ARCH 103 Learning Portfolio

Aaron Khaw

Analytical Design On City Edges -First Iteration

The initial response to cover an analysis on Cape Town’s city edges was to compare den-sity of buildings within the edges. Density of buildings would increase as it gets further away from the waterfront, and I found that to be most interesting. My group mates also pro-vided me some information on the history of Cape Town’s original settlement which cor-related with density of buildings increasing further away from the waterfront. The idea of using history to relate it with density of buildings suggested the use of a timeline. Applying the six fundamental principles of analytical design (Comparisons, Causality, Multivariate Data, Integration of Evidence, Documentation, and Anaylsis) was also a criti-cal factor to the design. It was something that needed to be looked over and checked.

Analytical Design On City Edges -Second Iteration From the previous iteration, the two edges that were defined didn’t need to be on separate graphics. Also fused the previous two edges into one because they connected. So to compare edges, an-other edge was defined that divides the residential area from downtown/financial district. Now that all the edges are on one graphic, a graph is created to show how density of buildings rises as the proximity from the ocean increases. The timeline was removed because a graph conveys the content of the edges more directly than a timeline. The edges that was defined were merely boundary lines, that could work, except it needed to highlight the areas that boundary line divides. The graph shows increasing densi-ty at a constant rate, which isn’t ex-actly true. The lines that connect the graphic to the graph was confusing to comprehend because it was monotone to the graph. The graph idea can work, but needed adjusting.

Using Charles Joseph Minard’s data-map of the French invastion of Russia in 1812 as a role model, the objective of this analysis on city edges is to accomplish the six funda-mental principles of analytical design (Comparisons, Causality, Multivariate Data, Integration of Evidence, Docu-mentation, and Anaylsis) which Minard has shown. Minard’s data-map exemplified the fundamental principles of anaylti-cal design, yet his work had a sim-plicity to it that wasn’t clustered with too much information. I was inspired by that simplicity because it was really clear and effective. The integration of graphics in this analy-sis worked well because of it’s clear-ity in content. Each graphic relates to each other while providing a new scope of information. Multivariate data lacked in this analytical design. I was not able to balance additional variables without feeling like I’ve sidetracked from the content of my anaylsis. I was avoid-ing a saturation of information that might digress the content, that I didn’t stop and think if I had enough multivariate data.

Analytical Design On City Edges-Final

“Free China” Junk Hall Site Analysis From the previous analytical de-sign, I felt like I didn’t include enough information. For the goal of this site analysis, I wanted to include as many tidbits of information as I can, considering that there’s only go-ing to be one iteration. The same six fundamental principles of analytical design applies here as well. Aside from including as much in-formation as possible, my main focus of this site analysis is to show the multiple views seen from the site. I really think the views are one of the greatest aspects and unique character-istics of this site. I’ve included real life photos I taken from the site to emphsize this notion. Some graphics in this site analy-sis didn’t work the way I intended. The symbols I used gave off a child-ish vibe which made my site analysis look unserious. I was trying something new, and I thought that the symbols I used would portray the paths perfectly. Next time, I’m using different thick-nesses and formations of lines.

What are the client’s implications of the program?- An educational facility is implied by the programs requirement of a theater and two separate exhibits- It’s a public oriented building; public vs. private-An exterior public space should be a strong aspect of the site

How do you provide space for two different types of exhibits?- What are the similarities of the Exploratorium and National Maritime Museum?- They are educational facilities; scientific education vs. historic education

How much of the site should be outdoor space?- How much space is sufficient to emphasize the Embarcadero/waterfront?- How do we exploit the exisiting pedestrian intersection to acknowledge the pres-ence of the new Exploratorium without building off site- Is the Embarcadero and the waterfront two different entities? or the same?

How do you design a space for the “Free China” Junk which will only stay for five years?- “Free China” Junk Hall and National Meritime Museum are historic ship related- What will replace the space after five years?- How large is the Junk Hall space; later, how will it affect the space?

Pavillion Case Studies

These pavillion case studies helped me get a better understanding of how pavillions are oriented in function and layout. Turns out that these two San Francisco pavillions also emphasizes on views seen from around the site.

First Gesture Model

This first gesture model is a response to the Explor-atorium and National Maritime Museum coexisting within the program’s site. The theme for this model is the coexistence of history and technology. My method to portray tech-nology and history is to use two materials of different el-ements. Wood has the property to show age, so wood expresses the nature of history. Met-al is concise and futuristic, so metal expresses the quali-ties of technology. I wanted to show the intermingling of those materials in the model to express the coexistence of history and technology.

Half-size gesture models

This series of half-sized gesture models helped me ex-plore different ways to express the coexistence of history and technology. Models one and two respond-ed to site the best, whereas the rest were just exclusive-ly exploring ways to express the coexistence of history and technology. Model one shows how his-tory and technology are equal because both materials are pre-sented in an identical pose. Model two shows that his-tory is dependent on technology and vice versa because they are being supported by each other. All of these models share the same tectonic, instead they should show different alterna-tives.

