That's a wrap...

With our final studio project done, I have a question: Which is more of a mess? Me or our studio space? Funny thing is, I wasn't intentionally trying to close my eyes for the photo...

We are now only 1 presentation away from finishing our undergraduate education!

Model Test

I thought I'd never have to use the shower in the Architecture Building but...



It proved useful as a dark space where I could test my model lighting. Sorry the following image is not the best quality... hard to hold the camera and the light in place at the same time!

Project 4 Physical Model

Spent today working in the shop and will continue on with my physical model tonight. In contrast to Mike's method of model-making, I have approached my model with 2D drawings. A printout helps me get a sense of the scale of my overall model. The end product will be a full building section at 1:100 cutting through areas that showcase the materiality used on the Cirque facility.

Project 4A

This post is a little delayed but for those who didn't see my project during crits yesterday (which I think is most of you since I was close to last) here is a little sample of what I produced.

Wall Section with diagrammatic shadow projections

Assembly

Shadow study with physical model


Possible shadows as seen from adjacent highway

The crit was really helpful with suggestions as to how I can tie this 'shadow play' within the rest of the building. Playing with varying degrees of transparency amongst the program of the facility will ensure appropriate visual connections to each activity and perhaps create layers of 'screens' (such as this first proposal) that one may view the various activities through.

And everything comes together...

Despite physically feeling less than 100%, I'm feeling a heck of a lot better about where I'm headed with my 'facade treatment', if I may.

I have located the training area of my facility on the highway side of our site as the large facade would best suit the scale of the freeway. (Smaller programmatic elements face the smaller street on the east.) Initially I wanted the acrobatics to be seen through the facade from the highway. However, considering the height of a person and the speed at which the cars are driving by... not such a great idea. Plus - I don't consider the highway a 'nice view' and therefore transparent glass is unnecessary. In addition to all this, a feature of my first iteration was to be panels that rotated and reflected sunlight into the training centre - kind of creating a 'passive light show'.

Keeping all this in mind, and speaking with Vince, I have moved on to a facade which diffuses light through channel glass. This type of glass allows daylight to pass through without the solar heat gain. This article has sold me on its performance in the desert: "...was required by building code to meet a very high level of energy efficiency to deal with the extreme high and low temperatures of the desert. The channel glass definitely helps with that." Furthermore, that passive light show I mentioned? With the channel glass, silhouettes of the acrobats will be projected (and thus enlarged) on the facade, as seen from the exterior. It reminds me of the Feist show I saw at Massey Hall (recently analyzed for Digital Tools, whoooaaa the connections!) where the only 'effects' used were beads, paint, cardboard etc. projected onto a backdrop by your typical school projector. (See images below)

Extensive use of channel glass at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art by Steven Holl Architects

Feist concert 'effects'

Oh, and remember how my whole building design concept was 'spatial awareness'/'movement of the body'? I'm happy that my facade (maybe used on interior elements too?) now reinforces that. Feeling a bit too relieved?... Probably.

Project 4 Design Concept

Richard Serra meets Daniel Liebskind

The concept behind my Cirque facility is the idea of spatial awareness. That is, a conscious recognition of the body's movement through space. Richard Serra is an artist who works with this concept and invites viewers to engage with his installations (walking in, through and around them). He speaks of one's relationship to a volume of space. More info on Richard Serra here.



Richard Serra's work mostly features curves. In my opinion, the program of the Cirque facility calls for straight lines and angles. Hence the inspiration drawn from Daniel Liebskind. From the couple Liebskind buildings I've visited (ROM in Toronto, CityCenter in Las Vegas) I feel that, however interesting the geometries may be, one feels removed from them once inside due to the large scale of the spaces. I suppose this is also because the angled planes do not continue down to the floor (as in the image below) and remain at play solely on the ceiling. Thus, fusing Serra's intimate approach with the Liebskind geometries is what I'm hoping to achieve with my design.

Cosmo - Las Vegas

In case anyone (Raz) is interested, received this via ArchDaily last night. Watch the video! Don't recall seeing those columns in any lobby...

And on to Project 4

I swear I'm trying my best to work on Marco Polo's essay. The architect I chose for that paper is Dan S. Hanganu who designed Cirque du Soleil's studio in Montreal. I have found a very insightful and informative video that describes the Cirque's facilities as well as some of the 'values' that the company is based on. There are even some remarks as to sustainable design. I really recommend you take a look at it; it has definitely got me brainstorming for Project 4!

View the video here.

Starbucks and Sirens

We all witnessed the grand opening of the new Starbucks Coffee shop by the Architecture Building on Thursday (a nice break from studio and a way to re-energize after a deadline!). With the Brandscapes readings in the back of our minds, some of us noticed the new logo on the cups. I found this article pretty interesting. Apparently the brand is so recognizable that it no longer needs to be associated with a name and the new logo (the lone siren) is more conducive to international markets.

image and logo evolution at: http://www.urbanity.ph/starbucks-new-logo/

Another note on sirens:

In my essay research I discovered that Siren's Cove at Treasure Island was formerly named Buccaneer Bay and the show was between a Royal Navy ship and the pirates. The production has changed to the pirate and sirens show as we now know it; an indication that 'sex sells' in Vegas.

Establishing a Spectrum

After doing some initial research I have put together the following chart of some potential 'players' to be features in my essay. The spectrum still needs to be narrowed down and sorted out but it is a helpful way of documenting each hotel for comparison purposes. The categories to the left (Shows, Gaming, Amenities, Retail/Hospitality) are ordered in a hierarchy... Sex-themed shows being the most obvious place to 'judge' the hotels, followed by their casinos (because they are the crux to most hotels) then the amenities (clubs and pools which attract large crowds) and finally restaurants and shops that allude to sex but in a less explicit manner.

