Module 4.
Frame vs. Field
The Isometric
Residence
Migration
Brief
In the last module of the semester, we attempted to model the Old Quad via orthographic drawing and manipulated the building blocks to create a stage that interprets our chosen stories. We learnt the fundamental principles of perspective and practiced the theories of architectural notation in our interpretations. By arranging the elements in foreground, midground and background, we learnt to properly organize information within a field, and represent our ideas in a perceptive homogeneous space.
Trading City - Eutropia
The story I chose is the trading city, Eutropia. Eutropia is a cluster of cities governed by the god of fickleness where only one of them is occupied. Once people get weary about their lives, they migrate to another one and start a new life. My understanding is that boastful people simply have no memories to keep in mind, nor do they have a lifelong goal to achieve. Thus, they enter an endless cycle of changefulness. For the people in Eutropia, present is the only thing that matters.
The Isometric
In the Isometric, the model was constructed to represent the endless transition of residence and migration. Characters include dwellers with different identities, migrators in haste and the story tellers in the distance observing the scenery. There are two main atmospheres throughout the model: relaxation inside the city when people are residing, and intensity outside the city during their migration.
Floor slabs indicate the way through which people travel to the new city.The building blocks of the Old Quad float and transmit in a circle, forming the city at the base which marks the present space where people are living in. Floating cycle of building blocks, as indicated by the arrows, represents the mental state of the Eutropians, as their past and future fade to vanity while only the present is organized.
The Old Quad
Northwestern View
Top View
Southwestern View
Front View
Northeastern View
Southeastern View
Residence
The first perspective 'residence' provides a view inside the city of Eutropia. People play their different roles across the city. They can be soldiers, actress, writers, and even philosophers, as you can see, like Socrates and Plato walking towards us. The campfire in the middle symbolises a permanent dwelling, and waterfall and tree on each side indicates a message of life.
Migration
The second perspective provides a splendid scenario where people migrate to the new city. The landscape starts rotating as people march individually to the new city, with no sign of kindness to each other. Meanwhile, the great flood dashes towards the old city and destroy every aspects of their memories, symbolizing the forgotten past. A child stands at the cross between the road to the new city and the exit of Eutropia. Unlike the adults who have become unconscious to the process, the child is the only character in the story who still has a choice for his future.
