Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Project Three: Narrative

"A warehouse of weightless bay for artists such as Vexta to connect with people"

Final Comments

I have thoroughly enjoyed the design course for this semester, but I have not been challenged to resolve issues of space as I have with Project Three; it was by far the hardest for me to resolve (due to the conflict that I felt in containing street art in a gallery), but honestly the most rewarding in its results.
I ask that as you may view this blog that you understand that it is a development, and an expression of my progress through my design resolve, therefore I ask that you read from the beginning to the end. This means to totally understand Project 3 you must begin at the first post, which is titled 'Project Three: Design Preferences'
Thank you


Nicholas

Project Three: Model

The solid areas are the gates where the workshop/entry is.


The folding of the King Street corner revealing bays and gates of entry/workshop space



The impact of the graffiti wall


The expression of moving through the lane, between the graffiti wall and the weightless space



The corner where the existing lane turns as part of the gallery lane. Clearly visible is one of the panel entry/backboard of the entry/workshop space. The existing lane and the workshop are connected in the debris that exists in both (the debris in the workshop is the material used)




The existing lane





The folding, weightless corner into the lane from King Street






The framed window into the gallery. The wall folds into the adjacent lane






Looking down King Street to Enmore Road. The cantilever connects and blends with the adjacent buildings to resolve the corner well.








Looking up from the Enmore Road intersection. The graffiti wall is a billboard, addressing the road exposure of the wall and the need for very large scale to grab attention from afar. It is also reflecting on the 'I have a dream' mural on the opposite wall










Perspectives




Plans

The plans show how the entries into the galler spaces are on the lane that is given back to the community, which connects to the existing lane. The gallery is cut into bays, interwoven bays of workshops and gallery spaces to host for more than one artist or more than one experience. The different bays, which can be shut off (Ive actually drawn them all to be shut in plan) allow for different experiences of the lane, a bay close to the chaotic liveliness of King Street, to bay that experience different aspects of the middle lane and a bay that reacts to the debris and intimacy of the back lane. The workshop bays, although in modulation as a warehouse, react to the community graffiti on the lane wall that exists as a billboard to Enmore Road (reflecting the expression of the 'I have a dream' mural on the opposite wall of the same building).
These workshop bays also act as the entry points for the public into the gallery. When one, two or three of these workshop bays are in use they are closed off to public access on the lane, but the remaining bay opens up with a panel doorway that ramps up into the gallery spaces; the panel is used in the making of the art as a solid backboard (This ramped entry is the same point where the artwork is brought in). Therefore the statement is that it is not the building that dictates where the opening should be, but that the living art that connects with people and that connects to the street and the lane determines the parti and circulation.
As seen in the poche drawings, the paintings have the ability to mould the movement in this weightless shell, and it is seen in these plans that these bays can easily be separated by partitions or artworks as each part is designated for different artists, or be cut off while it is being prepared for some exhibition. Exhibitions can be easily held each of the bays and partitioned off with artworks to avoid meandering at that point. The scheme is highly interchangable and relates more to the work than the building itself.
The front of the building reveals how it folds in and out, reflecting the manner in which tight urban shops fold inwards to draw the traffic in. There is only a tall window, that frames a lane into the space to prepare the pedestrain for the lane to come as the corner folds gently into the lane.
As shown, the kitchen, public bathroom and the hybrid artist chillout/sleeping space are contained downstairs.
Ground Floor
The apartment is accessed through the kitchen, reminiscent of how inner city apartments that are above shops are connected through the back of the building, which often is the kitchen. It is designed for the dealer to be able to see what is happening inside her gallery and to observe the liveliness of King Street, which she loves. The elevation reveals transparent slits between opaque glass, refering to a mix between the delicacy of Japanese lines and the facade experience of the upper levels of King Street, revealing possibilities through windows to be seen or to dwell safely away.


Balcony/Apartment Level

Short Section

This section reveals the minimalism of structure. It also provides ample definition of the staircase that flows between the exterior and the interior which prepares the beholder for the balcony experience, where there is a lack of distinction between what is outside and inside, what belongs to the lanes and the urban scene outside and the interiority of a gallery space.

Long Section

This section cuts into the folding bays of the gallery. There is a great degree of modulation and lack of distinction between the outdoor workshop bays and the interior gallery bays is highlighted in this section. This section also shows the contrast between the solid structure of the King Street facade (which needed to react to the street) and the light weightlessness of the gallery space; it is reminiscent of warehouse architecture where the office and administrative spaces are the only finished spaces (the long, scaled window from the upstairs apartment, as an executive's observation point down into the gallery also reflects this). The cantilever, as an awning is shown, reflecting the building's aware response to the pedestrian experience; the manner in which the building interacts and folds with the pedestrian, as the artwork interacts with the beholder is very important.

