We worked on the house and the cube rendering (the gray scale) simultaneously.  There were various criteria that we had to meet.  The client was Madam X, and she had many many rules.  She basically wanted a single cabinet space for a sink, fridge, and mini stove top.  There must be a dining area, living area, office, bedroom, and bathroom.  One would walk onto the property in between the North wall and the fence on the West side.  Scattered, yet organized, stone pieces lead the way to the entrance.  After going through the front door, on encounters a large open space: to the left is the dining area/stairs to the second level, straight forward is the kitchen cabinet, then to the right and up a step is the living room area.  The cabinet, stairs, and elevated plane provide a natural divide between living and dining space.  After heading up the stairs one comes to a landing.  Attached to the landing is the bathroom, complete with sink, toilet, and shower.  There is a door to ensure privacy.  To the left of the bathroom is the bedroom.  There is a four feet high wall to allow sight to the lower level.  The bed is hidden to ensure privacy to Madam X, and there is an exposed clothing storage on the wall.  To the right of the landing is a catwalk over to the office space.  The office space is very private and separate from the other areas of the house.  It is slightly elevated from the bedroom section.  The desk is specially designed to have more area for Madam X to work.  It overlooks the first level, and is open seeing that it only has three walls enclosing the space.  There are shelves on the wall to supply space for books and projects.  The roof of the house is sloped slightly to force rainfall to flow into a holder.  Car shelter is provided by a carport that is hidden by the large fence on the East side.  The landscape includes 10 cacti, 2 metal sculptures, 6 crepe myrtles, elevated patios, large triangular stone fence, and 2 colorful murals.   The windows vary in order to enforce the animated ideas within the project.

The cube rendering took a lot of abstract thought.  I began with taking a simple photo of the cube, and placing a black and white filter on it.  Then from a grid I drew the basic outline of each form exactly like it is in the cube.  I began to develop groups of shapes into transformers.  I chose transformers because they’re incredibly detailed and animated.  As one can tell, I didn’t exactly know what to do with the top, so I chose to shade a selected few forms.  Autobots assemble!

The cube, or “three dimensional representation” was the second project of the semester.  We were suppose to take our word and transform the black and white composition into three dimensional figures.  I chose cubes, because they’re very “comic-like” and they are also very lively, which is my interpretation of the word animated.  Like the previous project this one also had three preliminaries.  The final seemed to last FOREVER.  I didn’t piddle away at it, and ended up getting an incomplete.  Luckily I finished before Thanksgiving break and Professor Fairey gave me a B, which I am eternally grateful for.

The first assignment of first semester was to write an autobiography, pick 5 pieces of art (architecture, art, etc.) that we really love, and pick three adjectives that describe us.  I picked quirky, tenacious, and one other one that I can never remember.  Professor Fairey proclaimed the word “animated” after someone read my paper aloud.  (Animated meaning: adj, full of life or excitement; lively) Although everyone had only known me for two days they agreed that it was perfect.  And so began the first semester of my college career.

The first project was the black and white composition.  A combination of circles, squares, and elements of the two.  We had three preliminaries, which I started over each time.  I was up until 4 the night the final was due working on it in my roommate’s bedroom.  Totally worth the A-.  As I always say, and A is an A.

Modern architects are overwhelmed with making every white, or everything square, very plain and very bare.  Although it can be absolutely breath taking when done the right way, it amazes me more when homes are designed with another mindset.  Like this one, a farmhouse with popular modern features.  Modest windows cover the nearest side of the house while still incorporating the classical feel of a typical farmhouse, making this one not typical in the least.

edsther:

A Modern Farmhouse