Dividing Space

In my previous design I used a wall to divide up the space and give privacy to some areas and I thought it worked extremely effectively so I wanted to use that idea in this new design. I decided to use a giant polished concrete wall to divided up the spaces I was creating at the boatsheds, this also allowed me to build platforms off one side of the wall, I also really like the look of something floating into the air but is only joint to the wall at one side so i played around with this idea, this is what inspired me

. I also noticed that not only had I created more spaces above with the platforms I had now created this sheltered space below them which I wanted to utilize so I dropped down the floor a little using steps to give the space underneath more room, plus being sheltered in windy Wellington is a huge plus.

Here are some screenshots from sketchup and Cry Engine.

Opening up Levels

In order to create verticality and levels you need actual places for people to stand, I have started to mock up some ideas in sketchup that create more space with these multiple levels. One idea I liked playing with was how glass kind of blurs the line between above and below, you can still stand on it so the levels are defiantly there but seeing through it into the below/ above creates an interesting dynamic and also creates hierarchy, being able to look down on people through glass gives you a sense of more power and vice versa.

Here are some screenshots from sketchup and cry engine. I have been importing my things into cry engine as i good because it gives you a good sense of how the space feels, the fact that you can walk around and experience the space helps me to know if these ideas are good or not.

Ideas to Create Verticality

In order to start create more spaces within the boatsheds you need access points, I had this idea that i may expand on about how to open up the roofs of the boatsheds.

I quickly drafted this idea up in sketchup to see what it might look like.

Meeting of Above and Below

This is the meeting idea i have chosen for my week 5 & 6 project, we were told to come up with 5 different spaces to be designed for this meeting idea and that we were going to discuss these ideas to finally decided which space would be designed.

These were my 5 different ideas

• Underground Park
• Artificial Ravine
• Park "pods"
• Living space above and below ground
• Reverberation chamber

Here are some quick drawings I did for each of these spaces.

After some peer review with the teachers I realized a few things about designing these kinds of spaces.

First off i have to be more creative in thinking about using the boatsheds as my space, its far to easy to just make a big hole in the ground to design a space, the challenge and creative thinking comes into being able to design a space that is contained inside the boatshed. I also realized about the things I wanted to focus on when designing this space. I want to focus on creating multiple levels in the space to blur the line between above and below or enhance it in some situations, I want to think about how at different levels there is different hierarchy or power such as a king sitting high up on his throne while the peasants are left down below, another thing to consider with the boatsheds is that there is already some of this leveling of people such as people walking on the street at the roof height of the sheds while someone also being underneath them and also the different levels of the tides at different times of the day. I also wanted to play with the idea of altitude.

So to take this all in I think I want to start off with designing my space as a public space but try and incorporate all the things I just talked about so that its more of an exploration of levels and verticality than just a public space.

Final Project Research

For our final project we were told to pick one of our ideas we have done from the previous weeks and expand on that idea. We are to design this idea over the next 2 weeks. I choose my idea of "above meeting below" because i really like the idea of including verticality in my space and having multiple layers to the space that go from up in the air to deep underground. Here are some design photos I collected that appealed to me about my meeting idea.

Selected Drawings

Plan

Section

Elevation

Perspective

Other

Walkthrough

This is a walkthrough of my Cry Engine level.

I choose concrete as one of my materials because its a versatile material and could support the weight under the ground, also i quite like the look of polished concrete. I choose wood as my other material because I wanted the space to feel more natural because otherwise it will feel like a damp dark hole in the ground. I also tried to create some texture with the roof and use walls to divide up the space so it didn't just feel like a big square.