DESIGN PROCESS SITE REVIEW

Site sits between two retailer buildings on Beach Road. It has an easy access from the road and the 5 storey building will stand over the gap still leaving a void for an open drive through to the parking lot behind.

Plan view of the two existing buildings; the space between the closest corners of them is 8m, just giving enough space to fulfil the requirement of a 64sqm floor plan.

Site map identifying the required amenities for the 5 clients of the brief

REVIEWING COLLAGE

64sqm floor plan was restricted for the 5 briefs given, however I required more space to give suitable spatial accommodation for all 5 clients. Also there is not going to be any disestablishment of existing buildings therefore the solution was to lift the structure up and extend over the adjacent roof.

Convent de la Tourette was also designed to be lifted up by slim concrete columns which expressed the structure as it extended over the hill. It is also one of the modernist ideas that Le Corbusier argued to be a requirement for architecture of the time. Written by Sean Ki Beom Park

PLANS, DRAWINGS, ORGANISING

After the Mid-semester crit, the project was continued at as steady pace.

To understand the immediate site, a simple solid model of the site was built. Later this was used to put the final model on to.

Plan drawing of the third floor, study cells on the left, lecture theatre on the right; core staircase revolving around a triangular void.

Merging functional requirements of each brief, the corresponding poetry of personal analysis and inspirational compositions of Convent de la Tourette, floor plans were developed into legible forms.

Completed plan drawings ground floor from the left to the top floor top right

Converting from the floor plan to a model

For this project, although it was focused on the laser cutting technique, I have made a goal to develop ‘hands-on’ skill in model making. Since it was the first time making a proper building model, it was very difficult but hence exciting to think thoroughly about every component of each floor. The plans considered the circulation through the floors, half floors leading to the lifted levels of the third and fourth floors. As elevators only stationed on the far side platforms, ramps were added around the Southern side of the building for wheel chair access to the half floors. (Further explained in the following pages. )

Written by Sean Ki Beom Park

AUT BUILDINGS VISIT

Quick Mock up model using Lego, to examine the way the new building will sit between the two existing ones

Since the material precedent sheet pre-determined the building to be dominated by concrete, an exploratory visit to some of the AUT buildings were made to study how other materials are used together with concrete.

Aluminium window frame joint on to two concrete panels

Change in materiality of the concrete panels

Parking building, two ventilation vents are visible

Two wall panels joining each other and to the floor panel below

Several materials joining together forming subtle but varied facade on the gallery building

Concrete bench near the entrance

Concrete structures that I have explored had static joints to adjacent panels or materials, they were mostly connected with concrete itself and adhesive, and some were hidden. Concrete panels were varied in size. In most cases, the panel sizes depended on the total wall width/length, probably organised in terms of the prefabricated forms.

Construction Site

Written by Sean Ki Beom Park

ENTRY, PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO, LECTURE THEATRE

Ground Level, Slides behind the diagonal shape of the adjacent building, hence hiding in from street view

Photography studio, all four walls have no openings to maximise studio use within the tight floor plan

Lecture room with 40 seats, two presentation panels with a structural column between them

Each concrete part was scored revealing several layers of the cardboard, then were engraved with graphite to enhance the shadow of the indents. Narrow long columns were designed to structure 5 storeys which helps maximise lengths of the spatial composition. In the ground floor, it allows enough gaps for car park access. Written by Sean Ki Beom Park

STUDY ROOMS, LECTURE ROOM

The thrid floor was specially designed to accomdate 4 study cells, an open study area, office and a lecture room according to my personal brief. All parts of the study areas are individually connected with its own natural light source.

Study cells receive natural light through a light well that penetrates through 4th and 5th floor

Open study area receives natural light through the light well created by the rock climbing wall standing in front of the façade shown above

Top view of third floor section model, study cells on the left, lecture room on the right.

Third floor’s façade facing the street was influenced by Convent de la Tourette’s. However to increase the emphsis on verticality, horizontal struts were omitted only leaving the vertical ones.

Circulation through the buildings was considered further than the core staircase that was centred around a triangular void. As the third and fourth floor had entrances from the half floors, they required a ramp system for wheel chair access. Therefore the study cells were made to have access through the lecture theatre and the fourth with a ramp around the exterior wall.

