aren edwards ... folio
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palette a. site, time, sustainability
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h | h | h | h 4-H Camp | 2014
kuvio study abroad | 2015
strata sustainability | 2015
fabric built // fabricated work | 2016
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h | h | h | h crossville, tn | 2015
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4-H CAMP Crossville, TN The lodge is a planned escape. It’s a change of setting. Lodges are not the moment before moving to another place, but a destination. Most lodging experiences happen in groups. Escape in the traditional sense is harder to find in this setting. Lodging brings retreat in a sense that there are no outside worries. What is happening is there. Unease turns into comfort. The word induces affiliated memories. The mind is subjected to moments out in nature. Typically the location and exterior qualities are remembered more so than the spatial boundaries of the lodge. The experience of a lodge is dictated greatly by time. Due to the amount of outdoor activity, lodges can take on many different roles throughout seasonal changes..
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Lodges hold spaces for gathering, resting, and displacing. Gathering implies something to meet around. This could mean food, fire, or entertainment. Resting may mean a place to sleep or a place to just simply relax and enjoy the escape of outside issues. Displacement seems to be the most important feature. This is the moment of being removed. No matter the level of relation to the group, one should be able to remove his or herself and easily find moments of self reflection. The intention of the original design was to have the forms mimic the surrounding site, one that is fractured and broken up by layers of time, while retaining a sense of removal and seclusion.
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fracture Throughout the history of the site and much of Appalachia, deforestation has been a problem. This has led to a lower distribution of local flora, forcing wildlife to evacuate the area. The University of Tennessee Agriculture Department has begun to plant different species of Appalachian plants along the site in hopes of restoring the area to the density it once had. The current tree line is shown to the right with the varying tree densities throughout the site being shown above. With the 4H Camp’s strong focus on agriculture, the goal is to preserve the efforts currently being made to restore this area. The site is not only fractured by the removal and deforestation of the area but is also broken up into areas defined by periods of time. The most northern section of the site is currently used for agricultural experimentation. South of that lies the 4H camp and the historic remains of the World War II POW camp. Within the remains of the POW camp lies our current site. The site, though currently defined by a chimney stack and hospital once used by the prisoners of war, is isolated enough to serve its own piece of historical significance.
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living
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Each type of room in the lodge is formed along a concrete wall formed from Crab Orchard Stone aggregate. It carries the progression from the outdoors into the building. These rooms each use the wall differently as a point of progression towards the oudoor and other indoor spaces. Some use the wall as a functional piece with the beds and storage pushed into it, while others use feelings of heat and rays of light as a means of progressing towards a new area within the lodge. 12
retreat The project intends to be a catalyst for future ones. The focus is not meant to be drawn away from the story of the site but add to it. With the diversity of the project progromatically, the spatial placement of each element is dictated by the topographical changes within the site. Ecological densities begin to distinguish the different aspects of the program as well with the more private areas becoming more dense with forestry. Levels of interaction with the site change throughout the site as well. Each piece of the program evokes a different sense, all progressing to the sense of sight (removal). The restaurant aids scent and taste while the pathways and gathering spaces evoke sound. Sounds resonate until one is completely in their lodging room with their own independent view. This is the moment of retreat. 13
removal sensory
Finding removal seems easy in a site so heavily set in a rural landscape, bordered by trees. The site becomes bland without any real sense of engagement. This sense of displacement is played with through the engagement of different senses throughout the project. Programatically, the project is set up with different senses being engaged as the slope of the site steepens. As this slope gets steeper, more private areas are set up, further enforcing the idea of separation.
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kuvio study abroad | 2015
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PATTERN HELSINKI, FI The tendency to rush looms when traveling. Running towards the picture, reaching towards the camera. Experiences are shared through frames without expressing how the moment was found. The temperature, the smell, the relief upon sitting at a park are moments forgotten by the tourist. After visiting a place for a while, a routine is adopted. Views hold the same significance as they do for a local. The moments in between become more important.
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The students of the Finland program are constantly rushing. This is a place for them to create a routine and remember the smaller moments of traveling. The path into the site works as the spine. Walls break from it forming their own paths. Entering along a concrete wall, the piece draws one through the site as it molds into moments of rest. These moments are elongated through the obstruction of the walls. The walls work as aid for slowing down and allow one to better preserve the memories from the day. The concrete casts the periods of slowness through the day through subtractive transformations. This broken path becomes the framework between the memories of the day. Throughout the summer, students adopt a routine of moving through the site as they do through the day. The project nutures this adopting of routines and gives importance to the everyday experiences.
