B.Arch Thesis: Ephemeral Atmospheres as Agents Of Place Making by Amy Rutty

1 Thesis Design Log

Architectural Design Thesis

2018

Amy Rutty

Bachelor of Architecture

Table of Contents

Study #1

Birds

Study #2

Abstract Void

Study #3

Vellum

Study #4

Materials

Study #5 Study #6 Study #7 Study #8 Study #9 Study #10 Study #11

Site Selection Influence Test Intervention Processes Plans Perspectives Model

3 Contents

Table of Contents 3 Introduction 5 7 Change 11 19 Adapt 27 35 Place 51 Collecting 67 77 Thesis 89 Precedents + Predecessors 91 107 125 133 141 145 177 205 Bibliography 233 Appendices 237

Introduction

Architects are interpreters of the environment, translating physical “space” to social, physical, and psychological experiences of “place.” As Michael Weistock explains in The Architecture of Emergence, “Over time humans have proliferated across the face of the earth until all the forms on the surface of the earth have been modified, to greater or lesser extent, by their works.” Architecture is the interface between people and the environment - we make changes to our environment and the way we interact with it in order to establish and understand ourselves. It is these adjustments that create the physical attributes of place – but what happens when the naturally occurring physical attributes are non-permanent, subtle, and changing?

5 Introduction

This exploration situates itself at the convergence of “place” and “change.” We define ourselves as humans within the context of our surroundings – through adapting both our environments and ourselves, we construct a sense of place and belonging that is interwoven with the conditions of our environment. This thesis seeks to understand a new paradigm of materials in order to design “place” for changing environmental conditions. Through the study of existing and emerging responses - both materially physical and phenomenal - to changing environments, what cues can we take from our natural environment in order to responsibly and ethically design for humans in an altering world without risking our identity and the identity of the environment.

study #1

Birds place

When in flight, a flock of starlings - more poetically known as a murmuration - expands and contracts in a seemingly choreographed dance. The form of the collective is generated not by each bird being aware of an over arching formal goal, but by each individual bird responding to the movements of seven others. Collectively, the starlings fabricate place through their flight by marking time, establishing new territory, and protect the collective from predators. As the Royal Society of Bird Protection explains, starlings murmurmrate for many reasons: for â&#x20AC;&#x153;safety in numbers... to keep warm at night... to exchange information...â&#x20AC;?

7 Birds

The resulting display is not, then, planned or externally configured, but entirely generated by the relationship of internal parts.

9 Birds

Change

Since the scale in which our environments change varies widely and they change all the all the time. Perhaps change can best be understood in three categories. First, there are cyclical changes, in which the conditions move back and forth between predictable and perceptible extremes, like circadian and seasonal changes. Second, there are changes which are gradual and vectorial, evolving overtime until a point is reached where the state of an environment no longer mirrors a former state.

11 Change

Understanding the type of change being experienced helps to gain insight into how to intervene in the environments created by these changes.

Premise

Third, there are sudden, acute changes which occur that alter the state of an environment from itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s typically expected state.

Summer

Fall

Winter

Spring

A. Rutty, 2017 Change, Type 1: Cyclical

13 Change

First, there are cyclical changes, in which the conditions move back and forth between predictable and perceptible extremes, like circadian and seasonal changes. These are the changes we expect and depend upon. They are also a way we relate to our surroundings and mark passage of time. These changes occur on both a physical and social level and help us to develop and relate to our understanding of a place.

A. Rutty, 2017 Change, Type 2: Sudden

According to the American Psychological Association, following a sudden change, such as a disaster, people may experience “intense or unpredictable feelings... changes in thoughts and behavior patterns... sensitivity to environmental factors... strained interpersonal relationships ... stress-related psychological symptoms.” Such effects can dramatically alter the way a person relates to a place they once understood.

15 Change

While there are instances, such as in the case of a temporary festival or gatherings, where sudden changes are planned for, most sudden changes come as a surprise. and These changes are the result of irregular events and often have unpredictable results. These are changes that require immediate response.

American Psyhological Association. “Recovering Emotionally from Disaster.”

Second, there are sudden, acute changes which occur that alter the state of an environment from it’s typically expected state.

Mapping the pathways of changing pathways of the Mississippi River over time

Civil + Geological Engineering 17 Change

Third, there are changes which are gradual and vectorial, evolving overtime until a point is reached where the state of an environment no longer mirrors a former state. These are often imperceptible changes in the short term, but in the long term show dramatic differences.

Army Core of Engineers Geological Investigations of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River by H. Fisk, 1944

Change, Type 3: Transformative

study #2

Abstract/Void change

19 Abstract Void

Premise

Thinking still about place, study #2 adds in a layer of change, especially in relationship to temporary environmental conditions. In this study, fog, light, air, and motion are combined to create an ongoing series of fleeting moments. Each glance into the Abstract/Void will allow a unique observation of the form the fog takes.

light source

void observer

mist

[the light] allows the observer to witness the changes while still limiting the view. It give us focus from which one can forms a frame of understanding [the agitators] develop and change the circumstances of the mist; they offer an opportunity to influence the environment in which the mist and light interact. As previously explored, place is conceptual and loosely definable. In a changing, dynamic environment, how do we define place - especially if we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have reliable edges to describe it?

21 Abstract Void

[the mist] happens; subtle, uncontrolled. It occupies the environment and has expected, dependable qualities combined with unpredictable responses.

Abstract Void Section Diagram, 2017

You can make a change to it, but the edges created are of their own accord. The edges are reactive to the conditions of the environment and the environment itself.