Wanted: Library Book

Has anyone recently looked at the book 'The Themed Space: locating culture, nation and self' from the library? The catalogue says it's available but when I went to look for it, it was missing. Thought maybe one of you might have taken a look at it and shoved it back on the shelf somewhere else...

In Hindsight...

So I have returned to Toronto and just did some grocery shopping at Metro in order to replenish my fridge. Let me tell you, it feels very strange being back on campus and to our Canadian climate.

Going from this:

To this:

photo source

How could we not have learned a ton about designing under different climatic circumstances?

Looking back at the trip as a whole, I realize that there is just so much to see in Vegas and I will have to head back eventually to check out what I missed. I, for one, did not get a chance to visit every single hotel. In addition, I snapped some photos on the plane and, though I'm not 100% sure we flew directly over the Grand Canyon, I was in awe at the rugged landscape. A trip to the Grand Canyon is certainly on the itinerary for my next visit. It's unfortunate we didn't get to see it this time around but, as I mentioned, Las Vegas Blvd itself was a lot to take in.

Also, just to quickly add to Tricia's 'Crystals' post, in addition to concerns for maintenance we were intrigued by the lightshow on the cladding as well (Louis Vuitton portion). We suspect that the light source is on the cladding itself (as opposed to projected on to the building by an external source).

Night 'lightshow' (left of the palm trees)

Lightsource: the grid of 'dots'?

Missed Opportunities

Spent most of today wandering the strip with our Project 3 topics in mind. Though not specifically part of any of the questions we were given, we noted some missed opportunities in Luxor after taking the diagonal elevator up to the 16th floor.

1) Looking down at the flat roofs of the exhibition/restaurant/etc spaces below is really unattractive and has the potential to be put to better use... If even just for advertising?

2) There is no showcasing of the diagonal elevators... they are completely encased in concrete. Why not make a spectacle of it?

Also - The elevators made Tricia really dizzy.

Biomimcry Case Studies: Ventilation and Air Control

Here are the projects I will be assembling information on pertaining to ventilation and air control.

For the desert climate:

Eastgate Centre in Harare Zimbabwe by Mick Pearce/Arup Associates

(thanks, Jordan, for letting me use it!)

The building is modeled after termite mounds and the way in which cool air flushes warm air out the top (think of stack effect) by opening and closing vents. They use the control of temperature in order to harvest a certain fungi (their food source) which can only be produced at a specific temperature.

For the cold climate:

Here I've been looking at a few options but I have focused on Manitoba Hydro Place by KPMB

I have yet to tie the passive air features to a natural process but the building uses winter gardens which are described as 'lungs' to the building, a solar chimney for stack-effect as well as water features which act as humidifiers/dehumidifiers. At least it has a lot of potential...

Production Mode

Current status: My design has been 'finalized' after adding the actual structural steel component to it... Don't think the SSEF would have been too impressed otherwise. This also means that the whole changing stall is no longer all made of steel so no one will be burning their hands... win-win! In addition, I have all the Rhino tutorials under my belt and even have Rhino on my laptop now (after 3 hours of failed attempts)!

Here's what I have to (attempt to) model:

connection to wall (with the HSS tapering to one flat piece) and connection of stall to fin

overall idea of how everything will look except the fins will face inward so that the structure can rotate and be positioned flush against the wall when not in use over the winter

Carrying on...

Still going strong with my concept of using the functional aspect of a nictitating membrane as the driving force to my design. In this case, a visual protection - privacy - from others while changing on a beach. In addition to this, a new part of the eye has been examined: the iris. This part of the human eye controls the light allowed to reach the retina. A mechanical iris (diaphragm) is often used in photography (as the aperture or sometimes the shutter) to let in certain amounts of light. In my design the same principle will be applied on the 'ceiling' of each changing stall. Opening and closing the door/'membrane' also opens and closes the ceiling/'iris'. A person is protected from the view of others but has light in order to change clothes.

Iris Mechanism I quickly modeled... just kidding.

Initial Ideas

Birds. My first subject was the peacock and how its tail (train) fans outward from a stack of long feathers piled on atop the other. Moving away from this, and looking at another body part, a discussion of nictitating membranes pushed the design away from such a radial formation. This membrane is an extra 'layer', if you will, that some animals have to protect and moisturize the eye. I immediately thought of a photo (above) that I had seen recently at the World Press Photo 2010 exhibit (in the Brookfield Place, of all places). Using the membranes as a starting point for biomimicry, there is now a functional component tied to my idea of 'layers' (the membrane plus the eyelids). Both are used to protect the eyes: the membrane is drawn linearly across the eye whilst the upper and lower eyelids meet when you blink...

Specific examples of activated membranes include birds feeding their newborn - sharp new beaks that are poking in every direction - as well as the use of the membrane for vision underwater (like the photo of the hunting kingfisher). Polar bears have transparent nictitating membranes to protect from snow blindness. In windy conditions, the membrane keeps the eyes moist. I could continue...

As for the application of this 'feature' in my project, there is definitely potential to use this idea of protection in other ways. On my mind right now are shading devices (or some kind of light filtration) and/or privacy screens. I was initially thinking of a museum lighting device, but then ran into the problem of designing the museum which is not in the scope of the project. The next idea that came about was changerooms/stalls on a beach. Anyone have other thoughts?