Saturday, June 12, 2010

Review & Final Thoughts


Student Review


Final Thoughts...

The Crysis Level didn't turn out exactly as I'd planned, but overall, I think the finished product communicates what I set out to convey. Errors and "crashes" with Crysis were the main source of frustration, especially when I wasn't able to complete the vegetation and textures of the level due to a 'memory overload', and the lift was still not working perfectly in the finished product. Yet it's satisfying to be able to create a design in this environment and walk through it in order to experience the architecture first hand.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

The Final Crysis Environment

Links to Levels & Objects files on Filefront
http://www.filefront.com/16958549/3308399_levels.zip
http://www.filefront.com/16958681/3308399_objects%20%282%29.zip




Screenshots of the completed environment

 The bridge between two studios.

By designing the bridge to follow the curve of the cliff face, I wanted it to parallel it's surroundings, yet still stand apart. It's support comes from each end being cantilevered; driven into the cliff face. The material chosen was a black ribbed metal, to give it a strong and powerful appearance, with clean lines and a reflective surface.











Perspective from the dining table



 Perspective of the Kerr studio from the bridge



The Keller Studio from the Bridge



Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The Studios

Miranda Kerr's Studio

Kerr's studio is dramatic and commanding; it's outlook is open, yet it's shape wraps around the occupants. This is designed to reflect the model's power attained from her inherent beauty, exposed to the world for admiration. The studio deliberately doesn't blend with its surrounds; it is striking like the surrounding landscape, but the studio's power arises from its unusual differences and it's presence upon the cliff.


        



Helen Keller's Studio


          

Monday, June 7, 2010

Precedents


Inspiring architecture for Miranda Kerr's Studio

The Shell House
Karuizawa forest, Nagano, Japan

This design from Kotaro Ide of architecture firm Artechnic (2008), boasts the cross-section of a conch seashell, with its double-elliptical shapes and curves. Made of reinforced concrete and wood, the structure 'floats' 1400mm above the ground, and designed the structure to be deliberately mysterious: "not quite part of the landscape, yet not a ruin".





Elrod House
Palm Springs, California


The Elrod House was built in 1968 by architect John Lautner, who was apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright in his early years. This 8901 square foot concrete house is one of Lautner's most famous private homes due to it's relationship to the surrounding mountainside (including boulders inside the living areas), and it's sense of drama. It also appeared in the James Bond film "Diamonds are Forever".



Cloud Gate
Millenium Park, Chicago


Cloud Gate by artist Anish Kapoor is a 110-ton elliptical sculpture,of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, reflecting the city skyline. Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture measures 66-feet long by 33-feet high. A 12-foot-high arch provides a "gate" to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives.

Source: http://www.millenniumpark.org/artandarchitecture/cloud_gate.html







Inspiring Architecture for Helen Keller's Studio

Farnsworth House
Plano, Illinois


Ludiwig Mies van der Rohe designed Farnsworth House in 1951. The architecture of the house represents the ultimate refinement of the architect's minimalist expression of structure and space. It is composed of three strong, horizontal steel forms - the terrace, the floor of the house, and the roof - attached to steel flange columns. In contrast to it's natural surroundings, it appears almost temple like: "The calm stillness of the man-made object contrasts also with the subtle movements, sounds, and rhythms of water, sky and vegetation."




The Glass House
New Canaan, Connecticut



Similar to the Farnsworth house, The Glass House built in 1949 by Phillip Johnson, consists of quarter inch thick glass panels, supported by a black steel frame. More of a viewing platform than a practical home, it, consists of an open plan, symmetry and colours of the surrounding landscape.

36 Custom Textures

    
        

         

Sunday, June 6, 2010

The Dining Table and the Elevator

The Dining Table




Six intertwining cubes form this detailed dining table, with smaller versions being the 'chairs'. The layered structures reflect the complexity of the power of each woman; both reveal 'layers' in their personalities, from the vulnerabilities of their true selves, to the power of their accomplishments and the strong images they portray. Yet the blue creates a calming atmosphere, a 'middle ground' which allows both (from completely different worlds) to meet and share the experience of the commonality of the enjoyment of nature which surrounds them.




Perspective on the approach to dining table, with view over the valley




Miranda Kerr & Helen Keller's Elevator



These perspective screenshots show the view of the Crysis landscape from the elevator...


At the top, from the bridge departure point



The half-way point of the journey



On the valley floor, with the path ahead leading to the dining table and meeting place


This single elevator has been designed for both Miranda Kerr and Helen Keller. It's shape encloses it's passengers, and it's seat in the centre allows both to be positioned at the heart of this moving entity. In the same way, the power obtained from both women has arisen from their own inherent strengths: Kerr with her beauty, and Keller with her determination. It can be said their power arises from the very core of their being, a quality which had always existed within both, rather than a status that was achieved through artificial means.



