creations, I then decided to slice the back side of my model to show the distinction between the crowded elements so that one could understand their significance to the path in my final presentation.

E N C L O S U R E

Our first task for this final project was to go to the provided site behind Marvin to examine the elements of the space and study the site forces. My partner, Brookelyn Vittitow, and I decided in our first analysis to focus on the sun and wind patterns as we both had begun our thought process for our story lines to revolve around sustainability. We also analyzed the primary and secondary pedestrian paths that would relate to our formations, as well as the sound effects from the road that lies directly on the site. From this analysis my ideas for sustainable student housing started to really develop, where I ended up choosing to focus on sun exposure my pods would experience as I wanted plant growth to guide my storyline.

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08. Pod Design

Process

E N C L O S U R E

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Following directly behind the site analysis was the development of the floor plan and arrangement of each of my pods. To begin this process, I had to dive deeper into my goals for the final outcome. We were instructed to develop a problem in society, that inspired us, which our pods would correct and adapt to in a useful way. I knew from the get-go that I wanted to center my story around environmental sustainability as it was the reason that I wanted to enter the architecture field in the first place and is my emphasis in the program. Thus, my story was born tailored around the pandemic that shaped my freshman year, Covid-19. I started to develop this back story even further connecting my frustrations and worries of the immense plastic output that has resulted from necessary take out dining plans that I have experienced through the entirety of this year. However, I had the idea to project these effects to the future of KU where the campus lacked funding to replace these new standards, so the problems continued to grow worse and worse. I started to become extremely excited to see my disconnected ideas come to life, and the process to eventually get there not only challenged me conceptually but also creatively and pushed the boundaries of my translation skills. My main concept of building my pods into the site’s hill began to come to light with inspiration from some of my favorite sustainable architectural designs and I began translating my ideas into a bubble diagram, and a parti model. The parti model was also my first step to imagining the oblong shape of my rooms that had a ramp entrance built directly into the hill that also connected to the roof gardens that were so crucial to my design concept.

Final Design

Using my bubble diagram, I proceeded my pod design to fit the concept relationship and implemented the required aspects in our prompt. To do this, I rearranged my initial idea in my bubble diagram where the student will walk into the space and see the common seating/ eating space directly in front of them, with the desk and book shelf with natural lighting from the window directly to the left. As you move further into the pod the kitchenette with above cabinets and a closet space across from it inspired directly from KU’s dorm layout that I diligently placed to act as dividers of the common entry space from the sleeping and bathroom space. Lastly, the twin-sized bed with storage space lie behind the kitchenette wall as well as the bathroom in the back-left corner. I then created my pods with accurate measurements to meet the 300 square foot requirement making my pod 15X 20 feet. I then utilized a Sketch-Up model to further portray the realistic translation of how I envisioned the interior to look. Creating the Sketch-Up models was essential to the rest of my designs and helped immensely for me to create the different images I had imagined.

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09. Object Study

Process

E N C L O S U R E

The next step in the project was to determine where my pods should be placed in relation to each other as well as in relation to the site. We were instructed to start this process with an object study where we were to find an object directly on the site that mimicked the shape we were looking to achieve. I chose the railing that lied in the same location where I imagined my pods lying, I did this in efforts to mimic the hill progression of my pods as I knew I wanted them directly on top of each other but did not know how the site would effect the final placement. I scaled the railing up significantly and placed my pods in a uniform arrangement where I then diagrammed the site forces, and narrowed down to focus solely only on the sun exposure effects and soil moisture levels to determine where my pods would yield the plant growth possibilities.

Final Arrangement

This investigation then brought me to my non-uniform arrangement where I kept each pod within the soil moisture levels above 30%. I then created an exploded axonometric of this final arrangement to further portray how the hill with moisture levels, pods, and my added staircase to fully explain my thought process and importance of how these site forces affected my goals.

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10. Presentation

The last step of this project was not only the most complicated and time consuming, but extremely rewarding seeing my ideas all come together and connect my imagination to my developed work. Through this process, I focused mainly on my mixed media approach of rendering and watercolor design. Implementing watercolor added even another aspect of a unique portrayal of what inspires in in architecture.These ideas stemmed directly from my “hero” image where I portrayed my pods in a hyper-realistic axonometric Photoshop render and connected it to my interpretation of the watercolor representation in relation to the buildings in the site. I then connected this theme to my other images creating a watercolor representation of the realistic front and side view of the pod, along with the final arrangement in plan.

E N C L O S U R E

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Ultimately, I believe this project encompasses my newly developed understanding of arrangement of space built throughout the semester. I also think this final presentation shows how much growth I’ve experienced as an architecture student overall through this semester. I was excited through every step of the process approaching the final presentation because I was so passionate about the design I was creating and got the unique opportunity to tie in all of the reasons I wanted to study architecture.

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