The Beauty of Darkness

A documentation of my work from the D5 Studio of 2020. Juliana Wilson and Simon Devitt. -to scroll use left and right arrow keys or a track pad- to navigate tasks click "post tags"- - click on the posts to see the full post (the small number for written posts) -

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FINAL CRIT SUBMISSION

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FINAL CRIT SECTIONS AND PLANS

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FINAL CRIT SUBMISSION PART ONE - EARLY DEVELOPMENT

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Development task / technical detail development

These were taking from zoom ins and observation from previous drawings and plans. 

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Task 6 / Essence and Awareness

The developed surface objects

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Task 6 / Essence and Awareness 

The words made from the task - parts 1 - 2

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Manifesto of my ‘Reverse Camera Obscura’

In both architecture and photography, there is a requirement for darkness, however the emphasis on darkness means not to ignore or devalue the importance of light, but to highlight that both are needed. They influence each other, pull and push away, hide and expose each other. The heavy shadows against light shadows, the fade and haze of an opaque screen, the refraction and diffusing of soft light, against the designed tectonics of corners, edges and ridges creating a heavy darkness or a light shadow. Dark and light move fluidly, whether we recognise it in a space or an image, or completely forget about it at together, the beauty of darkness pronounces a vivid role in how we experience and appreciate those spaces.

In the design of a bathhouse, in a cultural and ritual sense, the element of projection and reflection are present within its walls, this idea of moving through to a very public state to a very private space. In darkness I see privacy, in darkness I see internal reflection and this state of disconnection from the outside world. This transition is something I explore in my design. How can I move this internal state of thinking from projection to reflection, how can I move light to dark. It oscillates and moves, it is never in a fixed position. Darkness moves with the sun as much as light does, and the idea was to manipulate and control the way darkness was in my design.

In designing and developing the bathhouse I rotated back to these “rules” I created.

A Journey from public to private.

A Journey from light (public) to darkness (private).

Inciting a journey from projection (light) to reflection (darkness).

To filter light into dark.

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Task Five. Mid Semester task. Interior Views.

Light and shadow studies.

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Task Five. Mid Semester task. Aperture Detail.

For my aperture I wanted something that I could use to frame and control the darkness within my design, the idea of a tile appealed to me with the ability to repeat and change the quality of shadow and light. The various designs within the aperture tiles allow for different amounts of light to enter the building, much like a lens of a camera. The higher the aperture the least amount of light will be allowed through aka the smaller the cu out in the tile, creating a larger depth of field, a depth of unawareness within the room. The larger aperture patterns allow for one to disconnect with the outside, the limited view of the surrounding park, only the quality of a soft darkness, illuminated with soft captures of frequent dots of light that scatter the space. This is becomes a state of reflection for those in it, one to stop connecting with the outside in a direct way, sounds, soft flickers of moments one could see through the tiles, or perhaps the movement from the shadows from the objects outside, only then would one be aware they were outside. The space allows for internal reflection, to focus, and place value on the idea that darkness can construct architecture. In the context of my design, this room with the higher aperture tiles (aka the smaller cut outs) is where the bats will be. A place of privacy.

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Task Five. Mid Semester task. Section Two.

Section BB (refer to plan)

Scale 1:50 @ A1

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Task Five. Mid Semester task. Section one.

Section AA (refer to plan) 

Scale 1:50 at A1

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Task Five. Mid Semester task. Final Plan 

Fig. 1.

A scaled plan (1:100 at A3) to show the workings of how one might move through the space, I wanted to use curved corridors to show the movement from light to dark in a transitional and slow way.

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Task Five. Mid Semester task. Development of plan part 2.

Fig. 1-4. / A recognition of division and threshold.

Fig. 5-7 / A recognition of inhabiting and living.

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Task Five. Mid Semester task. Development of the plan part 1.

Fig. 1-5. / An occupation and re-arrangement of darkness.

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Task Five. Mid Semester task. Paper models Part two.

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Task Five. Mid Semester Task. Paper Models Part One 

Paper models version one. The first models were an exploration of cut out and extractions, how light passes through multiple vessels and frames of various size. How different sizes of cut outs play with the limit and quantity of darkness in the shadow.

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Task Five. Mid Semester Task. Site plan and research

The site is western park, my individual site being the sloped stream area of the park. The stream is mainly dried up during the course of the year but floods a little bit during the rainy season. 

In pre-colonial history, the times where Auckland was inhabited by Maori Pas and land, the area now know as western park was a part of an important space for Maori. Maori had their food production organised into gardening and fishing circuits. These were dictated by soils, fish stocks and the native calendar (maramataka). These fishing stations supported byv gardens throughout the Auckland Istmus, including Te Waiatarau (meaning reflecting waters) or freemans bay area.

Western park falls away from the ridge line thus the valley like typography of the park. The ridge line was called Te Rimu Tahi or ‘the lone rimu tree’

Statellite fishing stations supported the main camps that by the 15th century included the volcanic Pa throughout Tamaki.

Tuna Mau - ‘To Catch Eels’ is the ancestral name of the stream that once flowed through the Western Park gully to Waiatarau (freemans bay). In the Autumn seasons, the eels were plentiful and this station was a big part of feeding and suppiling nearby villages.