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Teddy On The Go

365 Days of Teddy B.

Photos of the Week

Final Film

In this film I made a 1:1 rough version of the new piece concept and the moment the pieces fall, and how they feel under your feet. I wanted to capture the falling moment, as well as the breaking moment. The sound was an important factor as well. 

The Pieces. New Objects.

New Storyboard

Final Plan

Broken Object

Hanging Objects

1:1 Porcelain and Plaster Objects

Object and Structure Growth

Anxiety Tree Model

Anxiety Garden Collages

The Anxiety Garden

In this plan the objects and structure are organised in a conservative way to create a private enclosed space that isolates the experience within the square. This arrangement is one example on how the structures can be placed and the type of experience it create. The number of structures also collaborates with the experience; the more trees on the site, the more crash zones. In this arrangement the circulation around the site is not disrupted by the structures which makes this arrangement more of an enclosed space.

This arrangement obstructs the circulation creating intentional disruption. People will be forced to walk through the structures and try to avoid the falling object.

In the arrangement underneath the structures are lined up in rows following the circulation paths to give the illusion that the pedestrian is walking through a path within a forest, experiencing the space without the structures invading their route.

Object Form Study

I designed 4 different shapes to decide on the final object shape. I continued with the same wishbone shape as traditionally it is broken to make a wish. The hole in the centre is where the written wish will be scrolled into.

Forest Collage

Forest Effect

The Anxiety Garden is a forest of fragile wishes that shake in the wind and crash to the ground. They break into small fragments and the wish is released and no longer sits privately within the object. The wind blows and the pieces move around the site, littering the paths of the pedestrians. The wishes keep falling until the tree is completely bare.

Material Testing

Tree Growth

Tree Collage

The Tree

The Object

Proposal 2 - The Anxiety Garden

A de-stressing experience by the globe pub. There are over 100 people in and out of the Globe every weekday. They drink their sorrows and anxieties away only to go back home to start another stressful day. In the pub there is a booth and a pile of wishbones. These wishbones represent the frailty of human emotion. The booth supplies you with small pieces of paper where you can write your hopes, dreams, troubles and sorrows and send them out to the world.

   The structure grows slowly as it accumulates everyones wishbones. The steel membranes start to get hidden by the wishbones until the skeleton is no longer visible. The wishbones create a garden with different spaces. It has animalistic behaviors and shakes nervously depending on whether the stocks are going up or down. Some pieces drop off whilst others remain high and strong.

Proposal 1 - FTSE plan and section

Program Analysis

Site Analysis

Event Storyboard

Evolution. Aggregation.

The wishbone has evolved into a module that is split and reconnected to create an aggregate molecule representing the initial concept and fragility of the wishbone.

   Aggregates are defined as materials formed from a loosely compacted mass of fragments or particles. My structure will be an aggregate of wishbone modules that are loosely or tightly connected with fishing wire to form clusters that are held by the surrounding buildings and tree.

Collage

Connection Detail

The connection for each wishbone will be a piece of string knotted through each bone. Some will be tied loosely and some will be tight. This will add sensitivity to my installation where some parts will be extremely fragile and other parts will be tight and harder to pull out, which in return, would vibrate the entire structure. 

The Fracture Moment

This is the moment the wishbone breaks. The person with the long part of the bone gets their wish granted. In this study I explore both the hand movements and the tension in the bone.

Structure Site

My site is an isolated island located at the junction of Moorgate street and London Wall. It's a patch of green grass with a single Alderley tree planted at a corner. This is the site I filmed in my time-lapse film showing how it's frozen within the bustling environment of moorgate. I would like to place my installation around the tree to utilize the green patch that barely anyone uses.

Manifesto

My installation will be a structure of wishbones held together to surround the tree on my site. It's wishbone components will be fragile enough to break and the user will make a wish upon breaking it.

we make our wishes and we break them...

Due to the financial situation around the world this temporary installation will act as a metaphor, showing the fragility of the stock exchange and the frailty of the people who were affected by it. In times like these we wish and hope more than ever, and with every wish the user will break a piece of my installation till it completely crumbles to the ground. The unreachable parts will be held high as a reminder of the structure's existence. 

