Photos from the final critique-Pathway project

These are the pictures from the final critique-The pathways project. Each of the five groups had their own board that they put plan views of their island and a model. There were also pictures of each groups process. We started the critique outside with our projects answering questions to the guest who attended the critique. We then came inside where we had a speaker from each group tell a little about each individual island and then a speaker who spoke on the project as a whole and how each island was unified with the others.

Pictures of me Working on University plan

These are pictures of me working on the University Plan drawing for the Pathways project. Cara and I frist had to take the smaller plan to Kinkos and blow it up. We bought vellum at Addams and then started working on tracing the plan onto the vellum. We redid the plan twice to make it better! When we finished the plan the other groups came and drew in their part of the project onto their islands. When it was finished it was a plan of the parking lot with the perspective ideas for the islands.

Group experiment

These are pictures of the desert group working on our first mold. We first cut the blue foam and then put it in a box to fit we then poured the concrete in and came out with a good product!

Personal Concrete experiment

These pictures are process pictures of the mold i made of concrete to experiment. I first cut out a piece of blue foam insulation and then i carefully cut out the waves on the top that the desert group decided to use to resemble the waves in the sand. then i put the foam in the bottom of my card board box. I mixed the concrete and then poured it into the box and left it sitting over night. Then i ripped the box away from the concrete and cut out the foam from the bottom. Then i ended up with a nice non- cracked concrete mold.

Dialog

For the dialog project our main goal was to create two different spaces that create some sort of dialog with one another. I chose to relate mine to the previous Unity project. I used the same technique to build my two spaces . I stuck skewers through the paper and then curved them outward. Insted of just having my dialog project create a dialog i used my unity project to demonstrate a dialog between the two projects because they "talked" to each other!

Critique Questions

1. How is dialog Created? I found that in most of the projects dialog was created by either using two of the same space and the two t together to become a Gestalt principal. The other way I observed was by the engagement or joining of the two spaces so that they became one.

2.How is a sense of space defined? In some projects I noticed that a sense of space was defined by making two spaces relatively large in comparison to any other small spaces that may be found in the projects. Some designers also used enclosure to define their spaces either using the sticks or the cards to enclose the two spaces making them obviously two different spaces.

3.How is the idea of system generated? The idea of a system was generated in most projects by mostly one of three things. They either used the skewers as a kind of protection for the space and the cards by making them to seem as if the space was inside a cage built of skewers. Also a lot of designers used the skewers as structural elements. They skewers where used to hole up the cards in the air or to make the project sit a certain way. The final was that the skewers or the cards were used for detail. To make the project more interesting or perhaps to simply find a spot to put them they used them as detail in the project.

4.How does the joinery support the project concept/strategies? The main idea i saw used through out the projects was that the skewers would join the cards and the spaces together. This was used in many projects to create the two spaces we needed for the project.

5.How is scale utilized in the project? Most people made two equal parts and they were scaled to fit with the skewers and the cards. One project used scale to create her dialog because she made one side larger than the other. This was creating a dialog of a conversation where it is almost one sided. One person talks more than the other and that was the foundation of her project.

6.How do two-dimensional images add to the understanding of the project? By making plan, elevation or gesture drawings or a graphic you are helping the viewer understand the project more. The drawings show more detail so they really get a feel for what the project is. Also by drawing you are giving the viewer a number of different views to look at this helps better understand the overall point that you as a designer are trying to make obvious.

7.How did the initial project idea evolve? Every project evolved in its own way. A few ways I noticed where that the previous idea was only 1d so on the second one they made it 2d they made it stand and made it more interesting to look at. Another way was by having a connection between the unity project and the dialog project. In mine personally I took my unity project and changed it or improved it in some ways to create my dialog project. I believe the people who did this made a dialog and unity between both projects.

Graphic-Unity project

This is the graphic that I made for the Unity project. I wanted to make the graphic 3-d so I made a few skewers look to show the way my project was put together. I put my precedent on there which is a Venus Fly Trap. I also took pictures of my final project and placed them on the graphic.

4 drawings for Unity Project

Theres were my four drawings for the unity project. Elevation, Plan, Gesture and Contour. I decided to put my drawings on matte board and then to incorporate the skewers from the project into the drawings by making a boarder out of skewers.

Dialog

This is the current project that I am working on. Our goal is to create a dialog between the two separate projects that we created. My project uses a few of the Gestalt Principles such as proximity, continuation, closure and similarity. The dialog that i create is in the way i use the skewers to puncture the paper. It is shown in both spaces. Also the way the sticks work together and create angels is shown in both spaces

Comparing projects

The first one is mine and the second is Erica Anderson's skewer project. I thought that it resembled mine in a number of ways. Of course there are the similarities that all of the projects had in common and that was the skewers and the Bristol board. Erica and I both used proximity in our projects with the way we positioned our sticks. We both used our sticks in almost a radial way. Our skewers meet in a common and definite place. That brings the focal point to one part of our projects and also unites the other parts together. We also used continuation in our projects, our skewers were placed in a way so that they continued throughout our projects. Something that is different about our projects is the placement of the Bristol Board. While Erica's paper is placed in different places on the skewers and are bunched together i poked holes through the paper and then used super glue to hold the skewers together. Erica did not use anything besides the skewers and the Bristol Board. Erica’s project lays on the skewers and the Bristol Board like mine but mine uses tension more and it must be placed a certain way to stand on its side where as Erica’s can be sat down the way it is supposed to, it does not need special placement. Both mine and Erica’s projects are versatile, they are built in such a way that enables you to pick them up and place them in severl different positions. You can turn them upside down, on their side or on their back and they will still be something interesting to look at!

