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THIS SEMESTER

I learned a lot about new technologies and resources to further develop my architectural studies. Creating a topography from a picture to create a futuristic ruin utilizing architectural tools is really rewarding. However, I have encountered a range of difficulties in this mission. The semester started slowly, and as the week went by, assignments were getting harder and harder, each requiring more time to execute. The main challenge I have to face in the semester was that computers are really slow. Operating on devices that you do not understand is stressful, and with the additional lag period of device failures and delays, will become daunting. On many occasions during the course, I was unable to submit a task owing to a computer malfunction. At one point, my files were not opening because the application was not working. With this came another obstacle where I had to start a lot of times again. It's easy to get behind in a course like this, so going back to the timetable is a challenge.

           I tried to add the application to my MacBook, and my laptop crashed. In fact, I was able to get a prototype of the 3D modelling programme on my laptop, but my device would get incredibly hot to the point that I couldn't use the mouse pad, and my screen burned to the touch.  I tested some other apps on my iPad, such as the concept app as well as the ShapeR 3D. But, since I was too behind on assignments and with the latest COVID conditions, I wouldn't complete this assignment on time, mainly because I wasn't confident and was so new to these apps.

While many of the contrary obstacles have occurred throughout the semester, there have also been several positive ones. An optimistic goal for the overall semester was to use various 3D modelling sites to build a fictitious ruin. I spent many nights watching videos on YouTube on how to use Procreate, Rhino, AutoCAD and SketchUp. For every error I created, I learned another method that I integrated into my work. For the final build, my topography should have been handmade with white chipboard with a 3D laser cut of tiny structures. I pictured this tidy, white site layout of wooden laser-cut construction frames as well as small plastic human figures to offer a sense of scale.

           This project has also helped me to view architecture differently.  I am more aware of the motion of how space is used rather than its dimension. I think more about how space is going to be used and how I can portray those interactions within my design. I also learned that architecture is not always about walls nor the number of floors but the landscape in which people will inhabit. Architecture is all about thermodynamic effects that humans leave behind and continue to evolve over some time. In our modern-day, architecture is the overpopulated area and finding ways to reduce density within an urban landscape. However, it's so much more. It's about the impact that the inhabitants create within the area and how the landscape today can change the view of tomorrow.

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Kovūn

           Kovūn Eaglesfield is an eight-generation heir to the North American settlement of Kenai. He is an archaeologist and geologist eager to answer Esneya's great mysteries. He is inspirational and courageous, but he can be optimistic and a little perfectionist. As a boy, he was influenced by tales about Kenai and Esneya which his father would tell him about. He had always thought of settling in his ancestors' land. He has a severe phobia of pests and is allergic to nuts. Physically, for a 54-year-old, Kovūn is in relatively excellent condition. He is tall with tan skin, black hair and blue eyes, inherited from Kairo, his dad. He has a birthmark on his forearm in the form of what he claims to be the shape of Esneya. He grew up in the upper-class area, following his grandfather's prosperous line of clothes. He is now married to Gretchen Kennard, who is the same age as him and works as a novelist. Kovūn has two children with Gretchen: Koya, aged 15, and Kilver, aged 20. Already retired, he decides to head back to the island where it all began. With the aid of some well-known engineers and archaeologists, they studied many details on Esneya and Tochana and trained Kovūn for his long-awaited trip.

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ESNEYA

Esneya is a lovely land located in the center of the Caribbean, right in what we now consider Dominica and Haiti. In 1659, European explorers encountered foreign land on their way to colonize a small island called Tochana. Esneya was not far from Tochana, but it was, at the time, the most stunning, sight-catching island in the Caribbean Sea. Esneya was magnificent: everything went back to nature. The land was rich in nutrients and provided the natives, the Esne people, with numerous crops. The Esneyans have also ensured that the island was safe and well provided. One of the pioneers was Kenai, who loved the people and whom the people admired the most. She went against her troops to save Esneyans from deportation. Instead, she allows them to benefit from each other. While her name was initially Elizabeth, The Esneyans called her Kenai, meaning peace and prosperity.

The inhabitants of Esneya existed on the island long before we could recall. They loved nature and regarded it as their Deity. They spoke in this beautiful language called the Esnnayaaahee, where people will welcome you, Sakaú, for the good morning, and Shanzata, for the good night. They live in harmony with each other. Everyone is treated fairly, no matter their ethnicity, no matter their faith, they are all united on their land and their culture. It results in a healthy atmosphere where everyone controls all. Significant social improvements have been decided by the people and with the people.

