Matthew Kim: Architecture II

Project 01- Phase One 

The aim of this project is to create a memorial for a famous dead woman. We start by researching our client to later create a connection with the information we learn to sculpt our ideas into a building. We are tasked with researching the client, making a collage, making the memorial, picking a site, and creating foundations. The goal is to use architecture to paint a connection between my client's legacy and the creative process of making a building.

Research: Collage 

The aim of the collage is to use the information we gained by studying to portray our client onto the collage. In my collage I used a gray filter to show that Rosalind Franklin wasn’t from our time period but instead from the 1800-1900. However, I did add color to the DNA in the middle because that was the highlight of her legacy and it shows that her work is still relevant today. The building on the left is her work place, Kings College, and the right is the Big Ben showing where she lived, London. I position the DNA in the middle using the side buildings to centralize the DNA structure. The hexagonal structure represents that although she was a professional biologist she was a successful crystallogagist.

Rosalind Franklin Collage

Memorial plan

The goal for this plan is to create a detailed elevation, site, and section plan for our clients memorial. In my plan I opted for a crystalline structure at the top to represent her crystallography career and a double helical spiral stair case which looks like DNA representing her biology career. The feeling I want to encapsulate is as you go down you learn about my client, Rosalind Franklin, and it turns darker and darker symbolic of her life which was ended shortly due to her research but as you go back up you gain a sense of ascending to the light understanding the importance of my clients legacy.

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Project 02

The objective of project 2 is to find a site to place our memorial with an explanation as to why it should be there and we create an another building for our client. The building, foundation, is going to be used to educate others about my client, a living space, and a work space.

Site Analysis 

The goal of the site analysis is to create a deeper understanding of where the clients memorial and foundation will be placed. I used this park area using the outer trees to symbolize the isolation my client felt because being a women in a job other than something related to the house was uncommon. However, the trees don’t only represent isolation but show that despite this she shined through the dark, the alienation of her, and gained fame with her scientific research. I placed the site above Birckbeck University, the clients final workplace, where she created a team to research viruses so she could save others. I believe that this site is the best option due to the facts stated.

Concept Plans

​The concept plans are a master plan, bubble plan, and a perspective or elevation plan of the clients foundation. The focus of the concepts was not deep thinking but quantity over quality. The reason for this is to mass produce and eventually finding an idea you like or can build off of. The three concepts shown below are only my top three; however, there are a lot more.

Concept Plan 1

In this concept I created a pillar with rooms jutting out. I wanted the foundation to look like RNA from the outside and add a spiral stair case inside to create the illusion that the people in the foundation is inside a piece of RNA. This idea is good since it would match the memorial's DNA structure. I added a glass top to give a similar feeling to the memorial with light shining through really deepening the connection between RNA and DNA.

Concept Plan 2

In this second concept I focused around her expertise in crystallography. The building from the top-down represents the crystallography of coals structure. I though this would be good since the memorial top half crystalline structure was what came to mind when the word crystallography  comes. However, my client really studied graphite, coal, and other minerals. That is why the coal structure is a good idea but not as good as the first concept.

Concept Plan 3

This third concept also revolves around my clients famous biology legacy. In this concept I combined favorable aspects from the previous two. I used the DNA aspect from the first one to create a building with the shape. The second concepts design of ascending was used by the difference in levels. The building has gaps between rooms to allow nature to go in between since my client was very fond of nature.