14: Better the 3D devil you know

After working with 3DS Max for a week now, I am still no closer to understanding it - I press a button on one occasion, and it does something completely different to when I did it the time before. And for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to render the darn thing - I even pleaded for help in the tutorial from a 3DS Max veteran, and even she couldn't figure out what I'd done wrong to make the program hate me (I have managed to destroy 4 hard drives in my lifetime, never doing anything wrong, so I have come to the conclusion that technology hates me).

Last semester I bravely ventured into the world of Sketch Up for the first time (I know, I'm a late bloomer, I just love drawing by hand so much!), but quickly became frustrated and gave up. But I'm back with new vigour to try again - and this time with success!

I thought I'd try and start modelling my interiors (which would be too finicky to try in 3DS Max anyway) and the street front facades of my building. I also downloaded Vray, which has made me so much happier with how my designs are turning out! 

I did some quick renders of my building so far - the below shot is of the front facade on Queen Street. The curved glass wall is made of the same OLED panels as the curved surface on the upper levels of the building, but I still need to work with materials to make that apparent.

The below shot is of the Voting Room, where holographic or touch screen panels are scattered for people to interact with and vote on the proposals for Brisbane's development. They also move up and down, like bar graphs, to physically represent the proposal's popularity (eg. the taller the screen the more popular it is).

Fiddling round with interior shots has been difficult. The below images are of the Queen Street entrance, which leads to the Child Care Centre on the left, Voting Room to the right, and central staircase and lightwell. As you can see, the space is far too dark, and my attempts at introducing rectangular lights has failed.

But again, persistence is the key and I have (kind of) got the hang of interior lighting, enough that my spaces are now actually visible.

Same goes for the Lecture Room and Bar, but again some tweaking got me towards a much better lighting result.   

13: Learning in 3D

Although I am very happy with my chosen form, I have given myself a bit of a headache when it comes to graphically representing it. Over the past 4 years I have done all of my assignments by hand - I love how hand drawing a project can transfer character and style, while also conveying the passion, dedication and attention to detail that I apply to my work. However with such a difficult facade form, I feel I may need to challenge myself and learn to model digitally.

Ruwan was amazing in helping quickly introduce our class to 3DS Max during our tutorial, generously using my physical model as an example on manipulating form in the program. Unfortunately, due to my inexperience in computer aided design, I quickly became lost! But over the last couple of days I have slaved at my computer at every given opportunity to try and wrestle this best that is 3DS Max.

After much stress, tears and swearing, I have come up with a few different representations of my chosen form:

The above wave formation is the form that I most prefer, as it feels the most organic and elegant of the three. However, it is still too uniform and rigid for my liking, so with some more tweaking (and more sweating, crying and swearing), I have manipulated the form into what I feel is the perfect shape for my project.

12: Telling the story

With my design under way it is important to grasp an idea of how I shall tell my story of architectural fiction. Breaking down the assessment requirements of Script, Stage and Scenes, I can get a better understanding of how to present my proposal.

So what does the context need?

What trends have impacted this scenario, and how does my proposal respond?

Breaking down the essence of my proposal in a timeline fashion can help figure out a progression for my presentation, as well as developing a narrative of an individual's experience within its spaces.

However, one story is just not enough - there is more to my proposal that the people that work within it - what about the general public and the corporate sponsors? I also want to find away to convey the interconnectedness of my proposal - how spaces are organised so that all these different people can interact in different environments to foster and promote innovation.

12: Refining the program

With my form under way, the interior spaces need to be further refined. Many of the original spaces in a previous diagramming exercise remain the same, just relocated to improve circulation and experiences.

I have also decided that my curved undulating form that hugs the old Chifley Hotel should be made of overlapping OLED screens - this material will provide a perfect communication tool for proposal updates, as well as create a bright and exciting addition to Brisbane's skyline, that can be changed and manipulated to suit the occasion, even turning completely transparent if necessary.

12: Modelling the metaphor

Because I have such an abstract idea of form for my building, based on my two metaphors, I thought it best to experiment with modelling. I started by creating my base of the Chifley Hotel, and just adding and manipulating its surfaces in fluid and fractioned ways. This led me to my desired form - a undulating and manipulated surface caressing the old Chifley building, which has been exploded into protruding balconies for break out meeting spaces.

11: Programming form

Thinking internally, the spaces I want to provide to by building are diverse - I want to provide the people working in this building numerous opportunities to interact with each other, and with the general public, who will remain informed and involved in Brisbane's decision making process.

As a rough start, I want there to be an innovation space where people can pitch their ideas, or be inspired by what is happening to their city - rather like TedTalks. Social spaces, like cafes, will also be in abundance so that people can relax and chat and let their creativity run wild through chance discussions.

'Beta spaces' will also be provided, where people can physically interact with proposals pertaining to the future of their city. They are also given the opportunity to vote and have their opinions heard on these proposals, so that their city is moulded into a place they would like to live in.

Providing ample space for employees to socialise is also important, such as large and exciting food areas. In a previous post I investigated the importance of the lunch room, information I definitely intend to implement in my design.

The break down of the building will end up something like this ^ with most of the building's programming taken up by flexible office space (see previous post on how that will work out), while lower levels are devoted to socialising and innovation. I would also like to turn the upper floor into an observation deck, where people can gain a 360 degree view of the city, with touch screens that you can interact with and see future proposals displayed in real-time; when you point towards a certain building/suburb, the screen can inform you of the proposals in place for that area.

11: Metaphor defrag

With my program sorted, I need to now take a step back and see how my design can respond to its scenario. Ruwan suggested that I look at the practices of the Big 5 companies, and break them down to their simplest forms. For example, McDonalds works on a conveyor belt system (their food is prepared in this way, and their business models are all about efficiency and reducing waste); IKEA are about breaking down simplicity (their products are cheap, elegant and broken down into their simplest forms for ease of construction and reduction of materials); Google work on collation (gathering information from numerous sources, sorting them and relaying them on); P&G are about mass production (they dominate two whole aisles in most grocery stores); and GE are just so diverse it is impossible to nail them down.

So where does this lead me? While breaking these companies down, I noticed that most of them deal in efficiencies and production of some sort, whether its producing products or information. They have all also started small (simple ideas/business models) that have grown exponentially into multi-faceted businesses. 

So how can Brisbane (and my design) benefit from the experiences of these 5 companies? Again, Ruwan came forward and (unknowingly) provided me with the perfect metaphor - the companies need to defrag Brisbane. Due to its economic and social downfall, Brisbane's 'system' needs extreme maintenance. In the future scenario, Brisbane will be divided, with most people feeling isolated and the sense of community shattered. This fragmentation must be reduced, with 'smaller files' organised back together again. This will help increase the city's sense of freedom (a.k.a free space), whether it be financially, socially or politically. This will ultimately lead to Brisbane's 'system' speeding up and becoming a more efficient device.

This metaphor can then be carried on and combined with the companies' ethos - in their business plans of growth and expansion, defragging is already in their programming. Especially Google, who work with the distribution and filtering of data to this effect. This metaphor gave rise to the below image which has formed the basis for my design response.

As well as implementing a 'fragmented' style with an exponential curve, I also want to adopt another metaphor: Brisbane's new sponsors don't want to destroy the old Brisbane, they just want to bring it back to it's former glory and inspire its people to be innovative once more. To respond to this through design, it wouldn't be appropriate to build from scratch, or demolish something for this project; rather a piece of iconic Brisbane architecture should be transformed - a new skin and lease of life attached as a metaphor for the hope and prosperity in Brisbane's future.