http://ejander.blogspot.com/

Precedent-Skewers

For my Skewer project I immediately thought of a Venus Fly Trap. I was surprised how much it actually looks like my project. It has the same gesture as the fly trap. The skewers reminded me of the "teeth" of the Venus Fly Trap.

http://www.rheaultsci.org/images/Biology_Images/venus%20fly%20trap.JPG

Sketch Models

These are the two sketch models that i did prior to my finished product. Each time i built a new one i found that my craft would get better and i was happier with the outcome of the project. I found by doing this project that it helps a ton if you make multiple models.

Skewers and Bristol Board.

This was my final Skewer project. I really enjoyed making this project. It was a challenge at times to figure out how to make all the skewers and the bristol board stay together. As my binding agent i used super glue and simply glued the skewers together at one central point at the bottom of the project. The main point of this project was Unity. I tried to make my paper look the same on both sides. I think the most united thing about my project is the fact that all the skewers connect at the bottom together. This really shows u that it is two projects united together.

Twig-Sketch Models

These were two of the previous models that i had made for the twig project. I originally had to binding agents as you see on the white model i used a rubber band and glue. For the second model i brought color in and played with different materials.

Tweleve Twigs

This was my final twig project.
I really wanted to contrast both sets of 6 twigs. One set was really different, every stick had its own unique qualities. The other set were all the same they were straight and had the same texture. I decided to use the differences and show them by making the sides different colors and making one side taller than the other, this helps show contrast. My binding agent was simply Elmer's Glue and i made the base out of Matte Board. I interlocked the two sides by cutting a slit for the base to go through and then leaving them longer underneath so that the gray side tucked into the green side. I was pleased with my final product, but as always there is room for improvement!

2030

Today Jon lynn came to our theory hour to talk about 2030. He told us that Ed Mazna who is an architect wants and is trying to apply sustainability to architecture today. The goal is to have no carbon used when building architecture. Carbon dirties the air furniture and a number of other things that no one really thinks about. This idea of using no carbon when building is called the 2030 Challenge headed by Ed Mazna. The way to achieve this there is a list of things we must try to do: Have measurable goals that we can reach in a short amount of time, we must have a benchmarked timeline of how and when we want things done, we must have building design leaders and we must strive to have no carbon.
The baseline for this project is:
we cut out 50% of the carbon used immediately
60% by 2010
70% by 2015
80% by 2020
90% by 2025
and none by 2030

The 2030 challenge was adopted by AIA they have website called 50>>50
which tells fifty ways to reduce carbon use and how to do it.
The first hotel to be a Leed building is called Proximity Hotel.
they basically put the hotel through the leed filter and saw what they came out with.
a few features of this hotel is solar panels on the roof to heat the building and water.The elevator also stores the energy it uses and it goes to other parts of the building.

It was interesting to hear the ideas that are being made.

Issues in Critiques

Some of the issues that we talked about in our critique groups and as a class were helpful. We talked about the craft of our projects and how we should try to get them all resolved before we bring them to the critique. We should try out different materials so that we know what works best with what we are trying to achieve, we should not just pick up the first thing we see and use it. Vanessa also said for us not to not do something to our project just because we do not want the professors to tell us to change it, it will help us more if they can see the idea that we are trying to get across, they will be able to help us.
We learned that repetition will make our design more powerful because it will tie everything together and make it more interesting. We discussed how we should as designers not talk much about our projects because by doing that we don't allow the viewer to have his/her own opinion or idea about what we created and it could sometimes ruin the project if you say to much, basically more is less. The scale should be relative to your sticks(in this case) and sometimes contrast is good. We should try to use variety reduction which means we should keep it as simple as we can so that we don't over power the design. The professors also pushed the fact that we should keep making our projects as many times as we can so the craft will get better and it will overall look better once u practice making it.

Precedent

This chair reminded me of my Twig project because of the way it has a base and then it goes up from the base and splits into two different pieces but it is still held together!
http://www.febland.co.uk/product_thumbnails/fw374_the_v_shaped_black_chair.jpg

Sketch Models-Leaf project

This was a sketch model that I made for the "A place for a leaf" project. In this model i tried to use color opposites to make the leaf stand out, the leaf was green and the opposite of green is red. I painted the red and the yellow with water color on to pastel paper. Then i crinkled it up because i wanted to make it like the leaf in the way that it crinkled.

A Place for a Leaf

In Enviromental Design we were asked to design "a place for a leaf." I chose to Use the shape of the leaf as something similar in my project. I wanted to use contrast as well and since my leaf was so rough and crinkly i chose to make the paper smooth. The steam in my leaf was very prominent so i tried to mimic it in my project!
I was happy with my final project!