BEYOND THE VISIBLE MSARCH 2019-2020 ANERI SHAH
BEYOND THE VISIBLE by Aneri Shah
Š July 2020 Aneri Shah
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, Architecture School of Architecture Pratt Institute July 2020
BEYOND THE VISIBLE by Aneri Shah
Received and approved:
_______________________________________________________ Date July 1, 2020 Thesis Advisor Signature
Ariane Lourie Harrison _______________________________________________________ Thesis Advisor Name
Program Introduction
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Ariane Lourie Harrison Seeing Beyond the Visible
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Abstract
Exploring the Uncanny
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Collaborating with AI Kitbashed Gravities Material Nature Scalar Exploration
New Monumentality
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Design Intervention: Macro Level
Synthetic Interiority
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Design Intervention: Micro Level
Precedential Pedagogy
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List of Figures
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Bibliography
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MS Arch Program Introduction
We began the 2019-2020 MS program year musing on the Anthropocene, the geological period marking the undeniable impacts of human activity on the planet; we concluded the program in entirely new learning conditions that, on some level, usher in the “post-Anthropocene.” What does it mean to be post-Anthropocene? The term “post” may be lazy, realistic or optimistic. We might suggest that “post” yokes us to our prior condition: we cannot just dive into new terminology and ignore it. “Post Anthropocene” then means we wrestle with our anthropocentric exploitation of the planet; that we examine and acknowledge the inextricable relationship between racism and environmental degradation; and that we look at the manner in which social inequity is inscribed in the built environment.
Pandemic brought us into new dialogues with the effects of the Anthropocene.
We suggested that it may be timely to bring nature’s “wilderness” inside.
Infection is not limited to animals and humans, but describes, as well, a
The problem posed in the program asks whether architecture can re-imagine
structure of interactions that are reconfiguring around pandemic, racism,
biophilic interiors as interiorized wildernesses – we see that the densely
isolation, and environmental catastrophe. The conventional physical
programmed interior cores that you designed anticipate and relieve the
aggregation of non-diverse academic bodies makes way to zoomed
pressure of quarantined living. Your proposals explored the architectural
discussions across time-zones and perspectives; studio reviews, the province
reconfiguration of the domestic interior in integrating a constructed
of top down expert monologues makes way for new platforms of committed
wilderness. The definition of “service core” as a space for plumbing,
listening, engaged looking and real dialogue.
circulation and power was radically redefined to embrace ecological services: plant-life generators, pollinators habitats, solar harvesters,
The Covid-19 crisis atomized urban space. Self-quarantine and isolation,
environmental sensors, algae-producing units, carbon sequestering media
necessary to fight the epidemic, are spatial practices that inscribe intimate
and stormwater retention give new dynamics to the domestic core. These
boundaries and that counter the ideals and, in fact, the very idea of
proposals explored environmental affects as well, in producing spaces
public space. Urban parks, considered the lungs of the city, today become
that integrate nonhuman presence, that manifest actors outside of human
potential hot spots for respiratory illness; access to verdant material and
perception. Volumetric interior landscapes created new outputs, from
fresh air is increasingly constrained by life circumscribed by one’s interior
oxygen-rich air to biodiverse vertical surfaces to lighting that unfolds new
space. Yet any “nature” left in the city is highly unnatural: it is constructed,
potentials for domestic space under the confines of quarantine. Proposals
cultivated and maintained by man and machine. It has few if any provisions
focused on ecological service cores that channel and filter stormwater,
for non-human species.
that nurture plant, algae and other animal life, that produce new lighting systems, and that condition air in novel ways.
We became newly allied in virtual space, linked by our screens; we grew physically distant from the lively makers’ spaces of Pratt studios yet joined in
The MS Architecture project worked across several different scales, starting
the spaces of activism. Pratt itself has been transformed: the understanding
with an architectural object that designs its own context, to urban contexts
that 3D printers could produce frameworks for emergency workers PPE set
that approximated an entire neighborhood within its WeWork envelope, to
design activism at the top of our agendas; the imperative of self-isolation
the evacuated domesticities of the historic houses along Nolan Park located
made us critically evaluate our home-spaces; the requirements of quarantine
on Governors Island, a provocative locus of constructed nature and adaptive
made us reflect on the critical role of accessible and distributed greenspace
reuse. Studio faculty (Ariane Lourie Harrison, Nathan Hume, Karel Klein,
in the city; the needs of our families, our health and wellbeing, impressed a
Erich Schoenenberger) and studio instructors (Jeffrey Anderson, Brian
new shape of concern on this spring’s culminating projects.
Ringley) worked through the “rewilded” interior at multiple scales.
