What Happens When You Move to New England

     So you were expecting Design 5 right? Well, when you leave a two year program for a 4 year program with the added engineering aspect, you gain 3 more years of fun gen ed's and accumulations of architectural engineering classes. 

     
     I decided to move away. And if I had a dollar for every time someone asked me "why the hell did you move to Connecticut", I wouldn't need to be studying to have a good job. I was so sick of Florida. I could tell you everything about every single street, and destination, and I was tired of that. I didn't want to see the same people from high school, I was over the tourists, and cast members are the devils. To summarize it, I moved because I moved. 

     The first day of class I was given a warm welcome to New England, and their educational system. From design 1 thru 4, we weren't supposed to have a base on any of our models/designs, excluding windows, doors, and wall-like additives. DAY ONE of design 4 (design 4 at my new school is on par to Valencia's design 5) I was expected to know what an elevation was, understand codes for buildings, meanings of egress, etc. I was so lost, but so happy I was where I was. I like to learn when I am under pressure. No negativity towards Valencia, but the amount of information on realistic architecture and sustainability was at a loss. One thing I can say is they are so lenient on deadlines here at UHart- I was terrified to not have my axis/models ready for Baldwin. I like have a strict timeline, and if you're not done, you are DONE. I am so very blessed that my professors at Valencia kinda forced us to hand draw/design most things, because it gave me a great upper hand. So many people in the program started off using Revit and other programs to execute ALL of their assignments. Sorry but rectangular building with the paint bucket tool for "bricks" isn't enough. Baldwin would ask you to come back next semester when you're ready to work.




     So I will leave you with my first task in "new Design 4". We were asked to design a multi-use building including retail on the first floor, incubator space on the second, and finally residential on the third. I wanted to tie together each floor with similar details even though we were told to define each different space. I wanted the building to still read as a working unit altogether. This was a very fun first assignment to do since I'm not at all used to how Northern multi-use building look/work. 
***Fun fact, not many know what mylar is up here***

     For my materials and methods class, my professor should get an award. Its probably the most informative class I have ever taken, and it saves my ass for anything I need to know code-wise, or with means of egress. The textbook has EVERY building code (northern standards), material cost, egress requirement, etc. 

     The real majority of the semester within "new design 4" involves a master plan, and building idea that is still in the works, so stay tuned.



Thanks for keeping up with me! -M

Design 4 and THATS a wrap

So it's safe to say that Design 4 took my brain and changed anything I thought was real, and made it the complete opposite.

• Your work doesn't count if you can't describe the inner emotions of the drawings' soul. 
• You must use a scale, be unique, but use the scale correctly. Oh wait we never taught you how to scale for more than 3 minutes, good luck!!
• Why don't you have "landscape"? *Sees everyone turn in models with a base* SO BUILDING WITH A BASE IS ACCEPTABLE NOW.
• When you draw sections your walls, floors, and ceiling thicknesses must make sense, but remember to be unique and go outside the box with your work. Thats wrong, why did you do that. 

Whoever thought up this curriculum really has an exuberant amount of joy in melting, freezing, and chipping off the pieces of student's brains. 

So we can begin with the Savannah Georgia site trip, being that it took up most of the curriculum for the semester. 

We all drove to Savannah and took a walking tour of Downtown Savannah, starting at  Forsyth park and walking through to Porters Walk. We evaluated the way a city grid evolved and we each tied a personal niche to our experience. We were told to use that personal passion as a mold for how we evolved throughout the two sites. Some included velocity, footsteps, organization, photography, etc.   

My passion was footsteps, having to do with running and how the ground condition highlights the evolution we force off of impact. I decided that since running is a concept that has no plan when you go out to do it, all pieces of the site were fair game to build upon. 

A little while after we went through Downtown Savannah, we ventured to Fort Pulaski. We continued to the far Northern part of the site where the bunker sat below the entrance of the "dock" that went a little over where the water met the marsh land. This water line was a key component to all of our site designs. We were able to dig around the dock and bunker, but couldn't take anything from those two pieces. Everything else was fair game to build elevation upon, or dig away from. 

These two relief models allowed us to start playing with the idea of what and where we really could start to take away and add to the site. The organic pieces of the site played a heavy roll in marking what can change with time vs. by the human imprint. I utilized the idea of the ground condition and how with the human imprint, you can see the evolution's history. Just by the idea that running maps will always have a dictation on where to go, there are always other paths you can venture out to take. and with those other possibilities, the human imprint evolves the space given to them, even if it isn't printed out on a map. 

The site model I came up with took a very layered look to emphasize the ground condition and its importance to the rest of the site. The scale was at 1"=40'.

Once the site model was understood, I could zoom in to one of my spaces in the site. All together we had three spaces- the research, observation, and display space. The site model was at a scale of 1/8"=1'.

The site model took the research space. This was based on the fact how runners do make their own trails. Theres never a set trail you plan to take, of course there is always one there, but the average runner enjoys the discovery within the run. 

Research Space Diagrams (1/16"=1')

Observation Space Diagrams (1/16"=1')

Display Space Diagram (1/16"=1')

From top to bottom: Research, Observation, Display Space

This project began maybe the 1 month of the semester starting off with the Savannah trip itself. The city aspect continued into the midterm, which included the city "map" conveying our passion. We still used the same ideas when moving forward to the final project which focused on Fort Pulaski and the site we were building and taking from. 

