12.07.2011

Ending the Highrise -- The Backbone of Design

Long alas the challenges of prey
They swoop and turn and twist.
On golden pedestals they laugh and stay
For design is but a fighting foe
strong and wise
and full of wit.

Accomplished we are, for highrise is complete. Four weeks to this day have I put my numb hand through Sheol. My partner's poor hand as well holds bloody scars of joy. But this incarnate ritual and needy process crafts Art. The intensity you drive--the deeper the narrative; the better the design. The finality is but a marvelous glimpse into the power of architectural design. It weaves experience and delight into something so magnificent.

As you approach the layout you are greeted by a golden light trickling soft melodies into the boards. They dance with joy. You gasp at the detail. You float in a sea of antiquity. The design is wholesome. It speaks through many levels which blend intermittently between each other. Every thing speaks to its neighbor: the sepia tone paintings, the industrial pallet wood, the pocket watch the immensely detailed model and particular hand-made frames. The collective whole grasps your spirits and delights to impress you.

Designing to create an experiential whole is indeed important. It beckons to be seen, felt, smelled and enjoyed. It is powerful and majestic. It is functional, metaphorical and aesthetically pleasing. It exists because of particularity and intention. Perception does not matter. Likes and dislikes do not matter. Opinion does not matter. It is whole. It speaks. It lives. To craft a delicate model, paint flourished water colours and find a cohesive blend sends shivers down your spine.

Is this project Obtuse? Absolutely. Considering the use of Hand Craft {Model Making and Painting} to match both the industrial area of Rincon Hill and the Clients values, this Highrise design is avant garde. Though using the computer is not a destructive measure--the purity in hand-crafted quality for this project is very particular indeed. Without thought the project would fail and dwindle. So, the Narrative continues to evoke imagery. It still speaks wholeness and might. Detail upon detail saturates the project. The entire design was not made from Form but from something much deeper--this experience I continue to state. It is not a pizza box design; it is not stacks of floor plates. It is obtuse because the design is much greater than a simple theoretical educational design. We have reached deeper to makes something Obtuse--something of prowess and stature. Something real and tangible. Something you can taste. All your sense are inclined to project within.


The Presentation



A Step Closer

Fredrick O'Donnell Inspiration and Client {painter unknown}

Giant Section Perspective
Diagram of Function
Residential Floor Axonometric

O'Donnell Commercial Floors Axonometric

Site Base Axonometric
A Narrative
Approach
O'Donnell Lobby


Sky Lobby
Penthouse

Market

San Francisco Skyline
Name Plate Detail