STUDIO AIR

WU KING YING, KIRA

My name is Kira. I am a third year Environment Student major in Architecture. Actually this is my first year in Melbourne Uni as I am aa transfer student from City University of Hong Kong. It is so exciting to do explora-tions in a different envionment. In Hong Kong, I have touched SketchUp, 3Ds Max and Revit such digital tools that help in design process. But the education in HK is relatively practical and technical. So, I would like to do more research on architectural theory in MelbUni as I am very interested in it.

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Olafur Eliasson 2003The Weather Project

Olafur Eliasson did a series of art to reflect his views of sun, wind and rain. The weather Project is a work to analyze the phenomenological experience of a natu-ral environment in an indoor space. He used a semi-circular disc composed of monochromatic yellow light lamps, a machine produced mist and a mirror to cover the whole ceiling. It is a very fascinating project and architecture. Eliasson focused on personal experience rather than representational. I think that what architec-ture is, a discourse of human and nature. The fog made an illustion of dawn and dusk. Also,

the mirrored ceiling imitated sky as well as in my opinion the viewers themselves. The lied on the ground and found themselves in the “sky”. It successfully created an environment of ambigu-ity which somehow blurred the boundary between human and nature. Architecture is discourse and perception. Four solid walls do not mean architecture. Architecture is a space of emtions, discourse.

Teshima Art Museum which located at a remoted countryside island - Teshima Island in Japan. This in-teresting water-droplet shaped museum is a success-ful example of architectures dissolve in the woodland environment by pushing the boundary between nature and architecture. The museum does not have any par-titions, spaces are defined by two big openings. Tes-hima Art Museum is more than a museum but also a sculpture, a exhibit. Actually, there is only one formal exhibit in this museum. But in my opinion, the wood-land, sky, people, breeze, water, sound are the exhibits inside this museum. The amazing and beautiful curve established a environment of ambiguity. It evokes the visitor to have a conversation with themselves as well as the nautre.

And the other fascinating way is that Nishizawa used concrete but not other materials such as glass and steel which appeared to be lightweight. Con-crete is very common in Japanese architecture and it often gives me a sense that everything has two sides nd there is not right or wrong in Architecture, only conversation.

Teshima Art MuseumRyue Nishizawa