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30 Oct 2011

SIP - Building Architecture 1 - Sketchs - Yggdrasil

I've looked into designing the smaller parts of Yggdrasil. These parts include the Habitat Pods, Buildings and others.

Here are the preliminary sketches:



Next up is turning them into silhouettes.

26 Oct 2011

SIP - Yggdrasil Redesign

This week, I have refined my design of Yggdrasil by applying the advice given to me by Alan and Phil. I took away the rigid nature of the previous incarnations. I have applied a sense of space to the design.

Sketch:


Yggdrasil Silhouette


Yggdrasil Annotation:


Please note that the uneven circle is on purpose. Since it is organically created, there will be imperfections and this symobolises that.

20 Oct 2011

SIP - Final Design Component Description and Style

This is how I see the different parts looking:

Organic parts:

The organic parts, such as the trees and leaves will follow a classical Interpritation, as they must not look sci-fi but earthly. The tree will be large and knotted and air roots and plants rising from the lake that the tree sits in.

The container pods:

A mix between the organic and the mechanical, the pods resemble that of an organic nut. There lower half even looks like one while the top half looks like a machine version of it. It keeps with the white aesthetic and gives the impression of feeding into it with wires and the such. There is a slit along the bottom that can open and close.

Pod Container:

A large glass cylinder that feeds into the ship. Wires connect the rings (and hence the pods) inside to the ship base. Roots entwine around the outside of the cylinder and a few roots drop outside the field.

Ship Base/Components:

The ship and parts connected to have a clean atheistic, as the wires and mechanical parts are concealed underneath, away from the travellers onboard. The top side of the ship will house a small lake that the tree sits in (hydroponics) and path ways up to the habitat rings. It will look very clean and minimalistic other then the trees and environments.

The underside will be slightly more industrial, with storage facilities and the needed equipment to keep the ship in the air. Roots from the tree above will entwine around these structures.

Projection beams:

The beams that project the force field around the treeship are produced by two machines underneath the tree. The beams are visible but shoot down, so as to stay away from the people above. The beams will mainly be light focused to create a union between them and the see-through barrier that encases the ship.

This is how I envision each part of the ship and how I plan to style them during the modelling stage.

SIP - Component Research

Here I will compile the research I have put into the different parts of the spaceship. The organic parts will follow one base set of rules (Realistic, Organic) whilst the ship will carry another (Clinical, Clean). These are the styleistic influences for the ship:

Organic (Tree, Leaves, Roots):


Container Pods:


Mechanical (Ship Base, Pod Container):

SIP - Yggdrasil 3D Mock Up v2

Today I have created a mock up of the Silhoutte design that I created.






This is a rough 3D representation of the ship to show how I envision the top and bottom of it. I kept it exactly the same as the silhouette.

I do want to make the tree bigger and the bottom glass container more visible. Also tone down the sheer amount of roots from the bottom. Again, this is just a mock up.

12 Oct 2011

SIP - Design Silhouettes

Here are four different designs for the 'Yggdrasil Treeship' that all adhere to the description set in the book as well as the advice given to me by Alan and Phil.

Design 1:


Design 2:


Design 3:


Design 4:


After trying out the different looks, I prefer Design 2 because of its more classical look, yet still sci-fi/organic and applies the advice given.

10 Oct 2011

SIP - Further Design Language

After an insightful talk with Phil, it was decided that I would look into some agrecultural aspects and the beautiful side of it. This is to create an other worldly image but with the same functions of a tree.

Hydroponics:

This idea instantly caught my attention.

'Hydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel, mineral wool, or coconut husk.' - Wikipedia.com

The method of Hydroponics is a very modern one as it lends itself to sci-fi with the removal of any mud or soil. It looks high tech and minimalistic. Also, as Hydroponics is not part of everyday knowledge (to me it isn't) it allows itself to have a futuristic sheen without actually being so.




From a design and technical point, I love this. I have the idea of a small lake in the middle of the ship that the tree and its roots sit in, almost looking like a moat. This adds to the sense of luxury that the ships pervades as well as the sense of 'Sci-fi' with not only a flying tree but also a flying lake. It all goes together.

Airplants/Epiphyte:

Another idea that allows me expand on my current ideas.

An epiphyte (or air plant) is a plant that grows upon another plant (such as a tree) non-parasitically or sometimes upon some other object (such as a building or a telegraph wire), derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, and is found in the temperate zone (as many mosses, liverworts, lichens and algae) and in the tropics (as many ferns, cacti, orchids, and bromeliads).

The very idea of the airplant doesn't lend itself to the project on a technical/logical level, but on a purely asthetic level it stands as fantastic to me.




I've never seen anything like this before so there incredibly unique to me. As a purely 'look' oritated object, I imagine it growing inside the Hydrophonic liquid aswell as seeping out the side up the containment field as well as other patches giving an organic feel.

Moving forward, I will be using silhouettes to create the ideas I have in regards to these idea expansions.