The culminating project site on Governors Island afforded a unique and relevant locus of exploration. In the early 20th century, the Army Corps of Engineers doubled the island, adding millions of cubic yards of fill to the south side. West 8’s masterplan brought artificial mounds to the island. Governors Island was a constructed nature. In 2016 on Governors Island, the British artist Rachel Whiteread furnished one of the island paths with a concrete cast of a small home titled Cabin. The domestic inscribes the island. Governors Island opened its thirty-odd Victorian homes for cultural, environmental and educational residencies. Pratt GAUD has occupied Building 14 in one of these residencies, with The Climate Museum, the NYC Audubon and the Urban Soils Institute as neighbors. This set of resources, along with recreation and arts programming, brings nearly one million visitors each summer. The MS Architecture project adapted the historic structure of Building 14 with cores that, in addition to providing water, energy and air climatization, bring new formulations of wilderness into the interior. This work is the subject of Pratt GAUD’s “Re-Coring” exhibition in the Fall of 2020, along with an ongoing virtual exhibition. It is a testament to your resiliency, your commitment to your education and your understanding of the significance of this spring — that this period of pandemic, protest, national quarantine and national protest – will mark a significant change for architecture and urban design. We are different now. Your culminating projects suggest that we have already ushered in the post-Anthropocene: that, in acknowledging the blinkered perspectives of the Anthropocene period, architects and urban designers will now envision, fabricate, and script more inclusive engagement in a global environment circumscribed by pandemic, climate change and inequitable socio-economic policies.
Ariane Lourie Harrison MS Architecture, Program Coordinator
Beyond The Visible
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Abstract
SEEING BEYOND THE VISIBLE
“It is the same in architecture as in all other arts: its principles are founded on simple nature, and nature’s process clearly indicates its rules (...) by imitating the natural process, art was born” - Marc-Antoine Laugier, 1753 In and age of ecological emergency, it is imperative not to be hidebound by a concept that developed during the very period that created the crisis. This concept, Nature, is indeed partially responsible for the current situation. Even substitute concepts such as lifeworld and environement risk only being “new and improved” versions of Nature. Building, which automatically addresses scales of time and space beyond habitual human comprehension, also automatically addresses nonhuman beings in the broadest sense : lifeforms, geological strata, the biosphere, atmospheric gases, sunlight.¹ Architecture has always been an evolving profession. In addition to aesthetically beautiful designs, there will be more emphasis on how a building operates and supports the end-users, and their overall experience. Many architectural achievements throughout history have been driven by the art form and the ego. With the modern shift towards performance and the business necessity of creating a functional building for the client’s need, the architect of the future must strike a balance between form and function, art and science, as well as technology and soul. With emphasis on ‘New Natures’ Architecture has truly reached new heights of imagination where it can play a major role in sustaining the ecosystems of the world.
Figure 10: Collaborational output of AI and Baroque Architecture 1- Morton, Timothy. “Architecture without Nature.” Tarp: Not Nature, 2012, pp. 20–25.
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EXPLORING THE UNCANNY COLLABORATING WITH AI
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Collaborating with AI
As we all know, technology is the game-changer of this century. It has ultimately modified how we design and build, and with the development of Artificial Intelligence, boundaries have been pushed furthermore. Able to transform the environment we live in, AI can also help shape a better version of the environment we have lost. As a refresher, artificial intelligence is a computer system that is able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.¹ Architecture that derives from AI is understood as the intersection between Style and Organization. On one hand, we consider buildings as vectors of a cultural significance, that express through their geometry, taxonomy, typology, and decoration a certain style. Baroque, Roman, Gothic, Modern, Contemporary: as many architectural styles that can be found through a careful study of floor plans. On the other hand, buildings are the product of engineering and science, answering to strict frameworks and rules -building codes, ergonomics, energetic efficiency, egress, program, etc — that can be found as we read a floor plan. This organizational imperative will completes the definition of AI derived Architectural investigation. Within a floor plan, “Style” can be observed by studying the geometry and figure plane of its walls. Typical baroque churches will display bulky columns, with multiple round indents. A modern villa by Mies van der Rohe will show thin flat walls. This “crenellation” of the wall surface is a feature that a GAN (Generative Adversarial Neural Networks) can appreciate. By showing it pairs of images, with one image being a segmented version of a plan, and the other one the original wall structure, we can then build a certain amount of machine intuition with regard to architectural style. ² Left figure 12 - Collaboration of AI and Baroque imagery to produce an uncanny elevation 2- Chaillou, Stanislas. “AI & Architecture.” Medium, Built Horizons, 9 July 2019, medium.com/built-horizons/ ai-architecture-4c1ec34a42b8.
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Collaborating with AI
Figure 13: Convolutional Neural Network Drawing
Figure 15: Plan of the digital model, derived from extracted CNN Drawing (Figure 14)
The process of derivating a design using AI underwent three phases of transformation. The first phase involved collaboration with baroque drawings using the AI tool to create uncanny neural network drawings. These drawings held it’s own meaning, sensibilities and perceivable depth. This curious geometry Part A
was used as a base to further deveop a three dimensional project. The individual organic pieces (Fig 15) came togther for the second phase, to be
Part B
read as a single geometry, however when placed in a profound composition the pieces displayed more relation with each other, as a sense of one piece
Part C Assembled Figure 14: Drawing Extracted from CNN (Figure 13)
Separated
completing the other (Fig 17). This composition further merged with the neural network image (Fig18). This image alone, has a profuse meaning to it along with hidden implications of depth. Texture and shallowness of the surface vs depth underneath the forms, capturing tensions in one image. The filigree starts to reads as poche and the pods inside as potential habitable spaces and this structure in-turn could be perceived as a ‘parasite’ on existing buildings (Fig 16).
