For our first project of the quarter, we went back to the basics, modeling the “primitive” shapes: a cube, a cylinder, a sphere, a cone, and a tetrahedron. 

Up next: new materials and new alterations to these shapes.

If walls could dream… they’d dream of going back to the basics of geometry.

We finally finished the pier! We tied all the sections together and hung them from the ceiling.

This is my final model:

The rectangular frames “float” on the water and move up and down with the tide.

There are three full pier models in all.

My section has a staircourt on either side.

It looks especially cool from the bottom with all of the joists.

Okay so you remember the original model of my group’s section of the pier. Now it’s time to design something of our own!

My group’s first concept was turning the narrow stairwell to the deck covered in seals (which was quite dangerous) into a nicer (and safer!) place to sit and relax and watch the seals play. We thought of a staircourt with an awning above.

We went through a few iterations and then decided to tackle the building on the other half of our section. We started with a giant cantilevered platform as a way to separate the fishermen from the tourists. We imagined carefree fishing on the top deck and casual lounging (and maybe even swinging?) on the ground floor.

We wanted more connection between the two halves so we cut the building down the center to create a horizontal axis/circulation pathway. (The white strip in the center is the road.)

After our professor told us to go bigger, we experimented a little with adding geometries and a new detached seal deck and these rectangular boxes to “frame” the views.

We scrapped the small box frames and decided to really push the envelope by creating a gigantic archway over the road. The archway is a triangle on one side and a square on the other, signifying that there is a difference between the two sides of the pier but uniting them at the same time.

However, we still had the awkward cantilever building. We tried a few different frame ideas on it but all in all decided to scrap it for a second staircourt.

Stay tuned to see the final model!

After measuring the pier, we built a scale model of it.

Our section of the pier had a road down the center, one building, two cranes, two staircases, and a lower deck that sea lions lounged on.

It was so much fun to make all the tiny railings and stairs. Stay tuned for our final model where we’re going to build onto the pier!

 A right of passage here in the Cal Poly architecture department is the pier project. One bright Sunday morning, the first year studios go to this pier and each group gets a section of it to measure and draw.

It’s a really fun day out in the field with all of your peers (or should I say, piers).

Next, to make the model!

Want to learn how to create a folded-paper sculpture like my Interpolated Void project? Check out my newest YouTube tutorial:

We hung all our interpolated voids up for the Parents Weekend Showcase. They turned out really incredible with the lights inside.

Just a refresher, we started with two photos and extrapolated lines between them. Then, we made that paper into a model. Now, we are making that model into an final model with a light in it. My final model turned out kind of like a geometric brain shape with lots of folds and a pink-colored light hidden inside.

For my final model, I experimented with folded paper. I chose a glide reflection pattern that I found in the book Folding Techniques for Designers. 

Then I experimented with the light in the folded paper form

and different ways of wrapping the folded paper.