The Building Process Continued...

One of our finished library rooms with my three journals.

Working on lighting and straightening out any kinks.

Cool moving element created from S4SL, where the batons act as a fence and also bounce up and down spontaneously.

The glow matches the glow of the floor

Books can be clicked and the come out of the shelves (we used the script for the sliding door and adapted the values).

Another room in our library, we all used the alpha channels we had worked on as feature walls.

The final room, with a chair that can be pulled out when clicked, and more journals that can be viewed when clicked using the adapted script from Sutor.com.

Our final design.

The Building Process

Our initial idea was that we wanted the land to be a physical part of the building. We decided to use it as a wall so when you walk through each of the rooms you would see the mountain our library is constructed on. We also wanted to tessellate a hexagon shape so there would be multiple pathways to walk up and down each level. Our second main idea was to have water streaming down the building and into the water below, to integrate the library into the landscape.

A little interactive element to our building - steps that glow when you step on them.

The script was from Free LSL Scripts, which is a really useful site for finding a range of scripts

My avatar with Triana's

Traveling to Teal, where that red beam teleports you to the particle lab. I was able to get some useful templates for particle systems.

Messy stage of the build - reconstructing the glass windows into pyramids to imitate the angles of the hexagon and give a more interesting look.

Tessellating the hexagons four or five times was our original plan, but this was way over the size limit. We cut down to three hexagons and made the rooms of the library smaller. We also skewed the bottom and side hexagons to make them asymmetrical and create an interesting effect.

Hyewon, Triana and I adjusting the sizes for the rooms.

The water fall was made from three cones with a water script from the particle lab. We adjusted the colour and the length of time the particles appeared so they didn't go through the building. We also increased the number of particles emitted to make it seem more like a gush of water, but after a certain number (I think 100) it wasn't making any difference - that's why we used three cones.

I bought a set of five stones from the market place that could be modified. We changed the sizes and hid the three cones, making the system look like an actual waterfall. The plants were also from the market place, and we made them a bit smaller and put them around the waterfall to make it look more natural.

 The water texture was scripted to move so it looked like it was flowing down the building. The steam script was also from the Free LSL Library, and we used it to make it seem like the water was splashing into the stream.

Alpha Channels and Photoshop

Alpha Channel and Offset Filter
For my alpha channel texture I wanted to use a pattern that I could use by itself (with the background transparent) 

I used this simple flower pattern as my image

Then I created a new alpha channel and the background white, with the flowers remaining black. Of course, this was wrong (as I found out after I uploaded the texture to Second Life). I should have coloured the flowers white and the background left black because white is fully opaque and black is transparent. 

I offset the image because I was using it as a texture, but the overlapping was too obvious so I re adjusted the image and it became less obvious. Somehow the alpha channel mistake was fixed on second life to look like...

This!

Rendering Filter
I wanted use this rendering filter material for a table and some shelves to display the three journals and so I chose a bamboo fence image.

I only used a section of the original image, and took away the background to make it easier to work with.

I wanted it to look like the lighting in the room was shining down, so I used 'spotlight' and made the focus as wide as possible.

And the end result! I wanted to go a step further than this though (before uploading to second life) so I  offset the image vertically, and used an alpha channel to make the white gaps in between the bamboo completely transparent (did it right this time).   

I created a coffee table and bookshelves with this texture, and the transparency between the bamboo shoots gave me the look I wanted.

Lecture Four 

• Animation and aeronautics are two industries that have given us digital tools.
• Photography enables us to capture an image with a certain perspective - it freezes the image into a simple perspective idea.
• The computer aided Wes Jones because through it he was able to three-dimensionally twist his building the way he wanted.
• Preston Scott Cohen describes a blob as 'an exact yet vigorous form' made of many curves. "Very intricate and out of the norm."
• Continuous and Sinuous forms support fluidity and curves.
• Some new ideas/ non-traditional things the computer has enabled is to edit or develop our work, nothing is fixed or final.
• Mass customisation is creating individual and personalised products.