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kuvio // path site
In Finland, seasons dictate whether or not the sun will make an appearance. The summer of visiting Finland was strictly daylight. Time slipped. We found ourselves constantly checking our devices only to be surprised each time. This project intends to add significance to those moments and slow the Finnish day for the traveler. Each moment along the sections is represented by a writing that recalls a moment that correlates with the perspective drawing. The drawings are intended to place the viewer in the space and are layered in a way that represents the memory of the space rather than simply the physicality.
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1.01 We flew in over the country side towards Helsinki. Fields of dandelions distance locals from the austere gloom of the Finnish winter. The unbroken land and succession of birch trees imagined a fractured Finnish landscape, usually drawn in towards a body of water. We move quickly through the terminal,not yet touching Finnish ground. Our bags hum behind us, breaking only for the grout between the eggshell colored tiles. We make it through customs, following signs that motion us through corrugated metal tunnel s into the cold northern scenery.
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2.01 The white wood siding voids the abiding forest. Boards cast a seasonal reminder at all points of the day. Exterior lighting is non-existent. Time presents itself with each meal. Sentimental reminders of my grandmother’s Swedish cooking finds itself in the dressed lingonberries. We share these stories over a fire built as the sky finally dims. We eat again, this time without coffee. Every component of this place seems interminable and boundless. The lake gives the impression of an ocean and even the camp blends with the innumerable white faces of the birch trees. An endlessness gapped only by the walks back to the dining hall and mid-day sauna beers.
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3.01 We moved through the wall. A boundary once leaving West Germany stuck in time is passed through every day. Gunshots turned to grafitti, opression turned to expression. Germans pass the wall without questioning. A revered icon turned into routine. The wall still hits me as profound, a concrete framework cast to divide a country and perserve history. Stories were underneath the yellow and red paint. Each day these stories were shed as we made memories of our own. After a week of staying in East Berlin, it became a tourist attraction. We looked past it to see if our favorite beer garden was crowded or if the S-bahn was nearing.
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3.03 Finland ignores the western hours. Liquor stores closing before fast food restaurants can open. The only darkness I get is from closing my eyes. The corner window above my pillow reminds me where I am. The sun peeks through the blinds throughout the night. The curtains blow in the coastal winds. My sleep has grown dependent on a screen, distracting from the light above me with a light in front of me. Finally my mind fades. The world seems poised, waiting for my return. I wake up to the same light, scattered along the same white walls.
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documentation nakkila, fi The first half of our trip in Finland was spent traveling around the country and exploring the rural architecture. We spent our nights in saunas and our days documenting and building fires. Each day we came away with new stories that were later told over cooking food. On this trip, we measured a church by Erkki Huttunen and a parish center designed by Juha Leiviska in 1970. We spent three days in Nakkila, Finland learning the design process in a backward state. Upon returning to Helsinki, we would begin to draft and build models that represented our measurements to an exact quality. The work is now featured in the Museum of Finnish Architecture. We were also asked to document our experiences through photography, with these images below, shaping our projects at the end of the summer.
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strata sustainability center | 2015
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sustain knoxville, tn The project began with a very diverse program : sustainability classrooms, a gallery, a restaurant, a design studio, a library, and an office space. With that we had to choose one main objective to focus on, which we made the transitions of the landscape through the space. Our main objective was creating a space that reflected the local material and landscape on the exterior and carried that through the spaces. The materiality includes a pigmented concrete mixed from a Tennessee Marble aggregate. The North wing slopes into the ground to the east in hopes of continuing a park area that runs along the main pedestrian street in downtown Knoxville, while the South wing holds a glass facade that continues a relation to the city. The ramp also allows the second floor to hold an elevated courtyard and secondary public spaces. Angled concrete walls run through the spaces as a way of defining level changes within the space. These level changes happen at all heights including the roof which then slopes to drain into cisterns on both the east and west sides of the site. The intention of the project is to make us aware of our own landscapes throught these architectural moments while also nurturing it.