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Collaborating with AI
Figure 17: Separated parts of the model that compliment adjacent shapes when placed together (Fig 14)
Figure 18: CNN image overlapped with section drawing of potential habitable pods Left figure 16: Section drawing displaying the parasytical quality of the object where along with the habitable pods, it attaches onto existing buildings. 33
EXPLORING THE UNCANNY KITBASHED GRAVITIES
Cavities
Aligned Cavities
Sea Horse
Sandwiched
Vertical Stack
Table
Adjacent Cavities
Cantilever Balance
Cantilever
Equilibrium
Circle of Cavities
Aligned Cavities
Lay On
Knot
Balanced on the Edge
Ballerina II
Horizontal-Vertical Stack
Ballerina III
Three Directional Cavities
Ballerina I
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Kitbashed Gravities
A genealogy of emerging matter/force relationships may be chartered from the simple to the complex. In the simplest case forces are hidden within the post and beam assembly. Through the device of entasis, the forces that are hidden in post and beam construction are represented. This representation however never expands beyond the single member, and it remains semantic, merely a sign of weight.³ - Reiser + Umemoto Much of architecture, from the posts and beams of the Parthenon to the Pontiac Silverdome, can be seen as a struggle against gravity. Without gravity, such basic concepts as “floor”, “wall”, and “ceiling” lose much of their meaning. It seems reasonable to expect that the state of gravity in an environment should have a significant influence on its architecture. 4 Figure 21: Composition experimentation with gravities where weight distribution is in a circle
Gravity has an unavoidable and fundamental presence and it is so pervasive and unobstructed that it is often ignored. The presence of mass as force oriented to ‘center’ of the Earth makes gravity manifest. The strategic combination of tension and compression allows matter to be lifted to allow spanning over space. Gravity as a Nemesis: Gravity exists as a force causing matter to move towards the center of the earth. Gravity as a virtue: Gravity enables man to move comfortably on a horizontal surface and allows structures to be stable in one position. Architects deal with Gravity as an ever present force challenging it to cultivate new possibilities which are precarious in nature. The project involved experimentation with stable balanced objects and unbalanced objects. The unbalanced objects chosen for experimentation were cut parts of individual pieces of model which was achieved with collaboration of baroque geometry and AI. A number of models were composed using balanced and unbalanced pieces to achieve uncanniness and precaity in geometry, which is often not seen in everyday architecture.
Figure 22: Composition experimentation with gravities where weight distribution is unbalanced and vertical
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3 - Reiser, Jesse, and Nanako Umemoto. “Matter/Force Relationships.” Atlas of Novel Tectonics, Princeton Architectural Press, 2006, pp. 90. 4 - (www.spacefuture.com), Peter Wainwright. “The Architecture of Artificial Gravity: Theory, Form, and Function in the High Frontier.” Space Future. 39
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Kitbashed Gravities
Figure 23: Compositional experimentations with objects, testing load, balance and gravity Left figure 24: Four part object which looks into cantilever balance vs stable mid and bottom. This image also tests the heavy rock bottom vs the lighter wax pieces.
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EXPLORING THE UNCANNY MATERIAL NATURE
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Material Nature
“Mies constraint of matter by ideal geometry is based on an essential notion: that matter is formless and geometry regulates it, that geometry is transcedental and in some sense indifferent to the material that substantiates it.” 5 - Reiser + Umemoto When freed from such essentializing conceptions, matter proves to have its own capacity for self organization. As an analog computer it can perform optimizing computations that have been shown to be trans-scalar; as for example,when stretched stockings are used to calculate geometry and form of full scale tensile structures. Casting experiments aided in developing design techniques and discursive terms for contemporary and near-future approaches to new architectural mediums. This logic, however can be expanded to more complex situations, as, for example when a magnetized ferrofluid calculates in a dynamic balance the forces of magnetism, gravity, and surface tension. In this state, matter is much more dynamic and pregnant with the possibility of its own constraints and leniencies than any projected geometry or simple optimizing principle could render.5 A mashup of several materials and colours produced several detailed implications of the object on its skins, shells, insides, outsides, embeds, exbeds, articulations, bifurcations, involutions, exvolutions, substrates, matrices and a variety of other formal and spatial phenomena with an eye to new buildings and new buildings implanted into existing buildings and speculations on coevolutions of contemporary architecture. Such hybrid combinations of materials produce invigorating textures where at times its porous, linear, curvilinear or random. Figure 27: Compositional experimentations with balanced objects, testing load, balance and gravity
Enforced natural forms guide digital designs which closely follow the nature. 5 - Reiser, Jesse, and Nanako Umemoto. “Material Organization.” Atlas of Novel Tectonics, Princeton Architectural Press, 2006, pp. 88.
