Category: Adam Larsen

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Adam Larsen | Assignment 9 | Smell Notes

On a field trip with the class, I took photos and catalogued them in my sketchbook with what smells I was experiencing as I took them.  To start off at the waters shore, I wrote how green and chlorophyllic all of the plant life smelled, as well as some other less pleasant associated smells. I also took note of how the smells reminded me of an old basement.

I was sure to smell the seawall and took note of how it smelt like sediments and wet stone.

As the class moved deeper into Stanley Park, the environment changed drastically, and I was sure to document the overwhelming smell of fungi, mud, and cedar.

At home I began to map how I experienced the smells at the sites we visited. Starting with the shore, I wanted to show what I was thinking in relation to what was around me, therefore you can see my silhouette, in which is a family members basement. The shore was very mildewy and chlorophyllic which reminded me of a damp basement I had been in sometime when I was younger.

To visualize the intensity of smell while we were in Stanley Park, I represented the strength of each smell in my own head as compared to their sources around me. The smell of cedar was overwhelmingly strong, therefore the wooden element in my head is large. The smell of mud and fungi were secondary but still present, so their presence in my head is smaller. It is interesting to see the relationship between the actual physical quantity of elements producing smells compared to the strongest smells I experienced.

 

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Adam Larsen | Assignment 11 | Seeing-Visual Thinking-Idea

I walked around UBC campus at nighttime taking photographs of anything that was square shaped. The task was surprisingly difficult as most things aren’t perfect squares.  The decision to photograph things that were broadly square made drawing relationships between photographs slightly more difficult.

I started out with trying to organize each element broadly as a door, window, wall, building, or element of infrastructure. I didn’t notice a pattern here that I enjoyed so I decided to develop other relationships between photographs.

The squares were then organized determined on their level of complexity, starting with flat blank walls and building up to complex leaded glass windows with cut stone encasements.

Using trace paper I outlined the patterns within each square and started mapping recurring elements using symbols. I took note of “Cubes in Cubes” as well as “Sets of Six” between squares on all layers of the complexity chart.

I then organized the squares based on their predominant materiality, which fit into three categories: wood, metal, and stone. 

using trace paper I blacked-out the presence of each material within each square to map how each material was organized. I tried to generalize how each material acted by annotating recurring patterns and characteristics, and then use these mapped characteristic and patterns to develop “standard” squares for wood, metal, and stone.

Drawn in class, this figure represents my understanding of the Seeing Environment course. The class helped me to expand my own understanding of my body and senses, so I drew myself with all of my sense receptors at scales proportionate to their importance in experiencing the world around oneself.  I’ve learned to understand my own body as a toolkit of data collectors connected to seemingly invisible internal systems that decipher information.

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Adam Larsen | Assignment 8 | Tuning in & Windplay

FIRST DRAWING | SOUND SPHERES

The first in class drawings were done based only on sound, without visual aid. I experimented with a circular timeline of shapes representing sounds within an enclosed car, than a more traditional linear timeline of patterns moving in a single direction on nature sounds. I drew patterns in enclosed rectangles to represent the individual bird songs within the nature audio.

The second in class drawing was done as Daniel played the piano for us. Although I know next to nothing about the piano, I developed my own system of amorphous shapes to represent keys, then staggered these shapes on top of and beside each other to signify a melody. A small diagram farthest to the left explains this. I was also sure to point out where I felt specific keys in my own body. Certain notes that hit the hardest/loudest I was able to feel reverberating behind my eyes or in my stomach.

SECOND DRAWING | SOUND SPHERES

For my first drawing I sat in a courtyard downtown Vancouver and mapped all the sounds I heard in a section drawing. I created patterns around each source of noise that I felt fit said noise best. I then drew textured spheres based on what those sounds felt like as they arrived in my ears.

THIRD DRAWING | WINDPLAY OBJECT

For my windplay object I began with looking at objects that made sounds I liked, and broke down their components to figure out what motions took place in order for their sounds to occur. I first looked at thunder sheets, historically used in plays to mimic the rumbling sound of thunder. I then analyzed rain sticks and researched how the sound was created inside of the rain stick tube.

For my windplay object I chose to develop components of a thunder sheet at a larger scale. The metal sheet is suspended in a concrete corridor as to keep the sheet within the direct path of a flow of wind, causing it to jiggle and create noise.

Because I’m assuming the concrete hallway directs thunder noises created by the sheet in specific directions, I began to think about how this object would be placed in a social setting.  I tried to think about how the object would need to be consciously oriented toward social spaces or pathways so people can truly be within the noise that the object creates.

