Project 6 - House on stilts

For this project we were given three weeks as opposed to our usual two to design something which Geoff had allocated us. Luckily for me I was excited by what Geoff had given me as it allowed me to explore many dimensions and hopefully come up with something a bit unusual and more exciting than some of my previous projects. 'A house on stilts' was what Geoff gave me to create. At first I thought this may seem a bit mundane as all I would be doing was designing a house and the putting stilts underneath it. However after extensive research I found out that stilts can do much more for a house than simply lower it off the ground. In fact I came to find that probably one of the most advanced houses in the world needed a stilt in order for it to function as it does today. By the end of the project I managed to create something which I was really pleased with and could actually see functioning as its purpose wants it to.

Kelong

This is a house built on stilts primarily for the purpose of fishing. There are six other types of stilt houses that I know of each with a different purpose. These range from providing some shade to protecting from deadly animals.

Horizontal stilts

This image shows how stilts don't have to be conventional. Depending on where the build is it may be sensible to have stilts coming from the side. If my project did not evolve how it did I would have tried to employ the use of stilts from different angles.

Heliotrope

This house on stilts is a concept designed by Rolf Disch a German architect. It has a single stilt and is optimised for energy efficiency. It has dozens of features making it so energy efficient and allowing it to produce six times the energy it uses. Amoung these are the obvious spinning solar panel on the top of the building. However my favourite is the meters and metres of metal cladding around the building which have to purpose of providing all the hot water for the building purely by being heated by sunlight.

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I decided to use the same idea of harnessing energy. However soon as many stilt houses are situated by water where there tends to be wind I decided to use wind turbines as my source of creating energy.

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Using illustrator I designed type of cladding which includes turbines already installed within the walls. This allowed me to quickly create many walls with this on.

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However after creating many thinking this would be the best way to harness energy I decided to use the cylindrical idea to create my final outcome. This is because it allows for wind to be used from any angle and also gives an unconventional shape.

Although the images do not show this very well one side of the build has a more concentrated amount of turbines which allows for the side which is windiest (the water-front side) to harness this energy efficiently.

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When thinking about materials to use I wanted to try and stick with the eco-friendly theme. However I realised that realistically I would probably have to use concrete to ground the building. Therefore this would be needed in the foundations and in the stilts. Moreover I decided to use steel to create a durable and robust frame. This could then be cladded with glass and wood depending on were each material would fit best.

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At first I was going to situate the building by the sea. However I decided to think a bit more radically and decided that I would want it to go in a city. Specifically in London on top of a high up building over-looking the river. This therefore would mean that it was exposed to high volumes of wind and would be more eye catching. 

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Firstly the stair case is designed to run around the outside in order to save space. However of course at this height and being where I would want it to be it would of course be enclosed and protected from the outside environment. Therefore glass cladding would surround it. Furthermore it would be a luxurious one bedroom home suitable for either a single person or a couple.

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On the second floor you can see how there would be a living room facing in a slightly different direction in order to gain from the panoramic views. Moreover all toilets would be kept in the middle of the building in order to create privacy. 

If I were to do this project again I would have considered more the amount of space which wind turbines would consume. Of course I realised this however did not incorporate these difficulties into the build as I thought it may over complicate things which would be beyond my skill set.

Project 5 - Designing for a client

Over the next two weeks we began to design an object/building which our client had decided they wanted us to design for them. This gave us the opportunity to experience something which was more realistic, and could gain transferable skills which we will need once we start our career. The project started by each of us being given a list of about fifty paired words from which we had to pick one of the two in order that the sheet left twenty five words. For example paired words were that such as 'harry potter or lord of the rings', or 'winter or summer' ect. From this we then gave our sheets to the person whom we would be giving orders to design something for us. Once we recieved our sheet we then had to find five images for five different words. For example one of the words I chose from the list of twenty five was 'wood'. From this I then looked into naturally reoccurring patterns (coming from looking at ringlets in wood) and was able to start getting inspiration. The other words I chose to research as well as wood where 'summer', 'hard', 'abstract', and 'harry potter'. After having researched these words and interestingly not before Geoff got us to meet with our client in order to discuss what we would make. I thought this was a good way round of doing this as it made things more random and was therefore more likely that we would be inspired to create something more unique. My client was Daniella and she told me that she wanted me to create a cafe. From this I then began to research into cafe's, where it may be, and what materials I might use.

Inspired leaf

This came from looking at patterns in wood. I liked this image due to the repetition and it made me think that I may possibly design something with a reoccurring pattern.

Wood

Not only did wood give me the inspiration for a continual pattern but as I decided to make something in a hot country due to the word 'summer' which I chose, I thought it may be a good building material. 

Cafe Melba

The reason I chose this cafe for inspiration is because I like the continual yet minimalistic design. 

Cafe outdoor

Notice that this building incorporates both indoors and outdoors using the same roof. This is an idea I would like to carry through to use on my final outcome. 

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The cafe I designed has limited seating indoors as I designed it to incorporate both indoor and outdoor as part of its seating plan. Therefore it is very open planned and has no rigid window. The materials used would be only wood.

