Fountains of Paradise

Poster

2009-03-11T20:54:00.001-07:00

Imagery...

2009-03-06T12:46:00.000-08:00

Happenings

2009-03-04T11:42:00.000-08:00

Organization

2009-03-02T03:32:00.000-08:00

_Peer Crits

2009-02-28T11:08:00.000-08:00

Omied says :: It seems like you are accomplishing your intent in the sculpture of your building. I can definitely see how this is a "tower of light" and how elegant it would be floating in the wide open ocean. However, I'm assuming the majority of your building will be made of transparent material or glass, so I think some practical things need to be addressed such as structure (how is all that glass going to support floor slabs?). Also, all that glass could create a greenhouse effect for people on the inside, so maybe some sections or diagrams showing how you plan on dealing with the release of heat build up. All in all, a very nice concept

Alex says :: The renderings that are on the blog are great because you get the concept immediately. you get it as soon as you see it. Obviously, the building itself needs to be developed more - pay close attention to the height of the tower; the idea to make the upper part of the tower more sculptural and "symoblic" is a good strategy - keep program as close to the base as possible. Circulation of all the spaces needs work as well. Where the circulation of the spaces converge, needs to be especially detailed. Interior and general close up renderings are very necessary to understand the project better.

conceptual visualization

2009-02-25T15:43:00.000-08:00

Essentially, the building would appear to be only an image of light from afar. Blending in with the ocean itself as well as the sky and sunlight.

Additional Information

2009-02-25T14:59:00.000-08:00

Preliminary developments on the Tower

The curved and textured glass surfaces will refract sunlight in a manner similar to light shining through glass block [photo below.]

The surface of the base will be covered in photovoltaic cells that will reflect sunlight light up to the tower for additional energy collection. The PVs molded to the curved surface, when viewed from above will also create a "glimmer" effect similar to that of sunlight reflecting off of water.

I.E.

To create this effect when viewed from above

sectional view

2009-02-23T17:28:00.000-08:00

.... I'M CURRENTLY DEVELOPING THE TOWER ....

... continuation ...

2009-02-22T15:26:00.000-08:00

Development of floor plates

_um... do OVER

2009-02-19T13:28:00.000-08:00

Preliminary Developments on new base

....steps forward ...

2009-02-16T19:00:00.000-08:00

_MIDTERM

2009-02-10T13:38:00.000-08:00

PRESENTATION

click me
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    V

_MIT Genius People...

2009-01-28T12:34:00.000-08:00

I said maybe

You're gonna be the one who saves me ?

And after all

You're my waterwall

04_Visualizations

2009-01-21T13:04:00.001-08:00

A primary conceptual visualization of the caustic concept.

03_On a Mission....

2009-01-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

to perfect a concept...

Taking a failed project from a previous quarter and stripping it down to its bare minimum...

the concept revealed :: Caustics.

Caustics can best be described as the envelope of light rays reflected or refracted by a curved surface or object, or the projection of that envelope of rays on another surface.

More elaborately... A caustic surface is the envelope of a family of light rays. It is essentially a concept of geometrical optics, but the region of a caustic displays interesting wave effects. The word "caustic" is from Latin, and implies burning, because the intensity of the light is increased near a caustic. However, the intensity is not increased enough actually to make burning a fact. A caustic is a boundary between regions in which the light intensity is nonzero and zero. A wave cannot be sharply cut off, as the phenomena near the boundary of the shadow of an obstacle show. On one side, we have an intensity decreasing rapidly to zero, and on the other a system of interference fringes typical of two coherent superimposed beams. This is clearly seen in the Fresnel diffraction pattern of a straight edge. However, in the case of a caustic there is no edge, but a natural termination of the light field. Inside the caustic, there are two wavefronts that interfere to produce the observed fringes.

Simple Caustics

Ocean Caustics

02_Readings

2009-01-09T12:24:00.000-08:00

Lunar Colonization Readings

Space Elevator Tether Reading

01_INTRO :: Space Elevator

2009-01-05T20:58:00.000-08:00