Architecture students from a Melbourne School of Design intensive have created eight intricate miniature sets from the Harry Potter world by J.K. Rowling in a new exhibition called “Smoke and Mirrors”.
Teams were tasked with designing and fabricating an animated set model based on sourced material, with different models showing Gringotts bank, Ollivander’s wand shop, the Shreiking Shack, the Burrows (home to the Weasley’s) and parts of Hogwarts itself, including The Chamber of Secrets. Students built character profiles from source materials, then designed the spaces to reflect how the characters would have used the space.
The project sits at the intersection of stage sets, miniatures, architecture and narrative-driven design. Utilising spatial analysis of film sets and literature, the animated artefacts are a product of the digital and physical born from rapid prototyping (laser-cutting), digital fabrication techniques and model-making.
Using techniques and discussions learnt over the course of 12 days, the students explored the use of model making and designing through the lens of a camera. Highly detailed models were creating using a mixture of intricately laser-cut pieces, hand modelling, and lights and motors and used in-camera effects such as forced perspective.
“Students had only 11 days to design, build and fabricate their models. Over 400 hours of laser cutting was completed to fabricate the models, and for one, 700 boxes were hand-cut to fill Ollivanders Wand Shop!” says Jannette Le, who led the studio with Michael Mack, Mond Qu and Denis Vlieghe.
This project highlights the benefits of a multi-disciplinary approach to architecture, including developing skills in detailed research, imagination, behavioural analysis, model-making skills and attention to detail. It also shows that, sometimes, being a designer can be just plain fun.
Smoke and Mirrors can be seen at Dulux Gallery, University of Melboourne from Monday 25 February to Monday 25 March 2019.
Makers:
Project: Gringotts
Paul Yap En Hao
Hylin Lam
Ka Wing Karen Tsui
Hoi Yin Ho
Kye Yuan Choong
Project: Ollivander’s Wand Shop
Ping Meng
Sheng Zou
Project: The Shrieking Shack
Chenggao Li
Zichao Zhu
Haotian Wu
Siyang Wan
Xinhui Xu
Project: The Burrow
Andrew Rahman
Zoe Jo Bratcher
Alison Hammer
Wei Lyn Song
Edwin Jupp
Project: Flourish and Blotts
Archana Karunan
Shreyaa Shah
Project: Grimmauld Place
Edward Yee
Duncan Crowe
Mary Hou
Daniel Zou
Luke Kim
Project: The Chamber of Secrets
Sara Tan
Ying Ruey Lee
Yohanes Richo Wirawan
Juan Carlos Planells
Mengli Pi
Project: The Great Staircase
Bin Wang
Hao Lin
Zhenyi Jiang
Zarrin Salami
Xiaohan Liu
