Modelling the Bamboo Bridge Test

So after Carla, James and I had decided to design a forest inspired getaway, we have divided the tasks up. I have the event space and bridge, Carla has the rooftop gardens and James is designing the treehouse structures in which people can use how they see fit. We have decided that we like the idea of using bamboo within our design so I have been trying to design a potential bamboo bridge for our space that would connect the three main walkways around the space - the hill next to the Te Ara Hihiko building, and the proposed walkways next to the accommodation and out to Tasman Street.

So firstly I created a shape that had an arched shape from a rectangle box. This enabled me to snap the bamboo pieces into place following the arch and in turn give me a nice smooth look. This is not how the bridge will look like, but I have wanted to create an experiment to begin to understand how I could potentially make the bamboo final.

Wellington's Weather Tendencies

So we have quite a temperamental climate in Wellington which likes to change it's mind almost everyday. I have looked into the climate profile for Wellington to get a bit of a better understanding of how to design my space. I will need to keep in mind providing shelter from both the sun and wind/rain. I have found the website myweather2.com which provides insight into weather tendencies month to month for cities around the world.. 

All of the below statistics can be found at: 
http://www.myweather2.com/City-Town/New-Zealand/Wellington/climate-profile.aspx

Weather Overview for New Zealand:
The climate in New Zealand is typically temperate with sharp regional contrasts. The terrain: predominately mountainous with some large coastal plains. For Wellington in January the daily average maximum temperatures is 23°C with the average minimum 16°C, while in June the average maximum is 15°C with a minimum of 9°C. The wettest month for Wellington is July with an average of 122.0mm of precipitation falling while the driest month is January with 52.1mm falling.

I am not going into detail on this blog for the average sunshine hours, precipitation, temperature etc. for each month of the year for Wellington however I will have an overview look at the year:

Due to the fact that students and most staff are not at Massey over January/early February, I feel that for my public space shelter from the rain and wind is going to be more of a focus rather than the sun. We get sunny days all year round don't get me wrong, however looking at the graphs, the probability of rain and wind is much higher than having hot sunny days. Obviously when it is raining and windy, people would rather be inside anyway, however I want there to at least be one area of my public space that people can enjoy no matter the weather.

Rising Furniture Series: Precedent

I have continued my research into transformable furniture which I would incorporate into my overall transitional public space and in doing so I have come across Robert van Embricqs' Rising Furniture Series. I am very interested in this series as it is exactly what I am looking for when it comes to transformable furniture which is can be easily stored away. Due to the fact that each of his pieces, whether it be the chair, side table or table, Embricq has started "with a flat surface that is capable of transforming into a piece of stylishly designed furniture." This means that when I would hypothetically store each of this pieces of furniture, I could stack many on top of one another without taking up too much space. 

I found Embricqs' Rising Furniture series by finding his 'Rising Chair' which he describes as "the Rising Chair emphasises the natural shape an object can made by transforming itself. Every piece of the chair has his own task to succeed in this transformation... The rhythm of the wooden beams gives the chair an organic shape." I love the form that it creates and the aesthetic that comes hand-in-hand. 

Following looking into his Raising Chair furniture, I wondered if Embricq had continued this idea and form in any ways. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he has also made a side table using the same method. "The Rising Side Table design combines elegance and functionality. The table top is carved from a single piece of wood, thereby increasing the table’s practical uses considerably. Yet, the design never loses its playful accents: thanks to clever construction choices that create the illusion of a ‘levitating table top’."

Lastly Embricq had his Rising Table to complete the series in which he describes as "not only does this design approach rid itself of every single predictable feature when one imagines a table, it also emphasises that the Rising Table is indeed made from a single piece of wood. This proves the Rising Table isn’t merely an eye catcher when it comes to design, it can also hold its own as a functional piece of furniture, albeit with a twist." 

I love this series. It is extremely relevant to my design concept and I feel that it has an aesthetic that is really appealing and organic in which I could play on. Embricq uses the material Bamboo Caramel throughout this series which has a beautiful finish which would contrast very well against both concrete and lawn. I want to take a lot of inspiration from this series and incorporate them into my design. The best part of these designs is the fact that they can be folded back down into a single plane of timber. If the idea in which storage could rise up from the ground after scanning one's student ID is feasible, one could stack many, many of these pieces of furniture within for students and staff to use.

Furniture Precedents

So running with the third idea in my previous post - in which I design a space that is totally transformable to enable it to transition from being a public space to an event space easily, I have begun to research furniture ideas that potentially fit my design concept. The amount I have for storage and furniture is also really important due to the fact that if I transition it into an event space, I do not want it taking up space that could be used better in another way. 

This is the idea that I had in my head when I thought of this transitional public space. This is a table and bench seat that folds out of the floor. It sits flat and thus part of the floor when folded down and then depending on how big I want it, it will pop up big enough for people to sit at. This example is really small due to the space in the conservatory, if I was to incorporate this idea in my design, I would make them a lot bigger to cater for all sizes and shapes of the people that would use it.  

