Natural Uniform
Exhibition Text
"Natural Uniform"
May, 2017
19" x 8"
Installation Model
For this project “Natural Uniform”, it is based on the theme of beauty of patterns that can be found in nature. The inspiration came from my inspiration of the Vancouver House and The Danish Maritime Museum by Bjarke Ingels. The medium includes cardboard lay in contrast to the black board that represents the Lake of Michigan with scenery materials such as sand, tree, and woods. “Natural Uniform” explores the idea of how our brains beautifully work to put pattern together and to make sense of nature.
Planning Sketches
- The relationship between land and water is established using the element of space created by the walls to release the energy into the vastness of the lake.
- When people walk through my installation, they will have a feeling of protection and filtration. It will give the people a sense of focus to the lake and toward the horizon, a sense of depth in vision.
- Most of my ideas are mimicry inspired by nature usually from plants and number theory that is usually found in nature.
- The installation acts as a binocular that allow the people to look and focus far into the lake by filtering out the surrounding shorelines.
- My structure use the component of path is allowing a space for people to walk through that lead through the vastness of the lake. The component of portal is the entrance of the structure that would lead the people toward the opening lake. Place is used by having circular wall with a small portal that allow people to have a feeling of protection and focus to look toward the lake. It almost give a sense of hope just like when you are in a dark tunnel with a small dim light ahead.
- My concept structures embody a meaning of focus, nurture, and protection so that one can focus far into the vastness of the lake with the surrounding filtered. It give a sense of purpose and foresight. It is like as if we see the moment but are not completely in the moment, just like we are watching a 3-D movie.
- First meaningful decision I've made for creating the concepts is to use mimicry to inspired my work. Second decision was to cut down the amount of walls because sometimes less is better. My final decision that I made was to focus on the portal into the lake because I think it is a very important feeling that is being created in this portal to walk through a structure into an opening lake.
Inspiration
For this project A 'Room with a View, the inspiration came from Bjarke Ingels. Ingels is a Danish architect born in 1974 in Copenhagen. His father was an engineer, and his mother was a dentist. He grew up with a dream to become a cartoonist. To follow his passion, Ingels studied architecture at the Royal Danish academy of fine arts in 1993 to further improve his drawing skills but grew to love the field of architecture. He founded the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in 2005 that has around 60 employees from across the world. His vision for architecture has revolutionized conventional danish architectural techniques. His inspirations come from social, cultural, contextual, political, and economic aspects to improve the living standards. He also takes climate changes in great consideration of the influence on the building and the environment as a whole. He believes that the buildings should respond to the local environment and climate to make it habitable for people. Therefore, Ingels spends a lot of his resources into designing sustainable and renewable energy concepts. Many of his projects are mimicry of nature. One project that really inspired my project is the Vancouver House in Canada. It is an apartment building that is adapted to its surrounding environment. It has a triangular base that twists into a rectangle toward the top. The apartment building looks like a weed growing through the city around it. Another interesting project is The Danish Maritime Museum in Elsino. It is completely underground and leave the nearby old dock untouched. It has continuous loop around the dock walls making the dock the centerpiece of the gallery with an open view to the experience of ship building. The museum is also built to be community friendly with three double-level bridges allowing visitors to make short-cuts through the museum and enjoy the view of above and below the ground. I found Ingels’ works very inspiring because of his thoughtful consideration for the community and environment around the project. For my piece, I would like to incorporate the idea of mimicry into developing concepts so that the structure will not only be environment-friendly but also allow the structure to blend in with the community’s culture.
Experimentation |
Process |
Before starting my project, I went to visit the Lakefront to get a sense of the place I am trying to represent in my installation model. A friend of mine snapped some photos of the lakes and harbor. I purchased two bags of scenery trees. I put them together and stationed them onto a shoebox to get a sense of their scale. As a part of the landscape, I used scenery sands to represent the beach. I tried using glue liquid to get them to stick onto the cardboard but they fell off after dried up. So, I used adhesive spray instead, and it works perfectly. I used a rectangular piece of Styrofoam to station the pieces into the designed figure. I also added into some of the trees to get a general idea of how it would looks on the final piece.
CritiqueMy piece “Natural Uniform” share similarities with my inspiration of the Vancouver House and The Danish Maritime Museum by Bjarke Ingels. One concept that has the most impact and influence in both my piece and my inspiration is mimicry of nature. In the Vancouver House, Ingels mimic his building after weed growing from the city around it and combining with a form of a stingray as if it is raising above. Similar in my piece “Natural Uniform”, I was inspired by the Fibonacci sequence; I used this concept to create an installation model that mimic the Fibonacci sequence that would expands into the vastness of the Michigan Lake. However, there are also differences between my piece and my inspiration buildings by Bjarke Ingels. His focus is mainly on designing sustainable and renewable energy concepts to make the building to be a part of the local environment. However, my piece “Blank” stands out from its vicinity. It is almost like an obstruction for those who tries to enjoy the view of the beach. However, my piece contains an entire different perspective of the beach that otherwise would not be seen anywhere else on the beach.
