The Phoenix – Final Entry

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , /by

Here is my final entry for “The Phoenix”. This challenge was ofcourse one of the most different and interesting ones I have taken up since it involves designing and visualizing both the old and the new converted structure. The new design revolves around not stripping the ruins of its historic image but at the same time breathing new life into it. The journey that the Smiths are going to step into here on has been depicted in few of the design elements used. To create an interest to the subject, I leave it to the viewer’s imagination to find the connection between the old and the new. Hope you all like it!

Rewilding Sizewell Nuclear Power Station – FINAL images

/0 Comments/in , , , , , /by

Summary

Sizewell Nuclear Power Station is located within an ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ in Suffolk, UK. There are 3 reactors – “A” has been decommissioned, “B” is operational and “C” is currently planned for the future. I propose to convert all buildings and site into a series of spaces where visitors can learn about rewilding and explore the importance of maintaining Biodiversity on our small planet.

The site is very large so I decided to focus on two main aspects. The first was an area of land immediately to the West of the main buildings where I proposed to re-wild the area by introducing large herbivores and allowing nature to take its path.

To help support and encourage wildlife, I introduced a lake by flooding some of the existing waterways. Around the lake I’ve designed some animal hides based on collage studies I did early in the process. It is here that visitors can join a “Sizewell Safari”group to observe the animals in nature.
My second area of focus was to create a new dramatic entrance to what is now the turbine hall of Sizewell B. This is where visitors will be able to learn about rewilding, biodiversity and book their Safari tickets.

Substance

This was my first use of the Substance suite and I found using Substance Designer made the material creation process fun. I’ve been able to create various bespoke, procedural materials with exposed parameters that have allowed me to re-use the same .sbsar in multiple places.
The most ambitious exploration for me was to create the lake Substance. Using only 1 external input (a hand drawn black & white shape in Photoshop) I was able to create complex displacement, diffuse colour and roughness. In addition I generated various bespoke, editable output masks, that I used as maps to drive Forest Pack Pro. This allowed me to easily explore plant layout options and species distribution by simply adjusting the exposed parameters.
I also managed to create a procedural timber material that was used for all of the timber – the entrance canopy structure and shading fins, the main staircase and the animal hides cladding.
The turbine hall cladding and context buildings also share the same Substance.
Using Substance Alchemist I managed to create new materials very quickly from texture maps I already had – mostly for the hard landscaping.

Photography

All of the animal photos used in the images were taken by myself.
The existing site “Sizewell B” is an active Nuclear Power Station and is therefore secure and hard to access. I therefore had to look online for reference photos. The best ones of the existing site I found were some incredible aerial photos taken by John D Fielding on Flickr. He kindly allowed me to use some of them as reference images.
Boston United Football Club aerial image - their new Jakemans Community Stadium - Lincolnshire UK

Interior reference of the turbine hall used to model the existing structure was from a promotional video on YouTube called “Take a tour of Sizewell B nuclear power station”.

DOWNLOAD LINK TO FINAL IMAGES:
https://we.tl/t-n1KyWAJABH

Forgotten sanctuary

/3 Comments/in , , , /by

My entry for the “Converted” challenge is “abandoned Catholic churches of Ukraine”. With this work I would like to draw attention to the massive deterioration of abandoned architectural monuments.

The reason for the decline of these Catholic churches is the affiliation of modern citizens to a different religion – Orthodox. Most of these churches were built by the Polish many years ago, who at that time governed the current lands of Western & Central Ukraine. These buildings have fallen into disrepair for many reasons and the main one is rather simple – the locals belong to another denomination of Christianity. Currently these buildings are being destroyed, mostly, by weather conditions, as well as lack of care and restoration.

The saddest thing in this story is that nobody will restore these churches in the future. Many of them are found on the outskirts of small and almost deserted villages. Restoration of such buildings does not make any economic sense, they will not become cultural or tourist centers. What is more, currently more and more people are leaving those villages and are moving to big cities or abroad, looking for a better life, therefore, these small deserted villages are becoming even more deserted or abandoned completely.

For my project I didn’t choose one specific building. My project will emphasize the common features of these churches.
My renovation has nothing to do with religion – my dream is to give these structures a second life in the sense in which they will be of interest to potential visitors – by turning them into Museums, Art Galleries or Exhibitions. However, this building can only exist in the form of digital art.