Threshold in the third floor is completed by a wall standing between the study area and the staircase. The change of materiality from exposed to pasted concrete lifts up the sense of light and changes the atmosphere entering the study area.

URBAN PRIVATE PARK, OBSERVATORY

Top view of fourth floor section model, observatory on the left, café and urban private park on the right

Model building process before laser cutting. Ramp rises up around the exterior wall; toilets and café/private rooms visible on the right

The spatial composition of the fourth floor is arranged to restrict to certain view points. The observatory area has minimal amount of openings to keep the focus on its glass roof and the light well. The café and toilet spaces are covered with a translucent façade out on to the ramp then to the glass façade bringing in some natural light.

Model after laser cutting. Grid structures most of the facades, not distracting from the other parts of the building façade. Parallel grids in different facades highlights a subtle change in the materiality in order to blend different compositions.

A direct influence from Convent de la Tourette’s cells. However rather than la Tourette’s windows which opened at a standing level, this façade opens up at a level where the scenery is visible when seated closer to the floor. Arrayed grid pattern brings in extra light without glare.

The roof of observatory and light well fits together perpendicularly emphasising their connection. A staircase fitted inside the glasswell leads up to the fifth floor Written by Sean Ki Beom Park

OBSERVATORY POOL

Top view of fourth floor section model, observatory on the left, café and urban private park on the right

Finished model

The fifth floor, with its only access through the light well provides a pool stretching the full length of the building. The rock climbing wall extends from the roof of the adjacent building to tower over the building’s height. Its glass cover was produced by a random number generator where numbers were designated with different lengths, creating a rhythmical composition.

Laser cut CAD file

Rhythmical composition of the rock climbing wall enclosure

Model viewed from car park (without the rockclimbing wall)

Model viewed from street level

The elevator vent hidden from street view, reversely forms a striking tower seen from the car park. Each floor extrudes out from this tower which in contrast is not supported by thin columns but its solid mass fixed to the ground. This tower unifies the separate elements of the different levels and continues the harmony performed from the othersides of the façade.

RENDERING & CRITIQUE

After several attempts, I have accomplished my first digital portrayal of this project. Despite its relatively low photo quality, it successfully portrays how the building sits on and between the two extisting buildings.

Final model display

Project display in Exhibition Studio

A point that was given, was about how the walls of each floor could be composed in order to bring out or ‘highlight’ different details. As such delicate contrast and their differentiation could be expressed in a various methods. Another minor structural point that was given, was that the dark room needed a double door as it requires not to be exposed to light at any moment of time. Written by Sean Ki Beom Park

URBAN PRIVATE PARK, OBSERVATORY

Top view of fourth floor section model, observatory on the left, café and urban private park on the right

Model building process before laser cutting. Ramp rises up around the exterior wall; toilets and café/private rooms visible on the right

The spatial composition of the fourth floor is arranged to restrict to certain view points. The observatory area has minimal amount of openings to keep the focus on its glass roof and the light well. The café and toilet spaces are covered with a translucent façade out on to the ramp then to the glass façade bringing in some natural light.

Model after laser cutting. Grid structures most of the facades, not distracting from the other parts of the building façade. Parallel grids in different facades highlights a subtle change in the materiality in order to blend different compositions.

A direct influence from Convent de la Tourette’s cells. However rather than la Tourette’s windows which opened at a standing level, this façade opens up at a level where the scenery is visible when seated closer to the floor. Arrayed grid pattern brings in extra light without glare.

The roof of observatory and light well fits together perpendicularly emphasising their connection. A staircase fitted inside the glasswell leads up to the fifth floor Written by Sean Ki Beom Park

PEER REVIEWS AMRITA KAUR Project three: Office for 5 clients An office to accommodate 5 clients of various professions No erasing or deleting on A1 page

Identified clients were: Architect, engineer, accountant, chef, photographer

Required amenities identified

Floor plans developing through comparison of spatial requirements by each projessions.

Amrita was inspired by Le Corbusier’s Capenter center and developed her project over an existing car park with a curved side. Within the small area she has developed numerous steps of modification in the floor plan. She encorporated collaborative ideas and her comparitive analysis of individual spatial needs of each profession.

