BELOW: View of Zhang Yin's office space from the outer corner. Her office was largely inspired by her profession, as well as by Steven Holl's extensive use of box forms in his architecture. This is reflected in the simplistic form of the space, her actual office area being the shape of a box and enclosed by numerous box forms. It is embedded into the bridge so as to remain slightly hidden, which I feel is symbolic of Yin's modesty. In this image you can also see the glass mover which brings you down from the player start into the office, as well as her own elevator which moves to and from the meeting space.
BELOW: An interior shot of Donatella Versace's office. This space was intended to reflect Versace's immense power as well as loud persona, appearance, image and ego. I have achieved this in the use of extremely bright clashing colours for her office, in combination with a crazy form at the back of it, at the same time avoiding just the simpler flat back wall seen in draft 1. Her office space, like Yin's, is massive in every way, screaming power in every aspect of it. The large curvy form behind her desk and chair (custom made) has a subtle 'V' shape, illuminated by lights surrounding it. This 'V' along with the posters of models showcasing her clothing, as well as her throne-like chair and boldly lit up desk each mirror her egotistical and proud persona. Her elevator, containing a large image of herself as the backdrop is also representative of this (see note at end of post).
BELOW: The meeting space. The stone exterior with a rather complex form makes it difficult to see inside the space from the outside. This was intended to convey what I imagine would be a huge clash when the two power's would meet, from both a cultural and personality point of view. Thus a sense of uncertainty is created in approaching the meeting space, which is relieved once you have entered it; it is very open allowing a lot of air and sunlight into it. The dining table was inspired by both clients, in an effort to create an equality between them despite their differences. It is large, long and thick in form and heavy in appearance, so as to reflect the weight of their power and influence. The chairs with high backs are also intended to represent their power making them, like Donatella's office chair, throne-like in appearance.
ABOVE: Yin's elevator with scalar texture. I like to think of it as representing the steady growth from nothing to riches and power.
BELOW: Versace's office chair and desk, both with different 'erratic' textures reflecting the nature of her persona.
Inside the meeting space, showing dining table and chairs.
View from top down into the meeting space
Environment from beneath, showing all three elements plus Versace's elevator in motion.
Arriving at its destination!
Update, Friday 20th June: I was unable to resolve the problem mentioned in the post "FINAL IMAGES". In any case, with Versace's elevator I intended to reflect her power in its size, the large picture of herself on the back of it, as well as a comfortable couch for her to sit on once inside it! The shape is an exaggerated figure of a woman, which clearly conveys a sense of empowerment. The elevator itself moves quicker than Yin's so as to show a contrast in personalities; Versace's is quite loud and over the top, whereas Yin is a more quiet and modest persona.
Below: front view
Last image: perspective showing both spaces in relation to each other. If you look to Yin's end of the beam you can see the top of the mover to take you down into her space from the beam (glass texture).
I am yet to decide which textures to use where, so these are just experimentation with both my exp 3 textures and the ones found in UT.
This is Versace's office (below). Although I like the curvy form, I will be experimenting a lot more with a more interesting shape for it, and adding a few more elements to the interior. I would ultimately love for it to incorporate more transparent materials in order to represent how extravagant and exposed her persona is. Funny that I achieved the opposite to what I was going for with these first models: a very open space for Yin and a more enclosed one for Versace...
A shot showing the positions of the offices, at opposing ends of the beam. This will remain relatively the same in the models to come. I couldn't obtain a good shot to show the sizes in relation to each other but if you look at it from the front, the offices are similar in size, both quite large emphasising the grandeur of both clients' personas.
I suppose these show my initial ideas, based on a comparison of the two clients I chose to design spaces for, Versace and Yin.
The bell tower of a church fit right between two apartment buildings in Paris.
