Final Strathclyde Exam

On May 8-9th, my Architecture studio class had their final critique exam pin-up and these pictures show some of my work and process work.

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Christo’s Artistic Hurdle in Colorado – ABC News

This is an amazing story of the most recent work of my chosen artist for my Architecture studio design projects.  Even if this project never gets built, Christo says that this project is a success because it is getting people to talk about art. Hopefully it does proceed -  I would love to be a part of this installation

Christo’s Artistic Hurdle in Colorado – ABC News.

Models – in process

While in Scotland for my study abroad, I have really grown as a designer and student. I’ve gained an incredible amount of confidence in Model making, which was my number one goal in coming here.  I’ve learned how to set up laser cutter files to build my models as well as used AutoCad, and the Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign suite to a larger capacity than before.  The confidence I have gained will suit me well going into my final year at UNCG and beyond in whatever field I obtain employment in.

Over the past few weeks, I have been involved in designing a final project in my Architecture Studio at the University of Strathclyde – Glasgow.  I will upload my designs once they are complete (along with an explanation of what they are) but I wanted to showcase my models that I’ve completed building today. These images are my building in process and you will see two models.  The first one is made of Acrylic.  I’ve never built with Acrylic before and was excited to try it.  I had it laser cut and put it together with a liquid called Plastic Melt.  It basically welds the pieces of plastic/acrylic together to form quite a tight bond.  The design includes having the interior floor plan etched into the acrylic floors for each level.  I am pretty proud of how it turned out!

The second model is made of wood and it is a model I decided to redo from my first project in North Berwick.  All of the buildings are to scale now to eachother and it really went together smoothly.  I had to re-cut the roof since it was the wrong size initially, but I’m happy with it.

Considering I have never prepared files for the laser cutter prior to this semester, or put together a model out of acrylic, I am thrilled with the end result.

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Video re-blog

While studying Architecture in Glasgow, Scotland, I have also begun a walking class entitled “Walking through the Secrets of the City” and we had our first class meeting this past Tuesday, April 17th.  The description of the class is as follows:

” Discover the secret life of the City’s buildings on six guided walks that explore the overlooked and obscure aspects of Glasgow.  Exercise your eye for detail, and see the surprising architectural and sculptural detail of the city’s buildings.  these walks will show an unfamiliar side of the familiar streets, as we identify traces of the past and present, map the lost rivers, canals, railways and paths of Glasgow, and experience the multiple layers of history and heritage that lie beneath the surface…”

Being a history buff when it comes to historical information on cities, I was extremely excited for this class to begin and posted a video description of the images I took on my travel blog.  I decided to post it here as well since it relates to my studies, and you can follow along if you so choose as you hear a 20 minute history behind some of the images.

Our route to the Cathedral and Old Towne first walk

High Street Tenemants

Terraces behind tenemants

pumping station

jail wall

jail wall

showing the three walls come together

jail wall

Glasgow Cross

the Cross looking South

Side garden of oldest house in Glasgow

Downspout for gutters on cathedral

St. Mungo’s Museum of Religious Life and Art

Sundial

back garden enclosure

Garden gate paid homage to local tradesmen and artists by having various sculptural metal carvings on gates

Amazing!!!

Plan of the Cathedral Square

old entrance to Infirmary. Was closed when the esplanade in front of the Cathedral was developed further. Statue of the Queen still stands

Plaque showing cathedral previous facade

Rear of St. Mungo’s Museum

Cathedral House Hotel

My favorite mausoleum in the Necropolis

Down Lady Well Street – view of brewery

The Lady Well. (at base of Necropolis)

remnants of old Jail wall

Ground floor windows of Old Duke Street Cotton Mill

Duke Street Cotton Mill entrance

Showing west elevation and back facade of Duke Street Cotton Mill building

Tenements on Duke Street directly behind the High Street Tenements. These share the Terraces.

Edinburgh Site Ideas – preliminary

working through different layout ideas, I find sketchup pretty helpful.  Today, I take each spacial requirement and make boxes to define them.

cafe/bar/reception – @30-50 sqm  — Multipurpose space – @30-50sqm  –  staff areas – @ 10-15sqm  –  gallery – @120-150sqm

Because I want to keep the ruin walls intact and accessible to touch from the exterior, I begin by playing with these defined spaces by moving them around the site I have built, as well.  Deconstruction of space comes to mind and makes sense to me, as the site is surrounded by this former structure whose remains are left – it has been reduced to a shell and I want to take this idea and play with it.

Numerous boxes, suspended in space with light creating seams around the corners… Using various colors to define “zones”? I’m not sure if this will work since I don’t want to see this as a carnival, however I do like the idea of defining the corners of these suspended boxes.  I also love the idea of building the structure (out of whatever material – glass comes to mind quite a bit) only about .15m from the wall.  Far enough away from it to still see details from inside, but yet close enough to it to prevent walking along side at least one side of the building.. being able to see through to the north side of the property without accessing it.  Here is my model in process…

Edinburgh Project – Additional measurements

Today I went back to Edinburgh to take some additional dimensions and pictures of the site I chose on the Grassmarket.  I found the extension of stairs that leads up the site and along the back of this gap site, too.  This extension leads right up to the castle making it quite a spot for tourists to make their way down to the grassmarket, which is great for my site purpose!  Here are my finds for today.

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Site Selection – Edinburgh Project

As previously mentioned, My final project will be designing a gallery space for Christo and I mapped out the four sites we had to choose from.  In the end, I chose the Gap Site in Grassmarket.  here are some notes and pictures I took of the site.

