Music as Space - An Environmental Interface

Our final project of the semester in environmental studio was to design a musical interface for a space along Market Street at the edge of campus where the Music building resides. Using the topographical map  and building, we created an interface (a boundary between two entities) that was designed for several functions:

- it should physically engage pedestrians walking along Market Street
-it should visually engage motorists driving along Market Street
-it should be expressive of music in its relation to the Music Building
-it should act as an interface between UNCG and the Lake Daniel neighborhood
-it should reinforce the architectonic qualities and acoustic potential of the resulting space between the interface and the Music Building
-it should enhance those qualities of the architectonic space as an outdoor concert venue

We started this project with a visit to the actual site.

The view from Market Street, looking South.

Houses across the street from Market, some of the trees and the brick retaining wall.

The ideal acoustic spot for a stage. 

Note the topography of the space (from the edge of Peabody Park).

I started with a three-dimensional concept and a few words to provide focus for my design. I wanted to investigate line through space and how it creates space initially.

interaction

elasticity

flow

zone

compression

movement

shape

line

negative space

From there, I began to consider the use of the space in its entirety. I realized several obstacles to creating any sort of interface for the side of the music building, and primarily my biggest concern was attracting people to the space and keeping them there. The music building is set back from the rest of campus, and I found that on several occasions when walking back, I wanted to stop for a bagel and coffee on tate street, which was a little roundabout of a route back to studio. This realization prompted me to consider adding in usable space for a potential cafe and an area for gathering and relaxing as a destination site in and of itself. Additionally, I originally thought to put the stage down towards the Peabody Park tree line, but upon further investigation of the site itself, I realized the ideal location acoustically is actually at the corner of the two main Music building walls. This allowed for a redefinition of the space in its entirety, and suddenly I found myself redesigning my interface to allow for both an attraction and flow of people from Market St, but also an acoustic barrier to the traffic and the music venue itself. 

This process started with a few sketches in plan, and then the construction of a space realized in a three-dimensional form. 

I then looked to materials, keeping in mind that I wanted the roof of the space to contrast to the material of the actual wall itself. I proposed concrete for the walls and architectural mesh for the roof to allow sunlight to filter through while still providing shade.

Design Visualization Assignments - A Recap

A quick assignment recap from the second half of the semester. 9 sketches of observations from Fallingwater and Monticello, from our trip. 

We then worked on our value skills with two pieces of a larger Fallingwater picture.

Drawing on our 2-point perspective skills that we had learned from our projects, we went out to the Music Building to practice drawing on-site.

Our next assignment involved drawing our faces.

And finally, scale-figure renderings in the correct proportion.

Unit Summary 3: Explorations

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvleghChaF1r7zwkeo1_500.jpg

The final unit is aptly named “Explorations” as there is a cacophony of voices questioning the rules of architecture and the best style. Most of this unit involves questioning, breaking and redefining the rules of architecture that were written in the Renaissance. We are still questioning those rules today. 

We started this unit in week 11 with a look at the world’s fairs. Hosting the world fairs had several goals: an exploration of style, to reinforce political relationships and a celebration of national cultural identities. Within each fair there were displays designed to entertain and enlighten with art, culture, industrial and manufacturing innovations. Because these were temporary sites that attracted large amounts of tourists, the architecture was temporary and constructed off-site in a kit of parts and transported and set up for the fair duration. A prime example is the Crystal Palace, the original building for the first world fair made of iron and glass that was assembled within six months and spanned across a large London park, covering over a dozen fully matured trees. After 1933 the tone of the world fairs became more futuristic, often looking forward with technological and architectural innovations.

With the fairs, a conversation on substance and style became a driving force for exploring architectural options. At the turn of the twentieth century, the greatest debate was handcraft or machine as the ideal design aesthetic. As Charles Ashbee said, “we do not reject the machine. We welcome it. But we desire to see it mastered.” However, as the world entered into the first world war, I think most of the hand crafted cultural standard went into the trenches and never came back out. Instead, we have the rise of the Bauhaus in Germany and the machine aesthetic. Walter Gropius and his fellow Bauhaus teachers pushed the concept of “good design for all” with an emphasis on making new rules for architecture and design principles. Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye (image at top) pushed this the furthest with his 5 rules for architecture and his new design for upper class country estate housing that contrasts sharply to the previous standard of Palladio’s design.

After the world wars, western society begins to search for a definition to modernism. The machine aesthetic quickly leaves the public behind, and this conversation turns more to a design community specific conversation, especially with the international style and the American skyscraper race or height. The key with the international style is that the design looks the same internationally as there is no local flavor to the design. This reflects the new global community and the trends towards globalization with less emphasis on the individual and more on the corporations and where the international economy is moving. 

The current discussion of design and architecture is back to where we started, with an exploration of the meanings and human interaction with design. There are many reactions to modernism in the contemporary design world, and most of those reactions fall within three major camps. The history camp includes the post-modern response to architecture with a link to history and other types of design. This also includes historic preservation. Technology lends itself to the deconstructivist style with its hi-tech innovations. And finally there is a local response that emphasizes regionalism and sustainability in design. This sustainable discussion is the most pressing issue for contemporary society today, and I personally think that it should be combined with historic preservation as we attempt to define and direct the new path in architecture. 

