Winter '12 Portfolio

FRANCO CHEN ARC 102L

“In literature, too, we admire prose in which a small and astutely arranged set of words has been constructed to carry a large consignment of ideas.”

Alain de Botton, The Architecture of Happiness

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Add

Divide

Subtract

Multiply

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102

ARC 150

ARC 102

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++ Add

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The exercise of “Add” focues primarily on the foundations on the proj-ect, and teaches valuable lessons on line weight and composition. In this exercise, a 0.5” by 0.5” grid was created on 8.5” by 11” printer paper, and five lines going in both the horizontal and vertical direction were drawn accordingly. Upon completing, a 5” by 5” box must be placed over the most interesting intersections of the lines. This is repeated six times, and the cutout of the 5” by 5” composition makes the faces of a cube.

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_ Subtract

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Using the network of lines created in the last exercise, we mark the sides of the cube to form an interesting and compositionally sound system of shapes. These shapes are extruded into the cube so as to make “tunnels” that gives the cube life from within. Several factors that were kept in mind when designing this cube was the light factor and how it would affect the shadows, and the hollowing out of the inside of the cube by approximately a third of the total volume.

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÷÷ Divide

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In the exercise, “divide,” we begin to explore not only the exterior of the cube, but also the interior. The cube is cut into two halves, and then as-sembled in a way that the two pieces will complement and blend togeth-er, creating one solid sculpture, rather than two individual pieces pieced together. Two goals that must be met include the ability to fuse the two spaces together to work as a system of one, but also have two distinct, and unique spaces.

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×+ Multiply

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The final part of the project is “Multiply.” There are three main objectives to this assignment. First, there must be four individual spaces. Second, these spaces must be made of Museum Board, Plywood, Basswood, and a material that we recycled. Third, these spaces must cumulatively work as a system.

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Plywood

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Recycled Material

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Basswood

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Museum Board

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+150 ARC 150

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Franco Chen ARC 150

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Treading ClothingTransport Texture

1:51

0.1 mi

0.2 mi

0.25 mi

805 ft

770 ft

815 ft

Franco Chen ARC 150 2013

1:461:47

Shade

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0.0 mi

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+102 ARC 102

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“Architecture is the art of how to waste space.”

Philip Johnson