Further Development of Design

The previous phase of design saw the definition of space and elements of symbolical intent been conceived in the design. I thought that it was quite successful, but it did not offer many potential views of Christ the Redeemer, it did not provide a successful circulation pattern and it lacked a sense of femininity. I also decided to make the ritual centre a exclusive place for a woman instead of women in the same situation.

Thinking about the motive for the woman to go through the ritual process in order to ease the degree of judgment upon the woman and her child. This displays her motherly love towards her child, and therefore I have decided to adapt the form of a fetus for my design.

The segmentation approach taken is altered from the initial design. The entry would consist of a series of arches as a symbol of purification. Then, four main parts are presented. The first being the 'Hall of Mirrors', and then an open bath for cleansing purpose. This bath has a view of Christ the Redeemer. The woman will then pass through a series of red walls layering upon each other with passable gaps. The walls contains stories and scriptures. All the three parts are situated on ground level. After an intense program on ground floor, the woman then takes the long spiral stairs up to the first floor where there is a bed located at the centre of the space. This is a space for rest and quiet contemplation. The woman exits through another passageway (the hand of the fetus) which would have a cross shaped combination of door and fixed windows. Upon exit, her eyes are transfixed on the cross shape.

Enclosure and openness are vital in constructing the spaces with walls, doors and windows. The 'Hall of Mirrors' is meant to be a private space with little disturbance. Thus, a door, artificial lights and surrounding walls are constructed. The bath is an open space with captured views. It is more open compared to the previous space. The third space of red walls is a semi-private space. Minimum daylight is required for this room. The fourth space is an open space for views of the outside world.

I did some conceptual drawings of my design in Sketchup and the images are as shown below:

Explore of Narrative in Initial Drawings

Translation from narrative to drawing is another stage of the project. The parti that I have developed is a circulation based one, which is 'circulation through different spaces with suggestion of atmosphere and quality'. I have taken the segmentation approach to my designated spaces of the building. The initial idea is shown below:


Plan and elevation drawing of initial idea

The building has an entrance that gradually becomes narrower from the outside world, symbolizing the narrow path that is Jesus accounts in one of his parables. The first interior space is a reception hall with some small discussion rooms for women who are as described in the narrative to come and get themselves ready for the Christian ritual. The first part would be a 'Hall of Mirrors' as inspired by the mirror in the painting. It is a place of recognition and contemplation of one's wrongdoings. The second part would be a 'Mercy Bath' in which one would dip herself in water as a symbol of cleansing from one's sins. The interval between the second and third part is a straight and narrow red-coloured wall with scriptures. The third path would be a general hall for talks and meetings. Then, the fourth part is a sleeping quarter with a stair leading upwards to a view terrace. This will be where one would sit and look at Christ the Redeemer Statue. The exit is a simple one from the sleeping quarters.

Inspirations from Existing Architecture

After establishing my ideas of segmentation, I have looked into existing architect's work to help me in areas of construction, materiality, thematic associations etc.

1. Peter Zumthor - Therme Vals

The gaps created by Peter Zumthor to allow sunray to penetrate to highlight the materiality of the building

The beauty in the reflection of water on the stone walls

2. Tadao Ando - Church of Light

The cross shape gap of the building

The call for contemplation in a spiritual realm

3. Alvar Aalto - Villa Mairea

The soft entry which acts as an intermediary between the Finnish woods and the house

The softness of material applied creates a space of femininity

4. Unknown architect - Pantheon

The divine illumination of space

Study of plans and sections

Development of Narrative and Site

The painting that I have selected is 'Woman Holding a Balance' by Johannes Vermeer. After looking, analysing and giving much thought to Vermeer's painting ,I have outlined five key points that would define my superimposed narrative of the painting.



1. The background setting of the painter himself
Vermeer's background is not much known, but there were records of his family life as well as some incidents in the place where he spent most of his life. In 1652, when Vermeer was 20, the city of Delft was in trauma when a gun powder factory exploded and caused fatalities. Vermeer, however, seemed imperturbable by the incident and painted stillness in his paintings. Then, Vermeer was married to Catherina who is from a Catholic family, and due to this, Vermeer had to convert to Catholicism. His knowledge of Christ and the Last Judgment was therefore not arbitrary, but done with preconceived idea. Another aspect of his life was that Catherina's parents were very quarrelsome parents which might have some impact on his marriage life. Having to compromise with argumentative in-laws must have been quite torturing to Catherina and Vermeer as well. In spite of the calmness which I see in the painting ' Woman with a Balance', I somehow sense a hidden fragility, peace about to be disturbed.

