This is the End

So this will be our last post. Please remember to also check out our development pages (links are at the top) to see how we have arrived at these concepts. This has been both a very difficult, and very rewarding semester. We look forward to see what next year brings us!

Failed Silicon moulds

Over the semester, we have tried to make a few avatars, however our moulds mostly failed. This, we believe, was mainly due to the low quality silicon we initially bought, a lesson we have now learnt for the future. In one case, however, we didn't wrap the silicon around the plasticine properly, and only discovered this when we tried to make an avatar out of ice, which sadly didn't work as the mould leaked.

Andy's avatar

Here is a picture of Andy's successful wax avatar. Unfortunately it broke over the course of the semester, however it was whole to begin with. This has taught us that it is important to document everything immediately!

Manu's Transmaterial Cards

Andy's Transmaterial Cards

Ingrid Anna's Transmaterial Cards

ArchiBJZ Plant Rooms review

Ingrid Anna:

For their final workshop, ArchiBJZ had very little to show us. This was due to the fact that they had been concentrating more on work for another class. However, there were some very interesting moments in the two plant room models they did display.

Their city plant room juxtaposed an exquisite curving façade with a more rigid, triangulated enclosure. The model was not quite complete, with their connection methods not yet fully realised, but on the curving side they had rather elegant slender columns running through their curved mass. The pieces which made up this curving mass were numerous, laser cut from a mesh model. They decided that plants would either grow on the mesh or within it, and that the mass of this over all object also allowed it to be inhabited by humans, and are working on developing the mesh interiors as stairs, a concept we found quite original.

On the other hand, the enclosure on the other side of their city plant room was intended to contrast with the calming, curving mass, and act as a more hostile space. Small triangular pieces of semi transparent plastic were stuck together to form an enclosure. Originally, ArchiBJZ were intending on having these pieces laser cut as well, however they decided that they liked the opacity of their final material, as it would let in sunlight, vital for plant life, as well as cause a greater contrast between the more solid curving mass. We believe that this was quite a good decision and that the difference between both sides was more clear due to their decision. This side of their model was not yet fully complete complete, however, with their connection methods lacking in intricacy. Currently they are just stuck together with blu-tac, however ArchiBJZ informed us that they do intend to come up with a more elegant solution: drilling tiny holes into the sides of the plastic pieces and hence connecting them.

Similarly, ArchiBJZ's Waiheke plant room was also incomplete. They did, however, have a very interesting concept for what they finally wished it to be. Inspired by the 2011 Serpentine Gallery, ArchiBJZ had part of their plant room going underground. They wished to create a very interesting spatial experience on the interior through the use of light. The Waiheke plant room was constructed of multitudes of laser cut circles, all slightly moved to the side. This meant that the roof would be fully covered and that light would be able to filter through the gaps. They also intended this to give the building an over all sense of movement, with the sliding of the circles. The connection methods of this model are currently very poor, as these rings were held together with masking tape. However, ArchiBJZ did have the interesting idea of holding the rings together with one solid element to one side, which would create an undulating, curving wall. We hope to be able to see this when complete as this sounds like quite a sophisticated solution.

Both plant rooms had a strong relation to their respective hotels. Their city plant room was intended to be placed between two parts of their hotel components, acting as a bridge between them. Their Waiheke plant room actually was the hotel, with only the top few levels being occupied by plants. Over all, we believe that ArchiBJZ have some very interesting ideas and lots of potential, however they will really have to sit down and work in order to fully realise these before our final deadline in one week. We look forward to see what they produce.

44 Grey Between 2 Walls Review

Manu:
We reviewed the last workshop that consisted of the use of second life as a way to express the fundamental ideas of the hotels design. Although second life encountered a glitch problem during that time at which the students were investing their time on, group 44 successfully demonstrated a clear idea of what their journey was all about.

The basic ethic of both hotels addressed a particular interest towards the classism age of the 19^th century. Those were referred to the structure of the building (one situated on the island side especially), in particular the visual aspect of the doric columns and how it was evenly spaced in a circular manner that formed a coliseum as a whole. Looking at its elevation, the columns supporting the structure of the building formed a curvilinear paradigm, ones that closer to its center from the middle, while spreading as they further themselves away from its center and thus creating different length of balconies at different heights.  Interesting use of space and therefore different size of atriums was also another important aspect of their design, which as a whole generated different journey experience in different parts of the building.

