Model~! ...and material for the design...

A Room with a Courtyard for a Moderate Man Interested in Wine Tasting and Collecting.

In Kyoto where surrounds by Cherry Trees.

Showing the whole model

Model, 1:75

The materials for this design are :

• White colour concrete for the whole building (Exterior & interior walls, corridor's floor and roof) [Balsa]
• White Stone for the flooring of the courtyard. [sand]
• Glass for fixed window/glazing
• Tiles for the floor of the room [marked balsa]
• Glass shelve for wine storage
• (Cherry trees are made with balsa and wool painted in pink with acrylic)

The model does not have the trees in the courtyard because they will distract the view of the building( especially the gap and the entrance) so I decided to show them in plan.

On the other hand, it is hard to show the material of courtyard's floor since it's covered with small white stones so I show it in the model and it also distinguish the boundary of the design and its surrounding.

The slit of sunlight in the room with the site outside

The room, the slit and the shelve for wine

The room, how the slit of sunlight should like when it has roof (completely dark)

The room, the shelves

The room, the door and its thickness(o.5m)/ its decorum

The relationship of the corridor and the room with light coming in from the courtyard

The corridor and the stairs

End of Model's Photographs

Explanation for the flooring of the courtyard

(didn't write up there so this does not distract the flow of model's photographs)

I have repeated many times that this is a room(courtyard) that protects and keeps the man inside his own world.

The small white stones have been used by the Japanese for their courtyard's floor.

Especially for the samurai's(warrior) residence.

The reason why they bother to put another layer of stone over the soil is because the small white stones will create noises when people walks on them.

This alerts the samurai when there is strangers step into their territory. E.g. Ninja

Therefore I apply small white stones for the flooring of the courtyard not just for distinguishing the territory, interacting with the white concrete exterior walls but also alert the man when someone distracts his world.

Final Drawings...

A Room with a Courtyard for a Moderate Man Interested in Wine Collecting and Tasting

In Kyoto where surrounds by cherry trees

Site Plan, 1:50

Plan, 1:50

I did not poche this plan because I want to show the materiality of the design and the relationship of the courtyard and the room- The trees follow the grid from the tiles in the room.

I only make some changes to the trees so they can lead the man to the entrance from the street and not blocking the sunlight coming into the room from the gap.

The door of the room is arranged after thinking.

I put it inside the room and open towards the room so when the man stands in front of it, he feels the decorum of the room by seeing the thickness of the wall.

Even if he opens the door the decorum remains; If I do it the other way, the thickness of the wall/decorum of the room will be overlooked because the thickness of the walls will be block by the doors when it's opening.

L.Section for the Corridor, 1:50

H. Section for the room and its relationship with the corridor, 1:50

Axonometric for the Room, 1:50

Axonometric for the Corridor and Gap in the wall, 1:50

The height of the gap is 0.5m above the ground.

The man can sit on it if he wants to enjoy the wine outside in the courtyard.

Front Elevation, 1:50

The extended wall appear like the other three wall which just around the room, not extended.

Entrance is not visible from the front because it is only for the man.

There no need to show people who do not use this room/building where the entrance is.

Only the cherry trees lead the man to the entrance subtly.

First drawings

Plan, 1:50

The first poche that shows my concept for the room.

• Dark and protected by the thicken walls
• A slit of light comes from the gap of the wall.

One side of the gap of the wall is angled to the light can be controlled no to touch where the shelves are. and allow more light for the sitting area where he tastes the wine.

Elevation, 1:50

This elevation is trying to show the relationship of the trees and the building/room.

The cherry trees at the front welcomes the man into the courtyard and will lead him to the entrance.

The vines distinguish his territory from the site but also merge with the surrounding because they are subtle not like fences or walls.

The roof's peak also gives a hint of where to enter the courtyard.

Working out the angle and height of the roof... is hard. Because no matter which decision I make there is no reason for me to back them up. I can't find their relationship with the room as well. Because I want to keep my room as sort of a square like- a shape that provides static. A angled roof distracts it.

So I decide to keep the roof flat at the end.

During and After Discussion...

Plan, 1:100

After talking to my tutor, I realised my concepts for my design scatter everywhere.

The concepts are not united!

The walls are thicken but it distracts the relationship of the room and the courtyard with cherry trees. When it protects the man from distractions it also protects him from the cherry trees.

The cherry trees stand freely in the courtyard like they are not related to the room.

The corridor...does its job too well and divides the whole design into pieces.

So we decided to merge everything together, UNITE THEM!

• Merge the corridor into the thicken wall
• Lift the room so the man can view more of the courtyard(more interaction with the courtyard)
• Arrange the trees so they relate to the room

Therefore the design transforms into this:

About the Design...

I want the room to be very special for the man so he knows when he is entering the room.

Therefore the decorum of the room is very important.

To emphasis the room's decorum, I thicken the wall of the room so when before he opens the door, the wall's thickness reminds him that he is entering THE SPACE.

In addition to that, the man can not comes into the room straight from the courtyard like the relationship of the room and the courtyard in the painting.

I want a semi space between the room and the courtyard - a corridor.

So there are three elements in my design: thicken walls, courtyard with cherry trees for the man to view and a corridor that separates these two elements.

