#rice light

As I mentioned in my last anecdote, our year was the first year to experience the "new curriculum" at the RSA (Rice School of Architecture). So second semester, although we resided in the same studio, we were given two different teachers, Grant and Dawn. Also a change from last semester: the studio was split between the two professors…I was GRANTed the pleasure of being given (really, you don't know who my professor is yet = see previous cheesy pun) Grant as a professor, and I loved every minute of it. 

Villa Dall'Ava by Rem Koolhaas, St. Cloud, France

Grant, like myself, is also a follower of LeCorbusier. He believes that if all architects "copied Corb, or copied Rem, copying Corb, the world would be a better place." Rem Koolhaas is an architect out of OMA in Rotterdam, who tends to speak Corb's architectural language. Most design studios begin the semester with Case Studies similar to the parameters of their final project. Our studio focused on domesticity, and our final project was to design a House, with a particular concept in mind. This concept was to come from the case study. I had the luck, of course, in receiving Villa Dall'Ava by Rem Koolhaas, located just outside of Paris.

Villa Dall'Ava, elevational projection

Our first task was to create a series of 2D and 3D drawings illustrating our particular house, but mostly the 'idea' of our house. For my first 2D projection, I kept it simple, just illustrating the sides of the building, as I was still trying to figure it all out. It's design is complex, its circulation even more so. 

Villa Dall'Ava, Orthographic Projection, 'looks like' diagram

This series of Orthographic Projections allow the viewer to experience the different spaces and circulations of the building. I decided to do three: the first: a bird's eye view, the second: a worms eye view, the third: a sectional, showing the rooms and the interior of the third and first floors better (btw, those spiral staircases made me an EXPERT at ellipses in Isometric Projection!). 

typical night in studio during second semester (especially the beginning)

Anecdote: Grant-Style Reviews

Under the teachings of Grant, our reviews/pin-ups were at least bi-weekly. For those non-archi, pin-ups are like mini reviews where we have a deadline on a certain day, and on that day all of the work is 'pinned-up' and we proceed to talk about all of them as a group/class. Grant, unlike me, was not a fan of sitting. So all of these pin-ups ran about 2-4 hours each, and were all standing. Reviews are longer, normally involve chairs, the entire class (both sections) and normally a guest reviewers (sometimes another professor, sometimes someone from outside the school). These reviews normally came after all nighters/late nights/weeks of late nights/weeks of all nighters, meaning that we were tired, standing, and normally sick because of a combination of the previously stated. But throughout that we stuck together as a class. It made us stronger, made us produce better work, and it made us expect more out of ourselves. 

Villa Dall'Ava, Isometric Projection, 'works-like' diagram

During a pin up of the Orthographic Projection, my section began talking about different ideas of Rem's house, and we began analyzing a quote that I read that called the Villa "the metamorphosis of the berlin wall and the floating swimming pool." While this was initially laughable, we began looking at it through elements of both. The Floating Swimming pool represented freedom, or an indeterminate path. This was also seen in the pilots at the entrance, the construction fence, the staircase with multiple exits…basically anywhere where the experiencer of the house had a choice. Then, the berlin wall metaphor, representing determinate paths, or places where the experiencer has no options. The interior wall, the straight stair, the rigid fence, and more represent this end of the spectrum. The outcome of this analysis is seen in the diagram above. This shows a birds eye view of the house, lightly ghosted in. Then, the elements where the house allowed for freedom or indeterminacy are all in a light lineweight. The spaces or elements of indeterminacy are highlighted in a heavy lineweight. 

Rice Light, taken by ArchShaan