Interior Skyscraper Renderings

The first image is of the lobby space in the taller tower. The design is by Brittany Dasso, while I rendered and photoshopped the image.

The Transportation Hub is on the first floor of the smaller tower. Since the Towers are positioned on three main transportation intersections (boating, trains, and car), we incorporated a place into the building that promotes alternative travel to work and to the building. The design and rendering were done by Brittany Dasso, Tristan Olarti, and myself.

This image is an example of a typical office space that would be found in the taller tower. Since the programming of the building is for corporate office workers I chose to move towards the trend of a open working environment. This promotes equality in the workspace and has the boss sitting right next to the intern so there is open communication throughout the workplace. There is indirect lighting that bounces off the ceiling and pulls light into the space without it being overbearing.

Final Skyscraper Rendering

This is the final rendering of the Tantolunden Towers in Stockholm Sweden. The cutouts in the building would hold public meeting spaces that would be up to the owner of the space to delegate. The programmingfor the rooms would be for events, enclosed garden lounge space, or meeting rooms.

Since Flux35 did not want the skyscraper to be overbearing in the surrounding areas we chose to make the building look as if it had grew up from the land keeping with our concept of form to site and mass and voids. The greenwalls height is even with the skyline of the

surrounding buildings near the park, to create a datum line across as if the wall had been there as long as the houses. The greenwall growing up the side of the

building would help heat gain on the lower levels of the building and also provide a seamless transition between the building into

the landscaping.

Tantolunden Towers- Interim Critique

This is our interim renderings. We recieved feedback on the building and will take the time over Spring Break to rework the building based on the feedback.

This particular view is from the waterways. I think the size needs to be reworked a little. It feels a little out of porportion to me.

View of tower in the park

This is a view of the skyscraper from the other island next to ours. Its my favorite one of all the exterior renderings. This is how most of Stockholm would see our building considering it would be the only skyscraper in Stockholm. Most buildings are only 300 ft tall while ours doubles that being over 600 ft.

Tantolunden Park Skyscraper

Flux35 (our mockfirm) met with one another and sat down and did some process sketches of how we wanted our building to look. This is a sketch I did while talking to the group and i rendered it afterwards with ChartPak markers. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. The building would be next to Tantolunden Park in Stockholm Sweden. It would connect the park and the water together through a archway in the bottom of the building. Furthermore, the building would house green terraces on both sides so that all could enjoy the views.




This is an image of the actual site where the building would be located

Process Sketch of Skyscraper in Stockholm

Our assignment is to design a skyscraper in Stockholm Sweden. This is a process sketch of what I think the skyscraper should look like. The cutouts were from the roadways around the site and then wrapped that image around the building. From there I added an arch to the entrance that would be even with all of the surrounding architecture around the site.

Magarita Powers of Ten

The Powers of Ten by Charles and Ray Eames inspired me to think about scale and hidden messages deep with in our galaxy. The scale is often missed when one dives deep into the mircroscopic or cosmic world. Thats why I decided to uncover the hidden beauty behind a margarita. When under the microscope at 1000x time zoom the smooth drink looks hard, wiry, and bumpy. The juxtaposition inspired me to create a margarita glass that was hard on the outside but the interior of the glass was smooth. I chose the texture from the look of the magarita under the microscope as a source of inspiration.

Magarita 1000x zoomed

Glass in process melting wax to create the layers of texture on the outside of the glass

SketchUP rendering of Glass

Actual Glass

Interior Rendering of Glass

sytycd a camera

A vase of flowers being taken by me! I thought it would be cool to see the inside image that was being taken instead of just the camera itself. I didnt think the vase would be enough to show scale so i inserted my hand to further reitterate how large the camera was.

