Stormhouse

[mark_turner]

Some fantastic images there. The last couple remind me of something from star wars

[emage]

I was just checking out Autodesk 3DSMax 2010 new features, when i spotted something familiar...

Hmmm, I wonder where have I seen this before

[a.n.nagda]

Fantastic Images dude, good work.

[Lewis Wadsworth]

See the Max-rendered images in a previous post of mine on this thread. It seems that the SketchUp-to-Max importer I was testing has finally gone commercial in the new Max release. Or at least I'm assuming it has, because I did give them the right to use my design for marketing purposes. (I actually don't have a copy of 3DS Max 2010 and can't justify buying an upgrade to it right now, so I don't know what is actually on that disk, or even which format was used for model. ) I mean, what else am I going to do with this thing? No one is ever going to ask to build it.

[bluevinny]

Looks like the perfect thing for the west coast of Scotland Lewis and with property prices soo cheap now in UK maybe you should buy and build it yourself!

[Lewis Wadsworth]

Looks like the perfect thing for the west coast of Scotland Lewis and with property prices soo cheap now in UK maybe you should buy and build it yourself!

A friend suggested a while back that I do that for the previous year's fantasy project, too, that Pavilion thing. They suggested a place on the Isle of Lewis!

Actually, I'm kind of wrapped up in renovating my own place...I'm trying to keep that from becoming a "fantasy project."

[Lewis Wadsworth]

Paulo Guerreiro was nice enough to bring this to my attention...this project is used extensively to illustrate some new 3DS Max Design 2010 features in a Youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4tDM...eature=related

No, I wasn't aware that AutoDesk was going to use the model I sent them this way. Certainly I granted them rights to use it, of course, but I didn't know how they would.

The rendered viewport with shadows and lighting (their lighting--added by someone else in Max, as I certainly didn't plan those down-lights on the sides of the building) is very impressive, and I wish I could justify buying a copy of the program, especially since they are advertising it with my work!

They don't mention at any time in the video that I modeled this version of the Stormhouse in something else than 3DS Max, though...an interesting omission! As I noted in previous posts in this thread, the project successively has been drawn by hand and modeled in Blender, Rhino, and finally SU 6, and only belatedly imported into Max for rendering.

[gaffaman]

They sure made your house look all warm and cozy with those lights.

Not like it's in Antarctica.

Waiting for THE END.

Congratulations on your models success.

[jake]

Looks like they are going to milk that model for all it's worth. Also, the lack of a modeling software credit would imply that it's made with an AutoDesk product. Not cool in my opinion which, I know, doesn't mean much.

[Lewis Wadsworth]

They sure made your house look all warm and cozy with those lights.

Not that it's that important, but according to our agreement AutoDesk was supposed to ask me permission before modifying the model...I just checked. Adding Light Objects to an existing scene certainly seems to be a modification. Oh well.

Incidentally, I've just learned that the earlier Rhino version of this project is being used to troubleshoot some selection issues in that program...I had given a copy to the local McNeel rep.

I 've recently developed the horrid notion that this project is going to haunt me until I die. And when I finally do kick off, I won't find myself in a lake of fire or harping with the angels..no, I'll be standing on that dratted balcony of the Stormhouse waiting for Judgement Day.

[susanmoses]

A work of pure genius! And a compliment to 'Encounters at the End of the World' (the Werner Herzog documentary I saw today). Can't wait to see the Nicolas Rivera renders! Hat's off Lewis!

[Karimi]

Beautiful design. Must have been a pain to make those curves in sketchup eh ?

[jshapips]

in my opinion, the original renderings are the best and capture the project best.
Best to leave the project alone now forever awaiting the storm.
Good job Lewis!!!

[Lewis Wadsworth]

This email was waiting for me when I came home tonight:

Dear Colleague -

The jurors in the Boston Society of Architects (BSA) Unbuilt Architecture Design Awards Program (to which you submitted your entry or entries earlier this year) have completed their work and have selected the following submissions for recognition this year.

"Republic of Trinidad & Tobago Primary Schools" designed by Morris Architects, Houston TX

"ecoFLEX" designed by Shepley Bulfinch, Boston MA

"Urban Rack" designed by Moskow Linn Architects, Boston MA

"Pop Up Café" designed by XChange Architects, Boston MA

"Nordhaven": The City Regenerative" by FXFOWLE Architects, New York City

"Wadi" designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, New York City

"Crook/Cup/Bow/Twist" designed by Schwartz and Architecture, San Francisco CA

"Stormhouse, Deception Island, Antarctica" designed by Lewis E. Wadsworth IV, Assoc. AIA, Boston MA

"Lockgrid - city after the periodic blackout" designed by W. Y. Frank Chen, New York City

"Tulang Tower" designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, New York City

These ten projects will be the focus of a special forum at Build Boston, the annual design convention in Boston, which this year is November 18-20. This forum will begin with the presentation of the awards and an informal discussion led by the jurors will focus on the award-winning projects and will also explore intriguing issues raised by other entries. All of the 90+ submissions will be available for review during the jurors' panel discussion at Build Boston on November 19.

