the a4 paper festival
Yesterday, I went to the THE.A4.PAPER.FESTIVAL and it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. All the works that were showcased in the exhibition were incredible. I found myself perusing through the exhibition, basically admiring the works, thinking that they were some of the ‘coolest’ things I have seen in a while. I have recently found that I have a great appreciation for anyone who can make a model out of paper, and actually make it look good… Kait Burrows, you are one of these people. The intricacy of the folds in each piece of paper added to the entirety of her work- swan or no swan. The nature of these folds that were showcased in the sculpture were almost obsessive, but ultimately each piece enhanced the structural nature of the work. The work ultimately was sectioned into two parts- one piece sitting on a stool and the other suspended from the ceiling. These distances and layouts of these two structures and elements added a depth and structural nature to the work, ultimately enhancing its overall spatiality and materiality.
You’re incredibly talented. Solid work.
This image was sourced from blogspot. Thanks for the ripper photo.
thomas heatherwick: TED talks
Thomas Heatherwick’s TED talks showcased this architects studio work, and how he uses organic line structures in order to create builds and designs that have some sort of a soulfulness. He opened his sixteen-minute TED talks lecture highlighting how he saw precedent published architecture to be completely soulless and cold. He wanted to focus on a materiality and soulfulness that was not previously embedded into buildings, but was embedded into other designs such as earrings, ceramic pots and even musical instruments. I guess he looked at these designs, and thought that if these simple, yet intricate designs have a materialistic and soulful quality, why cant buildings? This therefore stemmed his main inspiration for his studio work, as seen in the Seed Cathedral, window displays, a temple built in Japan and all other projects that have been completed by Heatherwick and his studio.
Heatherwick and his studio were commissioned by the UK Government to build the UK Pavillion at the Shang-Hai exhibition. The main goal of the construction was to be placed in the top 5 (as stated by the UK Government). The main goal for the designers was to stand out from the rest, and make a design that impacted the millions of viewers that would see and interact with this space. Heatherwick stated that the easiest and simplest way to do this was to do ‘one thing instead of trying to do everything’. The following further notates their overall intentions- “The theme of the Expo is “Better City, Better Life” and a key client objective is for the UK Pavilion to be one of the five most popular attractions. The studio’s design has three main aims: the first is to be a pavilion whose architecture is a direct manifestation of the content it exhibits; the second is to provide significant public open space in which visitors can relax; the third is to find a simple idea that is strong enough to stand out amidst the busy-ness of the hundreds of competing pavilions.”-Heatherwick Studios. The concept of this exhibition was the future of cities, and where modernisation would take the cities of the world. The designers looked back into the history of the London as a city, and how they were the first to create a public park, and then later to create the first botanical gardens. The concept of the cathedral then stemmed from this nature, the concept of what these spaces housed- and that is ultimately trees and flowers. They further looked into this concept of peoples interactions with these things, and how each member of the public liked to be in these public spaces, and to be surrounded by these aspects of nature. The designers further questioned this nature, and looked into the concept of the tree of a flower, and looked into its origins- as in how do trees and flowers grow, and I guess, what do they grow from? A seed. Seeds mark the beginning. They thus pushed this concept into the main focus of a public building and the centralised point of a public space. This notion challenged the original nature of the seed, as seeds are never shown to the public, and only the result of them is only showcased. “The Seed Cathedral is a 20-metre high building, constructed from 60,000 transparent 7.5-metre long optical strands, each of which has embedded within its tip a seed. The interior is silent and illuminated only by the daylight that has filtered past each seed through each optical hair”- Heatherwick Studios. The Cathedral focused on light and exposure. The building moved with the wind, thus creating a completely emanate structure. The building was a space, which did not showcase anything in particular, but silence. It allowed the viewing audience to be a spectator of this visual atmospheric and somewhat cool space. The Seed Cathedral was the centre of the allotted space given to Heatherwick and his crew. He challenged the concept of filling his entire allotted space, instead he made this cathedral structure the centralized point, and then allowed the rest of the site to be public space. The one element, which is the cathedral, was the one focus, the standout from the rest of the pack.
The TED talks lecture conducted by Heatherwick was entirely interesting. I was captivated by his designs and innovative nature that he brings to these designs.
art&design
I feel this question has been lingering around for a while. The difference between art and design, and then I guess the difference between fashion design and another sector of design such as interior and spatial. I don’t ever think this question will be answered, and nor do I really want it to. There is something about this concept that allows personal opinion to be formed. The below quote by Wouter Stokkel somewhat helps and yields a discovery into the difference between the fields. There’s something special and almost witty about the way he simply categorises these forms of art and design. Cheers, quotes on design
“It’s art if it can’t be explained. It’s fashion if no one asks for an explanation. It’s design if it doesn’t need explanation.”
— WOUTER STOKKEL
anthony gill architects
CLICK IT
The final All Program Lecture was conducted by Anthony Gill Architects (AGA). Ultimately, I’ve got to say that I did not attend the final lecture series, but I looked through the designs that were showcased on AGA’s website, and they were amazing. The structures that are created by these designers simply fit into the natural surroundings, whilst creating somewhat groundbreaking ideas and architecture. The following image showcases a Surry Hills House. When I first looked at the webpage, I was trying to find the design that was created on the street. I then saw this amazing terrace, which is hosued between two traditional structures, that you would normally see in Surry Hills. I think the main reason I did not initially realise the difference and variation which is seen in the image below between the structures is because of the materiality of the build. The colour palette and also the structural nature of the building are much the same of the ones that it is housed next to. The tonal and almost greyscale colour palette allows this revolutionary and very modern build to seamlessly fit into the street-scape. Ultimately there is a strong juxtaposition that lies within the structures. Your comparing a completely new build to a federation stylised terrace, but they have built this cleverly enough for a seamless and almost un-noticable transition to be made when looking at the varying facades.
paul rudolph
Paul Rudolph- an amazing architect who mastered visualisations and architectural drawing.
