Talk with Judy and Ian

Because our group did not specifically design an office space in the gathering project which was focused primarily on the detailing of a part and its take on materiality of the previous projects and precedent building, and the fact that the gathering project and the gifting project did not relate in terms of location, we were suggested to pick a location where the more research was made on the site and design an office space there correlating with the space and the existing project.

Final Model and Matrix

making of

Having sent in the file to Minka a little too late, I had to pick them up the next morning. Picture above is at studio in the early morning straight after coming back from Minka. Let's do this!

First and foremost, everything that needed spray-painting, such as the exterior beams, the glass frames, and the exterior facade, were spray-painted black so as to allow time for them to dry.

I started with the gluing of the glass panels onto the frames which was tedious in the process but worth it in the end, then went onto gluing the main building frame, the inside and out.

The pieces were glued together from there, and the architectural structure of which it was designed gradually took form.

Ta-da!

illustrator

Above picture shows the illustrator made for Perspex cuts where the red lines represent the engraving line that are to be the glass tiles.

Above is the mdf cuts for the main building and the running facade with glass framings and supporting structures.

Lastly, the mdf cuts for the grounding base, tram line and extra bits just in case some are lost or broken.

google sketch up completed

The final model was made into scale in Google SketchUp. Using the 'add location' tool with the integrated Google Maps, I was able to pin-point the location of my design site which calculated also my directions of the sunlight at any given time of the day, month, or year which i found to be very helpful in the process reacting to shadows and sunlight.

Above can see the existing train railway of which passes in-between the main block and the wind-proofing structure, where above it is the stop for the tram and the tram rail line.

The facade is composed of formally arranged glass-tiled panels where the supporting structures of beams are placed in the exterior as to allow maximum space inside. As can be seen, the facade of glass follows through the edge of the raised ground that acts as a soundproofing wall for the neighbouring building.

concept drawing

Developed concept drawn on the site.

The idea in this design was to take as little space as it can on it's spaces already used but to return the favor through it becoming their architectural response and key part. The tram line will follow the path of the existing railway line but above it as to minimize the intersections and interruptions to the buildings, and there though not clearly seen, the facade of glass tiled panels will follow through the tram line in-between the walkway and the rail as to function as a sound resisting wall for the residential building beside.

*I unfortunately lost my sketchbook with other concept drawings. If and when found, I will be sure to post them here

New Locations, selected site, photos and video

Having talked with the tutors, our previous stops were not too specific for the people with had intended to 'gift,' who were the architecture students. For that reason, we decided to ask around our fellow friends where they stayed, where they parked, and where they needed to go around the city. Above you can see the new stops devised to work around the transportation needs of architecture students.

There I chose a stop within the given site triangle, a car park in Ngaoho Place. It was a stop necessary for the idea, evident in our results that quite a number of archi-friends parked there to walk up Anzac Avenue, then Symonds Street. Their reasons were that Ngaoho Car park was nearly half the price of car park costs close to Auckland University and that it always reserves to find a space to park other than the latter. Above photo illustrates how the railway would link to the stops before and after, where the tram stop will be, and the walking paths that the students take.

Site Photos:

Pointing towards the East, is the Ngaoho Carpark where to it's left is the ramp, on it the existing train line.

Above photo is looking back from the Ngaoho car park towards the west where to the left, you can see the residential apartment, to the right the train line and the train itself, and the walking pathway in between the two.

This photo shows the walkway towards the West. As you can see, in-between the residential apartments and the existing train railway are the prudent greens of bushes and tree. Sounds of the birds singing could be heard though enclosed by the sound of the passing trains from every now and again. The sound of the trains I felt was quite immersing in its ability to close out every other noise. However still, I knew the sound would be of annoyance if I were to hear it over and over again. That in mind, made me think of the residential building set right to the edge of the rail line, and as to further 'gift' the city, there was the idea of while taking the ground space but also giving back to the surrounding building through the design becoming their solution.

Site Panorama:

Above panorama establishes the site's surrounding buildings and the ground conditions on which they sit.


Surrounding sounds:

Here is a video recorded at the entrance of the walkway as the train passes by.

Laser

Initial Concept for visiting places.

Today, we were introduced to express our ideas of gifting through making a tramway track that stops on areas in relation to our selective clients that eventually makes way around the recently made tramway track down near Viaduct. Grouped with Regan Tse and Rosa Song, we came up with the idea of tram tracks leading to resourceful places for architecture students such as the A+DF Workshop, Modern Plastics, Look Sharp, etc. Primarily focusing on places notably far for walking distance but are often visited for archi-projects, making more accessible and time-saving.

Crit 3.0 - Laser Cutting

Kyung Min Koh:

kingkongkoh.wordpress.com

Kyung Min focused heavily on the publicity and the relation the building has on it following the first few floors. One of his design was not covering the exterior with walls to hide to interior contrast to its neighbouring buildings. This was so to open up the building with a more public and approachable appearance. To further publicise the building, he decided the first three floors to be for the public. To compliment, after third floor, the space was made more private, with the exterior pattern design reflecting this intention. The design was that the openings in the walls would gradually grow larger as the it ascends so that the space would be less exposed from the public below outside however while the exposure from the natural sunlight would be great. One of the noticeable feature was the rock climbing wall that begins from the ground floor level to the top of the building with different patterns of challenge as you climb to resonate the purposed designs of each separate floor of different function and form while with it, creating an even flow of space.

Mirashini Chandra Mohan:

miramo91.wordpress.com

Mirashini's building's most interesting component was the open space atrium on the top floor that was surrounded and wrapped around a weaving wall inspired by two existing buildings, Chanel Mobile Art Pavilion and Martin Luther Church. Light was one of the main play on her building particularly the top floor. Through the weaving wall, she made disguising windows with different levels of light intensity and the pattern of poked holes exposing sunlight, creating a sense of serenity. Through the open atrium roof, effective use of sunlight and its level of exposure became the focal point and the space of the building.

1:1 Model

The base was made by mixing cement and water, without using aggregate to keep the surface as smooth as it can. This was so that the other materials I intended to put on top would be proportionate and parallel especially for the base of sliding door.

At the workshop, the interior carpet was cut into shape and the exterior facade of steel panel that covers the cement block was made with the industrial element of bolted rivets in a line.

Then the inside structure of steel beam was made using medium-density fibreboard soon to be drilled for the rivet pattern, and also the base for the sliding door.

Top-down view of the final product with the finished steel beam and the sliding door.

Outcome:

Close-up view

After crit-day with 1:5 model.