Spiral staircase Taihang Mountain, Linzhou, China

Silvio Zangarini Spiral

Chapel of reconciliation

Guggenheim museum

Cykelslangen | Urban Public Cycle Space Architecture

Heyder Aliyev Center

Glide - Primary image

Rotate - Dynamic tower

Step -Salvador Dalí Museum / HOK + Beck Group

Twist- Central Bank Zaha Hadid

wood frame hub connector

wood frame hub connector

KREOD / Chun Qing Li of Pavilion Architecture

Designed by Chung Qing Li, KREOD is located next to Peninsula Square, between Emirates Air Line and the O2. KREOD is an innovative architectural structure with an organic form. Inspired by nature it resembles three seeds, they combine through a series of interlocking hexagons to create a closed structure that is secure and weatherproof. The designs have the practical considerations for transportation, storage, disassembly and reassembly. The wooden structure of KREOD is durable, resistant, sustainable, environmentally-friendly and has easy maintenance. The overall ethos of this project is to be sustainable and environmentally-friendly therefore the choice of material is sustainable, recyclable and eco-friendly timber.

The use of eco-friendly timber is effective as its not only sustainable but also means that it won't look out of place. For instance if they had used metal framework to create the hexagons it would look industrial and wouldn't look environmentally-friendly. This is where I got my inspiration to use wood rather than metal, the location that I want my structure is similar to this project and so should be similar. However I don't want to include the tensile fabric as it will block out the sunlight. It will also block out the shadows which will form throughout the day inside the pavilion which I feel can be effective.  

The way in which they've bonded each hexagon is effective as they've created a structure which is temporary and can be taken down which means that each joint can easily be taken apart and joined together. I'd use this similar joint system to create the idea of a never ending structure where builders are able to add and remove hexagons. 

KREOD / Chun Qing Li of Pavilion Architecture

Rosklide Plywood Dome

The Vessel - Thomas Heatherwick

Thomas Heatherwick designed a structure for an engaging public landmark that will form the centrepiece of New York's Hudson Yard. The Vessel is an interactive lattice with the ability to be climbed, explored and experienced by everyone. Having 154 interconnecting stairs means that the installation will offer a variety of ways to engage with the city's urban landscape.

Each hexagon has a separate stairs all connecting with each other to create a geometric lattice. To begin with I wanted to create something similar to this however the hexagonal shapes would be deeper and the stairs and bridges would be going across the building intersecting with different sections. I like the way how Heatherwick has attempted to work with nature, taking inspiration from the shape of a beehive and then bringing that to life with the tessellated shapes. 

The influence for the stairwells came from the Indian stepwells of Rajasthan, formed from multitudes of stone staircases reaching down into the ground, the studio became interested in the mesmerising visual effect of the repeating steps, flights and landings.

Introduction to The Vessel

Elytra Filament Pavilion V and A exhibition

About the Elytra Filament Pavilion

HEX-SYS / Open Architecture

HEX-SYS is a reconfigurable and reusable building system and was designed by Open Architecture. The building can adapt to many functions, and can be disassembled and reused due to its modular building system creating a need for these flamboyant but short-lived buildings in countries such as China. Being modular and ready made means that it can be built quicker, Open architects have been experimenting with the use of this modular system to create a mass-customisation and the potential in building sustainability.

Inspired by both the ancient Chinese wood building system which can be dismantled and built again without being damaged, and also Le Corbusier's Pavilion for Zurich which represents his prolonged research on modular building systems. Open Architects created a prototype mainly made of hexagonal cells with architectural, structural and mechanical systems all merged within the same geometrical rules. 

The way in which the building can be used for so many functions such as exhibitions, multimedia rooms, lounges, offices and Cafe is effective shows how adaptive it really is, the use of these shapes not only give a modular geometrical effect but also give a sense of structure where each hexagonal shape is a different shape.

Structured -POIVET CHAMEAU

Buren's installation on Rooftop

Grand Hall of Mudam: Daniel Buren

Grand Hall of Mudam: Daniel Buren

By showing the architecture within the architecture through this installation of rare proportions, Daniel Buren is not only emphasising certain architectural characteristics of the museum, he is also showing the function of the building as an envelope for art. It's not the first time in which Buren is subverting museum architecture like this. As in some in his previous interventions, he is exhibiting the museum within the museum here, this drawing attention to the limits between interior and exterior, not just of the building, but of art itself.