Photoshop Board Experiment

This is my first time ever making a board with all my renderings. I think it went amazingly well and looks better than just gluing the images on matte board. I will definately be using this technique for further projects

photoshop you dont stop #3

I decided to take out the orange all together and make the room all red instead. I think i prefer the orange. This one makes the room feel smaller and a little depressing. The hue and sateration adjustment allows you to see how different a room feels just by changing the color

photoshop you dont stop #2

For this one i decided to

to change the color of the ceiling a bit with the polygon lasso and add more lightening and darkening to the room because the one before wasnt enough. I also fixed some of my mistakes with the clone tool.

photoshop you dont stop #1

For this first one i used the burn dodge tool around the areas i missed first. Like the cups i think it makes it more 3d than before.

intertwined

This was my first original drawing of two trees intertwined. I loved the look but i felt it needed more contrast
This one is a 2nd attempt at it changing the tree leaves to blak instead of white. I dont know which one i like more

The Sculptured House

Sitting nestled on top of Genesee Mountain in Colorado, is Charles Deaton’s Sculptured House. The house is anything but a cookie-cutter house. People have called the house a “clamshell”, “spaceship,” “mushroom,” “eyeball,” and “taco” Charles Deaton however, preferred sculptured. After all, that is how the house was originally made. Deaton knew when he began the plaster sculpture that it would eventually end up as a house that he himself would live in. He did not want to “simply wrap a shell around a floor plan” He did not even choose a scale until the sculpture was completed. Deaton was a naturalist and found the naturally occurring curves and shapes to be fascinating. It is no wonder he chose such a curvilinear house to be his own.
Deaton designed the house in 1963 as the “sculpture you could live in”. The house was Deaton’s only residential project that he would create in his lifetime. His motto was always “People aren’t angular so why should they live in rectangles?” This motto makes me believe that he was really after something with this notion. Unlike Frank Lloyd Wright, another architect in the same period of time, the same lines and angles are missing in Deaton’s Sculpture House. His house has not a single straight wall. This would be tricky for an ordinary designer, but luckily for Deaton his daughter overtook the interiors, designing the furniture as art pieces. Thus, the house is an art piece, with art pieces inside. When asked the question if architecture is art, the Sculptured House is full proof that it is. The only difference in art and architecture is that architecture can be contained. The containment of people is what makes this house fascinating. The way that it is not a perfect clamshell is unique. It is curved, so that the main glass façade is facing the most light. During the day the house is exposed to many different highlights. The bedrooms are along different sides of the house, and have different effects on the mood of the room. The master bedroom gets streaks of light throughout the day onto the floor and bed and makes the house become part of the bedroom. The same happens with the other bedroom on the opposite side of the house. The light shines onto the bed and the shadow on the curved wall spotlight the bed to look like it is a work of art. The light and shadow effects throughout the house make it easy to see why Deaton wanted this work of art to be his own. Unfortunately due to debt, Deaton never lived in the home. He never was able to see the interior finished. His daughter Charlee was commissioned to take over the interior project in 2000.
The house sits proud on top of Genesee mountain showing off its beauty to the world. Charles Deaton would be proud to look at his residential masterpiece and the changes it went through to be standing here today

Coming Full Circle

Community

Design is very important when it comes to community. The Disney Concert Hall is a great example of this. The building was very innovative being made out of titanium, yet they did not think of the community. The reflection off of the building created a heat island effect on the adjacent condominiums and caused the temperature to rise 15 degrees in some cases. Disney having the money and resources made the titanium more abrasive and dull. Since the incident, the concert hall has received much praise and made the city, “A major attractant and a cultural magnet for downtown Los Angeles” (Roth 600). The community has benefited from the concert hall and shows how one building can change many things.

Innovation

Frank Gehry was very innovative when it came to designing the Guggenheim Museum. The government of Basque wanted a building that would “bring tourists and cultural venues to the heart of the city” (Roth 600). Gehry and his team usual used copper sheets, but due to health concerns had to come up with a new similar material. The result was the highly expensive but rare and durable titanium. The skin was applied to the building that “they fluttered and shimmered in the wind, contributing a special luster to the museum.” (Roth 600). The titanium although costly was very innovative in the design sense allowing for a new direction in design. The look received much popular acclaim and soon everyone wanted their own titanium covered Guggenheim.

