Visual Systems

visual systems Laura Sobrado, RISD, Spring 2009

Instructor Ernesto Aparicio

Louis Sullivan

Slides

Richard Neutra Frank Gehry

week1

Research and Sketching

intro to architects1 The first week of the semester, we were in-troduced to the worlk of three architects and their visual elements that define their style. Louis Sullivan is part of the Chicago Style, Richard Neutra; international style, and Frank Gehry; deconstructivism.

In my sketching, I wrestled with the shapes and details of each architect, trying to make sense and simplify their work. Although my sketching was much too complex for the Unit Project, it gave me a deep understanding of their style. The next step was to simplify.

Richard NeutraLouis Sullivan

week2

Once I had simplified my units, it was time to flip, rotate, and redraw the units so that we could start making patterns. My patterns had some strong shapes but overall were too complex.

Frank Gehry

Units: Systematic Sketches2Notes

Gehry

Neutra

Sullivan

Louis Sullivan Richard Neutra

week3

Frank Gehry

Units: Vectorized3 After vectorizing the units in Illustrator and making them only black and white, it was much easier to see where the units were working and where they were not.The next step would be to clean up the connections.

Richard Neutra, Architect

Laura SobradoVisual Systems, Ernesto AparicioRISD, Spring 2009



Louis Sullivan, Architect








week4

Louis Sullivan Richard Neutra

The Final step of the Units Section was to select the most successful patterns and make sure the connections were clean. These are the final patterns and the most successful of the three for each artist is placed on the bottom.

Frank Gehry, Architect






Finished Patterns4

Frank Gehry Notes

week5

The second project was to create three post-ers for each architect that could function as an independent poster as well as part of a whole. I wanted to each architect by extract-ing the shapes that emphasis the architecture. I sketched and then cut paper to show this process in the final piece. “deconstruct”

Richard Neutra

International Style

Exhibition Jun 12 – July 10

“Architects must have a razor sharp sense of individuality”

Neutra’s first impressions of Southern California were candid. He found Angelenos of the 1920s “mentally footloose” with a cultural naiveté “bordering everywhere on mixup.” But he eventually grew to love his adopted city.

With the support of friend and fellow Austrian-born Southern California architect, Rudolf Schindler, Neutra’s first major commission, the Lovell House (1929), announced the arrival of

an important new architectural vision.

Neutra responded to the Southern California climate by creating designs where extensive use of glass allowed indoor and outdoor spaces to flow freely together. A journalist once described his work as “ . . . the most amiable relationship between science, technique, industrialization and good taste.”

Frank GehryDeco

nstructiv

ism

Exhibition Ju

ly 17 - August

28

“I approach each building as a sculptural object, a spatial container, a space with light and air, a response to context and ap-

propriateness of feeling and spirit. To this container, this sculpture, the user brings his baggage, his

program, and interacts with it to accommodate his needs. If he can’t do that, I’ve failed.”

Temporary Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art; Los Angeles, California

Sirmai-Peterson Residence; Thousand Oaks, California

Schnabel Residence; Los Angeles, California

Vitra International Manufacturing Facility & Design Museum; Weil am Rhein, Germany

Chiat/Day Headquarters; Venice, California

University of Iowa Advanced Technologies Laboratory; Iowa City, Iowa

University of Toledo Center for the Visual Arts; Toledo, Ohio

Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum; Minneapolis,

1983

1988

1989

1989

1991

1992

1992

1993

1994

1994

1995

1995

1996

1997

1999

1999

2000

2000

2001

2002

2003

2003

Minnesota

Vitra International Headquarters; Basel, Switzerland

The American Center; Paris, France

EMR Communication and Technology Center; Bad Oeynhausen, Germany

Team Disneyland Administration Building; Anaheim, California

Nationale-Nederlanden Building; Prague, Czech Republic

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; Bilbao, Spain

The Vontz Center for Molecular Studies at the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio

Der Neue Zollhof; Dusseldorf, Germany

DG Bank Headquarters; Berlin, Germany *

Experience Music Project; Seattle, Washington *

Bard College Center for the Performing Arts; Annandale-on-Hudson, New York *

The Walt Disney Concert Hall; Los Angeles, California *

The Peter B. Lewis Campus of the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio*

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Stata Complex; Cambridge, Massachusetts *

Louis SullivanChicago SchoolExhibition May 14-June 5““I want a color symphony and I am pretty

sure that I am going to get it.”

The architect who combines in his being the powers of vision, of imagination, of intellect, of sympathy with human need and the power to interpret them in a language vernacular and true -- is he who shall create poems in stone.

Louis Sullivan spent his life pushing for an Architecture that truly repre-sented the people in the present, not one that copied the past. To this end he put as much effort in his writings as he did in his buildings. “Form should follow function...” was and is the Idea that he sought to teach, even to his young draftsman Frank Lloyd Wright. Perhaps the proper way to state this idea is that function

should define form. This idea seems to gradually grow, as shown in his works, as time passed.

