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Introduction What kind of legacy will we leave behind for people to remember us by? Do people really die? Or do they live forever in our memories? Memory is the process in which information is encoded; encoding allows information that is from the outside world to reach our senses in the forms of chemical and physical stimuli. “Life is not what one has lived, but rather what one remembers, and how one remembers it to recount it.” My objective for this thesis project is to challenge the way western culture views death and the way people honor and remember their ancestors; by having design collaborate with architectural phenomenology to insinuate memory through a place of retreat and commemoration. Through the study of phenomenology, human experience, and spatial relations I wish to achieve an atmosphere of memory and tribute. Combining these elements together with the poetics of architecture one can begin to capture a different perception of death through design.
The first step in this thesis is addressing the problem: the fear of death in our society. Most humans, normally, fear death because it signifies the end of our existence. Can this fear of death be linked with the fact that we want to accomplish certain things before we do die that the topic haunts us? For example, most people generally tend to have a bucket list, which is an assortment of goals established by oneself to do before death. What evokes the feeling or need to have extended time on earth? Is it family and friends? Possibly one’s ego?
We each live in the shadow of a personal apocalypse: the knowledge that someday, somehow we will die. It’s a terrifying thought, and so we look for a way out. W.H.R. Rivers expresses his thought on the subject of death, “A heavy silence has fallen over the subject of death…Neither the individual nor the community is strong enough to recognize the existence of death… Yet this attitude has not annihilated death or the fear of death.”
Master’s Project
Fall 2014 Professor Steve Cooke My thesis research began with the exploration of challenging the way western culture views death and the way people honor and remember their ancestors. To study this, I chose precedent like Carlo Scarpa’s Brion cemetery. The main objective in this scheme was to create an atmosphere that can bring people together and celebrate life. What we are lacking as a society today is having a funerary rituals. Something that will bring us back a remember the person we once loved. The procession throughout the project is composed of experiential transitions by a main pathway for funerary rituals, as well as, grave gardens. There are multiple pathways to each section of the grave gardens to allow the public to explore through an undetermined sequence.
The Chapel The chapel located on top of the memory museum accessible from grade level, as well as, within the memory museum. It serves as the hierarchical view point in the project due to its scale and organic shape. The chapel’s functions are for religious ceremonies with a view towards Pudget Sound Bay, as well as, the rest of the western side of the site. When approaching Memorium Park the chapel serves as a wayfinding point for the public to orient themselves within the project.
The Approach
The entrance is located on the east side of the site, the public would be at grade level and begin to descend into the lower levels. Entering into a tunneling affect with a heavy overhead condition to protect the users from the elements while creating light and shadow effects throughout the procession. This tunnel is represented as entering into a different world from that of the grade-level walking into the sunset and towards the project.
The Funerary Hall
The funerary hall is located at the end of the procession where the funerary ceremonies and wakes are held. The funerary hall faces the Puget Sound Bay and is opened to the sky to create a celestial atmosphere. The vertical walls are louvers to provide privacy, as well as, having the users focus ahead opposed to having views to the sides.
The Grave Gardens The grave gardens are composed of four squares within a larger square. They vary along the site as they adjust to the topography. Some areas the grave gardens are extruding up and in others, they are carved into the ground. They are design with the intent to let the family of the deceased have their own imitate space within the Memorium park. Each square has its own Zen garden with a water feature. The unorthodox gravestones have storage compartments for incense sticks and candles. What make these gravestones special is that they would run of solar energy, so at night they light up in representation of the decease’s soul that is not forgotten.
The GC Tower
At Grand Central Avenue The GC Tower at Grand Central Avenue is a mixed-used building composed of residential apartments and office spaces, as well as, commercial retail. Site is located at the entrance of downtown Tampa, giving the opportunity for this tower to become a landmark at the entrance of downtown. The residential tower is composed of studio units, standard units with 3/2 and 2/2 ,as well as, the penthouses with a grand penthouse. Some of the amenities that the residents can enjoy from are private parking, a children and dog park. A state of the art health club and pool area. The residents can also enjoy a beautiful Florida sunset from a height of 300 feet in the sky deck where they can set party and receptions.
[Modern Housing] Spring 2013
Professor Michael Haflants
[Aguadilla Housing Project] The Aguadilla housing project is an affordable housing project in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. The site is across the street from the beach and diagonal from a major plaza called the plaza mayor. The site is 300 feet in length by 150 feet in width.
[Typical Housing Module] Composed of one bedroom studio unit, located at the ground level and two family sized units composed of three bedrooms, two baths located at the top floors. These housing modules are designed to enjoy Puerto Rico’s tropical climate, by offering the users pleasant natural light, as well as, plenty of exterior spaces with beautiful vista to the Atlantic Ocean.
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[THE LAMP] This was a two week project where we were to design and fabricate a functioning lamp. The design process for this project involved linear elements meeting monolithic type qualities. By having a slim body and a heavy base represented by a steel (the body) and concrete base. The height of the lamp can be adjusted to the user’s preference, as well as, the pivoting motion at the top of the lamp. Another feature of the lamp is the switch-less quality, by simply touching the lamp one can adjust the amount of light one chooses to have.
[THE CHAIR] This project was a two week to design and fabricate a full scale chair. I decided to design and build a bar tool prototype .The materials used for this bar tool are Sapele wood which has a reddish color to it, as well as an all steel structure for support. What makes this chair special is the specific notches that are made throughout the chair. This is made in order to create a harmonious relationship between the two materials.
[ T H E TA B L E ]
was a two week project where the assignment was to design and fabricate a full scale table out of the materials of our choice. For my table design, I chose wood, glass, and steel. The wood elements are composed of cherry plywood ribs that make up the body of the table with walnut washers that work as spacers. Both of these materials were produced by the CNC router. The glass is a 3/8� thick glass. At one end the glass becomes flush with the wood and at the other end it is embraced by a steel leg. The design concept behind the table was to have a kit of parts for all three elements: wood, glass, and steel working harmoniously together. When the table is assembled, it represents a cycle of materiality steel touches wood, then wood touches glass, and lastly glass touches steel to form a continues cycle.
[THE CANTILEVER] Is a two week group project where the task was to design and build a full scale cantilever that could hold three, 6�x6� Contrete cubes. The cantilever is to extend thirty inches off a second story
balcony.
The
cantilever
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constructed
using
the cnc router to make the arms of the cantilever, as well as the wood washers were made to create
separation be-
tween the arms.The concrete body works as a counter weight when the cantilever is in the horizontal positionbalancing one of the concrete cubes. The cantilever rests in a vertical position.
[THE CHAIR] The chair detail was a two week assignment that entailed designing and fabricating a chair out of wood and steel materials. The steel was a product of the water-jet cutter. The wood was shaped and cut by the CNC router. The shape of the chair was to embrace the degrees of comfort to the human body. The legs of the chair are composed of two steel squares for a minimalist look.
[FOU ND O B J E C T] The purpose of this assignment was to go to a thrift store and find an object with the intent to repurpose the item. My intervention is the steel frame and legs.
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