a rendering...

this was modeled in SketchUp, rendered in Rhino and finished in Photoshop... it's the approach to one of three gallery cubes in my Train Restoration Museum.

closer...

Facade Sketch and Interior Spatial Study

Facade Sketches

The building goes under the bridge at MLK and Division. The glass panels could be photovotaic glass - thus creating electricity and providing a translucency but not allowing too much solar gain in the building. They would be operable as well to allow for passive cooling and night flushing.

The Mechanism

I am creating a door that operates in a similar fashion to the concepts in the design of my building. The concepts I am focusing on are linear motion and patina as a clue to frequency of use. This large door essentially opens up like a door on the side of a cargo car on a train. This door opens up to allow visitors to experience the passing trains that rumble by just 9 feet away. After sketching it out, I modeled in Rhino...

Train Restoration Spatial Study 1

"Give us your weak, your poor..."

and we'll ignore.

Study of Joinery

This started as a Building Tech project from last year - the Copper piece in the middle. I always wanted to make a frame for it. Well, I got a hold of some recycled wood from a friend who is a builder - Dustin!

The Copper piece was taken from a sheet of Copper - cut into three pieces; had muratic acid applied to one piece; and rejoined with bolts and solder. The bright color changes came from the torch used to solder it, while the darker color changes came from the muratic acid.

I wanted to experiment with wood Joinery as well. The dark piece on the left is a stained Douglas Fir 2x6 and the rest is cedar. The upper piece, the header, was formed by laminating several pieces of Cedar together to form a thick beam. The whole piece is held together without glue - the edges of the Copper piece fold down and hold the piece in with tension.

Peg joints were also used to join the Cedar pieces on the right. All of the Cedar had a clear coat applied and then lightly sanded to remove most of the glossy reflection.