Concept 2 - Make a wish. Break a Wish.

Wshes

A wish is a hope or desire for something. fictionally, wishes can be used as plot devices. In folklore, opportunities for 'making a wish' or for wishes to 'come true' or 'be granted' are themes that are sometimes used. I would like to use wishes as my plot for the installation I am proposing. due to the financial situation around the world the stocks have collapsed and have become very fragile. I would like to use my installation as an interactive structure that shows how fragile our economy is and the more wishes we make, the more we destroy.

It will be a metaphor.

Detail Photos

From Finding

These wax models can help me define the form of my intervention. The images above show my idea of a full form crumbling and slowly disintegrating into a smaller structure. I like the organic forms and how the wax fold onto itself when it impacts water. What interests me more is that I had no control of the forms and they each result on how I pour water and the size of the container.

Detail Photos

Caramel Models

As I am interested in the event of fragile and brittle qualities I made a series of caramel models to explore different types of materiality. This is to establish the material I would like to use for my intervention. The caramel models also allows me to study fragile structures that are strong enough to stand yet too weak to carry load. As my intervention will be free standing I tried to explore different caramel forms that would be able to sit on the caramel columns.

Stalagmite vs Tree

Concept 1 - Fragile. Temporary.

My datum pivots around the moment a fragile object disintegrates or shatters. It is the moment just before and just after the form gets disrupted.

   My intervention is a fragile installation that is affected by the users or the environment around it. I will be placing the intervention by the tree I recorded in my film to emphasize on it's temporary qualities versus the trees strong and constant form.

   The images below show my first concept and literal attempt at creating a fragile bubble installation that deflates when people interact with it. Once entering the bubble, the user would allow air to escape until it completely deflates to the ground and cannot be used.

Fragility

A fragile object is something that can easily break, get shattered, damaged, is delicate, brittle and frail. The bubble skin is very fragile and can easily burst. I am interested in this materiality in contrast with the tree's strong exterior. my intervention will be fragile and temporary next to the solid state of the tree.

Tree vs Bubble

This is a comparison study between the Tree and the Bubble. It's interesting how they both expand in ring form however the tree does not have a fragile membrane and it's lifespan is in years rather than in seconds. Although it has a tough core, the tree does have fragile qualities like the leaves and the thin twigs. 

Tree LifeSpan

The tree I filmed on my site is an Alderly tree. This type of tree is commonly planted in the City of London and their average lifespan is 65 years. I estimated the age of my tree from it's width and height as the age of the tree is scripted in it's trunk. The drawing above is a trace of a twig's rings that I pulled off from the original tree. 

The Moment

I wanted to look closer into the very moment a bubble bursts. I filmed a bubble landing onto a sharp object, and slowed the movie down a lot. I then pulled out stills from the movie to try and show the instance the bubble burst. It was really interesting to see the details of the water specks as the scatter into the air, it really highlights the fragility of the bubble's soapy membrane.

Bubble Journey

This is the Journey of Bubble A as it travels down from it's source to the ground.

Bubble

After looking at the journey of the bubble and tree I was very interested in their life span. As our brief is about time, I decided to study the time it take for a bubble to form and burst. The drawing above shows the bubble at 1 second to the moment it bursts, 16 seconds. Each color is a moment in time as the fragile skin of the bubble expands.

Site Photos

My Site

My site is Moorgate and is a business area located in the City of London. Famous for the Barbican Estate and Centre, Moorgate is a rich area and has buildings owned by the biggest banks and firms in the world like JP Morgans, City Bank, UBS etc. During the day it's exciting and active, however at night it is dead and dark. 

Time Lapse

There is a tree on my site that sits on an island of grass and is beautifully lit at night with pre-christmas lights. However, the pedestrians keep walking around it and it becomes a beautiful thing that goes unnoticed.

Slow Motion

This is a short slow motion film that I created to show beautiful things that go unnoticed on my site. This is the journey of bubble formation from a small fountain step on the Barbican Estate in Moorgate London.

