week five - site-seeing interior sequence

Draft Pitch:

The focus of my project is to create a space that addresses and provides an escape from the dangers associated with Aucklands CBD’s night life. I want my design to provide a safe and comfortable space for those who are most at risk, kind of like the comfort and escapist feeling that cinema provides. I want my space to facilitate the building of a supportive community that thus creates a feeling of safety that people know that they can visit if in need, rather than being an obvious security space since that may feel too intense, overwhelming, and intimidating for community that my design services. This project is going to be a women’s gym that is open 24/7 and acts as a safe space at night that aids fearful/vulnerable/intoxicated women/lgbtqia+ who seek the help. The ground floor will be the reception area with a monitored lounge that is accessible all night and that can act as a space for an escape from the external dangers. The gym will also provide a range of classes, including self defence classes to provide additional methods of safety to those who want it. I am going to use chainmail in the materiality of my design in order to emphasise the feeling of protection and strength.

Case Studies:

Chain-Clad Staircase - Kengo Kuma

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2021/08/kengo-kuma-casa-batllo/

Kuma's impactful use of chainmail material in the design in this interior creates a unique tension between the themes of intensity/strength/hardness and soft/flexible. The appealing flowing lines that are created through the layering of chain screens create a calming and protected feeling. I feel this ties closely with the direction my project is heading and I intend to look to Kuma's work to explore ways of displaying and incorporating this material into my design.

Pedal Cinemas - IBike

https://ibike.sustrans.org.uk/resources/pedal-cinema/

"The Pedal Cinema is a film projector and speakers powered solely by pedaling specially adapted static bikes". Perhaps I could incorporate a similar kinetic element into my design to make the cycling exercise more immersive?

The Trip - LesMills

"THE TRIP™ is a fully immersive workout experience that combines a 40-minute multi-peak cycling workout with a journey through digitally-created worlds. It uses a cinema-sized screen and sound system.

To better address the base of the project being moving image centre, perhaps I could create a similar immersive virtual-reality element into the spin classes within the gym design?

Additional Surfaces:

I created an additional hot glue screen using a less-organised approach. I started with dots and connecting them together, imagining how I might want the beads to be situated. This experiment made me realise that I prefer the more organised position of the dots in my previous design. It feels more comfortable which is more desirable in the context of my design concept.

I also strung the glazed beads that I had been experimenting with along a string to imagine what one line of a partition screen may look like;