A3 Montage

Third Representation Medium: Crysis

My third representation source will be the software program Crysis Sandbox, a gaming program/engine developed by Crytek who also developed and created the Crysis line of computer games. Crysis Sandbox is able to both present and manipulate certain 3-dimensional models and can serve as a platform for the generation of detailed design pieces including movies and documentaries.

A very high level of detail can be attained in a Sandbox environment, allowing users to fine tune certain environmental elements including its own daylight engine.

 Sandbox also incorporates 'flowgraphs' which gives an individual almost limitless opportunities with regards to actively or passively affecting the model, the environment or both. Flowgraphs can be simple in nature, affecting only a single or a few elements within the environment, or they can be complex and completely control the entire environment/installation.

An individual can also actively walk through the 3-dimensional model in real time allowing users, clients, viewers and the like to visualise the design and all its architectural aspects in high detail.

The Sandbox software goes hand in hand with Google Sketchup and will enable me to quite effectively represent my ideas through final output media's such as detailed images and animations/movies. With the use of flowgraphs I will be able to extend the representational capabilities of my posters/interactive PDF's as well.

Concept Idea

Le Corbusier's centralised ramp within Villa Savoye as well as Casa Curutchet links all the levels to one another and acts as a kind of tornado- a centralised element that links, draws and pulls individuals upwards towards higher and higher levels. Following on from my initial 'direction' of re-integrating the Villa Savoye model into a new more contemporary context, I've decided to also integrate Le Corbusier's design approach with my own 'tornado' element within the architecture. The modified architecture will still utilise multiple levels and I will attempt to preserve Le Corbusier's key design approach (with his 5 points), but the architectural element that links these levels will be a modified  'modernised' version of the ramp.

Much like a tornado, the new centralised architecture will serve as a base or 'eye' and the surrounding interior and exterior architecture will be designed and influenced from whatever the centralised element will be. I will utilise a similar design approach to Le Corbusier's five point architectural aesthetic as it is similar to my tornado concept: the main bulk of the architecture will raise up from the ground and horizontal windows will be wrapped around the freely designed facade and/or the perimeter of the building.

Textures

The textures created reflect both the linking circulation of a centralised architectural element, the physical exterior architecture of Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye and Casa Curutchet, as well as my own tornadoconcept.

Case Study - Curutchet House

The Curutchet House (also known as Casa Curutchet), designed by Le Corbusier, is a small modernistic residential building located in La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The building was created and designed in the early to mid 50s which later became the headquarters of the 'College of Architects of the Province of Buenos Aires' (CAPBA).

Interestingly, the Curutchet House echo's and mimics many of the design features of Le Corbusier's earlier Villa Savoye. This is most likely due to his application of his 'five points', three of which can be seen very clearly-
1. The use of ground-level pilotis which elevates the building from the earth
2. A freely designed façade which serves only as a skin, the wall and windows of which are unconstrained by load-bearing factors
3. Long horizontal windows that provide both ventilation and illumination.

Physical architectural similarities between Casa Curutchet and Villa Savoye involve the utilization of a centralised ramp, elongated horizontal windows and the elevation of the majority of the architecture from the ground. Casa Curutchet unlike Villa Savoye however, was designed to be integrated into the surrounding urban and (at the time) contemporary context by integrating the existing ground floor, fragmented spaces and various transparencies with the architecture. Le Corbusier also took into account the needs of the its future inhabitants and split the architecture into two distinctly different volumes: a front office area, and the remaining area situated behind the house. Both spaces are articulated and connected by the access ramp which expresses the internal movement and circulation upwards to the higher levels of the architecture (much like Villa Savoye).

Casa Curutchet can then be elementarily seen as a form of adaptation of Villa Savoye into a contemporary more urban populated environment as opposed to a more countryside retreat context. The architecture exemplifies Le Corbusier's design approach through his 'five points' and by extension, also echo's the same design approach that Le Corbusier utilized for Villa Savoye.

  

Base model

This base model/base platform will be the main model used for Assignment Two. Everything from the model was omitted except the main ramp as I will be focusing on the circulation of the building. Alterations and additions to this model (which is based off of Villa Savoye) will be made to change the physical interior and exterior architecture to fit within a more contemporary environment but also still retain key elements and design aspects considered when Le Corbusier created Villa Savoye. 

Direction

As of now, Le Corbusier’s 1930s Villa Savoye utilises a central ramp and spiral staircase which provides the main circulation within the architecture. The direction I will take will involve modifying this circulation element and integrating the architecture as a whole into a new contemporary urban context. The building will be ‘reconstructed’ as if the Villa were to be designed in 2011 and a new but similar circulation will be implemented, exemplifying architectural elements that still tie in with the old/original architecture. In order to reposition such architecture into a totally different site context, changes need to be carried out to the external architecture (along with the internal ramp circulation). Interestingly enough however, these changes will most likely be minor in nature as the existing 1930s architecture is extremely modern for its time, and can even be seen as very modern for our time to an extent.

2 Page A3 Interactive PDF/Poster

https://rapidshare.com/files/4240640999/Villa_Savoye_Circulation.zip