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EXPLORING THE UNCANNY SCALAR EXPLORATIONS
Scalar Explorations
To modify nature is our nature 6 -Jason Hopkins Architecture, throughout history, has been weighed by a ‘contextual’ magnitude and standardised ‘dimensions’ of length, breadth, depth, or height. The measure of architecture, back then, initialised from the floor and ended at the ceiling, surrounded by the four walls. But, then and now, architectural movements put in new ideas that imbibed enough curiosity to cut across these walls. The idea is to make Architecture stand for something ‘bigger’ than what the built form’s façade and interior speaks of, and everything ‘beyond’ – which one might not be able to see, but can always perceive. A large number of works in practice today are established at a scale, which, by virtue of its dimensions, can very well be categorized as Small or Medium Scale. But there is much beyond the dimensional aspects that define this ‘so-called scale’. 7 For centuries, architects and artists have been looking into nature and its patterns for design through inspiration with a mixed bag of results oscillating from the mimetic to the system. Whether through biomimesis or the aestheticizing of natural systems, the aspiration to use nature as project generator has often fallen short of very same beauty and complexicity it invokes and strives to replicate. Expanding on an often superficial understanding of complex natural processes or systems, architectural applications have tended toward relentlessly Voronoipatterned structures and building skins that look like dragonfly wings on speed. The projects presented here confront the aesthetic and the cognitive boundary between the natural and the fabricated, celebrating the deviation, mutation and augmentation that define the not natural. 8 Left figure 30: Scalar explorations with photo imagery in the physical model that could be a potential gathering and soothing space 6 - Jason Hopkins, “Posthuman Futures,” Abhominal/Posthumans, January 20, 2011, http://www. abhominal.com/posthumans/posthuman-futures. 7- Verma, Sushant, et al. “Bigness to Size-Zero: Measuring Architecture, Rightly.” Arch2O.Com, 9 Oct. 2020, www.arch2o.com/bigness-to-size-zero-measuring-architecture-rightly/. 8-SuckerPUNCH. “Something Wild[Er] .” Not Nature, Pratt Institute, 2012, p. 26. 53
Scalar Explorations
Figure 32: Scalar explorations with photo imagery in the physical model that could be a potential textural installation on a walkway
Figure 33: Textures inspired from nature create wild unruliness of nature’s systems and structures, texture posing as a potential wall. Left figure 31: Testing human scale against the texture created by pigmented concrete cast 55
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Figure 34: Testing 56 human scales in physical model where on left the scale suggests humans in a room like space vs right where object is being treated as a hand railing
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NEW MONUMENTALITY DESIGN INTERVENTION - MACRO LEVEL
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New Monumentality
An object is the best messenger of a world above that of nature: one can easily see in an object at once a perfection and an absence of origin, a closure and a brilliance, a transformation of life into matter.9 –Roland Barthes OOO (and its intertwined companion Speculative Realism) is dedicated to exploring the reality, agency, and “private lives” of nonhuman (and nonliving) entities—all of which it considers “objects”—coupled with a rejection of anthropocentric ways of thinking about and acting in the world. One of the movement’s founders, American University in Cairo philosophy professor Graham Harman, defined these objects in ArtReviewas “unified realities— physical or otherwise—that cannot be reduced either downwards to their pieces or upwards to their effects.” Objects represented in this project are inspired by nature and in the process they gain their own individuality. They also become a separate entity from their origins. The multiplication of signification through the interaction of strange objects signals again what can be thought of as old thought, that the mysteriours power of the architectural object persists beyond individual readings or individual interpretations. For the maker of architectural object, the idea of the muse continues to be absurd, but muse-like ideas of intuition or phenomenal sensitivity persist because of creativity continues to be perplexing and mysterious. In the language of object oriented ontology, the strange, withdrawn interaction between objects sometimes brings forth a new object. To apply it to the problem at hand, in the interaction between the architect, as object and other objects (be it a place, a material, a piece of software, or a preexisting theory) a new object sometimes appears. Left figure 36: Casting experiments on model chosen after compositional gravity testing(Fig.12 - Knot model)
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9 - Barthes, Roland. “The New Citreon.” Mythologies, Les Lettres Nouvelles, 1957. 10 - Kerr, Dylan. “What Is Object-Oriented Ontology? A Quick-and-Dirty Guide to the Philosophical Movement Sweeping the Art World.” Artspace, 8 Apr. 2016 11 - David Ruy. “Returning to Strange Objects .” Not Nature, Pratt Institute, 2012, p. 41-42. 61
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New Monumentality
Figure 38: Knot model 3D view with textural lines (Fig 20)
Figure 39: Experimental cut section of the knot model, to create a room of contemplation(Fig 42) surrounded by insulated acoustic panels Left figure 37: Close of ‘dangling legs’ casted in wax and resin, displaying an uncanny geometry 62
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New Monumentality
Structure Denim layer for insulation Perforated concrete acoustic panel
Figure 41: Exploded model of acoustic Panel with denim board insulation Left figure 40: Arrangement of acoustic panels on walls
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New Monumentality
Chapter Title
The project proposed for the WeWork office building, which is a multi gathering and a co-working space. The staircase intervention is designed as a space of networking, casual gathering, contemplation and collaboration. The proposal lies in a five-storey building, where the users interact with the intervention at each level along the path of circulation. Interaction involves truly feeling the spaces by means of the colors, aura, textures and play of light and sound. Adding an unconventional aspect to a coventional building makes it rather intriguing as it cuts the mundane circulations in a workspace. This project sets up an idea of circulatory space as precarious, floating and destabilized on the middle levels of the building, while maintaining Monumentality and highly stable position at the base of the building (Fig 42). The play of stable versus unstable is carried out through a play of massing in the hanging object (Fig 37), where it’s heavier on top which becomes a space of contemplation surrounded by acoustic panels (Fig 42). That corresponds and correlates with materiality, producing affects of architecture and new usage of space. Intervention into various materials such as concrete, wax and resin along with addition of pigments and colored powder produces a fine interplay of textural varieties which address different scales. Certain parts in the structure are organized around a gravitational axis. Some parts are cantilevered which seem to be falling or floating. The presence of heavy massing at the extreme top, which taper to thin chandelier like “legs” at the bottom or if the jellyfish analogy is used for the tentacles dangling below. Another approach is that these thin or fragile “legs” create a sense of the precariousness of the structure yet manage to maintain the entire intervention in equilibrium. At the bottom sits the “bowl” which represents New Monumentalism with its humongous size and free flowing contemporary quality. Left figure 42: Room of contemplation surrounded with acoustic panels on the sides and skylight on top providing varied ambience and a unique space depending on the light at given hour of the day
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Figure 43: Section68 model of monumental staircase design inspired from concrete casting experiments, along with precarious intervention suspended from the top
Chapter Title
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Figure 44: Section drawing of the monumental staircase intervention in the five storey WeWork building
New Monumentality
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Figure 45: Organically arched approach, almost as if subtly lifted by four fingers of a human palm, where all the lines follow the curve almost parallely. This serves as the main entrance to the central arena of the monumental stairs, and the space outside acts as a spill out for greetings, closing discussions, or running into co-workers.