The second hotel comprised of two gigantic facades both using identical roman images. Blank pixelated squares could be seen on the façade that would infuse with the main image as we clicked on, in which helped creating a contrast of both private and public to its user within those occupying space that covered the surface area of the pixel. Despite the fact that the interior of the city hotel wasn’t entirely completed (due to the glitch problem), group 44 had the idea of using that space as a way to express both the effective impact of private and public within a building. Double height space was considered as part of their design, thus creating a sense of ambiguity within its occupying space that portrayed a deep feeling of ‘seeing while not being seen’.

As a whole, group 44 successfully demonstrated the ideals behind their design, where their architectural techniques clearly conveyed us what they were going after.

Ingrid Anna:

Despite issues with Secondlife that were beyond their control, 44 Grey had a very impressive presentation that demonstrated just how much thought had been put into the details of their design. Their island hotel is intended to be a day spa made up of different microclimates, and had a very well considered interior. Their city hotel plays with the notions of privacy and publicity and considered the façade as a screen made up of many interactive pixels.

Rejuvenation was one of the main points of the island hotel. An internally focused day spa, the island hotel is made up of atriums with differing microclimate. The atriums in the centre of the hotel contain facilities, and none of the atriums contain windows to the outside- this is a very introspective design. Balconies lead between undulating atrium forms and the exterior, filling the voids between the atrium and the façade with useable space. The entrance is hidden: the bottom levels of the island hotel are flooded, and one enters the hotel via boat. This increases the overall privacy of the hotel These were the concepts that 44 Grey showed us, but they certainly hadn't been their only ones. 44 Grey had spent much time discussing their ideas and it showed. They had considered many things, from moving floors and the use of figures as both ornamentation and as structural elements; with figures acting like columns on their interior. The effort put into the idea behind this design was admirable and their outcome was beautifully elegant.

Their city hotel unfortunately didn't really show up on Secondlife due to issues with the server, yet it appeared to be well thought out as well. The city hotel has a massive façade with images covering it like a film strip. These images relate back to the treatment of the figure in Classicism, looking at Romantic paintings and the like. They also helped to portray one of the themes in the building, the thin line between privacy and publicity. When a light is turned on in the building, the image on the façade turns off, like a dying pixel. This means that whoever is in the room is now completely visible to the outside world. The plan of the rooms enhance this notion. Similar to designs by Le Corbusier, 44 Grey had a hallway on every 3rd floor, with rooms above and below this. These rooms have some double-height spaces, and the plan gives the occupant the ability to move on both sides of the building- the public and private sides. 44 Grey did express that they weren't yet entirely happy with the simple, box like shape of the design, but they do seem to have a lot of good concepts to work with. We are very much looking forward to see what they produce in the future.

ArchiBJZ vehicles review

Manu:

The group we previously overviewed consisted of the making of two vehicles, each joining from a landing point to another (Auckland and Waiheke); ones function revolved around the use of non-renewable energy in order to travel from one side to the other, while the other relied on renewable energy. The first compulsory vehicle they used was a lantern that operated by the combustion of hydrogen produced from the flames created underneath of the lantern. Few modifications had to be made in order to improve the function ability of the vehicle, including the idea of adding and removing parts of the object, as well as distorting the shape of it. Materials such as seaweed and rice paper had to be involved for the process of modifying it. As we got to the part of testing the flying vehicle, the lantern unexpectedly caught fire and turned into ashes within seconds after the incident. That resulted from the distraction of the wind blowing the flames of the lantern too close from the actual paper material. The second vehicle consisted of a generated hydro powered water bottle attached from a horizontal rope (ones that connects to Auckland to its destination) from one point to another. The idea of this vehicle worked by the pressurized force applied within the bottle originated by an air pump, which was then released once the bottle was as its maximum pressure load capacity, creating a powerful forward force, dragging the vehicle in front in a very quick motion. Although this idea was well thought, one major default could be spotted, and that is the question on how does the vehicle keeps moving when no more forces is being applied to the vehicle during its trajectory

From what we have learned from the group, lots of research experiments were made in which most of them ended up being drastic failures for the sake of finding a way on how to improve the flying ability of the lantern. Useful information such as learning about the weight of the materials in relation with the lantern had to be considered, in which they concluded that adding pieces of seaweed ended up increasing the downward force of the flying vehicle when being lifted in the air. At the end of the day, we left knowing that the amount of choices we had on improving the lantern was very limited due to the increase rate of risks having the paper material (of the lantern) being caught on fire. Learning the ‘hard way’ through try outs and failures seemed to be the best appeal the vehicle workshop had to provide in order for us to succeeding in making a decent flying object.

