Rhythm of Curves in Galaxy SOHO and Kingkey 100

  Zaha is a world famous architect. If you are a student who majors in Architecture, it is impossible that you do not know her. As to me, I know her early. In my aesthetics course in the university, my essay even explored the relationship between Chinese aesthetician Guangqian Zhu's theory and her work, vitra fire station in German.

  Recent years, Beijing has become a experimental ground of diverse architectures. I do not like that. Therefore, when the  Galaxy SOHO finished, I did not care about that, even sniffed. However, these days, I study in her work, Galaxy SOHO in Beijing, I really want to say: Give a damn! How beautiful these lines are! I want to go Beijing to see this building now!

  Just watching cannot solve any problem. This time, I try to draw these amazing lines. It is a nice way to experience the smooth and natural curves.

  Actually, Galaxy SOHO lets me think of another commercial complex in Shenzhen, China which name is Kingkey 100 (KK100). It is a landmark of this metropolis and the skyscraper which is 8th height in the world. ( I call it chocolate pie!) Architectural company TFP and ARUP in UK designed it together. I like the feeling when I walk through the mall. 

  In KK mall, the design also uses the curve.But they are not as smooth as Galaxy SOHO, since they have some straight lines in them.

  The buildings are like the music, having the rhythm. It can be reflected in the lines!

Lincoln Cathedral

  Every time when I see the wonderful churches, cathedrals or abbeys,such as, St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, I only understand the Gothic arches or domes. And the complicated carvings make me feel dazzling.

  Recently, I watch the BBC documentary, Churches: How to Read Them.

  It is interesting and helpful, because in my living environment, temples are the main religious buildings. There are some churches, but they are not exquisite.  

  Through this documentary, I get the hang of church little by little. Taylor studies in many churches in UK which have different characters. He introduces the background, stories and carvings of some special churches. So, when I went to Lincoln Cathedral, I felt better. 

  Before I went to Lincoln, I found a story about the little and famous imp in Lincoln Cathedral. These carvings always have their own stories or legends.

The Angel turns the naughty imp into stone

    Two great rose windows, which are a highly uncommon feature among medieval architecture in England. On the south side there is the “Bishop's Eye”, one of the largest examples of curvilinear tracery seen in medieval architecture. This window made me think of the rose window of York Cathedral. Its rose window was in the memory of Rose War. 

Dean's Eye

Bishop's Eye

    European are good at stone carvings.

patterns

   Pointed arch, the mark of medieval buildings.

  Lovely girls, they were making wishes.

rehearsal of choir

  Lincoln is a small city, but the people are more peaceful than people in Nottingham. There are lots of vintage shops, selling exquisite old things, such as, telescope, mouth organ, lace, post cards and ties. I had  nice travelling experience in Lincoln. 

Self-examination of Project 1

  When Joe said the word "human being" to me, my mind was empty. Before, I treated my design as the package design. Now, I realize and find the reason why I always feel my design is lack of love.

  "Love" is a corny word which appeared in most movies, songs and literary works. However, it is wonderful and moving. My professor Haibing, she loves a British poet whose name is Landor.

Dying Speech of an Old Philosopher

by W.S. Landor

I strove with none for none was worth my strife;

Nature I loved, and, next to nature, art

I warm'd both hands before the fire of life;

It sinks, and I am ready to depart.

  Think carefully about the space and humanistic care, I want to describe a condition. As a designer, if I want to design a kitchen, I should image my feeling, mood and mind when I cook at the kitchen. What do I want eat today? Is Mussel soup with Chinese watermelon OK ? How long does it take to heat the pot? Is the sink user-friendly? Where can I get the salt?

  This is the situation how "human being" affects our design.

  A2 boards, I did them terribly. I should have clear logic to do my boards and show my ideas, such as, technical details, materials, layout and flow line of people's behaviours.

  Post-production skills. PS and V-ray.

  Although I feel upset, finding these disadvantages and mistake is good for me. If I am perfect, why do I study here? Picking up the pieces and starting over.

Surrealism

  Today, I browsed a interesting website: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/ I found  stimulating NEWS of Unexpected Layers of Glass Added to Stones and Books.Born in Tokyo, Dusseldorf-based artist Ramon Todo creates beautiful textural juxtapositions using layers of glass in unexpected places. Starting with various stones, volcanic rock, fragments of the Berlin wall, and even books.
  This work has the contrast of new and old and materials. However, the combinations which breaks our logic are harmonious and new.
 

  Coincidently, I saw my professor's Weibo( Chinese Twitter) introduced a pioneer of surrealism, Meret Oppenheim who is a Swiss artist.