Her process within the tight single sheet was well presented and there were some innovative ideas such as her elevator which separates personnel and storage transportation. It resulted an open plan providing a stronger spatial composition with an interactive face. I personally think that she could have added a bit more attention to the three courtyards/meeting areas that she added to serve different meetings. She deliberately divided formal and informal meeting set ups. However if informality and formality were to combine, it could have questioned a greater deal about her collaborative structure.

Full sheet after completion

It was interesting to see her quick trial and error methods which has emphasised her thorough process. Experimentation with geometry and adaptation to functional facility was another thing to point out. Her presentation skills were satisfactory in terms of how the page was organised. There was a slight misconceptualisation of scale with her elevator and furniture but this was an overall very interesting. http://akau694.blogspot.com/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwV5qC-RfrM Written by Sean Ki Beom Park

PEER REVIEWS GABRIELLE HANNA Project three: Office for 5 clients An office to accommodate 5 clients of various professions No erasing or deleting on A1 page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-q172dElCg Continuing on from her previous market stall project she designed a office with a multiple set of walls with the inspiration from the curious cabinet. The design creates a floor plan within another floor plan. By overlapping and extruding, it creates an open floor plan where collaborative work spaces are created.

An interesting feature about the design was the roofs that had differentiated height. As the central core had been surrounded by a several layers of walls, this seems like a clever approach to bring in natural light without glare. (rather than opening the ceiling up) The layers of walls seemed to have derived from water ripples and there were signs of that effect coming into the design but was not elaborated as much as the blue colouring was starting to bring.

Although there were some annotations, they were not necessarily helpful explaining the key concepts and design principles. There is a good presentation about the materiality of the exterior facade and some details have been covered.

The rising question was about the threshold and accessibility of the building enhancing her collaborative ideas. At the moment it seemed like that the interiors just randomly opened up to each other. It was quite hard to understand the final design as there was not any detailed drawings.

Overall this was an interesting scheme but perhaps could have kept more attention to the orientation of the A1 page so that more information could be represented within the restricted space. Written by Sean Ki Beom Park

PEER REVIEWS CHIRAG JINDAL Project three: Office for 5 clients An office to accommodate 5 clients of various professions No erasing or deleting on A1 page

Business store for virtual reality expanded into an office. This design shows good research and working process. There are some good ideas that came through the design with several visual experimentation on the A1 page. In terms of material applied to the A1 sheet, although the achromatic scheme gives a clean look, perhaps using a different material and producing a different mood of a black and white drawing could have broaden the representation of the design ideas. The animation was well made and the layout was formatted in an understandable manner.

The weaving concept of the design is well explored in various ways. It was quite clear near at the end of the animation the way ‘light weaving through’ the architecture.

I did not quite agree to the twisting ‘noodle-like’ forms that are said to be freeforms. The question about the components was the way it architecturally affected the interior space other than bringing light in a unique way. These huge mirror tubes that surround the building seems disconnected to the interiority of the building at the moment. Another question was the structures relation to the context and its direct environment. Although the animation portrayed the light weaving through the building, the interaction between interior space and exterior environment was not clear explored. It is that transition through some kind of threshold that will make these extravagant exterior structure more valid and understandable.

Overall an impressive piece of work and the processes were well presented in the blog. However it was disappointing to see Chirag not showing up at the peer review. Written by Sean Ki Beom Park

HELPFUL WEBSITES http://www.askthebuilder.com/N4_Thickness_of_Poured_Concrete_Foundation_Walls.shtml Thickness of Poured Concrete Foundation http://precast-concrete.us/precast-tilt-slab-concrete-panel Precast Tilt Slab Concrete panel http://www.literamp.com/guide.shtml How to select ramp for wheelchair http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090824034206AA2Uw5q Angles for a disabled ramp http://www.sizes.com/home/stairs.htm Stair Sizes http://www.keidel.com/design/bath-wc.htm Toilet Sizes http://www.ctbuh.org/TallBuildings/HeightStatistics/HeightCalculator/tabid/1007/language/en-GB/Default.aspx Floor Heights http://www.onlineconversion.com/length_common.htm Online Convertor http://web2.0calc.com/ Online Scientific Caculator

http://en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php/Villa_Savoye Villa Savoye

http://www.finkandplatt.com/fa1.html Light well, Fifth Ave Penthouse, New York, NY