Combinatory Bodies by alaudato

Combinatory Bodies

Angelina Laudato Third Year ARCH Instructor: Majeda Alhinai

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Project Book

Writing Intensive Course Project Introduction

p.6

Abstraction & Estrangement

p.10

Object & Field

p.14

Color, Form & Figure

p.18

Mediascape Narrative

p.22

Library Precedent Study

p.32

Shape & Character

p.36

The Same & the Different

p.40

Creation Library

p.44

Final Project Statement

p.54

Project Overview The premise of the studio is based on the collusion between objects and images in the production of architectural form. Rather than use program to determine architectural form the studio poses the problem of how might new forms organize the program and maybe even augment it? The studio will interrogate the potential of medium specific appearance-making in architecture and differentiating between realism as a representational mode through the extraction of abstracted information of selected objects that we will study. Through the design of the studio project we will examine the ways in which architecture can engage with reality/realism without succumbing to the pictorial resemblance spawned by the renaissance (naive realism). One current response to this is the return to orthographic projection and platonic primitives. Basically, this could be seen as a rejection of the real and a reaf rmation of abstraction, process and rationality. Perhaps this response is not so much a rejection as it is an indifference towards the real. The vehicle for this is a digital library & archive as well as mediascape. One of the interesting things about the project brief is that it deals with not only the design of the archive but also the ground and immediate surrounding site in the form of a mediascape.

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Site & Program Contemporary media enables unprecedented immediacy. Advancements in technology and available devices continually evolve how we exchange information and disseminate knowledge. Not only has this development altered our conception of what constitutes public, it has also enabled unparalleled opportunity for access. Within the context of the studio you should consider the provocative potentials of media, both digital and physical, to influence a long-term recalibration of consciousness. Scape suggests something more extensive and less explicit in its boundary. A scape can be either picturesque or structured, realizing an organic inclusion of parts or enveloping a deployment of objects. One recent example merging square and scape is James Corner Field Operations’ Cleveland Public Square, which sought to revive a lifeless fragmentation into a unified whole. Within the parameters of the project and site, the proposed mediascape hopes to embrace a local yet worldly vision of a unified agenda in aesthetic culture.1 The library should be able to re-invent itself programmatically by introducing new ways and incorporating digital technology into its already existing ways and methods of learning. You should incorporate various other media (audio visual, 3D) apart from books and print media to make it a prospect for the future. The spatiality of the library should be re-interpreted from typical and pragmatic interiors to innovative and exible typology of reading spaces and interior arrangements.Through the design of the digital archive, we will refer to studies of the CCA on the ‘Archaeology of the Digital’ curated by Greg Lynn. “Archaeology of the Digital is a project envisioned by the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), curated by Greg Lynn, based on the acquisition and collection of approximately twenty-five projects. These works were produced between the late 1980s and the early 2000s and embody

inventive ways of engaging the digital. This first phase—entitled Archaeology of the Digital, comprising an exhibition and this publication presents four pioneering works by Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Chuck Hoberman, and Shoei Yoh. In all fairness, a fifth actor should be added to this list; an inanimate actor who takes different forms and names: machine, computer, manual, software, code, script, etc. This technological constituent—sought, found, tested, modified and even invented by the architects themselves in order to realize their ultimate vision—attained a life of its own and made the production of these projects possible.”2 The site for both Mediascape and Digital Library will be in Streetsboro, Portage County, Ohio. Currently Streetsboro has a very small outdated public library ‘Pierce Streetsboro Library’, the studio project will replace the library currently on the site. Through site design the project will ultimatley investigate the implications of designing a mediascape & digital library in a rural area. 1. “Competitions :Current Architecture Competitions.” Arch out loud, www. archoutloud.com/traf cking.html. Accessed 20 Aug. 2017 2.(CCA), Canadian Centre for Architecture. “Archaeology of the Digital: Complexity and Convention.” Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), www.cca.qc.ca/en/events/38273/archaeology-of-the-digital-complexityand-convention. Accessed 20 Aug. 2017.