Beyond looking at the idea of "frames", Buren's recent pieces are also distinguished by essentially pictorial considerations, which may evoke his early work of the 1960s when he adopted the most immediate possible approach to painting, signifying other than itself. By using colour and light, two basic material of pictorial art, Buren creates, with this array use of colour, a sort of 3D painting which is only completed by attentive gaze of viewers wandering through the space. It is the visual experience of the viewer that is of central interest to the artist.

Al-Islah Mosque / Formwerkz Architects

Church of light- Tadao Ando

Nanyang Technological University- Heatherwick- Illuminate

Creationism

According to wikipedia creationism is the religious belief that the universe and life originated from specific acts of divine creation as opposed to the scientific conclusion that they came about through natural processes. The first use of the word creationist to describe the maker of creationism was discovered in a letter of Charles Darwin written 1856 describing those who objected on religious grounds to the emerging science of evolution.

The_Creation_of_Adam.jpg

Main points of creationism:

  • All life was created by the actions of God

Some creationists say god did this in a single creative event

Some creationists don't limit creation to one event 

  • All the forms of life existing today were created by the actions of God
  • The organisms created by God can't produce new forms of organism- only God can do this
  • The most common theory follows the accounts in the Biblical Book of Genesis, but most religions have their own creation story.
  • Modern creationism uses scientific evidence to support scripture
  • Most scientists say the creationism theory is false and unscientific 

Twist

Definition- to turn something, especially repeatedly, or to turn or wrap one thing around another.

There are many ways in which you can use the word twist, for example:

  • If you twist a part of your body such as your ankle, you injure it by suddenly turning it
  • To change information so that it gives the message you want it to give, especially in a way that is dishonest
  • An act of twisting something
  • the shape of or as piece of something that has been twisted
  • A tight bend
  • A change in the way in which something happens
  •  a complicated situation or plan of action
  • a dance in which people stay in one place and twist their bodies from side to side to music

This is a sculpture which is made of steel and is around 30 feet tall, the main inspiration for the innovative shape originates from the overall shape of the double helix structure. At the bottom of the staircase there's an opening where people can use the stairs walking up to the top and then back to where they started. Hidden with a set of office buildings is a never ending staircase which leads to nowhere, a sculpture created by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. The title translates to circumscription which is the movement without a destination, a space defined by motion rather than walls. 

This sculpture inspired me greatly as I was able to create a similar shape for my continuous corridor. The idea of a never ending staircase evokes meaning of a continuous movement through pathways also emphasising the meaning of circumscription.

London City Hall

Spaghetti junction Birmingham

The reason why I've used the junction as inspiration is due to the hectic shape and idea of curves, I captured a picture in a birds eye view of my initial model and noticed the similarity between the two. Both allow movement of people however mine allows people to move up or down on different levels of a building whereas the spaghetti junctions works as a junction which allows people to get from A to B in different ways.

Spaghetti junction Birmingham

Wind - Primary Image

Swing - Park Avenue Armory

Tilt - Leaning tower of Pisa

Slide - ArcelorMittal Orbit

KINO Architects - Shake

wood frame hub connector

KREOD / Chun Qing Li of Pavilion Architecture

KREOD / Chun Qing Li of Pavilion Architecture

Rosklide Plywood Dome

Vessel - Thomas Heatherwick

Vessel - Thomas Heatherwick

Elytra Filament Pavilion V and A exhibition

The Elytra Filament Pavilion comprises of 40 unique hexagonal components that have been robotically fabricated from a combination of transparent glass fibre and black carbon fibre. The web-like design of each component is based on the fibrous structure of beetle's forewings – named elytra. The pavilion was designed and produced by architect and researcher Achim Menges. Each piece of the 200-square-metre structure, which is supported by funnel-shaped legs, is formed by a single length of resin-coated fibre and weighs just 45 kilograms. The glass and carbon fibre is wound around metal framework by a robotic arm, before being cured to form the rigid hexagonal elements.

I like the way in which they have used both hexagonal shapes and also the use of the woven process which creates different shapes through the use of layering. The web likes structure reminds me of a spiders web which is the main reason I like it, the use of juxtaposition through the natural fibre and then the metal framework as you can see the big contrast between the two. This inspired me to create a pavilion with hexagons however I don't want there to be legs coming down to create a support as it will take away the idea of there being just hexagons.