Andy:

Recently, we have reviewed the work done by Group 38 - ArchiBJZ. This group focused on the vehicles, the journey and the landing area between the two hotels (cities）that were based heavily on working with 3d modeling such as 3dsMax and 3D printer. Compare to the other two work shops, this one seems more practical and realistic rather than thinking about the appearance. The ideas for these vehicles are also restricted by the rules of using renewable energy and non- renewable energy which makes the task even more complicate.

Through their blog, there is a huge amount of work evident showing their trials of the modified vehicle. From their first experiment to the final result they created, Group 38 used a variety of materials trying to improve the vehicle through different aspects. For instance, a number of seaweed and rice paper were attached on their lantern to change the proportion between the weight and the air within it. They also applied larger surface area on the lantern to adjust the gravitational force . With having such rich experience behind their vehicle, it provides our group a great opportunity to learn from their mistake and success.

In designing their vehicles, ArchiBJZ made the good decision of their garages and consider them not just a place where they could put into the hotels, but also how they could affect the overall shape of their hotels. Their two images of the landing area showed a clearly contrast between Auckland and Waiheke Island. Although they didn't pin up additional information of their hotels, we still can understand the differences between two sites and how they are contrast to each other giving distinct feeling to the people inside the hotels.

Ingrid Anna:

Trial and error, Ju An Teo, of ArchiBJZ told us, was the key to their work, 2 Vehicles.
ArchiBJZ went through a rather long process in order to produce their final outcomes: two vehicles; one rather elegant looking decorated lantern and a very effective bottle rocket. They also put great effort into their process, something which we learnt a lot from.

They experimented with using natural materials to renovate the cheap flying lantern, by cutting patterns out of seaweed, which were intended to reflect upon a utopian society, and sticking them onto the top of their lantern. This, they informed us with a rather beautiful description, would not only bring environmental ideas into their design, but also transformed the interior experience of the space. The travellers would be high up in the air enjoying life, tilting softly as they travel slowly between the sites. Light would shine onto their lantern as it transported their travellers, and the seaweed on its exterior would create shadows within, enhancing the interior space. This lantern would take off from a landing platform which had been equally considered; A screen around the space was designed to prevent wind from affecting the lighting of the paraffin, and they mimicked the city scape using a section of a hairbrush modelled in 123D Catch.

Their second vehicle, a bottle rocket, created a contrasting experience. With the aim of creating something that didn't need to be held, ArchiBJZ developed this rocket, which works with pressure, shooting away after being pressurised with water. The speed of the rocket contrasts with the relaxing experience of the lantern, hurtling the travellers to their destination in a parabolic manner. The path their rocket takes was shown on an extremely carefully drawn map, handdrawn on an A2 page with lots of intricate contour lines. The seaweed they had floating in their rocket not only linked this vehicle with the aesthetics of the lantern, but also created a lava lamp like effect. ArchiBJZ also got to make use of one of their transmaterials, moulded silicon, to create a cork for this rocket.

We learnt a lot from ArchiBJZ, who put a lot of effort into their process, which really showed how much trial and error had been a significant factor for them.

Andy's Matrix Attempts

Manu's Matrix Attempts

Ingrid Anna's Matrix Attempts

Waiheke Stairs

Since Manu couldn't make it on the Waiheke Island trip, Andy and I worked with Alex Figg from Citics to create our sand stairs. This was a really fun task- really took me back to my childhood, but in a more sophisticated way, of course!
We had two sets of stairs leading up to a log, with the idea that you could walk up one side, sit down on your 'throne' and then walk down the other side, which had a greater tread.
We called them 'A Rich Man's Stairs'.
One criticism I have of the stairs looking back is that they are too conventional. However I do personally love our choice of materials. We tried to keep things simple, with just sand and these rather beautiful looking rocks we found down the beach.
This trip was my first visit to Waiheke, and I definitely plan on going back there again!

Ingrid Anna's avatar attempts

My best avatar attempt is this seated woman. The detail is perhaps not quite evident in this photo, but I spend a long time trying to make this seated figure realistic. Also, since I previously had issues with the plasticine melting while it was being silicon cast, I made sure to leave this figurine to dry for a long, loong time. This wee avatar is made out of candle wax.

