PRESENT FUTURES

One Final Note

RO — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 08:49:27 +0000

An introduction to the close of this project now aptly titled The Cloud Underground (this will take you to the full documentation of the project covering concept, program, supplementary material as well as links to preliminary investigations and assorted architectural influences).

The site’s horizontal scrolling menu is embedded with CCTV imagery to portray a sample of the vision captured and watched by the nightwatchman on the screens in his Arduino/CCTV monitor room.

Presented with the website last Friday was a demonstration of a detail model illustrating the movement of the Sound Cloud’s surface. Like with all the models made throughout the year, this is powered using the Arduino with the intention that the volumetric form of the Sound Cloud is modified by the nightwatchman in his Arduino/CCTV monitor room to suit the acoustics of the genre of music played in the Sound Cloud.

Accompanying this video are some hidden aspects of the detail model as well as a sample of additional Arduino-powered devices for performance and installation.

Explosions in the Sky

RO — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 00:04:09 +0000

Moving on from last week’s diagrammatic scheme, I’ve tried to capture the environment of what Ground and Level 1 spaces might be like using the a similar mode of representation from Pamphlet Architecture No. 20: Seven Party Underground Rooms and Buildings for Water, Ice and Midgets – it’s documentation of buildings using photo-montages (in a similar vain to Matta-Clark) and hybrid drawings were the catalyst for the renderings in the .pdf below and the hand-drafted section for this week.

Click the image above for the .pdf

The exploded axonometric of the floor plans also further aided the visualisation of the diagrammatical programming in it’s representation of occupation through assorted equipment.

Programming the Existing

RO — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 09:11:03 +0000

This week I’ve been primarily focused on the adaptive re-use of the existing ground and first floor levels. The programs for the two levels used to be music venue/bar on ground floor with a restaurant on the first. The proposal is now for a cafe and restaurant on ground floor and a private recording studio and surveillance room on first floor.

Click on the image above for the pdf.

There is now an entry to the hydraulics bar across the street on Foveaux street. The idea behind this move is to link the underground spaces back to the context on an urban level, I guess similar to the typology of subways. The bar being 12 meters below ground level, the flight of stairs to access the bar required a considerable amount of space and extending beyond the site’s boundary lines felt rational.

Going Underground

RO — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 10:56:10 +0000

Being plagued by the heritage regulations for the site and the assorted issues that arose even during the years of operation, the suggestion of the underground seemed like a very appealing approach. It would suppress the excessive noise, be freed of height limitations and assorted restoration recommendations bound by heritage, as well as the continue the typology of the underground venue.

Click on the image above for the pdf.

The primary focus this week has been about the underground venue where most (if not all) genres of music can be accommodated. The sound cloud is a bubble that fluctuates to the sound played inside of it in the aims of improving the acoustics for that particular genre via sound sensors and the Arduino. All architectural, acoustic and visual activity is monitored by the nightwatchman/producer. During the day, the sound cloud also functions as a recording studio.

Working in section this week has really helpful in the articulation of the underground venue, particularly in terms of structure, space and materials.

Interim

RO — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 03:45:36 +0000

A new semester. A new website. (Link is in the image below)

N.B. if you come across broken links, please email me here.

In other news, it seems the debate on Sydney’s live music scene is still truly alive. (via SMH)

Arcade Fire x HTML5

RO — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:23:33 +0000

What happens when you combine Google with HTML5 and one of the world’s best bands? A new kind of experiential (and interactive!) music video from Arcade Fire.

I warn you though, it’s an assault on your processor (they advise you to close all programs before hand) and it goes pop-up mental but it’s worth it.

The Dirty Three: Models, Schematics and the Council

RO — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:50:42 +0000

A few more massing models to add to this post: 3 ballistics gel models (sans electronic components) and a resin model as captured through a spy cam.

And the resin accident (perhaps it was the food colour that made it react/smoke/crack the way it did) through a spy cam and connected to a sound sensor (photo below) the schematic of which plagued me for days. The video also includes another resin model.

I ended up making a PCB for the sound sensor above but when it came time to solder the components on, I realized the pins of the IC where actually flipped basically messing up my connections. So back into Fritzing for that.

I know there are sensors that are available and ready-made for the Arduino but I already had all the parts necessary to build one. Plus in the process of doing so, I felt accomplished to actually understand how this works – it’s a nice feeling.

On the research front, my appointment with the City of Sydney Archives department on Tuesday went really well. Whilst reading the records for the Hopetoun Hotel, I found a section on CCTV/security requirements in a DA and thought this would be a good opportunity to bind some ideas from last semester, hence the video above utilizing the spy cam. Amongst other information was the proposal for an artwork on the rear of the Bourke St. frontage, illegal building work done on the Hopetoun – a heritage item, acoustic reports, and numerous complaints from architects and residents in the area concerning the noise. Oh and I have floor plans now too.

Epic week.

The Evolution of the Venue

RO — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 06:39:35 +0000

Talking Heads’ David Byrne on music and place.

I find it ironic (but mostly tragic) that the places where rock music is born and truly shines, such as CGBGs in New York and on a more local level, the Hopetoun Hotel, have ceased operation. I dug a grave for my iPod four years ago and I’m not about to dig it up even if it is today’s equivalent of a venue.

Sound and Form

RO — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:59:37 +0000

The following is an extension of model #3 in an earlier post, also applying the same Hopetoun sounds to the planes of interest in my architectural response.

And now with the exercise above taken one step further into volumetric investigations.

There are brief descriptions of the models in the images above.

Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera

RO — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:41:37 +0000

An exhibition that would’ve been great to see. The Tate Modern is teasing me right now.