Project 3: The build Process

This is the completed model prior to the addition of the street line and overhead awning. I added a lot of the surrounding site as I thought it was important to the depiction of the building as a model. It's context influenced the design and thus most of the carpark is included.

I constructed the site from white foam core to represent the base mass of the surrounding buildings as simply as possible. The brightness of white highlighted the raw brick structure of my model and represented its street culture in its difference to the surrounding buildings.

This is an image of my actual design as a whole, prior to the making of the site.

I constructed the model in 4 main stages; firstly the main gallery room, secondly the apartment at the rear of the site (seen here), the courtyard in the middle of the two and finally the site itself.

This is my skylight of graffiti, which can be seen to illuminate the main function room. I was only able to make this out of paper which i reinforced later with a whitecard frame, as whitecard itself was much too difficult to cut in such a fine way.

Here you can see the aluminum foil added to my model, to represent the side of trains which is another exploration of materiality in graffiti surfaces and in turn its evolution.

This was very difficult however as the sandpaper wore away my knife very quickly and was difficult to cut.

The choice to use sandpaper was one based on a desire for a strong sens of materiality on the model. My exploration of the evolution of graffiti involved changing surfaces, and of course one of the most raw elements is brick. I used sandpaper to represent this and it resulted in a beautiful texture that encourages one to touch it.

Project 3: Art Gallery, Shop / House

More 'masterpieces' such as this are located in the park opposite Site One and show the strong presence of vandalism in Newtown. This type of graffiti covers a wall that is roughly 50 meters long and sets the scene for my gallery, a kind of legal safe-haven for all street art and its designers.

This graffiti appears on a wall on a street perpendicular to King St and is 2 streets down from Site One. This was the first piece of graffiti I saw and inspired the idea for a graffiti art gallery.

An image of the front of site 1. This helped me understand the relationship between my designs facade and the urban context pf the street.

This is simply an image showing the profile of the neighbouring buildings so I could gauge buildings heights and volumes.

This is the rear of site 1. I liked its relationship with the surrounding buildings and the car park. It created a very raw urban context that worked well with the graffiti concept I uncovered as I walked around Newtown.

Final Model

The final model.

Light is a key element in capturing the model's spirit and these photos attempt to do justice.
'Elevation'

'Plan'

The entire model is sectional in order to demonstrate the concept of the cave.

Materiality was effectively portrayed via balsa for earth (a natural element), white card for cement (its harsh emotional quality resonates this material) and copper wire for the thin structural element of steel.

'Elevation/Section'

The Final Model captures my vision for the narrative of the cartographer to the utmost of my abilities; his very character seems to be present in the end product. The following is a series of images that show how light falls inside the cave at different times of day. These images work strongly with my Poche renderings. The first image is midday, working through to afternoon and is repeated in reverse order for the opposite side.

Model In Progress

Here are some images of my working model.

Poche Renderings and Axonometric

Section

Plan

Axonometric

Developing Ideas

Here are some original ideas.

Planning the layout of the mountain and the sectional cut was a key first step to understanding how my model would be built and out of what material.

This is a rough sectional poche as I started grasping the general structure of the model.

I build this quickly as I began exploring ways of building the cave in the mountain. My original idea was to layer the entire mountain as white card and as the layers of the cave started forming I cut holes that grew larger then smaller as the layers went up. I ended up making the model with balsa strips instead of a solid block for a number of reasons. Firstly, balsa is a better representation of the materiality of a mountain than white card; it is too emotionless and blank. It is also easier to make the actual building in the model out of white card because it is very precise. Secondly, a model of full layered white card would be very expensive as opposed to using 20mm balsa strips.

This is the final way I came up with to create the cave. I layered 8 or so 2mm pieces of balsa together, glued them down and used a Stanley knife to etch away pieces at a time. It was very effective and seemed to have a raw, cave-like quality which suited the narrative.

Project 2: Room and Narrative

I chose a 17th century painting by Pieter de Hooch to use as the basis for my narrative. This is his oil on canvas entitled 'Mother's Duty' and as i studied I found many interesting connections within the painting and used it to form my narrative.

The original concept is based on the map which can be seen above the doorway. This was a symbol for the knowledge the Dutch believed they had for the land at the time; exploration was peaking and an intimate knowledge of the land was being established. This led me to create the character of the cartographer, a map maker working on this knowledge and transforming it into tangible maps. I then created this painting as the setting for his family left at home as he is out far in the lands making his maps. His wife waits patiently, consoling the daughter who is longing for her father to return. The light is tamed, giving a sombre mood while his dog waits looking out the door for his master. The window in the background is a symbol for the distance, the future. This led me to create my narrative as such:

The tireless cartographer works ceaselessly in his lofty and silent abode.