 

  This is her famous creation, Fur Breakfast.

 Look at these works, I am thinking, I can try something surrealistic in my kiosk. Generally speaking, the decoration of cafe is always warm. Designers like using wood as the main material. Now, I want to use reflective material. It is like the dark mirror. It will break the normal logic of people's perspectives of cafes. As for the colour, I choose navy and white, because they are simple and cool. 

  Some buildings or installation use the mirror:

  

How to Balance Creativity and Function?

  This week, Joe did not come. We met another man teacher who I did not know his name. He always said,just do it! I love his words which gives me the decisive brave and let me insist on my idea.

  He likes my first plan, I also like it. The inspiration of first plan comes from the CD box, and the concept of second plan is from the matchbox. The first one is more creative than second one, but there are some realistic and limited factors, for example, the difference in height of floor, the roof and the location of wheels. 

  original one: in this kiosk, there is an entrance in the central unit. In the left unit, there is bar table and chairs. The special family area is in the right unit. Left and right units can be opened in any angle and use wood floor to connect them.

 

  second one: thinking of the structure, this kiosk can be opened in 60 and 90°. Bar tables are in both side with chairs which are put in the square. Add the "drawer-style" roof.

  Sometimes, I am confuse. I know function is important, but interestingness and creativity also are important. Meeting function may be at the cost of interestingness.  Maybe it is based on what you are look for...... It is hard to get them all.

Architectures Finally Come Back to Essence

  We want to organise our process step by step, but it is usually in disorder. I think I need to think about my concept and structure again.
  Yesterday, I talked with my friend who majors in Architecture. He said, utopian design was funny and when you designed something, you needed to know the structure. We compared the Beijing Galaxy SOHO which was created by Zaha Hadid with the building of CCTV (Chinese call it big underpants).  He told me Zaha's work has a cool building envelop, but her structure is more reasonable and simple than the big underpants. Besides, the Bird's Nest Stadium that was designed by Weiwei Ai and HERZOG&DEMEURON  wastes a large number of steel.
  Every famous architecture has its lethal disadvantage. About the building, it depends on what are you looking for.
  Come back to my kiosk, I analyse various kinds of boxes again with models and case studies.

  Compared with these boxes, get my conclusion.

  But, I also need to think about the realistic factors.

  I find that what I did before is not useful. The shape can be simplified or removed. The building finally comes back to its essence. I really experienced " the first thing is function." I am tried of these gaudy forms and shapes, maybe I can read some books about the minimalism.

  The sliding rail structure makes me remember the HK architect Zhiqiang Zhang. I studied his works before. He uses the sliding rail to expand his apartment which is only 32㎡. In his another famous work the "SUITCASE" at the foot of The Great Wall and product design, Treasure Box for Urban Nomads Back, also apply this method to optimise the interior space.

  You can watch the video about the smart apartment.

A Winding Path

  Recently, I began to understand "research". I think I made a mistake, because I had used the old way which I learned from the university to do my MA project.
  In here, teachers never deny us and they love to ask us questions which promote our to rethink profoundly. Maybe some questions look like simple, but they are thought-provoking. In the university, we usually showed our ideas to teachers. Sometimes, we changed our idea and we told teachers we changed it. The reaction of teachers was just listening to our new ideas. It seemed to come naturally. However, in the last design course, when a classmate said she gave up her old idea, Joe asked her "why did you give up this idea and use the new idea ?" Reginald also asked me to give him a reason of my design.
  ......
  It was rendered speechless, was not it?
  I realized that I cannot go freestyle and I cannot just depend on my feeling. This kind of methodology pushes me to think and rethink again and again.
  Research is a vital part of our studying. In another word, it is a core part. I know I should borrow some books from library and search information from the Internet and I have been doing that. But, I just felt I did not know the spirit of research, how to do it and why to do it. I was like a zombie.
  Thanks to Tira, he shared his studying experience with me. In order to design our kiosk, I found many and various types of boxes,such as cigarette box, matchbox, moon cake. Finally, I decided to use the concept of the CD box. Tira said, I should do research about comparing these different boxes and explaining why I choose the CD box.
  On Tuesday, Joe showed her research about a building. She tried to put the building in different environment and found some case studies about her assumption which can proof the possibility of her assumption. It enlightened me a lot. I think doing research is like seeking confirmation of a math question. First, I should come up with lots of ideas, compare them and obtain my initial conclusion. Then, draw on some case studies to proof and develop my conclusion. Finally, get my final conclusion. This progress is scrupulous and  needs divergent thinking.
  Therefore, I come back to my concept and do more research about all kinds of boxes. I find something which I did not find them before. I guess research has become more and more interesting.