Thesis Portfolio - Amanda Megayanti Wijaya

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THESIS PORTFOLIO

“A Depth of Time”

Design Methodology - a mode of working

A MA N DA M EG AYA N TI W IJAYA

Ground is potent, Ground is substance, Ground carries and reveals the layers of history, Ground holds time.

It allows and permits the letting of ‘happenings’ to occur.

Thesis Question: “How might design methodologies assist with the understanding of a nonlinear experience of time in architecture through the concept of ground?”

In the midst of the prevailing Western culture, Tamaki Makaurau (Auckland City) encompasses the notion of time to be measured, quantified and always progressing towards the future; leaving the past behind and the present unaccountable. The thesis unravels as an exploration of time, critiquing Western views of the subject in favour of ‘experiential time’ or ‘overlaid time’ where the subject is understood as nonlinear, ebbing and flowing within its own set of laws. It is charged with a particular sensing of time that has the capacity for a temporal movement between past and present time to occur within a ‘thick duration’, a moment of unquantifiable pause.

This thesis seeks an understanding of how architectural space can embody this pause, where a distinct slowness and silencing experience is essential for the notion of ‘overlaid time to allow, permit and letting of ‘happenings’ to occur. It is prospective of an experience which flows between moments of intensity and clearing; provoking remembrance towards recollection, retention, and the drawing of connections to the past within present time.

It investigates the element of ground as a vessel to this concept.

Acknowledging that ground is potent and substance, it holds and carries past time through its layers of sedimented history. As the primary material of this thesis, the project has undergone a series of design methodologies intrinsic to ground such as carving, hollowing, displacing and imprinting.

The ground, like time, is indomitable. It cannot be created or destroyed but rather transforms. The marking of marks in both architecture and in drawing, with a particular emphasis on locating an origin or tool of marking, establishes the work within this dimension of ‘thickness’.

Ink Drawings

a mode to generate modes of emptiness The first drawing task was inspired by the drawing methodology of Eduardo Chillida. He describes drawing as “laying down boundaries and chaining down the space as it tries to escape.� Likewise, I took on a similar drawing approach using indian ink as a tool to carve out boundaries of space for the potentiality of overlaid time to occur within these contained spaces. I intend to perceive these drawings to represent a binary approach of interpreting silence as both white and black, light and darkness, figure and ground. These drawings later went through a process of translations that were cropped, zoomed and re-orientated to provide other ways of interpretation.

‘The Collected Space 1’ spaces that collect and receive people to pause, linger and contemplate Medium: indian ink, water colour paper

‘The Collected Space 1’ spaces that collect and receive people to pause, linger and contemplate Medium: indian ink, water colour paper

Imprinting

layers of time - a translation of ink drawings These cropped drawings were then later translated into prints to introduce new ways of re-interpreting figure and ground offering interpretations/ translations of weight and the density of materiality. This drawing methodology tested the act of carving through drawing, using the laser cutter as a contemporary tool to create raster engravings on both wood and stone blocks. Marks left on each block matrix from the carvings/ engravings to the roll and wiping of the ink reveals the remnants and traces of the tools and act of imprinting. Every impression from each print, differed from the one before, offering translations of the different shades of black pigment and grain to suggest different modes and dimensions of this very thickness of ‘overlaid time’. Attached to each print are phrases that describes the quality and the atmosphere of how people might encounter space through ground.

‘The craftsman’s tool’ scoria rock blocks for print making wood blocks for print making

A.

B.

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A. scoria rock engraved B. remnants of the tool left on the scoria rock C. plywood block engraved with scoria texture D. plywood block engraved with scoria texture 1 E. MDF engraved with scoria texture

‘the space of compression that later releases me’

‘the heaviness of the ground that is above me’

‘mark making: the remnants of the tool left behind’

‘the long and narrow, proceeding towards absolute darkness’

‘marking the ground’

‘contained within this mass of wall i pause, rest and linger’

‘the long and narrow, proceeding towards silence’

‘layers of the ground: new ground, ground within the ground’

‘layers of time super-imposed [1]’

‘layers of time super-imposed [2]’

Hollowing and Carving Ground carving and hollowing out the earth

These photographs explores the act of carving out of mud-stones retrieved from Orakei Basin, which is where the project is situated. It is the act of stereotomy in which Alberto Campo Baeza describes as a “continuity with the earth.” It reveals the remnants of the tools used to carve it, as well as the layers of sedimentation.

