Final Essay

Ryu Tomita

HMS101B

Prof. Sascha Frey

December 16th, 2012

The Unique Assembly of the Final Structure and its Program

From lines to volume to inhabitation, the concept-oriented semester made the project extremely difficult to connect from start to finish. The changing of dimensions from lines to volumes created differences in concept and movement within our ideas of line and points. My final project for this term concluded as a structure and space with a program that is ambiguously meant for changing apparel. Whether or not it is meant as a changing room is not clear because the program is a vague term which doesn’t specify its specific usage.

The final model derives from the development of the previous projects. In the first project, we based our model based on a verb to inspire the form. I chose the verb “twist” to create a model that was based on a negative-z and z plane therefore creating a top and sub-plane layer. As we moved on, we extended each and every line from the drawing that we based our model on. From those extended lines we extracted six to eight lines in order to create folds in order to create a volume with paper. We then recorded those paper models onto the computer software in order to create a larger volume with the triangular surfaces that were created to form the volume. For mid-terms, we then created a pattern or “surface” with the small volumes and then blew it up into a volume through a process of lofting surfaces. It is from that big volume where four “chunks” of smaller volumes were extracted. Within the layers of volume there were three different layers: bone, muscle, and skin. The bone is the core of the volume acting as the main tectonic of the structure. The muscle is a more flexible piece which creates the pieces that are required for the program. For instance, within the space of each smaller volume which we extracted, there were areas that I split and molded to allow ones to use the programs to sit or separate.

To learn from the critiques from the midterm, I decided to progress with a more arbitrary than algorithmic process for my final model. My previous surface model was created from the process aligning the edge to edge and surface to surface of a three-surface volume. The repetition was repeated in a linear form and moved directly upwards. During feedback one of the professors told me that the placement was too algorithmic therefore for the final project I took an arbitrary process to complete the assembly. My major effort in the final project was to tie my structure to the first assignment to the verb “twist.” As easy as the task sounds it took hours placing the prototype structures in order to show “twist” in a structure. Finally, I determined that if I faced the threshold of each structure in the outward direction, creating a spiral motion and then stacking them upwards like a bean stalk, it would be possible to create a twist motion. In terms of program, the form of the structure itself would help create privacy for the people, even without doors, because the thresholds faced outwards; functioning opposite of the experimental prison discussed in classed which had the threshold of each cell face towards a watchtower in the middle.

The small volumes were in fact an impediment to creating the bigger structure due to the lengthy floor space and low height of the individual prototype structures. The shapes of the floors for all of my shapes were incompatible with each other because it doesn’t allow freedom on choosing the direction for the different structures. The one requirement in creating the final structure was to have the bone layer connect to the other bone layer, which was actually a large hurdle to jump over. Also because of the complexity of the prototype structures, it was hard to connect the small volumes upwards. Due to this, on my plan view sections, there is a greater concentration of bone in the center which acts as the foundation and core of the structure and have the muscle and tissue layer act like branches and leaves. The elevation section were similar in that there was a dense layer of bonve layer going upwards through the middle of the structure and the muscle and tissue layer on the side like a donut ring. After numerous hours of staring at a screen, I created the final structure that related back to my original verb “twist,” while being able to create a space that pertained to my program.

I imagined that my space would allow the privacy for each individuals or pairs while changing. For instance for prototypes two and three, I placed a divider within the structures to create a separate space between the two people. If it were specific for a changing room, people would be able to wait outside to wait for their friend/family member to finish changing. If it were for a locker room, a friend can wait outside rather than waiting for them somewhere else. Also instead of creating additional parts within the structure to allow the people to move up and down, I relied on the site plan to mobilize people to move up and down the structure. As I explained earlier, assuming that the structure was located in the middle of nowhere, they would be given complete privacy because the threshold is faced outwards in a “spiral motion”; therefore no one will be able to see them from the outside. The site itself also forms in a twist motion due to the structures nature.

In conclusion, my final project resulted as a structure with a “twist” form with a program that is meant for changing apparel. The structure is unique for its concentration of bone layer in the center going upwards having the other layers branch out. The unique structure also helps create a twisting site plan which goes upwards as one walks along the perimeters of the structure, reaching their individual private spaces. The arbitrary process in design was a result of the feedback given to me during mid-terms and helped the process allowing the final structure to relate to its original verb “twist.”