Night Blooming
Project Name
Building Size
Location: City, State
Project Type
Night Blooming 78.5 sf
Bellevue, WA
Installation
PROJECT NARRATIVE
Driving in the countryside of Eastern Washington, one finds timber grain elevators standing solidly alone in a vast landscape of rolling hills. They have been disappearing from this rural landscape, replaced with concrete elevators and metal silos. The soaring price of timber and potential fire hazards may have contributed to the declining prevalence of timber grain elevators, but this disappearance also is analogous to the shrinkage of rural towns in the region. Timber grain elevators are a product of their communities, built not by professionals but by people in communities, such as farmers, their families, and friends. Constructing timber grain elevators requires large man power. The shrinking population of rural towns would make it difficult to build timber grain elevators. The documentation of grain elevators in the Eastern Washington region through photography, drawing, model making, writing, and interviews provides a deeper understanding of grain elevators by delving into their culture, rural community history, climate, construction methods, material constraints, and spatial qualities. The constraints revealed from various perspectives and experiences in the process of documentation informed the design exploration of grain elevators. Night Blooming emerged as a design exploration project. The projects are made of 2x6 recycled lumber from dismantled grain elevators. An altered crib construction method was applied to construct a catenary dome, 10’ in diameter by 13’ 6” high. More than fifteen people together worked on building this dome by hand. One of the highlights of this project was to share the joy of making with others, which reminds me of building a grain elevator. Light and darkness in the space is a central theme for the projects. This theme was inspired by various experiences inside and outside the elevators in the process of being dismantled or abandoned, such as crawling into a 10’x10’x60’ grain storage bin of a partially dismantled timber grain elevator and observing the light shining into the space from the open roof. Using various scaled models and a full-scale mock-up, a series of light experiments was done to understand various light patterns and determine the size of the openings for filtering light inside. Based on the experiments, a circular plan was selected to create daggers of light that cut into a dim space and transform the wooden surface textures. In Night Blooming, the patterns of voids provide sufficient light to experience the subtle changes of light and shadow.
FINAL DESIGN
Exterior view
FINAL DESIGN
Interior view
FINAL DESIGN
Interior view
FINAL DESIGN
Close-up of the interior wall
FINAL DESIGN: Plan, section, model and image collage
left: Plan right: Section
left: Model right: Image collage of Night Blooming
DESIGN EXPLORATION: Light study
Process of construction of mock-up
Light through wall to inside
This full scale mock-up was instrumental intesting the ideal light quality and quantity for the interior space of NIght Blooming.
Light reflected on floor
DESIGN EXPLORATION: Light transformation diagram and close-up image of light hole
A circular plan creates a smooth surface elevation without corners, which allows gradual transformation of light and darkness to be perceived.
Based on the results of the light study, a 16 penny nail from the original construction of the grain elevator is used to define the width of the voids in Night Blooming.
VS VS VS
CONSTRUCTION
DOCUMENTATION: Vicinity map of timber grain elevators and silo
Walters Dry Creek
Cunningham Whelan Kitzmiller Pullman Druffel
Kendrick
Colton Uniontown
The documentation of grain elevators thorugh photography, drawings, writing, model-making, and interviews resulted in a rich understanding of about the elevators and and became an inspiration for the Night Blooming project.
