Week 5. I continued doing some sketchbook work, sticking in my photos and annotating important bits which I thought was necessary. I printed out more images which I thought would inspire me, researching through more books for inspiration including:

• Digital Fabrication in Archiecture – Nick Dunn
• Zaha Hadid, Form of motion
• Cesar Pelli – Buildings and Projects 1965 – 1990

I decided to look at some inspirations inside books because. wanted to stimulate my ideas even further by setting out more ideas using different shapes and curves etc.

One of my favourite designs which I had done and enjoyed sketching up was *insert picture* I used the outline of my toothpick model from the previous week and drew around the picture, using the model to create a geometric shaped roofing which allows natural lighting to come through. I also experimented with triangular shapes by repetitively cutting them out on an A4 piece of paper which created nice patterns. Next to it is also a design I was quite satisfied with. I designed a studio which is split into 2 different buildings with a walk way in between. Again, with a lot of natural lighting and modernism features. on the windows, make it less boring and plain, I added in triangular patterns onto the glass windows to create effect.

 

Week 4 of or FmP was the first week back fro our 3 week break. To be truthful, I don’t exactly remember what exactly what I had done that week, but what I do remember is having a crit first thing back within our usual group. Through this, it helped me gain a better understanding of what include into my sketchbook and how to improve it by presenting it in a more professional/architectural way.  The feedback fro classmates gave me further inspiration in what look at and it also helped me continue my path. During this week, I had also booked a 20 minute time slot with Marie, and her take a look at my sketchbook to see whether I was heading in the right direction or not; and whether what I was recording in my sketchbook was clear and strong, as well as what I could have tweaked here and there to make it look better and orderly.

Through this I had learnt that I should not cramp my work up too much and give it space t0 breathe. I was happy hearing this critism about my work because it’s usually the style that I tend t work in sometimes however got pressured into working in a certain way because I am now taking on an architectural course – I felt like it needed a lot of information and pictures around it, therefore I got used to trying to fill up my pages however, of course people have different opinions being two teachers from different pathways, so I decided that it’d be useful to have a mixture of both so that some work of mine can properly stand out and bring more attention to what’s more important. Taking this into a count, I will continue to work in my own style but be more considerate about the layout of my work in order to keep it not only informative, but visually pleasing.

 

 

 

This project continued into our 3rd holiday break with constant research into my site propose figuring out it’s size and scale Whilst doing this, I also decided to look further into its history; building my knowledge of how m site had come to life and what it was before it was now,incling the history of it’s overall area being, Woolwich Arsenal. I wanted to look into this because I wanted to gain a better understanding of it’s history and the purpose the area served. I also wanted to know whether it would’ve been useful towards my potential final design or not, hence why I had also looked into the materials which were previously used. My site which I had decided on is based in Woolwich Arsenal, and I plan on refurbishing the Woolwich Public Market.

The reason for choosing this site is because Woolwich is a very open area which is widely ope to the public, placed within a location which is also surrounded by many shop.stores, as well as market stands, all public transport including the overground (Thameslink, southeastern etc) DLR & all buses – which makes I convent for travellers. Having it based in a crowded location like this will also help attract people around especially teenagers who hand around the area during after school hours. Having the first modern/futuristic styled building allocated here whilst sites around it are refurbishing and modernising will make it more visible and attract the public’s attention. The look of the building alone will allow the public’s to be interested. Whereas, placing it up central, though it’s bigger location with a much higher population in comparison to  local town/street, the bling will most likely not Stan out as much.

Doing this week, I also continued with making experimental models using toothpicks which I had picked up from Poundland. These came out pretty successful though I wished I had made a massive one to create a model sized buildings.

Again sing the toothpick models, I plan on experimenting with my sketches to consistently come up with improvements.

During week 2 of our easter break, my friends and I decided to visit the SAATHI Gallery as we had seen some things online that were displayed at the gallery’ which we thought would be applicable to our theme. However, when I had got there it wasn’t as I had expected. it did not have a lot of geometrical structures like it had advertised online however, I was still able to capture a couple inspirational structures designed by artist, Tillman Kaiser.

During our visit, we also chilled a little bit in the gift shop, and whilst spending our time exploring the shop, I managed to find a few interesting sources though it did not entirely link to my thereat all.

After this, we planned on going to Tate Modern, but before that, we stopped on our way to get food, and I got a burger with skinny fries; very filling. We then made our way to the Tate by foot (roughly 15 minutes). I did not manage to find a lot which was again related to my theme at all but then again there were a lot of shapes and patterns which I thought I could’ve merged into my own work – I hope that I can develop my work, or even use these photos as. guide to improve/steal inspiration from.

We spent half of the day going around and visiting places until about 5pm. Some of us decided to go home, whilst some o us decided to go bak to uni to do some work; which ended being a failed plan as we ended up sitting there clueless as we were all knackered, which turned into a few hours of us procrastinating watching movies.

