2001:a space odyssey
page 2 (of 4)
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Blueprint's (low res)
Interior of the USS Discovery 1
(mostly concerning the Centrifuge)
Intellectual copyright © of Ian Walsh 2003
If any of this material is used please give a credit mention and let me know by E-mail. Thank you.
Below are several sketches and drawings of detail, position, and size calculations, of the layout of the Discovery pressure sphere .I tried to follow as closely as possible all the parameters set by the production model (the real) Discovery.... and the logical path Bowman and Poole took from A to B through Discovery's interior. The only extrapolations I made was the route (not shown in the film in any way at all) between the centrifuge and the Cockpit......Regarding the dimensions of each room (except the centrifuge)...... as far as I can tell I did the best job that I was able, but at the end of the day it is difficult to say if I was accurate to within a inch ...heck ...a foot or so.... .....which is why I was not too troubled by my attempt to fit everything into the pressure sphere and having to trim my original room size calculations to do so......... who is to say I was right the first time !
I purposely Did not try to Include detail (Which would certainly have been there in a real spacecraft ) (The Unknown areas) ... as you may gather I am only really interested in stuff that's actually visible In the movie...I am perfectly happy to let others speculate on 'unknown' areas ...Fact is the interior set of Discovery was probably not really meant to fit into the model as Such.... unlike my main interest (Factual spacecraft) where it would be odd indeed, to not be able to fit say an Apollo spacecraft interior into its Pressure shell, and have to trim bits to make it all fit..... Knowing that the Discovery is a make believe craft , was the fun for me ..... taking bits and trying to make it all fit together by altering each part by the minimum amount possible , to fit into as near to a 40 ft pressure sphere as possible is enough for me. ..
Pictures
70 71 72 73 74 75 75b 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86
Centrifuge
NEW (July 2005)
Seen around the circumference edge of the centrifuge set, are numbers marked 0 to 112
although they are regularly spaced I have never been able to figure what the marked divisions were....
Until NOW... it just occurred to me to try Pi.(3.141)
SO 112 divided by 3.141(pi) = 35.65 ft..............
The Divisions seen on the set edge are FEET.......
and 112 ft is the circumference of the set at the marked points.(seen at 'floor' level by black triangular 'arrows')
SO the Centrifuge Floor is 35.65 ft in diameter at the point where the 112 One foot apart triangular marks are AT the floor surface ...
so my calculations (shown below) are pretty much spot on.*
The 2001 novel Quotes 35 ft Dia. for the Centrifuge. The set itself , is universally quoted at 40 ft Dia........But across where? the inside (floor), the outside (under floor structure) or the support structure......I counted the floor Tile panels right around the circumference , not easy... as you have to jump from scene to scene to get a clear view, each time noting the edge of an object relative to the floor joints in order to get the whole floor plan (and the film is mirrored in places just to make things even more fun) ... next I calculated the size of each panel, using different methods , as they occurred to me.. for example a persons foot on a panel (guess the shoe size technique) .......Then there is (especially) the thank goodness for Imperial sizes method (8'x4' ply sheets)...... and finally there was the guess the whole set size ( using people, ladders, benches, etc.) when I had done all the techniques I could think of, by lifting information from still photographs, and the film itself, then Multiply the tile size by the amount of tiles, to get the circumference, and (most importantly) Pi this to get the diameter....Thing is, I have not come across any original set, plans for this, nearly everything was destroyed ...........so you can only do your best , and feel happy in your own mind that you have........... below are my findings.
...
About the tiles.......I did not consider the size of the tiles , in the first instance......(except as an 'educated' guess using shoe sizes Etc. doing this gave at least, an order of magnitude of the Tile size.....)
There are unquestionably 48 tiles around the circumference .... The centrifuge was a real structure, (Set) and as such it had to be made out of something. I used to work in a carpentry workshop......... we used 8'x4' s all the time.....if any job could be done with the minimum of cuts on a 8x4 sheet , it was .........eg. half a sheet = either 4ft x 4ft or 2ft x 8ft ...............
8x4. sheets (and sheets cut in equal parts) seemed a reasonable guess to start with, (4 ft. being the important dimension) and to follow through all the permutations of such a guess, to see where the guess would go........so by careful measurements I have deduced the following.............
There are two 4ft (wide) sheets together.....then on the outside edge of the centrifuge is half of a sheet....so 2 ft....(The other half of the set, is this exactly Mirrored)
Ok..... now as to the opening that the pairs of doors fit into.............originally This is what I said........... "The two doors together span a gap of 3/4 's of a sheet.... so 3 ft.......(the doors would fit into this gap twice.....18"+18" = 3ft)"..... But due to some correspondence with a Fellow 2001 'Fan' , Eamonn O'leary...I have had a re-think about the clearance needed.......and have re-assessed, and attempted to re-measure. However the measurement ( from Pictures ) is too small to detect.......but never the less what Eamonn said made sense.......so I am , reducing the width of the opening that the doors fit into............. (Eamonn has also supplied me with reference material and photos that I had not seen before ,As well as lots of very Interesting Insights into other aspects of the Film) .