For Sullivan, “Ornament and structure were integral; their subtle rhythm sustained a high emotional tension, yet produced a sense of serenity. But the building’s identity resided in the ornament. It was the spirit animating the mass and flowing from it, and it expressed the individuality of the build-ing. Nurtured by the artists sympathy with life, the ornament spoke: it was the voice of the artist and the building -- indeed they were one, the building a ‘stock personality’ and the architect an interpreter and prophet.”

CCA Posters: Sketches5

This week was due for revision of my initial ideas and to push the compositions further. I went through the same process of drawing the shapes in 3 different shades of gray.Revised Sketchesweek6

The next step was to integrate lines into my com-position which resembled the drawings of the actu-al architects. Then, I was to integrate color which would lead to balancing spaces and more layers.

Tryptic Posters: First Tryweek7

Richard Neutra

Richard Neutra

Frank Gehry

Frank Gehry

Louis Sullivan

Louis Su

llivan

dec

on

stru

ctiv

ism

international style

chicago style

"I approach each building

as a sculptural object, a

spatial container, a space with

light and air, a response to context and

appropriateness of feeling and spirit. To this

container, this sculpture, the user brings his

baggage, his program, and interacts with it to

accommodate his needs. If he can't do that, I've

failed."

1983 - Temporary Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art; Los Angeles, California

1988 - Sirmai-Peterson Residence; Thousand Oaks, California1989 - Schnabel Residence; Los Angeles, California

1989 - Vitra International Manufacturing Facility & Design Museum ; Weil am Rhein, Germany

1991 - Chiat/Day Headquarters; Venice, California1992 - University of Iowa Advanced Technologies Laboratory; Iowa City, Iowa

1992 - University of Toledo Center for the Visual Arts; Toledo, Ohio1993 - Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum; Minneapolis, Minnesota

1994 - Vitra International Headquarters; Basel, Switzerland1994 - The American Center; Paris, France

1995 - EMR Communication and Technology Center; Bad Oeynhausen, Germany1995 - Team Disneyland Administration Building; Anaheim, California

1996 - Nationale-Nederlanden Building; Prague, Czech Republic1997 - Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; Bilbao, Spain

1999 - The Vontz Center for Molecular Studies at the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio1999 - Der Neue Zollhof; Dusseldorf, Germany

2000 - DG Bank Headquarters; Berlin, Germany *2000 - Experience Music Project; Seattle, Washington *

2001 - Bard College Center for the Performing Arts; Annandale-on-Hudson, New York *2002 - The Walt Disney Concert Hall; Los Angeles, California *

2003 - The Peter B. Lewis Campus of the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio*

2003 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology Stata Complex; Cambridge, Massachusetts *

Exhibition July — August 28

Selected Architectural Designs

“Architects must have a razor

sharp sense of individuality”

Exhibition June 12 — August 28

"I want a

color symphony and I am pretty sure that I am going to get it.”

Exhib

ition

May —

14 Jun

e 5

Richard Neutra

Richard Neutra

Frank Gehry

Frank Gehry

Louis Sullivan

Louis Su

llivan

dec

on

stru

ctiv

ism

international style

chicago style









failed."



















"I want a


Exhib

ition

May —

14 Jun

e 5

Richard Neutra

Richard Neutra

Frank Gehry

Frank Gehry

Louis Sullivan

Louis Su

llivan

dec

on

stru

ctiv

ism

international style

chicago style









failed."



















"I want a


Exhib

ition

May —

14 Jun

e 5

The most time-consuming aspect of my process with the CCA posters was the color issue. I needed to balance all sides of the three posters with colors and shades that would so that they would be readable and cohesive with the rest of the elements on the poster.

Richard Neutra

Lou

is Sullivan

international style"I approach each building

as a sculptural object,

a

spatial container, a

space with light and air, a

response to context a

n appropriateness of fe

eling

and spirit. To this c

ontainer, this s

culpture, the user brings

his baggage, his p

rogram, and interacts with it t

o accommodate

his needs. If

he can't do that, I'

ve failed."





"I want a color symphonyand I

am pretty sure that I am going to get it.”

Exhib

ition

May —

14 Jun

e 5

d

eco

nstr

uctiv

ism chicago style



1989 - Vitra International Manufacturing Facility & Design Museum; Weil am Rhein, Germany1991 - Chiat/Day Headquarters; Venice, California

1992 - University of Iowa Advanced Technologies Laboratory; Iowa City, Iowa1992 - University of Toledo Center for the Visual Arts; Toledo, Ohio

1993 - Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum; Minneapolis, Minnesota1994 - Vitra International Headquarters; Basel, Switzerland

1994 - The American Center; Paris, France1995 - EMR Communication and Technology Center; Bad Oeynhausen, Germany

1995 - Team Disneyland Administration Building; Anaheim, California1996 - Nationale-Nederlanden Building; Prague, Czech Republic

1997 - Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; Bilbao, Spain1999 - The Vontz Center for Molecular Studies at the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio

1999 - Der Neue Zollhof; Dusseldorf, Germany2000 - DG Bank Headquarters; Berlin, Germany *

2000 - Experience Music Project; Seattle, Washington *2001 - Bard College Center for the Performing Arts; Annandale-on-Hudson, New York *

2002 - The Walt Disney Concert Hall; Los Angeles, California *2003 - The Peter B. Lewis Campus of the Weatherhead School of Management at

Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio* 2003 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology Stata Complex; Cambridge, Massachusetts *


Frank Gehry

Richard Neutra

Lou

is Sullivan



a





eling


ontainer, this s


his baggage, his p


o accommodate

his needs. If


ve failed."