HEX-SYS / Open Architecture

Segmented - Future project

Tessellated - Future project

Daniel Buren installs mirrors and coloured glass on Le Corbusier's Cite Radieuse rooftop

Buren installed a set of seven previously unseen works around the rooftop, responding to the geometric concrete forms on top of the 1952 building. The large window beneath the canopy has been covered over with multicoloured translucent sheets, adding to the red and blue stained glass sections within the frame. At night, the light inside shines through the colourful screen and is reflected on mirrored surfaces across the space. A row of alternating angled panels sits along one edge of the roof. Sections facing upward are mirrored to reflect the sky, while downward-facing surfaces are chequered black, white and red. The floor is dotted with a series of small square podiums, which have coloured tops and black and white striped sides. Mirrored walls surround the base of the sculptural chimney facing a screen of triangular panels, which stand atop a small flight of concrete steps. 

The use of shapes and colours not only portrays an atmosphere which is energetic and playful but is also adapted to the use of the building. I like the way in which he has used mirrors to create a sense that there us a larger area beyond what you can see.

 

 

Grand Hall of Mudam: Daniel Buren

Grand Hall of Mudam: Daniel Buren

Daniel Buren

Daniel Buren born on 25th March 1938 is a French conceptual artist, who is sometimes classified as a minimalist. Buren is known best for using regular, contrasting coloured stripes in an effort to integrate visual surface and architectural space, notably on historical, landmark architecture. From 1960 Buren designed a number of permanent installations including a 3,000 square metre sculpture in the great courtyard of the Palais Royal. His latest work was this year where he completed his first permanent installation in the United Kingdom, 'Diamonds and Circles', a work for Art on the Underground on the walls of the expanded ticket hall at Tottenham Court Road.

However the two projects which inspired me the most to use stained glass windows was the exhibition in the Grand Hall of Mudam and also the installation on Le Corbusier Cite Radieuse rooftop.

Daniel Buren

Al-Islah Mosque / Formwerkz Architects

New artists studios- Heatherwick

UK Pavilion by Thomas Heatherwick

Build it research

Following on from the one day project of build I did some further research into different architects and designers who create innovative structures which stand out in todays world. The use of triangular shapes to create structures has been a distinctive use recently however one architect which swerved away from this and used the idea of curves and never ending shapes to create astonishing structures. She has been a source of my inspiration for a very long for a number of reasons but the main one was due to her early drawings, where she created pieces through the use of colour and illusions not only to engage the audience but to crate underlying cities.

An example of this is The Peak in Hong Kong which is often a cited example of "painting as architecture". There are none of Hadid's now characteristic flowing curves; The Peak's knives cut horizontally into the site, their geometry inspired by the surrounding city's verticality. 

However we then see one of Hadid's later designs the Heydar Aliyev Center, where she emphasises the use of curves and a never ending shape. She turned a vision into a reality where she not only created an innovative building but also a structure which is different and distinguishes itself from the rest of the city.The idea of juxtaposition and contrast is used to a great extent. I like the way in which she used the idea of having only one roof which flows like a wave or a ribbon from one and to another, in some ways it creates a sense of peace and tranquility in the busy and energetic atmosphere which surrounds the building.

The Peak by Zaha Hadid

Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku

Wool

Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other animals such as goats, muskoxen, rabbits and also camelids. Wool mainly consists of protein together with a few percent lipids, thus being chemically different from the more dominant textile, cotton, which is mainly cellulose.

Process of production:

SHEARING- this is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. After shearing, the wool is separated into four main categories: fleece, broken, bellies and locks. The quality of fleeces is determined by a technique known as wool classing, where someone groups the wools of similar grading together to maximise the return for the farmer or sheep owner.

SCOURING- before the wool can be used for commercial use it must be scoured, a process of cleaning the greasy wool. The process may be as simple as a bath in warm water or as complicated as an industrial process using detergent and alkali in specialised equipment.

1200px-Royal_Winter_Fair_Wool_2.jpg

Types:

  • Sheep's wool- it is traditional wool that can be made from any sheep fleece

 

  • Merino wool- this is taken from a merino sheep and has fine, soft appearance of the fabric. It is quite expensive. The distinction from other types of wool is its resistance to pilling

 

  • Angora wool- this is made of an Angora rabbit hair. Its main quality is its fluffy surface texture and its soft touch. It is expensive, as it comes from a specific breed of rabbit. To improve fabric stability Angora is often blended with Nylon.

 

  • Cashmere wool- cashmere is soft and luxurious fabric. The fibres that are used to make cashmere come from specific areas of the fleece of a cashmere goat, and that is why it is so expensive.

 

  • Alpaca wool- is made from the hair of Peruvian alpacas, but it also can come from similar fibres of mohair, Icelandic sheep or even high-quality English wool.