The Site and the Research on Wine

After some research on wine and talking to my brother who is obsessed with wine tasting and collecting.

I know some standards of a room for wine collecting and the site preferences for a wine taster.

Quality of Wine can be affected mainly by the room's: Temperature, Humidity and Lighting.

Lighting is the first factor that can be fixed since my original thought for the room is complete dark and only a slit of light comes in. All I have to do is keeping the shelves of wine away from that "slit of light".

Since there will be no windows for the room, I decided to have the temperature and humidity controlled manually instead of depending on natural ventilation.

Therefore the gap/slit on the wall will be fixed with glass and there will be no open window in the space.

The reason why I want shelves for wine in the room is inspired by my own collection of books, I feel deeply happy when I see the wall of books that I collect; therefore I extend this to the wine taster/collector: "It is a pleasure for a wine taster and collector to see a wall of wine in front of him whenever he wants."

This room I design, for the man, is a shelter from the outside world. In the painting, he is in his own world by enjoying the glass of wine; I want to create this space just for him and when he is in there he is protected from every distraction and is contained with himself (and wine).

In the painting he is distracted by the card game and the players, where he was is full of distraction, therefore I want to put him in a completely different environment/country to give him complete solitude.

Although for a person who is interested in wine collecting and tasting Burgundy in France should be best location but that is if he goes out to the vine yards and taste their wine.

He is not moving in the painting and my design therefore there is no need to locate the site in Burgundy.

Kyoto is the first location my brother mentioned when I said it's a room for the man to drink not a trip for him to taste wine.

The image he pictured is simple but romantically beautiful:

Sitting under a blossoming sakura tree(cherry tree) with a glass of wine, and a petal of sakura falls in the glass, floating on the wine...

Therefore I decided to have the site in Kyoto where has beautiful sakura trees.

Also because of calmness and serene atmosphere Kyoto gives to people, I think it is perfect for a man who is finding his own content. It is also a place for people to visit when they want to see cherry blossom. A city full of history and decorated with cherry trees is the site for my design.

But I don't want the site to be crowded so it won't be the busiest part of Kyoto but a quite section of the city where mainly for residence.

The house will provide the man to see the civilization outside his world (like he watches the game) but the courtyard and the building will distance him from it.

The site's features are : flat and surrounding by cherry trees.

Ideas for the Design

When I saw the word "sunlit"

The Church of Light by Ando just flooded into my head.

Then the next image in my head is the man examining a glass of wine by a slit of sunlight in a dark room.

Therefore I design the room with no window but a large slit on the wall that is facing the sun.

I think the courtyard plays an important role for the painting,

it affects the light for the whole.

So I decided to have a courtyard for my design.

I did some thinking/ designing before I thought about the sentence.

The original design has three rooms: one for him to taste the wine, one for storage of wine/cella and one room for him to study about wine.

But then I thought I might drag myself too far from the origin, the painting, if I do three rooms therefore after discussion, I focus on the room for him to taste the wine.

My sentence for Project 2 (+ site)

A Room with a Courtyard for a Moderate Man Interested in Wine Tasting and Collecting.

In Kyoto, Surrounds by Cherry Trees

Project 2- Dutch painting Research + Analysis

Cardplayers in a Sunlit Room c. 1658

By De Hooch

The painting has De Hooch's signature at the bottom right corner.

The painting was painted when De Hooch was in Delft.

The painting shows De Hooch's skill on how to handle light's distance

and its appearance on different surfaces.

The window curtain, the tiles and walls in the shadowy interior

and the fully sun-lit courtyard...

He also focus on lighting details like the wine glass the man is holding.

Narrative of the painting:

I focus on the man who is drinking wine.

The person who has the back facing us contrasts with the whole painting.

It is the darkest part of the painting.

He is also nearly at the centre of the painting where our eyes lay on

when we first see this painting.

The person looks like he is in charge of the situation,

watching other people playing the cards.

We can’t see his facial expression but we can tell that he is enjoying himself

or trying to enjoy with himself in this environment

by his calm/serene action of drinking a glass of wine.

Although the colour of his figure is dark

but this does not gives us any negative impression towards him.

We lay our eyes automatically on him because of the colour

and also by the composition of him

- he is kind of in the “middle of the painting.”

But we can also say he might be recovering his mood,

by the broken pipe and the card on the floor.

It is possible he just lost a game and was too angry to play

so he express his anger with the pipe and the cards on the floor.

By drinking a glass of wine he is trying to calm himself down.

Although he is sitting with the other three people

it looks like he is a bit distanced from them

- by the size of his figure and the colour use on him

(contrast with the table and the other three figures),

Hooch isolates him with these techniques.

The lighting in this painting is interesting and multiple presence:

Through the curtain, the reflection on the floor(of the room and the courtyard)

and the refraction of the wine glass Hooch depicts different statues of lighting in this painting.

Not much curve or meaningless messiness in the painting,

everything is in order and angular.

Even the clothes hang on the wall does not have any extra (lack of) draping.

Main light source comes from the open door and some from the window.

The strong lighting from outside is shown by the sharp reflection on the floor

of the intersection between the courtyard and the room.

The composition of the tiles on the floor shows the distance, the trace and the level of the light.