          Tochana, though, has also been jealous of the island. Whatever Esneya could make, they wanted to replicate. No matter what Esneya did, they did it. The rivalry between the two islands started when King Thayan Tochana's attempt to control the Caribbean lands collapsed in the late 1500's: Esneya had struck back. Since then, every successor King had attempted to complete the task that the previous King had struggled to do to conquer Esneya and declare it to be their own. Year after year, they attempted, but they all lost. In 1671, however, Tochana conquered the region. Over the years they have produced a toxic gas which will mutate the earth. The substance, however, became much more potent than that. The chemical, once oxidised, rendered the air toxic, consuming oxygen and made it difficult to breathe. The gases where so powerful it destroyed the Esneyans and Esneya became nothing but a lonely island within a few months. Kenai's troops managed to rescue themselves, and they left the tragedy to unfold in sorrow. Esneya was never spoken of, and the wandering adventurers agreed they would not reveal their journey. The only gift Kenai took with her was her son Kanah, son of a prominent Esneyan.

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THERMODYNAMIC SYSTEMS

As architects, we are always asked to reconstruct space and envision life within it. We need to establish both the motions and any interactions that may exist in an area. “Defining the surface does not, however, determine the setting.”[1]Conventionally, we design to build a picture or set of images rather than a visual response; we plan to reproduce internal environments rather than a thermal environment. Humans have had an influence on the Planet for millennia, but we struggle to represent our motion of energy, primarily recognized as thermodynamics. In an architectural function, a debate on light concentrate on the materials and their location. Any question of heat regards the façade and the motion inside the room. We prefer to restrict ourselves to a dimension and height, ensure that we design to obey standards and architecturally adhere to the needs of clients. Mainly, we have assigned environmental causality to an image on a picture plane.[2] However, in a thermodynamic environment, our action is not limited to sizes or walls. We need to be able to convey the feeling, what we experience and what we see inside the portrayal of our architectural work, as we are involving. “By focusing on our behaviors, we can now begin to visualize the exchanges between two environments or its energy fields.”[3] Esneya's motion of energy was discovered inside the Esneyans and their society. The way they catered their property and accepted the settlers. It was not all about the island's scale or its boarders but the energies that went from one being to another.

ARCHITECTURAL ACTIVISM

           Architecture is constantly evolving, with new concepts being the architectural concept of the epoch. Although conceptual architecture reflects on historical structures, updating its core ideas to generate modern models and strategies, it is architectural myths that most relate to shifts in urban density and or landscape over time. Like any American land, Esneya was explored, then colonized, war erupted, and the land was tragically forgotten. Architectural activism describes architecture as the medium used to consciously promote the creation of living spaces and ecosystems across the globe when social issues arise. Although architectural advocacy is not a common word used today in our culture, many architects have deepened their work into how they might improve what architecture was. This would bring a modern design paradigm under which the buildings would represent the foundation of urbanization. While this is recognized today as sustainable planning, it is often referred to by some as Architectural activism. Instead of dwelling on the economic gains, we can concentrate on the thermodynamic resources that the landscape can generate from generation to generation. We need to maintain human influence within the land and continue the energy movement for an extended period. This is seen as a conservation of Heritage and how near we are to examine the energy movement of a site.

TODAY’S SOCIETY

Today's design is a product of the past mixed with modernist ideals. As an architect, we seek to grasp ancient zeitgeist and strive to imitate our comprehension through different concepts and designs. When human development rises, heritage sites become casualties of extrinsic and intrinsic influence when tourists challenge the site's inherent existence. Kovūn's aim is to reconcile with its origins and appreciate its past and ancestral lives. Indeed, citizens looking for the past intensify through persistent lack of significant sites and fascinating tales.

           Today, it's all about control and wealth. Core ideals become overlooked as new issues become more relevant in societies. Nevertheless, people travel for both recreational and educational reasons. It is a way for us to reconcile with our history. Kovūn, have a more significant benefit than any of us as he is willing to travel to an island that has not been seen since 1671. There he will embark on an exploration to research Esneya's thermodynamic relationship. With the aid of an antibiotic, he will seek to neutralise the contamination and regain the country that has been lost for decades. He is well aware of the hazards he may face and well aware of his pest phobia, but he is eager to finish Kenai's journey.

[1] Michelle Addington,  "The phenomena of the non-visual" In Softspace; From a Representation of Form to a Simulation of Space, New York: Routledge: 39-51.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

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This is Esneya after the Chemical spill. 

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The Outpost

Today's new concept is greenhouses, a construction that has greatly minimized pressures on the natural world and offers enclosed environments favorable to human safety. Green building, however, has not been completely perfected. Overall, green buildings are designed to mitigate the environmental effects that are impacting our world. Kenai needed his capsule to adopt such a green-architecture principle.

