01 | SPL-INTER-WOVEN Museum, 2022

Instructor: Anthony Gagliardi

Individual Work

Location: Philadelphia, PA

From the outside, the building is a combination of basic geometries, a new iteration of the elemental figures. We can still see the rectangles and circles, but they are all broken down into fragments and happen on dierent layers. In each layer, there are new combinations of the basic shapes. We have to see the building as a whole to get the full readings. In terms of the overall massing, rectangular and circular solids go on various directions. They link and interweave with each other smoothly to form a collective whole. The elemental shapes, together with the weight of brick, link back to the past, provide a feeling of solidity and formality and then evoke a sense of monumentality.

Inside the building, people encounter surprising spaces when walking around, as create new interior spaces are created when solid pieces wrap and lock. The solids interweave with each other and develop various internal atrium and courtyard on dierent levels. People can travel across dierent levels through them. They not only bring nature inside, but also allow connection and interaction to occur in the building.

Conceptual Collage

[ Rebirth of History ]

History, and similarly monumentality, follow the same logic. Pure geometries, such as the square, the triangle, and the circle draw their original narratives from models including the Parthenon, Pantheon, and Pyramids. In order to generate new understandings, we must break with past associations. Through fragmenting and splintering elemental figures, we allow the interweaving of contemporary narratives.

Starting from elemental shapes, rectangles and circles, this project explores formal devices of fragmentation and interweaving to include and bring together multiple dierent forms. New shapes are created by splintering and then combining the basic shapes. These shapes generated new spaces, either void or solid. The exterior and interior can be totally different.

Inside the building, people encounter surprising spaces when walking around, as create new interior spaces are created when solid pieces wrap and lock. The solids interweave with each other and develop various internal atrium and courtyard on dierent levels. People can travel across dierent levels through them. They not only bring nature inside, but also allow connection and interaction to occur in the building.