Sunday, June 21, 2009

Link to the model

Filefront link to the model:

http://files.filefront.com/DM+ARCH1101+finalEXP3ut2/;13920726;/fileinfo.html

The Bridge

Obama's Office viewed from the Bridge
View from the Bridge








Bridge viewed from the back










Inspiration behind Prada's Office

Miuccia Prada is a leader in the Italian fashion world. She is all about delicate thread work, fabrics, intricate details, weaving, patterns and style. Therefore her roofs and elevator resembled folded bundles of unstitched fabric. Lights of softer tones were added to give it a feminne touch and she could get a view of the outside through her red glass screens. Natural light could reach the interior through haphazard slits left on the walls which were carved in a way to resemble interweaving threads. Her space was located below to signify that her position, no matter how powerful, was still lower than Barack Obama.

Prada's Office

Viewing the midspace from the interior. Lighting shades go from pinkish to purple and enhance the wooden floor.
Interior detailing. Slits on walls allow passage of natural light. The slits are inspired by the word "intricate" which is chosen because of the intricate details in her clothing line.

Prada's office allows her to view the outside through her glass screens


Prada's office and meeting space



Prada's office entrance screened with red tinted glass




Prada's office viewd from below





Viewed from the side .
The rumbling roof and bottom part is meant to resemble fabric rolls. Intricacy and interwoven are the words which inspire the slits on the concrete walls.

Explanation behind Barack Obama's Space

Barack Obama, according to many the most powerful man at present is elegant, charismatic and straightforward. Therefore a simple space was designed for him on 3 different levels which would be easy to access through the lift and the bridge. Movement within the structure was simplified and transparency was huge in the design. The extensive use of tinted glass allows view from outside and inside. Concrete has been used as a material as it signifies 'strength' and he is a strong and dominating man. His office towers over everything else in the plan. Rooms have been designed higher up so that he can constantly keep an eye on Prada through his windows, since he is the 'boss'.

Barack Obama's Space

Side view of Obama's office
Obama's office towers over every other structure on the site just to signify his power and domination. His elevator is also seen.

Entrance to Ground floor


Obama is able to look at Prada's office from his window



Stairs to level 1




Level 2





Stairs to level 2






Level 1 interior showing separate rooms







View from level 1 window








Level 2 Interior

Dining table And Floating Meeting Space

Floating meeting space with moving glass screens
Meeting Space

Dining Table



Elevators For Miuccia Prada & Barack Obama

Prada as one of the world's most popular fashion designers is all about fabric and clothing materials. Inspiration for this lift came from rolled up fabric bundles and thread rolls.
Viewed from the side

Prada's floating bundled fabric elevator


Inspiration for Obama's floating elevator came from satellites in space. The fact that America is the world's richest country and has the NASA space station is related to the choice. Obama as the president of the world's wealthiest nation can afford to have a lift like that and it is an evidence of his ultimate power.



Obama's Floating Elevator




Obama's Elevator












Obama's Floating Elevator

18 Perspective sketches for experiment 3














































36 Custom Textures for Experiment 3


Monday, May 11, 2009

EXPERIMENT 3 MASHUP

Prada has become the MOST-WATCHED designer working in fashion today because she exhibits, explores, and displays it, and feels no compunction about doing so publicly. Prada herself is a walking contradiction as she did it to remind everybody she could bring happiness or she could bring danger. Barely 100 days in office, the U.S. president and his Democratic Party have firm CONTROL over her complicated opinions.
Her body was a WEAPON. A fatal weapon. Certainly there is no shame, and there never has been. It is the problem of surviving in this complicated world. To explore these complications Obama is seeing evidence that with POWER comes the occasional stroke of luck. The U.S. president is friendly but guarded, and seems to resist answering certain questions because the power to FORCE Madonna is going to be difficult.
“She is someone who has a highly charged sexuality, and, unlike most people, she neither disguises it nor is ashamed of it”. The White House and Congress must be in CONTROL because it is a level of influence and POWER for a president that is literally unprecedented from any time since the New Deal and Franklin Roosevelt.
Does she ever slow down? Pansexual Madonna seems to resist because she is ARROGANT enough to want consumers to buy her sight unseen. Becoming big and wanting to stay small and sophisticated, Barack Obama is revelling in presidential power and INFLUENCE unseen in Washington for decades. In other words, if he handles it right, it could be his century.
Prada has a way of demanding, that COMPELS you to give her your undivided attention. The ability to push through AMBITIOUS plans, she realizes can be very profitable. I think it’s about POWER.

