Reflection - FMP

While in New York, i came across this wonderful architectural model that uses the contures of the hill that the building is on. here it is...

and i wanted to use this technique. so i did a very small test piece using foam board of my design...

they are not great but you can get an idea of how this might work. overall i thing i can do alot better.

another interesting thing that took place today was that a fellow class mate sugested that i could also use another energy source in my design so that you can get as much energy as possible. and i thought that this was a very valid point. after a bit of research, i found that water levels were at their lowest during the summer. so i might need another source of energy during the summer months. and what better to use than 'solar power' there is alot of sun during the summer so i can get alot of electricity

:)

Reflection - FMP

i have been having problems trying to get electricity from rivers because of fluctuating water levels and lack of force. but i have now come up with a master plan and a solution to all my problems. the plan is to create a man made waterfall. not a huge waterfall but a drop large enough to give the water that extra bit of power. this new idea is also not effected (in performance) by fluctuating water levels.
however, this means that my house will need to be on a hill. so i am going to have to change my design abit.

and this is what i came up with....

the house its self is built into the hill. cutting into the hill to create a man made cave.

Reflection - FMP

i did it!!!! i created electricity!!!! :)
i connected my motor to some small light emitting diodes (led's) and as i turned the cogs, the lights came on. and the faster i turned the cogs, the brighter the light was. what a great success it was. unfortunately with all the excitement, i forgot to film a video. and i cant film one now because the 'contraption' broke in my bag on my way home :(
but what i proved was that my idea is doable. all you need is a force strong enough to turn the turbine.
:)

Reflection - FMP

today i learnt the magic of 'cogs'....

what i found was that if you connect a big cog to a small cog and then to a big cog and then to a small cog again.... a small amount of energy can be transformed into a HUGE amount of energy. (enough to turn a generator and produce a substantial amount of electricity)

btw please ignor whate kate (lecturer) is going on about in the background LOL

:)

Reflection - FMP

well today i finished my statement of intent. and started doing my primary research.
here is my statement of intent:

The title for my project is ‘Sustainable Architecture’. In this project I will be working towards producing a sustainable home that uses recycled materials and renewable energy sources. By the end of the project my final outcome will be a large model of my final design showing the workings of each specialist part. This work relates to the work I did during the pathway stage because I will use the materials and building techniques that I found then, and incorporate them with the new technologies and energy sources that I am now going to explore. This is extending my knowledge and understanding of sustainability because I am looking at different ways of making things sustainable. I am now also much more aware of the environmental impact that modern architecture has on the earth. This project will also improve and test my creative ability because I need to find a way of using as many sustainable techniques but have a design that looks as though it has been made using modern and conventional building methods.

My main influences for the pathway stage were ‘Earth Ships’ and ‘Bio-Structures’ because of their radical ways of building using different materials. My main influences for this project will be scientific discoveries and break through in energy so I can use them in my design. I will also be looking at existing buildings that use similar methods and techniques. This information will come from many different sources such as the web (www.architecture.com and www.sustainableabc.com), books/magazines including: Energy manual: sustainable architecture by Manfred Hegger, Matthias Fuchs, Thomas Stark, Martin Zeumer – Birkhäuser. I will also be going and visiting buildings that have already incorporated sustainable ideas such as 30 St Mary’s axe (the gherkin)

Throughout this project, I am going to be using a variety of different materials. But the main ones will be wood, acrylic, rubber and possibly water. And with all these different materials come different techniques and skills such as mould making and polishing. I will also be using CAD to generate 3 dimensional digital models which can then be manipulated. The overall time scale for this project is eight weeks which I will break down into three stages. One for research, one for design development and the last stage for making and evaluating my model. The first two stages will be two weeks each and the final stage will be for four weeks as I believe it is the most important part of the project.

My method of reviewing and analysing my own work takes form as an online blog with three entries a week. I will also be taking part in ‘group critiques’ where other class mated discuss and evaluate each other’s work as the projects develop. The feedback from these group discussions will also be posted on my blog. To evaluate the success of my project and final outcome, I would like to conduct a survey asking viewers how sustainable they believe my final design is. 

Reflection - FMP

right well today was the first day of the Final Major Project and i used the day drafting and wrighting up my statement of intent. however its still a bit on the weak side and will need some more work doing to it. but overall a boring day because its all theory. but also an interesting day hearing all the ideas of fellow piers.

