Spectacle Surplus

Thought I'd probably get this draft out of the way to make room for my next.

(Which would be sometime tonight also)

For the past few days I've been doing a bit of research and came across some..

"intriguing" ideas..

I've also manage to come across a website that has a collection of

Responsive Skins/Kinetic Facades.

What intrigues me the most from site is the Super Cillia Skin

However, I think this would be more of an interior element.

Moreover, here are some other intriguing elements that could be incorporated into the facade.

The following two uses Electoactive polymer (EAP)

[skip to 1:50 for demonstration]

On the Simpler side things..

A folding shading device

and..an Awning Window that uses the same idea.

Although these devices maybe simple, I believe they have further potential to be a "spectacle" on the Vegas scale.

And Even more simple...

[PHOTO]

(.I misplaced the photo...will link it back lateR)

some other conventional kinetic facades (or at least i think its kinetic)

After all the research..

I realized I had to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

There are too many intriguing spectacle elements that I would hope/like to incorporate into the designing of my final facade.

However, in the end, it all boils down to what I seek to design or achieve in my facade.

I want the Buildings facade to be a place where the idea of "culinary arts" is display...(Chef at work) Where the building is the Chef's stage and the facade the curtains.

Essentially, my facade will seek to achieve the following ideas.

OPEN & CLOSE

PUBLIC & PRIVATE

SPECTACLE

I'll expand on these a little later.

The Beginning of "The End"

Looking to the culinary world for inspiration I have further looked into the culinary art of molecular gastronomy which was mentioned and shown to us by Professor Hui. Molecular gastronomy takes the ordinary culinary process of making food and through the deconstruction of various produce, meats or dairies, by means of physical and chemical transformations, changes all the sensorial aspects (touch/texture, taste, visual appearance, smell)  that a dish might entail throwing away any preconceived notions of what a dish might be.

For a city like Las Vegas turning the known into the unknown or the extra ordinary is all part of the cities spectacle.

So here is what I'm thinking...

My proposed culinary institute along with teaching regular culinary art will focus on teaching molecular gastronomy a feature that will be highlighted in the building's main restaurant. Although there are other restaurants on the strip that play with molecular gastronomy I don't think that having a institute or another restaurant that focused on it would "overkill" the above mentioned experience. 

Merging this along with with the previous idea I had of using a large green wall of produce as a defining feature of the building and its atrium will become a major part of the buildings spectacle.

The purpose of this produce wall would be to highlight the use of the raw product as a reference for the deconstruction of it through the cooking process and the recreation of food. Consequently the design of the interior atrium space would highlight this utilizing a wall of produce leading to the kitchen/laboratory and ultimately the restaurant table (all in a upward motion).

Building Massing / Rough Programming

After looking at the given program size and any extra program I want to put in the building (including services) the program could roughly fit within the massing. There is defiantly allot of extra space as the site is extremely large but this can be incorporated into public spaces, retail and atrium spaces.

The given program will fall somewhere in this separation of spaces

Facade Component

In answering what my envelope will become I have to first discern what I want it to do. For me the envelope must do 3 things.

1: Contribute to the building spectacle
2: Highlight the interior spectacle
3: Provide relief from extreme climatic conditions.

Playing off of previous envelop ideas I had  for this project (exploring metal/fabric meshes and diamond shape glazing units)  I have decided to stick with something close to my original ideas.

My idea is to create a component that has a horizontal frame which would be attached to the buildings glazing units. Inlaid within this frame would be a series of fabric strips that would act as screen elements for solar heat. In addition to this the fabric would act as a surface which at night would be illuminated by a system of led lights adding to the building ambiance.  

It is highly important for me that the component is visually porous so that views into and out of the building are not disrupted. Along with the material choice of fabric to achieve this, the density of the strips can also vary depending on needed visual or solar transitions between exterior and interior spaces. Working in tandem with what I image for the building's interior the exterior envelope component will allow for the deconstruction of the exterior visual impact and shift it to focuses on the interior produce wall, molecular gastronomy kitchen and restaurant dining experience.

In the end I want my building to have a balanced relationship between elegance and spectacle

Additional Restaurant/Hotel Precedents

In a rather serendipitous coincidence, ArchDaily recently issued a brief listing of top restaurants and hotels.  This is appropriate given this past week's lecture on the spectacle of restaurants and the manner in which the architecture may highlight this condition.  For many of you, the problem lies in how to best address Venturi's paradigms of the duck and the decorated shed.  For others, the challenge is in how to design something that is iconic in Klingman's model yet able to properly address the hyperactive and frenetic landscape of the Las Vegas Strip.

Taking in More Sights in Las Vegas

Any visit to Las Vegas mandates a trip to see the illuminated covered street known as the Freemont Street experience.  Located in the downtown core of Las Vegas, this project was a collaboration among a collection of casinos in the old downtown core to create a remarkable spectacle to compete with the frenetic streetscape of the Las Vegas Strip.

Some of the more adventurous students in the party opted to even use the zip line facilities at Freemont Street to sail overhead the tourists on the walkway.

And just in passing, while visiting the more "downplayed" downtown core, the class made an impromptu visit to the Pawn Stars location to investigate the micro-economy of pawning and trading underway within the city.

FF XIII-2

Another tidbit of information I found today. The release for Final Fantasy XIII-2 is just around the corner for North America (this Tuesday) and I saw this in an interview with Motomu Toriyama, the games director:

[Toriyama] mentioned he has never been to Las Vegas and he’ll draw inspiration from the sights in Sin City for his next game. That’s interesting because Final Fantasy XIII-2 feels like it has a bit of Vegas in it. Final Fantasy XIII-2 has a casino called Serendipity with gaudy lights, noisy slot machines, and chocobo racing to bet on.

Interesting to see how the architecture of spectacle and subtlety can influence all sorts of medium. Here's an original piece from the games artwork showcasing Serendipity.

FFXIII-2 Logo designed by none other than the legendary Yoshitaka Amano
Tuesday=Christmas
Scott