Thursday 4 October 2012

Draft Review of ArchiBJZ

For their final workshop, ArchiBJZ had very little to show us. This was due to the fact that they had been concentrating more on work for another class. However, there were some very interesting moments in the two plant room models they did display.

Their city plant room juxtaposed an exquisite curving façade with a more rigid, triangulated enclosure. The model was not quite complete, with their connection methods not yet fully realised, but on the curving side they had rather elegant slender columns running through their curved mass. The pieces which made up this curving mass were numerous, laser cut from a mesh model. They decided that plants would either grow on the mesh or within it, and that the mass of this over all object also allowed it to be inhabited by humans, and are working on developing the mesh interiors as stairs, a concept we found quite original.

On the other hand, the enclosure on the other side of their city plant room was intended to contrast with the calming, curving mass, and act as a more hostile space. Small triangular pieces of semi transparent plastic were stuck together to form an enclosure. Originally, ArchiBJZ were intending on having these pieces laser cut as well, however they decided that they liked the opacity of their final material, as it would let in sunlight, vital for plant life, as well as cause a greater contrast between the more solid curving mass. We believe that this was quite a good decision and that the difference between both sides was more clear due to their decision. This side of their model was not yet fully complete complete, however, with their connection methods lacking in intricacy. Currently they are just stuck together with blu-tac, however ArchiBJZ informed us that they do intend to come up with a more elegant solution: drilling tiny holes into the sides of the plastic pieces and hence connecting them.

Similarly, ArchiBJZ's Waiheke plant room was also incomplete. They did, however, have a very interesting concept for what they finally wished it to be. Inspired by the 2011 Serpentine Gallery, ArchiBJZ had part of their plant room going underground. They wished to create a very interesting spatial experience on the interior through the use of light. The Waiheke plant room was constructed of multitudes of laser cut circles, all slightly moved to the side. This meant that the roof would be fully covered and that light would be able to filter through the gaps. They also intended this to give the building an over all sense of movement, with the sliding of the circles. The connection methods of this model are currently very poor, as these rings were held together with masking tape. However, ArchiBJZ did have the interesting idea of holding the rings together with one solid element to one side, which would create an undulating, curving wall. We hope to be able to see this when complete as this sounds like quite a sophisticated solution.

Both plant rooms had a strong relation to their respective hotels. Their city plant room was intended to be placed between two parts of their hotel components, acting as a bridge between them. Their Waiheke plant room actually was the hotel, with only the top few levels being occupied by plants. Over all, we believe that ArchiBJZ have some very interesting ideas and lots of potential, however they will really have to sit down and work in order to fully realise these before our final deadline in one week. We look forward to see what they produce.

No comments:

Post a Comment