The outpost consists of three major elements, all of which are prefabricated. The first one (represented by a large green cube) is a two-story net-zero capsule with its solar paneled roof (represented by a blue cube). Such systems are built using a variety of continuous types of siding and insulation that are immune to air movement. The exterior walls are fused by the caulking of the existing joint and gasketing of electrical receptacles. The window can only be seen in the bedroom upstairs and the toilet. The whole unit is accessible, with just the bathroom enclosed. Lights are operated with motion sensors all over the house. The second part is rainwater and air filter (represented in yellow). When rainwater is gathered and purified, it can be used anywhere in the property. As the chemical released in Esneya is oxidized, the air filter will filter the air and produce oxygen in the house and release an air neutralizer to stabilize the remaining chemical. The third is a coordination and research laboratory (represented by a pink cube). This is where Kovūn can continue his work on the island and record his results. The data would then be sent home to further improve our awareness.

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Esneya before and after the evasion. 

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When the chemicals erupted most plants turned into carnivorous plants. This videos is my rendering process of Esneya. This will provides a visual for my readers and my working process.  

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The first renders of Esneya.

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The first render of my capsule. This was my first attempt.

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The two historic buildings that would have been features on my site.

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Some of the class tutorial.

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The beginning of the semester. This was the first step. Creating a topography out of an image.

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The discovery of Esneya

This class has been both a challenge and, at times, fascinating. The beginning of the course looked promising. We had exciting new projects every week, as well as a task that needed to get done. The overall assignment, be able to create a site from a picture and with a creative story, develop a ruin. Upon watching despicable me as well as several other kids show, I wanted to depict my ruin through a kid's perspective. So my narrative when something like this:

“My great-great-grandmother, Kenai, came across the land on her way to discovering Tochana in 1798. An island located in the Caribbean somewhere in between, what we now call, Haiti and Dominica. Esneya was not far from Tochana but as they had been at sea for what felt like nine months now, they decided to rest. Esneya was a beautiful place, my great-great-grandmother would tell us. It was one of those places where you always felt like home. Amongst them lived the Esne people. They inhabited the island long before we can remember. Kenai would tell us about how they value nature and treated it like their God. Their dialect was this beautiful language called Esnnayaaahee, where people would great you Sakaú for good morning and Shanzata for goodnight. It meant so much for Kenai. What was supposed to be only just a few months, turned into a few years. One day, war begin. Tochana invaded the land. They created these chemicals and gases that would mutate the soil. The gases where so strong that it killed the Esneyans and within just a couple of days Esneya was nothing but an isolated island. Kenai's troops were able to save themselves, and with grief, they left the disaster to unfold. Esneya was never talked about, and the explorers that travelled with my great-great-grandmother promised not to share their expedition. The only ones to know about Esneya where the future generation of the explorers. My Name is Kovūn, meaning determined in Esnnayaaahee, and I am here to continue my great great-grandmother's expedition.”

To begin, I picked a sectional model. With the difficulties I had with slicing my topography, I wanted to use something that wasn't flat. I wanted to challenge myself and try to see what kind of ruin I could come up with. The sectional model that I picked fitted perfectly with my narrative. The high skyscraper looking like shape was a mountain. The step foundation harmonized with the change in nature and atmosphere after the attack. The triangular shapes were what were trees but became these cone shape cement blocks due to the chemicals. And the circular shapes are enlarged tree roots also due to chemicals.

If the semester had gone the way, I thought it would have I would have built my site out of thin wood sheets and handmade my ruins and elements using chipboard. This would have to give me the possibility to paint and ensure my site looked like I had planned it to look like. I would fabricate little villagers and have my site demonstrate a before and after the invasion at the same time.

This plan did not go well. After week three, I couldn't work on the project for more than 15 minutes at a time without the computer crashing. I even reach a point where it took 10 minutes to open my file and would take 10 minutes to execute each command. This became very frustrating. My TAs where fantastic, they made sure that everything was though and even would go overtime if needed. However, due to computer lagging, not everyone in the class was on the same assignment. This was also another challenge.

Nonetheless, I still have high hope for this project and my final site. I decided to select option number two where I could develop my story and provide floor plans of Kovūn’s capsule upon his return to Esneya.

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Assignment 6 part A

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Out of all the historic monuments files these three caught my attention. I haven’t completely figured out what my narrative will be but this styles of buildings are exactly in the direction of what I want my overall site to look like.

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Assignment 4