United Architecture By Wilfredo Menendez
Exhibition Text: A building is not something you can just get rid of and in the skyline of most American cities you see the difference between old and new buildings. With David Child as my inspiration I aspired to bridge conventional and modern architecture.
Media: Sculpture Measurements of Sculpture: 12 inch by 12 inch (30.48cm by 30.48cm) Completed: April 2016 Process & Reflection:
At first I wanted to make a modern city and have many skyscrapers, but as I looked for inspiration in cities around the world there was a mix of conventional and modern architecture that didn't fit together. That's was when I found David Child. Child bridges conventional and modern by using both in his work. I find that it looks really odd when modern and conventional buildings stand next to each other so in making my buildings I utilized both modern and conventional styles to make them look well together and bridge past, present and future. As I searched around the box of wooden blocks of many different sizes a shiny object at the bottom of the box caught my attention. This item was a shiny metal arch that could be manipulated with little strength. Before I found the arch I had a translucent rectangle bringing together the two sides divided by the triangular void. I bent the arch so that it could be placed on top of the translucent rectangle to look like a bridge, but to my surprise it did not only look like a bridge but it was a center of attention because of the way it reflected the light. One thing that was really difficult was cutting the long blocks to desired length. Many of the blocks that surround the triangular void used to be two to three feet long. (Continued on the right) |
Some of them were made of soft wood and were easy to cut but some were made of hard wood and were hard to cut. Another hard part about cutting the blocks was that it was my first time using a handsaw so the first few I cut ended up being crooked. In order to get it to be even again I had to do a lot of sanding. Another struggle that I had with the wooden blocks was that a few of them had white paint of the sides, in order to get them to blend in with the rest I had to spend a lot of time sanding the paint of the side of those blocks.
One thing that I liked about this project was that we got to use the floral foam to make buildings. The floral foam can be manipulated very easily with some sand paper and a x-acto knife. This allowed me to make buildings inspired by David Child's Burj Khalifa that would have been very difficult to make with the wooden blocks. Another thing that I like about the floral foam it's that it allows you to explore your creativity completely unlike the wooden blocks that provide a limited amount of options. |
Inspiration:
David Child: I choose this architect because of how he brings together contemporary and modern American architecture. As I look through many of his buildings they have conventional shapes and then they have something added that makes them look modern. If you look at the Embassy in Ottawa it looks just like a usual government building but then the darkened glass top makes it look very modern. When a building is built it last a long time. In many U.S. cities you can tell apart buildings built in more modern times and the ones built a long while ago and the two types don't come together well but Child makes a bridge between them and it makes cities look better. When I looked at other architects most of them were at the extreme of the modern/ contemporary spectrum. Many of the very modern buildings didn't catch my eye, partially because I didn't like the look of them but mainly because it would have been very difficult to make a building similar to it using the wooden blocks. Also, many of them would have a required a ridiculous amount of detail and that just would go well with the aim of this assignment. Another thing that Child does is that he mixes design with efficiency, most of the buildings he designed are meant to be office buildings or governmental buildings. For example, in the embassy he designed the stairs stick out of the building in other for there to be optimal space for offices and briefing rooms inside. |
Word Count (Not Including the Exhibition Text ): 707 words
Research:
U.S. Embassy Ottawa, Canada and David Child's Burj Khalifa. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web.
Research:
U.S. Embassy Ottawa, Canada and David Child's Burj Khalifa. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web.