Tree Lights

Lauren

A Process

Some preliminary sketching done to explore the idea of breaking the buildings apart into a 2D composite of it's 3D geometry.

This is what I was doing up at the windows. It has to do with things originally together, now separated, incorporating the idea of connectivity to the old, and a new form.

The third image is the 9x9 composition I created from flattening the barn's 3D geometry into the two dimensional field. I've also included lines which matched up with the odd angles of the flattened image.

The fourth image is very similar to the set of images in the third, but this one, I began exploring other possibilities of the arrangement of shapes, overlaying them, and incorporating the same process to draw the lines as in the third one.

Exploration

1. This is looking at the curves that I projected onto a sphere from plan view.

2. I picked out an area that was interesting.

3. I mirrored it across the y-axis.

4. Mirred across x-axis.

5. Moment 1.

6. After playing with lineweights, Moment 2.

7. I broke up the symmetry while trying to keep it balanced. I also tried to flip positive/negative spaces as much as I could, Moment 3.

8. I then zoomed in even more, picking out another specific area.

9. This is what the lines look like without color.

10. Moment 4. This is what I saw, a detail of a skylight. It is from the perspective of eye level, looking up. I saw curvilinear shafts of light that were directed down toward a focal point. I still haven't decided what I might put at this focal point, but from this image, I think I have conjured up a certain aesthetic that I would like to apply to the project.

Sense of Community

When I walked around the farm I got this sense of community. A sense that you would never have to leave. You could grow up and do more than needed right there on the farm. For my moments I decided to recreate the community already on the farm. I took all the original buildings and rearranged them. Then I layed them on top of eachother to see where they overlapped. Where they overlapped I drew white squares and circles and this is where I put the new buildings.

Food Production Timeline

The idea for my project stems from a fork. When I think about a farm I think of food and food consumption. Normally when you eat you do so with some sort of utensil. I then took on the idea of matching the fork with its surroundings, plants. I built numerous models where the prongs of the fork begin to replicate the limbs of plant-life.

I then furthered my design by concentrating on the environment and how it affects the growth of plants. I am fascinated with the idea of controlling the growth of plants by blocking or adding elements, such as the sun and water. In the four sequences that follow I focus on how these elements can be implemented into a model.

As my idea sits now I intend to build a set of robot arms controlling the growth of plants and also sheltering areas nearby for people to sit.

Bracket Fungi II

The top image was my preliminary render of the Bracket fungi system on a tree.
I then added additional complexity to the tree shape in effort to maximize the authenticity of the figure. I will now go on to transform a number of these renders into abstract images. These are the renders I have done so far, Enjoy.
In comparison to the actual photo, I think these are pretty photo real.

I recognized that there was a distint separation between the recreational work that was done on the farm and the farm work that was done also. The driveway acts as a physical barrier between the two, but I want to make that separation more visible and tangible rather than what it is now which is an underlying thought and intangible. So by putting an actual wall up, the inhabitants will have to interact with this and become involved with it. Involved as deep as the thought that is put behind designing the wall.

Bracket Fungi

My conceptual inspiration comes from fungal growth that has sprouted up around the farm. As the farm decays a new source of life emerges from its remains. As the wood of the building rots away, Basidiomycetes emerge from their dwelling underground. Linked together in a major underground network, these Basidiomycetes, more commonly refered to as Bracket Fungi, emerge from the ground. Bracket fungi are specifically known for their composition of wooden materials. These fungi are known as mutualistic fungi; this means that not only do they feed upon the host but they also give back in one way or another. The Bracket fungi are interconnected through a series of mycelium fibers. This network spreads across the wooden object, releasing digestive enzymes into it. My strucutre, like a mutualistic bracket fungi, will feed off the structures of the barns for support or a living space. In return, the fungi will strengthen the falling structure, bracing it against the elements with its use of mycelium fiber.

The next phase, and the one I am currently working on will envolve a number of these bracket fungi dispersed about a log. This will hopefully create some interesting shape overlays and allow me the basis for my abstract design.

Hieu Cao

The concept that I came up with has to deal with the site and nature itself becoming integrated into one. Not one or the other dominating the other. The barn has a static form where as nature is an organic form. So then I started to explore different static and organic forms.I did some sketches of static and organic forms shown above. Also I was thinking of what uses both static and organic form and came up with a sponge. When a sponge is dry it's hard and maintains its shape, but when it's wet it becomes soft and free to take on any form when applied pressure.
For my next step, I want to get an idea from something that is organic and build off of that. This is a black and white composition of an image of grass that I will use to come up with a form to work with.These sketches I highlighted the positive and negative areas to create some forms. The first one was a quick sketch of the areas with most contrast and the second sketch I added in more details and refined it down a little.
After comparing the sketches and the image I noticed how there are areas that are largely white-condensed and fades to black in some areas. With that I had the idea that the white represented structures and the black nature. Now with that I can further my idea that the structures are intertwined with the site/nature; weaving in and out of the ground. So I went back to my composition image and lightly highlighted the areas in Photoshop and then brought it into Rhino using the Heightfield command.With this I made a study model out of chipboard and realized the variance in height and/or depth. I then looked at it as not the site but as a building because I had boxed my model, giving it the form of a structure. So with this I decided that with this surface that I've created, maybe it can be used as a wall that has a variety of depth and children would be able to play in them or those areas could be inhabited.

Justine Brown

My concept was to explore how nature and time have taken over the barn. I took imagesfrom my site visit, and layered them on top of eachother to create some random patterns and shapes.I then began to outline parts that I thought described the original structure, but then started outlining pieces thatwere broken, or covered by the trees. I played around with the location of various tracing until I created a compositionthat I liked. I am going to take my final phase into Rhino and try to create a 3d interpretation of my building. The direction I see myself going in for my final model would be a building that still shows the wear and tear of time,with organic and natural openings. I keep thinking about the Jewish Museum in Berlin when I try to think of what I am trying to do with my 3D version. I'll have to see what I can do.

Early On

So, imagine a flat world where everything is as it is, geometric shapes, without volume. My idea stems off of the old and new working together on this homestead. When I saw the flashlight next to three lanterns in the house, I was inspired. It was something you don't really ever think about. Tying that in with all the other buildings around the site, everything had a purpose. Each building served a distinct function that contributed to the running of the place. Now old and unused, they serve an almost different purpose -- in this I see rebirth.

The drawings above are an exploration into something real, that fell apart and became something equally as important. The top left image is what I plan to do, taking the buildings on the site and flattening them in Rhino, creating just an understanding of flat shapes interacting with eachother. The other images are of the windows in our studio space. I looked at the film and realized this is sort of the same concept, so I drew it. The shapes it creates were originally all together, but tore and became something else. I never really looked at them, but as I was standing there drawing, there is something quite interesting within the patterns which I encourage everyone to just take some time to look at.