Constructed Analysis - Capturing Sunlight

This project served as a primer to immerse ourselves in a new way of thinking. Local Adaptation is defined as 'a population of organisms evolves to be more well-suited to its local environment than other members of the same species that live elsewhere.' Within this unit, we look to truly understand a site and the localised conditions that occur there and allow this in-depth analysis to inform an architecture that responds to the richness in variation of it climatic and cultural contexts.

As humans, our impact on the planet has been huge. We have altered geological and ecological systems byt the way we have inhabited earth. We look to a method of 'local adaptation' in architecture to begin to understand buildings as a part of our eco-system. When viewing architecture this way, we create structures which work in conjunction with the natural world - not against it. The richness of architecture that comes from close investigation of a site is intriguing, whilst also becoming inherently connected to its place.

This groupwork used a variety of media over a 3 week period to create a 1:1 constructed analysis model, highlighting a specific sunlight phenomenon in a specific place, on a specific date and time. Constructed analysis involves quickly yet carefully taking readings of a phenomena, and using these findings to construct an intervention that reveals information about a specific point in space.
We began this process by 'stringing up' sunlight volumes as they entered a window aperture. We did this every hour from 9am to 4pm in a room in Bute Building. These findings were then recorded manually and entered into 2D cad software for further analysis. At each stage of the process, findings could be refined and errors corrected on inspection of the data. We were able to produce 3D computer models of the findings, which would then inform the final model. We took interest in the light that spilled out of a room through the doorway, and aimed to encapsulate this in our constructed analysis model. Using 32x32mm timber and interfacing fabric, we highlighted 4 moments in time when light entered one room from an aperture in another.

This frozen moment in time and space allows the viewer to understand the unexpected impact the one room’s windows can have on another room. The model represents the makers interest in how light reaches what appear to be impossible places. Embedded information within the model begins to reveal itself through closer inspection, whether that be the time each volume represents through the layer of lap joints on the base plate, or the total length of the light volume according to the proportional scaling of each time volume.