23 Abstract Void

(left) Abstract Void Diagram, 2017

(right) Abstract Void Object, 2017

A. Rutty, 2017 Observations from the Void Quietly in the corner, the void sat. Some were drawn to it, curious about what was contained within, and engaged in various levels of interaction. Quietly within, the mist swirled, never taking the same shape twice. Startled by the observer, the mist moves again. Left alone, the mist moves.

25 Abstract Void

Place is Non-Stasis

Adapt

27 Adapt

Regardless if the change is regular and predictable or sudden and unforeseen, humans must adapt to the resulting environments in order to maintain our relationship with our context.

Pemise

Architects are agents of the environment. They interpret and translate physical “space” to social, physical, and psychological experiences of “place.” These interpretations vary widely, dependent upon a plenitude of factors. Despite this, one thing is constant: architectural interventions are physical. An edge, a wall, a room. Stripped of any poetic, polemic, agenda, belief, restriction, architecture is first a constructed object, comprised of materials deemed suitable to then charge the constructed object with some significance or purpose.

“Resilience is the ability of a system to adapt and adjust to changing internal or external processes… the emphasis is not on reaching or maintaining a certain end point or terminal conditions, but on staying ‘in the game.’”

Architecture + Planning Hill, Kristina. “Shifting Sites” in Site Matters: Design Concepts, Histories, and Strategies 29 Adapt

“Staying in the game” requires constant appraisal and adaption, especially in a changing context. This means there is no such thing as an end goal or result, but a constant awareness of how our adaptations to the environment are performing.

complete abandonment

spatial response

Kutler, Stanley I. 2003. Dictionary of American History, Third Edition. On the other hand, some extreme changes yield extreme adaptations. In the case of G-Cans Flood Response Caverns, Tokyo, Japan these extreme changes in environmental conditions lead to incredibly spatial responses - An empty cathedral to house an eventual flood.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;G-Cans Project, Kasukabe, Saitama, Greater Tokyo Area.â&#x20AC;?

When the area became inundated with stagnant, overly-salinated water, the once resort town evaporated, leaving debris in its wake.

31 Adapt

In some cases, extreme environmental shifts have lead to extreme responses. In the case of Bombay Beach, Salton Sea, California, these changes led to complete abandonment.

“Man’s desire is to understand his existence as a meaningful thing, and therefore, the purpose of architecture is to create meaningful places.” -Christian Norberg-Schulz

Architectural Theory Robinson, M. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Place-makingâ&#x20AC;? in Constructing Place. 33 Adapt

Beyond the physical adaptations necessary to maintain a relationship and understanding of the world around us, there is a psychological desire to implicate meaning and purpose into those adaptations. In this perspective, adapting our environment is reciprocal with place making, as one cannot be maintained without the other. We both take and impose meaning from the way we interact with our environments.

study #2

Flow[t] Screen adapt

Architects are interpreters of the environment, translating physical “space” to social, physical, and psychological experiences of “place.” The over-arching thesis situates itself at the convergence of “place” and “change.” We define ourselves as humans within the context of our surroundings – through adapting both our environments and ourselves, we construct a sense of place and belonging that is interwoven with the conditions of our environment. This project seeks to experiment upon the conditions of the environment through the medium of textile, light, air, and human interaction.

35 Vellum

The outcome simple: create a divider of spaces that invites personal and interpersonal interaction, creates, changes, causes, and occupies space while subsequently affecting the way people experience space. While dividing, this project seeks to soften the edges and distinctions between “here” and “there.”

A. Rutty, 2017 Premise Throughout the process of developing my this project, I took inspiration from the way fog falls over the city - the way it plays with light and the way it can obscure and hint at what lies beyond. The shapelessness and lightness of the fog were also found within material palette explored in the following experiment.

37 Vellum

The project in itself is one of experimentation. While the end designobject is ultimately a divider of space, the outcome was non-specific (and ultimately an ongoing discovery process).

The biggest challenge in the development of the design object was how exactly to activate the textile. I struggled most with intervening just enough and not too much. [1+2] working with the natural curve of the material along a single movable direction. This worked well on a small scale, but when translated to a larger scale became less realistic.

A. Rutty, 2017 Material Studies

[3] in observing the way light affected the material led to the realization that the presence of light further blurred the comprehension of the textileâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s edges and form.

39 Vellum

[4] piecing apart the material led to interesting forms, and densities, however, this also did not translate well into a larger scale.

A. Rutty, 2017 [3] Initial concept sketches showing the human-object-human interaction. On the left is increase in density/decrease in visibility; on the right is decrease in density/increase in visibility.

41 Vellum

[2] Development of frame and material relationship. Conduit was chosen for its simplicity and weight, as well as the potential connections which could be made between the textile and the frame.

Concept Development

[1] An initial study of density and weaving of material. The project moved away from this approach due to failure in scale translation, which would have been corrected with a greater amount of material.

model

stitch

finish

assemble

43 Vellum

Fabricationn

stitch A. Rutty, 2017

45 Vellum

Experiment: Night

A. Rutty, 2017

47 Vellum

Experiment: Day

A. Rutty, 2017

Constructed from simple materials and structure, [flow]t screen focuses on subtlety. Light, air, and gently movement become the primary materials as [flow]t Screen quietly occupies, creates, changes, and causes space. The strength of the screen comes from its simplicity and the softened edge it creates. [flow]t screen was constructed by careful hands for a careful effect - hand stitched to create a datum that floats to complement and counterbalance the flow of the textile.