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Objects to Curves to Masses

Project Introduction The design process of this studio class began with the abstraction of familiar images to create new forms. Using two-dimensional lines, I took a painting, by the artist KAWS, and an image of a giraffe toy and traced selective curves. The new linework from both images had already begun to defamiliarize the figures. I extruded several masses from each set of curves separately and created more by hybridizing the masses together. Techniques such as subtraction, twisting, scaling, and sweeping were used to manipulate the forms. By inventing a series of rigorous guidelines to follow, a formal language emerged between the masses.

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1. KAWS, Presenting the Past (2014) 2. Fisher-Price Rockinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Tunes Giraffe

1. Process Diagram - Extracting lines from Painting 2. Process Diagram - Extracting lines from Toy 3. 3D massing from a hybrid of both sets of curves

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Abstraction & Estrangement The deliberate manipulation of conventional methods of contemporary art has been practiced since the beginning of time. However, the subtle gestures of experimentation by classical artists do not compare to the total reconstruction of art as a whole that has taken place in the modern movements. The new, “informal” methods of art, as discussed in Umberto Eco’s article, entitled, “The Open Work in the Visual Arts,” have transformed art from being concrete and aesthetic-based to being an abstracted means of conveying information. As science and cultural beliefs advance and develop, artists adapt their language to express themes of openness, an ambiguity of meaning, and movement through visual compositions. These principles are also applied to modern, electronic music, as well as various genres of literature, which were discussed in depth by Viktor Shklovsky, in his prose analysis, “Art as Device.”

different forms could relate to each other in level of detail and stay within control. Similar to the way Leo Tolstoy invented a device of consistently estranging normal words throughout his literary works, repetition of a common element was necessary to effectively communicate the overall theme.

The method of deconstructing and defamiliarizing typical, realistic imagery through any media can effectively expand its interpretations and produce a reaction from the viewer that is both passive and engaged. The preliminary phase of the design process for this project involved selecting an image of a common item, specifically a children’s toy, and a painting, by the artist Kaws. In the process of extracting curves from each image, decisions were made about which information was important enough to preserve and which elements could be generalized into more primitive shapes. The result of digitally tracing the pictures was the discovery of new geometries that maintained the essence of the original composition while making the explicit image unrecognizable. Just from allowing my eye to wander across the two new sets of curves, I was able to derive many different interpretations from the disordered mesh.

The design process of this project is very much congruous with the themes of “the informal” style of art. With each step, I abstracted the geometries and forms from the original imagery and broke down their pre-conceived meanings into flexible, indefinite compositions. Elements that had not previously been related now are entangled in ways that neutralize any recognizability and increase information. This method of design is universal and most effective at communicating concepts in this growing world of highspeed processing on a human scale.

Out of the ten iterations of forms, five were selected to continue onto the phase of transforming massing into volume and space. This involved modifying the scale and proportions of the primary elements in each mass and allowing the secondary elements to interfere and puncture openings into the main pieces. The objective of this tactic was to allow the hierarchy of the pre-existing masses to naturally create openings in which opportunities for human interaction and media display could take place.

Eco, Umberto. “The Open Work in the Visual Arts.” Translated by Anna Cancogni. The Open Work: 85-104. Harvard University Press. Shklovsky, Viktor. “Art As Device.”Translated by Benjamin Sher. Theory of Prose: 1-14. Dalkey Archive

Continuing to manipulate these limited, definite objects lead to an infinite number of combinations. The next step was to take the shapes of the two new compositions and explore the relationships between them through form making. This stage was very experimental and open-ended, so it was quite easy to make several iterations of forms without inhibitions. The challenge of the following step was to establish a new order of rules so that the

Press.

