Designer: Jonathan Gales
Firm: Factory Fifteen
Web, Web2
jonathan@factoryfifteen.com

About the Designer:
Born in Jersey, Channel Islands, Jonathan Gales trained in architecture; First Class honours in B.A from University of Brighton and Distinction in M.Arch from The Bartlett, UCL. Jonathan’s work focuses on the design of space and speculative environments using film and animation techniques. Jonathan’s work has won awards including first place in the image category of the Architectural 3D Awards 2011 and the Fitzroy Robinson Drawing Prize 2011. Jonathan’s work has been exhibited a at the Shanghai Expo 2010, the Royal Academy of Arts London and the Whitechapel Gallery. Jonathan is a founding member of Factory Fifteen, London.

About the Proposal:
The city is a centre of population and culture. It is also a concentration of built infrastructure, capital and architecture. The project focuses on the perception of the city in total construction; inspired by the incomplete states of world icons such as The Shard and Burj Khalifa. Megalomania is a short animation that explores the aesthetic of change as an ambiguous language that can be read as both growth and decay. The built environment of the city is explored as a labyrinth of architecture that is either unfinished, incomplete or broken. Megalomania is a response to the state of many developing cities, exaggerating the appearance of progress into the sublime.

The project took inspiration from Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s Carceri plates, which show a fictional architecture of prison environments. The geometry that make up the spaces within the Carceri series is ambiguous of its scale and enclosure and could be argued as impossible to be built. These themes were applied to envision an exaggerated contemporary urban construction site on the scale of a city. The project began by making a series of graphics that propose new architectures in, around and stacked on top of others. These graphics were then treated as scenes of the animation as well as becoming drawings that would stand alone.

The film is made up of a number of point of view and virtual camera movements, mixing between the experiential perspective of an individual alongside impossible camera positions elevated above the city. Megalomania was created predominantly using 3D CGI with some 2.5D animated sequences.

To see the film, please visit http://www.vimeo.com/25446891 (posted above)

Designer: Liu Chien-Sheng
San-Architecture
blog
Location: Beijing, China

*Beautiful and smart design.

Proposal: Bike Design
This bicycle design is trying to challenge the imagination of the form, and create a new idea for the motion system. Design language of the bicycle is figured by natural form. Simplified body form which component with smooth shaped elements. The essence of this bicycle design is to create a sexy curve. It presents as soft as water and shows the strength and beauty at all different angles.

Non-spoke-wheel is the extension of the form concept. Eliminated the tedious supporting spokes and strengthen the rim structure, and extend the natural curve in two wheels to present the shape of light.

Introduction of green energy is a global trend in the design. Power generator is driven by cycling foot pedals which installed in the main axle, and produced power is stored in a battery for front, rear and side lights. The light system is not only a function for lighting, but it silhouettes the beauty of the body itself.

Concept
Solidification of the fluid
The form outlined in dynamic flow, presenting a perfect combination between natural beauty and industrial technology.

Non-spoke-wheel
To break the traditional concept of the bicycle structure, eliminating the supporting spokes to empty the structure in the middle of the wheels, and directly strengthen the rim frame.

Self-power generating system
The power is generated while people cycle on the bicycle and electricity is stored in the battery for LED illumination system.

Designer: Robh Ruppel
website
blog
Location: Southern California

*Steampunk Village caught my eye in “Digital Art Masters” and I knew we needed to have Robh’s incredible work on RealityDistorted. He has been kind enough to share much more of his work with us – see below. Enjoy!

Digital Artwork: Steampunk Village + More

DESIGNER: Kory Bieg
OTA+
San Francisco, CA

PROPOSAL:
This project was an off-shoot from the concrete screens we were developing to test the limitations of Ductal High-Performance Concrete. For this particular pattern, we decided to prototype some small scale molds in which we could pour different materials to test durability and performance. We settled on Silicon for the materials ability to flex and its translucent properties. Although the design is for one unit, the pattern will tile seamlessly. The pattern was developed as a 3ds Max script. The parameters of each cell are limitless in their reconfiguration possibility, in order to produce a series of entirely unique units. The data that defines a particular configuration of cells is directly exported to the CNC Mill for immediate fabrication.

DESIGNERS: Veronica Velasquez + Alexandra Epeshina

http://veronicavelasquez.net/

Academy of the Art University
Instructor: Kory Bieg
San Francisco, CA

PROPOSAL:
This studio focused on boolean evolution and design process through iterative transformations. For our design we explored the concept of booleans as motion and how the transformation of the volume informs the program and the quality of the spaces. We were interested in developing the threshold between interior and exterior volumes, while also considering how the building could embrace the surrounding urban context. After various iterations and explorations with the boolean operation, we defined two main principles for creating space.

1-The twisting of booleaned spaces as the building forms up, which serves as the main circulation & allows for the exposure of the public through a procession experience throughout the building.(white)
2-The array of the booleaned spaces as they wrap around the top of the interior volumes, afforded the ability to set up a performance stage, thus a way to bring the city into the building.(green)