Week 3 Folie Design Idea?

Folie Design

This folie design thing was something really new to me. I did not have any idea until a few images was being shown on the lecture slides. The lecturer also mentioned that a folie is a structure that activates the space. It should be made for people there to use, depending what is it designed for. But than even after looking at it, it did not really come to me. There was no sparks at all, hence I went home and took a browse over the net. I came over a few images that was quite interesting, but they were all about "playing" type of experience and also curves. This was one of the images that I was interested of.

Than I started out with something organic. I thought of it due to the fact that it comes with so many shapes and the possibilities is so wide, though it might take a while but in the end it came down to the roots. It kind of looked like a hand for a while and thought: "hey, isn't the hand organic as well? It's simple and functional as well, for itself and it can also be functional for other people." Since children love to run around and play with anything, this would be something that is best for them to run around. Furthermore, it can be used to a standing or seating area for people who needs a shade to read or chit chat. With a couple of explorations I decided that I will stick with this shape where it's tilted towards the thumb, giving sun light and shade at the same
time.





















After a few drawings, I decided to experiment with a physical model and digital model. But for the physical model, it was made just to give me an imagination of how would it look like if it were to be made. It looked decent to be honest. I imagined it would look great an function well. Thinking that it can serve many kind of purpose, age and also at any time! Moving on to the digital model, it was not as good as I thought it was.







It was really over sized, it might look fine there, that is just because it was re-sized to fit people in. Hence I had to take it back and make another few experiments. This time, instead of drawings I used my own hand to experiment until I get something that looks tall enough and yet elegant enough as I like elegant things. This was what i came out with.

This is actually a similar thing to the previous one. The only difference is the fingers requires more curve and the thumb is straight up instead of lying down. But i do not intent to create a hand that is that high up, I am still going for a flat hand to create shape. It was never made to look exactly like a hand. The digital model of this experiment was quite a success. The dimensions fit in properly and the high was sweet.










The weird thing is, why did it have a rounded edge in the end while the rest of the model has a square and edged end which I originally planed for kids to climb onto it. I never intended to change the shape anyways cause it is essential for sitting where people like to lean their back on something. The round edge actually was made out of an imaginary join by the hand connecting to the wrist, it can create different kinds of shapes as well during different times of the day. Which really interests me.



But still, a lot of things came into my mind. Should it be made with patterns on the skin? What kind of material should it be made of? Exactly what kind of experience am I giving out and what am I inviting? Materials sure play an important role in this... Hence I will be running a few more experiments on this, which materials can create the most "fun" type of feeling yet soothing?

Week One Walk Shop

WEEK ONE WALK SHOP

This is one interesting week. For the first actual tutorial, we were asked to do this exercise or you can call it "journey" to the Story Bridge while recording the experiences. Though Story Bridge is near the city, despite being one of the sites that is damaged by the flood, it still looks at strong as usual.



We began our journey from QUT botanical garden, where we walk down the "hard edge" path. Although filled by grass and trees, there are still walking path made for pedestrians to walk on. Not to mention, near the entrance there was a sculpture that might be able to be considered as a "follie" which we will be doing as our first assignment.

This journey was a long walk but pleasant. To be able to walk through the city and capture it's different part makes it interesting. There was the river side, botanical garden and the Story Bridge. The greens comes and go so as the concrete feelings. As you walk you get into a green area but in a few minutes you end up in an environment where tall buildings stand. This was part of the experience that this walk gave me. These are a few drawings that was sketched out during the journey.

This final sketch is a drawing on the site. I will show the real picture of the site for a better understanding for people who might read this blog.

This site currently is closed hence we were not able to go in to do a more detailed site analysis and such. But on the other hand, I thought it might actually be advantage compared to being a disadvantage which it also is. This site is quite windy due to the fact that it is by the river side. Also it was not as noisy as I imagined it would be. The site was relatively cooling as well and I would assume that bellow the Story Bridge where our site will be will be especially cooling which is really good. Due to the fact that the site has more greens and it is lower in a way. Although the sun can be stunningly hot during the afternoon, but this site is quite well balanced due to the mountain by the side which blocks out half of the sun for almost the whole day. I think it is an awesome site to design a follie for a play ground or park which enables "play" in it and at the same time activates the space.

Anyways, I will have a few more pictures up showing a few pictures that I took during the journey that can represent a few elements of the city.

One of the flower I took while we were passing by the Botanical Garden

This was taken from the Story Bridge, the view of the city

Representation of tall buildings in Brisbane and a Sun Shine country