For registration and other details on this forum, which begins at 6: 00 pm on November 18, visit www.buildboston.com (click on event #SB4) after August 20.

The award-winning projects will also be included in a special gallery exhibit during Build Boston and the same exhibit will be in The Architects Building in Boston in 2010 and will be included in the BSA's annual design award publication.

Copies of the jurors' written comments on the honored projects will be available at Build Boston and thereafter on the BSA website (www.architects.org/awards).

--

Woo hoo!

[Lewis Wadsworth]

PPB2 member Andrew Byrne, a veteran of my Rhino 1: 3D Design class, suggested I enter this competition.

--

My poster, illegibly shrunk from 30"x30" and the two new images I made for the submission are below.

[tdmc]

hey Lewis - congratulations - and to be expected - it's a stunning piece of work - well done. Here's wishing you good luck with the Final!!

[Lewis Wadsworth]

Thanks...I actually don't think, from the way they have run this in the past, that there is another round to this. You're honored with a merit award, get a brief blurb in the glossy magazine that the local AIA publishes once a year, and that is that. However, judging by past runs there have generally only been three or four honored projects, not ten, and I'm not sure how this awards ceremony thing works out...I wasn't aware, when I entered, that there was supposed to be one. This could be a particularly odd experience, office-in-the-extra-room-and-third-rate-teacher that I am, standing up on some platform with SOM and Shepley Bulfinch people.

There's some vague information on the program and some brief comments on the last year's winners here (scroll down):

http://www.architects.org/design_awa...t_Architecture

The previous year's honorees are here, under the Unbuilt Architecture category, with pictures available if you click "Honors Awards."

http://www.architects.org/2008awards/

[Miggsy]

Lewis, You've used my avatar in your interior view. A nice touch. Congratulations. Can i be the first to make an annoying 'post success' criticism? ok...here goes.. simple one... I expect ribs on the inside, more exposed structure.. looks like plasterboard.. It doesnt really seem like the same building on the inside.... Dont worry though i still get a feeling of the door suddenly blowing open, and precious manuscripts, years of writing, being lost in the wind. Nice... Congarts again.

[Lewis Wadsworth]

Thanks, Miggsy.

This building is putatively roofed/walled with a structural steel arch panel system created by a U.S. company called Steelmaster, which I have used or attempted to use in other (more real) projects. It's interesting stuff: the corrugations in the arch panels supply the structure. In normal barrel-vault usage, there are no ribs, as with old-style Quonset-type huts. Interior finish, even something as basic as bent gypboard or lathe-and-plaster, is mounted to a cut-and-bent light-gauge C-channel spacer attached to the inside of the arch panels. You can get that C-channel as deep as you want, for as much insulation space as you need.

You only would need steel ribbing (in this project's case, custom-bent W-sections and little plate girders) where there is no arch-type loading, such as in the (in this project) flatter portions of the roof, at the edges of the dormers or for lateral support. I felt I needed some diagonal bracing under the flat portion of the roof, perpendicular to the panel direction, for lateral wind load resistance, with moment connections in the other direction in the steel (in the ceiling) that supports the flatter portion. The diagonals and the columns that pick up the load of the flatter portions "are" (it's a fantasy, remember) boxed up in plywood with lots of insulation foamed around them to prevent heat-bridging between the interior and the metal skin of the building.

Sometimes with this kind of building you see a corrugated metal interior finish (supplied by Steelmaster), mainly in industrial facilities made with this product (or, it seems, in Hummer dealerships). I tried it out and in my non-photo-realistic idiom it just looked horribly busy and distracting, and I didn't feel like re-doing everything with a ray-tracer.

(Incidentally, the Steelmaster people know about this project, and coincidentally last week contacted me about an interview. We'll see what that means.)

You're right...that is picture on the floor of Poe, author of the Antarctic fantasy The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. And on the interior partition above the desk in the background is a portrait of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, who wrote a famous (if you're into Gothic horror and science fiction) sequel to Pym, At the Mountains of Madness.

[Miggsy]

big fan of both men, but have strangely missed Pym of Nantucket, as it's not in the standard Tales. Will keep an eye out for it. Caught a very entertaining reading of mountains of madness on a podcast complete with sound effects/voice actors. Will try to dig out a link. Of course, in my opinion, one of the other great antarctic horror/sci-fi is The Thing..pretty damn scary as i recall.