49 Vellum

It creates a place by showing the ephemeral qualities of the space it occupies. Through this translation of invisible to visible, it serves to ground and interpret the space to the observer, as well as specify an edge - a here/there, this side/that side - within a larger context.

Outcome

The overall outcome is simple: a screen activated by the movement of air and the interaction of people. Light also plays on the material either emphasizing its shape or obscuring it. The shape is [flow]t screen works to show the existence of other, less visible phenomena - a gentle breeze, the glow of light.

Place

The meaning of place is ambiguous and relies heavily upon who is defining it. Place is a conceptual tool we use to relate ourselves to our physical surroundings, the time in which we exist, and others occupying time and space with us. Place is complex in nature, with many factors affecting the collective and personal perception of a location. At its simplest, place can be understood as the way humans process, belonging to, and understanding our more or less dynamic environments.

51 Place

What follows is a variety of approaches to the concept of place.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Place is an event marked by openness and change rather than boundedness and permanence. This significantly alters the value put on place as it is constructed from the outside rather than from the inside.â&#x20AC;?

Human Geography Place is the combination of impermanent and varying events happening somewhere which leave traces and memories.

Cresswell, Tim. “The Geneaology of Place”

The opposing image illustrates the ephemeral quality of this concept. Light is shown on a wall, for a specific moment in time. It is shaped and blocked by the particular placement of objects between the light source and the incidental wall canvas itself. The phenomena could occur anywhere, but this instance is unique - an event constructed of time, light, objects, and atmosphere.

53 Place

According to human geographic theory, events are necessarily tied to a time and a location. As Tim Cresswell notes, “place” can be described as a happening, rather than a physical occurrence or location. Arturo Escobar argues that “places gather things, thoughts, and memories in particular configurations.” From this perspective, “the value on place” comes from external things, since place is constructed by elements coming together and interacting with one another.

“PAUSES”

“IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET QUIETER.”

“THINGS ALWAYS CHANGE SO DRAMATICALLY HERE”

“IT’S ALWAYS MODERATELY NOISY HERE.”

“IT’S ALWAYS ABSOLUTELY SILENT HERE.”

“If we think of space as that which allows movement, then place is pause; each pause in movement makes it possible for location to be transformed into place.”

SILENCE

“IT’S ALWAYS SO LOUD.”

Geographic Theory Place evolves from occurrences, combining through memories over time.

Tuan, Yi-Fu. Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience Part 11.

The question then becomes how many of these “pauses” are necessary to influence and form place from location. If we consider that each pause is different from the last and the next, then overtime there is a change in the external understanding of place. Therefore, as traits collected within the “pause” evolve, so does the sense of place.

55 Place

If we take Yi-Fu Tuan’s perspective, place is the simultaneous occurrence of events happening at a location. The “pauses” allow for meaning and interpretation to be applied by the observer. Tuan’s theory is extremely useful because it distinguishes place as separate from the physical attributes of a space and moves towards an understanding of place as tied to events and qualities happening in time. The succession of these events and qualities build together to form place.

Cartography Galton F.R.S, Francis. I sochronic Passage Chart for Travellers.

Place is formed by its relationship to other places or nonplaces.

57 Place

Another way to approach this concept of place is conceptually through the isochronic map. While Tuan notes place as the simultaneous occurrence happening in a location, isochronic maps show physical location as related to durations of time. In this case, the map depicts duration of travel between the start location - London - and other parts of the world in 1881. While the travel time is influenced by geography, available technology, and assumes favorable conditions and reasonable costs, the outcome is a non-spatial quality translated into a spatial understanding. Time becomes accessible places. Place is understood as distance in time from one point to another.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Place attachment is rarely static. In considering how places and feelings for place shift overtime, one brings attention to the generative aspects of place â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in other words, identifying underlying lifeworld processes that impel ways that places are what they are and what they become.â&#x20AC;?

Phenomenology Seamon, David. “Place Attachment and Phenomenology”

Place is constructed from the past, the present, and the future.

59 Place

As David Seamon notes, “places are what they are and what they become.” This takes into account the both dynamic venues in which place is occurring and the issue of the future as well as the past. Place understood as existing on a continuum accounts for the notion that place then, now, and later are related but not necessarily identical.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Place can be defined as any environmental locus in and through which individual or group actions, experiences, intentions, and meanings are drawn together spatiallyâ&#x20AC;Ś Place is not the physical environment separate from people associated with it but, rather, the indivisible, normally unnoticed phenomenon of person-orpeople-experiencing-place.â&#x20AC;?

Phenomenology Seamon, David. “Place Attachment and Phenomenology”

Place is the act of “person-or-people-experiencing-place.”

61 Place

As David Seamon further articulates, place-making as an action is not just creating the physical aspects of the built environment, but the social and cultural aspects that create a sense of belonging and identity within the built environment.

PLACE [social construct] 55.6761° N, 12.5683° E

[placing a marker] position of location within a map within some social process Copenhagen, Denmark Pop: 583,525

[naming a city] entity or “permanence” occurring within the construction of space-time

Environmental Psychology Place is location and the particular value belonging to it.

Cresswell, Tim. Place – A Short Introduction. United Kingdom: Blackwell. 2004. - Citing Harvey

Placing a marker on a map gives understanding and orientation of a place’s position in geographic space. Naming that same location invites additional layers of association - culture, history, personal attachment, and so on.

