Project Three: Part Two - Nathan Albion

Open Air Gallery Proposal for Nathan Phillips Square

I chose Alexander Calder's Black Widow Stabile that is currently on permanent display at the museum of modern art in NYC. I decided that this piece would look great in Nathan Phillips Square. This decision resulted from the fact that many of Calder's other stabiles are also publicly displayed in squares and courtyards. My placement was decided upon the fact that the entire square is framed by an elevated walkway except the northwest corner. So I decided that would be a suitable place to make my intervention. This, in my mind, would compel pedestrians to mingle with the sculpture while entering the square from that point.

Alexander Calder, Black Widow 1965

Perspective looking North East

Perspective looking North West

Plan Drawing

North elevation

East Elevation

Section 1 (north)

Section 2 (East)

Project Three: Part One - Nathan Albion

These Are a few pics of my initial idea for my proposal. I plan on placing this "garden" in Nathan Phillips Square.  

Exercise Seven: Nathan Albion

Alexander Calder

Black Widow

Sculpture Garden, MoMA: NY, NY

Alexander Calder revolutionized the art of sculpture by making movement one of its components.  Yet his invention of the "mobile" -- a word coined in 1931 by artist Marcel Duchamp to designate Calder's moving sculpture -- was only one of Calder's achievements.  In  his early wire figures and in his "stabiles," static sculptures in sheet metal, Calder created innovative works by exploring the aesthetic possibilities of untraditional materials.  As a major Contribution to the development of abstract art, Calder's stabiles and mobiles challenged the prevailing notion of sculpture as a composition of masses and volumes by proposing a new definition based on the ideas of open space and transparency.  With the giant stabiles of the latter part of his career, Calder launched a new type of public sculpture -- one which proved so successful that many of these works have become landmarks in cities around the globe.

(Taken from an introduction to a Calder exhibit by the National Gallery of Art)

"Calder", Text by H. H. Arnason, Photographs by Pedro E. Guerrero.  Van Nostrand Company 1966.

www.calder.org

Exquisite Corpse: Nathan Albion

Project Two: Nathan Albion

My section cuts straight through the middle of the Council Chamber.  My initial plan is to do a very accurate hard line drawing of the chamber, but to employ a collage of mixed media to create the tower in the background.   

Union Station - Nathan Albion

Union Station

Front St. between Bay St. & York St.

There are many widely available facts about Union Station.  Such as when it opened and who was there when it did.  The Prince of Wales was on site for the opening ceremony of Union station in 1927.  But he was also the first person to buy a ticket there, which at the time cost him $71.20, with a current value of $1100 today.  

The 22 columns across the front of the station are built out of limestone and were placed in one piece.  each column weighs, individually 75 tons!

The current Union station is the third to service downtown Toronto.  the first was outdated, the second burned in the great toronto fire of 1904, and the third, when constructed also contained the first underground pathway system in Toronto.  Spanning between Union Station and The Royal York Hotel.

Kipling Station Maps

Occupancy vs. Business Overlay

We chose to overlay these maps because they signify the opposite ends of the spectrum. They indicate, together, that the two forces play in close proximity to each other. The two maps together really fill up our constraints of our base map.

Occupancy vs. Available Transit Overlay

In this overlay, the maps seem to frame each other into sections. The transit hubs, or stops, indicate the outer extremities of each individual neighborhood. It is also very easy to see the areas in the occupied zones, where transit is not readily available, and a moderate walk is necessary to reach a specific stop. It also readily displays the direct relationship between the transit routes, and the railway system the flows through the middle. It is simple to identify the only main passage over the tracks.

Exercise Four: Amin shahinbakhsh

Mapping is a technique that brings new possibilities. It is more than tracing what is real. It can bring the past and possibility of future together in one perspective. Mapping is a design tool for the urban developers. Mapping is known to be an analytical process that records the facts for our use. This does not make the science of mapping any less imaginary or inventive. It stands to be as important as any other part of design. The initiative is to make the existing condition evident. This part of the design is the most important since it creates the platform for creation. The technique of mapping has integrated over time with changes in technology, although the scheme and overall process has remained the same. It is important to consider the influence of mapping on our perception of future. Mapping influences our perception of the world and imagination of the future world. Mapping brings the present and future together. The new techniques have to take these into consideration.

Kipling Station

Transportation
Traffic
Community
Residential Business

Kipling Station and area

Exercise Three: Nathan Albion

Kipling Station

Exercise Two: Nathan Albion

Exercise One: Nathan Albion

Nathan Albion

 

It's difficult to really tell where I will be in ten years.  Hopefully by then I will have completed my post-graduate degree in Architecture.  I have always been interested in architecture, so becoming an architect just makes sense to me.  But I am always willing to adjust my final goals, so it will be interesting to see where my life ends up.