During the next few days, I used it to do some sketches which I attached in my sketchbook. At this point, this was when stared considering the interior’s floorpan and how I was going to present it as I am not the best at drawing 2 way angles perspectives – something which I will improve on. I also plated about on ketchup, creating my first building using the architect Mario Cucinelle as inspiration which I was not too happy with. I did not like the way that my building was shaped, however I did like the constant repetition within the patterns that I had used though it started to look a little too much. Despite this, I think it was a good start in progressing my idea, and it was better to start somewhere than no where.

 

During this week,  I went on a gallery visit at 10am with Cedrick and Stanley to The Body World’s located right besides Piccadilly Circus, and the price was ridiculously expensive. £22! Body World’s is a exhibition which exhibits real life muse fibres, body parts like the human brain and bones. I decided to take the trip there because although my theme is not based on human anatomy like Cedrick’s I thought I would maybe be able to get some inspiration from the shapes and lines that were presented within the human veins/muscle fibres.; using it’s lines and patterns to create a potential design. However, this visit turned out unsuccessful. Although it was not useful and linked to my theme at all, I still really enjoyed being able to see the human’s body parts in real life and the interesting facts as we had headphones within the gallery which provided us information.

After this, I did was research facts online on ‘origami’ as it was initially the theme that I wanted to focus on. During this research I did not learn much but I oppose it could help others viewers understand what it is and what it’s used for; understanding the importance and impact which origami has on the world of architecture and not just paper art. Whilst doing research on origami and how it is useful within the architectural world, I decided to look up some photos which I thought I could be inspired by, and they all looked really well made and complexed which is not yet up my level as origami is not in my skill sets but I was definitely motivated.

During the rest of the week I did not manage to do much as I was running back and fourth with my job as well as baby sitting my cousins considering they also had their 3 weeks easter holiday break during the same time. But before the week had ended, I managed to squeeze in a bit of artist research including; Richard Sweeney. Who is an artist who makes models and installations out of paper. His work includes a lot of 3D and complexed curved shapes which I found really fascinating.

Continuing from the pervious week (week 2) where I had researched into a couple architects (Zaha Hadid & Santiago Calatrava), I also went on gather inspirations from books within the university’s library which I though would be useful. Through this I was able to find some inspiration both relating to the artist(s) as well as my final project.

As planed, I played around with paper by cutting and sticking one end to the other to create an abstract form, which almost looked like a high rise building, however although I was pleased with the outcome and the shape that it had given me, that was not entirely what I planned on achieving considering I needed something that had more width to it than height. At first I was also very skeptical, but sing the skills and free movement which I had learnt during my short project ‘Fixtures & Fittings’ during the course here at Ravensbourne,  it gave me the confidence and create whatever my mind allowed me to without in the middle of the moment, rather than making something which had been previously practiced, and I ended up loving the outcome. Using this I took various pictures capturing all angles.

 

Besides the, I drew out some designs using the outlined shape of my model for inspiration and worked on top of it. The fittings and fixtures project taught me also alt about being playful with my models and designs because you won’t known what you could potentially produce therefore I made sure to remember that and did rough deigns and practiced with some coloured markers onto of a traced drawing of my original to see which would’ve looked better; in which this case, I used brown o represent the material ‘wood’ however, I decided hat this might’ve not been suited considering I wanted to go for the futuristic/modern aesthetics.

Doing the same week, I did more model experimenting but this time Round, I decided to try with cardboard. I did this by finding a scrap laced and using a Stanley knife I scrolled gently into the material making equalateral triangles, became this helps bend the shape easier though I plan on experimenting further with different types of material an shapes which will help me grasp more ideas.

 

Starting your final major project, I think it’s important to do thorough research into appropriate things which connects to our potential idea.  Considering my theme was inspired by origami and geometric shapes, I started to look at some images of origami which is inspired by Japanese 3D art as well as buildings and objects which could give me inspiration. Some of my favourites included:

 

This has given me inspiration to create some experimental paper models of my own which I plan on doing for next week’s schedule. This way I can play about with different shapes and materials, whiles experimenting with repetition by adding multiple duplicated shapes to one another to create a structure of some sort which will hopefully expand my imagination to create something different, and more diverse to buildings which are already designed.

I also went on to look at a couple of well known architects including; Zaha Hadid, Santiago Calatrava and Mario Cucinella.  I explored a few of their work which I was encouraged by, some included:

Mario Cucinella 

 

 

Zaha Hadid

Mario and Zaha was one of the very many architects which inspired me. I thought both their work were very conceptual and abstract which is what I loved most about it; I was intrigued with the many different shapes and motifs which they use within his designs. I am very intrigued with the way and style that they work, creating these futuristic and modern approach. I also looked further into the buildings and the engineering behind it which I could use along the way when planning my final outcome.

At the end of the week, I continued by doing some sketches in the style of both Hadid and Cucunielle, using different shapes and forms.

After uni, I also went to visit IKEA considering they have a lot of furniture which I thought could be useful towards projects, like lamps and such which has patterns which could give me further inspiration to connect with my work.