Exhib

ition

May —

14 Jun

e 5

d

eco

nstr

uctiv

ism chicago style














Frank Gehry

Richard Neutra

Lou

is Sullivan



a





eling


ontainer, this s


his baggage, his p


o accommodate

his needs. If


ve failed."







Exhib

ition

May —

14 Jun

e 5

d

eco

nstr

uctiv

ism chicago style














Frank Gehry

CCA Poster Revision & Process Book Sketchesweek8

For the final process book project, I gathered all of the images and materials that I used throughout the semster and c ompiled them onto one poster to try and make sense of the workd as a whole. It was then that I realized that viewing the work on a poster helps me to comprehend each step and its relationship to previous lessons.

This week I continued to refine the CCA posters and make sure that connections were made and that details were resolved. For the poster, I experiemented with different lay-outs and ways that the poster could be opened. I decided on a book format the progressively unfolds to the poster.

Continue Revisions and Sketchesweek9

Richard Neutra

Lou

is Sullivan



a





eling


ontainer, this s


his baggage, his p


o accommodate

his needs. If


ve failed."





"I want a color symphonyand

I am pretty sure that I am going to get it.”

Exhib

ition

May —

14 Jun

e 5

d

eco

nstr

uctiv

ism chicago style














Frank Gehry

Canadian Center for Architecture Canadian Center for Architecture Canadian Center for Architecture

Richard Neutra

Lou

is Sullivan



a





eling


ontainer, this s


his baggage, his p


o accommodate

his needs. If


ve failed."







Exhib

ition

May —

14 Jun

e 5

d

eco

nstr

uctiv

ism chicago style














Frank Gehry


Richard Neutra

Lou

is Sullivan



a





eling


ontainer, this s


his baggage, his p


o accommodate

his needs. If


ve failed."







Exhib

ition

May —

14 Jun

e 5

d

eco

nstr

uctiv

ism chicago style














Frank Gehry


The Finished CCA Posters

CCA Posters Full Scale & Process Bookweek10

Richard Neutra

Lou

is Sullivan

international style



a





eling


ontainer, this s


his baggage, his p


o accommodate

his needs. If


ve failed."

Exhibition June 12-July 10



Exhibition May 14-June 5

"I want a color symphony and


Exhib

ition

July 1

7-Augu

st 28

d

eco

nstr

uctiv

ism chicago style

1983 Temporary Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art; Los Angeles, California

1988 Sirmai-Peterson Residence; Thousand Oaks, California1989 Schnabel Residence; Los Angeles, California

1989 Vitra International Manufacturing Facility & Design Museum; Weil am Rhein, Germany1991 Chiat/Day Headquarters; Venice, California

1992 University of Iowa Advanced Technologies Laboratory; Iowa City, Iowa1992 University of Toledo Center for the Visual Arts; Toledo, Ohio

1993 Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum; Minneapolis, Minnesota1994 Vitra International Headquarters; Basel, Switzerland

1994 The American Center; Paris, France1995 EMR Communication and Technology Center; Bad Oeynhausen, Germany

1995 Team Disneyland Administration Building; Anaheim, California1996 Nationale-Nederlanden Building; Prague, Czech Republic

1997 Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; Bilbao, Spain1999 The Vontz Center for Molecular Studies at the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio

1999 Der Neue Zollhof; Dusseldorf, Germany2000 DG Bank Headquarters; Berlin, Germany *

2000 Experience Music Project; Seattle, Washington *2001 Bard College Center for the Performing Arts; Annandale-on-Hudson, New York *

2002 The Walt Disney Concert Hall; Los Angeles, California *2003 The Peter B. Lewis Campus of the Weatherhead School of Management at

Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio* 2003 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Stata Complex; Cambridge, Massachusetts *


Frank Gehry

Canadian Center for ArchitectureCanadian Center for Architecture Canadian Center for Architecture

Richard Neutra

Lou

is Sullivan

international style



a





eling


ontainer, this s


his baggage, his p


o accommodate

his needs. If


ve failed."







Exhib

ition

July 1

7-Augu

st 28

d

eco

nstr

uctiv

ism chicago style














Frank Gehry


Richard Neutra

Lou

is Sullivan

international style



a





eling


ontainer, this s


his baggage, his p


o accommodate

his needs. If


ve failed."







Exhib

ition

July 1

7-Augu

st 28

d

eco

nstr

uctiv

ism chicago style














Frank Gehry


Mock up #1 for the process book

Process Book Revisionsweek11

Final Draftweek12

Documents

Visual Systems