THE AXONOMETRIC
 
Today I'd like to introduce you to Daniel Libeskind and his exceptional axonometric drawings. 


Through the use of drawings he can express conceptual ideas, through to built buildings.
"An architectural drawing," Libeskind has written, "is as much a prospective unfolding of future possibilities as it is a recovery of a particular history, to whose intentions it testifies and whose limits it always challenges. In any case a drawing is more than the shadow of an object, more than a pile of lines, more than a resignation to the inertia of convention."


Lets start with the Micromega series; a deconstructivist study of space. 1979
Rooms shaken up and placed back down.
A conceptual exploration of architecture

https://libeskind.com/work/micromegas/

"Micromegas The Architecture of End Space"


The Moma art Gallery describes one of his Micromegas thusly

"Libeskind's Micromegas Project established many of the concerns of the architect's project City Edge, Berlin, which was included in Deconstructivist Architecture. Named after a short story by the eighteenth-century French historian and philosopher Voltaire, the Micromegas project began with eleven pencil drawings, which subsequently served as studies for a series of prints, including this one.
... projected fragments of architectural elements explode across the surface of the paper, illustrating no single moment but alluding to events in both the past and the future"

So now take that notion of the Micromega; A study, an explosion... and now consider applying those ideas to architecture in its built form. 


I'll briefly touch on some examples where he has taken this radical, illustrative idea and tried to apply the ideals into architectural form

"I think the era of rebuilding structures of the past has now passed because going back in history has never really worked – anywhere. Conservatives argue that the old city was such a good city, that it is much safer to rebuild in that image than to move forward to something unknown. But do you really want to have the old city back with all its disadvantages that are so easily overlooked? Does this actually solve the current challenges? You need affordable housing, places for kids and families, more public places. If you just follow the old building lines and volumes, you are actually treating the city like a piece of art or a museum that has to stay the same or that was finished at some point."
interview with Libeskind Uncube magazine 1 August 2015


The first example is Libeskinds Jewish museum. You can see here is his original axonometric sketch a search for meaning from the larger context. Cultural, physical and historical connections visualized. Notice also how he achieves a axonometric appearance through the addition of shadow as the projection of the plan. Not the classical axo, but I'd still considered this as an axonometric

His idea eventually honed in on a concept taken from the Star of David. A Jewish symbol used  at one time to stigmatize a culture, breaking. Broken people, lives and timelines. The building itself being born of this broken symbol opened out.

 

As second example is Potzdamer Platz also in Berlin.
Now his previous larger context sketch is revisited, reinterpreted for this site. A conceptual axonometric is born

 

His built form axonometric of the resultant design speaks volumes about the concept and its realization as a space. Where the cities connections are etched firmly in the resultant place.

 
Now to finish off with a couple of Libeskinds explorations in axonometric; described as artworks, these examples show clearly how the intention of the plan is communicated as an axonometric form.

Collage 1967

 

 

 

 

Axonometric Crystal NewYork London 1970

You can see by these examples how the axonometric can be used to express conceptual ideas, architectural spaces and even as artworks. I hope this helps you all when designing your axonometric visualization of your UNSW building concepts.