will get to other stuff later but laptop is dying

Crit Work

Here is my submission for the final crit.

More work

Pink Shadows

I can't work out why my shells have suddenly created themselves some pink shadows. It only shows up in 3d, with the openGL engine. They appear to be directly below the shells, and appear as red lines when you change the settings to wireframe. I kind of like the aesthetic, but does anyone know how to get rid of it?

modelling

modelling one of my sketches (these are going to be screenshot posts)

a test module

Still fairly primitive (thanks, tech assignment) but I quite like this. I envisage the cuts as led lighting in panels, or glass pieces. I'd like some more complexity, but that will probably come as I develop this. The rendering error with two objects on top of each other has been done on purpose, I wanted to see glass in the model and the resulting effect was most satisfactory.

Progress

Still a bit slow. But this is pretty jazzy, hey?

Blowing bubbles

I've been drawing on archicad this morning. So many lines! On Mike's instruction, I am drawing things that create "bubble" spaces that humans inhabit, such as cars, television etc.. as a precedence study. check it out! Edit: apparently drawing means modelling, not drawing. Oh well, it was an interesting experience..

Council Visit

I also visited the council today. They had files on my site from 1899 (can you believe it?!?) and a large collection of plans. Restaurant specific stuff was missing, but I got a good copy of what looked like the current plans, it is interesting to see how they divide the bottom level into three retail spaces, as well as how the upper story apartments are laid out.

Monday

Decided to work at home today because I find it more productive. Also: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10883267

It makes for sad reading. Looks like the content of that 99% Invisible podcast is heading our way.

Also got the book about the japanese sleeping hotels

Empire of the Sun

I watched Empire of the Sun on Wednesday night. Lots of broken stuff, interest in the lived-in aesthetic. Will post a proper review/ opinion when I'm feeling more awake.

Plaster Cups

Had a go at casting plastic cups. I was looking the gritting, lived in nature which described the human condition from trainspotting and empire of the sun. It also served as a mobile, and it has been identified that the duality in the surface condition could be a reflection on the presented environment and reality contrast. I connected them, and the spaces in between were also interesting, and a little bit reminiscent of the current facade idea. I cast this, and it sort of looked like an engine, which I liked because of the industrial connotations and aesthetic. I'm really sorry about the spelling and grammar. I'm really tired. Also the images are of a poor quality because I took them with my phone; the first years tell me that this works better for 123D Catching because it works by identifying corners. Progress!

Other Ballard books

Are there any other Ballard books that would be worthwhile looking at? Crash is apparently quite well known...

Ballard and Mobile

Today I got hold of Empire of the Sun by JG Ballard. I have begun to read it, and so far it has been a good read. The parallels with the film Trainspotting are quite interesting- I feel that it illustrates that architecture is not as much about the space as how the people inhabit it. The ruin of Shanghai due to the people, and the lived in sensation I find interesting, and it is an aspect that I am trying to portray with my Mobile. The mobile's actual physicality is an interesting problem - how do you 'show' the lived-in nature of a space?

So far I have:

-Considered layers of planes showing 'dirt' built up- this could be done with laser cutting patterns onto transparent material, or routing 'bumps' into things on purpose. 123D catch experiments become relevant here.

-Wondered if a collection of the lived in objects, or impressions of them, would be interesting.

Personally I think that neither of these is a particularly good idea, one seems too 2D and the other too literal.

Self-checklist for tonight

-Digital model of interior stuff
-More site-specific stuff (how is it going to interact with existing, what is there, space)
-Deal with floor-walls interaction
-Complexity

