For my first look at these laser cutting review crits, i was actually assigned Ji Hye Lim, who i was told was absent due to sickness, so i decided to review Lauren’s work instead.
Lauren’s work was refreshing in the way that it was probably the only laser cutting project that assumed an organic form, instead of using the laser cutter to make her whole building and perforating the skin with holes like everyone else, Lauren simply used the laser cutter to cut the base of each of her morphous blob-like tent spaces.
Her spaces were more like tensile structures, with wire being arched over the base forms and light wax paper dyed with water colours and pulled over the wire to complete the dome forms. Lauren’s finished models were perhaps less sophisticated in their finishing, the wire was a little clumsily put together and there was little attention to the programme of each tent..as with everyone in the group each space was designed to house a separate colleague’s office and requirements, however there was very little to differentiate each dome like tent.
So whilst her final models – as she admitted herself- perhaps let the project down a bit, there was a clear development of ideas evident in her choice of presentation…Her tent forms being inspired by the blobs of water colour paint, that set the back drop to her models.
Lauren's water coloursFinished models
Finished models
The Second laser cutting project i had to crit was that of Hea Choon Pak.
Hea Choon described his building as being based on the form of a maze, a theme that was expressed in both the layout of the building – a continuous flow of levels rather than typical divided levels – as well as the finishing of the facade, which saw Hea Choon cut out maze patterns out of the front and back surfaces with the lazer cutter.
At times the design of the building supports the programme efficiently, as in the basement level ‘street art’ studio space which is deliberately placed at the centre of the building with no glazing, enclosed and dark, to provide what Hea Choon described as ‘a criminal feel’,…i think he meant by this to provide a sense of the covertness that typically has come with street art and graffiti.
However not all the spaces seemed as thoroughly thought out, the level for a ‘jam space’ which was intended for musicians to record and practice, was open to the adjacent space, which showed little consideration of the acoustic problems this would bring about.
I did however appreciate the very simple clear forms of the maze, and thought it was strong the way he had incorporated this into the layout of the plan. Hea Choon’s Matrix and supporting site map were particularly impressive, however some strong internal or interior experience drawings would have been a strong addition to the presentation. Hea Choon spoke about the cut out of the maze on the facade as being designed to let natural light penetrate into certain spaces, and i thought this would have looked quite stunning in an image, with the natural light streaming through these maze cuts in the wall.
qkrgpwns2.blogspot.com
Hea Choon's Matrix
Hea Choon's Site plan
Finished model
The third project i looked at was that of Kyung Min Koh’s.
Looking through Kyung Min’s blog: kingkingkoh.wordpress.com i was impressed with the amount of documentation that he did of this project, he clearly put alot of thought and effort into creating this model…the presentation of his work on crit day was equally impressive, he had an intricate model 5 stories each with their own office programme, tied together by an impressive perforated skin, with the laser cutter employed to create these atypical round window cut outs spread across both sides of the building from foot to roof.
Kyung Min explained that the various sized windows are designed specifically for the programme of each level, so where for instance a gym facility is housed on level 4, less glazing is used, as Kyung Min explained that in his opinion people at the gym were more ashsamed of their bodies so would desire to be seen less by the outside world. This perforated surface is also found in the climbing wall that weaves itself through the structure from floor to top level, i appreciated this both visually, and also that he was using this idea of tying together the building with this theme of perforation whilst the skin of the building itself providesa uniformed whole, birnging together the 5 separate levels.
Kyung Min’s presentation clearly showed what his building was about, the well constructed model working well with strong photoshopped images of the building located in situ, it was one of the more impressive renderings that i have seen in the crits so far
Laser Cut Model
Building in situ
nicksarch102blog 