Kube by Ego Paris. It's modular design allows it to be used for multiple activities simply by transforming the Kube. It is versatile in the fact as it can be a seat with table, a seat, a recliner or ottoman. If I have a dedicated area to storing my furniture, this modular design would work well due to the fact that it could be folded up into it's ottoman form and then easily stacked on top of one another.

Extendable bench seating. Nothing too flash or sophisticated, however the ability to increase how many people can fit on it simply by adapting the length is a good idea. The only thing is that it looks like it would take up a bit of room and be quite heavy. When it comes to designing my own furniture I may keep this idea of extending the bench at the back of my head because it could come in quite handy.

Pop-up by Carmela Bogman and Rogier Martens. I really love this precedent, this design is inflatable by the inhabitants at their discretion. Each bench is on its own hydraulic cylinder which means that they can be raised at different heights depending on what the user wants to use it for. When finished with, it can then be sunk back into the concrete to be part of the ground again. Something like this in my design would be perfect as like the first precedent, it takes up no room when it is not in use. And due to the fact that in this precedent each bench is on its own hydraulic cylinder, it is completely transitional to the users choice. 

This is another good idea that could potentially not take up much space if I was to store it. The zips are really interesting, I have not seen a piece of furniture that transforms quite like this one. Two chairs, a sofa, a bed and a changing room - if one was that way inclined. I feel that this precedent would work really well in a house, but I just don't think it is sturdy enough to be outside in my public space especially if the weather turns quickly. Again, I could take inspiration from this precedent and potentially incorporate elements of it into my own furniture design later on in this project.

Transitional Furniture Ideas

So the take that I will be looking at for my Koha project is designing a public/third space in which facilitates transition. Brainstorming following our meeting with the third year branding students has proposed a few ideas in which I could design a transitional space..

Firstly, the branding students have introduced us to the idea that the users, i.e. students, staff and/or public are the ones that could be the ones to undergo a transition. For example if a student is stressed out, they could come to my public space to relax and leave rejuvenated and inspired to keep working. 

Secondly, I could consider the idea of creating different levels or 'zones' within the space which could have a different aesthetics or activities to help create the transition throughout. This could be done through adapting the terrain that the space lies on. I could recess into the ground for example or go up into the sky to create a mezzanine or something?

Thirdly which I feel I would progress with is envisioning the space as fully interactive, transformable dependant on each user's needs. The branding students emphasised not stereotyping the target audience but instead create personas for each. However in doing this, I still feel that what each person looks for in a public space is different. If I was to for example use furniture that was transformable which one could use at their own discretion, I feel that people would use my space a lot more. I am keeping in mind that with the master plan and looking to the future, the Marae is going to be used a lot more and therefore the public space that I am designing for will also act as an event space too. If I can use transformable furniture that could be put away potentially even into the ground it would help to transition this space from an event space to a place to relax very easily and thus hopefully would increase it's use.
Fold out / pop up furniture?
Could incorporate an area for storage to build my transitional space?
 - comes out of the ground?

What is needed in my space?
Tables for eating at
Chairs
Sculpture? - way to create unity between all colleges in the university
Vegetation - trees, lawn etc.
Water
Shelter - for both sun and wind/rain

Group Work

So we have been asked to write down the main ideas of what we think makes a good public space in which we then shared on the board. The main and most common ideas were then extracted and we made groups following what we are interested in. I chose to join the 'Transitional' group due to the fact that I feel there are a few ways of designing a public space that can transition - whether this be the user, or the actual space itself, including the furniture. 

As a Transitional collective, we have decided to go our own ways for this week to develop our personal ideas and meet up next week to develop a direction to continue this project with.

Tussock Exterior

With this notion of Koha throughout this assignment and thus all about giving back, David Argue took a few images of the exterior of Tussock before class this morning which he has given to me to use for documentation as well. He has tried to capture the current exterior from as many angles and perspectives as possible in order to get a better understanding of how it will change with this new Massey University Master Plan. Admittedly they are early in the morning and therefore there is no one occupying the space in order to start designing accordingly, however they still help to visualise how this space could be redesigned in the future. 

First Design Response

We have been tasked to undertake an initial design response to the Koha brief that we have been given today. Due to the fact that it is based upon the Massey University new Master Plan, details are a little sketchy and what we are allowed to do seems quite open to interpretation. Unfortunately I was having trouble with the sketch-up file that we have been provided thanks to Athfield Architects and due to the fact that I had to work all afternoon today I have been a bit strapped for time. Therefore I have just done a quick drawing looking at a potential aesthetic that I could incorporate into space. I started off very focused on the Marae in looking to the future and how it will be used more and more often, however I feel that is something that I can consider a little bit further down the track as opposed to solely focusing my project around it.

I considered especially within CoCA how stressed students get around the time of hand-ins. Therefore I decided to design a rough potential 'getaway' for students to go and relax to take their minds off the stresses of university and just unwind for a short time. Just a place of tranquility, with the soft sound of flowing water around the stone paves. It's not much to go on, however it is just one way of visualising what the new public space could be in the future. Obviously if this design concept goes any further than where it is at the moment, there will be a lot of refinement - this could even be one section of the proposed new public space, a bahama inspired beach design with recliners with flowing water around.. Anyway, we will see what happens in the morning with presentation.