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Adam Larsen | Assignment 10 | Taste Rave and Design a Drinking Object

 

FIRST DRAWINGS | GRANVILLE MARKET

My first set of drawings for this assignment were done at the Granville Island market. I drank a London fog and tried to capture what it felt like to both sip from the cup it was served in and any residue in my mouth. I then ate a Nanaimo bar and attempted to map all of its different textures, as well as the experience of biting into it and any residue left behind.

SECOND DRAWINGS | SPICES

At home, I tasted some of the spices I had on hand and drew where my mind went; I mainly related the spices to miscellaneous plants and foods. I was also sure to map any major feelings I noticed on my tongue.

THIRD DRAWINGS | DRINKING OBJECT

 

For the design of my drinking object I took inspiration from the enclosed compartments of a lighter and my water bottle. I combined elements from both precedents to form disorienting goggles that mimic a slow but visible depletion of liquid as you drink.

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Adam Larsen | Assignment 7 | Movement

I chose to analyze how my body interacted with an informal meeting room inside the 3rd year BDES studio. The room had a large selection of chairs in cramped and open conditions. I decided to document how it felt and looked getting in and out of each chair. I used the facial expressions and body language of my caricature to further represent the experience of every chair.

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Adam Larsen | Assignment 5 | Using our Hands

FIRST DRAWING | CARABINER

For the in class blind drawing exercise I was given a carabiner. I tried drawing in iterations to show how I gradually collected more detail from feeling it.

SECOND DRAWING | GLUESTICKS

 

For my second attempt at blind drawing I thrusted my hand into my very messy studio desk and grabbed the first thing I didn’t immediately recognize. What is interesting about my blind drawings compared to my seen drawing is that in the seen drawing I was able to incorporate reflections, and printed graphics on the packaging. 

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Adam Larsen | Assignment 2 | Adding Dimension

FIRST DRAWING | CUBES

SECOND DRAWING | MACMILLAN

TIMED DRAWINGS | STUDIO

    

I chose to draw the BDES 3rd year studio for my timed drawings. I noticed that the more time I had, the more likely I was to wander off into tiny details instead of seeing the entire room as a whole.

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Adam Larsen | Assignment 1| Time to Align

IN CLASS DRAWINGS | ORCHARD COMMONS    

AT HOME DRAWING | BACKYARD

I chose to draw the backyard of my house, starting with a silhouette and ending with a collection of one-line drawings. I particularly enjoyed the challenge of portraying many rotting apples with a single line.

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Adam Larsen | Assignment 6 | Tactile Body Space

FIRST DRAWING | SPLINTERS, RUST

For my first drawing I tried to draw the texture of a water damaged wood column, gradually approaching and sketching in steps at different scales. I then walked up and down three small steps using a handrail with my eyes closed and analyzed what my hands feet felt.

SECOND DRAWING | RUBBINGS

In my second drawing I did rubbings of all the textures surrounding where I was sitting. This includes concrete, wood, stone tile, grass, and metal.

THIRD DRAWING | HEAT

For my third drawing I walked around and felt the heat of surfaces around me, which ultimately was a map of where the sun was hitting. Some warm spots where the sun didn’t hit however were around the curves of a large metal sphere across from me, and the heat of my own body. 

FOURTH DRAWING | FLAKED, PILLED, BUFFED

For my fourth drawing I was within a study room on the ground floor of Orchard Commons. I tried to draw a plan view to test how I could represent the textures of the seat cushions of the room, as well as the tables.

FIFTH DRAWING | ICEBOX For my fifth drawing I sat on the fake grass field behind the Nest. I tried to represent how it felt to sit on the spot without directly drawing what was actually there. I chose to compare where I was sitting to sitting on an overturned refrigerator, and the grass felt like the abrasive side of a cheap sponge. 

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Adam Larsen | Assignment 4 | Above, At & Below

FIRST DRAWING | X-RAY

In assignment 4 I explored the Nest on UBC Campus. I first walked up and down through the levels to get a sense of how each level interacted with the suspended lecture hall. I then drew which levels that the lecture hall intersected with via a section drawing to help aid me with my larger drawing using the “expand-the-box” method

SECOND DRAWING | SHADOWS, PANORAMICS

Up on the roof of the nest I mapped sunlight, reflections, and skylines. I tried to reduce the sunlight pattern, as well as the panoramic view, down to simple lines and blocks. The sunlight shined through the arcade to make a checkered effect on the floor. The panoramic view had countless spires which were broken up by large buildings in the distance. 

THIRD DRAWING | CIRCULATION, BASEMENTS, ROOTS

Down on the ground in front of the nest I mapped the flow of people. Larger arrows indicate larger swarms of students. I then mapped how the basement level of the nest connected to the life building. Finally I created a cross section through the tree covered hill that the nest intersects, giving special attention to how the root systems interacted with The Pit Bar underneath it. 

 

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