Snake River WA
ID
Vicinity map of timber grain elevators and silo
DOCUMENTATION: Photography
Pullman South Grain Elevator
Walters Grain Elevator in process of being dismantled
DOCUMENTATION: Photography
Dry Creek Grain Elevator in process of being dismantled
Interior wall of grain bin in Druffel Grain Elevator
DOCUMENTATION: Photography
View to the roof of Kitzmiller Grain Elevator
Framed sky viewed from the floor of Cunningham Grain Elevator being dismantled
DOCUMENTATION: Drawing and model
Whelan Grain Elevator Drawing
Sectional model of Uniontown Grain Elevator
Building Size
Location: City, State
Project Type
Night Blooming 78.5 sf
Bellevue, WA
Installation
PROJECT NARRATIVE
Driving in the countryside of Eastern Washington, one finds timber grain elevators standing solidly alone in a vast landscape of rolling hills. They have been disappearing from this rural landscape, replaced with concrete elevators and metal silos. The soaring price of timber and potential fire hazards may have contributed to the declining prevalence of timber grain elevators, but this disappearance also is analogous to the shrinkage of rural towns in the region. Timber grain elevators are a product of their communities, built not by professionals but by people in communities, such as farmers, their families, and friends. Constructing timber grain elevators requires large man power. The shrinking population of rural towns would make it difficult to build timber grain elevators. The documentation of grain elevators in the Eastern Washington region through photography, drawing, model making, writing, and interviews provides a deeper understanding of grain elevators by delving into their culture, rural community history, climate, construction methods, material constraints, and spatial qualities. The constraints revealed from various perspectives and experiences in the process of documentation informed the design exploration of grain elevators. Night Blooming emerged as a design exploration project. The projects are made of 2x6 recycled lumber from dismantled grain elevators. An altered crib construction method was applied to construct a catenary dome, 10’ in diameter by 13’ 6” high. More than fifteen people together worked on building this dome by hand. One of the highlights of this project was to share the joy of making with others, which reminds me of building a grain elevator. Light and darkness in the space is a central theme for the projects. This theme was inspired by various experiences inside and outside the elevators in the process of being dismantled or abandoned, such as crawling into a 10’x10’x60’ grain storage bin of a partially dismantled timber grain elevator and observing the light shining into the space from the open roof. Using various scaled models and a full-scale mock-up, a series of light experiments was done to understand various light patterns and determine the size of the openings for filtering light inside. Based on the experiments, a circular plan was selected to create daggers of light that cut into a dim space and transform the wooden surface textures. In Night Blooming, the patterns of voids provide sufficient light to experience the subtle changes of light and shadow.
FINAL DESIGN
Exterior view
FINAL DESIGN
Interior view
FINAL DESIGN
Interior view
FINAL DESIGN
Close-up of the interior wall
FINAL DESIGN: Plan, section, model and image collage
left: Plan right: Section
left: Model right: Image collage of Night Blooming
DESIGN EXPLORATION: Light study
Process of construction of mock-up
Light through wall to inside
This full scale mock-up was instrumental intesting the ideal light quality and quantity for the interior space of NIght Blooming.
Light reflected on floor
DESIGN EXPLORATION: Light transformation diagram and close-up image of light hole
A circular plan creates a smooth surface elevation without corners, which allows gradual transformation of light and darkness to be perceived.
Based on the results of the light study, a 16 penny nail from the original construction of the grain elevator is used to define the width of the voids in Night Blooming.
VS VS VS
CONSTRUCTION
DOCUMENTATION: Vicinity map of timber grain elevators and silo
Walters Dry Creek
Cunningham Whelan Kitzmiller Pullman Druffel
Kendrick
Colton Uniontown
The documentation of grain elevators thorugh photography, drawings, writing, model-making, and interviews resulted in a rich understanding of about the elevators and and became an inspiration for the Night Blooming project.
Snake River WA
ID
Vicinity map of timber grain elevators and silo
DOCUMENTATION: Photography
Pullman South Grain Elevator
Walters Grain Elevator in process of being dismantled
DOCUMENTATION: Photography
Dry Creek Grain Elevator in process of being dismantled
Interior wall of grain bin in Druffel Grain Elevator
DOCUMENTATION: Photography
View to the roof of Kitzmiller Grain Elevator
Framed sky viewed from the floor of Cunningham Grain Elevator being dismantled
DOCUMENTATION: Drawing and model
Whelan Grain Elevator Drawing
Sectional model of Uniontown Grain Elevator
