Northern Ireland trip

At the beginning of the East holiday, I went to Northern Ireland with my friends. We have spent two days in Belfast. First I want to talk about the City Hall which was finished in 1906. The appearance is very splendid, the main material is Portland stone and the building style is the Baroque Revival. A big dome is in the center, and the primary feeling this building produced is awfulness. On one side of this building is a nice garden with some columns in it. There are three Latin cross on the grass and the atmosphere is very peaceful.

Inside the building, the ornaments are extraordinary detail and luxurious. Such as the floor, the lights, the stairs, everything is grand. I can see the big dome as well. I was strongly influenced by the space. There is a small exhibition area as well, it recorded the memory of this building.

The shopping center is another great building, unlike most buildings here, it is focus on modernism and technic. In my unclear memory it has three parts, and uses a circulated area which is full of stairs to connect them together. The roofs on the three parts is glass (maybe plastic), and use the steel truss to support them. In the center, the roof is a glass dome which is supported by steel truss. It is very high, and a rolled stairs can get to the top. There are several platforms on the stairs, it is all supported by steel. I think the dome is to bring the old elements to the new building.

Most of the buildings in this city are built by brick, including some modern buildings. Some of them are very high, and uncountable bricks keep the city its own characters. Maybe the brick is the tradition in Belfast. On the whole, this city has a completely different feeling compared with Dundee. It has many buildings built in recent years, at the same time the using of brick weakened the feeling of modernism.


 

Paper Project

Paper Project is the last design assignment in this semester, it is an interesting project and also helps us familiar with the basic structure.

In the exercise 1 we need to make three models, the aim of it is try to find the space possibility with A4 paper. The fist one I made is like a "shell", the way to make it is just rolling some cut parts of paper. And the concept in this is to show the contrast of surface and space.

The second model of mine is cutting several strips on one paper, and then snap it and make it cross the paper. Like the picture. And the concept of it is to show the two faces of a paper. On one face is the repetition and the same, and on the other face is the different and variation. The third model is about the cube and cylinder, and the aim is to show the comparison of the arc line and the straight line.

In the exercise 2, I developed the "shell" model, made it more detail and used detail paper as the skin. The second model is several cylinders, it is inspired from exercise 1 as well, but in exercise 1, the cylinders are very weak, and this time I made the overhanged parts more stable. The third one is a tetrahedron, it is consisted of four triangular faces, so this structure is very strong.

In the last exercise, a pavilion which related to the prior models needs to be made. I chose the site which sits

on the hillside of Dundee and it is surrounded by many playgrounds. I developed the "shell" model, and decided to use it as a small sitting place for relax. I developed the structure of it, made the thickness of the beams, and added a column to support the structure. The image shows what does
it look like in the site.

Edinburgh visit - Buildings Study

After the Research Retreat Project, we went to Edinburgh to have an one - day short trip to study the named 17 builings. I have visited 13 of them, and most of them are rebuild of old buildings.

                                                       I would like to talk something about the Scottish Parliament, which is located in the Holyrood area of Edinburgh. It is designed by Enric Miralles, and opened by Queen Elizabeth Ⅱon 9 October, 2004. As Miralles said:"Scotland is a land, and not a series of cities. The Parliament sits in the land, and should reflect the land that it represents." The plan of this building is like a leaf, like the image showed, and the branches in the image mean the entrance of the building.

  

On the surface, it is really amazing, there are many strip - type ornamentals, these represent the trees' branches, and the windows' apprances are coming from the shape of the leaf. The complex apprance not only make the building looked more outstanding, but also make the building more natural.

The main materials of this building are glass, concrete and timber, and these are presented inside the building without any decorations. As a result of it, some feelings like awfulness and powerful are created, unlike many other buildings which are focus on harmony and friendly.

The parlament is made of timber, it is different from many other areas, this place is very modern and comfortable, high technology is also used in this hall. The truss which support the roof is made of big timber beams, the connection is made of metal, and I took the detail photo of it.