-Explore and continue the cycle
*Talk to the OML guys about grasshopper

Tuesday

Tuesday has been a bit of a day. The photos have been roughly sketched over without much success, I felt that the more interesting moments happened when I put the models together in interesting ways and photographed them. From there I attempted to model the hexagon lattice. The model itself is a success, more or less, but it is very tedious and required some actual maths and thinking. I'm impressed that archicad could handle it. I then shuffled it across to max for the more precise and less tedious node movement and the soft selection function, and whilst it works fine it doesn't look that fantastic and leaves me feeling cold. I need to actually design more of a space than a component, and sort of dig in and do it. Judy is currently here and it seems like a waste to utilise her abilities but when I don't really have anything interesting or spatial to show her it doesn't sound productive. Also I think my hexagons are too big, and whilst I can fix this, designing a space is more important. Lastly, Mike and Judy, I am imagining that the main gaming space is a procession through (more or less) a very very large spiral staircase, with the gaming happening on the extensive landing areas. Do you have any ideas about how this would work? It feels like it lacks complexity.
Also, can I post BIMx files here or something so you can feel my work as I am doing it, rather than once or twice a week?

Anyway, here are some images from the day's work. I think I might ask one of the OML guys about how to do this particular element on rhino+grasshopper tomorrow, for this particular aspect at least I think that having it defined parametrically with extra editing power might be an advantage

Weekend's work

Sunday morning model making

So it's a rainy sunday morning- what better things are there to do but curl up in front of the heater with a coffee and make some models? At this point i'm investigating spatial arrangements re: cross-programming with a kindergarten. Following UN Studio's example, I am hoping to derive a form from the function, and hence I am engaging in rapid prototyping. The quality isn't amazing but it's more about how the spaces just need to get realised. =]

Anthropometrics

memory banks

more dehumanising imagery:

Battery

And just because it's friday:

And just because it's friday, and sometimes my design makes me feel like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1bHBthJN9w

As far as disorientation goes there is also this:

As far as disorientation goes there is also this:

Travelators

Are an interesting (and lazy) way of controlling movement through a building. I like how it takes away the choices from the gamblers, as sometimes you get the feeling that that is all they have left

Mobiles again

It has sort of struck me that I have not really dealt with the three-dimensionality of the mobile, what I have proposed so far has been garbage and planes or layers work. This is going to have to be addressed in the near future, although all that hits me right now is 'space junk' which I could run through 123D catch. Also, when I imported this into archicad, it didn't want to scale upwards. the x and y axis scaling worked fine, however. Perhaps I should be doing this in Max?

CNC Routing

My routing test has come through from the week before the semester break. It took a long time, and there was some sort of scaling issue, despite checking it beforehand with Franca it still turned out far too small. However, the level of detail is nice, and it has given me insight into how the router works. I will show mike this today

Mobiles

Just a thought- mobile could have multiple laser cut 'layers'. The burn and cut marks could be in reference to the 'lived in feel' identified in trainspotting...

Note to self- functional architecture- zoos, hospitals, prisons. circulation. Koolhaas- cross-programming. 

entry- draw in, trap. disorientation.

more thoughts

entrance important -drawing in and no escape. perforated otherwise, illusion of freedom. or jail cell bars?

Interesting imagery

I like the gritty, used and abused feel that this has. It reminds me of the buildings of trainspotting, where all that separates the 'old' and the 'new' is some crap on the ground, blood smeared on the walls, a decrepid old chair....

123d first test

UNStudio Website

I have been browsing the UN Studio website, as instructed. I was hoping for more circulation diagrams, and writing describing them and how they work. There is a distinctive style in a lot of their projects, and I was especially taken with this wall section:

I find the multiple layers interesting. For me, the outside layer comes across as solid, and impermeable, like one could not escape, but the large perforations from the interior allude to a false sense of freedom. 

123D Catch 2

The manual stitching takes ages and I can't seem to export the scene- it looks like patience is required given the lack of help videos. Also, it would appear that the quality of light and reflectivity of the object greatly affect the result. The spray can I was using as a test object's top has not come out well at all. The rest, however, seems to be quite effective.

Theory Pt 2.

I have also looked at Rem Koolhaas's S,M,L,XL for inspiration, and really enjoyed the opening reading about "The Wall". I think that building as a divisive power, and cross-programming to encourage public thoroughfare (and provide spectators) are aspects that I need to consider, whether it is just a bridge through the site, or I have a semi-transparent roof that they can walk on, a tunnel, or a structure with some other purpose like a kindergarten or a zoo.