The length of the doors is 1 and 1/8th. sheets........... so 4ft 6in (54in.) The next thing I did was to determine by 'try and see' how many doors at 54in. would be required to exactly fit 48 Tiles onto....and at the same time give a diameter of about 35 ft (using pi)......(the Educated guess at shoe size on tile came in very useful about here to cut out the all 'unlikely extremes')........the answer is 24 doors (pairs)...... 48 Tiles !! 24 doors !! two Tiles must fit onto a door............... so each Tile must be 27 inches long....2 x 27 = 54 in. It was only at this stage that I realized that the Tile is Effectively 27 small squares long Floor Tile........To me this is too much of a coincidence......and far too elegant to not be correct..........I see no evidence that the 'small squares' are anything but square....if so the Tiles are 17 inches wide........
Above I mentioned that the gap into which the door pairs would fit ...'clearance' would be needed at 3 points between the doors and frame ...(on each hinge side , and down through the middle...The middle slot is where the camera support runs) ......the easy division to make , is a division is of 3 equal parts, but better would be to have hinge clearances of less width than the central slot, (which after all, had to take into account any 'pinching' movement of the two halves of the set as it rotated.....and still allow the camera support and associated power cables to run freely)........... So say,17"+17"(doors) +1/4"+1/4"(for Hinge clearance)+ 3/8"(for the camera slot)......Total.....34 and 7/8 inches.....(an inch and 1/8 less that I originally said) It now all becomes a question of proportions.........I am as sure as I can be, that proportionally ( one item relative to another ) that all of the above is (now) correct.... (but if I am wrong about the 8ft x 4ft sheets........and the Sheet width used is greater... say 5 ft.....then all the above sizes will become proportionally larger too........and the opposite would apply if I overestimated) But if so, the above would lose its 'Elegance'..........for instance if the Tiles were to be 16 inches across (and not 17) why would the 'Tilemaker' then go to the bother to divide the tile into 17 divisions....... when the same ruler he used to gauge its width, is already covered with pre made units (inches) with which to divide the tile easily........... also concerning the Tiles...I think that they were 'purpose made' for 2001........If they had been commercially available, I think that an example would have appeared at conventions, and on 2001 internet sites by now........non have......
I think that the central 'hole' in the Tile is for effect........it makes the floor more interesting to look at.....
The Conclusions....
The Floor of the centrifuge Set is made from 'standard' 8ft x 4 ft. ply wood....the drum Floor is made accordingly from edge to edge....... 2ft+4ft+4ft+17 inches...................17 inches+4ft+4ft+2 ft....Plus , 3 gaps of 1/4+ 1/4+ 3/8 inch (for hinge clearance and central slot ) making a total width of 22ft. 10&7/8 inches........... (23 Feet.. near enough)
The slot 'doors' around the 'middle' are each 17 in. x 4ft 6 in (54in).....
Each Floor tile is divided into 25x15 small squares.........plus an equally sized border all around the edge..... (consequently the Tiles are effectively 27 x 17 small squares each)
Two of these tiles will fit on to a single 'Slot' door ....2 x 27''=54''
The floor tiles are 17 inches x 27 inches.... So consequently the small squares are 1 (one) inch square.
There are 48 floor tiles around the circumference.................And 24 'slot' doors.....
48 Tiles x 27 inches is 1296 inches (108 ft. Circumference)...............1296''(108 ft.) Divided by Pi..........is 34.37 feet Diameter....(* only just a bit over a foot in error, see above.. )
The floor is 6 tiles wide...........6 x 17'' = 102 inches (8.5feet) The floor is wider than this in places.. with a borders.......making a Max. width of 10 ft 6 inches..........
The 'narrowest' gap is 2 tiles wide (plus a 2'' border each side)=17+17+4 inches = 38 inches (3ft 2'')
13 and a half sheets of 8ft ply fit around the circumference..........
PICTURES
Floor Plan ... 2nd Floor Plan... Floor Tile ... Centrifuge (ladder side#1) ... Centrifuge (forward#2
NEW!!!!!!!!
Over the last few months I have been working in collaboration with Dennis Gonzales of The 2001 A Space Odyssey Collectibles Exhibit.......Dennis is a very talented graphic artist, working for NASA !.....He has turned my centrifuge drawings into wonderfully Detailed renditions,. the 'Definitive' Centrifuge ............ About 100 E-Mails of Photos, details, screen grabs, drawings, sketches, and lots of 'tweaks' have been exchanged between us .....Below is the result .......Dennis will soon put these same drawings onto his website , but at a much greater resolution..........(see High res. pic. sample, below)
Centrifuge side one ( Dennis Gonzales)
Centrifuge side two (Dennis Gonsales)
Centrifuge high res. detail sample
Centrifuge edge on (re-drawn by Dennis)
Thanks for insights on
centrifuge details to... Michael Harris, Eamonn O'Leary, Agostino Ambrosio,
Richard Compton
Extra Information
The 12 'Light Panel Units' in the centrifuge, do not have their 'centre of radius' corresponding on the 'rotation' axis of the Centrifuge.....They 'Focus' at the 4 points marked with + in the picture titled. "Light units"..... All the Panels were made exactly the same, from just the One type of Mould....This saved having Asymmetrical Panels that do not 'Look right' and did away with the need to make glass-fibre moldings for a Left, Right, and Centre panel . Below are some pictures to show what I mean
Fitted Light units......Light units
EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE
Hello ...........