"Rotational" Custom Texture on elevator


Incredible Elevators

Bailong Elevator, Zhangjiajie, China



The Bailong Elevator is built onto the side of a cliff and travels up to 1,070 feet high. This glass elevator has set three Guinness world Records i.e. World’s tallest full-exposure outdoor elevator, world’s tallest double-deck sightseeing elevator and world’s fastest passenger traffic elevator with biggest carrying capacity.
Source: http://www.awesomeasia.com/entry/bailong-elevator-take-a-stomach-dropping-ride-in-worlds-tallest-outdoor-glass-elevator/



The Gateway Arch, St Louis, Missouri


To go to the top of the Arch, passengers in groups of five enter an egg shaped compartment (above right) containing five seats; eight compartments are linked to form a train. As they travel upwards, each compartment rotates 5 degrees periodically to maintain correct orientation, and glass panels allows passengers to see the interior stairs and structure of the Arch during the 4 minute trip.



Saturday, June 5, 2010

One and Two-Point Perspectives

"Three E's"
One Point Perspective:

Influential
Coercive



Imbalance
Conformity



Influence
Potential


Two Point Perspective:

Dominance
Authority



Pervasive
Reinforcing



Persuasive
Interdependence



Magnetism
Presence



Dominance
Restraint



Truth
Fortitude




Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The Clients


Helen Keller, Miranda Kerr and Angela Merkel
Women of Power


Miranda Kerr
Australian Supermodel
  


Angela Merkel
Chancellor of Germany





Helen Keller



The Mash-Up: Three clients. One common theme.

She's got the world at her feet, the uncompromising radical sounds very rational but still goes by the most lofty of monikers. "What I feel most is humility..." she began, in enthusiastic acquiescence, both coy and coarse. "There are great expectations, often caused by selfishness and greed. I was so reluctant to do it at first. But I just felt like I wanted to do something with a bit more substance. It seemed as if I had been asleep and waked to a new world where the fact I am a woman is a bigger issue: it demonstrates a polymorphic prowess. But little by little my confidence came back, and now I am in the fight to change things. There are no female precedents for many of the rituals of power. I've had plenty of knock-backs, you can't take things personally.." she answers with firm finality. "Real happiness comes from within, from a fixed purpose and faith. Just because you might not be the look that someone's after, you shouldn't judge yourself. I've put those days behind me... the change is so dramatic to have a strong desire for power. It is in my nature to fight as soon as I see wrongs to be made right, though I may not like it and it's really frustrating to me at times. I don't believe you are simply born with the ambition to follow, no matter what the cost, no matter what the trials. We have to work hard, that is my goal. "




Sources:
Interview with Miranda Kerr
(by Farrah Butt, 9th Feb 2010)
http://www.madisonmag.com.au/news/interview-miranda-kerr.htm

Interview with Angela Merkel
(by Spiegel, 17th October 2005)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,380168,00.html

Interview with Helen Keller
(by Barbara Bindley, 16th January 1916)






Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Intro to Experiment 3 - The Valley


val·ley
(\ˈva-lē\)n.

Etymology: Middle English valeye, from Anglo-French valee, from val valley (circa 14th century)
1a: an elongated depression of the earth's surface usually between ranges of hills or mountains
1b: an area drained by a river and its tributaries
2: a low point or condition
3a: hollow, depression
3b: the place of meeting of two slopes of a roof that form on the plan a reentrant angle

source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/valley



The Valley of the Waters, Blue Mountains National Park



The above picture shows Wentworth Falls, cascading down some 100 metres, into the Valley of the Waters. This photo was taken from Elizabeth Lookout, on the National Pass Trail, a six kilometre track originally built by hand in 1907 which traverses the cliff edges of The Valley of the Waters. In 2002, construction began to restore the track to it's original state by a team of heritage stone masons, costing $1.5 million. In 2008 upon re-opening, the project won major heritage conservation awards from UNESCO and the National Trust of Australia.



I'd describe it as a 'keyhole' valley, being tucked away from the main escarpment, and somewhat more protected from the elements. I've chosen this valley as its a beautiful example of the Australian landscape, and for me, not far from home.





Crysis Wars / Sandbox 2 - Environment based on Valley of the Waters

After many attempts, this was the result of my experimentation with Crysis. The vegetation wasn't as dense or widespread as I'd planned; the program repeatedly froze when trying to cover the entire terrain. So it can be said that while it's "loosely based" on the Valley of the Waters, it was still a surprising result.