Platform 4

Lost in time:

Unmasking the moment

 

All things are in a state of change. Everything is an event, each unfolding at differing speeds. Our challenge is to reveal the magic of the world as an ever-evolving constellation of happenings through time.

This year Platform 4 were explorers in time. The unit explored temporary, perpetual and repetitive happenings; tracking moments of slow shifting and capturing flashes of instant transition. We basked in the explosive magic of the instant and gazed at the slow burn of the eternal.

A series of briefs [Record - Pause - Edit - Play] explored notions of sequence, choreography and narrative through film, drawing, photography, animation, writing and making.  As part of the process of design the students were expected to test elements of their proposals through a series of films, built fragments, working models and 1:1 installations.

At the start of the year each student was asked to produce one time-lapse and one slow motion film of a chosen site. This then informed their choice of time period within which to work. The developed proposals were then reinserted into their context and reanimated using film, working models, and time-based drawing. This culminated in proposals that are not merely static architectural objects but active participants in their site over time. 

 

Dare to Dream

I was lucky to arrive in London in time to catch the last day of the 100% design exhibition. There were plenty of cool stuff but only 10% of the products on show were original. One product, however, stood out more than the rest. More than the cool waterfall effect showers and glass fireplaces on moveable tables. What stood out in my opinion, was the Lomme Bed.

Cycle 13 launched their new egg designed production last weekend at 100% design.The bed has been developed over a number of years by young Polish designer Agnieszka Bernacka, and has just gone into production. Lomme, which stands for Light Over Matter Mind Evolution, incorporates sound and light therapies which supposedly help people sleep better. It had been a concept prototype for a 2 years and now it is a product that can be bought, and if it wasn't priced at 30'000 pounds I would bought it that day. It's a bed that offers so much more than a place to sleep, light therapy, sound therapy, massage and anti-magnetic protection from harmful rays while you sleep.

The Lomme Bed qualities include:

Light

In addition Lomme features a unique light therapy alarm clock. After you have been lulled into a deep restful sleep by the gradual fading light of a simulated sunset, waken naturally as light from the virtual sunrise plays on your skin.

Sound

Forming a protective cocoon, Lomme limits external noise to distance you from the outside world. An iPod has been invisibly installed to enable the sleeper to listen to relaxing music, sounds and guided meditations. Advice can be given on the kind of sounds recommended for waking up and falling asleep.

Massage

Massage therapy is known to deepen relaxation and improve sleep quality and the Lomme mattress is available with an in-built massage system offering a choice of massage options.

Mattress

The standard Lomme mattress is characterized by high degree of functionality, quality and durability.

Protection

Within the shell of Lomme there is a special system which blocks harmful electromagnetic waves and radiation.

I would love to wake up in a bed like this some day.

The Greenest Museum on Earth

The California Academy of Sciences consists of 12 different buildings such as the planetarium, aquarium and natural history museum. It is located in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park and is seeking to become the city's greenest building. They hired the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano who is famous for collaborating the Centre Georges Pompidou (Pompidou Center) in Paris, 1977. Renzo unified the 12 buildings to create a single 410,000 square foot building to provide more space but on less land, and return one acre to the park. The main aspect of this project is the two acre undulating "green" roof which is just one of many sustainable qualities that has been implemented on this building.

"It is like cutting a piece out of the park, lifting it up, and then putting the museum under so we wouldn’t lose any green space,” says Olaf de Nooyer, an RPBW partner. With the natural history museum as a client, de Nooyer says, “the green idea was something that we thought had to be integrated into the design.”

The building also houses a spherical (rain forest) biosphere. It heats/cools/ventilates itself and recycled 100% of the materials from the demolition of the old (earthquake damaged) building. It cost $488 million to renovate it. But I guess that's the cost of going green. Renzo also retained the facade of the original academy which appeased san francisco’s perpetually problematic “preservationists.”

