Making 2

My investigations into column architecture, and my making exercise 1, led me to explore means to remove the column from architecture and create a floating architecture, in my Making exercise 2.  The first exercise focused on replacing the column, a compression member, with tension members.  This investigation, originally starting out as column/mast structures, becoming a model in which the columns were completely suspended from the ground plane, continuing to act in compression, only be held in place by tension members.  My other investigations within this genre included using a tensile fabric combined with compression members to create floating architecture.  The surfaces stabilized the slab very well and proved capable of attaching to planes both above and below the surface.  The columns were not eliminated, only the means of tensioning was changed.

Parallel to this investigation was research into the history of floating in architecture; this categorizes and somewhat grounds my belief that floating is an inherent part of architectural expression after the industrial revolution.  With this interest in floating architecture, I created a few drawings to give myself some momentum and motivation within this experience.

My next investigations will consider material properties and their ability to float architecture.  This investigation will look primarily at the phenomenological aspects of floating, focusing on using materials that float planes.