Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Porche` & Axonometrics
As this is a rare chance that I find to create hand drawings with my courses and I am still trying to form a stronger technique, I wanted to challenge myself and do my drawings by hand, as well as using a range of other methods to sharpen and clarify the images. I firstly scanned my technical hand drawing imported the image into Adobe Photoshop where I then touched the line work to form more crisp lines and added shading. The Axonometric drawing was hand drawn although I wanted to try something different with the shading to distinguish this drawing for the others. I added a Photoshop filter to it and added a unique style of crosshatching to give it a particular sketch feel.
Model Description.
When I first observed the painting drawn by Edward Hopper, I noticed the more typically interpretation of it, a married couple who although are living together they are very much apart and have little in common, the man seems reasonably content most likely ignoring the situation at hand, the women is dissatisfied with her married life and seems to be day dreaming. The set itself seems like a stage, as audience is peering through their window. I noticed things like their skin tone and postures, which helps to decode the paintings hidden meaning. As I started to delve more into what Hopper may have been to trying to express I discovered my own translation that I then conveyed in my short passage.
In my translation I focussed more on the woman in the painting, she stood out to me as it seemed as though she had something more deep to hide and was disguising more then anyone else may have noticed. It seems as though her marriage is a theatrical production for which she is playing the ideal housewife, the world is her audience whom put her role up on a pedal stool. Although she is much more then she leads her voyeurs to believe because beneath this whole façade she dreams of her perfect place where she is the voyeur and no one can see into her life, it is warm and comfortable and is a place where she can think for herself and discover the world beyond this cage of obligations and expectations.
My model design is a symbolic translation of my passage; every architectural feature represents a meaning.
The top level- which can also be considered as her “character” is designed which large open windows so show that she is being judged and peered at through every angle, with the columns framing and representing a very traditional style of architecture along with the exposed rafters in the ceiling which denotes the old-fashion way in which her obligations define her. The stool is placed in the centre with no comforting aspects, displaying her disassociation of the space and her constant unease in this cage.
The bottom level displays her true sense, and the place that she dreams of and sometimes escapes to for a brief moment. This true essence of this place is represented using warmth and scale, as well as architectural features and furniture. The fire place and skylight brings in the warmth, the ceiling features with the smooth round lines helps to convey a sense of freedom with the features indicating a path to the sky. The bookshelf symbolising her privilege of learning and discovering the world through the written word, which she can not usually do. The chair itself is large in scale depicting the priority of comfort in this space it is formed to symbolise that is a part of the space not just an addition. Finally, the window that she can see out and no one can see in, so she can be herself without watchful eyes.
In my translation I focussed more on the woman in the painting, she stood out to me as it seemed as though she had something more deep to hide and was disguising more then anyone else may have noticed. It seems as though her marriage is a theatrical production for which she is playing the ideal housewife, the world is her audience whom put her role up on a pedal stool. Although she is much more then she leads her voyeurs to believe because beneath this whole façade she dreams of her perfect place where she is the voyeur and no one can see into her life, it is warm and comfortable and is a place where she can think for herself and discover the world beyond this cage of obligations and expectations.
My model design is a symbolic translation of my passage; every architectural feature represents a meaning.
The top level- which can also be considered as her “character” is designed which large open windows so show that she is being judged and peered at through every angle, with the columns framing and representing a very traditional style of architecture along with the exposed rafters in the ceiling which denotes the old-fashion way in which her obligations define her. The stool is placed in the centre with no comforting aspects, displaying her disassociation of the space and her constant unease in this cage.
The bottom level displays her true sense, and the place that she dreams of and sometimes escapes to for a brief moment. This true essence of this place is represented using warmth and scale, as well as architectural features and furniture. The fire place and skylight brings in the warmth, the ceiling features with the smooth round lines helps to convey a sense of freedom with the features indicating a path to the sky. The bookshelf symbolising her privilege of learning and discovering the world through the written word, which she can not usually do. The chair itself is large in scale depicting the priority of comfort in this space it is formed to symbolise that is a part of the space not just an addition. Finally, the window that she can see out and no one can see in, so she can be herself without watchful eyes.
Setting the Scene
Although many students were able to create a landform with their models or emphasize on topography in this case I had to think of a more creative way to portray the setting. It is based in a New York City high-rise apartment. The way I tried to characterize this through the high base and flat, high front facade. This also helped to represent the concept of the stage. The columns on the front are features of the architectural characteristics of high-rise apartments during that particular era, and can also be seen in the foreground of the painting which tends to shape the image and create a stage-like sense.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Room in New York- Edward Hopper
When I first received this assignment I knew straight away which painting from Edward Hopper I would select, as this has always interested me and I have it to be a multi-dimensional image which has several layers and ideas that i could work with.
