School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), University of British Columbia
In Class: Analyzing the textures and shapes of the site on a micro-scale, observing plans, sections and axos.
At Home: Applying the same idea of analyzing the micro-scale, this time with different fabrics in my closet, roughly sticking to the scale of my hand. Very informed by ideas from assignment 5.
In Class: Took photos of nooks and crannies I imagined harbored some of the main smells on the walk.
At Home: Analyzed the pleasantness, reach, and sources of the main smells on commercial drive.
Wind Object: Inspired by a shell at the beach, the object captures wind at the top and funnels through a tube that gets smaller at the and, making a more acute, higher pitched output.
I started this assignment by collaging photos of fences throughout my neighbourhood, drawing overtop of the site photos to identify similar and unique characteristics including materiality, location, alignment, lighting, and proximity to vegetation.
I then started to group the objects. Almost all of the fences had primarily vertical alignment of the pickets, while the three that had lighting on them all had horizontal pickets. One unique feature that I thought was interesting was the variation in height.
Starting from the variation in height, I started to question: Why are all the pickets either in the horizontal and vertical dimension? From there I started experimentation with angled posts serving as pickets.
AT THE AIRPORT
For assignment 9, I decided to take smell notes in the Vancouver Airport. I arrived around dinnertime and was looking for food. I was almost hypnotized by the smell of the candy store. I’ve always had a sweet tooth and so I really love the smell of sweet things. When I think of candy, I think of bright colours, and sugar sprinkles.
I managed to abstain from the candy, however, and decided to go for pizza. Pizza is probably my favourite comfort food, so I found it really enjoyable. When I think of pizza and red wine, I think of whole, savoury smells in shades of red, orange, brown, and green.
Both of the food smells were somewhat intense. One of the other smells I would describe is “new book smell” or “magazine smell” which has a waxy, papery smell. To communicate this (and not to have it confused with “old book smell”), I tried to use bright colours and sprinkles to communicate “newness”.
The airport is a bit of a strangely designed place in that you are enticed to shop yet it’s also been designed for you to get across the building quickly. Typically you are there only when you have a plane to catch (and thus can’t linger too long). The collage below tries to convey this experience.
IN CLASS
For the in-class exercise, I was enjoying sitting in the sun and noticing how one side of my body was much warmer than the other. I also noticed the flow of people walking by. I tried to depict the bench materiality.
In the following sketches, I looked at the material of the benches, and how the form of the bench on the opposite side allowed people to conversate more easily. Inside, I listened to the nearby sounds and counted my steps between spots.
AT HOME
For this exercise at home, I decided to try out my new ipad and learn how to use Morpholio. Pictured is a floorplan of my kitchen. I tried to depict materiality in the floorplan through the drawing, but also included photos of materials in my home. I hand-wrote the notes because I felt it was more condusive to understanding how the different materials made me feel.
AT HOME
I tried to do this assignment with two different objects. The first one (the miniature camera), I realized that the item was smooth, but had an arm that bends up and down and also rotates. I tried to show the smaller dots at the back of the camera, realizing it was otherwise mostly smooth anf flat one one side. I tried to see how sticky it was and determined it wouldn’t slide. If I were to describe the feeling of this object, it would be smooth.
I realized after drawing the first object that I absolutely needed to keep my pen on the paper in order to make a better blind folded drawing. When drawing it without the blindfold I was more focused on drawing the form than on any of the tactile elements.
The second item – called the “Angry Mama Microwave Cleaner” – was more challenging for me to draw because I really had no idea what it was. I noticed a lot of small details in the item but had trouble understanding their purpose. I were to describe this object in one word, it would be “silly”
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AT HOME
For this assignment, I chose three ingredients to try: Raspberries, Haam Choy, and Szechwan Peppercorn.
Considering volume, I’m familiar with some of the “tricks” in glassware that make a drink appear larger than it is. Drawing from basic shapes, I designed two drinking objects (one reusable and one recyclable) that could be used.
IN CLASS AND AT HOME
During the class trip to the Bill Reid Gallery, I started drawing the courtyard in cathedral place. I tried to show above and below ground built elements and also surrounding building context.
In the following imagine, I wanted to show the planting in the courtyard and adjacent water feature, and how they realte to Burrard Street.
IN CLASS AND AT HOME
Following the class site visit to Beatty Biodiversity Museum, I decided to use it as the study site for Assignment 3. I started off by drawing the location of the catacombs in relation to main mall and the ramp.
This museum is not very busy – this is maybe due to the lack of visibility from Main Mall. The entrance itself is ot well marked and kind of hard to see.
I decided to draw some of the main attractions contained within the museum and the flow that people may take to walk through the space.
I also wanted to show the relationship between the green roofs and water flow within the space:
Finally, after reading about the museum online, I realized that they had intentionally let their green roof get overgrown in order to attract pollinators! I decided to show how polinations may use the roof space.
To try something new, I decided to make this into an animation. Unfortunately, there is no more storage space for the GIF on this blog so I decided to put it on youtube:
Had I done the drawings with an animation in mind, I may have approached the assignment a bit differently.