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1. Five Selected Masses 2. Process of Abstracting Masses

3. Process of Abstracting Masses

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Object & Field The estrangement of the familiar is an important aspect of an architect, artist, or musician’s creative process that enables him or her to transform a tangible product into a concept worthy of interpretation. Particularly in the realm of buildings, an architect must utilize tactics of representation through alternative types of media to convey a larger idea of his or her project. In both articles, “In Front of Lines That Leave Nothing Behind” (Evans, 1984) and “Spacing” (Hays, 2010), the authors support the notion that architecture itself is not defined by the physical embodiment of a design but rather from the written narrative and the experiential sensations that come from a space. Because there is so much weight on the abstraction process and the act of manipulating conceptual ideas to represent architecture, architects are urged to place priority on making the occupants feel something. This priority to execute a design based on experience relates very much to my own development of both my media masses and their surrounding landscape. The two primary themes from the articles that have notable relevance to my project are the notion of “event” and the way strangeness draws in the viewer. The general program of the five masses within my landscape is media, and I have chosen to separate the type of media based on the form of each object. Two of the masses display visual art and digital video, one provides a performance space, one emits different types of sound, and the last exposes light and color. In “Spacing,” Hays wrote about Bernard Tschumi’s observations of effective event spaces. Tschumi believed that “event” really occurred when the hierarchy of object and subject reverse. This is a phenomenon that I have tried to achieve with each of my media masses. The objects by themselves are physical means of emitting sounds, lights, colors, videos, and more, and each of the types of media has the purpose of display to an audience. However, the most intense effects come from the moments when the media and objects combine to create a spectacle. These media spectacles starting and stopping at different times combined with the landscape directing people in particular ways is what transforms the program into event.

Strangeness is another overlapping element that is necessary to draw the attention and interest of the viewer. In Young’s book, Estranged Object, the overlying theme is about the power of creating tension between reality and representation. The obvious example of abstraction in my project is from the very beginning when I chose to extract linework from a painting and children’s toy and slowly remove their figural qualities through form iterations. This process abstracted the recognizable geometry from the images and stripped them of finite meaning. However, the later incorporation of media and organization of space provided me with the most opportunity to apply strangeness with a level of control and purpose. For example, the performance pavilion and digital media form resemble architectural forms, such as a stage and a doorway, respectively, but certain additive and subtractive elements make subtle changes that provoke interest. The other three forms have even more ambiguous points of approach, either from lack of normal datum lines or entrances, but the apertures that exist evoke curiosity to come closer and pause. The idea of encompassing a project with a concept that expands boundaries of interpretation and experience is not only strong but necessary. Architecture would have no meaning if there were no people to experience and respond to space. People respond most effectively to forms and objects that are real enough to be believable and understandable but strange enough to produce speculation. This project has been an exercise in control and designing with purpose, and if done correctly, the objects I create will take the form of the intangible experience they produce. Evans, Robin. “In Front of Lines That Leave Nothing Behind.” AA Files 6, May 1984, 480-89. Hays, K. Michael. “Spacing.” Architecture’s Desire: Reading the Late Avant-Garde. MIT Press, 2010. Young, Michael. The Estranged Object. Chicago, IL: The Graham Foundation, 2015.

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1. Site Path Diagram

16 1. Landscape, First Iteration 2. Additive and Subtractive methods of achieving texture 3. Landscape, Second Iteration

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Color, Form & Figure The design of a landscape involves artistic compositional skills and a knowledge of architectural elements, such as field and figure. Modern movements of architecture and art heavily focus on redefining boundaries and on the effects of relationships between pieces and parts. The strongest relationships emerge from the blend of twodimensional lines and colors and three-dimensional volumes. In my “mediascape,” I created topographical conditions using color, physical texture, and pattern and broke down the hierarchy of program and place by integrating object with their context. In his essay, “From Object to Field,” architect and theorist, Stan Allen, describes the phenomenon of field condition. He describes it as “any formal or spatial matrix capable of unifying diverse elements while respecting the dignity of each” (Allen, 1997). In first-year studio, our education of design skills began with a foundational understanding of field and figure. The concepts of tectonics and modular structures support the growing interest in how pieces connect to each other and their ability to function independently and break down rigid boundaries. My idea of the physical cross-hatching texture came from a desire to designate separate regions of the landscape without taking away from the formal quality of the objects. The cross-form repeats as a unit within the regions at multiple scales and distances in which people can interact. The motif of the pattern iterates itself by either subtracting from the ground or pushing up through it. I further added two-dimensional patterns and colors to interact with the physical field and unify each region with its topographic conditions. The field I created acts as a grid that suggests continuity and potential to connect with adjacent forces. Color and pattern can act as fields in their two-dimensional state, or create forms through intersection. As discussed in the article, “Colorforming,” by Pita and Bloom, forms occur in the “two-anda-half-dimension” between 2D contours and 3D volumes. Colors behave similarly to fields, specifically grids, in the sense that their superposition with each other produces a different result. The overlap of fields creates figure, and layering of color produces more colors. The usefulness of these relationships is that they are visible, and the viewer can explicitly pinpoint how each color effects the other. In my landscape, I applied pattern and color to create an illusion of depth where the ground is flat and an illusion of flatness where there are changes in elevation.