The selected work is: Room In New York- By Edward Hopper 1937.
Also the era in which it was painted helped to paint a clearer picture of the storey Hopper was trying to portray.
Expressive planarity dominates The Room in New York oil painting. He uses the figures as social puppets to portray sentiment for the scene. The woman seems to give a sense of awareness to the situation rather than the man who appears to be self consumed and preoccupied by the world around him. Although life has subsided in the figures the walls and the scene in the background has a vibrant sense, with lively colours. My eyes were automatically drawn to the pale female figure and the daydream she seems to be caught in. It may help her escape.
My original Narrative Sentence:
Voyeurs peer at a vibrant cage containing a lifeless couple, although they are contained together they are worlds apart. She is a dreamer trapped in a dungeon of his age-old obligations.
I edited my original sentence so that it told a clearer storey but through a more poetic sense.
NARRATIVE:
A woman placed on a pedestal, by the voyeuristic eyes from the world beyond her window, her obligations are her cage, her cage is her theatre. Faceless to her voyeurs, her truth, her comfort lies beneath the facade of this stage which 'they' call "her life".
The selected work is: Room In New York- By Edward Hopper 1937.
Also the era in which it was painted helped to paint a clearer picture of the storey Hopper was trying to portray.
Expressive planarity dominates The Room in New York oil painting. He uses the figures as social puppets to portray sentiment for the scene. The woman seems to give a sense of awareness to the situation rather than the man who appears to be self consumed and preoccupied by the world around him. Although life has subsided in the figures the walls and the scene in the background has a vibrant sense, with lively colours. My eyes were automatically drawn to the pale female figure and the daydream she seems to be caught in. It may help her escape.
My original Narrative Sentence:
Voyeurs peer at a vibrant cage containing a lifeless couple, although they are contained together they are worlds apart. She is a dreamer trapped in a dungeon of his age-old obligations.
I edited my original sentence so that it told a clearer storey but through a more poetic sense.
NARRATIVE:
A woman placed on a pedestal, by the voyeuristic eyes from the world beyond her window, her obligations are her cage, her cage is her theatre. Faceless to her voyeurs, her truth, her comfort lies beneath the facade of this stage which 'they' call "her life".
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
My Drawings
As this was my first time and probably my only opportunity to do some drawings without using a computer to help me I decided to hand draw all my parti and poche drawings. I must admit it was quite a challenge but I did learn a lot and I am glad I gave it shot. As you can there is very little shading in my poche drawings this is because the structure itself was designed to have internal structural supports by using columns and partition walls allowing the external frame to be light and non loading bearing which is how it allows so many windows. the building was intended to feel very light and open with a lot of natural lighting which meant if I had excessively shaded the building it would not have been true to the structure.
Creating the Model
We split the model making process in 3 Parts for each group member.
Tri- Had the entire left side of the building which may sound unfair although that part of the structure was very simple and had less rooms and detail then the right ride of the building. Also we gave him a hand when with the finer details.
Barney & I: had the right side of the building we worked as team creating floor by floor. As it was the first model I had ever created I didn't do any of the curved walls, my much experienced team members worked on that. Although by the end of the model making process I felt very confident in my abilities and I did improve. We worked on the model on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and even sacrificed a Sunday to work on it, although it was still a fun project to work on.
Tri- Had the entire left side of the building which may sound unfair although that part of the structure was very simple and had less rooms and detail then the right ride of the building. Also we gave him a hand when with the finer details.
Barney & I: had the right side of the building we worked as team creating floor by floor. As it was the first model I had ever created I didn't do any of the curved walls, my much experienced team members worked on that. Although by the end of the model making process I felt very confident in my abilities and I did improve. We worked on the model on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and even sacrificed a Sunday to work on it, although it was still a fun project to work on.
Understanding the space
In order for me to understand the structure well enough to model it, I formed up some images of the different spaces of the building and how the rooms are intended to be used. I also traced the plans using Archi-Cad to create floor plans for which my group could use in order to have a base for our model.
Background Information
Villa Savoye is located in Poissy France, Designed by Le Corbusier it is an early and classic example of the "International Style", which hovers above a grass plane on thin concrete pilotti, with strip windows, and a flat roof with a deck area, ramp, and a few contained touches of curvaceous walls.
"Unlike the confined urban locations of most of Le Corbusier's earlier houses, the openness of the Poissy site permitted a freestanding building and the full realization of his five-point program. Essentially the house comprises two contrasting, sharply defined, yet interpenetrating external aspects. The dominant element is the square single-storied box, a pure, sleek, geometric envelope lifted buoyantly above slender pilotis, its taut skin slit for narrow ribbon windows that run unbroken from corner to corner (but not over them, thus preserving the integrity of the sides of the square)."
—Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. p530.
—Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. p530.
Information gather from websites:
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)