To become familiar with the Rhino software, we were tasked with taking a famous architectural building and redrawing a floor plan; I chose Koshino House by Tadao Ando. Qualities I found important in this house were its use of light, material, such as concrete, and the ability for the house to connect people through open spaces that enabled circulation. I also admired the unique geometry of the home and the manner in which the concrete provided a barrier from the strong soil pressure around the home. In the floor plan itself, I choose to use the dark gray to represent the areas in which the house is underground and the light gray to represent the areas in which you can enter the house and enjoy the forest surrounding the home. I also poche’ the walls to insinuate the density and thickness of concrete.
Project 2 was aimed at exploring addition and subtraction in masses. By placing Koshino House's floor plan perpendicular to a fellow student's floor plan of a different house. I identify and elements of each structure and begin to agglomerate, and remove specific pieces. For example, I extrude thicker walls, such as in the back left corner and right curved wall from Koshino house and the details from the bathroom and tatami rooms to act as supporting systems of the butterfly roof, which I extruded as a rotated wall from the second home. I used Ando’s house to create smoke stacks and my colleague's home to break up the geometry of Koshino House to produce new spaces. My intention behind my use of color was to highlight support systems for the roof and spaces in which humans would theoretically circulate through this space. For instance, an inhabitant could enter along the left red wall and move across the back highlighted wall.
Translation and representation of 6 games of squash.
In this project, I chose to create a hybrid of all previously done projects while balancing it with my translation of the game of squash. After mapping out the 6 games and choosing specific moments; perpetual movement against the wall, concentrated hits in one area, concentrated ricochet’s off the side and main walls, and mapping both player and ball, I was able to discover my method of translating angular forms into linear geometries through a set of rotating motions. Specifically, I chose to make this project more centrifugal as I created a center console that the frame is then connected to, creating a dense and complex structure. This is contradictory to Koshino house which focuses on more centripetal forces, however, I wanted to experiment with different forms of representation. Additionally, I wanted this project to build on project 2 by focusing on circulation. This was accomplished through an array of hypothetical walkways. These walkways help us envision potential inhabitants of the space and allow me to cut through planes and provide structural yet artistic elements to the work. Also, I wanted to examine stacking through the middle piece in which I layered all 4 study models together while scaling some key elements of study models. I also attempted to model the same modes of subtraction Ando introduced through these walkways and planes while mirroring the Tatami rooms and capturing Japanese aesthetic thought the almost waterfall like facade enclosing the walkways.
The game of squash was scaled to ping pong. The playspace expands on translation by exploring curved and folding forms, all of which have a purpose for humans; roofs turned into seats and walls into ladders. This project evolved into a testament to structure, aesthetic, and human mobility. The theme of balance was interpreted to create a 12’x12’ play space for the City Museum. A tightrope in between two columns forms the initial structure with a safety mesh below. The tightrope is repeated to form a horizontal climbing program in the back and vertical one in the front. Ladders are installed to provide structure, walkability, and balance. Rotating balancing platforms provide a challenge.