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Arch 101: Learning Portfolio | Gaby Villalta

Spring ‘15

De Young Museum, 2015. Gaby Villalta

CONTENTS

Week 1 Iteration 1

Week 2 Iteration 2 + 3 / Drawings/Photos of 1 + 2

Week 3 Beginning Narrative / Iteration 4 + 5

Week 4 Iteration 6 + 7

Week 5 Storyboard

Week 6 Iteration 8

Week 7 Iteration 9 & 10

INTRODUCTION

I knew Architecture 101 wouldn’t be easy, but I knew that it’d be something I could handle. Walking in the first day of class, I already saw some familiar faces, giving me a bit of relief. We then met our professor, Jerry Lum, and oh man what a character he was. On your usual first day of class, you’d think that you wouldn’t do anything, but not with Jerry’s Architecture 101. We went straight into our first assignment. At that point a lot of us looked at each other with puzzled faces like “Is this guy actually serious right now?” Halfway through the lecture I’m pretty sure we were all lost, or looking out the window, or probably just thinking about something else. Even I started thinking to myself, “Do I really want to put myself through this?” At the end of the first day of class, I asked Jerry about our first assignment. I asked if it was supposed to be a building, and to my surprise he said no. He said that it was to be an abstract form, a 2D picture made into 3D, simple as that. Yet that still puzzled me because what I have always drilled into my head is “buildings, buildings, buildings,” but now what I had to start drilling was “abstract, abstract, abstract.” I could tell my face already read confused, but that confusion just made me want to better understand and learn what the objective for the semester is.

WEEK 1 /

What is your process from start to finish?

Given a composition by Malevich, we were told to carefully study each part of the piece, and to find one set of elements of it that could be interpreted into a 3D abstract piece. Our piece had to resemble either part of it or the whole thing. To begin my construction process, I first started it on Google Sketchup to get an idea of what forms I wanted to choose. I then proceeded to turn my choice into more of a 3D figure. After figuring out what I wanted to do, I sketched them shapes. I find it better to draw the actual design instead of just looking at it and trying to construct from there. It helps me visualize the design more. I then proceeded to cut and measure each piece that I needed. Forming each part was actually a bit difficult since tey were so small. I attempted to use glue, but my material is so thick and strong that the glue wasn’t cutting it, which made me resolve to double-sided tape (which wasn’t that much of help either, since everything kept falling apart.) While cutting each piece out, I found it better to layout my design backwards, because I realized that as I cut and tried to bend the material, the bent side was rigid, but when folded the other way (the cut side), it gave me a cleaner, straight side. I ended up using a base, but later found out that a base was not supposed to be used.

What is the value of repetition in design? What are the types of repetition?

Repetition is important in design because it brings everything together in a sense that it forms organization. In my eyes it creates a clean look to the design. If something is randomly placed, there’s no closure. In my piece I chose parts of the Malevich painting that to me, signified repetition and organization. There are features of repeated lines and “x” and “v”s that are frequent throughout the piece.

What constitutes order and what is its value in design?

I feel that a clear idea and good organization of a design creates order. If there is no type of vision or path of design, you are going into the process blindly. You need to know what you want to do, if not there will just be complete chaos and confusion in your head. Good organization, like in the designer and plans themselves, will create order in a design.

WEEK 2

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What purpose does rhythm and regularity play in design?

Regularity in design is important because it’s what people are used to and what is most “natural” to people. If buildings all of a sudden had slanted walls and doors, and sloping floors, people would be not only confused but frustrated as to wanting to know why a structure was built that way. Irregularity isn’t practical, while regularity is. Also, regularity creates usefulness. Rhythm, similar to regularity, is an important part of design as well. Though sometimes too much rhythm can be a bit boring, it creates cohesion.

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For this second iteration, I wanted to create something that had more strength to it and could stand on it’s own (without the base!) I also ended up using foam core instead of the thick card stock. Being familiar with model making and using foam core, I found that it was easier to design and gave my structure a cleaner look. By using a two-tone sided board, I was able to represent to two color tones of the figures I picked from the Malevich piece. White representing the cool tones, and pink representing the warm. I wanted this structure to give off the feeling of tranquility, and I feel that it’s simple shape and design really portrayed that.

Drawings of Iterations 1 + 2

REFLECTION

In my last iteration, I felt that it really lacked differentiation and hierarchy. I wanted to keep that same minimal design, but i wanted to elaborate it by adding repetition. From an aerial shot i wanted it to still have the appearance of one simple shape. But once you look at it from the side, it actually has some height to it with its layered factors. Also for one of the rectangles, instead of keeping it sold, I split it into 3 sections and when you look at it from the side, the 3 sections are actually triangular arches. I wanted to add a sort of rhythm to the structure as well, so I made all the parts sets of 3.