Sorry about the delay in getting back to you.....hope you don't mind ,but I am sending some extracts from some mails that I originally sent to the guy, that sent me the 'Spanish Pics' (attached). its lazy I know, but they cover some points that you mentioned.......
"on the left side of the passage behind Frank Poole, standing, is a brushed steel door which I believe is the hatch to access HAL's Logic Room. Am I right in assuming this ? ''..................... (see photo#1)
<ME>Well I think that the answer is yes and no.....Let me explain......I think that in both pictures, the SET is the same........so on that basis the answer is Yes.....BUT....I think that the set was altered, it was shortened to line 'D' . (see this photo) , the HAL Key box 'C' has gone ! , and some switches were removed....In 'A' there is 1 row of 3 switches, but in 'B' there are 3 rows of 6 switches......I think that the set was altered to save time and money on building a completely new room set.......I think the rooms are really MEANT to be two Different rooms so on this basis the answer is No......Kubrick probably figured no one would notice......Especially because of the acute viewing angle
I think that the doors (E) seen in pics.1 and 3 are the doors to the No1shaft ......
Door (F) in pic.2 is part of the dual purpose set and either leads to the Centrifuge via the No 2 shaft (as the room behind the cockpit ) or ( as the Hal anti room) ,it leads to the No 1 shaft via the small room seen in pic.1and 3
<ME> I did not have access to any pre-production sketches and > I was unaware that there were any. All of the work I did on > the interior of Discovery was all my own.
<ME>All of the work I did on the Discovery Interior was done About 5/10 years ago , at that time I was not Aware of anyone else's work on the Discovery's Interior....
I am not sure that The blueprint shown in the book (2001Filming the Future by Piers Bizony) is an ' Original ' blue print ....As such....But I am Sure that the Interior as in the blueprint will not fit into the pressure sphere.... As I see it someone made the drawing based on the room behind the cockpit...Because it bears a striking similarity to the HAL anti room (some would say that it is the same room) ......but I think That an expensive piece of set (the HAL anti room) was shortened and re-used behind the cockpit ...it was not meant to be Identified Due to the Very acute viewing angle.... some people however have tried to make sense of this and have subsequently drawn the interior as in the blueprint.
<ME>I am going to alter my interior layout slightly, to accommodate a Room between the No 1 shaft and the HAL anti room (pretty much as in the blueprint, but with two opposite doors).....On the last page of Piers book is a picture of Bowman in a small room (note that this room has a floor , and so for sure it is NOT a shaft) (see photo#2) I have known of this picture (from another source ) for some years but I chose to ignore it (big mistake), because I could not figure out where it was supposed to be located.... I am now convinced that the' Spanish' picture (see photo#3) shows the same room....look carefully behind Bowman, and you can see another door that is closed, through the open door to the anti room.....this 'closed 'door is not seen in the (NO. 1) shaft as Bowman climes up it .......... Further 'proof ' that the room is not the No 1shaft , is that at the top of the No 1 shaft is a Square skylight....but when Bowman emerges into the HAL anti room a round skylight can clearly be seen ....... So when Bowman enters the Hal anti room , it is not directly from the shaft as the Movie implies.... A final proof is the studio set.....seen from the outside.....A door can be seen with a man standing just inside a door, (see photo#4) This door is the one seen closed in the Spanish photo.....The First door( to the HAL anti room is also open ,and can be seen (Arrowed) slid open in the photo.......also note the Round 'skylight'....This is for sure, the outside of the room seen in photo #2
<ME>The 'Spanish' photo of the Hal anti room is a 'Missing link' that I would not otherwise have seen , it is proof that there is indeed another room between the No1 shaft and the Hal anti room making sense of the 'mystery' picture (at the back of Piers book) You also 'made' me look closer at the set, pic. on page107....I had never made note of the fact that the entry 'Tube' to Hal is on the 'Wrong side' of the HAL anti room as seen in this photo.....I scanned this picture at high resolution (photo #4 is a detail selection)...what I was looking for was proof that the picture was not printed mirrored....I figured that there must be a clue hidden in the pic. itself....There Is.....On two of the overhead lights is written MGM....and MGM 147......the writing is not mirrored so the pic. is defiantly the right way round....What you said about the Hal anti room being viewed in the 45deg. mirror is true, the tube is seen on the 'correct 'side of the anti room when viewed this way.........Get a small mirror about 3 or 4 inches square and place it on the drawing on page 107 at the place indicated "Floater Mirror"............It works really well !!!!!
.............I Hope This is stuff is useful.
Yours Ian
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