Is that you, Julian?

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Week 8: Experiment 2 - Introduction + one-point perspective

A list of themes that our class came up with in an introductory brainstorming session back in week 5. We were given the names of two famous architects - one deceased, and one currently living (Gustave Eiffel and Peter Zumthor, respectively). The group I was in focused on contrasting themes which their most famous works try to evoke -the class decided on seven themes to explore with, as listed above for each artist. We were then asked to sketch out five rectilinear planes and intersect them at right angles to eboke a unique spatial form. The results of my experimental sketches are as follows below:

Initial sketches to test out my methodology to form my intersecting forms

Friday 27 April 2012

Week 8: Finally!

Experiment 1, after a long-overdue debut:

What would a person experience when travelling across and around the structure?

The above-ground gallery and workspace belongs to Louise Bourgeois. The theme of her above-ground structure is of a monolithic building that plays with superhuman scale. There is only one texture, appearing to look like stone blocks from a distance - the rough texture adds to a feeling of an ancient form of materiality. Her art pieces are disguised as rock outcroppings, one of which protrudes out of the side of the above-ground structure. I have also decided to omit any built-in roof covering so as to let a stream of natural light from directly above - the artist in-residence can attach her own impromptu shelters on any platform or staircase landing as she wishes.

Stelarc's artwork, displayed on a convex canvas in the middle of the piping array

The monolithic structure serves to hide any notion of the below-ground gallery and workspace intended for the second artist in-residence - Stelarc. His structure follows the theme of expansive industrialism, using pipes, tubes and tunnels to achieve this purpose. There are two entrances, one on the outside of the above-ground structure, and the other in the centre of the entire complex. Both entrances takes a visitor through a transparent tube that peers into a larger space enclosed by a rounded glass cube. Stelarc's artpiece is prominently placed in the centre of the piping assembly, as if "plugged" into some kind of artistic machine.

Cross-section looking from an elevational perspective

Cross-section looking from a plan perspective

My file unfortunately is much too large to be reduced to the 10 mB limit imposed by Google Warehouse, so I have instead posted a link for the Sketchup file here.

Warning: This file can only be opened in Sketchup version 8 or later editions.

Tuesday 27 March 2012

Week 3: Final draft + Inspirations

The final result was much more interesting than I had expected. The staircases took a life of their own, shaping both the look and feel of how both above and below ground spaces were intended to look like:

Staircase no. 1 and 2, combined together into a single structure

Closeup of the textures used for the above-ground space. Both the "scratched" (on floor) and "woven" (on walls) textures had a strong stone-like textural quality

Corner of the below-ground staircase. The tube pokes out of the below-ground space to interact with the soil all around it, entering back into the rounded glass cube to continue its journey

Staircase no. 1 essentially forms its own space for Bourgeois to use for work and personal recreation. Staircase no. 2 goes along a route that starts in the middle of the above-ground structure and finishes somewhere outside of the entire gallery space. The entire journey will either start from the main entrance for the above-ground gallery or the endpoint of the tube-like staircase for the below-ground gallery located outdoors.

One of many sketches done by Bourgeois in her Insomnia Drawings collection from 1994-95

One of many concept artworks accompanying Stelarc's exploratory essay on the nature of the human body as a form of telecommunications from 2009

The two above images are what I plan to intersperse across the gallery as a form of artwork to be displayed. The pieces by Bourgeois will imitate her organic and abstract structures often seen in her early career, while Stelarc's work will be a representational variation on his many two-dimensional digitally-made concept art. Both rectangular prisms seen above are about ten meters long, with a height of at least 5 meters. The textures are sized so as to fit its format of choice.

My final gallery space will be based on the concept of overwhelming the human senses by exaggerating normally familiar scale and proportions to make it look foreign, or even alien-like, in an unsettling way as seen in the clip below, taken from the 1979 movie Alien:

Promotional picture for Prometheus, the upcoming prequel to the movie Alien

The above picture sums up the overall impression I want to achieve with the gallery space most accurately. The above-ground structure consists of a massive egg-like dome that has minute cracks wide enough to let limited light and a few visitors in. Staircase no. 1 would be situated right in the middle and loom over a person entering the above-ground space, much like the monolithic head in the spaceship's central chamber. Staircase no. 2 allows a person to go below-ground to witness a jumble of pipes, tubes and tunnels that criss-cross the volume inside the rounded glass cube. The entire structure will be situated in a custom-made jungle that looks lush and wild, completing the overall look of an abandoned construct left behind by some enigmatic society.