Likewise, Peter Eisenman discusses the importance of embracing the ground by “digging into the traces of history that have been sedimented.” Therefore, by digging into the earth, this methodology investigates how it brings a deeper connection to site as it brings a sense of sensory awareness right on the walls of the space, in which David Leatherbarrow describes as “...giving the surface historical thickness.”

‘the deep cave of the earth’

‘contained space: the space that i receive into, where i pause, linger and contemplate’

A Tangible Transposition displacing ground

With the earth left carved out from the mud-stones, the earth was moulded into rammed earth to investigate other gestures of how ground could be pulled, pushed and extruded vertically or upwards to bring another notion of experiencing ground in a new level and perspective. This methodology is attached to the technique of moulding, where a tangible transposition of site to building is produced by imprint and material transformation. These models have also been informed by my prints, that suggested a language of material density, weight and texture of how might ground be encountered.

Ground “... is substance‌ a field of existence, characterized not only by relationships of distance but also of cultural and historical depth, accumulated and renewed in all the encounters of social, political, and historical life: a depth not measured in meters or feet but in the patterns and present force of tradition. Much of its depth is concealed in potentiality.â€?1 David Leatherbarrow The ground concealed in its depth is potent and carries substance of potentiality. In reference to this, the model exhibits the opening of the ground and the act of carving into it to reveal the cultural and historical depth of the site that holds historical depth accumulated over time through social, political and historical encounters.

1 David Leatherbarrow, Uncommon Ground: Architecture, Technology, and Topography (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2000), 173.

Site Analysis

materializing the intangible atmospheric conditions of the site The following drawing task follows the methodology of textile artist Debbie Lyddon.

Her work predominantly takes a phenomenological approach of capturing the natural landscape in a non-representational way that is multi-sensory, exploring how the eye collaborates with the ‘skin’ sense of sound and touch. Her work is inspired by Barbara Hepworth’s text of “moving through the landscape… feeling, hearing, seeing, touching, through the mind, the eye and the hand – the touch and texture of things.” This reflects her drawing methodology of ‘noticings’, in which she sketches with a quick pen sketch or written notes about things that she hears or sees in terms of an interesting texture, or a movement caused by the wind or water. The purpose of her work is to replace a literal representation of landscape with a sense of its movement, rhythm and sensations of how it might feel or sound.

The following series of drawings adopts the same methodology as Debbie Lyddon, however applied to the site of Bastion Point. The purpose of this is to test another method of working and interpreting the concept of land and earth that is attached to the act of stereotomy. This methodology allows to create a space of immersion, in which Peter Sloterdijk describes as “… a method [that] unframes images and vistas, dissolving the boundaries with their environment.”

‘the bodily mass’ This drawing is a response to Peter Zumthor’s writings on the philosophy of the body in relation to architectural spaces. He quotes that space should be treated like the body, “... a bodily mass, a membrane, a fabric, a kind of covering cloth, velvet silk, all around me... a place that hold us in their creases and folds.” This quote suggests that architectural spaces, like the skin, are themselves a medium of communication, a place for the body to immerse and arrest in.

The drawing explores the potentiality of an architectural space in relation to Peter Zumthor’s text. The charcoal element of the drawing explores an architectural space that surrounds itself in the wonderment of a material that exposes creases of light, reminiscent of the ephemeral quality of flora, allowing the body to become immersed in the abundance of its presence.

drawing media water color paper, water color, charcoal, tissue paper pen, pencil

‘the ephemeral’ This drawing is a reflection of a quote written by Robert Pogue Harrison in his text ‘Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition’ “Gardens being by nature are impermanent creations that only rarely leave behind evidence of their existence.” Immersed in the ephemeral beauty of flora, it is beside me, above me and behind me; it is all around me. Its ever-changing body swiftly sways in the wind, changing from season to season. The drawing explores the contrast between the natural and unnatural. The harshness of the charcoal illustrates the solidity and permanence of man-made objects in comparison through the use of watercolor that represents the ephemeral and transient quality of the garden.