When two different fields, such as color and texture, overlap, they create interstitial spaces that distort perception of reality. In the book, Principles of Art History: the Problem of the Development of Style in Early Modern Art, Wölfflin discusses the disparity between linear, or graphic, representation and the tactile qualities of paintings. The relationship of field to figure in “painterly” compositions is much deeper due to light and shadow effects. On my three-dimensional landscape, human perspective plays a key role in perception of field. For example, in the central performance space, the cross-hatch texture pushes the pinched lines vertically but does not stretch them horizontally. Therefore, from an aerial view, the change in topography blends in, but on the ground, the lines are skewed around the forms. In plan, the lines are read graphically, but the shadows coming from the objects and the changes in elevation expose fields below and evoke tactile curiosity. Applying media to landscape is an exercise in balancing forces and layering field to develop form. Rather than just adding objects on top, it is most effective to let the figures push and pull vertically from the field. In order to create a cohesive site, the forms of the objects and landscape needed to blend and respond to each other. Pattern and color are additional layers that connect the individual parts without compromising the dignity of the existing forms.

Allen, Stan. “From Object to Field.” (1997) In The Digital Turn in Architecture. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2013. Pita, Florencia, and Jackilin Bloom. “Offramp 11: Ground.” Offramp | Colorforming. Accessed October 14, 2017. http://sciarc-offramp.info/lies/white-lies-and-colorforms. Wölfflin, Heinrich, Jonathan Blower, Evonne Anita Levy, and Tristan Weddigen. Principles of art history: the problem of the development of style in early modern art. Los Angeles, CA: The Getty Research Institute, 2015.

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1. JMW Turner, Burning of the Hause of Lords and Commons 2. Geometric Pattern, layered with painting 3. Pinched Line Texture

Application of Color and Texture on Landscape

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Mediascape I am interested in challenging the notion of â&#x20AC;&#x153;eventâ&#x20AC;? by reversing the hierarchy of program and space, or subject and object, within the landscape. The types of apertures and volumetric qualities in each space lend themselves to the media. The site has both, physical and two-dimensional patterns and color that compel people visually and tactically to approach the spaces in different ways. The general program of the five masses within my landscape is media, and I have chosen to separate the type of media based on the form of each space. The two masses with vertical surfaces and clear entry points display visual art and digital video. The central space located in the lower area is open and rounded for performances and gatherings. One emits different types of sound, and the last exposes light and color. Each of the masses either projects the media outward, enticing people to gather around the event, or contains a display inside, inviting people to interact with it. The use of pattern and color on the landscape conveys texture, path, and depth. The colors are arranged in a composition to unify elements of the site that vary spatially and topographically. I used a pattern with pinched lines to create an illusion of depth, and give dynamic quality to the path in which people can engage. An overlay of different paintings and patterns with complementary colors is the motif that dominates the site and gives the flatter areas a rough heterogeneous texture. The previously-mentioned path in the site is directionally ambiguous, but suggests connections and sequence of the masses. The central object on the plinth expresses importance and visual focus. Three of the other masses are on a lower, more level surface, and they define the boundaries of the path. The performance space is lowered to contain the sound and provide seating.