63 Place

As Cresswell notes, “A double meaning can, therefore, be given to place as (a) a mere position of location within a map of space-time constituted within some social process or (b) an entity or ‘permanence’ occurring within the transformation of the construction of spacetime… the difference in meaning is between putting down a marker… or naming the city…” This small difference in approach leads to a large difference in our understanding of a place and the way we ascribe meaning to that place.

Social Geography 65 Place

This is particularly evident at LAX International Airport and its surrounding landscape.

image + citation: Bonnett, Alastair. Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Once upon a time, transportation and destination were two very different things, the former being a way to get to the latter... As we forget what we once intuitively understood, the point of real places, it becomes even easier to be convinced that mobility - ceaseless, on-the-go motion - has intrinsic value: that going to places is more important than being in places.â&#x20AC;? Bonnett goes further to say that the increasing spatial demand of transportation is taking over and diminishing the spatial demand for place.

Collecting

67 Collecting

Premise

ephemeral atmospheres as agents of making place

an identity al to ntr ce

From the temporary and passing aspects of a location, it is possible to develop a rich, dynamic understanding of place.

69 Collecting

Through mapping these ephemeral occurrences, spatial patterns and qualities emerge.

The role of architects is to interpret and translate physical space into social, physical, and psychological experiences of place. Architecture is inherently a physical intervention with implicit meanings and purpose. Â

Cologne Cathedrale Cologne, Germany 1248-1880 Mutliple

71 Collecting

Vieux Port Pavilion Marsaille, France 2013 Foster + Partners

“a building’s materiality is what our bodies make direct contact with”

73 Collecting

Zilliacus, Ariana. â&#x20AC;&#x153;16 Materials Every Architect Needs to Know (And Where to sourceAbout Learn citation Them).â&#x20AC;? ArchDaily.

image citation

Project: Cloudscapes Designer: Tetsuo & Kondo Location: Arsenale, Arkitectural Bienale, Venice, Italy Year: 2010 Ephemera: moisture, air, heat

images: Arch Daily 75 Collecting

“Cloudscapes / Transsolar & Tetsuo Kondo Architects.”

“The path winds through Cloudscapes appearing and disappearing. Sometimes people only see the other people across the cloud while the path is obscured.”

study #4

Materials

curate materials of place making and ephemeral phenomena As humans, we seek to understand the world around us. It gives us comfort and stability in environments that ultimately vary. Our comprehension of place comes from memory, expectation, experience, and the value we associate with a location. All places change over time, and as they change, so does our understanding of the place.

77 Materials

Currently, we categorize materials as such: stone, metal, glass, concrete, ceramic, wood, textile, and plastic - all of which can be described as tangible products of some sort of process. I propose an additional scope of architectural material: processes themselves as materials for constructing place and adapting to change.

Premise

As our physical world is becoming less predictable, we must develop new approaches in the way we intervene as architects. As architecture is fundamentally material, we must reconsider and expand upon the materials we use to create the social, physical, and psychological experiences of â&#x20AC;&#x153;place.â&#x20AC;?

RAMMED EARTH

BRICK

CONCRETE

Materials of Forming

79 Materials

Forming

Materials created through the process of molding and forming earth into object. These materials tend towards stereotomy and heavy form.

GLASS

TEXTILE

PLASTIC

Materials of Synthesis

81 Materials

Synthesis

These are materials formed of combing things together, often with a physical or chemical process.

WOOD

STONE

AIR

Materials of Nature

83 Materials

Nature

These are materials found directly in â&#x20AC;&#x153;natureâ&#x20AC;? and are used with minimal alteration to their original integrity.

THERMAL ENERGY

SOUND

LIGHT

Materials of Energy

85 Materials

Energy

These are materials that are produced through processes of energy, transfer. They are materials where the effect can be seen or felt but not handled or manipulated in the hand.

WATER

MOISTURE

LAND

Materials of Process

87 Materials

Process

These are materials of time and cycle, combined with physical matter, be it moisture or earthen substance.

Thesis

Architecture interfaces physical space with the social and psychological experience of place. The result of this is an inherently a physical act with which our bodies make contact. But the experience of a Place is affected not only by the physical permanence of the architecture, but also the ephemeral qualities and temporary occurrences on a site.

This project inserts moments of place making throughout the landscape as a means offering alternative experience to the temporary inhabitants of LAX. Each intervention focuses on changing conditions of the environment as a means of connecting person to place.

89 Thesis

The project is an exercise in intervening in a placeless-place. In an airport, the individual is in a state of limbo. They are “here” nor “there”. LAX is located on the edge of the city, near a dune scape. Overhead, it is shaped by the movement of planes and the constant presence of sound. Both natural and mechanical patterns affect the experience the site.

Premise

This thesis proposes that ephemeral conditions are as essential to the built environment as the physical ones. The ongoing shifts within an environment are powerful tools that shape the perception of Place. This thesis seeks to explore ephemerality in place making – by constructing place from the passing conditions of people, time, and environment.

Precedents + predecessors

91 Precedents

Premise

Take a look into those who have ventured into the world of using ephemeral materials in order to understand and create human interaction with various environments.

Images: stills from â&#x20AC;&#x153;Re-Setâ&#x20AC;? insideoutside.nl In this installation, Blaisse works to construct space, moment to moment, by using motion and textiles as materials.

Project: Designer: Location: Year: Ephemera:

Re-Set Petra Blaisse La Biennale di Venezia 2012 configuration

Petra Blaisse. re-Set. La Biennale di Venezia. 2012.

From moment to moment, the observes may find themselves in a different room without moving at all.

