3/28/2017 - A Change of Plans

       So in true Jasmine fashion, I've changed my Piranesi image. I was thinking of doing the Baths of Diocletian, but the more I looked at it and the plan and other images Piranesi had of the Baths, I find I wasn't as crazy about them. They seemed kind of simple and boring to me. So I was flipping through a few I had selected to narrow it down a little from the thousands that are available and I was drawn to another one. The Well from the Prison series. As I was looking into the image I started to see my building inside the etching.
        Over the weekend I started making my sections. I wasn't thinking about the program yet for the sections, so I was just trying to create spaces. I incorporated some of the curves that I used in my floor plan inside the section as well.
        After talking with Professor Carranza, he agreed with the change of scenery. He also wanted me to take another try at my sections, not make the spaces so "boxy." Looking at the new site I don't really need to have enclosed spaces, because I whole site is an underground enclosed Hell. So instead of designing a Roman Bath, I'll be designing torture chambers.

3/24/2017 - Easy Peasy Piranesi

       Giovanni Battista Piranesi was born on October 4th, 1720 and died on November 9th, 1778 at the age of 58. In 1740 he went to Rome for work, he worked under Giuseppe Vasi, who taught hi the art of etching and engraving, and he practiced on the city and its monuments. Vasi soon learned that Piranesi had incredible skills, his etching looked so much like paintings. In 1743, he produced his first published works called Prima parte di Architettura e Prospettive, and they were views of the city of Rome. In 1745 he followed up with another series called Varie Vedute di Roma Antica e Moderna. I would say Piranesi's most famous work would be the Prisons or the Carceri d'invenzione or the Imaginary Prisons. There are a series of 16 prints that depict enormous subterranean vaults including multiple staircases and huge machines. Some thought it was images of Hell or of the subconscious mind.
      For this project we are to pick a Piranesi print and use that image as our site. We are to collage our building that we created form collageing floor plans, into a Piranesi print. I have a few that I like that I am thinking of using. I'm going to create a section of my plans first and start looking at the images more in depth to see what one I want to use. One I know what Piranesi site I'm going to use and what plans and sections I'm going to use, I can start to think and plan what the program of my building will be. My favorite one at the moment is the Baths of Diocletian. But I'm also looking at the Prisons, and the Tomb of Caius Cestius, along with a few others.

 Ancient Temple

 Baths of Diocletian

 Great Gallery

 Plaza of Stairs

 The Sawhorse - The Prisons

Tomb of Caius Cestius

3/21/2017 - The Third Obstruction: Exquisite Corpse

       For "Insertions Into Ideological Circuits," you are to take as generative the very representations of the given canonical building. Through cutting, collage, scale increase/decrease, weaving, cross-pasting, etc., develop out of the existing plans of the given building a new set of plans. The plans, from this, should be the generator of the building's new sectional and spacial conditions. Apply the same technique used to develop the plans to generate the elevations (albeit mediated by the findings in the sections), perspectives, etc. For these and other generative drawings, feel free to use the vast representational arsenal of the architect - not only from the given project but from his entire oeuvre; think of the possibilities of creating a project based on the surrealist technique of the "exquisite corpse." Additionally, keep in mind that the building has to the ground and its landscape.

       So my understanding of this project is that we are making a Frankenstein of Le Corbusier. We are to take our plans and any plans of a Le Corbusier building, cut them up and re attach them, keeping in mind patterns and forms that we create, to create new plans and sections for a building. The catch is we don't know the site, or what it is we are designing for , like is this going to be school? a hotel? or a restaurant? We don't know.
        So I did a few layouts, the first one, I just used the plans for the Maison Curutchet. I cut out rooms then reattached them to create new plans. But that isn't really what this project is about. We have to make patterns, not really paying attention to what we are making until the end, then look at the spaces that are created. So the next one I cut the plans into one inch strips and wove them together, trying to connect some of the lines, but in the end it didn't really define any spaces. So I tried again. This time I did a weaving of sorts, but not like a basket. I laid one strip down and placed the second so most of the lines and spaces connected, and so on and so on. Then by accident, the strips that were left over, the way I had them laid out, created another layout, and surprisingly, its actually my favorite out of them all.

3/10/2017 - Flip Flop Crit

       So a lot has happened since my last blog, one main thing is that I got sick!! A lovely thing to happen, it was so much fun to deal with. So the Crit for this project was on Wednesday, I had the final Plaster drawing done over the weekend, and it was still heavy for the final.
       For the wire drawing, I decided to do the third floor, which had the clinic and the open terrace. I used one piece of wire for the plan then another for the "paper" frame. I then used some fishing line to connect the two, so it looked like the plan was centered in the paper, like a real drawing.

       The two drawings on paper that we were allowed to have to help understand the project, I decided to do two section axon drawings. I cut my building right down the middle, then split it apart, like cutting a cake in half to show all the layers, like my building was a doll house that was opened up.

        The final model was at 1/8th scale, and I left one wall off so the viewers can see inside, but I taped the wall on so they could also see how it looked with the wall there as well. I laser cut the floor plates for this one as well, to help with the aligning the columns up.

        For the final presentation, I also brought in the small series of study models to show each change and flip.  And the original model of the original building to really show all the changes to the new version of the building. 

3/7/2017 - Final Plaster Drawing

        The final plaster model I made at 1/8th scale, so twice as big as the last study drawing I did. And man is it HEAVY!!! I think I used 7.5 oz of dry plaster so about 15 oz of mixed plaster, I know that this isn't going to be dry completely for Wednesday's crit but its hard, it's just slightly damp. I used the foam board  for the walls and base of the mold and I scavenged some of the pink foam insulation for the inside parts of the mold. The cuts that I made weren't the nicest, cleanest cuts. So I used some sand paper to smooth them out some and some Sobo glue to fill in the gaps.
       And boy was I wrong about the foam insulation coming out easy!! Because the foam was so think it didn't slide out of the plaster as I wanted it to, so I had to dig out the foam with my Exacto-knife and fingers. Once I had about half the block dug out and poked through to the other side it was easier to pull out the foam, but it made such a mess, there was pink foam everywhere!! Also the foam didn't make a very nice edge, so I took some sand paper to the plaster to try and smooth the walls down, and because the plaster was still damp it kinda worked better than if the plaster was fully dry because the damp plaster also kinda filled in any gaps that were created form the foam, or form accidentally hitting the sides when trying to dig out the foam. I also sanded down the corners  and edges of the model so in the end I think it came out quite nice. Heavy, but quite nice.

3/3/2017 - Drawing Without Paper?

       So I was quite confused about this. How do you have a drawing, but no paper to have the drawing on? by having a drawing in plaster or wax, and wire or string. To where in one direction, one can see the image, but in any other it looks like a mess or lines or voids. So over the week I made my first attempt of a drawing without paper in plaster. I have worked with plaster in the past, so I was fairly confident that I know how to make the molds of the plaster and they wouldn't leak and that I could make a smooth mix.
        I made it at a 1/16th scale, and I was trying to make the roof plan, to see the different layers and the voids that would go all the way down to the ground floor. I used foam core board for the mold and it released fairly easily, not as nicely as I wanted, the wet plaster made the outside paper side of the foam board wet so in the end I had to dig it out, but it came out nicely. The edges had lines that showed how many layers I used so for the finial I might use foam insulation, but that might leave marks as well, so I'll have to try some things out.
        Professor Carranza recommended that I make the voids actually voids and have them go all the way through the plaster mold, so for the final I think that I might do that. The pieces might come out of the mold easier that way.