2. The empty balance and the precious jewels on the table
Interpretations of the past have pointed out that the balance contains gold or pearls. Microscopic scrutiny, however, shows that the rendering technique of what lies in the balance are different from the rendering technique of gold and pearls in the painting.The pearls and the gold on the table are bounded in a balance manner, further reinforcing the claim that the balance is empty.


Closeup view of pearls. In this painting, pearls are rendered in two distinctive layers: first a thin, diffused grayish underlayer, surmounted by a thick stroke to create a superimposed highlight.


Detailed view of the balance shows that it is composed of only one layer which is the specular highlight, which is interpreted as reflection of light from window.

The woman fixes her eyes on the balance, suggesting that she is not at all tempted by the earthly riches that is set before her - the strand of gold and pearls and the other jewels. Unlike the 'Woman with the Pear Necklace' which depicts a woman of vanity, the woman in 'Woman Holding a Balance' painting is tranquil and modest.


Vermeer, Woman with a Pearl Necklace, 1662

3. The pregnant condition and the woman's facial expression
The woman's eyes, transfixed in the moment of equilibrium shows how intense she is thinking about her past, her present and her future. Although she looks calm and at peace, I somehow sense superficiality. I linked her to Vermeer's condition. Vermeer was an idealist who dreamed of a perfect world but never got to live in it. His solace is perhaps found in his paintings where he paints his ideal world. But, fragility cracks into his paintings as a creation must have the image of its creator. The pregnant woman, to me, is emotionally hurt and is seeking redemption of some kind.

Besides, I thought that the pearls signify precious tears that have fallen from the woman. The empty balance, in this case, signifies that her sadness cannot be measured physically. Something of metaphysical significance is needed to heal her wounded heart and ensure a better life for her and her soon-to-be born baby.

4. The mirror
Mirrors traditionally evokes the meaning of self-awareness. One looks into the mirror and see herself physically, but also as a means of examining oneself. It is a symbol of coming back to one's senses and hence, change is needed in one's attitudes, lifestyle and habits. I have interpreted this as the moment where the woman realizes her errors in life, and she knows that she needs Christ to redeem her, not by her own effort, but through God's mercy and grace.

5. The act of the woman compared to the Last Judgment painting on the wall
The act of the woman is paralleled to the Last Judgment Painting behind her in terms of composition and symbolical associations. Her position is aligned to the central axis of the painting, 'her head lies at the middle of the composition, directly beneath the oval mandorla of Christ', and her fingers which are holding the balance, 'coincides with the lower-left corner of the picture frame'. The thematic similarity of the woman's action with that of Christ leads us to the thought that 'to judge is to weigh'. The difference, however, is the eternity of Christ's judgment and the temporariness of the woman's weighing. I interpreted the painting in the painting as the woman's cognitive content. As she contemplates on the balance that she holds, she is thinking of something which has far greater consequences.



For this part, I have interpreted that the woman has come to acknowledged her sins and therefore waits in fearful anticipation of Christ's judgment. However, she turned over a new leaf and vowed to live a live of temperance, that she and her unborn child would warrant their salvation.


The site that I have chosen is at Corcovado Mountain with potential views of Christ the Redeemer Statue, one of the seven wonders of the world.It is situated approximately 350m above sea level, at a reasonable distance from Humaita, a city south of Rio de Janeiro. I wanted the site to have a balance of privacy and community. It is not supposed to be a monastery, so it shouldn't be on an extremely high level, and it is not to be situated in the city as there should be a reasonable sense of privacy. In addition, the mountain is a symbol of support and strength which the woman needs as a soon-to-be mother.


View of Christ the Redeemer Statue from site


Relationship of building to site

The narrative that I have developed from the five key points and my chosen site is 'A Christian ritual centre on Corcovado Mountain, Rio de Janeiro for a once adulterous, no penitent, soon- to-be mother who desires a new life'.

