assignment.04 | Thoughts
Since my last post I have been working on gathering resources and influences that I have been studying, as well as capturing data on changing light in the light well on the 4th and 5th floor of the WSB. After viewing the video I have created of changing light in this space, I have decided that my final proposal may need to flex a bit. I would still like to see an adaptive interactive piece installed there, I just feel that there is very little light to manipulate which leads me into making light. I have not been furthering my studies in kinetic screens because of this wall I have hit. I am now thinking that it would be more of a giant luminary that I would be installing.
Bibliography-
Bando, Kouske. Respect For Blank Space. Autoxic. Web. 21 Apr. 2011. .
Gramazio, Fabio, and Matthias Kohler. Digital Materiality in Architecture. Baden: Müller, 2008. Print.
Hensel, Michael, and Achim Menges. Versatility and Vicissitude: Performance in Morpho-ecological Design. London: Wiley, 2008. Print.
Iwamoto, Lisa. Digital Fabrications: Architectural and Material Techniques. New York: Princeton Architectural, 2009. Print.
Kinetic Pavilion – Adapt&Extend. Web. 22 Apr. 2011. .
Kolarevic, Branko, and Kevin R. Klinger. Manufacturing Material Effects: Rethinking Design and Making in Architecture. New York: Routledge, 2008. Print.
“MyLight – PROJECTiONE.” PROJECTiONE. Web. 22 Apr. 2011. .
Skavara, Maria E. Learning Emergence: Adaptive Cellular Automata Facade Trained by Artificial Neural Networks. Diss. Bartlett School, Univeristy College of London, 2009. Web. 21 Apr. 2011. .
assignment.04 | Comment
Jerome you have done a great job of researching the possibilities of what you are interested in. Lisa Iwamoto’s “Digital Fabrications” is a great introductory teaser of what has been happening with digital fabrication over the past years. The (Ply)Wood Delaminations project in that book was done at Georgia Tech while I was there, unfortunately I was not able to participate in the design process, however, I can attest that they dramatically change the space in which they inhabit.
Para Cloud GEM is a great tool and works hand in hand with Sketch Up which is the AAA-Portland’s modeling tool of choice. If you are interested in these techniques and technologies, I would urge you to begin using Rhino and possibly Grasshopper as it gives you the flexibility of a better modeling platform along with a generative parametric design tool. With those tools, you can make your waffle grid quickly and easily so you can try various forms repeatedly.
I would also urge you to look at the work of Gego, she was a Venezuelan artist whose oeuvre from the 60s-80s is expansive and simply beautiful. Her work with wire especially is quite remarkable and a few of her pieces evoke the feeling that I feel you were interested in…the pixelated shadow. I have a book of her work that you can borrow if you would like. I don’t know if it is still something you are interested in, but I feel that it still resonates in your light study in the video. The pixelated hidden shadows were very interesting and I would push you to begin to explore these in various forms and through various materials. I can begin to see those ribs being made from a translucent acrylic so that they would begin to glow and be shadowed at the same time.
Other sources of inspiration for you to look at would include the book “Manufacturing Material Effects” as well as the work from Achim Menges, Gramazio Kohler and Andrew Kudless.
Office DA, Inc. | Monica Ponce De Leon and Nader Tehrani | Architecture, Urbanism, Design. Web. 22 Apr. 2011..
Final Project: Figuring this out.
For my final project, I want to experiment with panel systems for buildings that react to changing sun conditions. Flowers seem to perform this function by tracking the sun and blooming under certain desired conditions. I want to learn about the mechanisms that make flowers bloom. From initial research, flowers petals seem to grow in a cup shape and have a skewed growth pattern where the outside grows faster than the inside. The flowers petals grow inside the bulb until there are so many petals that the flower opens. Through a combination of pressure of internal petals and the cup nature of the flower, the petals invert causing the structure to bloom.
I might look into the translucent nature of the flower, as well as the principles that make the flower glow with color and bounce light. This effect seems to have an hypnotic effect on insects, birds, humans, and other animal life.
The last step would be to combine this with space filling patterns so that the panels can link together. Nancy directed me to Peter Pearce and his investigation of these patterns. His book is called “Structure in Nature is a Strategy for Design.” Another article titled “Geometry of Environment” by Lionel March and Philip Steadman may yield some interesting investigations.
Color Modulator
sketch light box
This was my first experiment in utilizing bounced color to alter the hue of a fixed external surface. Visible from within the lightbox, the colors shift depending upon the position of the light. This first exploration gave me direction, and taught me a lot about controlling the phenomena and constructing a decent lightbox. I used white foam core, which it turns out, is actually translucent. The openings and the positioning of reflective and absorptive surfaces were a bit clumsy in this model, but they were exceedingly informative in thinking about the most effective ways of creating the effect.
Moving from that point, the second box I’ve created explores how passively modulating color might be applicable in an architectural setting. The sizing of the absorptive surfaces on the outside have been shrunk down to allow some direct light and shadow into the space. The corners of the penetrations were carefully filleted to make the shadows quieter on the walls. The reflecting surfaces on the outside of the box are all red, so the color of the absorptive surfaces vary. The center penetration is red, the corners are green, and the sides are blue. When light bounces off the red reflecting surface onto the absorptive surface, it changes the color. Green becomes yellow, and blue becomes purple.
