Final Submission

Three images of the final model:





Two section drawings from notebook:



Three short animations:









Link to model on Google Warehouse:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=c7de814e32057b066f0f6e3c236f6ffe

Recombining the top and the bottom

I have been working on the upper and lower halves separately (as my computer tends to go very slowly when I'm on the upper half, as it has so many polygons), and because of this the two models did not seemed connected. It was as if the two buildings were designed and built separately, and just happened to be near each other.

To attempt to fix this, I have placed the upper "studio" so a portion of the pipes hang over the water. I have joined the upper and lower halves by a path. This path curves underneath the stairs to enter the gallery space. Note that although it appears that the stairs may be too low to walk underneath, the absolute lowest point still allows for 2.1m of vertical space.

I have also added textures to every object. The majority of the textures are from my Moleskine notebook, with colours added with Sketchup's "Colorize" feature.

Fixing the below ground room

I was about to completely change the below ground part, to remove the glass room and the water, thus making it simply a huge wavy hole in the ground. The stairs would extend right along the edge of one wall, and would be curvy rather then straight,

I have now decided against this, as I am unable to design the stairs in sketchup... I just can't work out how to do it.

However, I did feel there was a problem with the design of the below ground section in two ways:
1. The glass room looks boring. Perhaps it could echo the ground more, and appear to be flowing, rather than a rectangular prism.
2. The terrain is simply an extrusion of one shape, leading to it appearing artificial.

I have remedied these two problems - the terrain is still an extrusion of a single shape, however it is not a linear extrusion, and instead bends (through the use of the follow-me tool). The room is now designed to have much more rounded edges, and follow the terrain.


The following rendering in 3DS Max better communicates the shapes involved, thanks to more realistic lighting (two omnis and a skylight):
Note that I have removed the water just for this rendering, to make the shape of the room clearer. Also note that the textures for ALL objects will be greatly improved, and the room and stairs will become semitransparent.

Week 4

A cross section is normally considered to be a two dimensional cut through a three dimensional shape, however when shapes are extended into the fourth spatial dimension, a three dimensional cross section can be cut. This video shows a three dimensional cross section of a four dimensional torus, changing as the cross sectional "plane" (which is now a 3d space) moves along its fourth axis.

Updated Sketchup models (with stairs)

Below Ground - "Swim"
To do:
1. Alter top of stairs to be only a few cm above water
2. Extend terrain to make space for the Above Ground model

Above Ground: Plumbing
This is a very rough model showing my changing concept. Major changes will be needed:
1. Make structural support pipes frame a gallery space
2. Make pipes curve around the main room
3. Combine with Below Ground model

EDIT:

This image shows how the two models are combined. The lower (under water) staircase is much wider than the upper one, suggesting to an occupant that one can walk on either side of the upper staircase towards the area under tha large pipe. This area will be roughly walled in by curving pipes, which will support that large pipe above.

Sketchup

Swim - Based on the below ground section on the bottom of page 1 from my diary.

Plumbing - Based on the above ground section on the bottom of page 6 from my diary.

Rough ideas

The following are eighteen concept sketches for rooms both above and below the ground, each design based on a single keyword.