Independent Study for Break and Week 10

• Post to your blog a list of your group members. Provide links to their blogs, on your blog.


• During the break, in your groups, continue gathering sources, and research about Jorn Utzon, and the Silkeborg Museum.


• Also in your groups, interpret any research you have gathered, using plans, sections, elevations, physical models, etc., to model the building faithfully, as you believe Jorn Utzon imagined it.


• Individually, post three images of your group model to your blog. Choose your images based on areas of the existing design that you find interesting, and either want to develop, or re-interpret in your own design.


• Write another 250 words, this time detailing your concept and direction for redesigning the Museum. Refer back to your feelings from the original 250 words that you wrote, based on your research, and the three words developed in the Week 9 Studio Task.

Extra Tasks

• Using the three words that you developed in the Week 9 Studio Task, and your 250 words of your concept, gather 10 textures that relate to your ideas, and that you would like to use as materials in your redesign.


• Prepare the materials into usable tiles for texturing your building, and post the tiles to your blog.

For the Extra Keen

• Do some concept sketches for your redesign of the Silkeborg Museum, and post them to your blog.


• You can also start moving your design into a 3D application like Sketchup, to get a feel for the spaces of your building.

Week 9 Studio Task

• Get your tutor to read through your 250 words, giving opinions and suggestions on your writing, and feelings about the building.


• Using your 250 words as a basis, think of 10 emotive words, that can be used to set your re-design of the Silkeborg in a new context. These words could be anything you desire, and will become a guiding element in thinking about your redesign.


• Use Jorn Utzon's description, or any other research you have gathered, as examples of the types of language to develop around the design of your building.


• Post the 10 words to your blog.


• With your tutor's help, choose 3 of these words, which will become the basis of your re-representation of the Silkeborg.


• I see very little research so far on the Silkeborg Museum on anyone's blogs. If you haven't collected or posted any research, go to the library, and find at least one book, either about the Silkeborg Museum, referencing the Silkeborg Museum, about unbuilt architecture, or about Jorn Utzon, and his career.


• Post a quote from the book, and add the reference to your blog.


• If you haven't written your 250 words, spend time today formulating your ideas, and getting something up on your blog.


• I want everyone to have 250 words describing their feelings about the building, on their blog, by the end of today's studio.

Exerpt of Jorn Utzon's Description of the Silkeborg Museum

“The museum, which lies in an old, well-stocked garden with a wing divided into bays, is designed so that it does not disturb the surroundings, but concentrates 100% on the interior.

“A building of several storeys above the ground would be like a bull in a china shop, and the respect for the existing calm wing of the museum calls for a solution that will not dominate the surroundings on account of its size.

“It feels natural to bury the museum in the ground to a depth corresponding to the height of a three-storeyed building and only to allow the upper part - the roof lights taking up one storey - to appear above the ground level.

“The design of this buried museum has a character rather like a cave or an oven. Because they are a direct continuation of the walls of the museum, the visible one-storey roof lights suggest this cave-like character and clearly demonstrate the reason for their special design.

“In contrast to a square room, a cave has a distinct enclosed effect thanks to its natural shape without right angles. Continuous shapes such as we have in the museum express and emphasise the quadrilateral canvases and objects in the same powerful way that a cyclorama on a stage emphasises the individual characters and the flats.

“The floor, too, has been included in this continuous movement, and these dramatic shapes also correspond well with the idea of digging the museum out underground.

“The inspiration for the design of the museum comes from many different experiences -including my visit to the caves in Tatung, west of Peking, where hundreds of Buddha sculptures and other figures are carved in caves in the rocks by the bank of the river. These sculptures appear in all shapes in contrast to or in harmony with the surrounding space. The caves are all of varying sizes and shapes and with varying illumination. The old Chinese sculptors have experimented with all possibilities, and the most fantastic thing is a cave that is almost filled with a Buddha figure with c.7-metre-high face. Three platforms linked by ladders give the visitor the possibility of walking around and coming to close quarters with this gigantic figure.

“Here, in this museum, it is possible to exhibit paintings and sculptures the size of a three-storeyed building so that it is possible to walk around the objects on all levels on the system of ramps, and perhaps the possibility of this kind of exhibition leads to a new line of development in decorative art in place of the ordinary form in public buildings today, which are merely easel paintings on a gigantic scale.

“The various works of art can also be exhibited individually or in groups in every conceivable manner. It will also be possible in one of the large ovens to isolate a single large painting or sculpture that must be viewed on its own.

“The continuous space in the museum provides surprising background effects with varied light for paintings and sculpture - a background effect of the same infinite character as a cyclorama on a stage.

“The chimneys give the museum a clean, but varied roof light. The amount of light can be varied by means of blinds, and if it is so desired the roof light in the chimneys can be replaced with direct spotlight directed on a single object. The mullions supporting the roof lights are provided with suspension points so that they act like rigging loft in a theatre, so there will be the possibility of placing an object anywhere in the room.