The video shows a few different passes, examining how sun angle affects the phenomena.
Click here to view the embedded video.
(music: animal collective – loch raven)
(the true colors of the absorptive surfaces)
Exploration
My thoughts about my final project have changed since exploring bounced color and light. Before I was most interested in how to create “color shadows” (the effects of stained glass but without light penetrating a colored translucent material) but after analyzing the quality of the light at the place of my proposed installation, the south 5th floor windows, I feel the light is much too diffused to create the intensity needed for this bounced color effect This is in part realized by a small test study I have been doing by keeping some panels taped to the window behind my desk.
For this project to be successful, it must engage the space and work with the quality of light that is most common in this space. This means utilizing materials I wasn’t previously considering, such as transparent gels, acrylic, highly reflective surfaces, perhaps even thin metals.
Although I want it to be a sculpture, I want the effect of the light given from the sculpture to be the part that the kitchen users can appreciate. It is in the kitchen where most of the A&AA students observe the weather and it affects the mood of the studio. How can I create a stimulating environment on a cloudy, misty Portland day?
In this I try to reflect on spaces with similar climates that have achieved this goal. I can think of many examples from Scandinavia – places that fit into the category of contrast for dramatic effect ( and places that filter light to produce calm (Jørn Utzon’s Bagsværd Church, Grundtvig Kirke, Myyrmäki church (Norberg-Schulz).
I’ve also appreciated the amount of color Scandinavians welcome into their architecture. These bright colors can enliven an overcast or rainy landscape (Paimio Sanitorium, the city of Bergen, Nyhavn in Copenhagen). In Oregon the idea seems to be blend in with the rain and the clouds, the mist, the gray. I couldn’t disagree more.
If the screen only modulates shadow, light, and color on itself it becomes an object to be looked at, which is not what I believe is the point of architecture. We are aspiring architects because we are interested in the positive effects of the space that we create. Although popular sentiment, I feel influenced by the work of Donald Judd, particularly after visiting his studio and foundation in Marfa, Texas.
Bibliography:
Archer, Michael. Art since 1960. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2002. Print.
Norberg-Schulz, Christian. Nightlands: Nordic Building. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1996. Print.Norberg-Schulz, Christian. Nightlands: Nordic Building. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1996. Print.
Blog Comment
Natalie’s test video of light in motion displays a careful use of an organized composition that gives the study a documentary style feel. The video does a great job of creating a mystical quality that makes you the observer question what’s happening. Even when the light modulator is placed into the frame of the video it is still a mystery of how the forms are converting the light into otherworldly shapes. Her video also is really strong in creating a lighting scheme that seems arbitrary but also defined by the singularity of one light source.
One thing I think should be pursued is the mystical quality of her test video. It can be improved by editing the sound to create a mood. The subtle sounds that occur during the filming of the video sets the tone of an isolated experience but, they seem to be sporadic and possibly accidental. Maybe using a meditative sound instead would enhance the experience. Her use of sound in her final video is nicely integrated with the feeling of the screens. Also in her second video there may be a way the light source can be hidden instead of being exposed to the camera during some of the transitional movements of the film. Maiietta S. Millet book on Light Revealing Architecture would help expand Natalie’s project. There is a chapter on pg. 136 that deals with contemplative light. I think this relates well to her video that deals with a mystical type of light that forces one to think.
Bibliography in progress
Hauer, Erwin. Erwin Hauer – Continua: Architectural Screens and Walls. New York: Princeton Architectural, 2007. Print.
Iwamoto, Lisa. Digital Fabrications: Architectural and Material Techniques. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2009. Print.
Hildebrand, Grant. Elegant Explorations: The Designs of Phillip Jacobson. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007. Print.
Lilley, Brian, and Philip Beesley. Expanding Bodies: Art, Cities, Environment ; Proceedings of the Acadia 2007 Conference, Halifax, Nova Scotia, October 1-7, 2007. S.l.: Riverside Architectural Press and Tuns Press,2007. Print.
Liu, Yudong. Demonstrating Digital Architecture. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2005. Print.
Assignment 3 Light Box Video
Changing Light Assignment_Class Demo Video
Click here to view the embedded video.
The final result of the Changing Light study exhibits the same light box and lighting conditions however I replaced the screen. In this study I experimented with a more reflective material and a finer grain of “pixelation” with the panels. Also, I aimed to minimize direct light entering the room by densifying and carefully laying out the array of panels between the support “L” shaped frames. The resulting light is a bit darker obviously given the new grey but still shinny material that face each other and bounce light into the box.  This arrangement was successful in further showcasing the gradient effect of light from panel to panel especially on the ceiling, however the shadows cast by this screen still seem a bit more regular then I’d like.Â
After careful review and examination of the light box effects in different conditions, we came to the conclusion that a secondary light source would further intensify the pixelation effect and create a secondary pattern that complements the primary one as they interact.  For the final project I would like to introduce at least one more material or finish treatment into the panel array with different qualities as it interacts with light.  Also, as couple people suggested, introducing some variation into the array pattern might lead me to discover varied effects that may help me pinpoint the most ideal condition.