Week 3: Eileen and Owen

Monday

We started to explore topography looking at how terrain changes over distance and how that defines a space. Sean (the client) had removed dirt and built it up around the foundation to create a more level grade. Our main goal on Friday was to plot out this new built-up earth on a topographical map. After our field trip on Friday we had collected enough measurements using the Transit to triangulate the distance from a point, in our case the corner of the house, to the slope of a Transit line. In short, we found the slope of the ground surrounding Shawn’s foundation using a big stick and a scope with a cross hair. We labored over the maps for many long hours, starting with a map of our transit lines on an older out of date construction topography map. This we then mapped on fresh trace and sent it to Anastasia to clean up on AutoCAD.

Tuesday

Discussed concept and environment

After we mapped out the landscape around Sean’s soon to be house, we took our mapped out points and used them to build a model. Starting from the furthest topographical line from the foundation on our new map, we carved out one sheet of cardboard per line. We continued to carve out each line onto a new piece of cardboard until we had our scale model of Sean’s land. As we continue to design and build the house, the existing hole in that slab of cardboard will be filled with a model foundation, two-story house, and landscape details such as trees, shrubs, water etc. After lunch we began looking at the same topographical map and sectioned out the foundation from North to South and East to West. 

Started sections

Wednesday 

After dissecting the landscape model we mapped on Monday and created on Tuesday, it took some serious studio time to come to grips with the mechanics of topographical mapping in section. By running sections, length and width wise, through the footprint map of the foundation, we were able to lay trace over and begin to map construction points of the terrain. By bringing down lines from the intersections of topographical points on our section cuts we then created a sort of grid, placing reference lines at every scaled ‘foot’ (⅛”@1’-0”). Then using the Autocad-ed topography map Anastasia created, each of us were able to triangulate the slope of the hill by one foot intervals of descent.

The intention of this process was to cite the location of the foundation, so we might begin to lay out features of the landscape. After finishing the topographical mapping process, we finally were able to begin the design process. With our topographical considerations freshly traced and noted, the race to produce 3 floor plan concepts with sections cut began-- after lunch on Thursday was on the clock and we were all sweating.

Finished sections

Started design concepts

Thursday

A strange morning, altogether, as some campers at Lake Yester awoke to begin the design process and others snoozed away after a long night up in the studio. The grind for completed concepts was on. Each student took different approaches, some focusing on more conceptual abstractions of what a floor plan might end up looking like, others taking more conventional approaches of boxing out spaces and hashing out clear relationships between them. Some preferred colorful blobs, indicating the overlap and transitions of spaces; others preferred mapping out landmarks. The process was difficult in the sense that it grappled with the conceptual of the practical, to ensure a methodical and loose approach to mapping space. Where one might want to say kitchen, the exercise asked students to think of cooking, eating, living, and the intentional use of the spaces within the footprint to create a relationship between ideas so commonly condemned to mundane labels. By thinking of space with intention, students produced their footprints and presented them to the class through the remaining class period after lunch. With each student we selected the best design of their three and collected them for further scrutiny. 

Friday

On Friday we began our day with a discussion of “Invisible Women”. This book educated us on the reality of male bias in our world and the lengthy list of instances where men have historically only considered men. Whether that's how history is told, rooms are designed, or how we treat women in general. The topics continued to dive deeper into how this truly affects the life of women. I feel this topic has gotten some light, but after our discussion I realized that it has to be more than just a discussion. To make true change and unlearn the biases, whether intentional or not, that have been ingrained in society, everyone must be more conscious of how we design systems in our society (especially men). Because right now there is a male bias. The wage gap, skewed job postings, the way offices, houses and spaces in general are designed, are just a scratch on the surface of the point the author is trying to convey; that women are invisible in society. After this discussion I think we could all agree that an extra long lunch was in order. We continued working on our concepts for Sean’s house, but this time in groups of three. Each group was chosen based on the similarity between our thought processes of design. By Monday each group will have three new concepts that will bring us closer to a single design. But will you look at that, it’s 5:00, time for a dip in the Punch Bowl.