Concept

So for my newest studio project, I have been looking at the term transformation.  We have been researching different ways of expressing transformation in an effort to understand and apply a concept to a house built by W. G. Clarke, the architect who designed Campbell Hall (seen here in the most recent post).  Anyway, I turned to biology (who would've guessed it?) and I've  been studying heliotropism.  That's the plants reaction to the sun as it turns its leaves and "body" towards the sun as it moves in the sky from east to west throughout the day.  I took a look at some great time lapse video and then made a little study watercolor painting:

Time Lapse Video

 

After watching the video and then doing the watercolor, I drew some diagrams to further study the topic and then I made some time lapse photography myself!  I was just studying transformation by layering color through movement and additive and subtractive experiments.

 

And then this one...

Inspiring Architecture

Thursday our studio had the opportunity to tour Campbell Hall at the University of Virginia.  Not only did we get to tour a beautiful building with insightful details and thought, but the tour was led by the lead architect for the project, W.G. Clark.  It was such an inspirational trip- from the use of humble materials in meaningful ways to the beauty of the students' models laid out on their studio tables.  I think it was just eh Kick-in-the-a*$ I needed to get moving and MAKE THINGS.  I need to stop talking and thinking about my ideas and start documenting in the form of models, sketches, etc.  That's what this weekend will be for me.  Oh and celebrating a studio-mate's birthday, but I digress...

Back to the building.  Here are a few images from our trip.

The first few images are student artwork from a study abroad trip they went on.

 The stairwell up to the upper floors was a beautiful study in translucency and steel.  Because of the way the stairs were constructed, the landings fell in between floors, providing elevated "in between" places that caught glimpses of two floors at once in some cases.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures inside the building because I was too busy listening to the insightful W.G.  Here is a picture of the outside facade of the building with its glazing.  The architects wanted the look of a collage.

Around the back of the building, slate was used to pay homage to the history of the University, but update the application.  Slate is typically seen as a roofing material throughout the campus, but here, it is used as a cladding for the exterior walls.  

Louvres move with the sun, creating a filter on the south side of the building so the light is not directly shining into the faculty offices.

The next few pictures are of the outdoor classroom that was created to be a meeting and teaching space.  It is a very cool spot to engage in discussions, featuring an entire wall of blackboard and water collection feature.  How cool would it be to have a class outdoors in this space?

Finally, a picture of my awesome classmates and our professor who was kind enough to set this all up for us (and also worked on the project!)