Three Pronged Bridge
For the second project this semester we were asked to design a bridge that connects the three sides of a triangular courtyard. I was concerned with the notion of thinness-- how could a bridge be perceived at times as so thin that it vacillates between being a structure within the courtyard and a canopy above it.
Swiss cheese Concept model
As part of the requirements we were asked to keep at least 50% of the footprint open, but my scheme was contrary to this from the beginning. To secure the reading of canopy it would have to fill the courtyard entirely, and then a matrix of cuts would reduce the covering back to the required 50%.
Tedious but rewarding model under construction.
Where the bridge contains a path the cuts have been made at an angle such that the cut on the top surface does not align vertically with the cut on the bottom surface. As such, the moire effect becomes the dominant method of creating space on the interior, as the offset between cuts increases the enclosure immediately surrounding the pathways.
Lots of time spent in the laser room getting the skin right
In these views of the model one sees the edge conditions as the bridge meets the walls of the courtyard. Since the bridge has no cladding on its sides, views from the buildings that form the courtyard would thus vary from seeing into, over, or even through the bridge, creating a midair landscape.
At times it appears as some kind of spaceship, but I think of it more as a stringray-- it came from the deep!
What good is a project round-up without a gratuitous rendering?
--Posted 11/21/04 04:16AM