Theory

I have recalled the library's copy of 'learning from las vegas' so as to understand the literature and theory we are supposed to have dealt with, and so far I have failed to do so.

As far as the battery casino goes, I am interested in Le Corbusier's idea that the building is a machine, and the general 'economic' and 'mechanical efficiency' drive of modernism. I find the contrast between the 'economic and efficient' casino as opposed to the rich and luxurious boutique casino facinating, and should investigate this more.

123D catch

Following Judy's suggestion on monday, I am playing around with 123d catch. Here's a taste of a tester: 

Re: 99%

So, many ideas were discussed in the podcast -99% Invisible- 78.

To me the most disturbing were:

-The multi-bet and multi-reel system, which made you place a bet a lot larger than you imagined, and frequently getting partial wins. The sense of winning even though you're losing- gladly walking into the snake pit- I find distinctly unsettling, even if I have experienced it with similar versions on a Pokemon gameboy game when I was a little kid.

-Following on from this, the extent that they have gone to to make it feel like you are not spending money. This is a fairly common concept nowadays anyway, with the mighty 'plastic fantastic', spend first-ask questions later mentality we have with credit cards. To have these incorporated into casinos is just wrong. A great business move, but the person who issued this must have absolutely no conscience whatsoever.

-Thirdly, the 'drawing in' of people using the inset screens and legacy levers. It would appear that casinos understand gamblers very well, and have developed ways of drawing them in. This seems equally evil, but as a designer, I seem to have less objection to it. The 'drawing in' and entrapment of gamblers into my battery casino is an important aspect of my design, and I should look at ways to achieve this better.

-Next, the 'flow' gamblers. I can appreciate that gambling to many people is about escapism, but when a machine has been designed to a point where it would be more disruptive to collect coins than continue gambling, there is a problem.

Lastly, the 'chaining' to the machine with a card, and general dehumanisation of gamblers is an aspect I too should consider in my design.

I will leave you with a particularly apt cartoon which Marina brought to the table on week one which summarises how I feel about this:

99% Invisible

https://soundcloud.com/roman-mars/99-invisible-78-no-armed-bandit -hands down, this is one of the most disturbing things I have seen on the internet, and I have seen plenty of disturbing stuff in my time. Will post an opinion piece after I listen to it again,

Hamish

Giving this thing another go

So i'm going to try and give it another go. I can see the value in it, even if I seem to lack the inclination. I'm going to try and run it more like a tumblr blog, with pictures and fewer words, and more posts.

Casino design

I also had some time tonight to think about my casino design. I have rapidly come to the conclusion that my site on Quay St. is a lot smaller than some of the proposed designs that I have produced so far. I will need to find some rough site dimensions, and use these to rationalise my design. The general lack of size (and my admiration for the existing building) means that my building will probably be burrowing underground somehow. This is fine; concept wise, as an architecture of guilt  would be at an advantage buried, hidden and shying away from all human contact. I like the idea of a travelling down a dark entrance tunnel to get into my casino, it would feel especially natural with the 'spiky' space design from earlier in the semester.

I have a couple of quick sketches as to the latest iteration of the design, and as much as the maze-like space was interesting, for a predominantly pokie-based boutique casino, it did not really provide many adequate spaces for pokies to occur. With this in mind and the site size realization, it was not really practical to have as many walls as were being proposed. These are going to be mulled over over the weekend.

Unfortunately, at this point I have but a sketch in my pad, I will be developing these over the weekend and a result will be seen at the critique on Monday.

5/4/13

5/4/13

Hi there!

Mike showed me how to publish archicad documents tonight. This means that I have been able to finally get drawings that keep their' vectorial qualities, and don't blur when you transform them.
Here is one of the pieces from my commitment document reworked so it's a vector piece, and not pixels! [EDIT] Apparently blogs don't like pdfs either. I'll show it to the tutors on monday.

I'm back

Hi there,

After a fairly long break (some of it due to laziness, some to illness) I am back posting. As promised, here are the initial mobile photos. I think they blurred with the movement of the mobile =/

Interesting video

I just found an interesting video.

