Project 2: Model

At the same time as creating my plan and section drawing I was also working on my model. I find working on them simultaneously helps me to alter the design easily and work around any problems I might encounter.

For this model I used primarily cardboard as it was easily accessible to me and easy to work with. I could cover it with paper after to achieve a nicer finish. With the measurements we had taken and my plans it was fairly quick to construct the general shape of the gallery and everything lined up well. The base and the slope took a few tries to get to what I think is realistic but I am happy with how it turned out, even if it did cause me a bit of stress.

I was a bit stuck on my design then as I couldn’t decide on how I wanted the lead to and from the window to look. I wanted to focus on movement and how that would look from the street, up to the window level, through into the space and then how it would look once inside. I considered doing stairs on both sides and then a ramp on both sides and finally decided on a mix of the two. Stairs on the exterior and a ramp on the interior. I decided this as I wanted the stairs to be in keeping with the lineal aspect of the rect of the buildings style. Once inside I wanted it to be a smooth and soft transition into the space and a ramp seemed to do this better.

Having the stairs raised to the height they were I knew it needed to have some sort of boundary for safety. Obviously anything too solid and it would block the view of the window therefore ruining the whole basis of the design. I imagine this railing to be made out of glass. Thick enough to be safe but not too much that it takes away from the entrance itself.

There is a curved door at the end of the steps which is sort of an entrance before the entrance. A bit like in dreams how things are often not as they seem this door creates and interior space in an exterior one as there is no roof connected. A circle has been cut through the window and this is how people will enter into the room. A playful and peculiar shape it offers a sort of tunnel into the room. The ramp into the building is curved and winds through the space eventually ending about halfway down the room. It is raised at its highest point to just above two metres and then varying heights the rest of the length. From the outside it will look like the people who’ve just walked through the window are now levitating before they disappear out of sight. I wanted my model to have a sense of playfulness and a sense of intrigue as to draw people into the space and I think I achieved this with my redesigned window.