Hi All, Why have you been learning the representational techniques you've learned in ARCH1101 and BENV1010? It's not because we're just trying to fill in time. It's not because those are our favourites, or that they are the easiest to teach. It's not because that's all there is to know. It's because great designers and Architects use them to design and communicate their ideas so everyone who needs to be involved in a successful project can be on the same page and motivated to do their best work. Your participants will include clients, engineers, quantity surveyors, planners, interior architects, landscape architects, industrial designers, contractors, politicians, members of the public and ... importantly ... end users. These are the people you'll eventually need to convince and excite. Below I'll use images of a project by MVRDV, shown on act.of.mapping (Instagram), to illustrate some answers to questions you might have: Why are you learning to draw axonometrics?
... to clearly communicate concepts
... to consider environmental and other site conditions.
... and to describe the design process.
... or show patterns of inhabitation.
Why did you learn Illustrator and consider infographics?
... to make typically non visual information more accessible
Why have you learned to render your models in Lumion or Podium?
... to show how materiality contributes to the design. And, through revealing the lived experience of "being there", to make people believe that it is not only possible but desirable!
In summary, we show you these things and help you gather these skills because we think you'll be very successful if you use them to make your vision a reality.
Hi All, Ahead of the final week in ARCH1101 I've recorded a short lecture which presents a selection of the best student schemes from EXP2: The Bridge in previous years. I look at them in terms of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (S.W.O.T). It's a way to consider a business operation or product, but I focus on two of the elements, Strengths and Opportunities in the review below. The key point is to use these to reflect on your own scheme looking for your Strengths and Opportunities for improving your work: I mention a few Architects and schemes in the narration, here are some links to follow those up: Frank Lloyd Wright, Falling Water: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/later-europe-and-americas/modernity-ap/a/frank-lloyd-wright-fallingwater An image showing the rock where the clients used to sunbathe on the site, now in the living room:
And a video showing some aerial views that have only ever been seen before in the Architects hand drawn perspectives.
This building was the result of an international competition. A small group of student entered, competing with large firms from all around the world, and won. One day they were working on their design projects at University and the next they had a 20 person firm working on one of the most significant buildings of the late 90's. It is a classic example of going from zero to hero overnight. And a story that I hope inspires you to give yourselves every chance of success.
Hi All, If you need to share a Fusion 360 File, for troubleshooting for example, you can do so by sharing a public link, as described in this tutorial:
Hi All, A few of you are still struggling to access Lumion and/or run it successfully on your laptop. As an alternative to using Lumion you could try a plugin for SketchUp called Podium. It's designed to do the same job as Lumion, but takes a bit more to set up ... key links below: Podium description and sample images: https://www.suplugins.com/ Podium download free trial: https://suplugins.com/free-evaluation.php Podium tutorials: https://suplugins.com/podium/tutorials.php
Given the extra effort this might entail, and with pressure mounting from other courses, I can confirm an extension for the EXP2 submission to Thursday the 14th of May. I can also advise that the 120 second long (Maximum) animated film is now optional. I hope this relieves some of the pressure and enables you to focus on making the remaining assessment outputs the best they can be. I've updated the brief page for EXP2 to reflect these changes. Kind regards Russell
Hi All, Take a look at this project, called "The Shed" in New York City for some further inspiration for the "Moving Elements" required in your design. Elizabeth Diller, the lead Architect on the building, has a long history of spectacular projects ... including most famously the Highline in NYC. She converted a disused elevated railway line into a new form of urban park and transformed a large portion of new York in the process. It's important to keep in mind how you, as Architects, can transform and enliven a city ... especially in these times when the people of NYC, and other hard hit cities around the world, need as much positivity as we can facilitate with our work. Kind regards Russell
Hi All, This weeks self directed tutorial you will create two animated drawings: one axonometric and one 2-Point perspective. Your task is to convey a summary of your developed design with only 6 rectangular prisms. Your first set of drawings will be Axonometrics from a point of view that communicates your design intentions clearly. The second set of drawings will be 2-Point Perspectives from the opposite point of view (in other words, spin your 6 rectangular prisms around 180 degrees). Here is an example of an Axonometric I made to give you an idea of what you'll end up with after following the Axonometric tutorials below (you'll note that it only uses 4 rectangular prisms ... you have 6):
Axonometric animation with 3 positive rectangular prisms and one negative rectangular prism.
An axonometric is a type of architectural drawing that represents three dimensions on a two dimensional page (or screen). In that way it is similar to a perspective drawing that makes it seem like three dimensional objects, or spaces, are coming out of or receding into the page; like looking through a window. The main difference between an axonometric and a perspective is that in an axonometric where two lines are parallel in the geometry of your design they remain parallel in the drawing. You'll remember that in a perspective drawing parallel lines converge at one or more vanishing points.