1

2

Forumulation

My project design is a response to the theme, “the coexistence of history and technology,” which I derived from the pro-gram. One of the major requirements of the program is to provide space for two exhibits (National Maritime Museum and the Exploratorium). The National Maritime Museum is an exhibit of the country’s historical ships, while the Exploratorium is an interactive exhibit about science, technology, and how things work. It made me wonder, why house the National Mari-time Museum with the Exploratorium when both exhibits promote information of different genre? I was intrigued by the his-torical aspect of the National Maritime Museum, and the scientific/technological aspect of the Exploratorium sharing space under one roof, which lead me to the theme of my design.

History and technology correlate with each other. As history progresses, so does technology. But history and technol-ogy have broad meanings. History in the context of the program is the story of the “Free China” Junk. That story is about a group of men traveling across the globe in a Chinese junk to take part in the America’s Cup. The “Free China” Junk is a reflection of how technology of the sail boats was in the past. Now, sail boats in America’s Cup are technologically far more superior. Technology in the context of the program is then the modernization of sail boats today. The “Free China” Junk Hall is a centralized exhibit that has ideals of the National Maritime Museum and the Exploratorium. For my project’s design I want to implement the story of the “Free China” Junk and the technology of today’s sail boats competing in America’s Cup.

This document helped me form the drive of the project design. It’s to clarify my thoughts and create dia-logue.

Alternate Half-sizeGesture Model For this gesture model I wanted add layers of densi-ty because it was something that was lacking in the pre-vious gesture models. This model was also a way of ap-proaching my concept in an entirely new way. I imple-mented a response to site by adding a new component and material to respond to the heaviness of the Embar-cadero/waterfront. The next step is to integrate pro-grammatic elements into the gesture model.

50% Larger Size Gesture Model

I strived for a more pro-grammatic based gesture model by creating a more open model to decide on the organization of rooms and programmatic ele-ments. I felt that this mod-el lost some of the gestures of the previous models and it wasn’t strong enough. It lacked complexity and I felt like it needed more density, but during creating this ges-ture model, I had a difficult time balancing gesture and in-tegrating program at the same time.

50% Larger Size Gesture Model -Second Iteration

This second iteration I wanted to improve the gesture, while still maintaining ideas of program. Wires represented Explor-atorium exhibit hall, while the wooden sticks represented the National Maritime exhibit hall. They connect at the pivit, where both materials seem to be exploding out of the open pyra-mid. This space would repre-sent the “Free China” Junk Hall because I believed that it was a combination of both elements; my idea of coexistence of his-tory and technology.

Site Model-First Attempt

The challenge of this site model was the transfer the lan-guage of the previous gesture model onto the site. I formal-ized the model into a more ap-propriate form so that it would accommodate program. I used the same idea of a pivotal point where all three entrances (on each corner of the site) would meet; the “Free China” Junk Hall would meet in the middle. Some of the entrances didn’t make sense because they were too close together, and the structure of the northern entrance was off balance with the rest of the model. The gesture of the model was there, but the sizing of each room was not realistic because some spaces didn’t meet the require-ments of the program, and some exceeded it. Reorganization of space was needed.

CharcoalDrawings-Section

Explored the lan-guage of the mod-el through charcoal drawings by expand-ing lines, tightening lines, and loosening up lines.

Elevation Drew the model for what it is with the addition of adding surround-ing elements for context

Charcoal Drawings-Plan

Explored various ways of organizing programmatic space and circulation

Plan

Drawing the plan of the final model with context to its surroundings

Section

Longitudinal and latitudinal sec-tion cuts

Site Model-Final The major development of the final model was to move the “Free China” Junk Hall facing north, and shift-ing one of the exhibit halls in front of the Embarcade-ro. This was done to meet the spacing requirements of the program. The junk hall faces north to represent the guiding north star that sailers use to navigate in the ocean. There are now only two main entrances, one facing the new Explorato-rium, and one facing John Maher St. What was once an entrance located on the southern side of the site, I transformed it into a the-ater space. Reluctantly, I was able to fit snuggly all the programmatic elements onto one floor.

Few windows are present to shield away from the heavi-ness of the Embarcadero.

Main entrance to the lobby.

Lower ceil-ing to dif-ferentiate the human experience when enter-ing the oth-er exhibit halls.

Offices are located along the outside of the model so that it doesn’t dis-tract the users. It’s also along Front St where the other office buildings are located.

Junk faces north to symbolize the way sailors navi-gate on the ocean; they use the north star as a guid-ing point with the use of a sextant by calculating the distance between the horizon and the celestial object to figure out their location on the ocean.

Entrance facing John Maher St

Interior of Junk Hall.

Window of exhibit hall: “A Peak of What’s Inside”

Junk Hall ramps around “Free China” Junk progres-sively increasing in height to view the junk and the Embarcadero St.

Interior of the theater.