93 Precedents

In this installation, curtains move about a room, pause, then move again on their predetermined paths. As the curtains move, different spaces occur. In this example, the observers react to changes, rather than causing the changes themselves. The spaces are temporary and do not appear the same more than once, but offer a variety of spaces to interact in.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro â&#x20AC;&#x153;Blur Building.â&#x20AC;? dsrny.com

images: David Huang Projects. Project: Blur Building Designer: Diller Scofido + Refro Location: Swiss Expo Pavillion, Yverdon-les- Bains, Switzerland Year: 2002 Ephemera: moisture, air, motion

95 Precedents

The Blur Building reacts to the conditions provided by the weather system - specifically air movement - along the edge of a lake in Switzerland. The fog is produced and affected by inputs registering the movement of air. The result is a material both bounded and unbounded in that the fog moves freely, but is produced as a response to specific conditions and pre-programmed reactions. Visitors are then immersed in a edge-less space while the structure itself produces its own obscuring agent.

EOS SERIES Sean Lally theoretical 2014 energy

The Air From Other Planets. Sean Lally. Lars Müller Publisher: Zurich, 2014. .

images: seanlolly.co Designs. EOS Series / Untitled One and Untitled Two. 2014. Project: Designer: Location: Year: Ephemera:

97 Precedents

Sean Lally is perhaps the greatest resource for this approach to reconsidering architecture’s approach to materiality. He works within an “architecture of energies” in order to redefine how we design spaces. The images to the left show an experiment in designing space around energy. Lally notes, “The boundaries and edges created to give architecture shape operate in an interaction between the material thus deployed and the body’s ability to perceive it.” Lally’s work claims that the future of architecture is building with energy, and not necessarily walls.

images: Philippe Rahm Architectes Website. Projects: Taiwan (*whitenightpodcast)

Project: Designer: Location: Year: Ephemera:

Jade Eco Park Philippe Rahm architectes Taichung, Taiwan 2012 - 2016 heat, moisture, air

Phillipe Rahm Architectes. “Jade Eco Park.” 2016

In Jade Eco Park, these gradients-made-material are manifest in follies that produce climate in relationship to the existing exterior climate. Rahm explores the use of humidity and radiation in order to emphasize the gradation and micro-climates of the park. The resulting spaces are a variety of opportunities for activity and various scales of human comfort.

99 Precedents

Philippe Rahm’s work explores the concept of gradient as a material through which people move. He believes “when we think about the gradient we often juxtapose it to the existing conditions - a surface or a mass... all of a sudden this becomes a discussion about the material and how a material forms... and then we ask how we can give shape or aesthetic to a material property.”*

images: Emiliano Zandri, 2016 Project: Designer: Location: Year: Ephemera:

Il Grande Cretti Alberto Burri Gibelliana, Sicily, Italy 1985 - 1989 catastrophic event, memory

Il Grande Cretto. Alberto Burri.

The goal of the artists was to “link events, configuration, and time” by creating a massive, permanent scar upon the landscape.

101 Precedents

After an earthquake destroyed the town of Gibelliana, Italy in 1968, the residents relocated and the city was memorialized through a landscape of concrete plinths and crevasse streets. This permanent intervention exists as an “act of negotiation with the place and memory.” In this case, the ephemera shaping the place was an extreme, singular event, rather than an ongoing set of processes.

Cloud Seeding MODU + Geotectura Tel Aviv, Israel 2015 air, light, motion

Cloud Seeding / Tel Aviv. MODU + Geotectura

images: MODuarchitecture. Cloud Seeding Project: Designer: Location: Year: Ephemera:

103 Precedents

This project seeks to emphasize the simple changes of air movement in a public plaza. 30,000 white spheres roll across a mesh structure as people pass below. The light filters through and casts cloud-like shadows on the ground, and subsequently create various spaces for the plaza occupants. “The pavilion brings together two familiar aspects of Israel’s built and natural environments, the gabled frame of greenhouses and the Mediterranean Sea breeze, joining them in an experience that is both physical and sensorial.”

Abu Dhabi Weatherfield Luis Callejas Yas and Saadiyat Islands, Abu Dhabi 2015 air, light, motion

Luis Callejas. ABU-DHABI Weatherfield

Images: uiscallejas.com. Project: Designer: Location: Year: Ephemera:

105 Precedents

In this project, Luis Callejas experiments with weather as the catalyst for creating spatial experiences. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The park is organized and designed to respond efficiently and creatively to climate. The intention is that the park serve as a barometer of regional weather events. WeatherField is simultaneously a public space, a dynamic energy icon, and a public weather service. The field is a registration of daily weather events including weather events such as Shamals winds, dense fog, and sandstorms, among others.â&#x20AC;? Through this exploration, a discontinuously active place is created and exists dependently upon the weather phenomena of the region.

study #5

Site Selection

107 Site Selection

Premise

place-making in an otherwise placeless environment

1928

image citation Meanwhile, LAX remained small up until World War 2, while neighborhoods developed around, including Surfridge.

Bonnett, Alastair. Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies.

This is particularly evident at LAX International Airport and its surrounding landscape. In 1928, the dune-scape along the Los Angeles Pacific Coast - overlooking the modern day Dockweiler Beach - was developed for residential housing community, Surfridge.