In a lecture series on architectural drawing and presentation, an example of Paul Rudolph’s visualisations were shown. This architect communicated the structure and the formal nature of his buildings through simple yet intricate hand drawings, which detailed both the interior and exterior spatiality and materiality of the potential structure.
The following exert was taken from the UMASSD website, the quote has been taken from Rudolph when he received the Landmark Awkward for the residency of Beekham Place in New York. “The juxtaposition of modern and traditional forms creates a dialogue between the old and the new, and makes this building one of the most provocative landmarks in New York City.” Ultimately, the main reason of selecting and integrating this quote into this blog post, was not because it was just a Paul Rudolph exert, but it was because there was something about the nature in what he stating, and how it relates to the intervention in Kensington Street. Ultimately, I am embedding a new structure into a building, but the new structure isn’t really hiding any of the old building, it is enhancing and maintaining the structural quality of the rundown facade. This intervention thus allows a dialogue to be created between the old and the new, as the new is basically reiterating and re-representing what was already there.
Conversely, I’m not going to go as far as Rudolph and say that this design will be one of the most provocative landmarks in Sydney.
drawing machines to parasitic structures
The above slideshow showcases some images from my intrim modular representation. By creating an actual model helped me understand the structural and spatial qualities of the building and the site intervention.
intrim
The following video showcases the impacts of light and water on my intervention in Kensington Street. The documentation tries to project the concept of the actual structure in the street, and the impacts on the ground below, the impacts of the structures to the materiality of the building and the impact that the natural phenomena will have on these intervened structures.
The nature of the triangular structures act as a mediator between above and below. The structures link the water that lands on the roof, and seemlessly drips it onto the pavement below. The structures basically reiterate the run down nature of the building, by not hiding the fact that it is a desolute building, but enhancing and exposing its decaying nature, by enhancing and focusing on the notion of the drip. Ultimately, the triangles allow the drip off the roof to be more controlled and systematic, but still, the environment and the natural element of rain completely impacts and ultimately yields this structure. The drops created from these intervened structures link to the prior concept of the drawing machine through the mark in which they create.
This intrim model addresses aspects of spatiality. The final model that will be created will basically look the same as this, with some iterations done to the triangular structures in order to make each structure vital in the concept of moving water off the roof structure.
the project: in full
My final site intervention and somewhat parasitic structure is based off the conceptual nature of the previous interventional drawing machine. The roof on 26 Kensington Street, like the drawing machines that were situated around the Kensington Site both act as mediators within the natural environment. The drawing machines allowed the wind to draw and map its general nature, as a basic reading into its direction and intensity was made. The drawing machine highlighted how this natural element impacts the overall materiality of this urban street environment. The roof on 26 Kensington Street has one main purpose- to be a shelter and a structural element for the rest of the building. It solely prevents elements such as sunlight, wind and water from coming directly into the building. Instead of once again studying the impacts of the wind, I have chosen to study the natural impact of water and rain on this building. Rain falls onto the roof, and moves down the slopped structure into the gutter, and then eventually into a drain. Ultimately, the functionality of the building does not work as well as initially intended due to the run-down nature of the build. Instead of trying to prevent a natural pattern of decay into leaking drainpipes and gutters the structure that I am planning to embed onto the building will accentuate and draw on these impacts. Through implementing triangular structures onto the roofline and embedding them into the front façade of the building will help enforce drips and water to flow down these metal triangular structures, thus emphasising the process that normally happens on this roof in heavy rain. The marks that are created by the drips from the existing roof and the conceptual intervention structure will have a direct link to the results seen and mapped in the drawing machine intervention. Furthermore, the new roof and façade structure that will be situated on 26 Kensington Street will serve as a protective structure to the front face of the building.
The intervention will link the both the interior and exterior through the embedded nature of the structures on the front façade. This will thus emphasise the slopped roof that is ultimately one wall of the top story. Along with linking the interior and exterior, the site intervention will create a medication with above and below by reinforcing the flow and movement of water down the building. This will thus, eliminate the awkward limbo that exists within the building.
Ultimately the triangular form was not embedded in my initial drawing machine, but aspects and results from this parasitic intervention links to the readings seen from both the initial drawing machine and the existing building itself.
sketch model: site intervention
This video highlights the concepts that will be showcased in the final intervention structure on 26 Kensington Street, Chippendale. The triangular structures will be embedded into the front facade of the building, providing a shelter for the front of the building, but more importantly, the triangular forms will emphasise the natural movement and patterns of water and rain- a natural atmospheric quality and substance that is embedded into the urban streetscape. Instead of ignoring elements of decay, and trying to hide leaking drainpipes and structures, this intervention will draw on these aspects, thus reiterating the structural nature of the building. This short video is footage of one of my first models. The video was taken as I was spraying water onto the model- focusing on the drips that came from each structural triangular element.
spatial experimentations 