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Figure 46: Central atrium i.e. ‘bowl’ is a gathering space for socialising, business meetings, or even spending time contemplating and observing the uncanny dangling intervention. Where one would see this as nature never being in a state of equilibrium, rather a perpetual state of change reflected as this intervention is experienced at different levels
Figure 47: View from the third storey into the central arena surrounded by ramp which encircles the ‘bowl’ enabling an essence of a communal space. This view also gives an up close feel of the precaious intervention, where one can closely see the strange texture of the pieces where it resembles a crumpled open paper, and the slim legs within it seem rather bone like legs where one can contemplate on the significance of ‘architectural’ or rather an ‘art’ object and reflect upon it’s strangeness
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NOVEL INTERIORITIES DESIGN INTERVENTION - MICRO LEVEL
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Novel Interiorities
“We’ve woken up to the reality of the anthropocene era and realised the catastrophic damage we’ve inflicted on the planet. Now we must develop a new form of architecture that can adapt to major environmental changes.”12 Traditionally, the city and the environment are seen as separate, and even as antagonists, with suburbs, liminal spaces and greenbelts as buffer zones between the two. Both however are inter-reliant. Cities are environments and eco-systems in themselves – how animals have adapted to urban living is a vast and fascinating subject in itself. Cities reach out into the countryside, and overseas, for sustenance in the form of food, water, resources, power and waste removal. Similarly, the environment near cities is rarely untouched by humanity. The rural, in many industrialised nations, has been effectively manmade for centuries; domesticated rather than truly wild. To survive, architecture will have to embrace their environmental aspect while the countryside will have to be Figure 49: Monarch butterflies gathered together for nectar, aiding pollination
increasingly engineered in concentrated spaces, in order to save the wider environment. We need architecture that is not just green but modular and adaptive, that anticipates and responds to the changing environment. This will range from providing housing for the displaced, to the application of beauty and utility, to renewable energy, coastal defence and carbon capture structures. A century ago, the Bauhaus was instituted with Walter Gropius declaring: “Let us strive for, conceive and create the new building of the future that will unite every discipline”. It is a challenge that remains for the cities and environment of the future, with the disciplines spanning the architectural, environmental, technological, scientific and political. - Darran Anderson
Figure 50: Landscapes and plantations on Island naturally attract butterflies 12 - Anderson, Darran. “‘As Environmental Catastrophe Unfolds, We Need Architecture That Is More than Just Green.’” Dezeen, 23 Jan. 2019, www.dezeen.com/2019/01/23/darrananderson-opinion-modular-adaptive-architecture-environment-anthropocene/. 80
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Novel Interiorities
The project is proposed on a site on the Governors Island, which is a 172-acre island in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. Since 2005 the island has been open to the public with the focus being on recreation which includes several events with nearly a million visitors each summer.13 House 14 is one of the houses along the Nolan Park. The houses along Nolan Park were constructed in the late 19th centure and have been used by artists over the past several summers.13 House 14, a duplex house serves as the primary site for the intervention. The focus being on an architectural reconfiguration of the house through the insertion of a staircase which introduces new spaces, material and technology. The term ‘Synthetic Wildness’ has been used to describe this project which is a synthesis to imitate the natural environment and artificially create the same to habitate the wild. In addition to the Governor Island’s horticultural and environmental initiatives spearheaded by the independent non-profit organization, “Friends of Governors Island”, this project stands as a proposal to add to that idea and create an artificial environment to cultivate butterflies. Butterflies are a diverse group of insects containing around 20,000 different species and North America is home to more than 700 of these species. An abundance of butterflies is often an indication that an ecosystem is thriving. This is due to the fact that butterflies are an important component of a food chain, as predators and prey. Butterflies are particularly sensitive to climate change. Scientists monitor butterflies as a method of watching for warning signs of the more widespread effects of climate change. One example of these studies involves monitoring Edith’s checkerspot butterflies in North America.14 Left figure 51: Monarch Butterfly emerging from the chrysalis 13 - Ariane Lourie Harrison and Natham Hume, Course Syllabus ARCH 903: Design Studio 3 Speculating on Architectural Medium, Pratt Institute Graduate Architecture and Urban Design (Spring 2020) 14 - Ames, Hayley. “Why Are Butterflies Important?” Sciencing, 13 Aug. 2019, sciencing.com/ butterflies-important-8749269.html. 83
Novel Interiorities
Figure 53: Butterfly species currently present on the Governor’s Island Left figure 52: Reference image for internal flower arrangement look for the butterfly vivarium
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Novel Interiorities
