Random models

 
 
 

Maybe I should rename my blog “Random Sketches and Photographs……and Models”!

Objects of Desire – Egg Buildings

This post is about a project I worked on while in architecture school that was based on Objects of Desire. It was a long project with a lot of different ideas thrown into it.

In simple terms it was split into three stages. First stage was to design and build my own object, which ended up being a rocking chair that moves around the living room when you rock on it. Click the chair image to go to a post that explains a bit about it. Second stage was to design an object that you give away as a gift. I made a frame with an egg inside that I sent to an architect in Japan. You can click the egg image to go to a the relevant post.

 (Yes I know the blog is not very organised! If you want further proof, click the water colour trench drawing. It will take you to yet another post)

 

Last stage was to take these ideas and apply them to the city, on an artificial island in Tokyo to be more specific. Since my approach invovled looking at objects and on movement from one place to another I decided to expand on those ideas and to apply them to the island.

 

I’m going to keep it simple. The island is made up of rubbish that accumulated over the years to create the ground. From memory, the layers were made up of squashed objects that were thrown away, like old TV’s, microwaves, computers, etc. All objects of desire in a way! I thought if you were to make a long cut, or a trench, right through the island then you would get a wall that shows in layer upon layer the history of the development of the city of Tokyo. That would be something you’d see up close on a micro scale. Then, I looked around the island to things were close by, on a medium scale. I found Mount Fuji! I made some cuts and lookout points that frame the mountain and bring it into the island. Lastly, on a macro level, I thought the night sky, the planets and the stars would be my objects of desire and I made a number of planetariums that let the public see the stars up close. I know I’m probably making a complete mess of the explanation, so I’ll stay quiet now and just display some random drawings from the project.

Click the images below to expand them.

 

Egg Building

I finally found the two “egg buildings” I designed based on the egg throwing project below. They are both A1 size so I need to figure out how to scan them in. In the mean time here are a few paintings of the site which a massive trench cutting across an artificial island just off of Tokyo. It’s a bit like the trench in the deathstar when I think about it now.

A list of what you do when you get to the island and the trench.

Egg Throw

I once worked on a project in Japan that involved a number of different stages which included designing a gift to give to a Japanese architect, a trip later where we teamed up with students in Tokyo to do a joint exercise which then ended up as an exhibition open to the public and finally I had to design an installation on an island just outside Tokyo.

The photos above represent what I did for stage one: Sending a gift.

The idea was simple. I found this egg that you throw at a fridge or something and it squishes on the surface and gradually slides down. It was a bit funny to hold. I did like how it deformed and took several pictures of me sqaushing it. Actually I remember buying a number of them from my local toy shop. The look the cashier gave me was priceless…..It was a kind of “why don’t you grow up” look!

Anyway, back to the idea. I wanted to essentially throw it to Japan and to freeze it in it’s impact point. So, I made that wooden frame above and used 2 glass panels to sqeeze the egg to simulate the point of impact. I then mailed it to the architect. He apparently loved it and sent me a present in return.

The final pic is part of the initial design stage. Somehow this egg throwing business lead to a building! Don’t ask me how because I don’t really remember.

Sketch from my notebook

More photos here: http://yfrog.com/h861i9j

Samurai

Sketch I made a while back. I think I drew it while in a lecture I think. One of those doodles you do when your mind is somewhere else…in my case it was feudal Japan!

Just found another one. Sumo this time.

Japan 2001

Couple fo old photographs I found. Both were taken on a trip to Japan. One from the plane on the way back (that’s Mount Fuji in the back) and the other in a Tokyo skyscraper looking over the city.

Trips abroad

 
These are some photographs taken during some of trips abroad. The first two were taken in Japan. That castle was used in the Kurasawa film ‘Kagemusha’, and the other was in Nagoya.

The last image was taken in Paris, Menilmontant area. The time I was there the French Government was demolishing a lot of old buildings, many of which were full of history as this was the area normally occupied by artists.

The last one taken in Moscow in 2001.