The 36 textures

Here are my 36 textures. I particularly like 'wavy', 'porous' and 'regular'  

My second section

 

Here is the other section I chose to make stairs for.  The top floor is based on the word 'stick', and the bottom is based on 'hitting' (It's meant to represet the motion of a bouncing ball).

Both sets of stairs were based on the circle.  The stairs above were based on a slinky and are meant to link the ground floor to the top floor. 

Image from http://www.freeimages.co.uk/galleries/objects/ropes/

The stairs below are designed for the bottom floor.  I forgot to state that the spheres are meant to be made from concrete.  

When I made these stairs in Sketchup, however; I realised that the repeated spheres were visually too confronting (or in more simple terms, 'too busy').  I streamlined the design, making the stairs a single layer of semi-spheres.  I think this one layer of spheres is more effective than the repeated spheres, as it will not detract from the rest of the space as the other stairs would have.  

Here is my Sketchup model of the building with the stairs

 

Week 2 - The Stair

Here is the section I worked on last week.  The top floor is based on 'wood', the basement is based on 'geometric.'

The first set of stairs I designed for this building went from the basement to the ground floor.  I was obviously insprired by the geometric theme of the basement when I designed these stairs.  The spheres which replace the handrail were based on walking poles, and are designed to hoist the user up the stairs while the person's hand remains in the same position.  I don't know why, but this design almost feels postmodern to me. 

The next set of stairs are more abstract.  I was inspired by the 'trippy stairs' I found on Design Milk (see http://design-milk.com/trippy-stairs/ for images).  I liked the idea of the stairs all being connected to a central point, much in the way the roots of a tree all come from the central 'tap root'.  This also fits well with the top floor's design, which was based on a rainforest canopy.

The 18 sketches

Her are my first 18 sketches.  I chose Heston Blumenthal and Steinway & Sons as my clients.  

In the end, I chose the section below.  I was inspired by a rainforest canopy, and I think I could develop this concept further.  I've done a rough Sketchup model, also below. 

A piece of great architecture.

   
My next task is to post some great architecture, and I must admit, I have been deliberating what to post for a while.  I considered posting Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, but then I realised that other people have probably posted it already.  I thought about what buildings are inspiring to me as an aspiring architect, and in the end, I've decided to do something a little unconventional.  Instead of posting a building which is already in existance, I've decided to post an unbuilt proposal because it's a design which really speaks to me.  This design by Swiss and Melbournean architecture firm HASSELL, Herzog & De Meuron was the winner of a design ideas competition to rejuvinate Melbourne's iconic Flinders Street Station.  This design left the original facade intact, but remodelled the platorm space and included the addition of a gallery and ampitheatre.  There are so many things I liked about this design, mainly being the way it respects the history of the present station but adds life to the area through the new additions.  The geometric motifs of the roof in the new platform area are reminiscent of Art Deco designs, again relating to history, but they also serve the function of letting light into the space.  I also like the way the roof arches vanish away into a single point, similar to the way a speeding train vanishes off into the distance.  

 
 
 




 

A beautiful place...

My next task is to post a picture of something beautiful, and after going through my photos, I settled on this picture I took when I visited Rottnest Island, Western Australia in 2012.  This picture really doesn't do the place justice: I remember seeing every shade of blue and green in the sea sparkle under the Autumn sun.  It is a truly stunning place: I could never tire of this view!  I've always loved the beach: the sound of the waves crashing, the salty ocean smell and the horizons which stretch on forever.  I grew up in a town inland, so I didn't get to go to the beach often growing up.  As I only really got to go to the beach once a year on holidays, it made me appreciate the beauty of the beach even more. 

My creative work - Queen of Hearts dress

After posting about the creative works of my clients for the first project, I guess it's fitting that I post some of my own creative work.  I made this dress in my Year 12 textiles class, and it is definitely one of my creative achievements which I am most proud of.  The brief was to create a costume for a character in a film/TV show/stage production, and I chose to design a dress for the Queen of Hearts in the play 'Alice in Wonderland'.  This was a task which proved difficult, as the Queen of Hearts is such an iconic character and some the costumes she wears in various iterations of 'Alice in Wonderland' have become just as famous (e.g the 1951 Disney animation and the 2010 Tim Burton film).  In creating this dress, I wanted to avoid clichés, and hence break away from the aforementioned depictions of her character and create something new.  To do this, I had to find a new cultural reference point to base my costume on, which I found in gothic architecture.

Although the connection between the Queen of Hearts and gothic architecture may not be obvious, I found some parallels between these two seemingly unrelated concepts.  I first become interested in gothic architecture when I visited Europe in 2011 and saw many gothic churches.  While I marvelled at the size, scale and splendour of these churches, I noticed they weren't particularly inviting or friendly looking.  I thought about why this was and realised just how powerful architecture can be in conveying a message.  Gothic churches are not designed to invite people in, but rather to display the power of the church and hence keep the faithful obedient.  Similarly, the Queen of Hearts wishes to appear intimidating and powerful and dominate over the other inhabitants of Wonderland.

The dress was created from a moderfied dress pattern.  The gothic details of this dress include the pointed arch neckline, the ogee (I think that's what it's called) motif on the bodice and the pleats which point to the pointed arch panels.  The ogee and pointed arch panels were inspired by gothic windows, and the motifs inside were also inspired by gothic tracery.  

In the end, I achieved a good result for this project, but ultimately it taught me that what creativity is: the ability to take unrelated concepts and use them in a new way.