“Becoming [animal] consists of a zigzag structure: we become animal so that animal becomes, not human, but something else”15. Human beings have distanced from animals in the last years. But at the same time, both humans and animals have a relationship. They all share the same place to live. A relationship is undeniable. Here is where architecture can synthesize this relationship: between Human and Environment, humans and non-humans. 16 The project links with the concept of “Post Human” Architecture which aims at a wider vision where forms of life are integrated into the building, redefining the relationship of man, animal and nature. The project proposed facilitates a controlled system inside the staircase which is a hidden vivarium for the vulnerable butterflies, in which they grow and flourish in safe environments. Hence, a catalyst for an increased symbiotic relations in the Environment thus re-iterating the idea of Post Human Architecture. The conservatory has three important aspects that is humidity, light and temperature. To create high humidity, the rain water is collected through the staircase core which acts as a water filter, where the filtration systems use the debris available on the site, this rain water gets collected in the tank and gets pumped back into the core to the humidifiers and water sprinklers. Light emitting diodes of required wavelengths are used to encourage plant growth and the geothermal system helps in regulating a constant temperature in the core. When butterflies are fully grown, they are released on the Island to further pollinate it. “The bigger question lies in the idea of whether architectural designs can help in maintaining and improving a rich and biodiverse urban ecosystem, where new spatial solutions are calibrated for plants, animals and humans to prosper together.” Left figure 54: A peek from the interior world over looking the house 15- Leonard Lawlor, Following the Rats: Becoming-Animal in Deleuze and Guattari, SubStance 117 no. 37, (2008): P 178. 16- Ariane Lourie Harrison, Architectural Theories of the Environment: Posthuman Territory (New York: Routledge, 2013) P 26. 87
Novel Interiorities
A posthuman continuum between human, nature, and technology becomes increasingly evident in the smart materials, sentient systems, and ubiquitous communication networks that populate the urban environment today. Theories of the Environment: Posthuman Territory assembles critical texts and case studies that establish continuities rather than new dialectics to characterize the dynamic between architecture and the environment in the Anthropocene period. In doing so, this anthology beckons the discipline of architecture to recognize that its once familiar terrain is now bristling with new hybrids.17 The stacked block structure of the staircase has a separate spatial quality in the interior and the exterior side of it. On the inside, which is also the core, hosts a temperature-controlled space and water systems which create a calibrated micro-climate that allow plants to flourish and in-turn habitate various species of butterflies. Whereas on the outside stairs work beyond its define function of a transition space, they work as mini amphitheaters and seminar or gathering spaces, which is also an added benefit to spaces like art galleries to accommodate various events (Fig. 58). The project also explores the idea of precarity in terms of the heavy stack and cantilever mass of the blocks and the way two pieces delicately come together at times displaying the drip quality of the melting wax. These narrow crevices become an escape route for the butterflies (Fig. 54). The heavy monolithic exteriors act as a depiction of fortification to protect the delicate beings in interior, this contrast also resonates with the concept of time where structures like mineral rocks last for years as opposed to the 2 to 3- week old lifecycle of a butterfly (Fig. 59). Left figure 55: Section showing how the structure has a separate spatial quality in the interior and the exterior side of it. 17- Ariane Lourie Harrison, Architectural Theories of the Environment : Posthuman Territoru (New York:Routledge,2013) P 3. 89
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Figure 57: Cut open Isometric view, displaying interior and exterior fucntions of the system which regulate temperature, humidity, fertilizer, water and plants. The design also looks into other requirements of the butterflies such as flat grounds wet sand or puddles and wooden butterfly 92 houses.
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Figure 58: Staircase being used as an amphitheater to address a small gathering seated on steps that imitate textures and tones of wax, and heavy aging rock on the bottom
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Figure 59: Contrasting materiality of the stack indicating aging rock seated under metling wax texture, the aging of the rock also unfurls on the ceiling. Imitation of the nature brings in the uncanny ‘outside’ along with the butterflies
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Figure 60: Although the interior world is separate it yet provides glimpses. People can peak in through the apertures to see the interior world and at times there is also a possibility of the butterflies appearing from the defined crevices in the structure, enabling interaction with the humans.
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Precedential Pedagogy
Figure 62: The staircase and the traditional columns compliment each other and the space. This dynamism, concentrated on the walls of the vestibule, downflows in the fantastical staircase
Figure 63: Acknowledging the minimal design of The Chicago Art’s Club’s stairacse, made using steel, travertine and marble.
