My Design Process

Although I have not struggled starting a project, I can’t really say that I have a specific design method. Every project has been very different from each other but have all been successful. I don’t believe that I design in a certain style yet, but most of my projects have organic forms or have one main focal point.

            In the beginning of the project, I would study the client, context, and culture – designing for what the city needs and wants. Then I will research some precedents to help develop a concept. After the research phase, I would sketch forms that are an abstract interpretation or literal depiction of the concept. This part is crucial because it is when I decide if my project is going to be a sculptural piece or not – which usually is. After the form is decided, I fit the functions/programs into their spaces. If the square footages for the programs won’t fit, a few minor changes to the form will occur.

            For materials, I mostly use glass, concrete, and wood. Many of my projects are earth tones with the only vibrant colors coming from vegetation -- which is strongly present in many of my designs. I enjoy playing with man and nature -- the relationship between hard and soft.

            After each semester has passed, an exit interview is done with our studio professor. Each of mine have said that my designs are strong because I am a sculptor. With that in mind, I don’t believe I have a specific style. I approach the projects as if it is artwork and mold it until the design is appealing to the eye and tells a story. Although being a sculptor ensures good designs, it can also be a bad thing. Buildings should be designed with function over form instead of the other way around. In most cases, my functions have been able to fit inside the form that I have developed first, but there have been a few times when programs had to be tweaked to fit the form that I grew to love.

            For my future designs, I hope to find a balance between form and function – developing the functions before the form so they may both fit perfectly. 

Estopinal Competition 2013

The Open Plan: Le Corbusier & Mies Van der Rohe

During the 20^th century, many architects were breaking away from traditional designs and construction methods. The most radical design element was the open plan, which is still a major theme in today's buildings. Two architects that were the first to establish this idea in their design principles were Le Corbusier and Mies Van der Rohe. Although they both practiced this idea around the same time, their different styles as an architect formulated two different approaches.

Le Corbusier (1887-1967), a French architect, designed with rationality and functionality. He sought out to liberate the individual and therefore, exercised the Modular system to utilize the human dimensions. Pairing the golden ratio to the Modular, his system focused on scale of architectural proportion. Inspired by many thinkers and architects, he saw that the world needed free plans and open forms, influencing him to formulate a new language of form. Utilizing the Domino Skeleton System, Le Corbusier created the Maison Domino (1914) as a serially reproducible unit. Incorporating pilotis as the structural system, introduced the idea of a free plan. Because non-load-bearing walls could be freely arranged as spatial dividers, more spatial designs were possible. This idea was revolutionary and became the foundation of Le Corbusier’s 5 points of architecture: 1) Columns. 2) Free plan. 3) Free facade. 4). Ribbon window. 5) Roof garden.

1.     Columns (pilotis)

            Elevating the mass off the ground

2.      Free plan (plan libre)

            Achieved through the separation of the load-bearing columns from the walls subdividing the 

            space

3.     The free façade (façade libre)

            The corollary of the free plan in the vertical plane

4.     Ribbon wind (fenetre de longerue)

            The long horizontal sliding window

5.     Roof garden (toit-jardin)

            Restoring supposedly, the area of ground covered by the house

Masion Domino (1914)

By eliminating the load-bearing walls and replacing them with columns, Le Corbusier opened up the interior and exterior, allowing new possibilities to be explored.

Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe (1886-1969), a German architect, was a constructivist abstraction designer, mainly focusing on planes and lines. Influenced by the Berlin Avant-garde, he had multiple ideas of architecture as well:

      1.     The enclosure of function in a generalized cubic container not      

      committed to any particular set of concrete functions (seen to be  related to neoclassicism).

      2.     The articulation of the buildings in response to the fluidity of life.

3.     Dematerialization of architectural elements.

4.     Plastic sensibility in window/brick compositions

5.     Elementalist design of the plan (similar to Destjil and Theo Van Doesburg)

6.     The Center is abolished

7.     The room as a plan organizer is dissolved.

8.     Plans are not organized by the taxonomy of functions but represent an instance of MVDR’s many possible compositions.

9.     Interplay between column and wall is a major theme.

Barcelona Pavillion (1929)

MVDR’s plans for the Barcelona Pavillion reveal that the column and walls establish an open plan. The center is abolished, space is defined, and independent walls, rather than enclosed rooms, organize the plan. His major intention was to dissociate the wall from its traditional dimensions, until the wall just signified a wall; not touching the roof or other walls, but simply standing as a visual divider to define a space. Similar to Le Corbusier, the wall was no longer needed as a structural element. Columns took their place, as the walls became more of a visual aspect. His plans were quite simple, designing the structure around the notion of “less is more”. With the dialogue between the columns and walls, MVDR’s open plan invited the “fluidity of life” into his buildings.

Sources:

Hartoonian, G. (1984). Journal of Architectural Education (1984-) Vol. 42, No. 2: MVDR The Genealogy of Column and Wall. 43-50. Blackwell Publishing. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1425090 .

Herz-Fischler, R. (1927). Le Corbusier’s “Regulating Lines” for the Villa at Garches (1927) and other Early Architectural Works. Ottawa: Carleton University.

Middleton, D. (N.A). Le Corbusier. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from Ball State University Blackboard website: https://blackboard.bsu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_106280_1%26url%3D

Middleton, D. (N.A). Mies Van der Rohe. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from Ball State University Blackboard website: https://blackboard.bsu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_106280_1%26url%3D