The development of this narrative into drawings will be undertaken soon.

References:
1. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., Vermeer and the Art of Painting, Yale University Press, 1995.
2. National Gallery of Art, http://www.nga.gov/feature/vermeer/index.shtm. 2010. Accessed 15 April 2010.

An Insight Into Johannes Vermeer

There is a certain mystical feeling associated with Vermeer's painting. Vermeer, unlike Van Gogh or Rembrandt, does not insert himself into his paintings. The character of Vermeer's oeuvre is a rather complex one. In addition, Vermeer was not a well publicized figure in his time, there were not much information recorded about Vermeer, adding to the depth of the mysterious painter. However, there are some paintings that somewhat reveals the character of the painter that is conserved and subdued.

Calm, beautiful, delicate, illusionary, seductive, enigmatic are just some of the words to describe the portrayal of Vermeer's paintings. Whether they are paintings of daily life routines, paintings that contain 'explicit allegorical connotations' or paintings with mythological and theological elements, Vermeer's extraordinary craftsmanship made us wonder and gasp in admiration.

Vermeer's taking away of his paintings' narrative should be seen as a gift for readers. He leaves space for imagination and interpretation, and makes people contemplate and think. The natural process of pausing, staring, thinking and personifying the person in the painting is made possible by the stillness of Vermeer's paintings. The best thing of all, that moment which may seem transient is eternalized.

Below are some of Vermeer's oeuvre which I have looked through. It is a good and pleasant experience just looking at the paintings and engaging in thoughtful moments.


Vermeer, Christ in the House of Mary and Martha, 1654


Vermeer, The Procuress, 1656


Vermeer, Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, 1657


Vermeer, Officer with a Laughing Girl, 1657


Vermeer, A Woman Asleep at Table, 1657


Vermeer, The Milkmaid, 1658


Vermeer, Lady Drinking with a Gentleman, 1658


Vermeer, View of Delft, 1659


Vermeer, Woman with a Pearl Necklace, 1662


Vermeer, Woman Holding a Balance, 1664


Vermeer, Head of a Young Girl, 1665


Vermeer, The Geographer, 1668


Vermeer, The Astronomer, 1668


Vermeer, Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid, 1670


Vermeer, Lady Standing at Virginal, 1670

References:
1. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., Vermeer and the Art of Painting, Yale University Press, 1995.
2. Edward A. Snow, A Study of Vermeer, University of California Press, 1979.

Reflection

Project 1 went on quite well for me personally. It has helped me identified two fundamental architectural design concepts that are vital for my study. In Project 1, I had to be familiar with parti and poché, and to use these two techniques to analyse Jørn Utzon's Villa Can Feliz. These two architectural jargons originated from the École des Beaux-Arts which was founded in 1648. People always question the relevance of historical architetural concepts and their impacts on contemporary architecture. After this project, I have two reasons to believe why parti and poché are important and relevant concepts that all, if not most architecture students should learn and partake of.

Firstly, architectural design should be centered on a core idea or organizational principle. Designs are not created arbitrarily. Yes, the power of imagination is incredible, but it can destruct as well if not properly employed. There is a need to settle in mind a core idea that would serves as a guiding compass. Parti has been proved to be employed by architects like Louis Kahn and Le Corbusier in their design process based on partis. Besides, poché depicts ambience and brings life into drawings. Secondly, Jørn Utzon's embrace of the primordial signifies his enthusiasm in 'acquiring styles in the past to recapture the truth'. Ancient wisdom are a great leagacy for the modern generation and the generations to come. New interpretation might be needed for seasonal changes, but ultimately, we do not destroy something that has been established for such a long time.

I am delighted that I have learnt these two concepts, and I would like to thank Xing Ruan and my tutor, Felicity for carefully, thoughtfully and patiently guiding me through. May the following projects be even greater successes!

Model Images

A northern aerial view of Villa Can Feliz. The perfect fit of the house into the site and the level of complexity especially with the different levels that Utzon had to deal with at the beginning can be seen here.



Villa Can Feliz displays a great level of balance and rhythm which is expressed to a greater extent in a 3D model compared to plan or elevation drawings. Similar to Chinese gardens which consists of certain buildings protruding outward more than other buildings to accentuate volume and rhythm, Villa Can Feliz does the same by having the semi-public area pushed inward compared to the public and private areas. The swimming pool, albeit not portrayed dominantly, is used to complement and give visual balance to the semi-public area.