109 Site Selection

1994

By the 1960s, the effects of sound produced by the airport became increasingly distressing for the surrounding neighbors. Air quality and property values decreased, while respiratory and other health effects on the surrounding neighbors increased. By 1968, local residents sued the city of LA claiming property value had decreased due to airplane noise. By 1978, LAX exercised eminent domain on the Surfridge community, which was subsequently demolished - only the roadways, some small structures, and light posts remain today. Prior to 2001, there were tentative plans to restore the dune scape and return it to the public domain, but due to security concerns, it remains fenced and under the control of LAX airport.

image citation Alexander, Zoe. “Paradise Lost: The Rise & Fall of Surfridge.”

111 Site Selection

Today, it exists as a ghost town, a no-mans land between “real life” and the “placeless-ness” of LAX.

1928

113 Site Selection

source citation

image citation

1994

115 Site Selection

source citation

image citation

Larger Systems and Influences Cartograph No. 0 The sky above Los Angeles is constantly occupied by incoming and outgoing flights from LAX airport and other nearby air travel hubs. Although wind patterns shift, the prevailing winds come from the Pacific Ocean.

117 Site Selection

Cartograph No. 0 - Larger Systems and Influences

Cartograph No. 1 - Region

Everyday, 192,000 people move through the airport, 1578 planes take to or from the sky. There is constant motion on multiple scales. Every 55 seconds a plane is in motion on the runway. LAX, with its temporary population, could be considered the 25th largest city in the State of California.

119 Site Selection

LA[X] is a place of in-between-ness, operating under extensive control. The constant of the places is how often it changes.

A. Rutty, 2018 Sites With these things in mind, the intervention upon LAX has a few points of focus:

+ Offer a variety of real experiences interconnected with the ephemeral natures - environmental and produced - of the [X]. + Expand the palette of materials used to construct spaces and connect people to place.

121 Site Selection

+ Be less concerned with why one is here, but how one is here.

A. Rutty, 2018 Influences Cartograph No. 3 - Programmatic Influences

The goal is not to correct the placeless-ness of the dune scape near LAX, but to engage the ephemeral population of LAX with the ephemeral conditions present. Each functions as a subtlety on the landscape - a threshold, a focal point, or an interruption on the conditions that exist.

123 Site Selection

In order to activate the site and connect people to place, each potential site is related to its own set of influences. In some cases, one influence is more prevalent than the others.

study #6

Influences

In order to activate the site and connect people to place, each potential site is related to its own set of influences. In some cases, one influence is more prevalent than the others.

125 Influences

Premise

water level affecting ground access

water movement affecting boundaries

water level affecting enclosure

sound manipulation

water

image citation air flow affecting enclosure

Water

air flow directed into enclosure

airflow affecting temperature

airflow changing space

127

air

shifting landscape changes orientation

submersion

weight of landscape affects enclosure

landscape alters enclosure

landform

image citation heat affecting enclosure

heat increasing space

light affected by exterior motion

Landform

light indicating activity

129

light and heat

sound isolation

sound mitigation

sound manipulation

sound

image citation concentration shifting boundaries

increase in occupancy increases space

decrease in occupancy decreases space

Sound

presence creating space

131

population

study #7

Ephemera in Section

With the paradigm that ephemeral occurrences are equally substantial in the any constructed or occupied environment, the trajectory of this project moves towards subtle interventions in the landscape surrounding and tied to the LAX landscape.

133

Ephemera in Section

These were initial sectional studies connecting site to phenomena occurring on the site.

Collage No. 1 - Sea

Collage No. 2 - Shore

135 Ephemera in Section

Collage No. 2 - Shore

Collage No. 3 - Air

Collage No. 4 - Landform

137 Ephemera in Section

Collage No. 4 - Dune

Collage No. 5 - View

Collage No. 6 - Sound

139 Ephemera in Section

Collage No. 6 - Sound

study #8

Processes

dune fence placed to slow down speed of air

dropping landscape after dune fence to alter/dramaticize the effects of the slowed wind

introducing two dune fences, dropping interstitial landsape to create micro-dunescape

t=3

t=2 t=1

141 Processes

fig 1.1 - Dune Formation + Interruption Detail

(- - -)

( )

(- -)

(-)

(-) (+ +) (-) (+)

(+)

(+ +)

(+ + +)

[small, low inlet] to [ceiling outlet]

[small, high inlet] to [no outlet]

[small, low inlet] to [small, low outlet]

santa ana winds

[large, high inlet] to [small, low outlet]

[small, mid inlet] to [small, mid outlet]

[small, low inlet] to [larger, high outlet]

prevailing wind direction

fig 1.2 - Airflow Control Detail

+ 5 feet

sea level

6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 24 hr

6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1

143 Processes

fig 1.3 - Tidal Change Detail

study #9

Sites

145 Sites

Premise

Each site is a discrete experiment in subtle intervention with the environment, processes, and experience. Site, therefore, is a combination of location and an ephemeral material present there.

1-3

dune

1-15 water

2-6 air

3-17 water

4-8 dune

4-20 water

5-5 air

6-1

air

each site is a discrete experiment in subtle intervention with the environment, processes, and experience. 250 ft

10-23 light

11-26 air

10-17 dune

13-22 air

15-28 dune

Plans

7-9 dune

147

6-25 water

149 Sites

site 1-3 : dune

151 Sites

site 1-15 : water

153 Sites

site 2-6 : air

155 Sites

site 3-17 : water

157 Sites

site 4-8 : dune

159 Sites

site 4-20 : water

161 Sites

site 5-5 : air

163 Sites

site 6-1 : air

165 Sites

site 6-25 : water

167 Sites

site 7-9 : dune

169 Sites

site 10-23 : light

171 Sites

site 11-26 : air

173 Sites

site 13-22 : air

175 Sites

site 15-28 : dune

study #10

Perspectives

177 Perspectives

Premise

The next study involves creating a place by showing and engaging the ephemeral qualities of the space it occupies.

