Virtuality endows the representations of forms, objects, places, and life with an immortality that we are unable to replicate. What the digital medium allows for is a struggle against the limitations of physical reality. My work establishes itself as an observer of this phenomenon, weaving between the cracks and crevices of the barrier between the physical and the digital world through the creation of convincing illusions in relation to larger ideas of artificial replication and decomposition. The exploration of architectural qualities like material, texture, light, space, atmosphere within 3D modeling, animations and renderings results in a constant questioning of how these technologies and different modes of representation pertain to the reality we live in. Provided with these tools, do we attempt to replicate reality, or expand our perspectives beyond the comprehensible?
TABLE OF CONTENTS
01 UNCANNY REALISM: FALSE RUINS
02 SIMULACRA: MEMORY AND EXCESS IN THE HYPERREAL
03 MUSEUM OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY
04 VESSELS: SHALLOW CAVITY
05 WHATCHEER FLOWER FARM
06 ISLANDS & ARCHIPELAGOS: SCATTER
07 TERAANGA HOUSE
08 CLUTTER, COLLECTION, MESS 09 DOG_01
10 ONGOING PROJECTS
FALSE RUINS 01
Uncanny Realism
RISD Advanced Studio, Fall 2021 Instructor: Carl Lostritto Role: Individual Work
The diorama as an object provides multiple facets for interrogation. This project is sited in the abandoned Soviet mining town of Pyramiden, located in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. Residents of this town evacuated the area in a mere three hours, leaving behind scattered artifacts of their previous lives, with much of it remaining largely intact due to the cold weather conditions.
However, with the introduction of ruin photography, authorship in the process of documentation becomes a key driving force in the project itself. The construction of each diorama seeks to emulate the active participation of a photographer in the realm of ruin photography, engaging in the idea of arranged ruins. An artificial state of decay is explored, driving at ideas of authenticity and the curation of an illusion.
DIGITAL DECAY
Texture Generation
The process begins with the creation of a binary bitmap drawing. Bringing into view the importance of the pixel, a step is taken towards the digitalized roots of this project. A scene of a cityscape caught at a specific point of disintegration is constructed pixel by pixel, engaging in construction and deconstruction; to create and to destroy simultaneously. Original MACos preset patterns are manipulated, tying back to ideas of authenticity and ownership.
Bitmap Textures
Bitmap Window Drawing
Binary Bitmap Drawing
Pen-plotted Drawing_01
Pen-plotted Drawing_02
Pen-plotted Drawing_03
PEN-PLOTTED IMAGERY
A system of connections and hierarchy is established through the generation of pen-plotted drawings. Reflecting a cyclical feedback loop of data, HPGL commands are sent to the pen-plotter to bring the otherwise digital information into an physical state. These drawings are then scanned and fed back into a Blender file as digital textures.
The use of 3D modeling and animation programs like Blender has been key to the process, being the tool used to create a feigned reality in the virtual space. Each set of constructed dioramas establish an atmosphere of decomposition, yet pushing forth the narrative that this state is not naturally occuring, having been heavily edited and curated - inviting the viewer to enter this space as a willing voyeur.
Diorama Render_01
Lastly, the presented views are constantly in flux throughout the final animation, actively concealing and revealing information. Thus, a state of distinct realism accompanied with obvious visual deceit is arrived at, in the building up of this false ruin.
In the construction of a false reality, there is a grappling with the pre-determined perfection of the digital form. How can one truly mirror reality without representing the kinks and imperfections of physical objects? By engaging in the modelling and texturing of all forms present in the dioramas, there is an active deviation from the perfect form, one that is distinctly unreal. A slightly beveled, crooked edge or a crumpled surface will serve as a more convincing illusion of reality compared to one that is razor-sharp.
Diorama Render_Window
Diorama Material Test
SIMULACRA: 02
Memory and Excess in the Hyperreal
RISD BArch Thesis Project, Fall 2022 - Spring 2023
Advisors: Cara Liberatore, Evan Farley
Role: Individual Work
How can we navigate the potential of digitality without losing sight of or giving up on a world that we have devastated? It is inevitable that we would have to find alternate paths of survival and creation to offset the consequences of the anthropocene after the visceral deterioration of ecology and resources. Living in a reality where planned obsolescence is very much built into our systems, there is a false equivalence between the ideas of ‘newness’ and ideas of ‘progress’. where systemic failures, exploitation and breakage are buried under the shadows of success. In the spirit of Broken World Thinking and moving past the facade of novelty growth, how do we “take breakdown and decomposition as our starting point, in order to find an equilibrium” between our rates of devastation and the fragility of the world we inhabit? this project aims to explore these concepts through the lens of speculative fiction - utilizing the genre as an analogy for the present, and a tool to project a potential imagined future.
premise
The initial direction of the project was cemented by a desire to conduct a study on the life-cycle of matter and the notion of “waste” materials. How can we begin to imagine a different approach to the notion of the disposable and the unwanted? Through establishing an understanding of value systems associated with “waste”, we can begin to separate value into various categories, from monetary to sentiment, a resource to be used in place of excavation. As Jennifer Gabrys stated in her book, digital Rubbish, a natural history of electronics: “Seeing it as a process involving transformation and remainder, not erasurfe through expenditure.”
