Cassidy Ho
Drawing Stories:
Drawing Stories:
S E V E R E D
Task One: Go for a walk.
Go for a walk in Allan Gardens. Spend lots of time there. Look at the trees, the buildings. Notice what people are doing in the park, even on this winter day. Listen to the sounds. Smell the park. What is around the park? What does the park FEEL like? What do you think the park will be like in twenty years? Find your favourite tree. What species is it? How old do you think it is? Is it a native species or has it been imported? Is it a healthy, happy tree?
Task Two: Write a story.
Write a story in which the tree you have chosen is the narrator. The story should tell us something important you have discovered about Allan Gardens, about the tree, or about yourself. The story should take no more than four minutes to tell.
When is the story set - in the past, the present, or the future? What happens in the story? What is the tone of the story - is it funny, serious, dark, or romantic?
Task Three: Make an assemblage.
Make an assemblage from found objects that somehow relates to your story. Objects can be obtained however you like: you may find them in your house, purchase them in a shop, etc. The assemblage you make should tell us something more about the story. All objects used in the assemblage should be documented in their original location when you found them, using photography. Imagine your object is a gift for the narrator tree.
Task Four: Draw it.
Using the conventions of architectural drawing, - plan, section, elevation and so on - prepare a single drawing of your assemblage as an occupied structure.
Timeless (Read Story):
Time is the essence of the living. It moves on and on and on, not stopping to pause for the moments that matter, the moments that we care for the most and stand out in the ocean of instances that every individual experiences daily. Yet, the rare occurrence that it stops happens when it deems the experience of time to be worthy of its elongated passage. However, many do not realize that stopping time is quite simple in fact. […] I, as a living being responsible for only a hand full of responsibilities, have had the opportunity to halt time over and over again, as I have just shown. I have stood still for possibly a century now, unable to move, but able to observe as time passes rapidly. Horses become cars, 1 story buildings go to two, then three, then 4, then 5, then 20, then 30, then 40, until the Penthouses have reached Mount Everest. Life is too bittersweet, too sour to live at such speed. Life is too short to finish with such an unhappy ending. Life is too timeless to live. As serenity sets in, the peace of finally slowing down, and the calmness to encounter an instant in tranquillity, time will top at your doorsteps. As I have stood for a century, and a century to come, I have and will experience time at its tamed rate. I have had the honour of stopping time for others as they come to visit in the morning, or evenings, but mostly during the night. Never have I been able to stop time for a friend during the day; not when it’s still alive, alive all around us, alive to swallow us into its habits and routines, and noises. When time is lost, meaning is lost as well. To live to the fullest is to cage time before it goes too far, too fast to chase after, too unhappy to ever return. Therefore, I beg of you, to stop. To understand when it is time to experience serenity. To experience Peace. To experience tranquillity. To experience life to its fullest, devoid of time. Create a reality, this reality, one that is timeless, so that you and the next may be able to live life. A meaningful, and timeless life.
Go for a walk in Allan Gardens. Spend lots of time there. Look at the trees, the buildings. Notice what people are doing in the park, even on this winter day. Listen to the sounds. Smell the park. What is around the park? What does the park FEEL like? What do you think the park will be like in twenty years? Find your favourite tree. What species is it? How old do you think it is? Is it a native species or has it been imported? Is it a healthy, happy tree?
Task Two: Write a story.
Write a story in which the tree you have chosen is the narrator. The story should tell us something important you have discovered about Allan Gardens, about the tree, or about yourself. The story should take no more than four minutes to tell.
When is the story set - in the past, the present, or the future? What happens in the story? What is the tone of the story - is it funny, serious, dark, or romantic?
Task Three: Make an assemblage.
Make an assemblage from found objects that somehow relates to your story. Objects can be obtained however you like: you may find them in your house, purchase them in a shop, etc. The assemblage you make should tell us something more about the story. All objects used in the assemblage should be documented in their original location when you found them, using photography. Imagine your object is a gift for the narrator tree.
Task Four: Draw it.
Using the conventions of architectural drawing, - plan, section, elevation and so on - prepare a single drawing of your assemblage as an occupied structure.
