arch 21 final portfolio

Final Portfolio We learned a lot this semester and everything we learned was always connected with

another. You could always used the knowledge you learned from the previous project and apply it to the next. We started the semester with something very abstract. The ice breaker required us to create an abstract representation of a painting. Then we moved slowly to more traditional architecture. After analyzing paintings we moved into analyzing our homes. We carefully analyzed the good and bad aspects of our homes. After analyzing our homes we had to move on into picking our favorite places within our homes. That project linked to the next project which was Paths and Nodes. We discovered the difference between Paths and Nodes, they both portray different feelings. And this connected to the idea that even though a house can be a node it also contained paths and nodes within. The Nodes could be the favorite places within the homes and everything else, all the circulation routes within can be the pathways. Many people discovered this connection and made the Path and Nodes project to be focused on their house.

During the Path and Nodes project we explored the idea of the skeleton and skin. By making the model out of skeleton we learned about line weight and how to still create unity and spaces within the model even though we did not have walls or ceilings anymore. Then with the skin we learned that we can have different kind of material as the skin like opaque or translucent skin to show the different feelings you wanted to represent. We had to learn on how to decide on what needed skin and what didn’t and the reasons of why they needed it. Then we finally added the Augmented Landscape. I learned that augmented landscape needs to interact with the object sitting on top of it, and that sometimes the best landscape is that one that is sometimes bigger than the object itself. After learning how to make a structure interact with landscape we moved on into our Final Project. In our final project we had to create a structure that would respond to the site. Just like the previous project with the augmented landscape we had to construct a structure that would not just sit on Judson St. but would actually respond and have a purpose.

2MORALMA RODRIGUEZ ARCH 21 FALL 2009

The Continuation of Paths AND Nodes For the second part of the semester we

continued with the Paths and Nodes Project but now we moved on into the skeleton. We now had to focus on lines and use line weight to show what was more hierarchically important. For me it wasn’t that different to make the skeleton of the project because I was previously moving into skeleton. One of the problems I had at first though was that I did not use different line weights to distinguish nodes from paths.

Every part of my model was of the same line weight and seem to be composed of different tiny parts because there were no intersections there was a separation within my structure. I also had to fix the fact that my nodes were not that different from the shape of my paths. I thought they were because I tried to make them of different heights but it wasn’t that noticeable without the different line weights. I tried to make the nodes be bigger than the narrow path ways to represent relief, just like the relief a person feels when they are exiting on a station on Bart.

I tried to make my nodes into the shape of a trapezoid to distinguish them from the rectangular pathways. The entrances suppose to be smaller and shorter than the exists because when you enter you are suppose to feel that tension of going into a narrow pathway but once u exit you can experience the relief and freedom by being inside a much bigger space.

Nodes


Adding Skin

We then started adding the skin I decide that the nodes would have white skin to let the light in more and the pathways would be covered with opaque materials to show to have a dark feeling and contribute to the tension that is suppose to be experienced. The Skin was also suppose to only go partially way up so that there would be more light coming in as it approached a node. The skin did help a lot to help distinguish the nodes from the paths because of the color of the material but that still wasn’t enough.

The Model seem too be too simple it did not show all the feelings I wanted to represent at the moment it only showed one circulation system it did not show a bunch of networks going on. It seem to only go from point A to point B it needed complexity. I leaned that I needed to add perhaps more levels and to make the structure more complex. What also help me is writing the Narrative because it made me actually go inside and circulate everything to see if I actually would feel the feeling I wanted to show.


More Skeleton Models I needed different line weight to show hierarchy

in my project therefore I started to construct my nodes with thicker lines. They were about six times thicker than the rest of the lines. I also introduced intersections and continuous lines. I learned that having thicker line weights and intersections of lines, made my model a lot more interesting. Before it did not show a lot of action or movement that I wanted to show and I wanted to use to represent the feeling of Bart. But now the intersections gave it a lot more movement and a lot of Complexity! The only problem I had now was that it seem too chaotic. I think the think that would have made my model more organize is if I had a sense of a grid in my project.

