Museum of Anthropology , University of British Columbia

1) Museum of Anthropology , University of British Columbia (1972-76)
Arthur Erickson

Design Concept:
create conditions similar to the settings of the native Indian villages which were the origin of the museum’s collection. The transition from dark towering woods to bright exposed sea provided a dramatic setting. Experience of visiting can be likened to a metaphor of the journey through life and through a Northwest coast village.


Entrance

• As one proceeds from the brightness of the parking clearing into the museum, the openness to the sky is gradually cut off, first by trees that form a channel to the entrance, then by free-standing post-and-beam frames, then by the ceiling of the lobby.
• Views opening out into the woods from lobby through floor-to-ceiling glass and skylight slots also bring daylight down to the exhibits, revealing them as they would be revealed in the forest by filtered light from above.
• Experience of light in lobby similar to that in deep woods where you can see through clearings and light filters through tree canopy overhead. Visitors are prepared to enter into the deep forest (main gallery).
  
  Circulation/ Sequence of space
• Sequential experiences of the rooms are created by alternating dark and light exhibiting space and there is a tension created between inside and outside.
• After through the contracted sequence of entry lobby and the ramped gallery, visitors experience a release to the light-filled Massive Carvings Gallery that suggests a village site.
• Ones leave the life and light of the village enters the contracting space of the Koerner Gallery, the setting for symbolic and sacred objects used in spiritual ceremonies.
• On the journey back to the beginning, one is attracted to the focus of the centrepiece sculpture “The Birth of Man”, surrounded by darkness but lit up the circle skylight. The sculpture represents birth also suggests the death and the endless continuation of the cycle.
  
  
  Lighting
• Many different ways of admitting light, different patterns of light and different levels of illumination are employed to provides the visitors with the experience of native village and display artifacts.
• Light from above: Entry Lobby, Ramped Gallery, Massive Carvings Galler.
• Light from side: Entry lobby, Great Cavings Gallery, Koerner Masterpiece Gallery
• Light delineating structure: Massive Carvings Gallery
• Light dematerializing structure: Dappled light in Koerner Masterpiece Gallery
• Light washing surfaces and silhouetting forms: Ramped Gallery
  Learning:
• Close relationship between the ambience of the exhibiting space and the arts displayed.
• Re-create the native settings of the artifacts through inter-play of light and dark.
• Interplay of form through expansion/ contraction of space and lighting (light-to-dark-light) create the sequence of space and guide the visitors through the museum.
• There is a rhythm of light and dark at the building scale and a particular rhythm for each room.

Award of Excellence: Hadaway House

My precedence study

Architect Patkau Architects Inc.
Location Whistler, British Columbia
This snow-country house is located on a northwest slope overlooking a panoramic view of Whistler Valley in southwest British Columbia. The site is a difficult wedge shape which offers just enough room for a garage and a narrow entrance on the street side at the top of the slope.
The exterior form of the house is shaped by the intersection of two principal considerations: the first is the allowable building footprint and height, and the second is the need to shed snow from the roof into appropriate storage areas within the site. The sculptural volume that emerges from this intersection of extruded building footprint and folding snow-shed roof is occupied in a manner that maintains the inherent plastic properties of the building form.
The main level is essentially one large space with living, dining and kitchen areas, and an outdoor deck, all of which open up to the valley view. A vertical crevice of space runs under the highest roof ridge, bisecting the warped volume and bringing light into the deepest part of the section and plan. Stairs rise within this rift, and a bridge crosses it at the upper level, connecting master bedroom suite and study. Below, on the lowest level, are more intimate spaces housing guest bedrooms and a second living area, as well as a large service space. Accessible directly from the garage entrance to the house, this service space supports life in snow country--where wet clothes are hung to dry or thrown directly into the laundry, and where skiers can store all the paraphernalia of their day outside. Another stair connects this lower level to an outdoor patio below the house, the only actual access to the steep site other than that at the front entrance.
Construction is hybrid. The slabs and walls which enclose the lower floor are concrete construction, while the uppermost levels are a composite steel and heavy timber structure with wood-frame infill. The entire structure is sheathed with a monolithic screen of open-spaced 2" x 6" cedar boards over conventional roof and wall assemblies. The thermal mass of the lower concrete structure dampens temperature swings within the house in summer and winter. And in the summer, the interior is naturally cooled and ventilated by drawing air from the lowest level on the north side of the house to vent at the top of the central rift.

retreat project

Now , I want to do a review about my retreat project.
quite a long time -6weeks to do this project.
It's quite a hard time for me ,I need to find a lot of things relevent  about my design.
I used to think  why I choose architecture as my major? why do I spend a lot of time to make model?
But finally , when I see my model finished, I'm really happy about all the things. Just like a fight in the dark , when you see the sun rise , everything goes better.

The shape of the building like a leave. Actually the inspiration of the design idea came from the leave in hospitalfield

Interior Space.

I want to create a close but open space inside , I also want to use the light to make some special view interior

The Gallery space is under the slope glass roof.

interior space