Model-It! Week 2 Take-Home

Fisher House 1:200

A model of Luis Kahn's Fisher House was our given home task for week 2 of the Model-It! workshop. This two storey house, with basement, is two cubes that overlap at one of their tips, but it's main feature is exploration of windows throughout the entire house.

View from the river below

Fisher House entrance

The scale identified that this model was to focus on the context of the Fisher House, as its integration into the surrounding terrain was one of its important aspects. 

Process of adding each contour layer

I made the contours by cutting only the edge I needed, and leaving enough space for the next contour to sit on top. This was I was saving balsa by making only the edge of the contour, and by using off-cuts for parts that were hidden within the model. 

The contours were layered onto the base plan to ensure precision. I also had to mark the 'back' of the contour, so I didn't get the front of the curve confused with the part that's to be hidden.

The house was constructed by making each wall, and making it a little longer than needed so that it could later be 'sunk' into the ground to the right height. I decided to make each window (as pain-staking as it was) to illustrate that the windows are there to connect the inside of the house to the outside landscape. Creating a solid box, I felt, wouldn't communicate this connection.

One of the walls, before windows

Details of the windows

The windows were made in the same manner as the pool for the Barcelona Pavillion. This time however, much greater care was need as this was on a smaller scale, and the windows would push on the wood grains and snap the delicate corners. Once the walls were put together, these issues were resolved.

Space for the joining of the two parts of the Fisher House

Joining the two houses was relatively simple: I just needed to cut out the corner slot in the roof, and that wall had to be cut into the two parts either side of the intersection. Even at this small scale, I cut the walls at an angle to ensure a good fit between the two houses. 

Finally, to put together the house and the terrain, I decided to fit the house into the hillside, rather than cutting out each contour as it would both be simpler, and 

would have less space for error. The only barriers I faced with this step was the internal supports which I had to cut through underneath the contours. Overall, I was happy with the result.

Side of the house upon fitting

Slot for the houses to fit into

To finish the model off, I made trees/bushes from scrap foam I had. The bridge was made to emphasise the presence of the river, which followed a different wood grain to symbolise a different material to the contoured landscape.

The final product

Front of the house