Stewardship

A steward is someone who is actively concerned with the direction of the affairs of an organization . That to me can not only be someone but an element that is THE direction of the affairs of organization. In our studio project, we had to make a meditative/celebrative space for 9 graduate assistants. That room had to have organization and purpose. In all of the first years designs there was an element that brought organization and purpose to the room. In mine it rice paper removable panels that brought everything together. The panels gave direction into what was public and what was private. They gave light direction as well. During the day the panels would shine onto the floor and move the light into the private space, making the graduate student more curious to see what was over there. Design is all about organization of ideas, and one element can be the steward of design.

Authenticity

This word resounds with me deeply. All throughout my life, I have wanted to be authentic, as soon as something became popular or well known, suddenly it did not have much meaning to me as before. I never wanted my ideas to be like someone else’s. That is something that I feel has sat with me as being a first year designer, we were to look at precedents for all our work. The final product, the viewer would not even know was supposed to be the precedent. I never wanted my project to resemble anything anyone else had done before. I wanted all my ideas to be original and me; even if it received criticism at least it was mine and no one else’s. The deconstructvisim movement in design is very authentic. They moved away from previous thinking “suggesting that fundamentally a building exists as an isolated abstract phenomenon.” (Roth 600) The movement was “Described by one reviewer “They’ve tossed out every orderly precept of architecture since the Greeks and have prompted the most basic questions, starting with which end is up” (Roth quoting Cathleen McGuigan). The designs were new and they showed the structure as it was. Sometimes, it came down to that they were unable to make the building due to the computer aided designs. Either way, every designer has to come up with a design that is authentic and makes them different from everyone out there. Otherwise, we will all be stuck with the crap in the suburbs the plain, repetitive, unoriginal designs.

Coming Full Circle

Throughout this year we have gone all the way from the beginning of design into history until precent day. We have gone back to the past to create new things for the future, and we have discarded the past in order to design for the future. These phenomenons have happened over and over again, and will probably continue until the end of time. As designers we have to know what makes us innovative and authentic enough to be a good designer. We are all stewards working in a specific community to make it a better designed world.

Unit Summary- Explorations

My sister Jeanette

Told me that sometimes the things that you want most are the things that are the hardest. IARC is proof. Without her encouragement I wouldn't be the person I am.

Burj Al Arab, Dubai

This building made me realize I really wanted to be a designer. Hearing the architect talk passionately about the building and changing the Dubai as we knew it, made me see how much of an impact one person can do with design. Its iconic, simple, and so techical, that I hope I can do the same in my design future

Down Comforter

Comfortable and Classic---need i say more?

Marquise Cut Solitare Diamond

3/4 carat

My Mom proudly wears this on her finger and her and my dad have been married for 31 years. I am mesmerized by the shape and sparkle. Just like their marrige:Beautiful.



Ford Mustang


An American tradition; sleek, curving, streamlined

Tampa Bay, Flordia

Everytime I go back to where I was born I feel at home, the water and sun reflecting off the buildings is magical. This is my happy place.

Birds Nest Bejing

Complex and beautiful

The Acropolis, Rome

They were far ahead of their time in everything, and this city is proof. Simple, Elegant, and yet powerful

Sydney Music Hall

Iconic and Rythmic

Road Trip

ROAD TRIP

Congruence
I feel the word connection works better with this. In history class we must find connections among what happened in the past to where design is now. The history we learn can give a precedent to design ideas in the future. Thomas Jefferson used pantheon as a precedent for his design at Monticello. He also received inspiration from the domes in Rome to design his very own home. He looked to the past in order to move forward into the future.

Roots
Both Thomas Jefferson and Frank Lloyd Wright were looking to design something that defined American architecture. They both found these American roots in different ways. Thomas Jefferson went back to the Roman style of architecture but with his own unique changes to it. He received inspiration from the pantheon in Rome to build the pavilion at the University of Virginia with its U-shaped pavilion and the L-shaped Rotunda attached to it. He has the main building with arms stretching out in the land. It is as if the arms are attaching the pantheon looking building into the land like roots do a tree. The same holds true for his house Monticello. There is the main building with the arms stretching outwards. Frank Lloyd Wright, however, wanted to move away from anything that had been done before and, thus, came up with his own unique style that he felt we should go in American architecture. His design at Fallingwater has the house with cantilevered into the land. Instead of arms rooting itself into the ground his design is like the house is hovering over the water and the water is what is holding the building secure. Monticello and UVA was built onto the land, whereas Fallingwater was built into the land.

