A Learning Portfolio

Creating SpaceSarah ClarkSpring 2009

Breaking The Ice

• We started off this semester with an Ice Breaker that would be the base for all of our work. After a walk around Coit Tower I chose a few adjectives that defined how I felt.

• Secluded• Mysterious• Peaceful• We then abstracted these adjectives.

Here was my first attempt at my

models. I started out with a basis on the

main word of secluded. Hoping to

create a feeling of seclusion between

the similar materials and structures on the top and bottom, and reinforce it with the

side structures.

Now, time for our second iteration. With

this model, I was mainly attempting to create a mildly more complex model. I moved the

side structures around a bit to create a few

spaces. Unfortunately, it just came across as

chaotic.

In this iteration, I hoped to clean my

model up a bit. Chaos was definitely not an emotion I hoped to evoke. However, I think that in doing

this, I lost some complexity that my

model was had. Now it was a bit boring.

Our Gesture drawings…

At some point we drew gesture

drawings to help us abstract our

adjectives even more. Here I used contrasting warm and cool colors to create a feeling of

peaces within chaos.

At this point, we started adding space within a

space. Although mine is

not that readable. I seems I also

needed to work on my

complexity and the structure of

the model.

Finally, a little progress. Here we

really emphasized the space within a space, and I felt I did a fairly

good job in doing that. Here was also the first time I was able to add a bit of complexity to make this iteration a bit

more interesting than the previous ones.

Here progress slowed once more. It was time

to break out of the coral.

Some Sketches.

Plans on how to break out of the coral….

Here was the first attempt on a new

idea. A little messy, a little chaotic, but

the ideas are all their. I was hoping to create a feeling

of descending into a secluded area.

A very Literal Narrative…

I was walking up the steep hills, weighed down with all the stuff I find necessary to have with me all the time. It was hot and it was sticky. You could feel the stuffy son beating down on your back. Their was little breeze until I made it over the crest of the hill. Finally, a little relief. The path opened up into the plateau of the hill. It was empty and barren ground, surrounded by dense thicket on all sides. I spin around and the same view surrounds me on all sides. I ditch the weight and head out. Some ordered and plain bricks urge me forward. Eyes hung low, they bring me to the edge of the clearing. The heat is lessening now, the light is fading into evening.

The bricks fade down into steps. I follow them as they submerge me into another world. The cool air hits me on all sides and I know relief is near. The paths takes a sharp bend and leads further down, but that path no longer holds my interest. It is clean and plain. The smaller path jetting off the upper bank is more enticing. Trees hang down to obscure the future. I step off of the bricks and onto the soft dirt. Maneuvering around shrubs and trees I make my way east. The plant life is odd here, slightly disturbed. Trees hang low with broken limbs, shrubs hang over the barely trodden path.

Eventually, I reach a small clearing. Their are small stone steps leading to know where. It is the type of place that you a foolishly lured to. It appears that it has something to offer, but no, at a closer look it is obvious that it is an allusion.

Despite the pause, I keep moving, moving light and easier in the cool dark air. The trees loom heavy over me, and on all sides. My senses run high. Alert, i turn the corner and see what was laid ahead of me. The trees still hang low and seclude me from the noisy streets of San Francisco. They are dense all around me, only ceasing for the thin dirt trail at my feet and where the clovers and bushes reign supreme. Their is however one small opening in the trees and a beam of light shines though. It is the last of the days sun and shines magnificently onto the underbrush. With this, the cool dusk air finally puts me at ease, my heart beat slows into a slow and even rhythm. Pushing forward feels pointless and turning back feels wrong, so their I stand, watching the sun slowly set into the quiet forest. And I'm sure glad to escape that sticky heat, I think I' travel light more often.

A Second Attempt…I am in a large open space. I am dissatisfied and bored. L see borders off the my

sides closing me in. I am ushered forth to a small opening. Here there is a sense of repeated overhanging structures. They are heavy in contrast to the open space I previously knew. It is entrancing and repeated, putting me in a comfortable daze. Their heavy nature pushes me further down the path.

Next I feel a soft roof structure. It is delicate and light, giving me a feeling of peacefulness. None the less I continue. Further down in elevation and above me it is still delicate. This time it is also intricate with sharp angles. However, the lightness of the structure contrasts the sharp form.

Further down and now the roof looms over me. It hangs slightly over my path but hardly seems threatening. The last roof structure of my journey is heavy and thick. The heaviest and thickest of all. It pushes me out and into a large area. Surrounded and secluded by the path I just traveled I feel at peace. I can see anyone who might come near with fair warning and now I can explore this dense hidden area.

Here I further developed my new idea. This time with a keener eye. Although I find

this to be a huge improvement, it still lacks the

large scale and large complexity of space. I find it

is too confined. I need to spread it out just a bit and

create a better hierarchy of spaces. I also find that my

work is not cohesive.

With this iteration, I feel I finally have a cohesive

structure. Although the small areas need

improvement, I feel the fundamental structure is

showing what I would like it to show. Now I just need to

develop the surrendering space.

The Latest Model

Fin

Arch 21Jerry Lum