Và: a formal architectural response

 I've now started my 3rd Design 1 worshop: Và.

"This paper investigates the Pacific concept of the và, a Polynesian spatial body that expresses and separates all relationships. It is a concept of space that is evident in the architecture and way of life of Pacific people. In the Samoan context, the và take on more than one meaning and it can simply be described as a physical space.

                                                                             ...

This design topic will concentrate mainly on the Pacific concept of the và as a dialogue which refers to platforms, frameworks, bodies or entities that carry / support / stabilize / destabilize / manipulate / nourish / cherish / disrupt / expand / contract / still / balance / impression all our relationships."

Our first lesson was a trip to an example of a Và on the Auckland campus. We were asked to record our responses to the space and use them to inspire our work.

The fale seemed a very spiritual place and many students spoke of a calming and nurturing feeling. Walking in the space is immediately much quieter than outside with a lot of traffic noise, and the curving lines of the roof draw your eye around the space and creates a feeling of being ushered in and embraced by the building.

What I am focusing on is the comforting curved shape, and the feeling that the space is alive - an entity of it's own. I'm going to carry my thoughts from Homes for Cyborgs through to this workshop, and continue to look at ways to give a structure a sense of life.

Photography: Chiaroscuro

Critique Pages

Today was the final critique for the Homes for Cyborgs studio, for which we were asked to produce 3 A3 posters presenting our cyborg and home design. I ran out of time to finish the home to the standard I wanted, but am pleased I continued to improve the design and didn't settle with something I wasn't happy with.

 

Issues to address:

•  flat slab for floor - a continuation of the walls would effectively create an entirely organic shape
• hexagon mesh applied to front of hub
• create more orthographic renderings, display as wireframe
• show cyborgs inhabiting home
• create ruined landscape as setting for home
• render image of the tunnels without the hub
• depict initial cyborg morphing into home
• show cyborg bringing back rubble
• reassess the scale of the home then make it apparent

New Mesh Model

Communication with Cyborg?

While I was trying to edit the modelling clay photos from the previous post, Photoshop had another idea. I took various screenshots of the A4 page it was presenting to me:

Clay Modelling

I wanted to use more 123D Catch meshes to construct my building in ArchiCad, to achieve a complete organic shape for my home. So I bought some modelling clay to sculpt the elements of the building I wanted to bring in.

I also made some skyscrapers and rubble for the ruined city:

Back to ArchiCAD

A ruined city designed in ArchiCad.











Experimenting with different heights for the second story.

Casting shadows on the interior >

< Keeping both stories the same height works best.

A glass hub chamber? I love the tube meshes, especially with the stainless steel texture. But their organic beauty is diminished by the straight lined box. There is no connection between the two elements. The middle chamber needs to be an Autodesk mesh too, and a more grounded material than glass.

Sketches

Exponential Growth

My cloning cyborgs reminded me of bacteria and viruses, which linked me to a couple images for house reference:

Windows?

Tower?

Hexagons in Architecture

My favourite example is from Ma Yansong, founder of MAD, who I found in an past issue of Icon over the Summer.

Furniture for a Hive

If the furniture mesh could construct furniture, why not just morph out from the walls, floors and ceilings?

Hexagons and Hives

To redesign my home I needed to really question the purpose of my cyborg and home.

Firstly, I went back to my cyborgs activity: cloning. If there are going to be multiple clones, the home will need to accommodate masses, and have the ability to constantly grow.

The idea of many cells for a team/army of clones lead me to the inspiration of beehives and wasp nests as inspiration.

 
The hexagonal cells provide a more architectural shape to help define the home, but have the ability of creating curved structures like I had been look at. The insect drones are a great reflection of my cyborg clones. It also inspired me to think of a greater purpose for my cyborgs. If they are living in a ruined city, what are they doing there, and why bother cloning themselves?

The cyborgs could use the rubble of the city, in a similar way to wasps use wood to build nests. The cyborgs are send out from the home or 'nest' where they are cloned, to bring back rubble which is melted down in the home to form the fluid material which creates the cyborgs and their home.

This task has the second aim of clearing the city to allow the cyborgs to rebuild. The cyborgs have been formed from liquidated building materials and will morph into buildings like one did with the initial home base to recreate a city.

City Ruins Setting

A drawing I used to explore my house in its setting.

First issue is that the design of the house is not relating and reacting to the ruins.

Second is the green. I considered my cyborg having chloroplasts in its skin so it could photosynthesize to gain energy. I looked at relating my house design to plant life, but decided it was not a direction I wanted to take.

Home Sweet Cyborg

This wire frame may look like I've created a home for a tunnel spider, but it is in fact a home morphed out of my own cyborgs body.

While I was impressed with some of my fellow students abilities in ArchiCAD to make nice human homes, I felt the stock tables and chairs weren't suitable for an elastic cyborg living post nuclear war. (Perhaps radiation has something to say for his consistency?)

Instead, my cyborg creates his home by stretching it out of his own body! This is my first exploratory model:

In the last elevation you can see the form of an arm that wasn't completely morphed into the building. While I initially joked the house could wave goodby to you as you leave for work, I'm now considering whether the home should retain a level of humanity and awareness.

It's an intriguing concept, how much we relate to our homes and connect with them on a personal level. Having lived in the same home for the majority of my life, I feel like it's a true extension and representation of my family. I believe simple rituals like eating dinner at our small kitchen table every night have a large effect on our family dynamic.

So I'm going to push the idea of our connection to our homes with my cyborg. Maybe the home retains the ability to communicate with my cyborg, to combat loneliness in an uninhabited city. Perhaps the house understands when my cyborg is sleeping, so that it can shrink down in size to hold heat overnight more effectively. Or do the walls literally have ears?