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Reflection

well i had a bit of a creative block today. i didnt realy know what to do. it was like i had hit a brick wall. but all this was soon over come by having a chat with Matt. so after the 'chat', i started doing some more experiments. i deicovered that we had another version of the melt down plastic/rubber which was yellow and a lot firmer. after making another mould, i took another casting which actually worked a lot better than the red ones because it was a lot firmer and the design was more defined as a result. because it was yellow, i thought that it would be easier to change the colour of so that was my next mision.
after working like a mad scientist mixing different chemicals, i managed to do it (but it wasnt easy).

my first attempt was pretty bad. i decided to add some black ink to the mixture after it had been melted but this didnt work at all. the ink just mage the plastic go all lumpy and stringy which would not pour into the mould at all.

This is the ink disaster !!!

however, i finaly managed to do it and the secret ingredient was....................................................well its a secret (acrylic paint)  :0P

and here is the final result and it looks FAB!!!

what i now need to do is come up with another design. a design with plenty of curvs to complement this form.

reflection

well i vacume formed my woodern proform today to get plenty of it so i could possibly use the plastic version as a building material for a model.

they worked great and wuold look good on a model but they are not as flexible as i wanted them to be because they cant be bent into curves.
so kate showed me a new material wich i dont remember the name to :( but it is a rubber like plastic that comes in slabs. you just heat it up in the microwave to make it melt and then pour it into your mould.
so i did another vacume form to use as a mould. but when i poured the hot liquid into it, it just collapsed and went out of shape because the heat was too much.



the mould that didnt last very long



my solution was to press the wooden preforn into some clay and then use that as my mould. and it worked!!!

it looks fantastic and its realy flexible too (maybe abit too flexible). the only thing is that it only comes in red (so iv been told)

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reflection

well a bit of a boring day today. didnt realy get much done apart from cutting and glueing. did a bit of drawing but that was about it realy. there was one creative thing that i managed to complete today which was to make a wooden preform to represent a tyre wall.

i made this by cutting a wooden dowling in half to get two long semicircles and then sliced them up into thin pieces. i then used some PVA glue to stick them down to a wooden board. this piece looks fantastic and is very visually pleasing. i can imagine it as being a wooden cladding for either inside or outside of a building. i might use this to vacume form to make duplicate coppies out of plastic.

reflection

i spent today finishing of the mould for my glass piece. after compleating the clay positive and spoothing it all down, i then had to construct a wooden frame so surround the clayso i could cast it. the casting mix was 1 part plaster and 1 part alderite (half and half). after this set, i removed the clay to leave a plaster negative of the design i wanted. after placing a sheet of glass over the top, i left it with Jamie the technitian to put it into the kiln when it is free. so i dont know when to expect the final end result back.

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reflection

just been developing some more design ideas in the morning which was a bit boring but during the afternoon i started work on my new glass piece. i want this piece to be curved so i will have to make a plaster mould for it. so far i have almost compleated the clay positive and it looks good. it is all going to plan so far. but i still have a lot to do so i have wraped it up in some plastic so it dosent dry out and i will have to continue work on it next week.

reflection

well i got my glass piece back today and it looks absolutely FANTASTIC! i love it.

 it realy has worked very well. i hope to do some more more of this but i will wait until Mats lesson on thursday.

 so for the rest of the day i have been developing more design ideas from some rubbings that i took from some random peoples cars in the carpark (hope they dont mind). i found a very good tecnhique wich involves a bit of 'play'. i made four cubes and arranges them accordingly to recreate a pattern in a tyre. after photoggraphing this, i then just kept rearanging the same shapes but in different orders. sometimes strategicly, and other times by just droping them and seeing how the land. for every one that i liked, i did a quick sketch and took photographs. so this worked very well.

Reflection

today we learnt some glass techinques. i chose to use the 'slumping' technique. with some heat proof fabric. i cut strips of this special fibered fabric and weaved them. (inspiration taken from a design i found on a tyre) i then placed a sheet of glass over the top. when the glass is heated in the kiln, it will soften and fall or 'slump' into shape. my piece is in currently in the kiln so i will have to wait until next week to see how it turned out.

Reflection

the advise i received today from Kate was to just PLAY! =) so that is what i did. i started of by just doodling to get some interesting shapes that could then be made into 3D shapes. i also had some images of a tyre wall. what i did with those was to cut out the tyre's and rearrange them to make an interesting 3D shape. all of the shapes that i made can be used to make a building. this has been very useful so fantastic advise Kate. Thanks!!!
 i know that i want to design a domestic building for people to live in.

Reflection

well today i met matt (the other 3D Tutor) for the first time. just cracked on with more research today. going more in detail with the tyre wall building. i now have a fair idea of how it is done. my next task is to make a 3D model of how it is done or at least how i THINK it is done. i will upload an image of this once i have done it.



UPDATE:

here is the 3D model of my interpretation of the tyre wall building.

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