Yesterday was one on one tutorials and as I had been working on the landscaping of the site, this was discussed. I have more or less finished my design now and it is a case of presenting my idea.
I am yet to start my final model but I have already finished my technical drawings on AutoCAD. These need to be printed and I was thinking about hand drawing them as well. Over Easter break I saw some drawings that dated back to 1911 and there was something really nice about seeing hand drawings so I might take my inspiration from them for my own drawings.
I feel like not much has actually been done this week in terms of working on this project - I've done plenty of other work in aid of getting all of it done a lot before the deadline!
Wednesday, I updated my sketch site model so that it shows the new intervention. I also extended the model so that it includes the whole of the site, including the community garden centre. Now that I have this, I can look at how I can link the two together.
I am going to do this by creating a communal space beneath the stairs up to the theatre entrance. I still need to work on this space on my plans which is probably something I will do today.
I also want to look at how I can use the space in front of the stairs, and give the stairs more function than just as a way to access the theatre. it was suggested that I make it into a outdoor performance space so to help me, I think I need to look at similar spaces and how they are defined from the rest of the site. At the moment, I feel that I could just leave it clear and explain that it is a performance space, with the stairs doubling up as seating for this space but it seems a bit like cheating so I am going to look into existing spaces.
I have been working on my technical drawings but having a lot of difficulty with the line weights of my drawings. I wanted to use them to distinguish the existing building from my intervention but it's not going so well. I will, however, persevere!
After struggling to come up with my design, over Easter I was able to finalise it and draw up my plans of the theatre.
I looked at the Carre d'Art in Nimes. Designed by Norman Foster, it is built opposite a Roman temple and mirrors the design of it. I decided to look at the profile of these buildings and compare them to mine to help inform my design. After trying several designs, I decided one I was happy with which followed the same design as the buildings in Nimes and also allowed me to keep my idea of circulation through the building and site.
Over Easter, I also made a start on my Integrated Design Report and I found referring back to this blog really helpful - especially for the past projects. I am planning on writing the report alongside working on my project now that I have caught up with it.
To help me gain spacial awareness of my design's footprint on the site, I made a sketch SketchUp model. This also helped me to arrange and finalise the design for the front of the building. By creating a large staircase up to the theatre's main entrance, there is space underneath the steps, which will be used for the box office and cafe. I was also able to incorporate the disabled access into this although it moved to the other side of the stairs from how I originally built it. This was for a couple of reasons. The first was that with the car park around the back of the theatre, it made sense to have the disabled access on the road side of the stairs, meaning there is a smaller distance between the ramp and the car park. By swapping the ramp from the site side to the road side of the stairs, a large space has been created facing the site. This means that I can make the link between the site and the community gardens and the theatre, something that was important to my concept.
Today I have been working on the sections and although they still need a bit of work doing to them to finalise them before I put them into Photoshop, they are more or less done.
Next, I need to look at materiality and environmental aspects of my design. I will also need to make my final model which will probably take me a while (if my White Water model is anything to go by!)
Yesterday was one on one tutorials and as I had been working on the landscaping of the site, this was discussed. I have more or less finished my design now and it is a case of presenting my idea.
