Tuesday, 21 October 2008

Recieving plans and deciding on scale

I have finally received the plans for the spinnaker tower. Although i have only received elevations from above of the three viewing levels. I was able to find some dimensions of the tower on the Internet of the side elevations. From these plans i should be able to make the tower.

I have done some calculations from the plans and have finally been able to decide on scale. The scale i have chosen is 1:250, this make the height of the tower 660mm which i feel is about the best height. 1:200 would be too tall as the height of the tower would be 825mm without the base board.

Wednesday, 15 October 2008

Experimenting with lighting my model





Over the last few days i have built a digital model of the Spinnaker Tower using 3DS Max 7. The purpose of doing this was to work out which colours would be appropriate for lighting the tower. It was also a great chance to make the building and decide on the parameters i was going to use for the base board of the model. I only used low detail on the surrounding building as i just wanted to get a good idea of where they sit on the model.


After building the digital model, i then played about with lighting the tower and surrounding area. This gives me a good visual of how the tower will look with different colour lighting. I will need to build the lighting into the model as i construct it, for this reason it is essential that i experiment with the lighting now.



I used a few different colours as an experimentation, below i have shown them:-







I quite the blue as it is very striking. This is also one of the colours that is used to light the tower in real life.





I'm not sure i like the green as it looks a bit out of place.



The think the red lighting is nice as it gives a warm glow.



Here i have just used white light. The white light works well with the blue of the viewing platforms. Ideally i would like to use a selection of different colour lights, but in reality i think i will have to just one colour. My decision is definitely with the blue light.










Thursday, 9 October 2008

Tower visit



Yesterday i drove to Portsmouth to visit the Spinnaker Tower. The reason for the visit was to get an idea of the scale of the building and also the surrounding area. The fact that i could see the tower from the motorway made me realise just how tall it actually is. It stands at about 170 metres above sea level.


The Tower itself is surrounded by Gunwharf quays(an outlet shopping centre) and the Wightlink Ferry terminal in Portsmouth Harbour. By the visiting the tower i was able to see the structure in much better detail and also took the opportunity to go up the tower.
The lift takes about 30 seconds to get to the top and gives access to the first of 3 levels.
The first level is the a viewing gallery with a glass floor that is 100 metres above sea level. I couldn't resist walking across it and looking down. Quite a weird feeling looking down to see the ground 100 metres below.






The second and third levels are viewing galleries as well. The views are fantastic from the tower as you can see for miles around.


I was able to take plenty of photos that i will be able to use for reference for the detailing of the model. And if worst comes to worst i can always drive back over and have another look as it is only about an hours drive from Uni. I feel the visit has been very beneficial to me as i have been able to see the tower from all angles and go inside the structure to really get a feel of how the tower looks, this should be very useful when constructing my model.

Friday, 3 October 2008

Spinnaker Tower Model




For the live project we were given. I have chosen to make a scale model of the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth. I haven't decided on the scale of the model as yet.
The Spinnaker Tower was built in Portsmouth Harbour celebrate the maritime history of Portsmouth. http://www.spinnakertower.co.uk/About_The_Tower/index.php
I have contacted HGP architects the designers of the tower and asked for a copy of the plans. I spoke to Peter Warlow and he is currently sourcing them from their archives department. They will be sent as a PDF document. When i receive these plans which he said would take a few days, i will be able to decide on the scale i will use for the model.

I also contacted Portsmouth City Council to see if it was possible to aquire the plans from them. After speaking to them on the phone, i can only view them at the council.

Until the plans arrive I am gathering information and research about the Tower. I plan to visit the Tower early next week as it is only about an hours drive from the Arts Institute. This will be ideal as i can see the tower first hand and also take photos of the tower and surrounding area including buildings. I will take a trip up the tower as it will give me a good idea of how the tower was constructed.