Under Pressure

Design Problem

The three-dimensional design will be a “site identifier” for the Kansas City Art Institute. The problem that this particular side of the campus faces is the fact that there is no way to know that one is on the KCAI campus. The site needs something that will show the viewer that they are entering campus. The site identifier needs to represent the school as a whole and represent the artistic spirit.

Site Assessment

The site for the proposed three-dimensional design is located on the Oak Street side of the KCAI campus. The walkway leads from the campus green to the street with an angle toward the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The walkway is made up of small cement blocks with glass blocks inserted at regular intervals that light up with different colors at night. This site resides in between the Irving building, which holds Digital Media majors, and the Painting Building. There is traffic, pedestrian and automotive, going both parallel and perpendicular to the site. We, Bri and I, feel that it’s important that whatever “site identi-fier” is placed in the location should be able to be seen by both those who are walking and driving and by people that are passing by or going towards the site. We also feel that the organic quality of the campus green and the quality of the man made buildings around it should be tied together in a harmonious way, since both these factors are important for campus life.

Inspiration

We began the process of designing a site identifier by searching for inspiration images. We were really drawn to images of glass and how sun light, or artificial light, shines through the transparent surface and casts colorful shadows. As our ideas progressed we also became interested in the shapes created naturally in geodes. The above images are some of the images we gathered that went into the final design.

Design Process

We began with the approach of wanting to use colored glass with natural light in our design. The first design, on the left, used very sharp, geometric shapes that were meant to be reminiscent of crystals. We were worried that the forms of the crystals might be a little threatening so we moved into a new design. Moving to the right, the next design includes some more soft, organic shapes. The third image was a rough computer mock up to veiw the design in some possible colors, while the last is an orthographic sketch in comparison with a 6 foot tall person.

Orthographic Drawings

0 1 2 3

1/2” = 1’– 0”For this final design, we really tried to hone in on a couple key attributes. The ideas of “Something out of Nothing” and “Growth” were really important. The bursting nature of the structure out of just plain cement represents the way that artists create something out of a base nothingness, such as a blank document or a blank canvas. The crystal struc-ture is inspired by how crystals are made under pressure. The students of the Kansas City Art Institute are put under a lot of pressure both by their professors and by themselves and out of that comes great work. Lastly, the layers of glass are relating to how artists are multi-faceted both in personality and in talent. The colors have relation to the diversity of this talents and of the students.

Orthographic Drawings

0 1 2 3

1/2” = 1’– 0”

0 1 2 3

1/2” = 1’– 0”

Top View

Side ViewFront View

Materials

Materials-• Under Lighting• Metal Framework• Colored Glass

The colors chosen, color blocks shown above, for the colored glass were picked because of their brightness and how we estimate light will show through them and cast shadows. The orange, green, and purple were chosen to almost imitate the colors of the Kansas City Art Institute.

in situ

Brianna DallasMorgan Stockton

November 2012