Friday 2 October 2009

Mmmmmmmmmmmarble!

Well, I've been playing around with marble samples the last few days, thinking about ways I could use them with a cross cut wood grain, it's for the cladding on a staircase, debating whether marble is the best choice at all, may defect over to the painted glass camp.

The design idea going through my mind at the moment is project the materials away from the wall, suspended with studs, and have them illuminated from behind, there is a beautiful affect when you do this to thin marble tiles, as it illuminates features previously not seen. Of course, with painted glass, the light passes through a lot easier.

And there is a 3rd option: "architectural wallpaper" (a premise I find a little odd, isn't all wallpaper architectural?) Unfortunately, I don't have a reference image to show you, but one of the finished they use emulates marble, but with a rough texture, and again, when lit up, is a wonder to behold.

I shall be mulling this for the rest of the day I imagine, anyway, here are some samples for your entertainment:





Apologies for the quality, the only camera at hand is the one on my iphone. My personal fave is the first one, feels a bit more modern, followed by the 3rd, which reminds very much of wood grains.

Marble has, in the eyes of many, become something to be avoided, be associated with very classical design, and it is a rare sight these days, seemingly replaced by the most favoured (and sometimes more sterile looking) granite. It is a shame, but at the same time, our tastes change, and with it, so do designers!

Tuesday 29 September 2009

Villas, 2bed flats, and technical drawings

Sounds like a really bad Guy Ritchie film doesn't it?

Well this is supposed to be a blog about architectural endeavors and yet, it seems to be lacking in...well everything!

As of the last post, I have won a prize with my team for the design of our bandstand!

The bandstand was runner up in the Norman Gill Charitable Trust competition, we noted for outstanding design which was very flattering for us!

Since university, I have been working temporarily for a small practice in London (in the rather splendid Mayfair, or specifically Berkely Square!) While there, I have been given a LOT of creative control, which is awesome! I've been able to contribute heavily to smaller projects, one of which was handed over to me in its entirety to handle! What an honour eh? On top of this, the practice has been kind enough to set me exercises to aid in me in areas that I am weak in.

I've also been working on a large ultra-modern villa for the south of Spain, it has been quite the challenge! Though I could never deny that I was enjoying it!

I shall post some images of the work as soon as I am allowed to (prevailing watermarks etc etc etc)

Thursday 4 June 2009

3D TV?




Hello, and welcome to My very first post.
This will be a blog of all my architectural...lets call them endeavours. It will include all the projects past and present, including the developmental work that went into them, I hope you enjoy your explorations here!

I thought the best way to start this blog would be with what I am currently working on, which happens to be currently converting standard 3D model render in 3DSMAX into ones that can be projected through a 3-D projecting television (stereoscopic imaging)

Think holograms, but not 100% there, part of the image is a flat plane, and pahses into a 3D image that projects out of the television, hopefully a technology that will be available to the general public within the next few years, companies like Sky are hoping to make this available sooner rather than later

The two images below are of my own work, just quickly rendered through 3DS, showing the viewing angles that will be used, a little further below is a quick description of how the process works






























So how is the image converted into a 3D projection? In the screen grab below, you can see a target camera out of 3DS, the camera has 3 planes on it, 2 yellow, and a central blue one. (bottom right view port)

These 3 planes indicate the visibility range of the screen. The largest yellow plane is the screen itself, this indicates the limits of the image. The central blue plane is the intersection point at which the image project out of the screen and becomes 3D. this point of the image is the most in focus, or the most "3D". Everything after this point also sticks out of the screen, but slowly blurs out, and that is how the 3D image is seen!