Here are some photos of the wee plasticine model I made previously.. Unfortunately the silicon melted it once I put it into the mould, so it was unsuccessful. This model took about 1 and a half hours to make, but hopefully it'll take less time now after this bit of practice. (I haven't done anything similar really since my playdough playing days as a child..!) Sorry about the bad quality of the photos- they were taken on my mobile camera, not my proper one.

F.A.M.E. reviews our stairs

http://fast-ambitious-modern-endeavour.tumblr.com/post/33557347928/studio-lim-a-review

Steel Industries Review of our Plant Rooms

http://steelindustries.tumblr.com/tagged/%5BPeer-to-Peer-Review%5D

Final Presentation

Rush Hour Stair Model

Honeycomb Stair Casting

The City Hotel

Parametric Surfaces

Just a short video taken in Second Life which shows some of our hotel surfaces. By the way the song used is Breakfast by Great Mountain Canopy.

The Waiheke Hotel

The Journey

We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.

Marcel Proust

The journey is undertaken with one particular motivation: that of escape. Yet the experiences of the individual travellers can differ depending on their point of view, and even what they might learn whilst travelling between the two hotels.

Each traveller goes on the journey because they are dissatisfied with their everyday lives. Just like Halloway leaves the Garden City in J.B. Ballard's Ultimate City for ruined New York, the traveller leaves their day to day lives for our hotels, which they view as the utopian opposite to their dystopian lives.
This is a concept within their mind. Everyone's perception of a utopia and dystopia is different.
To the island dweller, the city seems like the place to be. Its bright lights and excitement seem like a haven after the monotonous silence and social constructs of small town island life.
To the city dweller, on the other hand, the island seems like a peaceful resort where man can reconnect with a clean, almost untouched environment, which hasn't become polluted with noise and waste like the city.
Our perspectives are all relative.

The journey might enhance the ideas of the traveller, and just be something for them to overcome before they reach their final destination, or it might challenge their ideas, and make them question whether what they left behind was really that dystopian at all.
In other words, the beauty and the experience of the journey might help the traveller to overcome their dualistic views of a utopia and a dystopia, and help them to appreciate their own environment more.

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Please see our Hotel Brief under the Brief label to gain more explanation of our overall concept.

The Journey: Vehicles Routes Section

The Journey: Vehicles Routes Map

The Journey

The Pod: a Cable Car

Sorry about the low quality, for some reason iMovie kept coming up with an error code when I tried to export the actual clip, so I decided just to film the film with my camera... I'll upload the actual (much better quality) clip once I figure out why it is not exporting.
Unfortunately when I google the particular error code (-50) it seems that other iMovie users are just as stumped as I am.
Well, I'm sure there's a way around it... anyway, I think we will show the clip on iMovie rather than this blog at the Peer review yesterday, so that our concept is actually clear.

Our concept

One must want to escape in order to use the cable car. Escape from a dystopian reality to a utopian hotel.

Manually operated, it could take days to travel from Auckland to Waiheke.

Equipped with beds and food, the pod accommodates this.

There are island stops along the way for rest- but those who truly want to escape will not stay long.

Where there are more than one person travelling, communal living becomes the only option. The pod is a small space, which you must share with any others wanting to use it. There is no privacy in the pod.

Small in comparison to the pulley, the pod floats between them. Just like the structure is expressed in some modern architecture, the mechanism is expressed in the cable car; the large and rough pulleys on either side of the small pod.

How far would you go to escape?

The Jellyfish Lantern

The Jellyfish Lantern flies between the two hotels.

Open. Free. Uplifting.

A positive journey where you can experience everything.

A bright light in the sky. Glowing.

Hope where there is darkness.

City Inspired Hotel

A1 Hotel Presentation

Here is our finished hotel presentation ready for our silent crit on Tuesday. By silent crit I mean that we pin this up, then leave the room without talking about it! So hopefully the presentation itself is relatively self-explanatory. This poster is then combined with our two Bim X models of our hotels to be looked at by some masters students.

Waiheke inspired hotel

Here is evidence of our finished ArchiCAD model of our Waiheke inspired hotel idea.

The Honeycomb Stairs: development

This page shows not only the honeycomb stairs juxtaposed with their dystopian city context, but also the complex geometries needed to create the stair, the way a foot would meet the surface of the steps, the texture applied to the stair and the initial inspiration, a honeycomb.

Rush Hour Stairs

Section view for Rush Hour Stair

Hotel Development

CNC Routing