July 2010 | Suchness

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Catalogue

These are my two pages for the common catalogue (click image to enlarge). I wanted these pages to reflect my process and hence discuss process/result. The pages are a teaser, not a representation of a finished thing nor do they contain dry facts, they are inviting to this open dialogue.

Four templates were created by the catalogue group, and this is the one that I liked better for how I wanted to work with my pages and illustrations. The information about tutors and floor localization (all info near the red dotted line) is not correct, will be corrected by one nice girl we got to assemble all the catalogue entries.

Friday, July 23, 2010

1:1

Today I went to the site and tested some sizes 1:1. I used a fence I found with height of 1.5 meters. The diagram above shows the heights and lengths that I tested for width and height for the bath.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Surface models

Even (1:100 people on it)

Tilt (1:100 people on it)

Wave (1:100 people on it)

Alternative wave (1:50 person on it)

Block (1:100 people on it)

Pebbles (1:100 people on it)

Alernative even (1:50 person on it)

Recycled wasteland (1:50 person on it)
See comments/evaluation for each proposal in the diagram in the post below.

Surface as landscape

For the surface coming up to the bath, the connection between the bath and the city, I made this diagram to visualize different options. I will shortly post pictures of the small models I made to test out each possibility. Some of the surface options have elevations to sit on and ponds to gather rainwater. Grass, moss and other vegetation is allowed to grow some places and will also help define the different spaces.

The idea is that closer to the city the surface can offer larger spaces, and the further out towards the sea it offers smaller situation - the private space grows. This is reflecting on how the place is used today - people find themselves small situations to hang out, the find these secret places, and this is good quality.

Project through section

This is the concept section of the bath. A series of tall spaces with different qualities - materials, light, temperature, experiences in water and so on. Actually reception/tea room - wardrobes - wash room - middle zone (not on drawing) - hot relax space upstairs - cold/hot bath place down into the sea.

When inspired!

This is a quick sketch I made for the bath when I was on site some weeks ago.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Sirens and muses

This is a sketch a made of the large space that encourages you to make sound - sing, play waterdrums... this is the largest space in the bath, allowing more people to come together. The tide moves up and down in this space, and the sound of waves can be heard. As the tide moves on and off the levels in this space it produces a sound as shown in the below video "The sound of tide".

In Greek mythology, the Sirens (Greek singular: Σειρήν Seirēn; Greek plural: Σειρῆνες Seirēnes) were three dangerous bird-women, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on an island called Sirenum scopuli. In some later, rationalized traditions the literal geography of the "flowery" island of Anthemoessa, or Anthemusa,^[1] is fixed: sometimes on Cape Pelorum and at others in the islands known as the Sirenuse, near Paestum, or in Capreae.^[2] All such locations were surrounded by cliffs and rocks.

The Muses (Ancient Greek αἱ μοῦσαι, hai moũsai ^[1]: perhaps from the o-grade of the Proto-Indo-European root *men- "think"^[2]) in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature are the goddesses or spirits who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths.

(wikipedia)

Atmospheres, tactility and DAV investigation

One of the four pillars of the BAS (Bergen School of Architecture) discipline is DAV (Den Andre Verda/The Other World). This is the approach to architecture through art. Through intuitive investigation with materials, we use DAV to find something that we could not see from where we were standing. Einstein said: "A problem cannot be solved by the same mind that created it", and I think DAV is like that. Trying to see something new by letting go of some control in your mindset.

DAV is not directly fine art, it is a way of investigating something, a method from art. I don't care so much about the label, what is important is what I find in the process of doing DAV. To different extent the traces of my understanding can be read by someone else when they see the DAV. After, I transfer my understanding of the DAV into spacial compositions. My understanding is in the investigation, in the proposal for a space, and not least - between the lines.

A German artist, whose name I cannot remember right now said that "Art is about revealing secrets", and in this sense DAV is art to the investigator. Further you could say that DAV is not about the object, it's an action.

The three DAVs demonstrated here is an investigation of different spaces and their atmospheres at the bath that I am working on for my master. The top one is for a large space filled with cool sea water. It has also a warm pool and a sauna. This space will have a special acoustic that encourages you to make sound, sing. You can move on levels down into the sea water according to your level of courage, or challenge that level.

The middle one is for the place where you wash yourself. It has no showers, but individual lockers for washing. You wash yourself by filling vases with water to pour over yourself. There is a soft stone to sit on. Damp air. Wet. This space is inspired by the most beautiful and intimate washing experience I have had. It was in Leh in the Himalayas. At the guest house where I was staying there was no hot shower, but the lady that ran the place, an old Ladakhi woman, boiled water for me to mix with cold water, and I'd use a cup to pour it over me. You see how much water you use. You are being very intimate and get very much in touch with your own body and yourself. You take care of yourself. You are with yourself. When were you last with yourself? Yesterday I was staring in the mirror and discovered it's been a long time since I've been with myself and really enjoyed my own company, not running off to any distraction, being a book, TV or anything else.

The last DAV is a meditative space. Very cool and relaxing. Nothing to look at. No special experience, except being there with oneself. This was a space I didn't know that I would have until I made this DAV and found it.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

The sound of tide

This is from the other stairs on the site. When the water is rising or going down, it creates calming sound as it washes down the worm stairs. Unfortunately the film suffered from YouTube compression, but the sound is more or less intact :)

Calm water

Calm water. From one of the old stairs by the water at Nøstet. View on YouTube for correct proportions.

