Project 1b Study Models

Project 1: Part B

This project dealt with designing a trail shelter that explored sun and wind conditions. Part A was to be used as a conceptual beginning. There were five locations from which to choose from, all in the United States. These trails were: Harding Ice Field in Alaska, Glacier Gorge in Colorado, Buckskin Gulch in Utah, Concho Billy in Florida, and John Muir-Half Dome in California.

After extensive research, I decided to go with the Ice Field. For those of you who haven't hiked this trail, I recommend going to google images and taking in some photos. As cold as Alaska can get, the scenery looks absolutely breathtaking. I'd even consider going myself someday. The Harding Ice Field is located in Kenai Fjords National Park (est 1980), where glaciers, earthquakes, and ocean storms are the architects. The park sits at the edge of the North Pacific Ocean, and the Ice Field is the source of at least 38 glaciers. These gigantic rivers of ice have shaped the terrain and are now receding to reveal their work. As ice melts, rock is uncovered and the process of succession begins to take place.

Now, my original design was turned down two days prior to the project due date. The final design was not my best work, but I did what I could in such a short time. There's not much to it. I wanted to block the winter winds coming in from the north, hence the big circular wall. The rest was just thrown together. As you can probably tell, I wasn't too happy about the final design. So, I'm going to explain the original. It was centered on finding a way to heat the building without electricity or a fuel source. Obviously, the sun was my best method. The design had two south-facing walls; one transparent glass and the other dark-colored concrete. the idea was to let the sun heat up the dark wall and allow air flow underneath the glass. That air would then get trapped between both walls and heat up. Anyone who know their physics will see that the warm air trapped within the walls would then rise and enter a slot into the building. Bam, solar-powered heater. The design diagram can be found in the post with study models.

Project 1a Photos (part 3)

Project 1a Photos (part 2)

Project 1a Photos (part 1)

Project 1: Part A

The first project of the semester dealt with identifying different material qualities and enclosure conditions in a abstract way.  By this, I mean paying close attention to certain attributes.  When identifying a wall, we couldn't just find a random wall and take a picture.  Rather, we had to determine what qualifies as walling.  Was it a structure that prevented you from seeing across, or a given line that separated spaces?  The same went for all conditions and qualities that were listed.  The pictures displayed in the other blog were all taken by me (as usual), and four of them were used to represent certain qualities or conditions for my studio's section.  Most were taken in Springfield, but there are a few from other locations such as Potosi, St. Louis, and Sainte Genevieve.  To add a little fun and mystery, I did not explain what the pictures were or even what abstraction they account for.  I'll leave that up to the viewer.

Enclosure Conditions:  walling, layering, screening, shading, cladding, wrapping

Material Qualities:  thickness/thinness, proximity/adjacency, connection, edge, surface, transparency/opacity 

Fall Semester - Project 1

The fall semester started last week, and our first project dealt with finding various building materials and methods...in nature. The focus wasn't necessarily on finding a wall to represent walling or a water to show transparency. Rather, we had to find abstract ideas for each of the 12 factors given to us. Out of the 300-something photos my group took, 4 of my own photos were chosen to fill in our group's 12, and 3 of those 4 were chosen to be hung on the wall for our studio section. At some point, I will have those photos posted on this site (some, if not all, can be found on facebook in the summer/fall album).

Part two of this project, which is due on Sunday, September 13, deals with using 2 of those 12 ideas as a conceptual beginning for designing a trail shelter. But the catch is, we are now bringing elements into the design process. Depending on the area we chose, the climate and weather is a big deciding factor in what our building will look like. I chose the Alaska Harding Ice Field Trail (google some images because the scenery is beautiful). Naturally, I assumed I'd be working with cold conditions. For the most part, that's true mostly in winter. But May through July tends to have some nice weather (except for almost constant rain). Concepts for the beginning models will be posted when I get the chance, and the final model will more than likely be posted at the same time, if not a few days after.