Project 3

Gallery and Apartment in Newtown

Model

My Gallery on King St in Newtown displays sculptures, paintings and films. My design ideas were brought about by focusing on these three forms of art.

As you first enter the gallery you get a view right through the bottom level of the gallery and through a window you can see up to the courtyard, however you can see no artworks due to the solid walls. I put the workshop at the front of the gallery so that the visitor must proceed through this room first before seeing the artworks, so that the visitor could get a feel of the artists work behind the scenes and get them in the design frame of thinking.

I decided that each artwork, no matter what the form, should have its own designated space- a room which would make you view the artwork as an individual piece- not effected by anything else. As a result i chose to create a room of rooms for my sculptures. Each room was shaped to foster the individual sculpture. I also wanted to make it so that when the visitor leaves the room of one sculpture they enter a void space where they can see no other artworks and are given walking time to reflect on the artwork they have just seen without being distracted by other artworks. The variety of rooms with sculptures are shown below:

For my artworks i wanted to put each artwork on a seperate wall so that each painting was given a feeling of individuality. The walls of this room i angled to mimic the line of the street.

For my film room i wanted to create a small solid dark place. I contrasted this with the void pyramid space above it. This space acts as a connection/disconecction from the courtyard to the apartment. One can see into the apartment from the courtyard vice versa, but never reach it.

The front facade is plain to fit into the site and adjacent buildings with four windows and a door. The two top windows show a glimpse of the gallery with two of the paintings. Then below on the right you can see into the workshop. Seeing through these three windows the visitor is given an idea on what the art gallery is like and they can then choose whether they want to proceed to buy a ticket from the fourth window (which is where the office is) or not.

Perspective of the front of the building

Left side long section

Right side long section

Site

I chose a site in the centre of newtown in a busy shopping area of King St. The site is two sites adjacent to each other (9m wide and 40m deep) and backs onto a lane allowing easy access for deliveries.

Site plan

Project 2

Model

My conceptual model is based on a variety of ideas inspired by Edward Hopper's painting 'Rooms by the Sea' and Robert Venturi's 'Mother's House'.

As in Mother's House, my design has a central core which is the entering point of the building. You enter through this cube shaped room up a staircase and reach a wall. You are confused with whether this is the front facade or not as you seem inside yet you havnt gone past a front facade yet so you are still outside. Venturis interior/exterior front facade is played with.

I also designed the building symetrically to play with the idea of the interior/exterior wall in Venturi's Mother's House. With this wall and the central core it seems as though the house could be flipped to be twice the size- making this front facade an actual interior wall as it appears. This other half of the building is only hypothetical however is illustrated in the diagram below.

In my building i decided to duplicate one side of the building making it symmetrical. This second half however is only hypothetical so there is a frosted glass wall that splits the building in half and only allows you access through the right side of the building.

The whole building directs you in a certain path just like Edward Hopper's painting. When you get to the top of the staircase you are ushered around the curved room to a narrow passage which leads to an open ramp. You feel lost and disorientated as you are confused with whether you are inside or outside with the windows which look out to glass walls (are you inside or out).

You then walk along a glass floor and then are taken up this extremely steep ramp) which mimics the shape of the shadow that the light creates on the wall of Edward Hopper's painting. This space with the ramp has a glass roof and some glass walls which look to the central core galss walls. You are further confused with where you are by the mirrors on the walls.

When you reach the top of this ramp you come to a halt. The building ends and there is only a sheer drop down into the water. You are now unsure whether you want to go out or not- after being ushered all the way up. You can't go back as the ramp is too steep. And so you are brought to the feeling that is evoked in the painting. Unsure of whether to venture out into this enticing yet dangerous sea.

Plan of three levels pulled apart

Elevations showing light throughout building

Plan showing light throughout building

Inspiration & Narrative

Project 1

Mothers House by Venturi

Venturi's Mother's House has been designed in accordance to a variety of ideas. The two most prominent ideas are:

- The fire place and staircase as the central core of the house

- The front and back facades are flat and appear almost as interior walls on the exterior of the house

Model

Parti Diagrams

Geometry

Elevations- Venturi plays with symmetry and asymmetry on the front and back facades

These two front facades are extremely flat and seem like interior walls. The use of flat symmetrical and asymmetrical shapes look like the detailing of an interior wall.

Circulation

Plan showing the heavy and light traffic flow throughout the house

Program & Structure

Plan- the whole house is designed around a central core- this being the fire place and staircase. The surrounding walls are angled and shaped in relation to this centre

Poche drawings

Plan illustrating the use of many private corners within the private and public spaces.

Effects of natural light in a section of the house