179 Perspectives

site 1-3 : dune

181 Perspectives

site 1-15 : water

183 Perspectives

site 2-6 : air

185 Perspectives

site 3-17 : water

187 Perspectives

site 4-8 : dune

189 Perspectives

site 4-20 : water

191 Perspectives

site 5-5 : air

193 Perspectives

site 6-1 : air

195 Perspectives

site 6-25 : water

197 Perspectives

site 7-9 : dune

199 Perspectives

site 10-23 : light

201 Perspectives

site 13-22 : air

203 Perspectives

site 15-28 : dune

study #11

Models

205 Models

Premise

Next, represent passing moments in physical form.

207 Models

site 1-3 : dune

209 Models

site 1-15 : water

211 Models

site 2-6 : air

213 Models

site 3-17 : water

215 Models

site 4-8 : dune

217 Models

site 4-20 : water

219 Models

site 5-5 : air

221 Models

site 6-1 : air

223 Models

site 6-25 : water

225 Models

site 7-9 : dune

227 Models

site 13-22 : air

229 Models

11-26 : air

231 Models

site 15-28 : dune

Bibliography

Change 9. American Psyhological Association. “Recovering Emotionally from Disaster.” 13 Aug 2013. apa.org. 11. Army Core of Engineers Geological Investigations of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River by H. Fisk, 1944 Adapt 29. Hill, Kristina. “Shifting Sites” in Site Matters: Design Concepts, Histories, and Strategies, edited by Carol Burns and Andrea Kahn, 143-144. New York: Routledge, 2005. 31. Kutler, Stanley I. 2003. Dictionary of American History, Third Edition. 234. New York: Gale Cengage Learning Inc, 2003. 31. “G-Cans Project, Kasukabe, Saitama, Greater Tokyo Area.” Water Technology, Water-Technology.net 33. Robinson, M. “Place-making” in Constructing Place. edited by Menin, S. 144 – 52. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2003. Place 53. Cresswell, Tim. “The Geneaology of Place” from Place – A Short Introduction. United Kingdom: Blackwell. 2004. 55. Tuan, Yi-Fu. Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience Part 11. 57. Galton F.R.S, Francis. Isochronic Passage Chart for Travellers. First. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, 1881. 59 - 61. Seamon, David. “Place Attachment and Phenomenology” from Place Attachment, New York: Routledge. 2014. 63. Cresswell, Tim. Place – A Short Introduction. United Kingdom: Blackwell. 2004. - Citing Harvey

Collecting 73. Zilliacus, Ariana. “16 Materials Every Architect Needs to Know (And Where to Learn About Them).” ArchDaily. 75. “Cloudscapes / Transsolar & Tetsuo Kondo Architects.” ArchDaily. October 05, 2014. Accessed January, 2018.

233 Bibliography

65. Bonnett, Alastair. Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies. NY, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014. (image + citation)

Precedents 93. Petra Blaisse. re-Set. La Biennale di Venezia. 2012. Images: stills from “Re-Set” insideoutside.nl 95. Diller Scofidio + Renfro “Blur Building.” dsrny.com. images: David Huang Projects. Website. Media- Blur Building. 97. The Air From Other Planets. Sean Lally. Lars Müller Publisher: Zurich, 2014. images: seanlolly.co Designs. EOS Series / Untitled One and Untitled Two. 2014. 99. Phillipe Rahm Architectes. “Jade Eco Park.” 2016. images: Philippe Rahm Architectes Website. Projects: Taiwan 101. “Il Grande Cretto.” Architectuul. Accessed March 20, 2018. http:// architectuul.com/architecture/il-grande-cretto. images: Emiliano Zandri, 2016. 103. “Cloud Seeding / Tel Aviv.” MODU/ Phu Hoang, Rachely Rotem. Accessed February 14, 2018. images: MODuarchitecture. Cloud Seeding 105. Luis Callejas. ABU-DHABI Weatherfield. Accessed May 15, 2018. images: LuisCallejas.com Site Selection 109. Bonnett, Alastair. Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies. NY, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014. 111. Alexander, Zoe. “Paradise Lost: The Rise & Fall of Surfridge.” Southbay. November 09, 2017. Accessed January 15, 2018.

235 Bibliography

Appendix A Final Exhibition Posters

237 Appendix A

place-making in an otherwise placeless environment

Site: LAX Airport

Surfridge Dunes, West of California, United States

As air travel grew more popular, and the infrastructure and space required to support it grew, LAX airport expanded out towards the coast. By the 1950s, planes were larger, louder, and more frequent than before. LAX increased in both international and domestic travel. By the 1960s, the effects of sound produced by the airport became increasingly distressingv for the surrounding neighbors. Air quality and property values decreased, while respiratory and other health effects on the surrounding neighbors increased.

By 1978, LAX exercised eminent domain on the Surfridge community, which was subsequently demolished - only the roadways, some small structures, and light posts remain today. Prior to 2001, there were tentative plans to restore the dune scape and return it to the public domain, but due to security concerns, it remains fenced and under the control of LAX airport. Today, it exists as a ghost town, a no-mans land between“real life” and the “placelessness” of LAX.

By 1968, local residents sued the city of LA claiming property value had decreased due to airplane noise.

