Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Hand & CAD - The Wireframe Years - 13



Tokyo International Forum Finals (F)






This is my last post on the final phase presentation for the Tokyo International Forum.



The following images are views that were dropped from the final presentation. They all deal with the Glass Hall or the Plaza, so there was no real lose in understanding from dropping them.




The Glass Hall roof was perhaps the most distinctive feature of the entire design. It was essentially a huge canoe shaped structure, that was rigid enough to “hang” the glass “curtain”. Part of an earthquake-safe structure, it also was a beautiful sculptural form.
Several ideas were explored as the design developed, as shown above.




Above, photos of the resulting form at night.



We tried out views from the bridges over the plaza.
 

 
 
This idea was dropped fairly quickly when it was realized that we would be largely looking at the tops of trees.

A photo of the plaza from the north end. I found few photos from the bridges over the plaza, and, as we expected, they showed more trees than architecture.



We also tried out quite a number of views from the long ramp built into the curved glass wall.

 
 
These images were complex, and needed to be printed and evaluated quickly, so they were not done with the excessively slow hidden line processing.

 
 
 
I drew the major edges on the 8 x 10 print by hand to help us imagine the eventual look.

 
 
Although several of these views were promising, we realized that other views were better at revealing the entire space.


Following are more photos of the existing structure.

 
 

They are either shot toward the ramp, or from the curving ramp walkway itself.

 
 
 
 Altogether, an amazing urban space.



Unless I run across a project that I have forgotten, this is the last “Wireframe & Hand Design Process” post. Artistically they are disappointing, but historically they will be quite interesting to reread.


Is there a “moral” to this story? Well… it might be that computers are merely tools. And that without the human touch they lack the…
Human touch?
Yah, I know, old news. But it is worth keeping in mind as you learn how to use new technologies. Anyway, the story goes on with better and better rendering programs, and I’ll get to that eventually.

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