• Outdated/duplicate files
• Old backups
• Obsolete software programs + file formats
• Abandoned websites + domains
• Digital spam
• Archives of defunct organizations
• Corrupted files
both digital and physical streams of waste will be considered. Key definitions include seeing waste as a measure of human impact - unwanted material that is removed from its original value and purpose. Dust as a mark of the past and a reminder of the imperishability of matter. Through all states of growth and decay there exists dust, the perfect unit of recuperation. Lastly, the consideration of error and glitch as culturally constructed binary concepts in the determination of right and wrong, mistake and intention. These exist as a “rupture in the continuum of an idealized artifact, a subversion of a smooth, technically perfect surface. “
In the study of material transformations and the relationships that exist in between, an archive will be created to document and represent our cycles of consumption and waste-generation, to visualize how ‘uselessness’ and ‘valuelessness’ are determined, as well as to grapple with the process of preservation and the fluctuation of attitudes towards these objects.
a hypothetical electronic waste processing plant will act as a vessel for the consideration and management of physical electronic waste. to evaluate these seemingly different states of existence within one perspective, a third space will serve as a lens through which the physical can exist alongside elements of virtuality.
WASTE
ERROR + GLITCH DUST
a third space: speculative fiction as a lens
Production Shot: Metropolis, 1927
Precedent Studies
Using speculative fiction as:
1. an analogy for the present.
2. a tool to project a potential imagined future.
Special Effects: Metropolis, 1927
United under the common category of waste, a core problem in processing physical electronic waste and digital waste is the differing forms in which they exist. In order to take a holistic view of the subject matter, the format of film will be utilized as a third space of existence, one that is bound but not limited to the physical rules of our reality, one that can allude to lived dilemmas through attempts at an aesthetic sublime. Precedent studies were conducted via analyzing film-making techniques used in prominent speculative fiction films, in order to determine the exact processes that contribute to the building of a spectacular, convincing reality.
world-building through the digital diorama
Working with tangible materials offers an innate set of rules for manipulation, something that is often emulated in the digital rendering to achieve realism. As a beginning step, the act of worldbuilding takes place through an entirely digital format. The creation of an ‘illusion’ becomes the representational key to framing this project, utilizing the imperfection of the physical form to obscure and communicate. The digital dioramas serve as a substrate that will eventually be transformed by the limitations of physical materiality and the boundaries of a defined lens. In order to cross thresholds and blur the seams that exist between these forms of representation, film-making techniques such as lighting design, framing, backdrops, matte shots, flats, and age-old techniques like anamorphic projection will be adapted and applied.
Blender Set_01: Electronic Waste Conveyer Belt
Blender Set_02: Electronic Waste Factory
Blender Set_03: Data Center
Blender Set_02: Electronic Waste Factory
texture mapping and object projection
by beginning with a blender model , limits of realism were experimented with through the seemingly limitless creative potential of the digital, setting a general atmosphere to be experienced, taking inspiration from the many film-making techniques that have been utilized throughout centuries to present convincing illusions of sight.
in the setting up of an illusion, anamorphic projections are relied upon as a technique to blur the lines between the digital and the physical, the two dimensional and the three dimensional. a 3d model was used to configure the points of projection from a desired, predetermined framing, resulting in mapped model texturing that will reveal a seemingly hidden object - only when viewed from an exact perspective.
Data
Conveyer
MODEL INTERIOR_01: DATA STORAGE CENTER
MODEL INTERI0R_05: DATA UPLOAD STATION
MODEL INTERI0R_02: ELECTRONIC WASTE STORAGE AREA
MODEL INTERI0R_04: ELECTRONIC WASTE PROCESSING CONVEYER BELT
MUSEUM OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY 03
Venice Studio: Oslo
Studio Manthey Kula, Spring 2024
Instructor: Beate Hølmebakk, Per Tamsen
In Collaboration With: Daria Khramova, Ioana Davidescu, Fumiya Hitomi, Luna Kim, Peiyao Xu
A collaborative project taking place during the spring 2024 Venice Studio program organized by Snøhetta under the guidance of Manthey Kula founders Beate Hølmebakk and Per Tamsen, the Museum of Medieval History imagines a museum as a space of production, restoration and storage. Sited in Grønlikaia, Oslo, the museum acts as a public passageway linking Gamle Oslo (old Oslo) to the densely populated cityscape and surrounding landmarks like the Munch Museum. Designed with the developing Fjord Rejuvenation program in mind, it also acts as a connecting point and gathering ground for the surrounding communities, Enhancing the Fjord city’s identity as a cultural hub.