BP14: personal design recap: object, space, building, place

One of the foundations of this course is the exploration of design at various scales: object, space, building and place. While a general, cohesive style has yet to fully develop for me personally, there are definitely trends that I am beginning to see in my own past experiences and current designs. This is my design recap at the four scales that we discussed.

1. Object: Canon PowerShot. 

http://a.img-dpreview.com/news/1008/canon/compacts/PowerShot-SX130IS-FSR-BLACK.jpg

Perhaps it was the several years of working part-time for a photographer in High School, or maybe it is just my obsession with images and their composition, but I very rarely go far without my point and shoot in my bag. I have a nicer Canon DSLR that I bring along for wedding gigs and fancy travels, but overtime I have found keeping a decent camera in my bag indispensable for recording any and all inspirations. While I have been working this semester on developing a visual language for recording in my sketchbook, I am still saving upwards of a hundred images a week that have either been captured personally or seen elsewhere. The design features that I like the best about this camera are its size (fits well in my hand and is relatively lightweight) and several functional features like an optional manual flash, easy card access, stable zoom capabilities and a generous screen for reviewing images. I have had various point and shoot models over the years and this digital option is my favorite by far and one that I have willingly replaced with the same model (after an unfortunate coca-cola meets camera incident). 

2. Space: Jonathan Adler's Booth at High Point Furniture Market.

http://www.cococozy.com/2012/02/latest-from-my-design-crush-jonathan.html

Despite all of our discussion this semester on what constitutes "good" design, I found that upon wandering the High Point Furniture Market this week for hours, Jonathan Adler's booth was still one of my favorites, and this stood out to me when considering a space that reflects my design style. He started as a potter in NYC and has gradually built up his design to now branch into furniture, textiles, rugs and the like. What I appreciate the most about his design is his modern take on form and function with his insistence on throwing in a twist of delight with bright colors, energetic patterns and a theory of "good design for all." Looking at my own design aesthetic in my house, it is similar to Jonathan's with my art on display in every room (mostly sculptural), furniture pieces selected for their form and clean lines and energetic colors throughout. In the furnishings world, I enjoy his response to the machine-like aesthetic by making it engaging with the consumer.

3. Building: Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Bilbao

http://www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/img/all/el_museo/foto_postal_03.jpg

I know I have posted on this building before, but I am choosing this mostly as inspiration and a defining moment of when I first recognized architecture on an intellectual level. Frank Gehry's designs often get criticism for some major design flaws (like complete ignorance of the reflective quality of titanium metal panels and the distribution of heat in nearby apartment buildings, for one) but having actually seen this museum and explored it, I use it as inspiration for thinking outside of the modern Bauhaus box. We recently designed a musical interface for the UNCG campus and I kept thinking of the fluid forms that he has in his designs when trying to create "music as space" in a three-dimensional architectural form. 

4. Place: Paris.

http://www.hotelpulitzer.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/paris-transport.jpg?w=300

Perhaps a romanticized view of this city, but the brief time I spent there left me with a desire for more. The culture, architecture, history, art, fashion, food, urban planning... if there is a place in the world that I would jump at the chance to go and explore further, it would be Paris. There are so many significant buildings there that I want to see and study in more depth. From the Paris Opera, to I.M. Pei's entrance to the Louvre and remnants of the Rococo style, there is a mash-up of historical hand-crafted and modern architecture that I think would be fascinating to study further. Additionally, I am now entranced at the end of this course with learning how to integrate contemporary societal needs with the historical and modern buildings that currently exist. I do not think that the current American solutions to this situation is working, and I would love to go to other places that have existed for many more centuries to explore other options. Throughout this course I felt like I was given the tools to make connections between the various cultural and historical trends in architecture. 

DA4: I Like to Ride My Bicycle!

Travel Coffee Mug + Bicycle =

A Travel Coffee Mug Holder!!

-clips to your bike

-it's a sustainable explosion!

Prevent unnecessary waste & reduce pollution - take your coffee to go while riding your bike. The world will only love you more. 

Funkytest!

Our Funkytest was an hour drawing in 2pt perspective, in four colors in a location of our choice. I chose a corner of the student lounge in the studio arts building, and after a quick thumbnail sketch, drew the image at the bottom. The missing subjects from the room are Claire and Michael. 

BP13: Ikea's Scandinavian Modern Design for Everyone

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/bedroom/tools/bedroom_rooms_ideas/

One of the tenants of "good design for all" is affordable, thoughtful design for the majority. One of the leading companies with this pedagogy is Ikea, with their self-proclaimed "Scandinavian modern style furniture and accessories." I chose this image, one of the current bedroom inspiration images on their site, as an example of modern furniture collected in a room. There is minimal ornate decoration, with mechanized woodworking and clean lines. I think the appeal of Ikea is its affordability and accessibility for those who want modern furniture without spending a lot of money. It's pervasiveness in American culture can be seen with its large scale modern warehouse stores cropping up around the US in major highway intersections, its anticipated yearly catalog that gets re-posted in blogs, and the additional "Ikea Hacker" sites that demonstrate how to take the Ikea base product and refit it for personalized spaces.