Digital Fabrication

May 11
On this last day of our lecture
We talked about:-
-3D printing
-Digital Fabrication
-Material
-Technology
-OTA+

We talked about San Fratello + Rael, architects who used 3D printing to make wonderful and creative things, the designers of the burrito wall and Bay Bridge Product. The above object is also one of their creation. The above picture is called Haeckel Bowl. The shape and pattern based on the 19th century biologist Ernst Haeckel's illustrations of art forms in nature. The bowl is made of pecan wood and has soft translucent fibers embedded in the mix that enhance the texture.

This is the Rapid Type Coffee Pod.
It is a design/build studio at the California College of the Arts(CCA) initiated as a result of ALPOLIC's continued interest in engaging young architects in the use of aluminum composite materials (ACM).
The program allowed 15 students, led by OTA+'s Kory Bieg, and Studio Under Manufacture's Andre Caradec, to push the boundaries of ALPOLIC aluminum composite materials.

Old with New

May 4
Amily's lecture was about Urbanism and Context.
The topics for the lecture includes:-
-Field Operation
-Pattern of the City
-Mapping
-Grid
-Turning Old to New and interesting

This is the High Line Park in New York City.
It was originally an old railway track but now it has been redesigned and planted as aerial greenway.
Although one is in the city, being surrounded by plants feels relaxing.
The park's attractions include naturalized plantings that are inspired by the self-seeded landscape that grew on the disused tracks and the views of the city and the Hudson River.

This is one of the places where new things were formed on the old buildings. Amily also showed us more pictures of reconstructing the Bay Bridge and also the Burrito Wall designed by San Fratello+ Rael.
I really like the idea of not demolishing the old buildings and building a completely different building but leave the old as it is and implant new things in it to make it interesting and beautiful. This way we could still see the part of the old building combined with the new.

Stones

April 20
A guest from Quarry House came to our class.
His name is Ed Westbrook. He is a stone expert and also a founder of the Quarry House.
The lecture that day involved about :-
-the origins of stone
-uses of stone
-material honesty
-feel of seeing stones
-beauty of stones

This is a stone bridge I found when surfing on the internet.
As you can see, although its just an arc formed from stones, it gives off an interesting feeling.
I can see the different shapes and texture formed on the stones, with uneven lines and cracks.
There are what makes them beautiful.
Because of this uneven looks, we can see the history of these stones.
Stones are materials that hold deep mystery. To me, values and qualities of stones do not differ from one another.
Different stones represents different background and meaning.
Just seeing the shapes of stones created naturally calm and makes me feel at peace.

Ed Westbrook also told us how he went from country to country searching and looking for different stones. He also showed us pictures of the stones he saw. And also told us that there were still some craftsman who are still using labor work to build stone structures instead of using technology.

Waterproofing

April 13
We had a guest from Grace Construction Products.
His name is Paul Miller who specialize in water proofing.
With his presence there, I learned:

• Water Proofing
• Air Barrier
• Vapor Barrier
• Uses of water proof materials
• How these materials are applied.

 From Miller, I learned how water enters the building and how waterproofing helps prevents it.
Although the cements look tough and all, under some circumstances, cracks will be formed in the cement and the rain or water from the exterior could easily invade into these cracks.
So what waterproofing does is, formed a layer between the outside (soil in the picture) and the cement and will prevent the water from entering.

During class, Miller brought in some samples of Grace Products of different kinds.
He explained to us how they are used and what each product role is.
I really enjoyed it because I have to feel the texture of different materials used in the building.

Sustainable

After the Spring Break, we continued our studies on architecture on April 6th.
The lecture Amily gave us was about Sustainable Materials.
The week was all about green and eco-friendly.
The five facts that I marked down during lecture which will lead the building to being green are:-
1. Harmonize with site.
2. Built little as possible.
3.Buildings should generate own electricity and should heat and cool naturally
4.Maximize resource efficiency
5.Beauty of Ecological design

This house is called Sommerhaus Piu (Piu Summer House)

It was built by German Architects, Patrick Frey and Bjorn Gotte. This green home building's is made from sustainable materials, wood since wooden materials can provide naturalistic feelings for the house especially since this house is located on a natural open site. About half of the wall is filled with glasses which allows the natural light from outside flows into the house naturally.