Premise

Surfridge, Los Angeles, California - 1928

Surfridge, Los Angeles, California - 1960

Surfridge, Los Angeles, California - 1998

Pre-Development

Habitation

Post-Demolition

LA[X] is a place of in-between-ness, operating under extensive control. The constant of the places is how often it changes. Everyday, 192,000 people move through the airport, 1578 planes take to or from the sky. There is constant motion on multiple scales. Every 55 seconds a plane is in motion on the runway. LAX, with its temporary population, could be considered the 25th largest city in the State of California. The people moving through the airport are neither here nor there yet - they exist in the liminal space of waiting to go and waiting to leave.

PACIFIC OCEAN

Amy Rutty

B. Arch Thesis Studio Brian Osborn 2018

239 Appendix A

Cartograph No. 0 - Larger Systems and Factors

Materials of Energy

THERMAL ENERGY

SOUND

AIR

WATER

MOISTURE

LAND

WOOD

STONE

LIGHT

GLASS

TEXTILE

PLASTIC

RAMMED EARTH

BRICK

CONCRETE

Materials of Process

Materials of Nature

Materials of Synthesis

Materials of Forming

water level affecting ground access

water movement affecting boundaries

water level affecting enclosure

air flow directed into enclosure

air flow affecting enclosure

airflow affecting temperature

shifting landscape changes orientation

submersion

weight of landscape affects enclosure

sound manipulation

airflow changing space

landscape alters enclosure

In order to activate the site and connect people to place, each potential site is related to its own set of influences. In some cases, one influence is more prevalent than the others. The goal is not to correct the placeless-ness of the dune scape near LAX, but to engage the ephemeral population of LAX with the ephemeral conditions present. Each functions as a subtlety on the landscape - a threshold, a focal point, or an interruption on the conditions that exist.

heat affecting enclosure

sound isolation

sound mitigation

light affected by exterior motion

sound manipulation

241 Appendix A

light indicating activity

1-3

dune

1-15 water

2-6 air

4-8 dune

4-20 water

5-5 air

3-17 water

6-1 air

each site is a discrete experiment in subtle intervention with the environment, processes, and experience. 250 ft

6-25 water

7-9 dune

10-23 light

11-26 air

10-17 dune

13-22 air

15-28 dune

dune

1-15 water

2-6 air

4-8 dune

4-20 water

5-5 air

6-25 water

7-9 dune

10-23 light

11-26 air

Each intervention acts as an interface for which the environmental processes interact, are revealed, or are altered over time. The result is a series of alternate waiting rooms for which the placeless persons of LAX airport can have real, grounded experiences.

13-22 air

3-17 water

6-1 air

10-17 dune

15-28 dune

243 Appendix A

1-3

dune

1-15 water

2-6 air

3-17 water

4-8 dune

4-20 water

5-5 air

6-1

air

create a place by showing the ephemeral qualities of the space it occupies...

6-25 water

7-9 dune

10-23 light

11-26 air

10-17 dune

13-22 air

15-28 dune

° Premise

Place is complex in nature, with many factors affecting the collective and personal perception of a location. At its simplest, place can be understood as the way humans process, belonging to, and understanding our more or less dynamic environments.

“Place is an event is marked by openness and change rather than boundedness and permanence. This significantly alters the value put on place as it is constructed from the outside rather than from the inside.”

“If we think of space as that which allows movement, then place is pause; each pause in movement makes it possible for location to be transformed into place.”

“Man’s desire is to understand his existence as a meaningful thing, and therefore, the purpose of architecture is to create meaningful places.”

° Tim Cresswell _ The Genealogy of Place

° Yi-Fu Tuan _ Space and Place

° Christian Norberg-Schulz

Human Geography

Geographic Theory

Architectural Theory

“Place attachment is rarely static. In considering how places and feelings for place shift overtime, one brings attention to the generative aspects of place – in other words, identifying underlying lifeworld processes that impel ways that places are what they are and what they become.”

“Place can be defined as any environmental locus in and through which individual or group actions, experiences, intentions, and meanings are drawn together spatially…”

“Place is not the physical environment separate from people associated with it but, rather, the indivisible, normally unnoticed phenomenon of person-orpeople-experiencing-place.”

° Seamon _ Place Attachment

° David Seamon _ Place Attachment

Phenomenology

Place is the combination of impermanent and varying events happening somewhere which leave traces and memories.

“A double meaning can, therefore, be given to place as (a) a mere position of location within a map of space-time constituted within some social process or (b) an entity or ‘permanence’ occurring within the transformation of the construction of space-time… the difference in meaning is between putting down a marker…or naming the city…”

As we forget what we once intuitively understood, the point of real places, it becomes even easier to be convinced that mobility - ceaseless, onthe-go motion - has intrinsic value: that going to places is more important than being in places.”

Place evolves from occurrences, combining through memories over time.

• Interpretation

° Tim Cresswell _ Place: A Short Introduction

° Alastair Bonnett _ Unruly Places

• Interpretation

Environmental Psychology

Social Geography

Place is constructed within and from the past, the present, and the future.

Place is the act of “person-orpeople-experiencing place.”

Place is location and the particular value belonging to it.

• Interpretation

Place is formed by its relationship to other places or non-places.

Comprehension of place comes from memory, expectation, experience, and the value we associate with a location.

Architecture is the interface between people and the environment - we make changes to our environment and the way we interact with it in order to establish and understand ourselves.

All places change over time.

• Interpretation

245 Appendix A

247 Appendix A

249 Appendix A

Appendix B Studio Show

251

Appendix B

253

Appendix B

255

Appendix B

257 Appendix A

Appendix C Chumash Show

259

Appendix C

261 Appendix A