INTRODUCTION TO CRAFT:
WOODWORKING
When we were first told to create a collage describing or showing our definition of craft, the first definition that came to mind was; "the creation of a new subject through the use of multiple unrelated objects." To better exemplify this definition the thought of how many different buildings and people come to create a city came to my thoughts. With the use of tower like objects like the personal computer or battery pack I created skyscrapers.
I was then assigned to study the craft of an architect through their works, I was assigned Pritzker Architecture Prize recipient Francis Kéré. Kéré is an architect who is based in Germany, coming from a village in Burkina Faso; he moved to Germany to study architecture where he earned scholarships to further his education. Kéré started his architecture career by working in his home village, because of this there were many parameters and issues that he had to work around to be able to finish his designs. Dealing with limited resources and the harsh climate help to chisel his craft, for example in his design of the Serpentine Pavilion; you could see clear inspiration from his culture, almost as if he had brought a piece of his village from Burkina Faso to London.
Our class then chose four different crafts to study and explore deeper, out of the four chosen; I chose to study woodworking more thoroughly. From woodworking, the four main components of the craft are carpentry, furniture building, woodturning, and chiseling. Those four going from large-scale to small-scale in that order. Carpentry creates products that are much larger in comparison to the other subjects, creating window frames and buildings; while furniture building has to deal with the creation of furniture such as, tables and chairs. Woodturning is the creation of wooden products through the work of a wooden lathe by cutting and forming shapes, creating objects like handles, vases, and handheld materials; chiseling is the detailing of wooden products, chiseling is the process of defining products.
CONCEPT
DESIGNS
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Throughout all of my concepts I have four main rooms set for different purposes; the first is the carpentry room which is made slightly larger to the woodturning room due to the size difference in their products, in the carpentry room the students will deal with large-scale products and materials, being used to also create furniture. Moving onto the woodturning room, which are the smallest rooms in all the concepts, they are used to create handheld objects like bowls; this room will also be used for chiseling, finalizing products before being brought to the showroom or display rooms. The showrooms are set in place to show case the products that the students have created, showing the progression and mastery of their craft. The final room is the storage room, this room will be used as storage for materials, tools, and products that are either not ready to be showcased or have been chosen not to be shown.
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For my first concept I tried to fit all the components into a rectangular shape, having the storage room at the center as well to provide easy access to all the rooms. In my second concept I went towards a more circular design, but with wood the material is very rigid; without the use of steam most of the time the material is very solid. In my third concept I went back to a more rectangular base, trying to make the design more rigid like the property of wood. In the third concept I added a shute between the carpentry and woodturning rooms to promote sustainability. If the carpentry students had a piece of material that was too small for them but was good for woodturning, they would send the piece of wood down the shute to the woodturning room. I had originally planned for the shute to be a large funnel from a second story carpentry room into a first floor woodturning room, but due to safety concerns that concept was changed.
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AUTOCAD:
FLOOR & SECTION PLAN
My revised concept was designed with the intention to represent wood being cut, the cut in my design would be an open walk way between the two halves of the building; I also added the shute idea from my third concept. In my revised concept in AutoCAD I decided on changing some small details of my sketch. Instead of having the cut be completely open, I decided to add on two large sliding doors on each side to provide better protection from the weather; I also removed the doors and added large openings to create easier movement between the rooms for a more cohesive work environment.
WUNDERKAMMER DESIGNS:
DRAWING & MODEL
For the final part of my first project was the wunderkammer designs, both the drawing and model were the pieces I took the most time and struggled with the most. For my drawing I took the outline my revised concept as a base, and I added a wooden flooring pattern between the halves to try and exhibit my craft in the drawing. To contrast the brown or burgundy color of the wood I used different shades of blue to help highlight the designs.
Moving onto my model, I had recently been hiking with my friends when we saw some pieces of wood that had been left behind in a construction zone; it was evident that some time had passed since they were put there because roots from the nearby vegetation had started to break down the wood. In my model I tried to exhibit this passage of time, with the use of the roots being wild and everywhere to simulate the same effect. I then lined the walls of the model with ceiling pattern that is used in wooden designs to showcase the use of carpentry in woodworking.
Moving onto my model, I had recently been hiking with my friends when we saw some pieces of wood that had been left behind in a construction zone; it was evident that some time had passed since they were put there because roots from the nearby vegetation had started to break down the wood. In my model I tried to exhibit this passage of time, with the use of the roots being wild and everywhere to simulate the same effect. I then lined the walls of the model with ceiling pattern that is used in wooden designs to showcase the use of carpentry in woodworking.
REFLECTION
From the start to the ending of my first project in my Architectural Design II class, I strived to produce the best for each assignment and segment. While towards the end of it my work may have worsened in quality, I was still able to grow during this process. Learning from the mistakes I made from each assignment to building upon to the next; for example my concept, without the first three concepts I had originally sketched I wouldn't have been able to think of my revised concept that would be my final concept. Using all I learned about craft from the first half of this class, I'll build upon the knowledge I have gained to output a greater quality and quantity of products.