A name that Phil gave me was Dale Chihuly, an artist that uses glass to create shapes that no one would have thought possible with glass. I'll leave you with an image from him. I'll be using him in my following silhouttes.

8 Oct 2011

SIP - Finding the Final Design of Yggdrasil (@Phil)

I've been doing quick sketches of the the 'Yggdrasil Treeship' trying to find a final design for the ship to take forward. I've enhanced my original design with the feedback given to me by Alan.

One way to improve it was to add a layer of space, as opposed to being flat and rigid. I've also gone back to the description in the book to ensure that it stays true to the authors vision.











I'm leaning towards the final picture as I feel that it incorporates every aspect of the descriptions from the book as well as the advice given by Alan.

I plan to talk to Phil about the final decision and any input he can give me.
I'll then create another silhoutte of it, followed by research into the materials of the ships mechanical parts.

7 Oct 2011

SIP - Silent Running Design Analysis

During the week I watched a movie that was recomenned to me by Alan. That film was Silent Running.


Stars Bruce Dern as Freeman Lowell, a nature-loving crewmember aboard the Valley Forge, a gigantic spaceship in a small fleet that carries the last surviving forests of the Earth, which has fallen victim to overpopulation and ecological neglect. Freeman's name reflects his nonconformist philosophy, which runs counter to the prevailing recklessness of his three ill-fated crewmates, who are eager to jettison their precious payload and return to the bleakness of Earth. Before they can sabotage the forests, Freeman does what he must, and spends the remainder of his mission with three robotic "drones" as his only companions, struggling to maintain his sanity in the vastness of space - Amazon.com

The main resoan I watched this film was for the design choices that where made in regards to the space ready Forest Domes, These domes relate so closly to my planned SIP model that it held many strong ideas.

Three things I picked up on and want to incorporate into my idea to further understand the logical side of the ship are:

1.
The underside of the dome houses the storage for the dome. Be this water or soil.
For my ship I see a very similar way to house the nessecary equipment that the tree requires to live. Except I see the roots that come from the bottom of the ship and tree (as descripbed in the Novel) to entwine with the structures, further combining the two.

2.
The Dome inself was patterned, providing the light and weather.
Whilst my Containment field (which would act as the dome) would not be patterned, there will be structures that run the length of it, providing light and the needed weather.

3.
There was a contrast between the forest itself and and the mechanical base.
Again, I see this as very similar to my vision of 'Yggdrasil'. The base would be more mechanic that the rest that would invoke a more natural, spiritual look. The differnece being that the roots of the tree would enfuse with the mechanical over time, giving it a 'grown' look.


5 Oct 2011

SIP - Yggdrasil Created Using Silhouettes

After the advice given to me by Alan at the last meeting, I have gathered some silhouettes of the different ingredients to the larger picture. I also thought of the logic behind it, the main one being spiritual.


This is the silhouette of the overall Ship. The elements include trees, rings, branches, acorns and a Tulip bud. I combined the look of the ship though the description of it through the literature, but the shapes where devised through spirituality.

The rings around the base and tree itself resemble Halos, of angelic origin. The roots spreading through the (mechanical) base symbolise growth and the unity between the two components. The acorn shaped containers also mean growth as well as birth in the way that they open and contain the alien creatures that more the ship. The containment field created by the 'Erg' is shaped like a tulip bud that allows the field to open. This symbolises growth in the way it 'peels' itself open.

On a more logical way. the opening of the field allows the tree access to Sunlight and Air when in atmosphere. Weather can be automated through the mechanical structures built around the tree, where the containment field is  created. Movement and Space Travel is achieved by the 'Erg' containers rotating around the ship. The connections and wiring are integrated into the roots and branches of the ship. The only difference in look is slight colouration and glow.


This highlighted image shows which part of the ship would be mechanical and which would be organic. The structures around the ship in the containment 'Tulip' field are metal structures that fold down like an opening bud. the base is predominately mechanical as are the rings. Some branches and roots are but only different by looking at the colour.

2 Oct 2011

SIP - Use Silhouettes to find the Shape

After another talk with Alan, we have decided that I need to take a step back and take the design down to its core. We looked at the ingredients to the design from my research and found a way to gather a shape.

To do this, I'm going to use silhouettes to find the basic shape of the design, to see how they would fit together logically.

Here are the silhouettes that I have made to use for this excersise.

Trees:


Flowers:



Rings


Branches:


Roots:


Acorn - (Container):



I'll be using these sillouetes to create a unified shape. Another aspect I need to cover is the use of practical science. As it's basically a tree in space, it still needs to follow certain rules as well as the fictional side of things.

A key aspect of the ship that will influence it is the 'spiritual' side of it. The Life/Death side of it plays a key role in the narrative so it should reflect this in the design of the ship itself.

I have also rented out 'Silent Runnings' as it lends itself directly to my project.

Next I will be shaping the parts together like a puzzle to find a form that suits the ship. Then I'll seperate the parts into Natural and Mechanical for further research into the symbiosis of the tree.