The next step now, is to take the Lego model and turn it into a Sketchup model. With SketchUp comes a lot of advantages that you don't get when doing the physical models. One you can go into a lot more detail, and have features that are quite a bit more complex, then modelling with wood or Lego which has even more restrictions. This will be the first time I use Sketchup for this project which is completely new for me, as usually I tend to go on Sketchup as soon as possible, as I am comfortable doing so. I am very happy with the changes I made approaching this project, and feel like doing so has lead to a better project, one that shows more exploration, variety, and ultimately leads to a more thought out project with substance behind it. For as happy as I may be however, I am very much so looking forward to modelling on Sketchup, as I stiff feel like it is the place where I can truly show the intended design.
Once again I forgot to take screenshots along the process, so I've just broken up the building in its components, but I'll explain what happened for each components and the choices made, I just might not have the perfect screenshot to go along what I'm saying. It's annoying, especially considering that's something I've failed to do numerous times, and still did it for the final project. I'll make sure to not do the same when making the maquette.
Ground floor
This is the base of the whole building. It's a 31.6x31.6m square. The only thing present on this floor are the boxes in which the elevators sit in. I don't know what those are called but they have blocks at the bottom to soften the arrival. In this particular instance there are two lifts, but one would be replaced by a staircase as you would need both. Nothing else really to say about this.
Ground floor columns
This sits in the center of the ground floor, beyond the structural aspects, it also serves as house for two laundrettes and the lift shafts. Now those two laundrettes have to be imagined at the moment, but they would sit in the two larger rectangles. Initially it was a solid cross, but I decided to punch a circle through for two reasons. One to make the structure seem lighter, and not so much restrictive, inhabitants can now move around more freely. Reason two was to create some kind of meeting point, and the circle is the perfect shape for that. It also goes back to the pure forms.
Entrance hall ceiling
The 4 corners of this structure line up to the base square. It is four arched corridors that intersect one another, to create a groin vault. I just put a square hole in the center so light from the ceiling comes through, but also to allow the inhabitants to look up and see the triangulars voids that stretch the whole height of the building. There is also cut outs for the columns above to slot in. I chose to have a groin vault because it leads the eyes to the center, which is the main focus for this floor.
Ground floor paneled entrance
This slots around the entrance hall ceiling from just above. All the arches correspond with the others. At the beginning all I was the structure on the right, but I felt that was not enough, it felt like the main hall was open to anyone, naked, and to me that was the opposite direction to where I wanted to go. I want there to be the feeling of a separate enclosed community, and wouldn't work if they can be seen by anyone. To further emphasise that feeling of community I wanted the building to seem rooted in its plot, and having four skinny triangles be the feet of the building again went against the current. So I slotted in rotating panels. Rotating panels because they were the best of both worlds. When they are open, you can enter, they allow you to see through the whole building, but they do so whilst also creating separation, the grid created becomes roots, but also a barrier to signal that this building is not anyone's, it is for that community. The panels can also be closed, then the building is fully private, and now seems to be even heavier, and firm in this location, it is now a solid brick. Having the panels means that when they are closed the shape of the hall's ceiling isn't lost, and the arches still present. Lastly closing the panels offers protection from the weather.
Living quarters base floor
This is what sits on top of the columns and vaulted hall. It is the main corridors, the corridors that get the inhabitants from lift to front door. It is the same 31.6m square as the ground floor. This time around the square has been pierced by four triangles that create the cross that is also present in the ground floor, both are aligned with one another. I chose to have that same cross run along the whole length of the building for continuity, the inhabitants are exposed to a structure right from the start of the building, and can identify it throughout, it is the core of the building, and perhaps the core of the community. It could be argued that these corridors are needlessly large, but what I envision with this building is those corridors full of life, with people talking across different levels, the idea is for it to become a lived in space too, just like your living room, but with even greater potential as it is shared by even more. When you are standing in these cross corridors there are no windows to the outside, the only place where the outdoors comes in is through the roof. This again is a choice, and it is made to encourage the usage of this space as a living space. The separation from the outside means this is a private area, shared only by the inhabitants, which is unlike other traditional housing estates in London where the corridors to the to your front door are open to anyone and the elements.
Kitchen/Living
This block is repeated twice on each level and they sit on two corners opposite one another. This block is 7x7m square and is split into two levels, the kitchen at the bottom and living. That means these blocks offer about 90m² of living space because of the stairs, which may seem huge for students, but it's shared by 8 inhabitants, even more if they have people over. Attached to the Kitchen/Living block is this other block that is there to link all the bedrooms, terraces to the kitchen/living. Depending on which corner the living blocks are on, they will either have front doors, or just be corridors. The top right and center photo show the living blocks with front doors whilst the bottom two photos have no front door. Now that is the case because there are stairs to another level, and depending on which corner these block are on they will have a staircase right in front of where the doors would be It will make a bit more sense latter on. The two staircase to the living room, have been placed as such to mimic the feel of the terraces which also have a triangle as the main focal point.
