Speech Writing

The city hotel encompasses what we would normally experience in a typical urban environment. The entrance of the building is a set of chaotic stairs. These must be walked upon in order to reach peace, yet this is not a comfortable task. The orthogonal pattern of the stairs represents the sense of linear trajectory one has during the journey of it, in a sense that represents the monotonous tone of the life of a city as well as its infrastructure. The steps are abstract and are inspired by an aerial view of the city at night. The rushing lights of the stairs imitate the movement of lights whizzing by. An overwhelming noise emanating from the stairs imitates the sounds of traffic rushing by.

Once the traveller has reached the top of our Rush Hour stairs, they find themselves in a square, surrounded by screens. These screens flash billboards, similar to those found in Times Square, New York. This Times Square effect is enhanced by the fact that this square can act as a meeting point for all the occupants, and hence can become very crowded. In situ concrete is used as the load bearing walls of the building, reflecting on the industrialized era of architecture, while keeping a sense of modernism with its functional manipulation of light (mesh).

The entire hotel is enclosed by a mesh, which acts as an envelope for the hotel. It can also be thought of as an intriguing space to explore once inside the building. Its abstractness makes it luck of the draw as to the amount of habitable space of the mesh is available to each room.

The conventional usage of the hotel can be interpreted as a way to question the real meaning of what we would claim to be a utopian set out. The entrance of the hotel is a checkpoint to where the person is able to subjectively judge its surroundings in comparison to its expectations. As we escape from one place to another, one must first conquer a set of tasks before reaching its destination, during then the person is able to imagine his/her future environment. It is only reasonable to think that the harder it is to escape from one place to another, the expectation level increases. To what extent can we truly say about what escaping really is? The person arriving at the hotel should learn how to enjoy what is offer in front of him. Sumarising this, it is more about the escape rather than its destination.


Sitting on top of the hotel is the plant room. It is a representation of the orthogonal infrastructure of the urban city. Its pattern of vertical lines creates a play with the angle of sunlight at different times of the day, thus creating an exquisite spatial experience within. The plant room is partially inspired by the cultural side of the ‘Institut du monde Arabe” by Jean Nouvelle. Privacy is considered, as it is difficult to see the inside of the room whilst standing from the outside through the thin gaps of the walls. The moving rafters of the roof act as a sunlight filter, as the wooden rafters can be moved freely in relation to the angle of the sun.
 

Plantroom Section

Mesh Matrix

Transmaterial Card Parametric Mesh

Parametric Meshes

First mesh created onto second life. Wasn't kept as it needed to be more orthogonal rather than curvy

Second mesh created. Implies more onto the city like architecture 

Parametric Design: Going Through Analysis

Here are some rather deep philosophies that could be thought over and integrated into our design regarding the use of parametric forms, (distruptive components) credits goes for Viktor Frankl. The reflection of social current paradigm tells that we are largely determined by conditioning and conditions (or that we have no control over it) Stimulus and response: Viktor Frankl Psychologist/psychiatrist. Suffered experience of holocaust. Found freedom although the Nazis controlled his environment. Between the stimulus and his response, he decided to choose his response to be free. Found internal power to exercise his freedom, became an inspiration to others, including guards. "Between stimulus and response, lies our power and freedom to choose". In those choices lies our growth and happiness. The ability to create in our own mind our imagination beyond the presence of reality. Independent will, the ability to act based on our self-awareness Free of all other influences. Conscience: a deep awareness of right and wrong of the principles that govern our behavior and a sense of a degree of our thoughts and actions are in harmony with them= integrity

Group 44

We reviewed the last workshop that consisted of the use of second life as a way to express the fundamental ideas of the hotels design. Although second life encountered a glitch problem during that time at which the students were investing their time on, group 44 successfully demonstrated a clear idea of what their journey was all about.

The basic ethic of both hotels addressed a particular interest towards the classism age of the 19^th century. Those were referred to the structure of the building (one situated on the island side especially), in particular the visual aspect of the doric columns and how it was evenly spaced in a circular manner that formed a coliseum as a whole. Looking at its elevation, the columns supporting the structure of the building formed a curvilinear paradigm, ones that closer to its center from the middle, while spreading as they further themselves away from its center and thus creating different length of balconies at different heights.  Interesting use of space and therefore different size of atriums was also another important aspect of their design, which as a whole generated different journey experience in different parts of the building.

The second hotel comprised of two gigantic facades both using identical roman images. Blank pixelated squares could be seen on the façade that would infuse with the main image as we clicked on, in which helped creating a contrast of both private and public to its user within those occupying space that covered the surface area of the pixel. Despite the fact that the interior of the city hotel wasn’t entirely completed (due to the glitch problem), group 44 had the idea of using that space as a way to express both the effective impact of private and public within a building. Double height space was considered as part of their design, thus creating a sense of ambiguity within its occupying space that portrayed a deep feeling of ‘seeing while not being seen’.

As a whole, group 44 successfully demonstrated the ideals behind their design, where their architectural techniques clearly conveyed us what they were going after.