Everything intersected now, the edges of one were also the edges of another. And to unite all the pathways and not have them be placed randomly I placed the nodes in a sequence. They were all lined up one node was just one step up of the other. By doing that it made my model more interesting because it gave that sense of a circular pathway and it gave the interesting feeling that it folded up within itself. The only thing left I had to do is add the skin. This time I decided to only add skin to the nodes to make them feel like a secure place to be were as it would be dangerous to be through out the pathways because it has too many openings that you could be able to fall.


More Iterations The narrative helped me to develop a better model, imagine

myself inside the model and stepping in the nodes which have thicker walls then going into the narrow passages and making sharp turns, I fell so overwhelm to go through the passages all made of only a single sticks I felt like if the whole structure was going to collapse on top of me. All I wanted to do is quickly get to the next node and stay there. There were too many turns and is hard going up on a slope especially when you are going in a circle. It was a very confusing journey and the turns just made me dizzy that I felt like running so I can get to the next rest stop. And I was glad when I finally finished too much tension from the oblique walls I really did not want to get squash in case one of them fell.


Augmented Landscape Then we moved into the Augmented Landscape. At

the beginning it was very difficult for me to understand what an augmented landscape actually needed to be. At the beginning I just thought that it could be just the base of the model. My first attempt to create the augmented landscape was to just create box shape base that had all this sharp corners on the top side so that they would exactly match with the outline of my model and my model could fit perfectly in. But I learned that this wasn’t enough for the landscape. I couldn’t just have my model sink in a box shaped like base. I had to make an actual landscape, maybe one that surrounded the model or even contained my model.

One of the things I learned is that the landscape doesn’t have to be flat it can be sometimes even bigger then the model itself. It can sometimes can contain the model inside completely.

I attempted to make my augmented landscape with Sketch up. It was had to do because I have very little knowledge of how to use programs like this one because I had never used programs like this before.

What I tried to create is a landscape that would contain may building and even hide it from the viewer. It was made to have several steps that aligned with the different levels of my model. So that when you walked up on one side of the landscape you could automatically go in to a level of the structure. I tried to create pathways within the landscape because I wanted to connected to the theme of the pathways of the structure. I wanted to create a journey trying to get into the structure and once you finally get inside the structure you experience another journey trying to explore the inside.


Final Project: Site Analysis

After the class as a whole chose 270 Judson Ave. to be the site of our final Project we had to do research about the site. Just like everything else that we did in the class we had to start with paying attention to the details before we actually start building a structure. We had to familiarize ourselves with the location of the site and find out information and even the history of the neighborhood. This was very helpful and educative because since I do not live in San Francisco I do not know the area as well as others before we did this project I didn’t even know the neighborhood had a name and that it was called Sunnyside. Or that this neighborhood was part of the Twin Peaks District which is San Francisco’s fourth district. t was a little tough to find information at first because this was a neighborhood and not a district but later on classmates were able to find websites with a lot of helpful information and statistics even about the crime that before this project, I thought that this neighborhood was calm and safe but after this project I learned that there is a lot of crime here.

This exercise was very interesting because I didn’t know that in order for us to start building and constructing a structure we had to familiarize ourselves with the history, population of the site.


Site Analysis: Mapping After doing the research we were introduced to

the idea of mapping. I made the mistake to think at the beginning that mapping was just looking for maps that had the information we wanted in the graphs or an actual map. However, we all later on that what mapping actually was is to gather information and then make a map yourself or even a graph that showed how all your information relates to one another. It was like studying a chain reaction or a cause and effect situation because after this mapping you would learn that everything relates maybe the fact that there is more pollution in the air perhaps affect the crime level.

We were not suppose to gather information about everything but only focus on the one thing we were interested the most. I chose to focus on the population of the site. As I said before since I thought mapping was to just look for maps with your information, I gathered some maps with the information that I wanted. I explore the population according to race and what kind of different races there were living in the area and how the population of those races has changed throughout time. I was going to approach this project with the social issues.

Another idea I was trying to explore is the patterns of sunlight in the neighborhood and how it has change throughout the years and if that was the mysterious reason of why certain populations had change. Perhaps there is less sunlight now and that is why the Latino population has decreased.