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The seating plan indoors would only accommodate for about ten people or less. However I envisioned that this cafe would be situated near a beach or maybe even on a beach. Often then people would want to either sit outside or possibly even take away whatever they order.

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The roof design shows it would not cover the whole building. This is so that it would provide some shade but not completely shade the whole building. This would therefore allow for people to enjoy a slightly cooler place whilst still getting a tan. 

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The tables would be secured to the floor so that when no one is there they could not be taken. Moreover the coffee machines, fridges ect would all be portable and stored at night in a locked contained away from the cafe. This means that no locking up is required and it can be left open. Also if it were to rain or become too hot simple white plastic sheet could be rolled over the windows and roof via a pulley system.

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The counter means that in order to buy something form this cafe you do not need to enter it. The same counter which is used inside also has an extended bit which spans across the outside window so that customers can leave without entering.

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Finally the shadows demonstrate nicely how they would create partial shadows providing some shade. If I were to do this again I would show more clearly how the portable parts of the cafe would exit and enter the building. This would make it easier for people to see exactly how my outdoor cafe would work.

Project 4 - Catalysts presentation

For this project we started it by over the easter holidays finding one hundred images which fell under the categories: conceptualism, minimalism, abstraction, modernism, and digital. Each of these is an art movement and had serious significance in its time and some even still have profound affects now. Once we returned from the easter holidays with these images we took a trip to the V&A where we were asked to look around finding things which fell into each of these categories in order to test our understanding. After this we then had to choose one of these movements and create something which was compatible. I decided to create something conceptual which had a minimalist finish. I therefore started to research more into the meaning of conceptual finding out that artistically it means that often the appearance of the art piece is trying to portray something. From this I tried to derive a meaning which I cold then use to create something. I therefore decided that something could therefore have a double meaning or even a double purpose. That week I saw a video on collapsible items. Anna my tutor then informed me that such a book existed so I took it out from the library and began to create this time an indoor piece of furniture. 

Hani Rashid

This was designed by Mr Rashid. It is in Dubai and situated over a racetrack. There are many reasons why I like this building. However two of my favourites are that it has the purpose of being a hotel and having the wow factor of being over a race track. Moreover I enjoy its outer shell allows it to light up and change colour. The clear theme here being that its a versatile building.

Thomas Heatherwick 

The rolling bridge at Paddington is another fantastic example of something with fantastic functionality. It is able to adapt for its purpose whilst also being something of great beauty. This here inspired me to create something which could change shape.

Ottakringer (ladder chair)

From the book collapsible I found this chair/ladder. I like the design due to the ease of changing between the two and the way in which it functions very well as both.

Authors own

I decided to create a retractable staircase. The reason for this was that I wanted a house hold object I could use and also something which maybe took up a lot of room.

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When designing the staircase I knew that practically as well as aesthetically it would have to be minimal. Therefore I decided that it may have to be slightly less child friendly in order to create this. 

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I felt that it should be situated within either student accommodation where there is confined room. Or in a place where room is scarce. For example in small flats in cities ect. 

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As you can see the stair case folds down the the top. However in reality my model does not show how I envisioned it working. I would have had it folding from top and bottom at the same time so that it met at the bottom in the middle.

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The reason I would have had each end folding simultaneously is because this is how I imagined it working. There would have been spring-loaded runners on both the wall and floor which at the click of a button would have released the stairs so that they folded down.

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The folding however would have had to be managed if I where to use spring-loaded runners. This is because otherwise the stairs could go flying together at speed and damage the parts. Therefore some weight distribution would have had to have been worked out.

            

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The folded staircase could have been used as a bookshelf or even a shoe rack. If I were to create this again I would definitely have created a better model as this model does not portray the expectations I had of the outcome. This was due to it proving difficult to find the material to make exactly what I wanted. However I still feel I could have made something which would have shown it slightly better than this.

Project 3 - Solid works

For this project we split off from being with Geoff and were taught by Levis for the two weeks. By the end of the two weeks we were told we would create an object to go inside a snow globe. Here the project was aimed at becoming more environmentally friendly. This was driven by the fact that the object we would be 3D printing once we had designed it on the solid works programme would be printed using PLA. PLA stands for polylacticacid and is 100% recyclable. This material would be used in whatever object we created. Despite solid works being a programme used by product design students as I am looking to do architecture I decided to create a building anyway. Over the course of the two weeks I thoroughly enjoyed using solid works and understanding a new programme. Soon as none of us knew how to use it already we all had the chance to create something coming from the same standard. I think I picked up quite quickly how to use the programme in its simplest way of course. I would start creating something by first making a shape and from the cutting into it or adding things onto it in order to give me the final result. My outcome came simply from messing around on the programme. I have no initial drawings from this project as all I did was create new objects digitally each time. 

PLA

The material above is PLA. Unfortunately when printing the PLA printer was not working so we could not use it. Therefore any different textures we had given to separate parts of our designs would not show up.

Snow globe

This simply demonstrates what our outcome would look like. However we would be using jars. Unfortunately though due to not being able to use PLA we could not fill our jars with water as this would have made the material we where going to use disintegrate.

