amrit seera

amrit seera turned 4 today!

quick flick through 15.01.2016

a flick through the final output of my essay / magazine about pop art / kitsch and its effects on architecture, how this is at present and is there a future for ‘pop’ and architecture.

facade! special pop edition! 15.01.2016

Get all the your architecture gossip, trends and scandal needs in the latest issue of FACADE! Only 99p! This week's the special pop edition!

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research: the world goes pop_ the tate modern_ 2015

precedent: matrix_ lebbeus woods_ 2008

“on a large site in west harlem, columbia university is planning to build an extension of it’s main campus over the next twenty-five years. the urban planning and architectural designs it has commissioned so far are pragmatic at best- maximising square-footage of usable space- and banal, having nothing to in particular with ideas about teaching, study, and interdisciplinary research. they also fail to relate in any meaningful way to the existing urban fabric, simply filling the existing city block pattern. for these reasons the opportunity to conceive and build a truly contemporary university campus is lost.

...

the approach involved the creating of a planning matrix for the site. a matrix differs fundamentally from a master plan. instead of being based on predetermined programs of us, such as school of business, school or art, and the like, it is a three dimensional armature designed for the site that will accept many interdisciplinary and hybrid education programs likely to develop in the future.”

future representation final output

above are the final three images that are a culmination of work in autocad, rhino, v-ray and photoshop. the top image is of an out door garden, the middle image a sushi bar and the final image a tearoom, they all have the theme of art nouveau elements weaved throughout them. 

the making of a ‘sexy image’ 01.12.2015

software used: autocad, rhino, v-ray, photoshop

1) it all started with a sketch and a discussion, a main driver behind my building is creating a vertical restaurant. so for future representation i would use my 3d modelling and rendering skills to recreate three interior spaces that would be in my building: a tea room, a garden and a sushi bar, all with art nouveau elements in and amongst them. using photoshop for post-production i would add elements to these spaces that would connect them.

2) after looking at images of existing interiors i began modelling these spaces in their traditional forms, so a japanese tea room has a size relationship to the tatami mats that line the floors so the room size is based on these dimensions. within my design work i was looking at art nouveau architecture in particular gustave strauven’s maison saint-cyr and the horta museum both in belgium. so i modelled windows of the sushi bar and tea room on these styles of architecture. the walls of these two rooms were based on small elements of the doors and windows.

3, 4, 5) by creating an extrusion for the rock, both small and large, i used the POn and rebuild commands i was able to manipulate these extrusions in more detail than i previously knew how to. i was able to define the curvature of the different surfaces with more accuracy and play around with the shape easier than i previously understood how to. lastly the using a ‘cutting plane’ i could create a angular cut on the rocks to further change their shape, the cutting plane allowed me to trim the edges of the rock to give it an angular sharp finish.

6) the bridge in the garden scene was a recreation of a bridge i came across when researching japanese zen gardens, by breaking down the model into smaller components it was easier to model the finish result. starting first with the structure, then the pathway with the timber planks and then the ornamentation of the arches. i’m not usually too comfortable or confident in modelling curved shapes however by having the ‘gumball’ setting on it has been easier to manipulate, scale, rotate and move objects throughout this exercise.

7) to create the ‘shell window’ in the sushi bar scene i traced an existing window i came across on google images, the window exists on a synagogue however it was rather simple so i combined this with another art nouveau window to create a more complex and interesting window. 

8) after tracing the window i could create a surface over the flat image and remove the surface where the glass would be and extrude the surface. i then traced the parts of the window that were glass and used the ‘patch’ command to create surfaces in these otherwise complex shapes. i could then apply a glass material to these patched surfaces with ease.

9) using the v-ray plug in for rhino i could add light and material to the three separate rhino models, however when rendering i couldn’t get the desired light effect i.e. the lighting streaming into the spaces through the art nouveau windows, so i took screen shots of these desired qualities to later recreate in photoshop.

japan meets art nouveau 19.11.2015

#paletteforyourpalate tealeaves x pantone 17.11.2015

an exhibition of tea + colour + mood

what an excellent find and a beautiful collaboration. 

this online exhibition asked 30+ world-class culinary, pastry, mixology ARTISTS to each create a “feast for the eyes” tea recipe with plate and glass as their canvas.

10 TEALVES teabags x 10 pantone colours x 30+ artists

the first taste is with the eyes.

 sketch to cad 17.11.2015

although i should be working on CAD it’s hard to imagine atmosphere’s in CAD, unless you photoshop but i have nothing to photoshop so here we are sketching.

but now i have something to work towards in CAD and photoshop! yay!

I want to the atmosphere in my restaurant to act on these principals:

interactivity between chefs and customers

theatricality of preparing far eastern cuisine

interactivity between the smoking of the fish and the end result of eating the smoked fish

the restaurant space to have dramatic natural lighting from positioning roof lighting

the tea spaces will be more exposed to light to give overall calming daylight atmosphere - quite light and airy and roomy whereas the restaurant will contrast this and be dramatic

also want to play on the japanese ideas of food being a communal occasion - like a celebration of food, whilst creating spaces for interactivity between customers with other customers or customers and chefs - creating discussions about food

so instead of having one central kitchen, having several different kitchens and maybe the customers move through these different stations for starters/ drinks, sushi, hot food and finally sweets, these kitchen spaces will determine where the lighting is i.e. artificial and natural.

YUGO “wild food, for wild people”_ 16.11.2015

artistry, alchemy and action come together to show the theatricality behind japanese cuisine, courtesy of YUGO The Bunker and RomeroArtero for this promotional video.

food porn at it’s finest.

a tea house at koishikawa by katsushika hokusai

cutty sark 14.11.2015