Concept
As designers we must all have a concept to start the design process. The Sculptured House by Charles Deaton, the concept he had for his house was “People aren’t people aren’t squares, so why should they live in squares?” He designed his own home first as a sculpture and then put in the floor plan. His work is livable art. I feel that his concept of creating a home that does not have any room with a straight wall fits humans more than the houses today. His work shows that form is important when designing. The Sculptured House also allows light to hit in the key areas of the house, where the panels of windows are and the less important features are in the back. This is just like art, the artist will highlight its most prominent features of a sculpture and hide the ones that are not.

Materiality
At Fallingwater and Monticello we learned about different materials the designers used and how they define the designs. At Fallingwater, the concrete slabs are cantilevered above the natural stone of the land. Frank Lloyd Wright wanted to create a space that was built into the land instead of a house that was simply built onto the land. His creation of stone and the natural elements that make up Fallingwater makes it seem like the water is rushing right underneath the house and the house is one with the natural materials. In studio we were to research three different materials and find out how they were used, the cost, and availability of the materials. The materials I had were silk, glass block, and rice paper. All of the materials I had known prior to the research, but I found out a lot of different design ideas from them. I learned how silk is made by insects and takes a long process to make. The knowledge we have about different materials helps decision making easier, if the resource information is already known.

Compression/Release
At Fallingwater, there is a lot of compression/release happening. The hallways are dark and narrow leading to the private areas of the house, and when a person finally gets to the bedroom they are let out into a very bright open room. This design innovation is used to distinguish different areas from one another. The dark hallways deter unwanted guests from the private areas, and the release in the open areas, makes the viewer feel more at ease in the space.

Between Silence and Light

Between Silence and Light

Craft is something to pay close attention to when designing a space. The care and time we put into the craft of our design really shows when it comes to the overall finished product. At falling water there was a craft issue during the construction process. The Kaufmann’s discussed the structure of the building with a group of engineers, who told the Kaufmann’s that the building would require additional support. Wright was outraged upon hearing of this, but the support was added and the result was added weight. Furthermore, the steel was laid to close together causing a weakening in the slab. Also no attention was given to the deflection that would occur when the scaffolding was removed. This minor craft error allowed the cantilevers to sag 10% when the scaffolding was removed. Kaufman Sr. and Wright would have many heated arguments over the issue but eventually the contractor was removed and construction continued. Over the years the cantilevers sagged more and more until it was deflected around 30% more than it was supposed to be. A group from the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy invested in restoring the cantilevers. They carefully removed the floor inserted steel rods into the concrete that pulled the concrete back to its intended position, and then replaced the floor. Had no one paid attention to craft of the building it might not still be around for us to appreciate and enjoy. I pay close attention to my craft in my projects, because if something is off it takes away from the beauty and enjoyment of the project. For my light project I made sure that my craft was impeccable so that everyone would enjoy it the way I did and not pay attention to errors instead.
Public/Private
The first years went on a trip to Monticello and Falling Water recently and viewed the works of late 19th century and early 20th century designers. I was fascinated by falling water and the use of Frank Lloyd Wright’s way of using a dark tight hall that leads to the private areas makes the viewer feel that this is a space that they are not supposed to be. The public areas are more open and airy feeling giving the viewer the feeling that this is where they can relax and are able to be. These open rooms are the living room and dining room as well as the open land surrounding the house. Technique
In design I feel that all designers have a technique to something that sets them apart from everyone else. Something that is original to them, and when viewing the work, the audience can tell who that piece belongs to. Frank Lloyd Wright designs broke away from the cookie-cutter houses of that time and went in a new direction. His prarie houses