With very limited relevance to my project, but it is really pretty. It might have been done with vectors, i'm not sure. If you're going to watch it be sure to turn the quality to 'original'- it really makes the difference. Here's a link to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF-eVnqq-bw.

Enjoy.

Thingy from yesterday & mobiles

As promised, here is the document I sent yesterday. I am going back into studio tonight to photograph my mobile, and I will explain it later tonight.

Commitment complete!

The commitment is done! I'll post it later along with some funky images, and some preliminary mobile work

Busy

The commitment isn't looking promising. Didn't really click on how to publish on friday, and I don't have time to work out how. The images, whilst lacking both quality and quantity, are also pixelating as I rescale them. Argh.

Monday

A bit slack with the updates- i'm in a rush to get this document together for seven pm. We've been assigned a mobile for tomorrow. Some interesting links. looks fairly straight forwards. People have done a lot more work that I have expected. oh dear. Grammar is lacking; sorry, no time to edit.

Fills screenshot

Not the most wonderful effort ever, but it's a start. I saw an 80's inspired music video half way through this with some interesting patterns, so I thought I would have a go at some like them. There was a bit of a spiral trend with them; they were zoomed in on and used as fade ins/fade outs, but I like the 'introspective' and 'downwards spiral' reading of them more. :)

Sunday afternoon

This afternoon, I went into studio, watched a few tutorials on archicad, especially re: the layout for tomorrow's presentation thingy, because the nuances escaped me when mike showed us on friday. I have some more fills, which I am drawing up as I speak, and I will post them up later. In keeping with the guilt concept, I am trying to make fills which give the sensation of being watched, or followed, or disorientating ones. I personally think there is more soul in the vector fill when it doesn't tile properly, and there are little errors here and there. This happens a lot more frequently on curved surfaces, and seeing as I am still running archicad 14 on my laptop, I may not be able to emulate this sensation due to the lack of a morph tool, and we may have to wait for tomorrow morning. I am also intending to do some thinking about the concept and site before turning in tonight. Ciao!

Graphisoft help+ Piranesi

Apparently you can't just download a new version of archicad 16 on a laptop which has archicad 14, despite having a newly validated student licence etc. *sigh* Guess it's into university I go, whilst I wait for graphisoft help to come through.

On a more positive note, though, I have found the work of Piranesi, from Mike's blog. The etchings of Carceri are amazingly dark and gritty, and very beautiful. Whilst he obviously has a fascinating subject (a prison, no less) the lines and emotion conveyed with them are fascinating, and I hope to convey some of this in my own work. For me this work talks about being trapped and hidden away, and the cave-like qualities of the building are a wonder.

Inspiration

Hi guys,

I've just been doing some reading; looking at mike's emails and doing some google-ing, and I think I have found some interesting things to propel my design.

Firstly, guilt. I identified this in the sort of darkened spaces (in the cultivated environment that is Skycity's main gambling hall)- where the 'pokie machine' player is submerged into a darkened playing area, in which they can hide away from their shame and guilt. There is also the technicolour carpet, lucky colours, light contrast, lack of clocks and natural light which adds to the effect, but you get the idea.

When looking for images depicting guilt on google (amazingly lazy, yes I know) the overwhelming image is of a person depicted in stark black and white sitting down with their head in their hands. They are ashamed, they feel like they are being persecuted and watched, they want to hide away and escape their sad reality. It is a particularly dark, introspective moment.

I find guilt particularly interesting, and the hiding/being watched aspect, as well as a 'pit of despair' has been the subject of some of my early work. At this point I would backfill my blog with images of earlier work, but apparently I saved it as archicad 16 files, and as I have archicad 14 and no images to run with, I'm going to have to wait, or update my archicad. Watch this space!

Hamish

Test!

Hello world!

This is the new blog. It's for my third year design paper -looking at casinos. We're also looking at BIM programs. I guess with a bit more engagement I will learn to love them. I endeavour to update this blog three times a day with meaningful progress, in order to guilt-trip me into working more. And my project is about guilt. How appropriate.

Hamish