Rain on water

Shot at the site at Nøstet. See at YouTube for right proportions :) I like the way raindrops draw circles on the calm surface of water, and I image this could be like inside the bath at spots where rainwater is allowed directly in.

Pictures from site tour

Images from Nøstet, Bergen

View more presentations from Birgitte JH.

My workspace

This is the 1:100 model of the site that I am working on. I am keeping the old floating stage that is now on the site, just moving it a little to the side, allowing the bath to come up next to it. I'm also adding smaller floating platforms - floating stepping stones - that allows someone on the floating stage to hop on to the body of the bath. The stepping stones move according to tide, whilst the bath itself is drowned and revealed as tide moves up and down. I imagine levels on the body of the bath that can be entered from the stepping stones only when the tide is at a specific level.

Concept model 7 - entering situation

This model is further investigating the entering situation with the bridge, as found in the previous model. The bridge has a generous size, two meters wide in this 1:100 scale model. As it touches land it splits somewhat and allows for a less dominant role on the port side. In the cracks wild grass from the site is allowed to grow. Pictures from site will come. Also this model shows how the same vegetation is found on the body of the structure, and on the land leading up to the bath. The surrounding area leading from the road to the bath I propose not to be planned for buildings, but to have a sea side park with the kind of flora natural to the place. This park area will have different situations, some benches, larger or smaller areas for hanging out and enjoying the atmosphere. This also creates a whole new entry/exit to the city for those using the coastal steamer. The natural landscape of Norway is not the renaissance parks found in the central area of Bergen. I am inspired by the renovation of the elevated rail road, now park, in NY.

Concept model 6 - tactility and atmosphere

This concept model shows a structure set out from land. There is land vegetation on the upper body and sea vegetation and fauna on the lower level of the body. You can see through the structure to the other side. What I really like about this model is the composition of materials and colours, scale and the sense of calm lonesomeness in the different situations. Also I like the sense of mystery about the space.

Mystery in wiktinary:
Etymology

From Middle English mysterie < Latin mysterium < Ancient Greek μυστήριον (musterion), “‘a mystery, a secret, a secret rite’”) < μύστης (mustēs), “‘initiated one’”) < μυέω (mueō), “‘I initiate’”) < μύω (muō), “‘I shut’”).

[edit] Noun

Singular
mystery

Plural
mysteries

mystery (plural mysteries)

Something secret or unexplainable; unknown.
The truth behind the events remains a mystery.

Someone or thing with an obscure or puzzling nature.
That man is a mystery.

(Catholicism) A particular event or series of events in the life of Christ.
The second decade of the Rosary concerns the Sorrowful mysteries, such as the crucifixion and the crowning with thorns.

Materialarium - sea stuff

Some examples from my collection of materials from the sea. Sea flora and shells that grow on shells. Rounded enclosed shapes is the most energy efficient way of construction. Layering. Wood shaped over time in climate.

Membrane, shell structure investigation

Continuing the shell structure investigation I made these small experiments with clay and reinforcement. I like the repetitive cracks that the reinforcement makes in the structure. These cracks could be used for letting light in or vegetation to grow, for climbing on...

Shell structure investigation

Inspired by the creatures of the sea I investigated different shell structures. These could be constructed by ready made concrete cylindrical building elements used in construction.

Concept model 5 - vertical and horizontal layers

This model shows some smaller situations. An outside situation where the body of the build offers vegetation to grow on it, a long hall with round windows, a smaller intimate crypt with a small bath, that lets in light from above. Below is anther source of water, maybe seawater coming in through a hole in the floor.

Also in this model I experimented composition of materials; the main build is in a harder material with slick surfaces. In the hall there is soft wood to walk on. The roof of the hall that extends over the main build is a rougher, darker material.

Concept model 4 - the generous facade

I imagine that the body of the skinship can be available to people that are not using the inside. At the site, an industrial area slowly in transformation, many people already finding small intimate spaces to hang out. I believe they experience it as finding special secret places, and this is a notion I would like to work with and preserve.

Concept model 3 - private and public

One of my early findings, a wasps nest, finally found its place. With its delicate walls it represents the apparent transparency or availability that I look for at the bath, or the skinship. The web that embraces the nest represents the contact with the city, how it is a closed entity, but it is also linked to the city.

In Japan and South Korea, the term "skinship" (Japanese: sukinshippu (スキンシップ^?); Korean: 스킨십) is used to describe the intimacy, or closeness, between a mother and a child. Today, the word is generally used for bonding through physical contact, such as holding hands, hugging, or parents washing their child at a bath. (wikipedia)

Skinship n. Feelings of relatedness and affection between two people, particularly a mother and a child, caused by hugging, touching, and other forms of physical contact. (wordspy)

Further, the theory that physical intimacy leads to emotional intimacy.

Concept model 2 of bath - difference in temperature

This is a concept model made just after my last talk with my tutors. The fluffy mass that enters the bulb represents warm space, the rugged bulb is an embracing skin. Between the insides of the bulb and the walls of the warm space is a cool space. Here enters water from the sea. There is an opening in the top letting in sunlight from above. Also rainwater enters here and runs down the outside walls of the warm internal space.

On the bottom picture can be seen the cuts made in the façade to let in additional light into the cold space. Reference to the video posted earlier. After more investigation turns out that this kind of light happens when reflected light from the sea breaks on a reflective surface (could be glass or some kind of metal). In the break the light is thrown at a specific angle on inside walls, always changing with the angle the sunlight hits the water surface.

Suchness