Cob build

The building above was shown on an episode of grand designs made using cob (water, clay, and straw). This could be a possible building solution if people where to become more interested in the trade. It is much more eco-friendly than most builds and as the man was designed and built this has shown it can be used on a large scale. However it definitely could not be used for a building much bigger than this and certainly not a hotel.

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This is one of my original designs. It shows similarities to my final design however I completely recreated it so that I could change many things. This was done simply by extruding into a shape.

This was a more advanced design I made however still initial. Creating the curved edges was something I wanted to do however I wanted to use these as lift shafts so had severe difficulty cutting away at the edges.

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This was almost my final design I was just messing around seeing the different materials I could print using. Had I had the money and material this would have been what a chrome model would look like.

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The highlighted blue area is the lift shaft. At this point in time I was changing the lift area so that I could make glass.

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This was the final render I created using solid works. If we had the materials this is how it would have come out looking. Unfortunately when in the 3D printer it did not print exactly how I wanted it to. The main draw back being the loss of the roof.

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Despite the loss of the roof I was really pleased once the model come out. It has a very industrial concrete look which I quite like. Moreover the missing bottom part was unintended however could be used as a grand entrance.

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If I where to recreate this I would probably have tried to complicate this further. This may have been possibly by adding another block coming out of it, or even by placing a completely different base to it.

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The thing I really do like about my design however is the division between the floor levels. The gaps create a very cool place for huge glass panes to slot in. This would allow for ample light in the building on both sides. 

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This shows what the building may have looked like in a snow globe. I personally prefer it would of cage as this allows it to have to perspective and therefore could be hundreds of feet tall.

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The floor plan shows how there would be two rooms per floor with each room accessed by its own lift. An emergency stair well would be situated in the middle so as to not detract from the panoramic views provided by the huge glass windows.

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We finally made a box packaging in illustrator despite not actually having a functional snow globe. This however allowed me to further develop my illustrator skills.

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To evaluate this project I must say that I really enjoyed it and learnt a lot from it. If I where to do it again I think I would try to be more experimental the solid works programme and try to develop many different buildings.

Project 2 

For this project Geoff gave each of us an item which he brought in from which we had to derive a model. We where allowed to do this where we incorporate the item itself, or we could use the item purely for inspiration. I was given a potty to use. Wanting to do an architecture based course I knew that I would have to design a building from this. I did not at first discard the thought of incorporating the potty however when it came to my outcome it ended up being something quite different. In order to get to this outcome though I used many different methods of experimentation. These ranged from simply photographing the potty from different angles, and different ways up, to tracing over these images, and even to cutting up the potty to try and find some structural elements it possessed.  I tried to think of how its shape could be functional which lead me to think of a stadium however my outcome varied greatly from this. 

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By turning the potty this way up and placing small figurines there I was able to envision quite a large building, and the potential for a large entrance area where the opening was.

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This immediately lead me to think of designing a hotel. When placing tracing paper over the potty I found that if I followed the curvature it had it lent itself nicely to a huge sail shaped building.

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I then however quickly was reminded that this was only a two week project and that to develop a floor plan for such a large scale build may come with its difficulties. I therefore began to design a more conventional home for a small family.

Ricardo Bofill

After finding inspiration from Ricardo Bofill's designed hotel in Barcelona I decided that I needed a much smaller scale entrance. His is situated where the huge block is in front of the curve.

Carl Pitts

Looking at the design above I thought I may try to incorporate some greenery into the curve on my build. This would not only make it more attractive but also could hep to serve another purpose. 

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I first created this. It was soon pointed out to me that for a hotel this would be fine. However for a two or three story house this would be much too thin and that the entrance too low so I quickly redesigned it.

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I decided to give the build three floors. The ground floor mainly to be used as space for parking ect, and the other two floors to be used as a living space.

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If I where to have created this as a real building I would have used grass on the whole of the curve. After that the main materials used would have been steel, wood cladding, and one huge glass sheet to cover the front of the building. This would be able to turn from opaque to transparent at the click of a button on each floor.

The intended glass here is shown simply using a translucent piece of plastic. However it portrays well how the light enters the building. Perhaps if I where to design this again I would have put in more windows on the side of the building to allow extra light in. However due to where the bedrooms are situated its not a major fall back. 

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The ground floor simply shows the stair case at the back, the parking area (garage) in the middle, and the office space at the front. Its quite an empty design downstairs but is kept so in order to provide a garage. However I could have not had a garage and utilised the space differently, but I felt that the curve lent itself well to a garage like entrance.

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The spiral in the centre represents a spiral staircase. Where the kitchen is I should have demonstrated that there would be a window there. However the master bedroom at the front would be an luxurious room for a couple, with enough space to accommodate for a child in the rear bedroom.

Finally the top floor has no diving walls and is all open planned. The small block on the left at the back shows where there would be a dumbwaiter. This would allow for food to be passed between the kitchen and the upstairs dinning room. The front of the room is a nice large living room which would have the view of the window spanning the whole way across.