Acknowledging the minimal design of The Chicago Art’s Club’s stairacse, made using steel, travertine and marble; The beauty of the staircase lies in the free standing form, in which it does not touch any of the surrouning walls, as if the masterpiece is floating on it’s own. However in the diagrams, there is an underlying sensibility of the staircase representing a framed painting in an exhibit.
Architects in the 1950s time adhered closely to classical rules of proportion, so
This staircase, which lightly darts from wall to wall, creates a weightless sensation.
these dominant, curved steps, which appear to pour down from the reading
Very different from the heavy sweeping staircases of the past. It unites not just a
room door, are the first hint that Michelangelo was intentionally playing with
lower floor and an upper floor, but elegantly pulls integrates all sides of the
tradition. Another striking feature of the 48-foot-high vestibule is the façade
space.19 The beauty of the staircase lies in the free standing form, in which it
above the stairs. Here Michelangelo used many familiar architectural forms but
does not touch any of the surrouning walls, as if the masterpiece is floating on it’s
in unusual configurations. The fluidity and the proportions of the staircase set a
own. However in the diagrams, there is an underlying sensibility of the staircase
useful precedents for the project.
representing a framed painting in an exhibit. The idea of the staircase seeming
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to float, inspired the weightless in the project.
18 - Lee F. Mindel, FAIA. “Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library in Florence.” Architectural Digest, Architectural Digest, 2 Sept. 2015, www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/michelangelo-florencelaurentian-library-slideshow. 102
19 - “Hidden Architecture of Mies Van Der Rohe in Chicago - Chicago Detours Blog.” Chicago Detours, 14 Aug. 2018, www.chicagodetours.com/hidden-mies-van-der-rohe-chicago/. 103
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Precedential Pedagogy
Figure 64: Staircases are the most integral part of circulation and gathering in spaces. The staircase at Pratt library designed by Tiffany and Co has several intricate details and intriguing aspects to it. It is interesting to see movement and footsteps from a level below due to the translucent material used for flooring. It successfully creates a sense of curiosity and thought.
Figure 65: Guggenheim Museum in New York built as a spiral to view Avante Garde Art-Work, crushed the notion of floors and initiated the idea of a building where there was a flow in circulation, different from the normal conditions, with no straight paths, no verticals and no horizontals, just thought provoking fluid spirals.
The three-story brick building was designed in a Renaissance Revival style. The The space within the building is undeniably majestic and the building itself is Staircases are the most integral part of circulaaon and gathering in spaces. The staircase at Praa library designed by staircase and hallway is a details grand affair, but the bestaspects things intotheit.interior monumental. A visitor’s first intake is a huge atrium, rising 92’ in height to an Tiffanymain and Co has several intricate and intriguing It is interessng to see movement and footsteps Guggenheim Museum in New York built as a spiral to20view Avante Garde Art-Work, crushed the notion of floors and initiated the idea of a thebelow stacks.due The shelves have beautifulmaterial cast iron used brackets, and the floors are expansive glass dome. Along sides of this with atrium is a continuous rampand no horizontals, from a are level to the translucent for flooring. It successfully creates abuilding sense where of curiosity and there was a flow in circulation, different from the the normal conditions, no straight paths, no verticals just thought provoking fluid spirals. thought. covered in semi-opaque glass tile, which allow light to filter through from floor uncoiling upwards six stories for more than one-quarter of a mile, allowing for to floor. The intricacies in design inspired a thought process on how minutely
one floor to flow into another. The ramp also creates a procession in which
can spaces be designed.
a visitor experiences the art displayed along the walls as they climb upwards towards the sky. The design of the museum as one continuous floor with the levels
Aneri Shah
Thesis Research and Design Methods
of ramps overlooking the open atrium also allowed for the interaction of people on different levels. 20 20 - “Gallery of AD Classics: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum / Frank Lloyd Wright - 10.” ArchDaily, www.archdaily.com.
