Design Precedent Final Design

Following on from my research and development for the design precedent I created a final and more deatiled plan of the Quad. Taking the main structure of the double spiral I filled the remaining areas with other nods to Goff's designs including use of water, seating suspended in the air aswell as using natural and recycled materials.

From this plan view I drew cross sections to make the plan easier to understand and show how the space is vertically defined.

Designer Precedent - Initial Ideas

After finishing my research I had lots of ideas that I began to sketch. At first I focused on coming up with a courtyard that had many ideas taken from Goff's architecture. This included organic shapes, sunken seating, spirals, and use of water. From this I worked further on one of the ideas I like the best; the spiral. Using the spiral I think I will be able to succesfully convey Goff's use of 'mystery'.

To create a symmetrical plan I had the idea of having two spiral that intertwine with pathways in between following this pattern that prevent users just going straight to where they want to go but instead forcing them to explore the courtyard.

After creating this basic layout for the plan I made a concept plan where I zones differant areas the paths would lead to, utilising the theme of rest, work and play.

Designer Precedent - Developing Ideas

For project D in my design module, in simple terms, we have been told to redesign the Francis Close Hall Library Quad using a famous designer as inspiration. After learning about Bruce Goff from a task in my lecture I decided to use him as my famous designer. Bruce Goff is an architect often compared to Frank Lloyd Wright. When I first saw his work, I was particularly impressed by how despite using modernist shapes he was able to successfully integrate his buildings into their surrounding environment by using natural and recycled materials. To better understand Goff and how I could use him as inspiration for the quad design. I made a mind map, exploring his designs, inspirations and anything interesting I found out about him.

From this I was able to develop what I think his philosophy is: embracing individuality, the continuous present and the mysterious. His quote “the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious” is what made me develop this philosophy and gave me a lot of ideas on what to design. After this I made a collage of images of building by Goff to help me further understand and gain influence from his design style.

Fantasia Model Building

After completing my plans for my sculputre and space inspired by Paul McCartney, I then began building my model. For the modell I constructed it mainly using coloured card and thicker carboard. To ensure all the layers were strongly stuck together I used double sided tape. To blend the road with the field I coloured these parts using coloured pencils.

After creating the model, I think the sculpture and space were successful in representing major elements of Paul McCartney’s life and career, showing them in a way that is inspired by iconic items and places linked to him. It also shows what his music does for the listener, letting them escape from reality as well as the happiness it brings to his fans.

Planning a Model for McCartney

Having developed ideas for what the sculpture could look like I then drew more detailed sketches with plan and side views of the sculpture. Showing the exact shape it would take to help me with constructing the model. Here I also came up with the idea of having the arrows supported by a tree that represents McCartneys enviromentalism, specifically his vegetarianism.

After designing the sculpture I had to design a simple space for it to sit within. For this I decided to replicate the iconic Abbey Road zebra crossing and have these as the start point for the arrows to rise up out of. The road then blends into a green field, reflecting on McCartneys time living on a remote farm in Scotland.

My 3D Model

After looking over my two ideas for models i decided on the second. Partly due to already having some of the materials needed to construct it aswell as thinking it would be a much more aesthetically pleasing design to look at, with how simple the design is, in a basic sense just being stacked horiztontal planes. After this decsion I went about building my model starting with a thick of white A4 card to be the base aswell as the backdrop to the main part of the model. I cut lots of parallelogram shaped pieces of coloured card utilising a set square to keep the angle at 30°. From this I began layering the coloured card using thin cardboard to sperate the layers. I mostly followed the shape I had set out to build, being a skewed plus shape. I didn't completely follow my original design instead changing it where I though I could improve the way the model looked.

I am actually alot more pleased with how the model turned out than I though I would be with it succesfully appearing to have much greater depth than it actually does. Also I think that the way the layers are stacked is hidden very well making the horizontal planes appear as if they actually are floating.