In this project I focused on the interior as well as sculpture, which is the main exhibit. My goal was to make the installation organic in its shapes, as well as contrasting with the classic architectural forms. As a material I used beads – this way I refer to the traditional local art.

Hope you like my project and I’ll be happy to hear your comments and suggestions.
Good luck to all participants of the challenge and many thanks to Ronen for organizing such an inspiring challenge! 🙂

Wake Up – 2051 – Final Animation

/5 Comments/in , , , , /by

The idea is to show conversion from our current noisy and busy way of existence to a more relaxed, balanced and connected one.

In 2051 people live together with nature, growing their own foods and 3D printing pies at the same time

Communication takes place through 3D hologram device, deliveries and transportations are powered by drones, which in return are powered by solar and wind energy gathered by the households.

People have finally incorporated daily exercise and mindfulness in their lives and are applying recycled materials wherever possible
(recycled plastic composite, recycled fabrics and wood)

Link to the final animation here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7xoye6eqr30rvmg/Converted_2051.mp4?dl=0

P.S. I could still keep improving and improving the project, but the deadline is here and thank God, cause I think my eyes are in real danger of falling off.
Regardless of the creative process ups and downs, raised anxiety and complications with the substance animation rendering really enjoyed working on the project, learned a lot and most importantly had a lot of fun too! Many thanks to organizers and participants!

“Evanescent”

/0 Comments/in , , , , , /by

For this project, my approach is a bit different than usual. I thought it’ll be more interesting to come up with something “expressionist”,
This gave me more artistic freedom and flow of ideas that are not bounded by any rules and standards.

Instead of conveying an absolute reality (or projected reality), I created something that may not be possible to build in real life. Still somehow architecturally designed, the basic goal is to create images that express a much colorful and solid meaning.

I tried to dig deeper on the word “converted” and come out with the idea of “constant change”, which simply means that any state of everything will soon change to something.

An old farm converted to a church (could be anywhere).

The cloth symbolizes constant movement ( as its shape is dictated by the wind and whatever it covers)
This implies that life is movement and we can only control what will happen as much as we can but nature will still take its course.

The covered trees mean the temporary state of things;

An ugly naked tree can be dressed up and still look majestic.
But it cant be covered forever as the season will soon change and it’ll grow into a much beautiful tree with green leaf and flowers.

The wrapping of trees is inspired by the works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude https://christojeanneclaude.net/.
Their work is sometimes not accepted when it’s currently installed but it’ll look majestic and beautiful now looking at the photos and prints.
Those art installations are examples of what I’m trying to convey, that no matter how good or bad things are, they’re all just temporary.
That we all have a choice to keep the good memory and leave the bad ones behind.

The structure resembles a church with no altar;

Aside from being open and free, this symbolizes hope and fate, that as though we know that everything won’t last, were always promised a new tomorrow is coming.
It may or may not be the same as what we have today but we rely on our faith to be positive that it’ll be a better one.

Those dandelions in the field symbolize hope( we usually blow on its flower and make a wish)

The olive tree in the middle symbolizes peace and prosperity which we all desire( feel free to google it 🙂

Overall, I tried to somehow give a positive vibe to everyone suffering or on the bad side of what’s going on around the world.
That no matter how crazy things are right now… these all shall pass 🙂

Hires available here; https://we.tl/t-9afuZccu0x

The third Ronda

/6 Comments/in , , , , , , /by

The three images are showing how the architecture took place in this initial wild and burned environment. The sequence is backward. The third shot is showing the majesty of the Ronda bridge, alone, surrounded by poor landscaping, rocks and dry vegetation.
The final two shots are describing how the new architecture is integrated with one of the oldest tradition of agriculture in Spain, the production of golden juice of the olive fruit. The olive oil factory kept the old use of the bridge but it changed the environment, creating fields for the growing of olive trees. It converted also the purpose of the land not just the function of the bridge. It is a matter of respect for the connection between OLD and NEW.

Images with better quality:
https://wetransfer.com/downloads/c7c80e2bada296f49f32468fa1a5de0320210621121039/9b8b817bbad5edd861b93c31088a21c220210621121105/6ce20d