Artist Inspiration
Artist in Focus: Frank Lloyd Wright
Wright is an architect known for very geometric shapes and form within his work. My inspiration for my architecture piece was from this building that he constructed with outside walkways. I wanted to use this in my work as well because I like the open nature and how it can be incorporating outside nature to inside buildings. |
Planning
This model is private since it can only fit one person and that person has to be sitting down. This space was not meant to be inclusive because of its size but also this space was meant to be personal since the thin material and the hole in the top is going to let the sun peak through and signifies a calming area.
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I was trying to photograph this model showing the top and sides of the tissue paper being exposed to light so I held the model up to an LED light in my kitchen. I really wanted the tissue paper to show its sheer nature to show how this would look against the sun. I made the base and the pillars with thick paper to give the tissue paper stability.
Process
First I started with measuring the pieces size for how big I wanted them. Then I had to take a ruler and mark the size and then keep the rule on the wood and score the wood with the exacto knife. This was a thicker piece of wood so I could not just cut the entire piece in one go, I had to lightly press down the blade to the wood and keep going over and over until it went through. If I did not do this, then the wood would not have a clean cut and it would have sharp edges.
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I took a thin piece of balsa wood and drew an outline for a door. I then was able to cut the door out in one go because of how thin the piece was. I had to make sure the piece of wood laid flat on the ground so I kept cutting any excess wood that off balanced the piece. Then I glued the side of the wood panel to the archway and firmly pressed it together. Once that was done, I took more thin panels and built a wall around the rest of the archway.
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Experimentation
As you can see on the right side of the piece of wood, there are stray little pieces from a previous cut that was not clean enough. The blade I was using was not that sharp so I had to keep repeating cuts which made it a little bit difficult to make clean. I took the side of the blade and made it more even by slicing off the excess pieces with my blade. I was going to use sandpaper to sand down the sharp edges but the wood was too thin and I was scared to break it.
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Critique
Similarities:
The biggest similarity is the form of the walkway. It is very open and inviting to nature within both pieces. Wright also makes most of his buildings be within the same color range which I did as well since the balsa wood is just one color. |
Differences:
A difference between both of these pieces is the top part of the walkway. Wright makes his work so open by not even including pillars which I chose to do. Wright made this piece with the focus not being the walkway but actually the building that it is connected to. Mine is not a building but rather a walkway for a park. |
Reflection
I do not have a passion for architecture so this project was not that fun for me. I have never worked with balsa wood before so it was a little difficult to understand the material. I did not like how the material was too fragile to cut in one go so the longest part of this project was just cutting straight lines in hopes that the wood would not break. Even though I was trying to make the project look clean, there was parts of the wood and the glue that stood out and I could not fix. This project was interesting to experiment with a new material but I would not use it again since I think I could work better with thinner, cheaper materials.
MLA Citation
“Frank Lloyd Wright’s Work.” Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, 30 Jan. 2024, franklloydwright.org/work/.
“Lloyd Wright.” LA Conservancy, 24 Jan. 2023, www.laconservancy.org/learn/architect-biographies/lloyd-wright/.
“14 Architecture Styles and Their Defining Features | Skillshare Blog.” Skill Share Blog, 2022, www.skillshare.com/en/blog/14-architecture-styles-and-their-defining-features/.
“Lloyd Wright.” LA Conservancy, 24 Jan. 2023, www.laconservancy.org/learn/architect-biographies/lloyd-wright/.
“14 Architecture Styles and Their Defining Features | Skillshare Blog.” Skill Share Blog, 2022, www.skillshare.com/en/blog/14-architecture-styles-and-their-defining-features/.