Few, if any, buildings of this stature come close to making their sustainability programs comprehensible as well as visually inspiring components of their design. Green buildings often look much like other buildings, though they feature low-flow toilets, off-putting fluorescent lighting, and some recycled steel. The elegance, explicitness, and brio of the academy building’s green agenda—and its powerful execution—will not only bring it accolades and world fame but also serve as a spark for important dialogue about design’s role in addressing the crucial environmental concerns of this century.

I would talk about it in more detail but I believe this video walk-through will describe it better than I ever can. There is so much within one building I wouldn't want to bore you with the "green" details.

Museum Walk-Through on Wired.com

BMW GINA

Although I'm not a huge fan of BMW and I find their designs crude and repetitive, a friend of mine made me do a double take when he mentioned a green car by BMW. To prove him wrong, I wanted to see if this was true. Fortunately for him it was, and I like BMW now.

Last week the crude car company unveiled their new model. GINA Light Visionary. Apparently this concept has been highly anticipated and it's concept is extremely original and would transform the traditional boundaries of car design. GINA, which stands for Geometry and Functions In "N" Adaptations (they left out the F in GINA), is made out of cloth. To be more precise, it has a seamless fabric polyurethane-coated Lycra sking which is pulled taut around the metal frames and carbon fibre wires. This makes it a sustainable, eco-friendly design as it requires far less energy to produce in comparison to the traditional BMW models. It's weight is also significantly reduced which makes it fuel-efficient.




Most imprtantly though, I would like to talk about the detailing of this model. The doors open like a Lambo and create beautiful rippled creases, however when it's closed it is completely smooth. You can acces the engine through a slit on the hood. The fabric is opaque translucent so the taillights shine through and a motor pulls back the fabric to expose the headlights. The interior is as equally sophisticated. The steering wheel and gauges swing into place and the headrest rises from the seat once the driver is seated, making it easier to get in and out of the car. Although GINA is built on a space frame that provides all the safety of a conventional car people may not embrace the idea of riding a fabric bodied car. I would venture to say that this car has the majority of a full race cage under the fabric. Meaning that it is probably already safer than whatever we presently drive.




If you are still not convinced by the design of this car then I highly recommend you watch the promotional video. The link is below. I for one can't wait to see what else the designers can come up with. Once someone dares to perfect an unconventional and unique idea, other geniuses will get inspired and our cars could actually change for the better if Zaha Hadid manages to stay out of it.


BMW Promotional Video

OMA Strike Again

There will be a new luxury residential building in New York City. Slazer Enterprises (the developer of One Madison Park), the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA, Rem Koolhaas's creation) and Los Angeles based Creative Artists Agency (CAA) presented to the public last week their design for this high-rise that will be on 23 East 22nd Street which is located off Madison Square Park. This will be OMA's first project in New York City. As a fan of Rem Koolhaas I am always pleased to announce projects by his firm, especially ones that are super interesting.

The building has 18 residences on each of the 24 residential floors, as well as a screening room, main lobby, pool and gym which are all designed by OMA. These facilities will be shared with One Madison Park which is also a residential tower which is adjacent to this building.

The building will be quite modest next to One Madison Park as OMA's partner Shohei Shigematsu wanted to exploit the potential of the building's scale. This mid-rise condition allowed them to design an unusual variety of spatial and programmatic conditions within the building. The tower streches up to 107m and starts to shift to the east cantilevering 30 feet over it's neighbour. It gains additional area as well as views of Maddison Square Park.

What I like about this concept is that it creates alot of interesting and unexpecting moments which appear at each step. One detail I favoured was the floor windows where the building starts to shift. This creates a new perspective that is different from an living space I have seen. Imagine having a glass floor in your living room that adds an extra view to the already spectacualr view you would be getting.

This project is due to be completed in 2010 and from what I understand Rem Koolhaas is personally involved in it aswell. I'm a huge fan of SANAA and this building reminded me alot of the New Museum by them as they employed the same technique. I believe it's quickly becoming the new visual language of choice in NYC and project developers are becoming a huge fan of it because even H & deM have used this concept in their Leonard St. high rise.

I think it's very nice. Reminds me of my Lego days.