Art in Arch - Carved Cubes

The visual artist has to be aware of contemporary fashions and trends. There is an over use of orthography due to reinforced cement concrete structural design systems. Most buildings are huge cuboids with perforations for light and ventilation of the inner space. We are constantly exposed to 90 degrees geometry. Objects, elements and everything in the environment combine with each other at 90 degrees. Due to this overexposure, our mind is comfortable with cuboids and orthography. Skilful handling of cuboid and orthographic patterns may be enough for most architects to survive in the profession.

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Students need to prepare an uncarved thermocol cube. Thermocol sheets should have substantial thickness to enable the students to do deeper carving. Before doing the carving, the students can draw line sketches on the cube. Students should be careful to see that there is evident continuity all over the surfaces of the cube. While carving, the student should explore a variety of volumes and concave and convex surfaces.

Retrospective Analysis

The surfaces carved on the cuboids have various depths. These depths can be experienced powerfully if these cubes are seen in sunlight and studied for its sciography. At this stage one can easily compare this visual experiment with an architectural design. A number of buildings could be well analysed or criticised for visual qualities based on the study of the carved cube. The visual effect of the continuity in three-dimensional graphics all over the surfaces of the cube can be experienced. The recesses and projections in this carved cube are synonymous to projections and aperture in the architectural form.