Week 4- Take #3 Process

Brainstorm of Topic

We received the topic ‘The meeting of ocean and land’, and first went about brainstorming how we could represent this using space.

We couldn’t think of anything, so instead created a mindmap of exactly what meanings we connote between ‘land’ and ‘ocean’. By creating a more abstract notion of this meeting through their connotations, we were able to come up with a lot more in terms of ideas.

We decided to take the route of showing the meeting of ‘land’ and ‘ocean’ as a metaphor for the meeting of the known and the unknown. This led us to wanting to represent the mystery between that meeting, and the transition between the two themes.

Initial Sketches of Ideas

We initially wanted to take the route of displaying geometrical shapes around the site reminiscent of fish tanks, showing silhouettes of creatures within them that were unidentifiable.

We thought this may be too ambitious for the time frame within which to submit – we were a group made of people who missed the first class of the week. Instead, we decided to work with these designs drawn by Gwyn Jones, based on original designs by Blair George:

Research

Seeing as we had already come up with the design to be translated into sketch up, it made most sense to research into the structure of the whale bones leading into the sea. This research could then be implemented into texturing the model, or in creating an accurate shape of the arches.

DCF 1.0

Blue whale skeleton in Antarctica, on the shore at Port Lockroy, Antarctica. This skeleton is composed primarily of blue whale bones, but there are believed to be bones of other baleen whales included in the skeleton as well.

Final Images of Take #2: Plan/Section/Elevation

The following are some images from the Sketchup model, rendered using Indigo, then Photoshopped to situate them in an environment.

For a change, here are some perspective images of the site take from Twinmotion.

Twinmotion Tests

We didn’t create quite as many as required, mostly due to the lifetime it takes to export shots from twinmotion onto a USB.

Please excuse the quality, we pay $35 monthly at the cube for internet for our downloads to look like this.

Week 6- Final Take #4 Images

Class Review of Take #4 Early Images

I presented these images to a group of peers to receive feedback and suggestions on how it could be improved for final presentation.

I made note of the suggestions and feedback to apply for further improvement.

Pre-Photoshop Take #4 Rendered Images

Take #4 Absolute Final Plan/Section/Elevation/Perspective

Using the suggestions given in the feedback sessions, I Photoshopped the rendered images to situate them in an environment. I also put in some silhouettes of people using the space to indicate scale, and show that the area is designed to be an additional park setting by the gelato shop. I wanted the images to have a warmer tone to appear less lighting, so I added warmer ambient lighting. I also attempted to keep better consistency across the images to indicate that they are all the same space.

Take #4 Additional ‘Drawing’ (Trial)

I had planned to make a short twinmotion video exhibiting the rain falling on the glass roof, which was a main feature linking the design to the concept of ‘meeting between tears and the cheek.’ I didn’t like it, twinmotion didn’t register the surfaces, and I couldn’t get rid of the shutter effect on the water surface in video.

Take #4 Additional ‘Drawing’ (Final)

So I did this instead.

 

Week 5- Take #4 Process

Brainstorm of Topic

My topic of choice from the post-it notes on the window was ‘the meeting between tears and the cheek.’ I wanted to move away from what I believed to be the obvious route – making a structure based off the emotional connotation of tears, and the kind of site that would be associated with it. Instead, I tried to think of the physical meeting between tears and the cheek, considering the curving and organic shapes, the transition between creation and destruction, the movement involved, and so forth.

Research

I remember once reading about how each tear contains a unique crystalline structure which changes depending on the emotion that produced it – I believe this to be due to a reaction with the hormones which alter the structure of the tear. A photography project by Rose-Lynn Fisher entitled ‘The Topography of Tears’ shows photographs of different types of tears, which I wanted to adopt for my structure on the site.

I want to incorporate the crystalline structures of the different types of tears into sculptural shelters of sorts made from glass around the site. I found it fascinating to think how the violent, explosive nature of tears photographed in this manner emulate the forcefulness of the emotions that produce them. As such, I wanted to use similar shapes for my sculptural elements, reminiscent of a wave breaking to continue the metaphor.

References:

• Fisher, Rose-Lynn. The Topography of Tears. Museum Ostwald, Dortmund, Germany. Photograph. <http://www.rose-lynnfisher.com/tears.html&gt;.

Sketches of Ideas

Expanding on my conclusions drawn from research and the thoughts considered in my brainstorm, I experimented with ideas and sketches to consolidate my ideas.

Sketchup Modeling of Take #4

I was glad that this time I was able to make the final model so similar to the plan drawings. My confidence with SketchUp has really improved over the past few weeks, which has enabled me to realise more complex designs. It was still monstrously irritating to try and create geometry which didn’t follow axes though.

Anyhoo, I’m happy with this, although a little worried that the monochromatic colour scheme and glass is too reminiscent of ice, which wasn’t quite what I was going for. I wanted to put some warmer mood lighting in my rendered images, and possible more ambient setting and colours through Photoshopping the renders.

Rendered Images of Take #4

These are the images I’ll be printing off for peer review on Tuesday.

Week 3- Class Work and Notes

Straight Line Drawing Practice

I feel like I’m slowly improving on this front – particularly looking back at my drawing practice from Week 1.

Class Sketches

I could have sown more layering of the different textures and materials in the ground and water separation. I feel that would have made the drawing look more like a section study and less like perspective.

Indigo Software Notes