Thursday, January 31, 2008

fluidity


I have been researching materials for the appearance of ice. Also looking at the fluidity of movement around the site, pedestrian and others. My next step is to look at incorporating water into the interior of my building.

I'm struggling with making the building not appear to be an afterthought. I've started to look at changing the form of the building but I'm not convinced that is what needs to happen.

4 comments:

enno said...

Frances,

I will comment on the postings in more detail tonight.

My initial reeaction is that the hand sketches read so much nicer than the Revit (?) hardline drawings. I suggest to work only with handdrawings for a while.

Think about vertical circulation within the building and maybe introducing double height spaces. How tall is building? How are the exterior spaces programmed?

Think about those aspects when you advance the plans over the weekend.

I like how the massing is embracing the water/stairs - perhaps there is a similar gesture or a mezzanine level to correspond to that.

Go for it!
Enno

enno said...

Some more ideas:

the building does need to be a modified bar that reads as a damn. Try shifting one of the volumes forward and introduce some curves to the scheme. I know that this a pretty direct reading of your theme, but it could certianly be one element of how it's expressed. An extreme example would be the work by Zaha Hadid which evokes fluidity in formal, but also spatial way. I am not suggesting to go there (although you may), but look at her more recent work to get some idea of this.

Next week when we look at sections you should also be working with a physical model to explore the massing of your building.

ef

Nick Graal said...

Hey Frances,
I really like the idea of fluidity and your studies on how people would flow into the space. This idea is reading well into your project.
How you handle the building will be crucial. The building as a dam is one valid idea. I would look at other forms of objects that interact with water and how they sit within an aqueous landscape. I am not saying to literally design your building like a ship, but looking at different things may give you a spark. I really liked how the MET in NY did their Egypt exhibit. I have never seen it in person, but it looks phenomenal. You might want to take a look to see how they incorporated water into their design.

kschommer said...

Frances,

There are all types of ways to incorporate water/fluidity into your project. Big picture; the buildings massing. In more detail; materials. If you really want to go there with the ice theme you could even mass your building to appear like an icy glacier. Then, your water stairs could flow and break through the "icy glacier". I agree with Enno about the computer floor plan; it does not express the circulation and fluidity character as well as your hand drawings. Also, I didn't see a program anywhere or a notation of where certain public/more private spaces may be so I am a bit confused on what is going where. I noticed that in your hand drawings the angled line of the main circulation (where the stairs are) appeared to be connecting to the food court entry on the upper level. In the computer plans it now draws people into a cluster of trees??? When there is an angle like that you want it to be purposeful of its location and destination, so that is an area that I would definitely look into some more and clarify what the angle leads to.