Interior Render_01
Site Plan
Transportation Plan
A design strategy was distilled from maintaining a directional relationship with the nearby medieval park, linking the two sites in a thematic sense. the larger mass is broken up and offset in order to create moments of lingering and pause amidst the cityscape. Two entrances are situated at the north and south end of the site, maintaining a sense of directionality in circulation, allowing a visitor to craft their own experience amidst a large volume of historical information and visual intrigue within a relaxed but pointed framework.
Diagram_01
Diagram_02
Diagram_03
Ground Plan
Developed through land reclamation techniques, the site is essentially a landfill lacking a story of its own. By setting the museum into the ground,a renewed sense of discovery is instilled. Heavily influenced by the design of inset walls commonly found in medieval castles, the massing is submerged into the ground in a similar manner, simulating a physical shift down into history.
Entrance Hall (above ground)
Entrance Hall (above ground)
Though largely set into the earth, interaction with the surrounding elements of light, water and greenery remain inherent to crafting a multifaceted experience. harnessing the restorative and peaceful qualities of the environment, a push and pull action is applied to the shoreline, inviting a natural flow of water into the site. to integrate the surface with the underground, elevational differences are emphasized, with sunken courtyards and skylights strategically placed throughout the mass, creating framed experiences integrating the museum and the dynamic environment of the coast.
Sectional Drawing_01
Sectional Drawing_02
Operating with a program balancing artifact preservation and presentation, the concept of an open archive is applied to the collection. Guided by directional lighting through meandering hallways, visitors can weave between close encounters in temperature and humidity controlled environments and engagement in hands-on conservation workshops, fostering a holistic approach to a renewed relationship with history.
Interior Render_03
Interior Render_04
SHALLOW CAVITY 04
Views Into The: Vessel
RISD Advanced Studio, Spring 2022
Instructor: Evan Farley and Maxime
Jean-Lefebvre
Role: Individual Work
The program of a porcelain recycling facility engages in the process of reuse within the ceramic industry, investigating and reimagining the impact of post-consumer content within the natural cycle of growth and decay. The framework of production contends with the idea of material purity, establishing a series of outputs from substrates seen as undesirable like discarded toilets and sinks, extending their shelf-life through reformation and allowing access to a variety of potential uses. The core objective of the factory is to act as a channel between the public and the specific processes of reclamation in its various stages, pushing against the finality of perceived obsolescence.
Site Plan
Cast Objects
Through the process of slip casting ceramic objects,these concepts were brought into physical realization, allowing one to observe not just dents and dips upon the surface, but the negative space created as a secondary layer, bringing into question our preconceived notions of what constitutes a vessel.
history. The proposed ceramic re cycling factory hopes to cultivate a relationship with the existing Steel Yard, promoting and revitalizing a culture of craft and creation, as well as introducing a potential cyclical reuse program into an area with large amounts of industrial refuse.
Concept Render
STEEL YARD
Beyond spaces for industrial use, the factory includes workshops, exhibition halls and gathering spaces open to public use, promoting consistent community engagement.
Shifting scales and considering the body of the factory as a vessel, strategically distributed points of visual access allow the different programmatic elements to bleed into each other, creating a fluid pipeline between reuse, production and education.
Plan: 1st Floor
Plan: 2nd Floor
Exterior Render
Interior Render
Drawing_01
Drawing_02
The construction of a model at 1/2” scale was a necessary next step following the slip casting of ceramic vessels. Stemming from an interest in the illusion of depth, an inquiry into perceived shallowness is embarked upon through the manipulation of exposed surfaces and ground. The vessel begins as a duplicitous object, its true limit obscured through containment. Within the largely subterranean factory, subtle moments of reveal allow for glances into the hidden cavities, generating further intrigue in the unseen.
Model Photo_01
Sectional
Sectional
Model Photo_02
Model Photo_03
Model Photo_05
Model Photo_04
Whatcheer Flower Farm 05
RISD Integrated Building Systems, Fall 2022
Instructor: William Ryall
In Collaboration With: Zane Abu Hamdan, Shane Su Jing Huang, Min-wei Ang
The Whatcheer Flower Farm is a non-profit organization that prioritizes the growing, rescuing and distribution of flowers in Providence, Rhode Island. The proposed redesign of the establishment hopes to better capture the vitality of this location; unlocking spaces that have fallen into disrepair over the decades and opening up the area to further community engagement and participation.
