Arch303: Design and Construction I CRN 843 & 846

Arch303: Design and Construction I [CRN 843 & 846]

Professor Robert Mellin

Fall Term, 2004

Arch303: Design and Construction I [CRN 843 & 846]1/4

House and Studio in a Manufactured Landscape

Robert Mellin

Office: room 313

email:

Phone: 398-6719

“Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger; that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling.”

Edmund Burke, Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful, 1756

Ando 4 x 4 house, Kobe, Japan

Project Program:

This project involves the design of a small house/studio for an “artist-in-residence,” located in a prominent public space in Montreal. Only a small studio for someone working in the visual arts is required for this residence, and the total net area of the house should be similar to the total net area of the main project precedent, Ando’s 4 x 4 house in Kobe, Japan (see the April issue of Architectural Record magazine, pages 134-149). Departures from the area constraints may be considered if justified by the program, and if there is enough site area.

Project Site:

The site is located between lampposts B9 and B11 on the north side of the Lachine Canal, adjacent to the Wellington railroad crossing. You may situate your project anywhere in this general area.

In preparation for design work, we will document and investigate the history and use of the site and the surrounding area (public space vs. private space, road noise, work areas, circulation, building orientation, views). Maps showing the history of sites along the canal are available online, and land use/cadastral maps will be available through the Geographic Information Centre by Sept. 13. Collaboration, teamwork, and sharing information with your colleagues will help to reduce the time required to work up site information and site analysis. It should also make the task of constructing digital site models less time consuming (organizing teams for the digital site model will depend on the particular program you decide to use: if you are using FormZ, then find other students who are using this program and collaborate on the construction of site buildings and infrastructure).

Site Documentation and Analysis Teams:

During the first week, please organize a few teams to do this work. Suggested teams:

Site models (digital: teams dependent on type of program used)

Site history, and history of the surrounding area

Site maps (contemporary and historical)

Photography (digital) and digital video for site documentation

Measurements (rough measurements for the construction of existing buildings, bridges, and site features)

Pedagogical Objectives:

To explore urban and architectural design issues in Montreal
To provide an opportunity for students to do some programming for their projects, including information gathering and research on the project site.
To study relevant architectural precedents for the project.
To investigate different media (traditional, digital) for design and representation, with the goal of integrating these in an optimal manner.
To present a coherent proposal for a particular site.

Schedule:

Week #1: review course outline, site visit, site documentation (sketches, photography), review precedents, and programming for individual projects.
Week #2: Construction of digital site models, site research, programming, and initial conceptual design.
Week #3: brief presentation of site information (based on teamwork), conceptual design.
Week #4: informal review of conceptual design, work on preliminary design.
Week #5: design of interior components/details, construction of detailed digital model.
Week #6: prepare for presentation.

Conceptual Design Review: September 27, 2004

Use your “work in progress” for this informal presentation (sketches, rough models). Do not redraw for this presentation! Although you will need to communicate your ideas, part of the purpose of this presentation is to show us your working process, how you are making use of drawings, models, or other media.

Final Review: October 18, 2004

Presentation using a program like Microsoft’s Powerpoint or Apple’s Keynote to show your sketches, photos of physical models, computer models and renderings. Further information on the final review requirements will be available later in the term.

Use of the computer:

You are welcome to use any computer program for architecture capable of generating three-dimensional views. Robert Mellin will provide assistance with ArchiCAD and will provide tutorial sessions for any students interested in using this program. Information on purchasing a student version of ArchiCAD is available online through GSCNE. ArchiCAD is available on the EMF network (V7 has been on our network for a few years, and V8 should be functioning on the network by September 8. V8 is supposed to translate V7 files). A reasonable level of competence with 3D modeling is expected by the time of the final review. If you decide not to use ArchiCAD, then you must assume responsibility for obtaining guidance in the use of your software from other resource persons. Sketchup is another program you may wish to consider using, but be aware that it may not provide enough control for the type of detailed model you are expected to produce for this studio, especially when producing different types of views and renderings.

Traditional media:

We will strive to integrate digital and traditional media in this studio. You must maintain a bound sketchbook (or sketchbooks), a diary of the evolution of your project. The sketchbook is to be submitted on October 18th and should be available in the studio during consultations. Note that your sketches/notes should be analytical in character, documenting details, concepts, and observations (for exemplary examples of architect’s sketchbooks, see Steven Holl’s work). Sketches and physical models will also be used for both studio consultations and reviews. The intent of the physical models is to use these as “working” models: although they will be built to scale they should be malleable: easy to experiment with, and not overly precious or refined.

Studio participation:

Mondays and Tuesdays are studio days, and your participation in the studio will count towards your grade for the course. In the past, when working mainly with digital media for architecture, I have found that students rarely work in the studio. Depending on how many students purchase computers for use in the studio, this situation may eventually change. If you do not have your own computer in the studio, you should output hard copy of the work you are doing on the computer so we can discuss your work. We may occasionally have to meet in the computer lab if you do not have your own computer and you need help with a technical issue. Your studio space should reflect the current state of your research and design and your commitment to the project at any given time, with the presence of drawings, models, and computer output (hard copy).

Grading:

Conceptual Design Review20%

Participation 10%

Sketchbook(s)20%

Final Review50%

Required End-of-Term Submissions (required to receive a grade):

Sketchbook

CD containing:

Powerpoint or Keynote presentation

Microsoft Word file explaining your project (program, design intent).

CD (this can be the same CD) containing high resolution images (300dpi, 8” x 10” min. size) of the following items:

Floor plans, sections, axonometrics, and elevations

Selected sketches

Photographs of physical models

Digital renderings (perspectives, axonometrics)

CD or DVD of any animations/multimedia you may have prepared

Note: use non-rewritable CD’s only!

Readings:

Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977).

Calvino, Italo. Invisible Cities (New York: Harcourt/HBJ, 1974).

Frascari, Marco. “The Tell the Tale Detail,” in Via #7, 1984, pages 23-36.

Frey, Albert. Houses 1 & 2 (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999).

Fromonot, Françoise. Glenn Murcutt: Buildings and Projects (New York: Whitney, 1995).

Holl, Steven. Parallax, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2000).

Le Corbusier, Houses, Toto, 2001 (Tadao Ando Laborartory, Dept. of Architecture, Univ. of Tokyo).

Oppenheimer Dean, Andrea, and Timothy Hursley. Rural Studio: Sam Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2002).

Pauli, Lori, Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky, National Gallery of Canada, 2003 (read the essays by Pauli, Hawarth-Booth, and Baker).

Rossi, Aldo. The Architecture of the City (Cambridge, M.I.T. Press, 1982).

Schittich, Christian (ed.), Single Family Houses (Munich: Birkhauser in Detail series, 2000).

Sheine, Judith. R.M. Schindler (New York: Phaidon Press Inc., 2001)

Williams, Tod and Billie Tsein. “Slowness,” in 2G: International Architectural Review, No. 9, 1999, pages 131-137.

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