Site Analysis: More Mapping After understanding of what actual Mapping was

suppose to be I gathered my information and made graphs on Power Point and used the tools to generate different graphs to try to find patterns that would help me develop my models later on. By creating the these maps it made it more clear to understand the population change of the races. I made a lot of discoveries during this exercise, like I learned that the majority of the population of this neighborhood is middle age and perhaps that is because City College is located here and most of the people might be working on improving their education or getting their masters degrees. I also learned that Asian Population changed by a lot before they were the minority of the minority groups but now there are the majority. Before there used to be more Latinos then Asians but now there are way more Asians then Latinos in the neighborhood. The African American population stayed constant is still pretty small and it didn’t change by much. This neighborhood was very isolated before but once all the streets and property development there was a huge increase on the population.


Site Analysis: More Mapping

• I played with the idea of mapping a lot more and I tried to create a lot more patters by making many shapes with the graphs I had created they looked more interesting because they were 3D graphs. I was trying to find interesting patterns that I could use when we start building models. What I liked about the graphs is all the different kinds of 3D triangles that were created.


Final Project: Models From the abstract charts we were suppose to

create abstract models from the patterns we had created. I chose to use the geometric shapes that were created with the graphs I focused more on the triangles. And with that pattern I created my first model. However, I was very confused at the beginning when making the first model I knew we were suppose to use the patterns to create the model however I thought were only suppose to create a model that did not have nothing to do with a house. But you did have to keep in mind that it was a house that you were trying to create. So I only made the model without keeping in mind that it had to have floors and openings. However, the resulting model that I created could resemble a house. The 3D triangles that are at the top and are being supported by sticks can be the actual roof of a house and it did look exactly like a roof. The sticks aligned with the intersections of the top of the roof. And the triangular openings along the sides can be the windows. I used the sticks because I wanted to show the skeleton of the triangles at the top.

There was something interesting about this structure because you can see the sticks from the windows. It gives the viewer the sense of mystery because it makes you curious of what is inside.

From this structure I can actually get the sense of a house and I was thinking that the sticks would be the material separating the floors and the rooms. The sticks would make the house seem like an abstract home.


Final Project: Models•Since my previous model did not have the sense of a home I moved away from it and then started to create a structure that now looked more like a house. However, it resembled a house too much even though I still had the sticks that intersected the floors. I also still had the triangular roof and the windows that had lines across them to show the relationship of the sticks to the outside. One of the good things is that my house had a centralize courtyard at the top floor however it had a skylight and would be bad for when it rains. It seem that my structure was separated into three different structures and I still had to figure out the reason why. I wanted to create the open space which is going to be the courtyard, to be dedicated to meditating. The area was suppose to be close to the neighbors and it was to be open to the sky. I only wanted this place to be dedicated to meditation and make it different then all the other spaces of the home. Then I thought that having the sticks was a nice thing because it gave the house the sense that it might be supported by trees and give it the more sense of a garden. But I did not put enough sticks to make it clear and so I thought that the best thing to do is to take them out and show nature and garden in another way.


Final Project: Models•One of the approaches I was considering is blending in with the neighborhood that is why I didn’t make anything really abstract besides the the central courtyard at the top. At the moment I did not have any communication between my floors and I learned that sometimes is best to have a vertical space that is dedicated to only connecting all the floors. The structure was too symmetrical and traditional. And I did not have a lot of openings besides the skylight and so my next job that I had to do is figure out where I would place my windows. And I learned that the best place to put the windows is at the corners because that is place that lets more light in. I also had to consider sun paths if I was going to place the windows. At the moment I was thinking of why I wanted to place the courtyard at the middle of everything. And I had to come up with a function or purpose of why I was place there. Then it made sense that it would be place at the middle because I wanted the main feeling for my house to be meditation and calmness. The courtyard could also serve as the separation of activities for the client and it can serve as a transaction for going from one room or one activity to another.