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LIST OF FIGURES Cover: Image of casting experimentation, Fall Content: Image of casting experimentation, Fall Figure 1: Governors Island Figure 2-7: Design Review discussion in process Figure 8: VR Layout of class projects Figure 9: GAUD academic program Figure 10: Image achieved using collaboration between AI and Baroque architecture, Summer Figure 11: Image of 3D printed physical model, Summer Figure 12: Image achieved using collaboration between AI and physical model image, Summer Figure 13: Image achieved using collaboration between AI and Baroque plan geometry, Summer Figure 14: Traced drawing of convolutional neural network image, Summer Figure 15: View of plan of the uncanny object geometry, Summer Figure 16: Section drawing as a medium of speculation of habitable spaces, Summer Figure 17: Separated parts of the physical model, Summer Figure 18: Convolutional neural network image overlapped with section drawing, Summer Figure 19: Digital model experimentation, Fall Figure 20: Digital model experimentation of stability and composition, Fall Figure 21: Digital model experimentation, Fall Figure 22: Digital model experimentation, Fall Figure 23: Casting experimentation using wax and concrete, Fall Figure 24: Casting experimentation using wax and concrete, Fall Figure 25: Casting experimentation using pigmented concrete, Fall Figure 26: Casting experimentation using art resin, Fall Figure 27: Images of closeup of textures of models casted in wax and concrete, Fall Figure 28: Composition of parts of model before assembly, Fall Figure 29: Image testing textural results of casted models, Fall Figure 30: Close up Image of a model testing potential spaces for humans, Fall Figure 31: Close up Image of a model testing potential spaces for humans, Fall Figure 32: Close up Image of a model testing potential spaces for humans, Fall Figure 33: Image testing textural results of casted models, Fall Figure 34: Close up Image of a model testing potential spaces for humans, Fall Figure 35: Model image casted out of concrete and wax, where the striations become an inspiration for a potential staircase, Fall
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Figure 36: Sectional Model Image assembled, Fall Figure 37: Close up Image of model casted in pigmented wax and resin, Fall Figure 38: Digital model assembled, Fall Figure 39: Digital model section, Fall Figure 40: Acoustic panel striations, casted in pigmented concrete, Fall Figure 41: Extruded digital model showing details of the acoustic panel, Fall Figure 42: Digital model of an isolated room for contemplation, Fall Figure 43: Sectional model of the staircase and the uncanny installation, Fall Figure 44: Section drawing of the intervention in WeWork building, Fall Figure 45: View of the lobby looking at the staircase entrance, Fall Figure 46: Top View of the staircase overlooking the users, Fall Figure 47: View from the third storey into the central space, Fall Figure 48: Digitalization of the texture of the physical model, Spring Figure 49: Image of Monarch butterflies gathered together, Spring, credits: Media hub Figure 50: Governor’s Island, Spring, credits: Pinterest Figure 51: Monarch butterfly emerging from the chrysalis, Spring, credits: Pinterest Figure 52: Colle’s peony, goldenrod, dahlia, carnation and rose walls for the Dior 2012 couture show, credits: Dior Figure 53: Butterfly species present on the governor’s island, credits: Pinterest Figure 54: View of the internal environment of the vivarium, Spring Figure 55: Section drawing of the intervention inside house no. 14, Spring Figure 56: Section drawing of the intervention inside house no. 14, Spring Figure 57: Cut isometric drawing of the intervention inside the house, Spring Figure 58: View of the staircase used as an amphitheatre, Spring Figure 59: View of the monolithic quality of the stair at the entrance, Spring Figure 60: View of a person getting a glimpse of the interior world, Spring Figure 61: Traced and overlapped drawing of the renovated Bauhaus Blade Stair designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Spring Figure 62: Drawing of Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library staircase in Florence, Spring Figure 63: Drawing of Chicago Art’s Club staircase, Spring Figure 64: Drawing of Pratt Library Staircase, Spring Figure 65: Section srawing of Guggenheim museum’s ramp
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Books & Journals
Web Pages
Tarp Magazine - Not Nature, Pratt Architecture Manual, Spring 2012
https://medium.com/built-horizons/ai-architecture-4c1ec34a42b8
Atlas of Novel Tectonics - Reiser + Umemoto, 2006
https://www.bnu.edu.pk/bnu/Portals/0/uploads/Gravity%20paper%20abstract.
Mythologies - Roland Barthes, 1957
Architectural Theories of the Environment : Posthuman Territory - Ariane Lourie Harrison
https://www.archdaily.com/tag/artificial-intelligence
Something Wild[er] - suckerPUNCH - Not Nature, Tarp Architecture Manual, 2012
http://www.spacefuture.com/archive/the_architecture_of_artificial_gravity_theory_
Returning to Strange Objects, David Ruy, Not Nature, Tarp Architecture Manual,2012
form_and_function_in_the_high_frontier.shtml https://hplusmagazine.com/2014/08/14/arts-abhominal-posthumans/ https://www.arch2o.com/bigness-to-size-zero-measuring-architecture-rightly/ https://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/the_big_idea/a-guideto-object-oriented-ontology-art-53690
Web Articles AI & Architecture, An Experimental Perspective, Stanislas Chaillou The Architecture of Artificial Gravity: Theory, Form, and Function in the High Frontier Bigness to Size Zero - Measuring Architecture, Rightly, Arch 20 Arts: abhominal | posthumans, Elevating the human condition, hplusmagazine What Is Object-Oriented Ontology? A Quick-and-Dirty Guide to the Philosophical Movement Sweeping the Art World, Dylan Kerr “As environmental catastrophe unfolds, we need architecture that is more than just green”, Darran Anderson, Jan 2019 Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library in Florence, By Lee F. Mindel, FAIA, July 31, 2015 A hidden piece of Mies in Chicago, Brian J. Failing on July 2, 2012
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https://www.dezeen.com/2019/01/23/darran-anderson-opinion-modularadaptive-architecture-environment-anthropocene/ https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/michelangelo-florence-laurentianlibrary-slideshow https://www.chicagodetours.com/hidden-mies-van-der-rohe-chicago/ https://www.archdaily.com/60392/ad-classics-solomon-r-guggenheim-museumfrank-lloyd-wright?ad_medium=gallery https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/butterflies https://mymodernmet.com/christian-dior-raf-simons-autumn-winter-show/
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Architecture has been about, is about and will always be about, learning to see what’s not there. - Peter Eisenman