The Scottish Parliament is also a combination of old and new. In this image, " 2 " is the old building, and there are many connected corridors between the two parts. In this short study there are many other examples of "old and new," like the images below.

 

I was shocked by these buildings, the complexity, the ideas, the ways of using materials and the elevations are far above my imagination. 

Final Review of Research Retreat

 Today is the Final Review of this project. This is my presentation place and I was showing the site analysis to tutors.  

 This is the plan of my design. In the middle is the entrance, gallery, dinning and living room, all of them are public place. The two parts on the sides are individual place, and bedrooms are on the ground floor, rooms on the first floor are the studios. The two gaps between the three parts are gallery and sitting place. 

 This is the gallery between the three parts. This place is double height and using the declining roof. On one side is the yard which brings the natural grass.

 This is the end of the "gap gallery", which is double height and can be used as the sitting place. Stone and glass are used as the walls.  

 This is the living room. The sun is going down, the scene is very beautiful.  The sea and sun can be seen from the south of this area, and the Hospitalfield Castle can be seen from the north part.

 This picture shows the studio. We can see the windows and when the artist sitting on the glass balcony, they can see the blue water and blue sky.

This is the middle gallery, a tree in a middle of it and the hole in the roof can bring the natural image to this area. A stone stair which connects the frist floor in this concrete - made gallery can also create a constrast. 

This is the sketch of my building to show the materials. Most of the buildings in this site are made of stone and brick, and stone would be more suitable for this area in my own opinion. And I also used it in the bedroom and living room to bring the natural to this building.

I have used CAD for most of my drawings, and one tutor said:"you have 50 years to draw by CAD, you would better to draw by hand now!"...This project is finish, tired and interesting. And listening to others presentation is a good way for studying as well. I am looking forward for the next Monday Edinburgh site study.Cheers!

Basic concepts of my design

After three weeks work for the interim presentation, I have got my basic concepts of my design.

My inspiration came from the artist - James Turrell. From his work which is shown on the left image, I got some basis ideas and have used it as the gallery.

The sketch plan showed the building's shape, two rectangles come across each other. The big rectangle is just to suit the site and forms the symmetry, and the angle of the small one is from the line which connects the two trees' roots. And I have engaged one tree in my building, just in the center of the gallery. The hole of the gallery which is about 30 square meters not only can get the sunlight for the internal space, but also can  bring the view, which I have already talked in my intangible - trees' branches and sky image. This is really a nice place in this design in my opinion.

The two corridors next the middle gallery are also a part gallery. This part is double height, two meters wide and with inclined glass roof. And on both sides are two yards, which also bring the grasses into the building. These have showed one of  the concept - bring the natural.

The materials of the building are stone and concrete. I chose stone as the external wall because it is the most used material in this site so this suits the site well,  and stone can also contribute to the concept - bring the natural.

Some more works are needed, and I am doing these now, next post I will show some beautiful images of my building.

Intangible - Research Retreat

The first project of this semester is Research Retreat, which is to design a building for six artists living in. We went to the site - Hospitalfield at the beginning of this semester. When I first saw the site, I felt that I was suddenly in the 18th century. An historical castle which is used as a hotel now, and big trees which are very tall and terrific. Peace and silent fill the whole site. 

The site  is at the end of Hospitalfield, its shape is  rectangle and it is  surrounded by tall trees and short walls. The most impressive thing to me was the trees' branches. Due to the winter season,  no leaves were on the branches. I tired to imagine my sight  a big picture, sky and cloud are the background, suddenly, the branches were no longer a part of trees', they became cracks, which divided the blue sky into different parts, and together with the sky, they formed an integrate and beautiful image.  

After some work when I came back,  I drawed the sketch on the left and decided to regard the "crack"  as one intangible thing and I wanted to engage it and the view of the image - sky and cracks in my design. Another intangible of mine came from the shape of the site - symmetry and rectangle, so I thought these two things maybe some important elements as well.

Next post I will talk something about the development of my design.