Final Project: Models For my next model I attempted to move as

far away from a traditional house as possible and I wanted to create a lot more light in the house and so I a series of rectangles stacked on top of each other and then having an offset on every floor because I wanted to have windows on my ceiling to let light come in more into the house. The offset will all light to come inside, no matter what time of year it is nor on the position of the sun. I still kept the central courtyard because that was my strongest feature I had for the house at the moment. However it was still very symmetrical. And I did not yet had decided where certain activities were going to take place in the house. But I did now that in the offset I wanted to have a lot of gardens to contribute to the meditation feeling I wanted to create. And one of the reasons I had discovered on why my model seemed to be symmetrical was because I wasn’t really paying attention to my surrounding and forgot to respond to site and once I started responding to site the symmetry started to go away.


Final Project: Models Now I started to respond to the site and oriented my second floor to the South East view for the client to be able to see the view and the water tower. The model was finally down to scale at least on the outside walls because I still needed to work on putting everything inside to scale. I was making the model to 1/8th scale. This time I still had offsets but now that it was to scale it seem to be that the house was too big and I think I would go over 900 GSF . I had to figure out a way of how to make it smaller. I also decided to add bridges at the top with the courtyard but after doing so I learned that my bridges were not to scale they were too narrow for an actual person to walk in. So I needed to put the bridges and the stairs to scale. Now I had decided that the bedroom would be placed on the second floor to the south where the engawa was place because I liked the view from that part of the house. I also established that I wanted the basement to be dedicated for storage and I made little tiny pathways within the floor that connected the rooms but they were too narrow and created a horrible feeling if a person actually would go under there. And I also learned that storage does not have to separated from the rest of the house but it can also be incorporated to the house by maybe having thicker walls that contained all the storage. The back of the structure would be dedicated to the rituals and it will have a tokonoma. It was nice to have a display room there because it was oriented towards the nice view of mount davison.


Final Project: Models

For my next model now everything on the south side was oriented towards the South East View. I added more windows. And also later on added a fascia so that the client does not get wet when is raining and so that it can also have shade when is too sunny. I still wanted to have the central courtyard but I didn’t want to have it be open to skylight anymore because it would be not useful when it would be raining or really cold. Now I had bigger offsets now because I want the client to be also able to meditate and wonder on top of the roof when needed. Since it was too spacious I narrowed it down to only two floors. And only left the ritual room at the top, so that the client could see the north view of mount Davison without having anything blocking the view. I was also trying to solve the problem of where I could put the storage, and I was thinking that maybe I could have thicker walls at the south side to help with the noise from that part of the street.



•I wanted to create something that wasn’t too rectilinear like all the other house and so I moved into working with curves. However the problem that I still had was that it was too symmetrical. Even though the last model was responding to the site and it was starting to move away from symmetry I still wanted to find something that was not that rectilinear and it made the structure not seem like every other house. And I think the main reason of why I had trouble coming up with a model was because I wasn’t sure of what I wanted to actually build. I did not have a main theme or reason. It was necessary that I created a metaphor and chose something that would inspire me to create better structures. At this point I was also trying to solve the problem of how to create a big space in a little lot. The way that I thought would help with this issue is that I decided to have partial walls and to have even no walls and instead of wall I could have different floor levels that would separate one room from the other.


Finding Inspiration and a Metaphor

I was lacking inspiration and a metaphor at the beginning which made me not come out with as abstract models as everyone else. And I was told that once I started to look for a metaphor I would be able to construct things much easier. I decided that I would use a Japanese Garden as my metaphor and as my inspiration. I had already established that I wanted my main theme of my house to be meditation. I wanted my house to be a place of wonder and relaxation. I liked how within a garden a person can go through the many passages and why circulating the garden they can wonder and experience many feelings. I like how they also use sand to represent things that are not really there. They can represent water with sand, and by the way the send is moved. I also liked how they have at the center a place where the person can be and they can view the whole garden from that spot. Now I just had to put all the qualities of the Japanese garden into my model.



