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Heavens
Apr 15, ’12
6:30 PM
Apolis: Common Gallery
Mar 8, ’12
7:45 PM
By Scott M B Gustafson
“Architecture is not simply about space and form, but also about event, action, and what happens in space.”
Bernard Tschumi
The work of MAISON ORION was featured recently on the Apolis website with a Journal entry regarding their flaship store in Los Angeles, the Apolis: Common Gallery. One of the goals of this website is to document and share the design process I utilize to bring a project from concept to concrete reality. Multiple modes of inquiry are explored with analog and digital tools: sketches, photographs, physical models, BIM, and sometimes poetry. I don’t like to be limited by any one tool or overly influenced by it either; this polyvalent working method avoids the pitfalls of a singular approach.
Bernard Tschumi’s quote reminds us that the object of design is not design itself, but creating places for people to live, work, create, dream and share. This project is an office and retail store for the Apolis brand, but it is also a gathering place for the unique community of social activists and advocates that regularly meeting during the keynote events held there. The space becomes an incubator where passionate thinkers exchange creative solutions to some of the toughest problems the world is facing, and make new friends in the process.
Brothers pursue dreams
Weaving lines across time zones
Action brings resultsAn architectural poem inspired by the Parton brother, Raan and Shea.
View from the corner of Third and Traction in LA's Arts District
The situation in June, 2011
Natural light
Field survey of the existing building
Design goals
The thinking hand...
Study model of the project
The Parton brothers modeled to scale in front of their flagship store
Drawings ready to submit for a building permit
Waiting to begin the plan check process
HVAC work is in progess
Plumbing investigation in the existing walls
Shea Foley inspects the progress
Sandblasting of the steel window frames
No holograms in this operation
The artistic placement of an orange extension cord
Lighting ready to be hung from the rafters
Materials ready for installation
Scott M B Gustafson at the opening night party
The space in action. Image courtesy of Apolis
Mark Koska discusses how he developed the K-1 auto disable syringe. Image courtesy of Apolis
Design Process
Dec 4, ’11
9:06 PM
By Scott M B Gustafson
Design is a process of analyzing facts, mentally processing concepts and working through solutions by hand. Well, this tends to be my process. Design ideas are always further refined with the benefit of the computer and the precision it brings, but a hybrid analog / digital approach seems to work best. I try to imagine how a space will feel when I see it in my head, but I often don’t feel like I fully know it until I draw it on paper. Unfortunately, it is easy to get enthralled by a seductive sketch that might not actually work because of the inherent inaccuracy of freehand drawing. Maintaining the energy of the sketch while refining the idea is always a balancing act. On the other hand, I try not to judge my sketches when they seem dry or boring at first, because I know that through successive iterations the good ideas will rise to the top. It is actually a really valuable step to review bad ideas, options that do not work or are just not optimal, if for no other reason that to know that you explored every possibility you could think of.
These drawings were made yesterday for a new art classroom building for the Cloud Horse Art Institute near Kyle, SD on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. A digital model is currently in process and energy studies will be performed when the initial model is complete. Information gained from the energy studies will be used to refine or modify the design.