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Name of the image view - Phase 01 - Mediascape

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1. Digital Media + Visual Art 2. Sound + Light Display

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1. Light + Color Display 2. Performance + Gathering Space

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Vennesla Library, Helen & Hard Precedent Study The Vennesla Library and Cultural Center is a unique public activity hub that engages with the urban context and acts as a link between the pre-existing community house and learning center. The glass façade and open volume communicate easy accessibility from the main city square. The firm, Helen & Hard, utilized the topdown approach and designed their own timber rib structure to solve multiple functional and programmatic needs at once. The library program is pushed toward the outer perimeter of the space, and circulation is completely open in the center. The most public program, the café, is located at the front of the building, facing the city square. The meeting places and administrative areas are on the lower level. The simplicity and clean organization of the main library space invite the public and allow occupants to engage with natural light for a pleasant reading experience. This particular library appealed to me as a precedent study because of its moments of concealing and revealing, the integration of program with the rib structure, and the proportional qualities of the main volume in relation to the human body. Helen and Hard executed consistent techniques throughout the building that communicate intentional precision. They invented a creative way of concealing the majority of the technical equipment inside the rib structure and incorporated a lighting system on the interior that complements the form. The rib structure becomes the space, form, and equipment, and the exterior walls are merely the protective shell. By doing this, they concentrated all of the detail and linear work on the timber structural members. On the ground floor, access to the lower level is through a staircase that is also concealed by simple, wooden walls. The minimalist aesthetic and special attention to detail cause the occupant to read the space as continuous so that the shell can effectively reveal the structure on each of the facades.

perform in similar ways where the walls and surfaces display media, reflect light, and funnel sound. The topography of the landscape separates the space to contain the media, and each of the events can occur simultaneously. My intention for the new library design is to continue the same motif on a larger scale. The shape of the volumes and thickness of the surfaces will allow for people to interact with the media and inhabit the intermediate spaces. I want the structure I create to be able to expand for public areas, such as a cafe and lobby and become seating. For more intimate spaces, such as the galleries and digital labs, the volume will decrease in height and become more enclosed for the comfort of long-term occupants. Through diagrammatic analysis of a longitudinal section of the building, I discovered that the volume changes in proportion to the human scale. To arrive at this conclusion, I made a rectangle, with a side-length ratio of two to five, to act as a bounding box for the scale figures. I increased the size of the rectangle while maintaining the proportions and found that the spacing and incremental changes in height of the volume heavily related to these proportions. This is an important principle to use for a building of any context, but it is necessary for a suburban area with small-scale buildings and parks. My media library will be larger than most of the buildings in Streetsboro, so I will use similar ratios to break up the larger facades and interior volumes. My highest priority for the library is to make the space approachable and comfortable for the people, combinative of form and program, and compatible with its context.

Muuuz, La Rédaction du Magazine. “Helen and Hard: Vennesla Library.” ArchiDesignclub by Muuuz. Accessed October 19, 2017

http://archidesignclub.com/en/magazine/rubriques/

architecture/44133-helen-and-hard-vennesla-library.

I am inspired by the way in which the Vennesla Library’s structure dictates the program. Besides defining the form, and accommodating the acoustical, air conditioning, and lighting equipment, the “ribs” inhabit personal “reading caves” and bookshelves. Because the structural framing contains the bookshelves, the interstitial spaces became additional study niches. The event spaces in my mediascape

“Vennesla Library and Cultural Centre by Helen & Hard Architects.” Dezeen. July 31, 2012. Accessed October 19, 2017. https://www.dezeen.com/2012/08/01/vennesla-library-and-cultural-centre-by-helen-hard-architects/. “Vennesla Library & Cultural Center/ Projects.” Helen & Hard. Accessed October 19, 2017. http://www.helenhard.no/projects/vennesla_library.

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1. Front Facade, Vennesla Library & Cultural Center, Vennesla, Norway 2. Interior, Vennesla Library & Cultural Center, Vennesla, Norway

34 1. 2. 3.

Ground Floor Plan + Geometry/ Figuration Diagram Surface/ Aperture Diagram Elevation + Regulating Lines Diagram

4. 5.

