Direction of my building

When I looked at the building for the first time, it struck me as being extreme and bold. The whitewash walls and unique silhouette make it difficult to blend well with the surroundings and make it stand out among any background. So I decided to take that concept, of the building and its surrounding and thought what if I could make it so it blended perfectly with its environment so it almost becomes a part of the terrain, without altering the buildings originality. And the only environment where this could be possibly would have to be extreme and bold much like the structure itself, and so I developed my idea of combining the Vitra Design Museum and the Italian Alps. A white scenic background for this whitewash building makes a strong statement that no matter how dramatic one structure can be Mother Nature can always exceed it. I also plan on changing some of the wall colours to emphasise some parts of the building, while still managing to incorporate the environment's elements. I intend on incorporating some modern Mediterranean architectural elements, which would be a drastic contrast but I believe in the end will come up looking quite beautiful, and most importantly unique.

week 9 class work

Group Research Week 9

Vitra Design Museum

The Vitra Design Museum is an internationally renowned and privately owned museum for design in Weil am Rhein, Germany.Vitra CEO Rolf Fehlbaum founded the museum in 1989 as an independent private foundation.

The museum, Frank O. Gehry’s first European building, an architectural attraction, is realised in cooperation with the Lörrach architect Günter Pfeifer. Together with the museum, which was originally just designed to house Rolf Fehlbaum's private collection, Gehry also built a more functional-looking production hall and a gatehouse for the close-by Vitra factory.

Although Gehry used his trademark sculptural deconstructivist style for the museum building, he limited himself to white plaster and a titanium-zinc alloy, not opting for his usual mix of materials. He allowed curved forms to break up his more usual angular shapes.

Architecture critic Paul Heyer describes the general impression on the visitor as

“... a continuous changing swirl of white forms on the exterior, each seemingly without apparent relationship to the other, with its interiors a dynamically powerful interplay, in turn directly expressive of the exterior convolutions. As a totality it resolves itself into an entwined coherent display...”

The geometry of the building does not feel contrived, or particularly noticeable, as you go around the exhibitions. From the outside it does feel both those things, but it is at home among the other architectural showpieces that make up the Vitra site.

The inception of the Vitra Design Museum dates back to the early 1980s. With the aim of documenting the history of the Vitra company, Vitra CEO Rolf Fehlbaum began collecting the furniture of designers who had influenced the company's development, such as Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, Alvar Aalto, and Jean Prouvé. The design museum houses temporary exhibitions on themes of furniture design, and Gehry's building makes a suitable host for them - in keeping with the theme, but - once inside - supporting, not competing with, the exhibitions. As well as Frank Gehry, Alvaro Siza, Nicholas Grimshaw, Tadao Ando and Zaha Hadid are all represented with separate buildings on the grounds of Vitra, in a cross between an industrial plant and a model village.

References:
* Images by Liao Yusheng
* Great Buildings
* Wikipedia
* Galinksy
* Dane Johns/ Lachlan Stanton/ Sarah Passarelli
* P.Heyer, American Architecture: Ideas and Ideologies, p233-234.

Case Study on: Prague - Dancing House

Built during 1992-1996 this modern structure sits in a prime position by the Vltava River in New Town Prague 2 Czech Republic. It is surrounded by traditionally designed buildings and historic architecture Neo-Baroque, Neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau buildings for which Prague is famous. This piece of deconstructive architecture has certainly drawn attention and had been considered as controversial at the time of it's unveiling as its unusual shape and technical solutions caused a big public debate. After ten years emotions are over, and the house has its place in modern Prague. In my opinion it somehow seems to have an interesting effect with the surrounding architecture. Many describe the structure to resemble a couple dancing together. Its facade is primarily glass and steel truss supports, construction is from 99 concrete panels each of different shape and dimension, each therefore requiring a unique wooden form. Originally the site was occupied by a house in the Neo-renaissance style from the end of the 19th century. That house was destroyed during bombing in 1945, its remains finally removed in 1960.It was orginally intended to be used as a cultural centre but it was insuccessful as it is situated next to a very busy road it depends on forced air circulation, making the interior somewhat less pleasant for its occupants. On the roof is a French restaurant with magnificent views of the city. The building's other tenants include several multinational firms.


References:

http://www.pragueexperience.com/places
http://www.prague.net/dancing-house
http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/dancinghouse/index.htm

http://www.wikipedia.org

References

Websites:

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/

3D Models:

Fantasy fantasia rubicundo > house merlyn uploaded by: rubicundo on September 16, 2007

Programs used:

• Adobe Photoshop CS4
• Adobe Illustrator CS3
• Google Sketch Pro

Final Poster

Illustrator submission

This is my summary graphic handed into the lab for laser cutting.