Ariel, just a few closing thoughts on your work this semester. Overall I think your project came to an exciting resolution as you were able to really answer many of the questions of volume and form, while ultimately coming up with a valid plan layout. Mostly though I would like to urge you to continue to continue to grow your skills of using sketch, and free-hand thought. I work in both the architectural and commercial arts industries and I still maintain to this day that my most useful tools are those that come from catching the original emotion and energy of my initial thoughts, with simply a pen and trace or sketch medium. The more you can understand the passion and emotion that lie behind the materiality and planning aspects of a work, the more successfully you'll be able to illustrate that work. However those moments MUST be captured quickly, as we as designers tend to think and re-think iteratively, and thus it becomes easy (yet dangerous) to lose great ideas because they were not captured.
For your work, the project itself was conceived through great inspiration in a particular movement of structure and tension. I would urge you to visit more of those spaces that inspire you, walk along Calatrava's bridges as they span over the bodies of water, go deep into the recesses of his work at the Museum to see the 'heavier' aspects, and note how they contrast with the lightness of the structural pieces above your head. I am really happy to have been a part of this project of yours, as the Milwaukee Art Museum is a particular favorite of mine. Being from Wisconsin myself, and even having spent time on some Frank Lloyd Wright works, we have a strong tradition of seeing great architecture appear right under our noses, so to speak. The MAM was linked with the original piece by Saarinen, adjacent to the North, of which my father actually worked on during it's construction, creating a unique juxtaposition in styles by two great designers. You really took on a difficult style-driven program and were able to come out with some exciting results. I would add that it is crucial to think in section and plan simultaneously as people move through these spaces in more than two dimensions. Thinking about light, the source of that light and the way it affects the user-experience inside is important, daylighting that is. Then there is materiality, and while I didn't see your final presentation I was always tempted by what this work was made of, what was the 'skin' or envelope of this building, did it breath, was it permeable by the light, the movement of the traffic..?? Well, I understand too there is only so much time in a semester!
Ariel good luck to you in the future, and please feel free to contact me with questions in the future. Happy New Year. acg.
Ariel, just a few closing thoughts on your work this semester. Overall I think your project came to an exciting resolution as you were able to really answer many of the questions of volume and form, while ultimately coming up with a valid plan layout. Mostly though I would like to urge you to continue to continue to grow your skills of using sketch, and free-hand thought. I work in both the architectural and commercial arts industries and I still maintain to this day that my most useful tools are those that come from catching the original emotion and energy of my initial thoughts, with simply a pen and trace or sketch medium. The more you can understand the passion and emotion that lie behind the materiality and planning aspects of a work, the more successfully you'll be able to illustrate that work. However those moments MUST be captured quickly, as we as designers tend to think and re-think iteratively, and thus it becomes easy (yet dangerous) to lose great ideas because they were not captured.
ReplyDeleteFor your work, the project itself was conceived through great inspiration in a particular movement of structure and tension. I would urge you to visit more of those spaces that inspire you, walk along Calatrava's bridges as they span over the bodies of water, go deep into the recesses of his work at the Museum to see the 'heavier' aspects, and note how they contrast with the lightness of the structural pieces above your head. I am really happy to have been a part of this project of yours, as the Milwaukee Art Museum is a particular favorite of mine. Being from Wisconsin myself, and even having spent time on some Frank Lloyd Wright works, we have a strong tradition of seeing great architecture appear right under our noses, so to speak. The MAM was linked with the original piece by Saarinen, adjacent to the North, of which my father actually worked on during it's construction, creating a unique juxtaposition in styles by two great designers. You really took on a difficult style-driven program and were able to come out with some exciting results. I would add that it is crucial to think in section and plan simultaneously as people move through these spaces in more than two dimensions. Thinking about light, the source of that light and the way it affects the user-experience inside is important, daylighting that is. Then there is materiality, and while I didn't see your final presentation I was always tempted by what this work was made of, what was the 'skin' or envelope of this building, did it breath, was it permeable by the light, the movement of the traffic..?? Well, I understand too there is only so much time in a semester!
Ariel good luck to you in the future, and please feel free to contact me with questions in the future. Happy New Year. acg.