The Sculptured House

Sitting nestled on top of Genesee Mountain in Colorado, is Charles Deaton’s Sculptured House. The house is anything but a cookie-cutter house. People have called the house a “clamshell”, “spaceship,” “mushroom,” “eyeball,” and “taco” Charles Deaton however, perfered sculptured. Afterall, that is how the house was originally made.. Deaton knew when he began the plaster sculpture that it would eventually end up as a house that he himself would live in. He did not want to “simply wrap a shell around a floor plan” He did not even choose a scale until the sculpture was completed. Deaton was a naturalist and found the naturally occurring curves and shapes to be fascinating. It is no wonder he chose such a curvilinear house to be his own.
Charles Deaton was a self taught architect and industrial engineer. He was born to a poor family in New Mexico in the time of the great depression. He moved to Colorado, and this is where he was thirty-four, and this is where he would live for the rest of his life. He did small jobs here and there, but his career did not take off until he got the architectural job at Central Bank and Trust in downtown Denver (sitation) Deaton invisioned the bank as a sculpture and created a plan based on that. This bank would be the precedent for his masterpiece. Another precedent for the Sculptured House, was his bank he created in 1961, the Wyoming National Bank in Casper. “The most distinctive feature was the banking-room pavilion expressed on the building's exterior. Looking something like a flying saucer in which petal-shaped wedges of concrete surround a pierced dome” (Citation)

Deaton designed the house in 1963 as the “house you could live in”. (citation) The house was Deaton’s only residential project that he would create in his lifetime. As mentioned earlier Deaton designed the house for him and his family to live in. Although due to financial trouble he would never be able to do so. His motto was always “People People aren’t angular so why should they live in rectangles?” The first step of the process was to anchor the precast pedestal piers into the bedrock with steel rods. The steel supports a welded cage of steel substructure that is covered with metal wire mesh. The concrete is then poured on top of the mesh and the final step was adding the protective Hypalon. “The Hypalon was infused with white pigment along with walnut shells that “create a textured appearance and added structural integrity due to their extreme hardness.” (Citation)

The house faced many problems over time due do various reasons. The estimated cost of the house when it was finished in 1966 was $100,000 and $120,000 to build. However, the interior still was not finished because Deaton ran out of money. The house sat vacant for quite a while, and Deaton sank further into financial debt due to faltering architectural business and a lawsuit on one of his buildings. To combat the debt he put the Scuptured house on the market in 1988 and did not sell until 1991 for $800,000 to Larry Polhill. Polhill, then spent 150,000 to blast the exterior clean, but the “house fell into disrepair after partying teens broke nearly every window” (citation) Polhill cut his losses and moved to California leaving the house to become inhabited by wild animals. The house was in serious consideration for being demolished. . By the late 1990s, the Sculptured House was one of the most endangered historic buildings in Colorado. Luckily, Polhill sold the house to John Huggins, who was extremely interested in the house. Huggins bought the house in 1999 at the cost of the land an estimated 1.3 million and put another 2 million into the interior of the house.

The interior designer would be no other than Deatons daughter Charlee Deaton and Husband Nicholas Antonopoulos, whom studied under Charles Deaton. Together they designed the interior and constructed another 5,000 square foot addition that Deaton himself had previously designed. The house was to be “a work of art” in itself the furniture was picked out to stand as art as well. “The pair selected brightly colored furniture by renowned modernist designers Warren Plattner, Eero Saarinen and George Nelson, as well as a purple ribbon chair by Pierre Paulin, an orange-lacquered credenza by Robert Loewy and a puzzle couch by Roberto Matta” (citation) Charlee felt her father was a minimalist so she chose exotic natural finishes and details that would not over power her fathers work. The watermelon-seed shaped beds and dining chairs were furniture that Charles Deaton designed and fit well in the house. The house is made up of long halls of windows and cutouts for rooms. The light effects that are in the house give the house even more character. The cutout in the master bath is in the shape of a cat eye that lets light glimmer off of the mosaic tile. The huge open span of the front of the house allows the viewer to look out off the mountain top of Genesee Mountain.

The interior was finally complete in 2000, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. However,Charles Deaton never saw the interior completed. He died in 1996 before Huggins even bought the house.Huggins sold the house to Michael Dunahay in 2006, who purchased the house for $3.45 million. He was the first to ever actually occupy the home. Huggins never lived in the house he only used the house for social events. After nearly fifty years of remaining vacant the house is finally being used for its original purpose. Dunahay has no intention of ever selling the house.