References:

MADONNA: http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/archive/1992/10/madonna199210?currentPage=4

PRADA: http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jul/14/entertainment/et-moore14?pg=4

BARACK OBAMA: http://uk.reuters.com/article/motoringAutoNews/idUKTRE5406CF20090501?pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0

Monday, May 4, 2009

Link

I would like to bring this to the tutor's attention. There have been certain problems with the final model. I have not been able to play the game ever since joining all the spaces and building in the lights. The second lab does not show any of the lights even though they were placed several times. Therefore in the game the spaces are dark and players are unable to move.
http://files.filefront.com/DM+FINALMODELUNREALut2/;13707532;/fileinfo.html

Thank you

Ideas behind the design for Alfred Nobel's lab

ALFRED NOBEL:
"Hope is nature's veil for hiding truth's nakedness."

This quote inspired the design.The "veil" or ideas of concealing and covering were demonstrated in the work. Transparent glass slabs were placed randomly which divided the space in haphazard directions. It turned into a maze like site where shutters or coverings were placed. These hid the backside of the site from the front and prevented it from revelation. The meaning of "nakedness" has been conveyed in the design through a sudden abrupt void space that is reached at the end of the lab. It seems like an edge which was skillfully hidden behind the glass shades. Once the end of the site is reached, the sudden emptiness is shocking as it provides with a feeling of exposure from concealment and appears unsafe. This dark edge is demonstrated in the last image for Nobel's lab.

Ideas behind the design for Cousteau's lab

JACQUES-YVES COUSTEAU:
"From birth, man carries the weight of gravity on his shoulders. He is bolted to earth. But man has only to sink beneath the surface and he is free."

The design for the lab was inspired by this quote. 'Gravity' and 'weight' were the 2 words which dictated the whole design. It can be seen from the images that the top portion of the lab has 3 canti-levered rooms which hang, as if in mid-air. Heavier structures are placed on top and the lower portion has thin wall-like slabs of concrete which support the greater weight on top, in contrast to common practice. This was inspired by the words "man carries the weight of gravity on his shoulders" from the quote. Within the interior of the lab, there is a gap left in the middle intentionally to break space. Enough space is left around it for walking safely but if somebody is not careful and moves too close towards the surface then that person will fall and sink below, becoming free of the built environment around him. This idea tries to demonstrate the notion that "man has only to sink beneath the surface and he is free".

Quotes

KEITH CAMPBELL:
"Cloning may be good and it may be bad. Probably it's a bit of both. The question must not be greeted with reflex hysteria but decided quietly, soberly and on it's own merits. We need less emotion and more thought."

ALFRED NOBEL:
"Hope is nature's veil for hiding truth's nakedness."

JACQUES-YVES COUSTEAU:
"From birth, man carries the weight of gravity on his shoulders. He is bolted to earth. But man has only to sink beneath the surface and he is free."

Chosen clients for Experiment 2:
Alfred Nobel & Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Ramps




2 ramps were used in the design. They acted as connectors between separate spaces. Both the ramps were connected to the midspace and allowed access to the 2 labs.
Since Cousteau's Lab design revolved around words like gravity and weight, the ramps were created in such a way so that mass had to be supported by bottom portions. Scaling was used as the size of the ramps support kept diminishing.
For Nobel's laboratory, the ramp was different in the sense that it had stair like structures going lower than the lab level and reaching a glass slab. From that point similar solid structures went up towards the lab level. This was a different approach as anybody walking on this ramp would first have to go down a few steps, stand on the glass slab and then come back on top again using the similar blocks which went upwards.

Midspace




The Mid space was to act as a place for meeting between the 2 clients. It would be a place connected to both their working spaces via separate ramps.

Cousteau's Laboratory