Rib Structure Diagram, Helen & Hard Scale/ Proportion Diagram

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FACTOR = 2:5 or 0.40

Shape & Character When a building possesses character, it actively expresses its purpose to its occupants through perspective views and circulation inside and around itself. The most significant moments are often fleeting impressions that evoke curiosity to explore the space further. These impressions could come from an illusion of depth caused by the exterior concealing interior volumes. In my mediatheque, I wanted to orchestrate these playful moments between people and architecture by manipulating thickness and thinness according to interior organization. In the image of the cantilevered mass to the left, the dip of the form and its positive slope appear to be far more intense to the people standing below than to the person above, who is walking on a series of flat, gradually-stepping platforms. Only by experiencing the journey through vertical circulation can people discover how each individual space works. Another part of allowing architecture to express character is giving it personified qualities that imply the building, rather than the people, is performing the actions. For example, my building has a particular “posture” on the site that suggests that it is sitting, facing the street and leaning away from the mediascape. The mass of the north side lifts up and conveys a sense of weightlessness and a delicate sensitivity to the ground beneath it. It appears to be extending a foot toward the street, and the torso is offset behind it. While the masses on either side appear unstable, the torso provides a center of mass and balance of forces. The principle of shape, in contrast to character, is less about temporal engagement, but it still somewhat contributes to a person’s understanding of the building. In terms of figure-ground composition, the shape of my building in plan relates to the site forces with its angular qualities. The void in the bottom left corner lends itself to an entrance, and the other on the opposite side opens up to the adjacent landscape. The parallel face on the front orients the building on the same axis as the two larger buildings of the site.

Because the form of the mediatheque is composed of several separate pieces that intertwine through surface connections, the shape of the resulting conglomerate is ambiguous. At most angles, a person standing outside the building cannot easily read any defined geometry on the facades. Some of the flat faces on the front have a rigid outline, but they do not exist independently from the other surfaces that make up each mass. Only in elevation view can these profiles be seen as shapes. I could argue that the form of my mediatheque is anti-shape because the surface conditions are meant to be read as continuous and folding. The use of shape to communicate form can be a strong concept, but it interferes with the way that my building expresses its purpose.

Altshuler, Joseph. “Animate Architecture: Twelve Reasons To Get in Character.” Log 33: 127-35. Somol, Robert E. “12 Reasons to Get Back into Shape.”In content, edited by Office of Metropolitan Architecture. and Rem Koolhaas. Köln: Taschen, 2004.

ARCH 30001 1. Massing Study 1 2. Massing Study 2 3. Massing Study 3

1. Perspective Views, Progression of Mass 1 2. Longitudinal Section 3. Cross Section

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The Same & the Different As technology progresses in modern society, the meaning of art, music, and literature is constantly adapting. Media is now remotely accessible by everyone and instantaneous through individual digital devices. The limitations of access to music, text, videos, art, and more have expanded from the walls of a library, concert hall, or museum to any location under the bubble of an internet connection. As a result, the future of libraries and other physical houses of media must provide more than just a place to access physical books and materials. In the design of the mediatheque, I am interested in taking advantage of media’s ubiquitousness and random nature and using it to fuel the controlled creation of new content. Digital art is all about recording and manipulating singular moments. Social media is set up as a basic platform in which people can quickly upload and share unlimited bits of information while simultaneously connecting with people across the world. It has become a regular part of people’s daily lives to contribute to the stream of media on the internet. Because everyone is constantly sharing similar information at once, the uniqueness of these fleeting moments is taken away and is blurred into a collective murmur. While this may seem like a negative effect, it is just a result of technology, and it has produced interesting responses in art. Artists, Fernando Guerra and Michael Wolf, have used photography to capture single instances of mundane activity on an architectural scale as a way of finding a unique moment through introspection of society. As a continuation of my mediascape, my mediatheque also fosters the coincidental nature of event, which occurs when people come together and share interactions and experiences that are similar, yet slightly unique each time. In his lecture, “It’s always different, even when it’s the same,” Neil Denari of NMDA Architects compared repetitive motifs on several scales and across multiple media to demonstrate a method of achieving something new from “the same.” For example, musical synthesizers operate in a looping modular system, making it possible to create completely unique sounds through the combination of different modules. The grid structure of cities operates similarly

to the aleatoric quality of synthesized music and improvisational jazz, whereas every combination of moments is left to chance. To articulate my embrace of this repetition and systematic randomization, I manipulated the familiar (the patterns and colors of my mediascape) into a glitch texture on the exterior surfaces of my building. More contemporary media houses, such as the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, are equipped with interactive technology that allows people to design patterns and forms with limited tools. I want the children and adults who use my mediatheque to be able to learn information from resources provided in the library and apply that to their own creations of all media in the Digital Lab space. If people are provided opportunities to refine randomized creation tools and invent rigorous guidelines for themselves, they will be able to produce art with a purpose.

