Hand & CAD - The Wireframe Years - 8

Tokyo International Forum Finals (A)

1991… I got a call from Rafael Viñoly Associates. The final phase presentation for the Tokyo International Forum was coming up, and they wanted me in the office working on them. Again, I worked with a handful of younger architects who were familiar with 3D CAD. I managed the work, and reviewed the direction of the work with Mr. Viñoly.

Since I covered the process in the previous posts I thought that I would include photos of the actual building to compare with the renderings.

The images are shown chronologically, starting with wireframe views. A final line drawing is followed by a photo (usually found on the internet) of the same or a similar viewpoint. Pantone film was applied to the final line drawing, but I was not able to photograph all of the final boards.

This is essentially history, and uninteresting in our computer animated world, but it may be “dug up” by some future historian of the early computer age.

The overall (north) view.

A sketch by Mr. Viñoly.

The wireframe of that view.

The hidden line view. This view was so detailed that it was separated into 7 or 8 different building parts for hide line processing; otherwise it would have taken weeks to process. The separate parts were pasted together by hand, and photographically united into a single drawing.

People, trees and other entourage were added by hand. 

This image was not part of the presentation, but instead was done a year or so later for my own amusement.  It is 25” square, and used airbrushed ink and acrylic on a photographic print. The plaza level plan in the sky was drawn with white and light blue Prismacolor pencils.

This photo, necessarily shot with a wide angle lens, shows that the actual urban space is tighter than suggested by the rendering. Some details have also changed, and the outdoor plaza is surprisingly dark in this view.

The west entry view.

Above, a few of the wireframe/hand prints leading to the final viewpoint.

The final hidden line view with hand drawn entourage.

 A photo of the final presentation board.

 A current photo of the west entry. As with the north view, the dense urban surroundings make it impossible to reproduce the rendering view. Also like the north view, the entry area is dark and cave like.

Escalators leading to hall lobbies.

The wireframe/hand prints leading to the final viewpoint. The final view was chosen largely because it included a view toward the Imperial Gardens, orienting the building in the fabric of Tokyo.

 The final hidden line print with hand drawn people and view, and toned screen.

I could not find a photo of this viewpoint.

Plaza view.

A bevy of views to consider. The model’s complexity forced me to work with wireframes in the preliminary views.

 The final view (the third one above) is shown as a hidden line view.

 The same view with considerably more detailing.

 Line drawing with sketched trees and people.

 Final line drawing.

 Photo of final board.

 Similar view at night… nice!

There will be 5 more posts on this single project. That seems like a lot, but I’d like this kind of information on the internet myself… so I’m selfishly putting it all up.