When asked the question if architecture is art, the Sculptured House is full proof that it is. The house was based off a sculpture and is now livable art. The house sits proud on top of Genesee mountain showing off its beauty to the world. Charles Deaton would be proud to look at his residential masterpiece and the changes it went through to be standing here today.

[Re] Actions

Rotation
In design there is always rotation from one source to the next. Everything goes in a continuous cycle that eventually starts back at the original design or source. In history we have been learning a lot about how history has shaped design and there was a rotation in design patterns. As we learned at the very beginning Rome and Greece shaped the world through their designs. They were the foundations for the different design patterns throughout the rest of the world from then on. After the American Revolution the Americans wanted to break away from the Roman style that Great Britain had adapted over the years, and instead go towards Greece in their designs. They wanted to revive the past in a different way thus starting a whole new rotation of thoughts. The Baltimore Cathedral revived the Grecian Ionic columns. The portico was “Supported by some of the most beautifully carved Grecian Ionic colums of the period.” (Roth 461) The Romans had borrowed from the Greeks and now that the Roman style of designing was being challenged the cycle was being started over again by the Americans. All designs have to go through a cycle where the designer must go back to their original source and start over reworking the idea further to make a better design for the customer.
Movement
There were a lot of movements going on in the 19th century, both physically and in design as well. People were relocating and moving due to the industrial revolution. Factories were being built and workers were needed everywhere. The urban growth was popular as well. People were moving from rural spaces out into the urban areas. This influx of people caused places like Paris to be rebuilt and reshaped to add order and for health reasons. The sewers were draining into the river where the town got the water from. “When Napoleon became emperor in 1852 he embarked on a rebuilding of the city of Paris” (Roth 491) the town was demolished and the new city went up housing parks and new sewers and it restructured the town to new architecture to house all the people and no longer be a health hazard. Another movement in design was the arts and crafts movement. “To create a fully and contemporary environment was the pivotal aim of the movement” (Massey 33) William Morris was obsessed with going back to the guilds and design without machines. He felt the Crystal palace and the objects in it were all bad design. He set out to reform the design standards. His reformation led to the arts and craft movement and was “fee of any attempt at deliberate copying” (Roth 493). Design can cause a movement across the world. Items seen in Paris may be reproduced in America. This movement of ideas is all about what makes the design revolution unique and inspiring. We all want to be inspired and inspire those around us with our designs.
Reflection
Reflection to me is capturing light and mirroring it back to the viewer. In Versailles I the king’s goal of was to show off his power and having it all relate back to himself. He did this through the elaborate gardens and even more so in the hall of mirrors. The hall of mirrors reflects back the beauty of the outdoors and brings it indoors to command the space as explained by Roth “Windows face the gardens westward and banks of mirrors on the opposite walls reflect the light throughout the room” (Roth 419). This reflecting back of ideas also can be looking back on designs and seeing was wrong and correct about the project. Designs are never right the first time, and we must look back at our work and redo it until it is correct. That is what makes designers so successful. Is being able to look back at their work and recreate it into something new and innovative.
Source
Source is going back to the origins of designs. I feel that source and rotation go hand in hand. In order for a rotation to occur there must be an original source. It is like a precedent in where it’s an initial idea where designs are built off of. In the 19th century the designers were reviving the past in their own unique ways. “Architects were turning increasingly to specific source models, in a wide variety of historical styles, resulting in revivals of Greek and Roman Classicalism.” (Roth 461) These sources made American design what it is today. In studio we were to find a natural object and design our wooden creation around it. I found a cherry blossom tree and designed a wood feature that would cast shadows all throughout the project. My source is what made me think about the different aspects of the design and how it correlated to my wood project.
Illumination
Illumination is highlighting a feature of the design. It is all about creating the correct hierarchy of the space in order to make that object, color, space, really shine. Everything that makes up a space must have one selling feature that makes the space unique and special. This is what we as designers must do in order to create a successful design. Our projects in studio were to be illuminated by natural light. I created a “coral like” feature that had folding layers to capture the light and create shadows throughout the piece.