Communications Portfolio

Overall, I really enjoyed this course. I found the workshops challenged my thinking in how to represent my designs and I have been able to use this new knowledge in representing my designs in design studio. I especially found the drawing workshop helpful and it was interesting having insight from artists as opposed to architects. I felt this was especially useful when it came time to sketch out my ideas.

Power Through:

These spaces are all designed based on forms that fabrics make because Muccia Prada is designing the clothes Barack Obama will wear when he is giving his speeches.

Mashup

Fear and power do not peacefully coexist. Very early in her career Madonna realised that neither her dancing nor voice were strong enough on their own. It follows, then, that she who wishes to reach the most rarefied and potent ranks of fashion, whether in dealmaking or designing, must have a certain serenity, outstanding communication abilities and a flat-out disregard for what you think. Together, these outstanding communication practices enabled Barack Obama to overcome obstacles that would have hindered another politician. His ability to persuade that Madonna’s style and sound has reflected an acute awareness of changing styles, whereas common sense says a designer should design what she likes, presents his ideas powerfully.
Obama uses key rhetorical techniques to present his ideas powerfully such as, how has Madonna achieved her success? There were two key factors - a certain above-the-fray quality and a deep and insightful appreciation of her customers. But having created some definitive design benchmarks establishes a strong first impression. And why should we care? We have much to learn from her. "She never follows anyone else's lead, just her own original energy.”


Shel Leanne, Say it Like Obama, www.sayitlikeobama.com accessed 22 June 2009)

"Case Study Madonna: How has she Achieved her Success?" Times Online, (Jan. 18, 2007)http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/graduate_management/article1293585.ece (accessed 22 June 2009)

Belinda Luscombe, "Women in Fashion: Muccia Prada," Time, http://www.time.com/time/2004/style/020904/power/2.html, (accessed June 22, 2009)

Perspectives

Power Words: (Left to Right)

strength, from below, interlinked, balance, cooperation

control, dominance, protect, moving away,

supremacy, superior, connected, from above, alliance

woven, stable, unit, separate

Textures

rotational

Scalar

Linear

Fluid

Mono-Directional

Growing

Elevator 1

elevator2

Elevators and Dining Table

Draft Environment One

http://www.mediafire.com/?tvldg21yngw

Draft Environment 2

http://www.mediafire.com/?dtk0xybyuqc

Final Environment

http://www.mediafire.com/?djgtutxx4gt

Draft

Scientists' Quotes

Quote 1
Alfred Nobel
"Hope is nature'sveil for hiding truth's nakedness."
http://www.people.ubr.com/education/by-first-name/a/alfred-nobel/alfred-nobel-quotes.aspx

Quote 2
Keith Campbell
"I just want to know how everything works."
http://www.mblwhoilibrary.org/services/lecture_series/campbell/about.html

Quote 3
Jacques-Yves Cousteau
"However fragmented the world, however intense the national rivalries, it is an inexorable fact that we become more interdependent every day."
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/jacques_yves_cousteau.html

Alfred Nobel and Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Alfred Nobel created the Nobel Peace prize to commemorate people whose work benfited society. He was the inventor of dynamite but he was also a interested in peace and social issues.

http://nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/

Jacques-Yves Cousteau was famous for his research work in the oceans. He produced a TV series to educate the world about marine life and protecting the animals that live there.

http://www.incwell.com/Biographies/Cousteau.html

Axonometric Drawings

Draft Model 1: Scientists' Laboratories

Floating laboratory of Jacques-Yves Cousteau based on fragmented forms being interdependent.
Hidden laboratory behind the vertical wall of Alfred Nobel based on a veil idea.

Electroliquid Aggregation of Alfred Nobel's and Jacques-Yves Cousteau's Quotes

"However fragmented hope and the world are, however intense nature’s veil for hiding the national rivalries, truth’s nakedness shows it is an inexorable fact that we become more interdependent every day."

Draft Model: Showing Beginning of Ramps

Parallel Projections of Meeting Places (shown in upper right corner in image above) - Front View and Back View

Lecture 7 – Analogy of the Cave

This analogy by Plato suggests the power of shadows. If only the shadows of the men themselves or the people walking past could be seen, the shadows would no longer be representations of the real thing but the real thing itself. This analogy could be understood to demonstrate the importance of shadows and what they can become.

I could use this idea in my design of the laboratories by creating strong shadows in that are seen in front of the person, which become their own reality. For example the shadows created by the ramps on the floating building, creates a completely new form and texture that cannot be achieved normally. Another way for the shadows to be used in my design would if the lighting and the persons shadow could be used to hide elements at first which are later revealed as the person moves through the space.

Texture Sets: Dark to Light

Developed Model

Jacques-Yves Cousteau's Laboratory

The montage roof of rectangular prisms covered in a wavy custom texture, creates an ocean feel, which relates to Cousteau's marine work and his ideas of a fragmented world being interdependent.

Alfred Nobel's Laboratory

Alfred Nobel's lab is much darker, enclosed and less visible because he was more private and a loner.


The Ramp

The ramps are intertwined relating to the scientists intertwining ideas. The ramps are made up of fragmented sections that force the person think about how they walk.The intertwining ramps also create a tense situation in which each scientist can see the other and what they are thinking before they meet at the entrance to the meeting space.

The Meeting Space

There are two entries into the meeting space behind the wall. The mood of the meeting would be determined on whether together or separately.

Level Access

http://files.filefront.com/13706168

Fachwerk Lamp

This piece of work was a lamp that I designed in my design class. We were given thread paper, coat hangars and a lamp cord, from that we had to create a lamp. I love the designs on the outside of Fachwerk houses in Germany so I decided to try and incorporate that into my design to give a more interesting visual effect. It is a wall lamp because I found that to be a more interesting lamp type because most lamp designs were desk lamps or floor lamps. I also wanted to continue the relationship between the fachwerk design and the wall.