Terrace
This is has the same dimensions as the kitchen/living, but is only one level. It is a terrace, and like the kitchen/living there are two per each level, and they too sit in opposite corners. Just like the kitchen/living, you have these with front doors or no front doors. Simple rule when there are front doors to the terraces there aren't any on the kitchen/living and vise versa. The terrace is a simple space it is double height, with triangular facades that meet in the middle to create a larger triangle. The same system as on the ground floor is used, in the rotating panels. They are used for similar purpose, as protection from the weather, and also for privacy when needed. With the panels also comes an aesthetic addition, because throughout the day the light would interact differently, casting beautiful shadows that would change the space all day long. It makes for quite a large terrace, but again that is on purpose, ideally a terrace as such would be used for parties or things like that. To maximise the space there are sliding doors, this block has doors unlike the kitchen/living because when the panels are open wind would come in, and you don't want that wind to be coming into the rooms that are just besides.
Bedrooms
There are two types of bedrooms, the 16m² bedrooms and the 32m² bedrooms. The smaller rooms have access to the kitchen, living and terraces, whilst the larger rooms are fully equipped tiny homes. I chose to have two types of rooms, to meet the needs of different people, some people wouldn't wish to share spaces like kitchens, so they can have their own, whilst others prefer to, and they have the ability to do so. Obviously with the size differences there would also be a price difference, so there can be options depending on budgets. Nothing special here, it's cubes as rooms and they are meant to be taken in and out, so there is nothing fancy going on with these. They are obviously not furbished, but I will get to that, and will incorporate my sliding door idea in these rooms. The smaller rooms have two large windows, with one that can slide over the other. The same thing is repeated for the larger rooms, but because it's twice as big, there are four windows, with the two on the far sides being the gliding ones.
Internal Corridors
These are the corridors that connect all the rooms together. Nothing that stands out here really. Where there is a balcony on the second floor, right underneath that would be the front doors, and where there are gaps is where the stairs will slot in. The corridors on the second level have been made smaller so that there could be these small internal balconies, but also to create variety in the design, they create sharp angles that that lead your eyes to the the main living blocks. In each corridor there are large rectangles that span the length, those would be glass, and they are there to again encourage that sense of community. You are in your own living quarters but you are still connected to those outside on the cross corridors.
Stairs
These are the stairs that give access to the second floor bedrooms. Simple enough stairs. I don't really have anything to say about these, they are essentially shaped by the space that was left over, its design is determined by what surrounds it, and the needs from it, which in this case is just to give access to two seperate sides.
Ceiling
Creating the ceiling was one of the hardest part of this project. It was so hard because I never designed it prior to see how it would fit with the rest, therefore it was a spontaneous creation. Whilst in school a friend of mine did mention taking the groin vault of the ground floor and inverting that, enlarging it to create overhang and have that as the roof, which was a great idea, but when I finished modelling it, a few problem rose, one it would collect rain-water and I wasn't a fan of that, two the inverted vault would mean that the corners of the roof and building wouldn't be connected, and final problem was that I wouldn't have been able to model it out of wood. So instead I went with something simpler, it's the base square enlarged slightly to create overhang again, which is something I wanted, I like how it looks visually. Then I took the center as the focal point, and created what ressemble the Japanese rising sun. I chose to do so to create everchanging shadows, like I did with panels on the ground floor, and terraces. I like the idea of changing shadows, because it means the building is alive, and changing, just like this community will hopefully. I think it's important to have the building share characteristics with the inhabitants, or maybe to have a building encourage those characteristics. A building that seems alive may encourage the inhabitants to bring this community to life.
Lift
This lift is heavily inspired by the lifts on the sides of the Lloyd's building, they're practically the same, i just don't have a wall that runs along the height of the pillars. Now I don't know whether a system like that could work, I don't know whether the removal of the wall would mean it isn't structurally sound, but I'm going with it nonetheless, this can be my one time of fantasy building. Like I've said before I could have chosen to treat this as a hypothetical project only, in which case having a lift such as this poses no problems, so in the whole building this is the only aspect that seems unrealistic. The reason why I've gone with a lift like this is to be as unobtrusive as possible, as it would run through the cross corridors, a space I want to be for the living. I guess I'm going completely against the principle of served and servant spaces, by having a servant space going through a served space, but I've tried to make it very easy on the eyes. If the lift isn't on the current level, all you can see is two columns and a hole, which doesn't get in the way of this living space I don't think. Now by all means I could have incorporated the lift more smartly into the design to not have them be in sight, which would have respected the served and servant space, but seeing the whole building together I am not displeased with it. The corridor isn't truly a living space, at least not in the conventional sense, it is in my design but that's me changing its purpose.
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