drawing media water color paper, water color, charcoal, tissue paper pen, pencil

Design Outcome - Cultural Arts Centre Spatial Conditions of Encountering Ground

The project is a Cultural Arts Centre that emerges from the grounds of Takaparawha (Bastion Point) for Ngati Whatua Orakei. After being kindly invited onto the marae, and building a close relationship with the community in discussion of their collective vision, the project is a proposed design in response to their vision for growth, expansion and cultural continuity after a period of dislocation from their ancestral home ground. The collective space becomes an opportunity for sharing, learning, reflecting and passing down knowledge for their iwi and the wider community.

The project consists of a series of intensified moment that exhibit the exploration of ‘overlaid time’ through encountering ground derived from my design methodologies towards the design of architectural spaces. All these series of moments are knitted together as a whole that showcases spaces of intensified moments where you are received and then released into a clearing.

The space allows people to move in and out of spaces, from being submerged and released out of the ground which opens up to the sky, and moving from spaces of darkness to lightness and vice versa. This constant play between solid and voids, movement light and darkness exhibits the different qualities and dimensions of overlaid time and the notion of an ebb and flow which is the essence of ‘overlaid time.’

Space 1: ‘The Space of Learning’ - Gallery Space Space 2: ‘The Spaces of Knowledge’ - Carving, weaving workshops and Classrooms Space 3: ‘The Space of Reflection’ - Audio Oratory Space Space 4: ‘The Space of Sharing and passing down Knowledge’ - An Oratory Hall

print (a): ‘the passageway of preperation’ print (b): ‘the space that engulfs: it is front, beside, above and beneath me’

1. entrance 2. gallery space

‘The Space of Learning’ - Gallery Space ‘The Space of Learning’, which is the gallery space is cut and sunken into the grounds of Bastion Point. It is where Maori Arts and Crafts are exhibited.

Derived from the imprints it inspires deep, rhythmic insertions into the building where ground is displaced and exposed, bleeding into the mass of the building which receives it.

print (a): ‘sunken into the ground, where it is beside, behind, in front and beneath me’

‘The Spaces of Knowledge’ - Carving, weaving workshops and Classrooms Cut and revealed from the earth, the Carving Workshop becomes a space to share and pass down knowledge.

Alongside the carving workshop is the weaving workshops and two classrooms clustered around the gardens where native flaxes such as (harakeke) are planted to provide for the making of the arts. Here, I have drawn forth a deep cut sunken into the ground from the conceptual imprint. Beside, behind, in front and beneath the visitor, the earth has been pulled downward, to draw connections to the ground and the sky.

1. threshold between visitor centre and workshop area 2. communal workshop area

print (a): ‘in-between the thick walls of the earth’ print (b): ‘the heaviness of the ground that is above me’

‘The Space of Reflection’ - Audio Oratory Space The space of reflection. It is a space where people are invited to rest, pause and dwell as echoes reverberate throughout the chamber, whist people meander amongst the works and spaces displayed here. A strategy of juxtaposing hand-carved stones and walls cast from the Orakei soil creates a sense of inbetweenness where the thick walls of the earth become the exhibit. The cavernous cut from the ground to sky exposes the cutting and marks of the ground not only its sediments but through the act of carving and hollowing from mudstones found on site.

1. gallery spaces in-between the thickness of the mass with echos of the reflection space reverberating

print (a): ‘a cavernous cut, a space of solitude where I pause and rest’

1. threshold space - in-between gallery spaces, encountering the presence of ground bleeding into interior space

‘The Space of Sharing and passing down Knowledge’ - An Oratory Hall The Oratory Hall is a is a space for sharing and passing down knowledge and stories and it can also be used as a meeting room for members of the community. It derives from imprintings that explore a sense of heaviness of the ground that is above you. One which extrudes up from the earth and wraps around to create an immersive experience of being in and within ground.

Final Thesis Presentation