ARCH1201: "Art Gallery," The Model

Constructing the model out of white card and copper-coloured, textured card seemed the best way to convey the architecture as a blank canvas for graffiti art. Every reachable surface (the upper level of the residence pavilion being beyond reach) is paintable. The art borne by these surfaces will have a dynamic character, changing with each new performance and with the layered nature of the art form. White conveys the pure concept, where colour and miniaturized graffiti would have been distracting.

Park Elevation

King Street Elevation

Carpark Elevation

Section (Note the partition doors conceal the office and downstairs toilet. The stairs are partly visible.)

Site Perspective

Pavilion Perspective (Note the light cast in the interior by the large window, and that cast by the light well)

Pavilion Roof (Note performance amphitheater and rear natural amphitheater)

ARCH1201: "Art Gallery," The Drawings

Producing these drawings required the construction of stencils for title blocks, a CAD model and hand renderings. The title blocks give the panels a distinctive, project specific character, given that stencil art is a major feature of displayed work. The presentation is also largely anonymous, with only my student number represented on the first panel.

The next four images are the display panels, with following images being close-ups showing render detailing in Pantone and graphite. Reading the first panel gives detailed insight into the scheme.

ARCH1201: "Art Gallery," The Process #2

This sketch model allowed me to see, feel and hear the relationship between the residence, blade walls and topography. It also informed material choices, with copper or cor-ten seeming most appropriate given the distinctive roof line of the residence.

ARCH1201: "Art Gallery," The Process #1

Early in the design process, the focus was on creating a strong architectural form that controlled an open, free flowing site. The scheme began as a balance between controllable and free movement and sight; as well as between built and 'unbuilt' architecture.

ARCH1201: "Room and Narrative," The Drawings

ARCH1201: "Room and Narrative," The Model

This model of balsa, pine and wire, was a difficult one to make. I intended to represent the gently contrasting scheme materials, with gently contrasting balsa grain. The harshness of the wild wire and jilted posts were a simple way of focussing attention on what is a very internal scheme.

Playing with openings.

ARCH1201: "Artifice," The Drawings

The Final Presentation

Despite the crisp white finish and resolved modernist design, there are ideas and concepts in the Villa Savoye that Le Corbusier has had to address and work through. It is this that my parti and poches attempt to express. They are sketchy yellow traces, pinned up with masking tape and highlighted expressively with pantone. I am interested by the ideas embedded in the building; the architect behind the design.

Inside and Out: Feathering the Boundary

The varied internal spatial organisation of the Villa is unified by ribbon windows on all four facades. The aesthetic choice to use the windows is a simple but strong one. However, from most rooms in the first floor, there is a visual connection with the exterior. The sight of nature (bearing in mind that when built, the Villa was surrounded by trees and not paddock as today) and the feeling of being above it is a powerful generator of emotion in the villa. The windows, like the walled terraces and rooftop gardens ‘feather’ the boundary between inside and out.

Nude on top of the World

“One is drawn up to the culminating point, the curved walls, feminine shapes that are a memory of the former scheme when they enclosed Madame’s bedroom. She had insisted that the living room “should not be strictly rectangular but should have some comfortable corners.” However, Le Corbusier disregarded her wishes when it came to the main room and transferred them to the culmination of the route (of the ramp), the place where she might be nude on top of the world, sunbathing, and spiritually in touch with the sun.”

(Charles Jencks, 1974, Le Corbusier and the Tragic View of Architecture, 178.)

Equating the Machines of Living and Driving

That the car has been incorporated into the body of the building is significant. That there is space enough for three cars and a chauffer’s living quarters is Le Corbusier suggesting a new significance for the car in modern life. His correct prediction and prototype for a manner of living focussed around movement and efficiency is profound.

Process Work