On the seventh day...

Much has happened between, but now it is time for a much needed update.

The Cirque training centre has given me much difficulty. Initially, I began with the idea of using words to guide my design process. Cirque defines itself with three; dexterity, grace and daring.

I tried to create a form that encapsulated all of this by designing something that gave visitors a feeling of floating, or bringing them to another plane that they couldn't be on otherwise.

That led me to this:

Forms hovering above the ground, with the idea of ascension present in most of the early schemes. However, the bulkiness of the program, such as the height of the training spaces made it feel much less graceful and dexterous than I intended. And so, I scrapped it.

Then I read. Rick Joy is an architect from Tucson, Arizona who seems to be getting some attention these days. His semi-recent book, desert works, has a foreword by Steven Holl, and an introduction by Juhani Pallasmaa, which is where I have found my new inspiration.

Pallasmaa writes about the desert in a way that made me think of it as something other than just sand and rock.

"The immense emptiness of desert landscapes such as the African and Australian Sand deserts or the all white expanses of snow above the Polar Circle, radiating a strange appeal and emotional power. These settings erase the traces of man and evoke an experience of timelessness. The total absence of vegetation exposes the naked skin of the earth and turns the landscape into a tactile and muscular experience. Landscape becomes an extension of the human skin.

...

It is probably the sublime vastness and the sense of a divine void that has attracted these artists. The desert floor provides the tabula rasa for creative work that breaks from the confined and conditioned spaces of cities and museums. It gives a new context to the endeavours and products of modern man. A rusting carcass of a car appears brutal in a setting of lush greenery, but appears a fragile memento of human vulnerability and the vanity of human effort under the desert sun."

This has inspired me to think of the flat landscape as something much more than a spot to 'place' the building, but to think of the ground as something that will become a part of the building.

But what form will it take? How will it be fully resolved? Stay tuned.

P4A

Here are some of the images produced for the component design aspect of P4A. Similar to many of the other component designs, the issue I chose to tackle was that of sunlight and solar gain. While some designs opted to use mechanical systems, my main goal was to develop a fixed component that could track sunlight throughout the day and the seasons for optimal day lighting without direct sunlight in the performers, swimmers or visitors eyes.

Admittedly time was not on my side (excuses, excuses) and I settled for a design that was not entirely true to my intentions. Given a bit more time and a few less anxiety attacks, I think the design could have benefitted from another set of iterations. In its current state, the component, though perhaps effective in the sense of sun distribution, is not fitting with my overall design and simply feels tacked on rather than integrated with the overall intention. (Too honest?)

That is not to say I am unhappy with the project. While the component wasn’t developed to the level that I had envisioned, the project gave me the opportunity to think beyond the conventional methods of sun shading and the fabrication aspect gave me with a chance to finally use the vacuum form (4 years later…) Though I am content with the component for this portion of the submission, I intend on further refining it (as much as 13 days will allow) to better suit the overall design.

My original intentions for the exploration of a wall system are seen in the first two (very schematic) renderings. The last rendering (a roof component rather than a wall component) ended up being the final iteration (Thursday night panic, anyone?)

View from the top...

...view from the bottom.
In it's current state, the view from the atrium below isn't quite as engaging as the view from above (previous image.) Hopefully a more effective solution will be reached for the final submission.

Fabrication of the component using the laser cutter to create a negative of the desired shape
and then assembled and vacuum formed. One part fun, two parts stressful.

Voila, the final model.

P4A - MORE STUFF

Image to the left: Showcases the different conditions within the arid climate. The light well optimizes the ventilation within the space by controlling the size of the apertures. Keep in mind, to increase the cross ventilation, the inlet and outlet apertures must increase in size by maintaining a 1:2 ratio in order to be effective. (Yes, there will be more components around the large training facility that will work accordingly).







Such an improvement!!











Believe it or not.. its still soaking in the shop!












Unfortunately the mechanism did not operate at its best in this model. Nevertheless, you can see the effect I was trying to achieve