Thanks for keeping up with me,

Michelle C. Harter

Design 3- Assignment 3, 4, and Final

So Design 3's final jump was a blur. I still was having conceptual thinking issues, all I wanted to do was be literal, when I needed to be critical.

I make it seem like less of a push over than it really was, but this final project really killed me. Design 3 has been my weakest attribute to my Design series.

We started off by watching Everything is Illuminated, and in contrary to the trailer, the film was pretty silent. It did have some premium dancing. (haha) *Speak in Alex's accent*

We came up with 8 still shots from the movie, of course manipulated to our concept's ideals.        

                                                   
              
              
              

My concept, with the help of good friends in my classes, came to be "Alex picked up the torch his grandfather left behind". This evolved into the idea that the ever-meshing bonds of generations upon generations truly can create a new prospective.

We then started turning all of that into a model. My first model was bland. The wax additive was apparently the best in the class when it came to craft, which is what a lot of us were struggling with. That comment was the only thing that kept me going that last month and a half. My concepts and model space SUCKED, and I wasn't confident at all. So that kept me going that my wax mold surpassed the rest.

The process is always the easiest.    

Once the model was finalized, I could focus on the bulk portion of the final. Which was an Exploding Axo with a human scale, 4 Sections in Negative/White Space, 4 photographs of your model, our semester drawing, and finally the main collage drawing.

                                          

All in all, I think my work came out very great for the mind set I had early on into this project. My conceptual thoughts come slightly easier now, where as now I need to work on crafting simple drawings and models with critical ideals. Wish me luck. 

Thanks for keeping up with me!

-Michelle C. Harter

Design 3- Assignment 2

So moving on into the next phase of design 3, we're still using the previous project's ideals i.e. the 12 series of pictures and drawings. 12 pictures, 12 drawings, and now 12 models. 

The materials were gonna be using involve that of plexi, white museum board, chipboard, wire, and no if ands or buts... Wax. We are told to chose 3, including wax, as our lowest limit. I've chosen to go with plexi, chipboard, and wax and possibly wire. Tbd. 

Anyway, we made 12 process models. PROCESS. That means ugly. And the uglier the better. It just means you're using additive and subtractive thought freely. 

So this bad boy is pretty ugly if I don't say so myself. 

Either way, the time schedule we have is around two weeks. I'm currently behind on finishing my PROCESS models but that's due to personal reasons. I have jumped ahead and finished three process models completely and finish one model entirely, so 1 out of 12 done, where most people will have a secure 12 process only done. You win some and lose some.

This is my first completed model. I plan to have my professor look at it and I definitely want to discuss color flow of the material with her. I think the wire will add and pull together the industrial look I am going for. 

Thanks for keeping up with me ! 

-Michelle C. Harter

Design 3- Project 1

So with all the iterations and process done the past two weeks, I redid my final iteration of the new concepts. 

My concept was "the light will conquer your doubt". Telling a story about my experience through my conformation a couple years back. How I was always around God, but with growing up making my own decisions, I took a break from it, then realizing I needed something to hold onto. 

Here is my final set of pictures and drawings. 

Thanks for keeping up with me! 

-Michelle C. Harter 

Design 3- Assignment 1

So design 3 has taken off this Fall semester and I have the same professor. She's like, Michelle you need to take someone new next semester. And I'm like, yeah I know!! I just love her teaching methods.

I signed up for her in the beginning of this journey because I was told that she's tough, she'll make you cry. And believe it or not I cried this assignment, skipped a class as well. But I signed up for this.

So the project is surrounded by the idea of graffiti. We watched the WWII video on "Kilroy was here". So we needed a graffiti mark in our drawings. I'm getting ahead of myself. 

We needed to take pictures of an artifact that impacted us, in a 12 shot series. Black and white, little-to no background. 

I went through maybe 4 iterations of pictures before I finally got it down. 

I thought, a water bottle is important to me! I run all the time. On the first day of pinning up, i found out it wasn't personal enough. Then I attempted to tell a story about my asthma. 

I thought the sneaker idea would come across more personal. I sent her like 2 other iterations by phone and those weren't clear enough. When this set was pinned up, the background was still too messy and the story was hard to understand. 

So then I decided to skip class, change my concept completely and wing it. Honestly the constant rejection killed my spirits. I needed a day off from this. 

The new iteration I finished at home before redoing it for the final project. 

Thanks for keeping up with me ! 

-Michelle C. Harter 

Design 2- Project 3

So the day has come where we submit our final. The Bloomingdales armatures took route to their new vertical standings. This model consisted of plexi glass which was later cut, basswood spray painted white, museum board, and wire (optional). 

I utilized score marks solely on the plexi and some Mylar to add definition to the layers. The preparation and occupational spaces began to be visible once the basswood and museum board was added to the armature. 

Here is some process: 

The building time frame consisted of messy planning with cardboard armatures, and expensive plexi later cutting. Until we reached the building week where it all came together quite quickly.

Here is the finished product:

*The drawings were pinned up at Valencia College*

Thanks for keeping up with me!

-Michelle C. Harter