What do they look like? Here are some examples from Pinterest... (I'd suggest starting your own Pinterest page to capture the things that inspire you; I guarantee it will become an invaluable resource throughout your degree).
And how do you draw them? Take a look at this video tutorial ...
What are they good for? In short, they are best for concept drawings and construction details.
They are good for construction details because they communicate dimensions very clearly (primarily because they don't distort proportions like a perspective sketch does ... ). See this great example on archdaily where they are used to illustrate traditional Japanese joinery details.
But in this tutorial for ARCH1101 you'll be using them to show a summary of your design; which is a concept drawing.
Perhaps the best examples of this are from the Architecture firm BIG.
BIG's use of diagrams to clearly communicate their design intent, another way to say their "Big Idea", is unparalleled
The diagram above in its New York context.
Axonometrics don't preclude curvilinear geometry, but they are trickier to construct.
Drawing axonometrics is a great skill to have, you'll find them invaluable in your discussions with your tutors this year and for the rest of your studies, so don't be afraid to pull out your notebook and practice whenever you get the chance.
What is a 2-Point Perspective?
A 2-Point Perspective has two vanishing points on a horizon. Like a 1-Point Perspective parallel lines converge and meet at the vanishing points. But in the case of the 2-Point perspective parallel lines that are perpendicular to each other converge to separate vanishing points.
And how do you draw them?Take a look at this video tutorial ... but remember you'll be drawing your perspectives by hand.
What are they good for? In short, they are best for getting a feeling of being there.
Architectural theorists talk about perspectives providing an "embodied" view. By this they mean the opposite of abstract, the opposite of what Axonometric drawings do. The perspective drawing reminds us that we are in the world, not apart from it in some God like, perfect, relationship. Nothing can be measured from the drawing, everything is relative.
Hi All, I've just tested Lumion using UNSW myAccess ... which is essentially Lumion running on the cloud that you can run remotely using a Mac or PC.
It's quite a bit slower to react than if you were running Lumion on your local machine ... but I was able to import the UNSW model and my test "cross/circulation" model, add some trees and people all fine. Follow this link to try it out (you may have to download the Citrix receiver). Kind regards Russell
Hi All, Our Architecture program director, Dr Phil Oldfield, liked what he saw on the course blog yesterday and posted it to his Instagram feed @sustainabletall. Recent posts include UNSW student award winners and protecting historic huts with kevlar and foil wrap; take a look.
Instagram and your blogs are a great way to publicise your work and build your professional reputation. Kind regards Russell
Hi All, Overall, the quality of submissions for EXP1 was really impressive, especially given the circumstances. As is always the case, a few projects really stood out, see a selection of the best work from EXP1: Datum below. Regards Russell From Andrew Wallace's tutorial group:
Hi All, In the self-directed tutorial at the end of next week (in the course outline this is referred to as the online tutorial, but now everything is online I've given it a new name to differentiate it ... the key difference being that the self directed tutorial won't have Teams meetings scheduled; Teams meetings are just to support the regular Monday tutorial) you'll have the OPTION to do one of the two animations required in two point perspective. In the video below I go through the process of drawing a two point perspective. I'm using Illustrator to demonstrate, but you'll be drawing yours by hand in your notebook. The process is exactly the same. Let me know if you have any questions on the Q&A forum on the ARCH1101 Moodle page. Regards Russell
Hi All, Another alternative, if you are having trouble downloading the Lumion files from UNSW, is to buy a student license of the software. You can do that here: https://cad.com.au/software/lumion-educational/
One advantage over using the UNSW install files is that we have a limit of 200 users at any one time, so if there is a major hand in for several courses at once there might not be enough licenses to go around. Kind regards Russell
Hi All, A few of you weren't able to copy the Lumion files while you were on campus a few weeks ago. Using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a way for your computer to think it's actually on campus and connected to our shared networks. The tutorial below goes through the setup required: The folder you need access to is: \\coursefolders.fbe.unsw.edu.au\ARCH1101-ArchDes1\Resources\Lumion 10 And remember, if you need to provide a user account to map the coursefolders network drive it will be your zID@ad.unsw.edu.au Kind regards, Russell
Hi All, Some massing models (both physical and digital) as inspiration for this weeks task:
Add "additional massing elements to your circulation model that begin to provide volume for the functional spaces required by the brief; these additional elements need not be rectangular."
Limited detail, colour represents material and point of interest.
This set shows massing models in the rear, adding detail towards the front
A reminder that the masses need not be rectilinear
Note the proposed scale!
Colour again to draw focus
Stacked volumes
Exploded view above, with icons, aids communicating the program
