CRANBROOK PROJECT: SITE ANALYSIS DIAGRAMS

This week, I put together some diagrams that build off of the language of the first illustration created last week. As mentioned in the last post, the intro page illustration was designed to be a "teaser" for the pages to follow and get the viewer interested in exploring the the project deeper without giving too much away. The site analysis drawings produced this week are meant to bring some clarity to the underlying concepts of the project and help make sense of the intro illustration. 

Many of the formal moves in the design are related to the shift in the grid system which are derived from the major axis of the campus. This idea therefore took hierarchy graphically in the diagrams by using cool tones set within the warm background. I also wanted to emphasise the spatial relationships created by the placement of the new design so again I used cool colors to contrast the warm tones. I tend to layout all my project pages by moving from a macro view of the project (site plans, diagrams, process work) into more specifics and details of the project (floor plans, sections, vignette renderings) as the pages progress. For this diagrams spread,  I began with a macro view of the site with several diagrams overlayed on top of each other. I then broke down the overlayed diagrams into each individual diagram. I finished with a zoomed in view of the design explaining the proportional relationships. The next few spreads will look at the floor plans, sections and elevations continuing the idea of getting deeper into the details as the viewer moves through the pages. 

I have been making a big push to finish up this first series of portfolio pages before the end of the summer. Because of this, I haven't had much time to really breakdown the individual illustrations and explain the workflow. I plan to get a deeper into this stuff once the summer slows down and I get some more free time to allocate to this site. I am almost done with this portfolio (this being the last project) in which case I will start to look at finishing touches and printing. Stay tuned

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THEATER UPDATE 2

Progress is being made on the theater section of project portfolio upgrade.  I put together some floor plans and sections/elevations of the design as well as compiled some of my past process work into another spread. I decided to group the plans, sections, and elevations into one spread because a) I want to leave more pages for process work and b) I like the visual relationship between the drawings. I typically don't render floor plans mainly because I prefer the clean, diagrammatic look of simple line drawings with poche walls. But, because I wanted to emphasize the geometric relationship of the plans ,sections and elevations, I therefore wanted to illustrate them similarly too. 

I have been designing and developing the 3D model as I put together this portfolio and I therefore haven't had time to fully resolve all of the geometry.  The 3D model was not in a place where I could cut a section and render the floor plans. Instead, I took the CAD floor plans that I had been developing along side the model and imported those into Sketchup and quickly extruded them. I now had something that I could throw into Kerkythea and render as seen below.

Above, A Sketchup model of just the first floor plan.

Above, A  base rendering in Kerkythea of the first floor plan.

To finish everything off, I took a site plan rendering that I had made previously and blended it with the floor plan rendering to add a some texture and give some context of how certain walls relate to the exterior form. I also took the CAD floor plan and overlayed it on top of the illustration to get neatly poche walls and edges.

This project section of the portfolio is almost complete. I still want to add  more site analysis diagrams along with some eye-level perspectives of what one would see when experiencing the different spaces of the design. The spreads are still lacking a sense of scale and place so I want to end with renderings that show people inhabiting the spaces, activities that will take place, and how this design blends with the site to generate a unique and exciting experience.

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CRANBROOK PROJECT: INTRO SPREAD ILLUSTRATION

The summer is coming to a close and I am making a final push to wrap up “Project Portfolio Upgrade”. I have spent the last two weeks developing a new 3D model for one of my old projects from undergraduate school. Some of you may recognize the design as it has appeared in many pastPOSTS and TUTORIALS. The project was originally developed for a competition by Cranbrook Academy to design an addition to their art museum. It has always been one of my favorite projects and I was excited to revisit it and have a second go at it.  

I was in one of those moods to experiment and use more of the right side of my brain. The intro spread to this project seemed like the perfect place to do something a little different. The design has many  strong lines that at first glance don’t appear to relate to one another. There is also a grid system that influenced many of the big moves. With all of this complexity, the illustration needed to expose the rules of the design i.e. how the form responded to the grid systems as well as how the forms related to one another.  I wasn’t looking for a diagram though. The intro page should be strong graphically but at the same time be abstract, encouraging the viewer to investigate the rest of the project pages. 

Above, the new 3D model based on an old project from undergrad.

There was also an opportunity to use this illustration as a study for areas of the design that have not be developed yet like the roof garden and interior details. Breaking away from the 3D model and developing this illustration has spawned a few new ideas that I know I would not have arrived to had I not gone through this exercise. The complexity of an illustration like this really draws me into the project and gets me thinking about things that I just don't think about when modeling and sketching.

This illustration, like all of the other intro spreads, will set the tone for the rest of the portfolio pages of this project. Be sure to check back over the next few weeks. I plan to churn out a few more spreads and hopefully get out some new tutorials that are long over due.

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