Utzon has gained much insight of the use of platforms after his visit to the ancient Mayan ruins in Mexico. He employed it at the Sydney Opera House which gave the Opera House much momentum and force. The slope that Villa Can Feliz rests on is a natural platform, and Utzon combined the natural platform with the stairs and different levels to establish not only solidity and firmness, but also genius loci (genius of place).



Architecture deals with antinomical qualities. If we have unity, the antinomical quality would be multiplicty, and so does completeness to transformation. While studying Villa Can Feliz, a thought struck my mind. If Utzon has managed to capture such richness of the landscape from within, what would I get when I look into the house from outside? I saw that they aren't a lot of furnishings in Villa Can Feliz, plus the matte tiles and sandstone walls are not reflective materials which means that the house, if viewed from outside would usually be quite dark (the rear part of the house faces North). While enjoying the identifiable richness of the distant sea and macchia mediterranea (Mediterranean shrubs), one would turn and sense an elusive emptiness within the house which is the perfect time and place for contemplation.



A great understanding of formal composition is needed to build Can Feliz. Utzon has done tremendously well in creating this piece of beautiful architecture in his seventies. My group members and I have studied the villa, and we resolved to cut the villa on an east-west axis. Conventionally, as what we have seen in previous years' students who did Villa Can Feliz, all of them did the cut on a north-south axis. My group, however took a different approach as we wanted to show the change in levels of privacy from the western wing to the eastern wing. Great masters of architecture, when building their house, will never fail to consider the public/private zoning and circulation through their designed houses. The two diagrams below show the section cut of Villa Can Feliz






Note:
The original photographs are taken by Nicholas Hobbs on 31 March 2010. Used with kind permission from author and photographs are modified by Jabez Ho.

Final Drawings

PARTI


The parti of Villa Can Feliz, in my opinion is the meaningful circulation throughout the villa. With reference to Xing's sketch of the three types of circulation (figure below), namely central courtyard house, matrix of interconnecting rooms and corridor/terminal rooms, I have produced my final parti.


POCHÉ

The house is neither each of the aforementioned types of rooms, but consists all three types of rooms. The courtyards are represented by the yellowish green patches; the matrix of interconnecting rooms is seen in the circulation line showing the passing through from the kitchen to the dining room to the private living room; and the terminal room is the space where it has another circulation line running from right to left. The terminal room is actually the covered terrace in which people can access the outside terrace, the three semi-public rooms and to the private quarters.

I have also distinguish the interior from the exterior by using line weight method. The bold borders surround the exterior while the thin lines surround the interior spaces. Soft lines are used for the interior as the interior ground is mainly cladded with smooth matte tiles whereas hard, bold lines are used for the exterior, signifying rough ground texture. The yellowish green areas signifies ground and nature, which signifies the desire to be close to nature by spending time with nature. This fits with the courtyards that are present in Villa Can Feliz.


POCHÉ

1. Plan


As discussed in the earlier post 'Understanding of Parti and Poché', poché is a rendered drawing to evoke atmosphere and emotions. Having speaking this, I am particularly interested in the play of light and shadow in Villa Can Feliz. Utzon's play of light on the Sydney Opera House had Louis Kahn proclaimed: “The sun did not know how beautiful its light was, until it was reflected off this building.”

Utzon's work on the Can Feliz once again established his love for the interplay of light and shadow apart from the time he worked on Can Lis. Light, as the giver of presence, makes the building more tangible and more concrete. As light is shone, shadow is casted and a 3-dimensional feeling is expressed here. The shadows also provide a sense of height of the structures, thus possibly giving a sense of human scale.

2. Section


Poché rendering for section works slightly different from how poché rendering for plan works. With the same idea of light and shadow in perspective, section poché rendering uses colour tones to give a sense of volume and depth. Faraway objects would look paler while nearer objects look darker and they command more attention.


Reference List
1. Xing Ruan, Three Housing Partis, http://arch1201-2010.blogspot.com/, 2010. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
2. Jørn Utzon, Sydney Opera House: Utzon Design Principles (Sydney Opera House Trust 2002)