“The light mainly falls in along the walls and on the floors without disturbing shadow effects at the corners, and the irritation element from the direct light from above is avoided.

“It will be with a sense of surprise and a desire to penetrate down into the building that the visitor for the first time sees the three-storeyed building open beneath him. Unconcerned - stairs and corridors which normally disturb - the viewer will glide almost effortlessly down into the museum via the ramp, taking him through the space.

“Strict geometry will form the basis for a simple constructional shape. The visible curved external surfaces are to be clad with ceramics in strong colours so that the parts of the building emerge like shining ceramic sculptures, and inside the museum will be kept in white.

“In the work with the curved shapes in the opera house, I have developed a great desire to go further with free architectural shapes, but at the same time to control the free shape with a geometry that makes it possible to construct the building from mass produced components. I am quite aware of the danger in the curved shapes in contrast to the relative safety of quadrilateral shapes. But the world of the curved form can give something that cannot ever be achieved by means of rectangular architecture. The hulls of ships, caves and sculpture demonstrate this.”

Text From:
http://www.pritzkerprize.com/2003annc.htm, accessed 22nd September, 2008.

Independent Study for Week 9

• In your groups, gather information about the unfinished Silkeborg Museum, by Jorn Utzon.


• Include in your research, any writing which captures the original premise by the architect, sketches, plans, models images, etc.


• There has been many re-interpretations of this unfinished work, so you may be able to find other people's ideas on the project.


• Individually, from the research gathered as a group, write 250 words highlighting your feelings about the building. Concentrate on ambiguous aspects of the project, so you can start to define a new direction in which to take your re-design.


• Post to your blog, any researched material, references, and your 250 words.

Week 8 Studio Task

• Congratulations on finishing your second assignment. It has been a busy week for you all, with both this Assignment, and Real-Time assignment to deal with. Hopefully you've all managed to get a good sleep by now.




• Assignment 3 building: The Silkeborg Museum of Fine Arts, An unfinished project by Jorn Utzon, 2003 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate


• Split yourself into groups of 3-4. You will be working in groups of 3-4, for the information gathering stage. This should lighten the research tasks, and initial modelling phases of this assignment, and allow you to concentrate on your individual interpretations, and re-designs of the museum.

Independent Study for Week 8

• Hand in Assignment 2!


• Post the link to your Assignment 2 website, on your blog, in a prominent place!

Week 7 Studio Task

• Today is about catching up on the required content, and getting advice on your layout.


• There is a fair amount of content required, though if you have kept up with the weekly tasks, you should pretty much have everything you need, and can concentrate on the layout of your website, and piecing it all together.


• If you're unsure of what is needed, read back through the course blog, checking what the weekly tasks were.

Assignment 2 Requirements and Guidelines

• Minimum of three (3) interconnected Webpages, where thumbnail images are linked to higher resolution versions.




• 1 page should show site context of your building, and diagramatic images of your building and design, including axonometricss or perspectives.


• 1 page should show a minimum of 1 plan, 1 elevation and 1 section. It should be your main information page.


• 1 page should show your gathered information about your building, including original images, plans sections and text.




• Content Requirements


• At least:




• 3 Webpages hosted on your own site


• 1 image showing site Context of building (site plan)


• 1 Plan


• 1 Section


• 1 Elevation


• 1 Axonometric or Perspective (could be a 3D interactive frame)


• 1 rendered exterior Image of your model


• 1 rendered interior Image of your model


• Original images of your building, including photos, sketches, quotes etc. This should be the information you have already gathered.


• References. All material not your own should be referenced, this could be a 4th webpage, with just the text of your referencing.


• Minimum of 250 words across your site supporting your images and models.




• When laying out your site, you can use the concept of one big knockout image, to focus the eye, and thumbnail images for the rest, linked to larger version, or a rollover/replace device to replace your big image with your thumbnalis.


• Other than the requirements, you can add whatever content you feel enhances your presentation.


• Remember that this is primarily a layout excercise, focusing on combing information together in a coherent way.

Week 6 Studio Tasks

• Get your marks for Assignment 1 back from your tutor. Read any comments, and ask your tutor to clarify any issues you may have.


• Peer Review:
  Review two other students work using the marking schedule for Assignment 1. Get the two reviews that other people have done of your work, and post them to your blog.
  There is a peer review word file in:
  \\emustore\Resources\samples\Arch\ARCH1390 Representation Studio - Harkins\Peer Review


• In your tutorial groups, discuss the images of your layout, that you have produced in the last week, for Assignment 2, getting advice on how to refine your design, from your peers and tutors.


• Start laying out your webpages in an application like dreamweaver, and consider how and where you will upload them to the web. I suggest you add your pages to your Webpage from 1st sessions Web Design Course.


• Content for your pages (3D models, animations, images and text) can still be refined before your final hand-in, though placement of images, text, navigation, etc. should all be planned out in the next week, giving you time to polish your layout.