Now that I was going to use the Japanese Garden as my metaphor I decided that I was going to use symbols that were use in a sand garden to create my next model. I would use the circles that were place in the Zen Garden and then displaced the circle toward the views that I was trying to frame. By doing so I was able to get rid of symmetry completely. Now the only problem that I had to face is how was I going to connect the separate structures that were created by the displaced circle. The separate structures can represent the three different stages of water since the circle represents water. I still kept the idea of the offset and I sill only wanted to have two floors to not go over the 900 GSF. I didn’t want to have a basement because a basement does not give the feelings that I wanted my house to have.


Final Project: Models Even thought I first wanted to displaced the circle and

create a 3D model of it. I had trouble with deciding if that was the best thing to do because by displacing the circle I will be having separate structures. And unity would be lost. However I do not displaced the circle I will have symmetry again. And my structure would not be responding to anything again. So I did try to have just the circles together but I did not like It looks better when is pointed towards my Framed views it looks a lot more interesting and complex.

For this model I also tried to add a engawa at the first floor where I want to place the Kitchen and have a traditional iori place there. And I wanted at the moment to have the Tatami room place under that porch and since is all going to be hidden in the back it can give a nice peaceful sense. The offsets of the floors I would now like to make them into pathways to create all those pathways that are also created in a Japanese Garden. But even if I didn’t displaced the circle I would till have two separate structures so I decided to have the three original structure that had been inspired by the gardens. I also was trying to figure out if activities should be organize and whether they should be organize by floor level or by the different separate structures.



I went back to the idea of having the three different structures and maybe connecting them with bridges. This would go back to the previous structures that had bridges in them. I want to keep the separate structures and perhaps besides connecting them with a bridge I could also have gardens as you go through one structure to another that would help create the spiritual journey or the relaxation feeling I wanted to portray. I also wanted to address privacy by having my main entrance not facing South but facing north. I also wanted to big openings so I can be able to look from one structure directly to the inside of the other. I want to have gardens and engawas in the little courtyards in between the structures so that also when the people are walking on top of the bridge to go across the structures they have something to admire at the bottom. Everywhere you look inside here you have a nice place to look just like in a garden.


Final Project: Models When I finally made the 3D model it, the

three separate structures did look interesting because they looked like little huts. Three little huts and it looked simple, and yet complex because of the asymmetry. I had created wabi-sabi subconsciously The only problem I had now was how to connect the 3rd south structure with the front part. Here I decided that bridges was not a good idea because of the size of the lot the bridges would be too narrow and would create more tension then peace. So I took them out and decided that I wanted my client to go up and down every time he wanted to go from one room to another room. Through going up and down the structures there is an opportunity to reflect while walking and going through the gardens. And even under stairs. However, I needed to create my circulation passages more interesting and more unique so I needed to add more unique feelings every time I entered one room and went to another. Maybe I would have different gardens and pass through water and walk on sand.



To respond to the passive energy I tried to have all my second floor be made of glass but that did not seem like a good idea at first because the clients will not have no privacy. Even though it would be good because during the summers they will always have natural light going into their homes. However, I did not consider the problem that is created when you have everything made of glass, and that if you do have big windows made of glass there is too much heat created. So I learned that to prevent the heat from accumulating I can have small offsets to prevent the sun’s rays to go directly into the structure. I also was thinking of having translucent windows to create privacy but I was told that the person wont be able to see anything on the outside expect for silhouettes.

For the other model I was trying to create a roof for the entire structure to help the structures unite, and not necessarily have them be separate structures.


Final Project: Models I wanted to make big windows but it wouldn’t be so

suitable for the weather it would be too hot on the summer and I wanted to make them out of translucent material but you would only get shadows and I did not want the client to see only silhouettes. So I decided to keep only the windows at the corners to bring the light in and to keep the house as private as possible. There will also be gardens at the top of every structure. Everywhere the client is able to go and fine a nice place to meditate, it could be in between the house or on top of the house. The n I finally decided that each little hut will help separate the different activities that the need to happen within the home. Drawing small floor plans helped me organize the activities. I decided that the first structure would be compose of activities like the tatami room and living room. The Tatami room would be on the second floor and the living room will be in the first floor where it can be connected to the kitchen. The Center structure will be composed of the Bedroom and Kitchen the main activities of the house. I place the kitchen in the middle of the house because since food is such an important part of the culture I wanted to represent that in the house. Since the more social activities are at the front and the important activities are at the front. The structure in the back will contain more individual activities such as the studio. From the studio and the ritual rooms you can look down to a beautiful garden or even to the roof of the house since the third structure is much higher to give a nice view of the North side.