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First, I cutted up the necessary pieces of wood based on my planned model using an X-acto knife. Then, I used fine sandpaper to clean the edges of the pieces of wood and make sure that no excess pieces are sticking out. Next, I put them into a boiling pot to increase their flexibility. The woods absorbed hot water, which softened them up and become more bendable. I took the woods out after 5 minutes of submergence in water. I glued two pieces of Styrofoam together to create a larger rectangular piece. On this piece of Styrofoam, I cut out one centimeter down into the foam according to my design model and put the wood pieces down with small sticks to support them while drying up. For the land leading into the lake, I used three level of cardboard and glued them together. Then, I used long strips of cardboard to glue them onto the three level of cardboard. When the piece is dried, it would look like a descending ground level leading into the lake. After the cardboard is dried, I sprayed glue the scenery sand onto the cardboard. Some of the cardboard papers showed up in different shade, so I used more sand in those area to cover up the differences in color of cardboard. Using scenery materials, I put together five trees that could be used to decorate the model as a finishing touch.
ReflectionThroughout the project, I’ve learned many things from the process. The first problem that I encountered was during the process of making a ground level leading into the lake. First, I decided to use the paper mache method to make this three ground levels. But it turned out that the glue I used was not sufficient enough for the pieces of cardboard to hold together. To fix this problem, I used longer strips of cardboard and put more glue to help them stay together. Very similar problem occurred when I applied the scenery sand onto the cardboard and used liquid glue to get them to stick to the cardboard. However, the sands all fell off after drying up. To fix this problem, I used spray adhesive to apply the scenery sand, which worked very well. Another limitation of this project that I’d like to change is the paper mache making of the ground level into the lake. Some of the cardboard papers have different tone, so the ground level does not have a uniform look to it like sand does on a beach. If I were to do this again, I would set up and glue the installation model in first before spraying on the sand and trees. Overall, the whole process was very experimental because I’ve never done this kind of project before. However, this project opens my eyes to the new perspective and the potential of certain landmark.
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Meaning
For this project “Natural Uniform”, it revolves around the theme of beauty that can be discovered in nature. I am very fascinated by the natural beauty that humans discovered from curiosity. In this project, I focus on the uplift and positive aspect of possibilities that curiosity could bring. The concept of Fibonacci sequence is a vehicle of interconnection between everything. The sequence of Fibonacci is well-known in the mathematics community, however it is also recognized in the biology community. Many living organisms on our planet earth share this pattern in their structure. For example, the number of spirals present in many flowers are Fibonacci numbers, and even shells share the similar geometric spiral. I am intrigued by the way our brains work because of our instinctive nature to explore and be curious and our instinct to put things together like a puzzle. Therefore, it makes me wonder whether this sequence is merely a random selective data that we force our brain to give meaning to or whether this is the foundation of life in which our planet is built upon because the sequence goes all the way to how leaves structure itself in such pattern like the Fibonacci so that the leaves could get as much light as possible to perform photosynthesis. “Natural Uniform” explores a pensive perspective on the concept of infinity. The piece is designed so that it expands just like the Fibonacci sequence into the vastness of the lake in a way to embrace the huge body of the Michigan Lake. The Fibonacci sequence is like a universal language that is communicated between many things on earth, and I humbly wish to incorporate the inter-connectivity between the ecosystem of the shore and the lake itself.
ACT Connection
- My inspiration came from the Vancouver House and The Danish Maritime Museum by Bjarke Ingels, which had a great impact on my project. I was inspired to use mimicry in creating my piece, which led me to use the concept of the Fibonacci sequence.
- The overall approach Bjarke Ingels has regarding the topic is to create a project that respond well to its environment with the sustainable and renewable energy technology.
- I've discovered that many of Ingels' projects are inspired by nature such as weeds and stingray. I've made a generalization that in the future we will start to see many of these mimicry inspired buildings.
- The central theme around my inspirational research is mimicry and inter-connectivity with the environment.
- I've made an inference that Ingels' buildings inspired by mimicry have a better connection with the people and the environment around it as the piece integrate into the ecosystem instead of alternating the system.
Work Cited
- "Bjarke Ingels Architect | Biography, Buildings, Projects and Facts." Famous Architects. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.
- Bobkoff, Dan. "Bjarke Ingels: An Architect For A Moment Or An Era?" NPR. NPR, 03 Jan. 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.
- "Danish National Maritime Museum / BIG." ArchDaily. N.p., 20 Oct. 2013. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.