Category Archives: Painting

Het Platte Land-Colour and Tactility

The project proposes an alternative way to deal with the changing countryside of Groningen, the Netherlands. Instead of conserving the old, the proposal embraces new changes on the countryside to enrich the existing qualities of the landscape. The project consists of three equal big volumes, whose scale is put in relation to the big polder. In doing so the volumes can be experienced big and small simultaneously. By structuring all volumes introvert, the outer façade could be totally devoted to the surrounding landscape.

To summarize it was important to show the relation between the building and the polder landscape in my final model. Colour and tactility played an important role in this relation and I will therefore elaborate on both aspects. The model shown here is a 1:200 scale model with a size of 1400mm square.

 

 

 

 

Colour

To emphasize the relationship between the building and the landscape I decided to use realistic colours. To make a proper colour palette it is important to make multiple tests to see how the colour looks on the material and to see how all colours fit each other.

The red inner courtyard is made of concrete combined with red oxide pigment. Because it is hard to make small tests and copy the proportions exactly, I made a mould that could easily be reused. The mould was made of a laser cut in 0,4mm MDF with a layer of Vivak vacuumed on top. I sanded the Vivak to prevent the concrete of having a shiny surface. I used little nails to make holes for trees that were planted later.

For the process of pouring concrete its important to slowly add water to the cement and keep constantly mixing it. When the mixture is good (liquid, but not watery) you can add the pigment slowly and again keep mixing it. If you pour the concrete into the mould you can shake the mould (or softly tap it with a hammer) to fill the whole mold, equalize the surface and remove air bubbles. Do this again after 20 minutes or so.

In total I made three versions with three different colour tones. As advice I could say that you should not be too shy with the pigment and that the colour becomes lighter when the concrete dries.

Tactility

It was also important to show the difference between the rough landscape and the clean interior of the building. Therefore all elements of the building have been cut by a laser cutter, painted and assembled quite precise.

In contrast the landscape was mostly cut and assembled by hand. The base was of 9 mm MDF with corrugated cardboard to resemble the farmlands and a synthetic fibre mesh for the texture created by concrete tiles. I mixed the wall paint with potting soil and sand to roughen the surface. I used a round brush to dot (not stroke) to get a nice surface. Afterwards I sprayed the landscape elements with three different tones of green to create tone differences and an illusion of depth.

The facade was a bit tricky, because it had a curve in two directions and had multiple surface finishes. I decided to 3D print the base form of all four facades and from there treat the surfaces.

To fit the 3D printer, every facade element was printed in three loose parts. These three parts were glued together and the seams were finished with filler. Because 3D printers work in layers, the surface had a layered texture. To remove this texture, the elements were sanded multiple times and sprayed with Motip Spray-Putty. In this way slowly all ribs were filled and the surface became smooth.

However the upper part of the facade resembled reed and therefore needed a rougher surface than the lower part. Therefore I sprayed the upper part with spray-glue and afterwards lay it in a bed of fine sand. In this way you can easily add a thin layer of sand to a surface. So when the facade had the right tactility I could easily spray paint the whole facade element in the right color.

For me making this model was a nice way to experiment with different techniques, colours and textures to create various surfaces. By making quick and small tests (or take a look in the Cam-lab library) I could easily develop multiple variations. In doing so I could emphasize important aspects of my design.

Text, photos and model by Tiemen Anema

The City as Canvas, Architecture as Painting

The following text is how Tiwánee van der Horst describes her graduation project in relation to the modelling techniques she used to accommodate a time lapse movie.

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The design for my graduation project was an organic structure where the shape was a result of a three dimensional translation of painterly movements and textures within a narrow alley. With my final model the aim was to show the designed building process through a time-lapse (see movie). For this it was needed to make a transparent surface onto which I could paint, so in the movie it would look like it was extruded in mid air.

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The options were either to 3D print the complex shape with a transparent filament or to deep draw with transparent Vivak. However the filament would never be entirely transparent. Therefore I decided to use transparent Vivak for deep drawing. For this it was necessary to make a mold through CNC milling. I divided the design into separate parts, which could then be laid out horizontally for deep drawing, after which all the parts could be glued together, creating the transparent paint surface.

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The rhino file was prepared for the CNC milling process by the CAMlab. Because the deep drawing shows every single inaccuracy of the mold we let the CNC milling machine run multiple times until a smooth surface could be made out of the material. To prepare the mold for the deep drawing process it is necessary to create air holes through the block from the deepest points in the mold. To find these points I used a little ball from a bicycle wheel. After having found all the deepest points, the next step was to drill the holes through the block. The holes needed to be as small as possible other wise the holes would show in the surface of the Vivak. As the block was about 11 cm high it was not possible to drill through the block with the 1,5 mm drill. From the back I used a drill with a larger radius. However this process resulted to be to tedious and to risky. We needed to find another way.

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With the help of the staff of the modeling hall we found a bicycle spoke with which we could drill small holes through the entire block height.

 

 

With all the air holes drilled and the corners smoothened it was time to give the deep drawing a try, but the block was too high and too large. 

 

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To reduce the height by 14 mm we used a thicknessing machine and attached the block to a board with double-sided tape to insure the block to stay in place. Finally we succeeded to fully deep draw the block. Next up was the removal of the Vivak from the mold, by blowing air through the holes from the back.

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I removed the surfaces that I needed for the model using a saw and utility knife. After attaching all the pieces together it was time to start the painting process. I set up the camera and lighting, prepared the color palette and started painting. The result of which is shown in the movie, giving a first impression of what a building process might look like when architecture becomes as painting.