Denari, Neil M. “It’s always different, even when it’s the same.” Lecture, Cartwright Hall, Kent, Ohio, November 7, 2017. Guerra, Fernando. Richter Dahl Rocha & Associés’ EPFL Quartier Nord. Digital image. ArchDaily. November 6, 2015. https://www.archdaily.com/776708/fernando-guerra-wins-arcaid-award-for-worlds-best-buildingimage. Wolf, Michael. “Transparent City 71.” Digital image. Artsy. 2007. https://www.artsy.net/artwork/michael-wolf-transparent-city-71.

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1. Color Glitch Texture from Mediascape 2. Black-and-White Texture from Mediascape

42 1-3. 4.

Experimentation of Texture Second Iteration: Development of Texture

1. 2.

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Creation Library I am interested in the ubiquitous and fleeting nature of contemporary media and how to use these qualities to fuel creativity. Everyone is now able to access music, text, videos, and art instantaneously through their personal digital devices. As all information is becoming available on the internet, the purpose of libraries must adapt to provide more than just physical books and materials. Some museums, such as the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum (in NYC) have started to incorporate interactive design technology for educational purposes. In this media library, I want to provide people of all ages with opportunities to experiment with randomized creation tools and invent their own guidelines to produce art and design with purpose. The main lobby branches off into multiple spaces. Under the intersection of two massive forms is the auditorium space with seating carved into the sweeping mass. In the compressed interstitial space is a small cafe. The central library volume is located on the ground floor in the back and continues up the stairs (or elevator) to the more private floor above. The elevated reading and study loft overlooks the mediascape. Lastly, the isolated digital lab is where children and adults can use screens with interactive technology to apply the knowledge they acquire in the library to their own creations. An important branch of the internet is social media, which people use to upload and share their own bits of information with people across the world. Contributing to this constant stream of media has become a regular part of peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s daily lives. I wanted to maintain the coincidental nature of event that is created in the mediascape. The library should be a social place where people can come together and share interactions and experiences that are coincidental, yet relatable to everyone. The relief texture appears to be spreading and eating away at the facade. It is differentiated by color, depth, and amount of intrusion on the surface. In some areas, the relief creates punched openings throughout the library that let in diffuse light, especially in the reading and study areas on the north side, the roof of the digital lab, and the lobby. The idea of repetition and systematic randomization is what inspired the creation of the glitch texture that allows the building to blend in with the mediascape in selective areas. Cooper Hewitt Design Museum Interactive Screens

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Site Plan

Axonometric Views

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West and East Elevations

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Ground Floor Plan

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2nd Floor Plan

52 Transverse Section

Longitudinal Section

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Final Project Statement This two-part project was an exercise in using object abstraction to create forms and allowing the program to emerge from the volumetric spaces. The objective of the mediascape was to utilize physical topography, graphics, and textures to differentiate ground conditions and path around the site. The â&#x20AC;&#x153;follies,â&#x20AC;? or event spaces on the landscape, each project a variety of media according to forms and apertures, and visitors can approach them in sequence or with any order they decide. The social interactions and events that occur on the mediascape are meant to occur simultaneously as people interact with the media and the architecture itself.

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The Media Library exists as the focal point of the landscape, and it gestures to the site with its incorporation of blending textures, views, and reaching form. The library promotes social collaboration, learning, and using digital technology to research and create new content. People of all ages can engage with both the landscape and the library to experience media on new platforms and inspire new ideas.

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Sectional Model

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Mediascape with Projections

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