Modelling the gallery took time. I have never done any sort of modelling before this year and this was my first time modelling to replicate a space. I id spend a lot of time on it make sure it looked perfect but I am happy with the way that it turned out. I feel that over time my modelling skills will improve and I will become faster at modelling spaces.
While designing the gallery space I thought a lot about the design I was going to put into the space. I originally thought that the whole gallery and Wellesley St entrance was my threshold moment but I struggled with creating a design that could be created in that whole space, that linked to my Project 1 by creating a sense of distortion and uncertainty and one that wouldn’t interrupt the use of the lobby as it is used by hundreds of AUT students a day. This is when I decided that in order to create an effective design that physically represented the threshold between moving from an awake, reality state into a sleeping and dreaming state and vice versa, I would position my threshold design between the lobby and the gallery space.
After some research into her work, I really drew inspiration from Petra Blaisse. Like in my Project 1, I used a thin frosted transparent film and this created the distortion and uncertainty we experience in the threshold between dreaming and being in reality. Her work inspired me to create a design that not only guided movement around a space but also evokes it through the people who move among it.
The film I decided to use created the effect I wanted. I like it how you can’t quite see through it but blurry shapes can made out. Also, the level of distortion of an object depends on its proximity to the sheet. This creates a visual representation of what it is like for me when I’m in between sleeping and awake and my dream morphs into the reality around me.
When deciding the path that these suspended sheets would follow, I really considered the flow of movement in the lobby and gallery space. I wantd to guide people through the front of the gallery, past the windows and then move them deeper into the space as the lighting becomes less prominent. The flowing film allowed me to guide movement within the space and helps to avoid the rigidness that may restrict visitors. This design is heavily based on movement.
I wanted the design to create an experience before even entering the gallery. For my entrance, I removed three sections of the wall between the lobby and the gallery. In order to create some kind of barrier between the awake stage (lobby) and the sleeping stage (gallery), I created a curtain that covered two of the openings and moved away to allow an entrance in the opening closest to Wellesley St. This created the uncertain, flowing and forever changing barrier and threshold between sleeping and awake. It also allows the movement of the lobby to influence the gallery space. There is no defining line between sleep and awake.
To create more flow and freedom in the space, I made the decision to have a break in the curtain. This opened the gallery up more and helped in not creating confined, awkward spaces. I had originally planned to have two separate tracks for the two separate curtains (first track seen below) but decided that it would be more effective o have them on the one track. By having them on the same track, the curtains could be moved around the space creating different configuration, an example of how the threshold between dreaming and reality is never the same and always ever changing. Having the one track also replicated the consistent flow of movement through and into the space.
I also had to decide on a way to suspend the curtain from the track in a way that it allowed it to move freely. After a few different ideas, I decided on my last design (right) because it was the most tidy and elegant, fitting with the ambiance I have been trying to convey. (Left: First attempt, Center: Second attempt, Right: Final design)
Something I found difficult about modelling was the modelling of my threshold design. One of the points that made it difficult was that it was small and fiddly. Another point was that my design is supposed to be suspended from the ceiling but I wanted to be able to view it from above as the shape of the track is so important to my design. Having to suspend my design without a ceiling was difficult but I am really happy with the end result.
After finalizing my design and modelling it, I found it a lot easier to draw it in my plan and section. For my final document, I needed to change my section as the view into the lobby didn’t express my design the best way possible. On my final I drew my section looking into the gallery space from the East facing wall which described my design a lot more effectively.
For my threshold interpretation of the space I focused mainly on movement and a little bit of light as this was a defining aspect in my design.
Spatial Design by Ciara 