Axonometric Drawing
Massing Diagram
SCATTER 06
Islands & Archipelagos
RISD Advanced Studio, Spring 2021
Instructor: Hans Tursack Role: Individual Work
Scatter is a campus designed for a theoretical North American branch of the European Graduate School (EGS), located in Catskills, NY. The project pushes back on the traditional elements of a campus, proposing a speculative future scenario and posing ideas from the perspective of the post-human. Heavily motivated by the concept of designed ruins popularized in 19th century representations of landscapes and structures, core principles of occlusion and manipulated disintegration are used to engage in dialogue about inevitable obliteration and the inherent transience of materials.
FORM FAMILIES
Form Family_01
The first step of the process is the design of form families. The three categories include shared compounds (dormitories, lecture halls) individual spaces (galleries and meditation rooms) and features in landscape design (ponds, gardens and platforms). These object-like forms provide a repeatable palette of ingredients that can be further manipulated in both scale and placement.
SCATTER
Striking a balance between human intervention and technology, the campus layout is organized by the blending of ideas of accessibility and form generation animations created through physics engines in the animation software maya. each program is assigned to a fragment and scattered across the plane, resulting in an organic, but fixed design principle.
“Future cities are themselves ruins. Our contemporary cities are destined to live only a fleeting moment, give up their energy and return to inert material.”
- Arata Isozaki, Incubation Process, 1962
TERAANGA HOUSE 07
Women’s House Competition
Kaira Looro, Spring 2021
In Collaboration With: Deji Nela Eclarin, Fawz Hussein, Yingshan Lei, Mary Seol
To foster respect, hospitality, community empowerment, and solidarity through collective action - this is the message shared by both teraanga, a traditional Senegalese value, and their women’s fight to break cycles of oppression. Altogether, the proposal provides a venue for collective action in respect to the traditional Baghere housing compound typology that inspired the form and concept. Constructed using local materials and techniques, Teraanga House creates a platform and safe space for women to foster dialogue, education, and community engagement in the true spirit of teraanga.
Our proposal articulates this by designing spaces that would feel safe through visibility by providing multiple thresholds of access to accommodate varied levels of community engagement. Distinct rectilinear spaces dedicated to education and management are united by the roof, which is framed by a permeable circular wall that acts as both protection and invitation. The structure is organized around a central courtyard which is mirrored by external courtyards across the circle wall to extend programs outdoors.
The roof, as a whole, acts as a canopy for the entire square space; it symbolizes a sense of unity. While primarily shielding occupants from the elements, the roof’s generous tilt allows ample light and air to enter as well, bringing vitality into the house. The various angles and overhangs were strategically planned to allow daylight into the spaces while providing shading during summer heat. Because of the inclined roofs and gutter system, rainwater circulates into a central courtyard, which then becomes a focal resting point for the movement of both people and water.
Exploded Axonometric Drawing
Gutter Design Diagram_01
Gutter Design Diagram_02
CLUTTER, COLLECTION, MESS
Clutter, Collection, Mess is an examination of the value of objects we surround ourselves with in our daily lives. Their accumulation is often an afterthought following procurement; this project aims to scrutinize the line between trash and treasure. The threshold between imagery appearing ‘real’ and ‘unreal’ is explored with the translation of objects often regarded as clutter into digital spaces - do they obtain or lose value within the 3D realm?
Images of clutter were collected and fed into an AI image generation engine, later being used as textures in a digital model. The final experience designed takes the form of a Virtual Reality mini-game, where the viewer is able to pick up and stack elements of trash whilst stuck in a room, unable to leave or to discard of these objects.
DOG_01 is a physical diorama built to illustrate the story of DOG, a creature that chances upon an abandoned pet store. Though artificially created, it grapples with concepts of identity and history as it looks longingly into the broken facade of the store, dreaming of a past that never existed.
ONGOING PROJECT STILLS
INFLATED CHURCH is an ongoing personal project aiming to re-imagine traditional architectural typologies through material discrepancies and manipulation. finding its roots in a dream, the resulting environments aim to capture a fleeting impermanence with strange atmospheres and experimental qualities of light.
LOOK INSIDE presents an open-ended investigation questioning perceived realities through a simulated human lens. traveling through a series of interconnected spaces, distortions in reality are slowly introduced through illusions in model-making and object placement, evoking an atmosphere rooted in the uncanny.
DOGHOUSE is an in-progress short film exploring ideas of technology, belonging and existentialism in lieu of societal collapse through the lens of a dog. This project marks an extended study in techniques of textural shading and rigging.