Timeless (Read Story):
Time is the essence of the living. It moves on and on and on, not stopping to pause for the moments that matter, the moments that we care for the most and stand out in the ocean of instances that every individual experiences daily. Yet, the rare occurrence that it stops happens when it deems the experience of time to be worthy of its elongated passage. However, many do not realize that stopping time is quite simple in fact. […] I, as a living being responsible for only a hand full of responsibilities, have had the opportunity to halt time over and over again, as I have just shown. I have stood still for possibly a century now, unable to move, but able to observe as time passes rapidly. Horses become cars, 1 story buildings go to two, then three, then 4, then 5, then 20, then 30, then 40, until the Penthouses have reached Mount Everest. Life is too bittersweet, too sour to live at such speed. Life is too short to finish with such an unhappy ending. Life is too timeless to live. As serenity sets in, the peace of finally slowing down, and the calmness to encounter an instant in tranquillity, time will top at your doorsteps. As I have stood for a century, and a century to come, I have and will experience time at its tamed rate. I have had the honour of stopping time for others as they come to visit in the morning, or evenings, but mostly during the night. Never have I been able to stop time for a friend during the day; not when it’s still alive, alive all around us, alive to swallow us into its habits and routines, and noises. When time is lost, meaning is lost as well. To live to the fullest is to cage time before it goes too far, too fast to chase after, too unhappy to ever return. Therefore, I beg of you, to stop. To understand when it is time to experience serenity. To experience Peace. To experience tranquillity. To experience life to its fullest, devoid of time. Create a reality, this reality, one that is timeless, so that you and the next may be able to live life. A meaningful, and timeless life.
Building Stories:
Convergence
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Convergence
The Friends of Allen Gardens has been the recipient of a major donation. In addition to setting up an endowment to care for the park in perpetuity, the donation includes funds to allow the FOAG to construct a new building in the park. The building is expected to advance some of the goals of the FOAG’s 2017 plan Refresh: A Vision Document for Allan Gardens, including bringing performing arts possibilities to the Gardens.
The building will contain a cafe, a space for small performances (including storytelling) that can be used for other purposes (able to hold an audience of about 50), and office space for the Director of the FOAG Foundation and a staff of 2 to 4 people, depending on the time of year. The complete program as provided by the client is seen on the next page.
Three possible sites within the Gardens have been identified. Your first task, before beginning design work, will be to decide which of these sites makes the most sense for this project.
The total gross floor area (GFA) for the project should not exceed 390 m2, and the building
footprint (including overhangs) must not to exceed 250m2. In addition to the built program, an outdoor space for performances in good weather is requested.
My Project Description:
Fabric surrounds the human body. People walk it, feel it, experience it, perceive and notice it, yet city fabric passes as a wind in the summer breeze. The curation of Convergence is a development of the city fabric dominating the paths and alley-ways that one experiences daily. As one converges and emerges from these paths, they experience the movement of city fabric in an uncanny manner. The flow of lower floors leads to the arrival into a glass-encased courtyard which further converges into different spaces. One encounters different spaces like the café and performance space on the lower levels leaving subsidiary spaces on the upper floors. Convergence explores the convergence and emergence of the human body throughout main spaces and sub-spaces.
The building will contain a cafe, a space for small performances (including storytelling) that can be used for other purposes (able to hold an audience of about 50), and office space for the Director of the FOAG Foundation and a staff of 2 to 4 people, depending on the time of year. The complete program as provided by the client is seen on the next page.
Three possible sites within the Gardens have been identified. Your first task, before beginning design work, will be to decide which of these sites makes the most sense for this project.
The total gross floor area (GFA) for the project should not exceed 390 m2, and the building
footprint (including overhangs) must not to exceed 250m2. In addition to the built program, an outdoor space for performances in good weather is requested.
My Project Description:
Fabric surrounds the human body. People walk it, feel it, experience it, perceive and notice it, yet city fabric passes as a wind in the summer breeze. The curation of Convergence is a development of the city fabric dominating the paths and alley-ways that one experiences daily. As one converges and emerges from these paths, they experience the movement of city fabric in an uncanny manner. The flow of lower floors leads to the arrival into a glass-encased courtyard which further converges into different spaces. One encounters different spaces like the café and performance space on the lower levels leaving subsidiary spaces on the upper floors. Convergence explores the convergence and emergence of the human body throughout main spaces and sub-spaces.