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Narrative - Hell to Earth to Heaven Heaven

Entering the building at the first floor, it’s dark and closed in. The most visible thing is the flight of stairs that are lit up by sunlight coming from above. Walking up the stairs one is now ascending from darkness to light. Almost as if walking the “stairway to heaven,” one is leaving the darkness in the past and approaching a lighter place. Once at the top of the stairs, there is automatically a sense of tranquility. With white walls, a high ceiling, and natural lighting, one can actually feel light and airy just standing there. Now approaching another staircase, one might feel hesitant and scared. Though the stairs aren’t going too high, it’s reaching another platform which juts out into the open space and seems to just float there. Reaching the top, fear and excitement are both felt. Fear due to the height off the ground and scarce amount of railing to prevent one from falling off. Excitement also because of how high it is off the ground and one can almost feel like they are floating on a cloud in heaven. One is able to look down and observe what others are doing, similar to how the angels look down upon us. But it is at this point where one struggles with deciding if this is hell or heaven. To one this might seem like hell, it’s dangerous, but to another this can seem beautiful and peaceful.

WEEK 3 ///

For my fourth iteration, I decided to focus in on the triangular archways and rectangle that ran through it. At this iteration, were supposed to create a structure that could be accompanied by a 3/4’ person and is supposed to b adapted from our narrative. In the structure I decided that the triangular archway would act as an entrance into the space. Both the front and back remained open to allow for natural light. By having a lot of natural sunlight, it allows the space to have a very open feeling while still being sectioned in by walls. I somewhat had an idea of what I wanted this space to be, either some type of gallery or living space. While most of it is one floor, there is a second outer level acting as a roof deck. And on the farthest part of the space, where the ceiling becomes higher, there’s a skylight to allow natural light in from the top as well. Though the construction was not as good as it could have been, I had a pretty clear image of what I wanted this space to be used for.

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I could not be any more disappointed with this iteration. At this point, I have gotten lost and trailed off my path. I had an idea in my head, but for some reason, I just couldn’t get the construction right. I had this idea similar to Case Study houses that are in Palm Springs and Los Angeles. An all open second floor, with windows all around and a roof. I’m usually really into very minimal designs, but for some reason this one just really wasn’t cutting it, like it’s almost too simple (aka boring). I do believe it’s a little bit of my fault, procrastination definitely got the best of me. Though I do feel that this is the biggest failure out of all the models I’ve made so far, I feel that it’s lack of details can really help me expand my ideas and transform my next iteration into something more eye-catching.

I wanted to build outward instead of straight up on this iteration . For the first level, instead of having it completely shut, I decided to add one long vertical window allowing a bit of light in, as well as having the front wall transparent/clear. I kept the incorporation of the Case Study house idea, but instead of having it all completely open for the most part, I kept part of the second level outside as a deck, while the other part was indoors. I wanted the outdoors and indoors to somewhat mesh together, so I incorporated a series of horizontal windows to allow light inside, as well as creating an abstract view of the outside. Another little detail that I decided to include was an identical vertical window as the one on the level below, and for them to be perfectly aligned with each other. By adding the different windows it adds some repetition to the structure.

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WEEK 5 Storyboard

I didn’t want to change much from iteration 6, what I wanted to focus more on was the climactic space evolution. My main focus is going from the lower, dark level, up the stairs, to the second floor where there is a much higher ceiling and natural sunlight pouring in. Since I had designed the second floor to be open and spacious, I was starting to brainstorm about what else I could put in this airy space. I decided on a little inner balcony/loft space that could overlook the second level. This is a minor change, but it adds excitement and a bit of danger since it is so high up.

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WEEK 6

WEEK 7

Strengths:

- Shows the basic shape of my construction’s frame without being overly complex.

Cons:

- Material not sturdy enough- Overhung 2nd floor is not supported by anything all, causing it to be

wobbly and fragile- Needs to be supported underneath

- Frame supports are curved when they should be straight across. - Didn’t score the foam core base, just cut through, causing it to curve.

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For my last iteration, I decided to change up my construction and choose some different materials to make it out of. Since the iteration is an evolution from the last skeletal model we made, except this one has to have “skin” on it. To make the model stronger, I ended up using pieces of basswood to construct the entire frame. I feel that choosing wood to construct my frame was a really good choice because not only did it make my model not fall apart (Jerry didn’t accidentally break model for once!), but it also gave me the opportunity to construct a model with wood instead of foam core. Surprisingly it was much more easier to cut and construct with than foam core. For the “skin” I used vellum. Instead of just slapping it on the frame, I tried to cut sections of “walls” to give off the sense that there were actually multiple sheets of walls, which is somewhat more accurate than one whole sheet of vellum acting as a wall.

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CONCLUSION

After experiencing the first couple of weeks in this class, I wasn’t sure if I could handle it. 2 models a week, along with tons of other homework. Many nights of tears and frustration. I don’t regret it one bit though. I mean as much as each assignment gave me a little bit of anxiety, I grew to fully understand that doing something wrong isn’t necessarily a bad thing, nor should it be embarrassing. I think that’s what my biggest fear was, failing and being embarrassed of my work. But what I was able to learn from Jerry and my other classmates was that it doesn’t matter if you did something wrong, it’s all part of the learning process and no one’s going to judge you for it. From Jerry, I was able to learn how to think and design abstractly. Before I thought of architecture as, for the most part, just buildings. You make this, you design that. But in Arch 101 I was able to take a step back and think about the reasons for why an architect designed something the way they did, and why they put something somewhere. Jerry once said that many people focus on the result, but what we tend to not think about is the actual process, but it’s actually the process that be more important than the outcome.