“The gap site is right on Grassmarket and to the left and back of it, there is a stairway that leads towards the castle and Johnston Terrace. Currently a garden for the neighborhing apartment building (circa 1984?), there are trees and a great open front space for gathering.  Grassmarket is a fairly popular area in the Southside with many pubs and shops and even a costume shop. There are at least two hotels in the area and this street has amazing views of Edinburgh Castle up the street. It has a very bohemian feel.  The existing stone walls could be incorporated into the design.  There could also be an entrance in the back on the upper level where the stairs go around the building as well as an entrance onto the Grassmarket.  This would be an interesting site to explore, however losing the  garden area would be a shame for the community.  There were two people walking around it when I got there.”

 

 

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Final Project Mapping – Edinburgh

For our final project in my Architecture studio at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, we are designing a public gallery based on our chosen artist from our previous project.  This section of the semester is called “To Settle” and I began my process of design by thinking about what it means to settle.

To Settle:  take up residence, become established in the area; form a community; to be stable in your life; become fixed and resolved – creating permanence.

The scope of the project is to create a small contemporary gallery for Christo, while keeping in mind that we are on a tight budget so being economical in costs is imperative.  There needs to be a good use of space and the design should consider sustainable practices.

Programme:

*  reception – approximately 15 sqm with a staff of 2. (include office area/cafe here?)

*  Small public gallery – @ 120-150 sqm  Must have multi-function capabilities

* Multi-purpose space – @35-50 sqm. This is a flex space for temporary galleries, classroom for community (?) Needs storage/cupboards and much natural light.

* Cafe/Bar – @ 30-50 sqm.  This will be an additional source of income so it will be open longer hours than the gallery. (separate outside entrance?) Keeping in mind the need for food storage & washing up in addition to this space.  It may sell hot/cold drinks and snacks in lieu of having a full kitchen.

* Staff areas – @ 10-15 sqm for administrative activities, break rooms and artist space.  There will be no more than four staff employed.

* Public toilets – for both male and female. There is a ground floor fully accessible toilet that is required and these toilets need to acomodate up to 150 visitors per day.

Things to ponder:

. what scale should each space be?

. circulation of space? how do people move around?

. how do you treat thresholds? transitions of space?

. Is structure exposed or hidden?

. How much natural/artificial light and is it appropriate for gallery space and art work being displayed?

Explore sustainability and economic construction.  Look to successful models of gallery spaces.   there are no material constraints and it will be framed construction.

 

The class were given four sites in Edinburgh, Scotland to explore.  They are as followed with a quick sketch I did of each site:

Site#1 – 32 Cockburn Street (off of high street near the Royal Mile) building currently houses “Crew”

Site#1 "Crew"

Site#2 – 5 Hamilton Place in Stockbridge – building currently houses “Lancers” and backs onto a canal

Site#2 - "Lancers"

Site#3 – Betw. 92-94 Grassmarket – building named Mission Hall and currently appears to be vacant but there was a hotel there at one point.

Site#3 - "Mission Hill"

Site#4 – Gap Site on Grassmarket There is currently a wall ruin and an existing garden for the use of the adjoining apartments.

Site#4 - Gap Site

Project One Final pin-up – Strathclyde

For this semester’s first project, we were required to design a studio/residence for an artist client of our choosing. I chose Christo and Jeanne-Claude. (the later is deceased, but Christo still includes her name on his projects) I have designed a project for them before in first year at UNCG, and I was interested to see how my design would be different, right from the onset.

We were given a specific site for this project – 82 High Street, North Berwick, Scotland and were told that we could only design the facade with brick and that the facade and style of the building shell were the only details we needed to be concerned with.  I began by doing a few freehand sketches of the street in all directions.  Here they are:

North West view of High Street

North East view of High Street

Southwest view on High Street from Thistle

Southeast view from Thistle on High Street

From here I went through a few different designs and they really morphed over time… Here are images to see how my design went through its metamorphosis.

First (right) and Second (left) designs

Rendition 3 - in context

Chosen Design - rendition 4

This chosen design provided a very small courtyard on the right side of the building and gave a bit of interest.  Here are some very quick elevations of what I did based on this design..

East/West Elevation

Front Elevation

Street elevations of adjoining buildings

I came up with my final design within two weeks of the final review for this project and being that I already had a few weeks less time than all of the other students (being my later enrollment and access to project details) I was less than pleased with my final output.  I was however commended for doing such a radical overhall of my design and that it was such an improvement and were excited about the addition of the courtyard.  I have another chance at the end of the semester where I will be submitting both this project and my final for review, so my goal is to revise and make stronger a few of my submissions.

One thing I am happy about is my ability to have access to the schools woodshop and laser cutter.  They have full time staff for both areas and I just drop off my project at the laser cutter guy and he gives me the final cut the following day.  It’s actually a great setup and would be something to think about, at least during project times at UNCG.  here are copies of my models..

This model was not "Tommy" proof and did not withhold up to a fall.

Just facade's of the adjoining buildings

There was an issue with Scale on my building model in relation to the adjoining buildings and that, too, will be fixed for the final presentation.  I’m just pleased that I was able to do this, as it was my first time setting up the file for the laser cutter.

Here are some of my other submissions on this project.

featured artists

Design in Context

concept and process

sketching of north berwick

These are just a few sketches I did of High Street in North Berwick, Scotland.  For more information about this cute east coast seaside town, follow this link

North East view of High Street

North East view of High Street again

North West view of High Street

Southeast view from Thistle on High Street

Southwest view on High Street from Thistle