Even though the house is just a simple rectangular house, the striped patterns of the wooden material on the wood makes it beautiful as the sunlight passes through the gaps between and reflecting on the walls of it.

And also during the lecture, Amily introduced us to an organization called LEED, standing for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is developed by the USGBC, short for US Green Building Council. It consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, home and neighborhoods.

Honesty of Materials

Week 4
 Things are learned from Amily's lecture:-
- Consistency of materials
- Tectonics
- Honesty of material
- Tooling patterns and operation
- Small details into art pieces
- Weaving

During the lecture, Amily taught us how the way architect uses the materials reflect on the building they create.

These picture are part of one of the famous winery, Dominus winery in Yountville, California.
The architects for this are Herzong and de Meuron, Swiss architects.
The exterior only contained of cages filled with different sizes of stones.

This is the close-up of the wall of the building.
Different stones caged up.

This is the interior of the building.
As the stones were placed randomly, the gaps between the stones bring out beautiful pattern when sunlight shines through it.
The architects totally brought out the honesty and beauty of the materials they used.

Nature & Light

Week 3
The knowledge given to me from Amily's lecture is:-
- how architect make use of light to its full potential
- Ordering principle
- Nature minerals
- Time
- framing space

This is a picture of St. Ignatius' interior.
The architect for this is Steven Holl.
He is a great architect who creates colors without actually coloring.
Like in the picture he uses the sunlight and the wall, resulting in the reflection of the light and bringing in both light and color.
I am truly amazed by this since he turns the simple way of lighting the room into something amazing like this.

The ordering principles Amily talked about are:
- Hierarchy
- Symmetry
- Axis
- Rhythm
- Datum
- Transformation

Here is an example of one of the ordering principles, Axis.

This is the Salk Institute.
The architect is Louis Khan.
 The Axis for this picture is the water channel in the court yard with the sea view beyond.
An Axis is a straight line established by two or more elements

The following picture explains the uses of natural material.

The wall in this picture is made by using the dirt and minerals we commonly see.
All kind of dirt and minerals were used by layers creating this beautiful natural wall.

First Day of Arch 48

On my first week of Arch 48 in City College of San Francisco, our instructor, Amily, taught and showed us pictures of music inspired architecture.

 Soon after she arrived into our class, she opened a few songs which surprised me since I have no idea how music is related to our class. 

But later when she started her lecturing, I soon began to understand how music could affect architecture world.

I learned about:-
-the meaning of what architecture really means
-how music is related to architecture
-artistic style of the buildings
-how lighting can change our view of the surrounding
-how natural substance is a part of art related to architecture
 

This is a picture of Hotel Liesma which took part in a music themed hotel competition.

I found it when I was searching for a music inspired architecture on google.

This is created by Jevgenijs Busins and Liva Banka.
The shape and its wavy outlines are inspired by musical rhythms.

The silhouette of this building is a perfect draw for those who do not have any affinity towards music.

 This is one of the pictures showing how a natural substance can change our view.
Normally it is just a normal waterfall but when a certain red stone was powdered and
 added to the water it changes the color of the waterfall. How is this related to architecture? I believe that this style can be used as an ornament in the garden of a house giving the house a sense of nature.

The way Architects work

Week 2

What I understood from Amily's lecture:-

- difficulties of an architect's life

- transparency

- use of materials

- checking the sturdiness of the materials

- steps needed to get a perfect building

This following picture is something Amily showed us during lecture.

The architect's worst enemy, a flaw in the building.

Architects have to make sure that the buildings they created have to be sturdy under any condition, in rain, in the heat , in the cold and so on.

The life of an architect is not different from that of the constructor's.

Look every corner and check again and again so that there won't be any complains from the residents.

This picture is showing us how the architect checks the glasses they are going to use for constructions. Using this mechanism, they increase the temperature to see whether if the glass is suitable for the buildings or not.