Final Project: Models And Final Presentation

My major design concerns and issues were that I needed to make a small space feel like a big space. And I also had to address the issue of how I could create a well calm and relax space within a very noisy and sometimes dangerous neighborhood. I solved the space issue by not having many walls, I wanted to avoid walls or at least I wanted to have partial walls. I tried to avoid boxes as much as possible to make my house feel like it has big space. The issue of how to create a calm place and avoid the noisy environment, I addressed it by having thick concrete walls at the south side on Judson, and have normal size walls facing the north service road because is a lot more quite on the back. These thick walls would also be used for storage and help keep everything in the house more organize . And to also help avoid the noise almost all of the South side of the house is shut out from the outside. There are no doors, the doors are on the inside, they are private and closed to the public unlike other doors from the other houses. And to also create a more relax place I tried to create small little courtyards in between the three little structures. The gardens in the courtyard would bring a sense of peace into the house. I even made small spaces where courtyards can be made on the roof when is nice in the summer.


Final Project: Models And Final Presentation

Another issue that I wanted to address is how to get the views that I wanted my client to see when most of the houses were of the same height. Since there wasn’t a lot of interesting things to see on the south side I left that side to be a normal height of a two story house but the north side facing the service road was a bit taller then a normal two story house because I didn’t want anything blocking the view of my client. The framed moments that I wanted to were many. The first one is on the North side while the person is looking outside towards mount Davison. And on the South side on the corner windows when the person is looking out towards the water tower. Another frame moment I wanted to have is when the person is in the center structure and it can look down towards the courtyard in between the living room and the kitchen and between the kitchen and the studio. The gardens and the engawas are sort of a transaction between one structure and the other and are what brings the separated circle that is suppose to be a whole together. One of my weakness of the structure is that the client would have to go up and down between the structures when circulating the property, this can be made into a strength by putting a horizontal bridge connecting everything from the tatami room to the bathroom on the third structure.


•I tried to use sketch up to create the Small vignettes drawings. I wanted to Show all the grass or at least what appears To be green is suppose to be the gardens. And the brown areas are suppose to be the different kind of sand the person has to walk over. The blue areas are suppose to be the ponds that you would have walk around when you are walking from inside of the house to the outside. Even the roof is green because is suppose to represent the gardens that are going to on the roof also.


Final Presentation

The final presentation did not go as well as I wanted it to go there are still many things I need to learn, so I can apply them to future work . I could have done a lot more with the idea of the circles and made a lot more different structures. I only saw geometry and the fact that the circles were displaced but other people said that there was much more that could be said about the circles being displaced. They did not only have to be pointing towards one the framed views. I could have also come out more reasons of why the inside were facing a certain way. I had discover what I also wanted the client to see when for example they were at the Tatami room. I thought that the gardens would be a good enough reason but there need to be a further explanation. The fact that the client would have to go up and down every time it went from one room to another was probably not a good idea. Chandler said that I should have had bridges instead. And that Idea would go back to some of the previous models that I had, but I took the bridges away because I thought it was a bad idea but it turned out to be a good one. Hopefully everything I learned from this semester will help create a lot more abstract and come up with better explanations and reasons for every move I make when making a model. Even though I made few wrong decisions from this project that is going to help me for the next one.


•My plans just show the thick Southern walls and how each separate structure contains different activities, which portray different feelings, and that is why they are in separate structures. The Tatami room and living room, in the center we have the most important activities like eating and bedroom. At the back there are the rituals taken place together with other individual activities.

MORALMA RODRIGUEZ ARCH 21 FALL 2009 30

arch 21 final portfolio

Documents

nodes project

final project

previous project

different feelings

different heights

different line weights

continuation of paths

augmented landscape