GA Document

GA Document is a Japanese journal focusing on international architecture that expresses the ideas of toady’s modern architecture. It describes itself as “presenting the finest in international design”.

Futagawa, Yukio “Zaha Hadid CMA CGM Tower.” GA Document 119, (2011): 8-23.

 Looking at the latest issue available at the library (there are no electronic records), GA Document is very visual in the way that it presents information. It contains numerous plans, elevations, sections, diagrams, models as well as vivid photographs and rendering. Each article briefly explains both the conceptual ideas and the construction details of each project.

• The articles have been translated from Japanese, and the original text almost always follows the translation

• All of the projects/buildings in this issue are public or corporate buildings, from Maggie’s Gartnavel in Glasgow (a support center for people with cancer) to Residential Apartments in Sydney.

• There are no advertisements, except for Global Architecture’s other publications at the beginning and end on the journal.

Interior Detail(s)

Interior Detail(s) is a New Zealand architectural magazine that reports on local and international events/interiors/designers. It follows the more conventional format of a magazine, with editorials, reviews, features and “regulars” (sections you can find in every issue). It was also previously called 'Furniture New Zealand'.

Barker, Lucy “Kitchen Unconventional.” Interior Detail(s), Sept/Oct (2005): 16-17.

The shape of the coffee table was inspired by one of the pieces of furniture in the magazine (above). I also managed to find a chair similar to the floral one featured below, and decided to choose a similar colour scheme.

Interior detail(s) focuses on residential interiors – bathrooms, joinery, kitchens, furniture, cabinetmaking and design. The journal comments on seasonal trends, colours, materials and appliances.

Although it is quite specific, I feel like it’s informative for a range of people, not just architects, particularly homeowners looking to renovate their homes. It provides numbers for interior design services and stores, prices and trends in the industry.

Arkitektur DK

Arkitektur DK is a Danish architectural journal, and this issue is part 2 of 6 about “The Pragmatic Turn in Danish Architecture of the 00’s.” It mostly reviews Danish architecture and writes about Danish influences of particular projects.

The editorial considers whether the "faltering optimism" in renderings of future architecture is signalling the end of the pragmatic turn, or “the new wave” (which has “energized and vitalized Danish architecture”). If it is ending, how to encapsulate the energy and prevent the momentum being lost, and instead be translated into new ideas.

Vindum, Kjeld. “Editorial.” Arkitektur DK 56, 2 (2012):1

.Like GA Document, it contains a lot of drawings, models and diagrams but also has extensive interviews with architects. The interviews are in relation to Danish Architecture and the main theme of this issue (Pragmatic Turn in the 00's). With the interviews, there are images that relate to the architect’s answers.

Most of the content is translated beside the original articles.

Particle Lab

Particles that glow from yellow to red, and explode out

Particles explode out every 4 seconds and linger for 5 seconds

Lecture Three

• A vector image is a smart line that knows where it came from and where it's going (e.g. CAD drawings).
• A raster image is a collection of dumb dots (e.g. tif, png or jpeg files).

• A diagram is a visual representation or explanation.    
• Digital rendering concerns itself with texture, lighting, geometry and layers and in high quality rendering what matters most is the quality of images used, lighting and texture. 
• Drawn rendering uses pressure and different media.
• Wikitecture openly invites people with a range of different backgrounds to work on projects - through both real life and the virtual world (including Second Life).
• Cameron Sinclair is a founder of the non-profit organisation, Architecture for Humanity, which works towards a sustainable future. On Archvirtual.com, he comments on a hurricane relief project that was first built in Second Life: “The idea is, can we work collaboratively online, in places like Second Life, to respond to issues like Hurricane Katrina...…we starting in 1999 basically using email and a web page – and as we’ve progressed and as technology has progress, we’ve embraced new technologies.”
• Toyo Ito is a leading contemporary architect who is interested in the idea behind architectural works.
• Mediatheque is a library of resources - materials, books, periodicals...