Edinburgh

I went to Edinburgh three times during Easter holiday. It is an interesting city that combines old Scottish traditional styles and new city lives together. The street views were extremely beautiful under the beautiful sunshine but a different feeling of cold and gloomy was generated in the dark. The change of sense of place in different times of the day created a mysterious illustration of the city of Edinburgh.

I went there with Rong, Yuntong, Peter and Hank. Edinburgh was our intermediate stop for our trip to North Ireland.

walking on the street which half covered by dark shadows and bright sunshine contrast on the other side.

 best friends forever.

red acrossing the road

great colours mixture appears on the stone walls that made a feeling of watercolour paintings on the photos 

Hello Monster :)

My friend Haoran came to visit me from Cambridge and we decided to go to Loch Ness together with Rong.  Haoran is one of my very closed friend. We spent four years in Singapore together and I have not seen her for almost one year after we graduated from high school. It was very pleased to meet an old friend and when we were on the train we couldn't stop talking until the train was arriving Inverness.

Loch Ness is famous worldwide for the story of the Monster. I read the monster stories from a Japanese comic book for the first time when I was very young, and the place became a mysterious impression in my mind. As I grow up I know that some of the stories and photos were fake. May be or may not. You won't know if a monster really laying on the bottom of the lake but just fell asleep.

We went there on 21st April which was my birthday. It was the first birthday I had in Scotland. We had a very special experience when we were waiting for the bus back to Inverness and having my birthday cake at the same time. Well, it was curious that the bus supposed to come at 1:31pm disappeared! And we got on the next bus which was two hrs later and surprisingly this one was the one brought us to Loch Ness in the morning, the same driver as well as the passengers! O口O - @口@ I was totally blur and thought if I traveled across time or something... emm ... It might just be a small trick by the little monster in Loch Ness since we forgot to give it a piece of my birthday cake...

haha it was taken when we were in Inverness. It is a really beautiful place but I love Dundee more :P

the Urquahurt Castle beside Loch Ness

The real castle... and Loch Ness

the very-dry-birthday-cake

walking on the road

dealing with paper

I love the tectonic project which required us to explore the structural and spatial possibilities created from a piece of papre. It was the most enjoyable project for me in year1. Not only because of cheap materials used (:P haha just kidding), but also the interesting experience to make a three-dimensional space from a two-dimensional world with different ideas and approaches. and the paper models were quite easy to make and realised my thoughts at once. 

Some ideal plans were failed, that the paper cannnot stand up or the structure was really weak, but quite a few ideas worked. I love this idea below the most and made it as the final pavilion design in the end of the project. It was interesting that the idea was pumped up into my mind when I was falling asleep. 

 the original paper model 

developing process 

final model  1:20. It was so big that spend me 6 pieces of A1 paper to make.

Pavilion perspective drawing

The photos below are the models I made for tectonic 1.0 project. Some effects were very impressive but hard to develop further in structural aspect in my stage... 

Possibilities of one piece of paper

The relaxing and interesting part of semester 2 comes after the six weeks stressful retreat project. It surprised me a lot when I know that our Edinburgh trip is not related to our next tectonic project. The tectonic exercise 1.0 for us is build paper model! Cheers!

I love paper modeling. Paper is easy to cut, shape, available everywhere and can easily make some crazy forms come true in seconds. Back to my A-Level coursework, the final idea of the railway station design came from a rough paper model I made coincidently. Now it's like back to the starting point besides my crafting skills becomes much better now.

I tried to make one paper model this afternoon and played with curvy shapes.

It looks like something growing from a piece of A4 paper

final shape of paper model 1

playful details

However, plans and sections and elevations are all need for the model... it seems to be very difficult to draw for that one! And two more models to go before friday!-_-lll

 

Kanagawa Institute of Technology Workshop / Junya Ishigami

“I wanted to make a space with very ambiguous borderlines, which has a fluctuation between local spaces and the overall space, rather than a universal space like that of Mies,”
                                                       - Junya Ishigami

In recent years Japanese architects started to focus more on the 'formless' architecture. many buildings with very thin columns supporting the structure were favoured. They eliminate the building into the environment in such manner and create a slim and elegant sense of feeling. One representational building of this kind is the Kanagawa Institute of Technology Workshop by Junya Ishigami and Associates.


The studio is about the closest you can get to the feeling of working outside while being indoors.  The floor-to-ceiling glass makes the building appear weightless and elegant, and the open plan preserves the building’s sense of transparency as the viewer’s eye can shoot directly across the uninterrupted space.  305 columns of various sizes support the stripped roof of skylights, yet their white color keeps the focus on the space and the view, not the structure.    The columns, although seemingly random, as specifically placed to create the sensation of zoned spaces, but their nonrestrictive quality provides a flexible layout to suit the changing needs of students.

Reflection after final review

hospitalfield research retreat_my intangible inspiration of tree shadows

It has been a long time since I post the last blog entry. The second design project of Year 1 comes to the end. I am not very pleased by my own work this time, sincerely. There should be a better way to develop it and achieve a more impressive final stage. At this time, I kind of disappointed myself.

my sketches for the design

1:100 model

1:200 site model

The starting strategy works. The intangible inspiration is good. And I was surprised that Charles mentioned the mirror surface with reflection of trees that I was thinking of at first and already had it in my precedent research but I didn't put it up on the wall and either apply it to my building. It is a pity. The only thing I did well was the sketch but it is just sketch and it means nothing about your concept, idea, creativity. I realised I may think of the fantastic point sometimes but I was lack of the activation to carry it out.I am not brave enough to try the unknow area and go beyond the boundary which I enclosed myself in.That's what I need to avoid in the next design.

In addition, more thoughts and understanding of materials is important. This part of knowledge is nearly blank in my mind that also limited my ideas.

on site

interior

Before I become an architecture student

Last night I flipped over my file and found some interesting pictures. There are some works I did for a design of a railway station in my hometown beside the sea. It was my A-level coursework in my high school time.  I was totally lack of professional training and education of architecture at that time but it still came out to be a quite interesting idea even now i see it. Thanks Mr Tang, my previous art teacher, for his continuous help and support in my hardest time.

 some random ideas at first

The final idea in mock-up process

model making for final presentation:

The model of my railway station in final presentation... I have to say it was a bit rushed out at the last minute and not developed completely. But it was my first architectural design worked from zero and the first time I made something out from a tiny inspiration inside my mind. I fall in love with architecture since then. When you are in love with someone, you sometimes suffer from the relationship inevitably but you learned to enjoy the different tastes it brings to your life. That was what I felt after completing my first architectural project. :P