Site Plan 1:500




Poche Plan

The poche reflects the notion of 'weightlessness'. It is clear how the interaction with the art work determines movement through the spaces; the architecture 'steps back' and allows the art to talk. The weightlessness of the bay, which could be for a singular artist such as Vexta connects with the open workshop bays that are between them; therefore there is a dialogue with the artwork, the artist who is making other works, the debris lane (the side where the materials and storage exists) and the real lane that exists. It is as though the art gallery does not exist


Poche Sections

The artwork determines the parti and circulation. It changes as the placement of the artwork changes as the gallery structure acts here only as a bare skeleton, as a warehouse only holds its objects. Here the artwork is tangible, you can sway through them and inately interact with what is put forward.
There are no solid gallery walls to interrupt Vexta's ability to connect with people (as is one of her main objectives). It is almost as though the artwork floats in weightlessness, as the glass transparency then draws the beholder back out to the lane outside. You are to view the painting with the lane outside

Side Elevation

This is what is seen in the lane

Project Three: First Design Proposal


This is my first design proposal; from here, with the help of Felicity, I have realised that I need to make a series of changes
-Connect the spaces in a more cohesive manner
- Instead of recreating the lane within the space, refer to the lane that I will be giving back to the community. local street artist will fill the side wall with their own creations; the reference of the gallery space being to this lane.
- The lane is also defined as the 'courtyard', connecting it to the scheme of the building.
- Move the building over to the other side of the site, so that the lane that is given will connect with the lane that already exists.

Project Three: Development with Precedent




New Precedent: Junya Ishigami

The verticality of the columns placed randomly on the grid and the inward panels of curtain glass reduce the space to weightlessness. The fact that the platform does not touch the ground on the edges increases the weightlessness of the space. The placement of the cupboard placed somewhat randomly has inspired me to consider that the artwork and the placement of it induces the circulation through the space; this reflects the argument of conflict that was previously explained. The columns act like minimalist supports, holding up each of vexta's art.

The spaces are very very weightless and always make reference to the outside as the inside bares hardly any weight 'experientally'. This will allow me to reference to the workshop spaces and the interior and mimimise the impact that the construction will have on the dialogue between beholder and artwork, according to Vexta's priority to connect with people. I want the space to be as though it is not there

Project Three: Development of the Conflict

This conflict has become the core of my design fundamentals for the gallery

Weightless Space:

“A terrace of weightless volumes for Vexta to connect with people through her stencil graffiti”

Major idea: There is a dilemma. Vexta’s graffiti art needs to be displayed on the street, or the lane, in order for it to be appreciated; it needs to be in the street in order to become alive, to connect, to have substance. Therefore, the action of containing this work in a gallery of walls and internal space is wrong and is anachronistic (that is the fight – anachronism). To have Vexta’s work on solid masonry walls of a gallery will not allow the artwork to speak in the language of the street.

So, I might have to recreate the street, I need lanes, roads, etc. But this is wrong also, as I do not have the license to recreate in a false way, what is real and alive – it will not work, but act like a cheap Las Vegas imitation. So, my solution is to have weightless space with references to the street. It is like I am trying to minimise the damage done by the commercialisation of the gallery. In the lack of weight, the building minimises the disruption of the language of the art – as though the art is floating, while the visual reference to the actual street, or lane or boundary conditions on the outside will substantiate the authenticity of the art for the street. What I am saying is that the art and the notion of gallery space are fundamentally in conflict, so the weighty absence of gallery space is a way to try and appease the conflict.

Representations in design:

Working Space Lane: Vexta and her fellow artists need to be able to work in a lane – the atmosphere, the confines, and the effect of channelling through in the buzzing atmosphere. So the lane is needed. But I can’t recreate the lane, so the uses of ‘prop’ framing as the walls express the ‘falseness’ of the creation. The working space is the major thoroughfare – working art and connecting with people

Terrace: reference to predominating architectural style of inner Sydney

Entrance on side: reference to the side road on the corner – express the awareness of the street.

Entry: Play: entrance from outside into outside – questioning, what are you actually entering.

Cantilever: reference to the awnings of King Street – maintaining pedestrian experience

Front Ground Level Walls: billboard for road and for the Enmore Road intersection

Living space: not so much for the owner. For events: revealing the references to the lane as inspiration and the working space and weightless gallery as response – it reveals the awareness of gallery space for the environment around it

Front First Floor wall – reference to mural of King Street – but not creation

Front walls folding in: expression of retail shop cubicles, revealing the workshop lane

Gallery toilet: By the back, near the lane –

Stockroom – no real stockroom – behind prop partitions in the living space – open in the workshop lane – openly, against the side of the building – reference to the lane and the junk that lies around. Reference to ‘debris’.