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Ground Floor Plan
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second floor
third floor
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The ground floor of the space is actually not the only one that is open to the public, nor is it the only one with a landscape element. The second floor continues the park from market street above ground level and creates a landscaped space between the cafe and library elements.The angled walls are where we looked to create the bigger moves within the design. On the exterior, the main angled wall catches water and drops it into the cistern while also being the main point of circulation through the space. Interior uses of the wall are mainly for display and also circulation pieces. The angle carries through the main stair as it illuminates from above through translucent glass, while also creating an interior garden in the gallery space.
elevated views towards landscape
green-roof drainage
ramped park
elevated classroom and walkway
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view towards stairs and classrooms
view back towards entry
view through gallery
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entry The entry to the space is by far the most significant point of the project. This moment works as not only a divide between the interior and exterior, but also between private and public spaces. While the first floor is very much a part of the public, the second floor continues the public space that already exists and translates it above the street level. This ramp is leveled off in spots in hopes of holding tents for the farmers market or even just being a nice place to rest. The interior, which is set back falls into a space that is for learning about the local environment and lets local researchers and artists place their work there for the public.
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wrapping details
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A screen wraps around the building to work not only as a piece of solar shading, but also as display piece and separation between public and private spaces. The screen becomes a billboard for sustainability as the design studio posts its work on the large glass street facade. Again, local materials are used for this.The reclaimed red oak from the Smoky Mountains helps ease the transition to the colder, reddish concrete.
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fabric built and fabricated works
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super_digital
ultra_physical
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environments The above project was an attempt to translate several different techniques across both physical and digital platforms. The piece was first made using grasshopper and monolith softwares to produce the splint form. Then new grasshopper techniques were performed on the same geometries to create new physical potentials. The geometries were then put through multiple material environments, such as wood, steel, and even rubber bands. This material environment required a type of procedure that effectively required both digital and physical platforms.
splinted outer shell
dispatched frame
attractor point field
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physical
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cnc foam
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cnc milled profile
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vacuum form profile into splint
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cnc vacuum formed piece
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waterjet steel
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copper and rubberband binding
copper and rubberband structure
interior perforations
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GREEN OAK [re]visited Green Oak was a semester long, EPA funded, research project that dealt with the use of uncured wood for building purposes. Every day, we would prototype, coming up with ideas that dealt with details such as metal fasteners and overall structural grids . The picture below is a potential pavilion using the grid shell structure that used the moisture of the wood as a benefit of bending and strengthening the material. This was also meant to be done on a prefabricated platform. The moisture of the wood not only allows for more strength, but it also allows for an easily prefabricated sort of grid-shell, that could even further drive the costs down in the building market. Many other projects were explored throughout the semester. Most of these focused on new types of joinery and re-imagining how wooden structures go together.
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final module
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jig for bending wood
steam box
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We tried multiple different ways of bending the green oak. Our first attempt relied solely on physical force, a jig, and time. We furthered this research by trying steambending which is a simple heating process that allows flexibility in the wood for short periods of time. This was a much easier piece to design with and it achieved the pre-fab, scalable module that we were pursuing.
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DIA_FRAME envelope Another exploration with Green Oak was imagining how the wood could be used in a wall assembly. This was difficult, because we had to allow the moisture to be released from the wood while still creating some sort of barrier that could protect from exterior vapors. We also had to be thoughtful of how the wood would shrink as it dried, and how that could affect the overall structure. With these issues, we decided on a wall that would be able to breathe. We used landscaping fabric to allow the wood to dry, while still catching unwanted moisture contents. We also attached the wall separately from the structure. This allowed it to be tightened overtime through stainless steal threaded rods as the wood shrank over time.
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joinery new typologies Metal joinery was a large part of the project as well. Our group often worked as a task force effort, pushing the limits of the material, while the other partnering group spent time trying to implement the successful connections or moments that we had created. The joint that I focused on the most was the four way joint that we created. This joint focused primarily on a new type of column and beam system that had yet to be explored with the material. The design was simple, yet we hoped to add a little bit of character and strength to such a raw material.
water-jet cut 12 gauge steel
process drawing of joint
final placement into the oak
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palette b. research and investigative work
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framework filmic interface | 2015
the chinese hoax a post-truth investigation | 20__
speed atm_ research | 2017...
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framework filmic interface | 2015
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MOTION Knoxville, TN Knoxville ran off the tracks. Each morning I wake up to the sound of freights hurdling over steel rails. The site ran adjacent to this movement, allowing for hopeful integration to this motion the city thrives on. We were to design an event space. The project began as a study of the unfamiliar. Driving along patched roads and exploring abandonments allowed for new imaginations. Each day, I’d go out and find a new piece of Knoxville that I found interesting or peculiar and we would model these spaces. After modeling the spaces, we created a catalog, from the catalog we had potentials.
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The potentials were ways of looking at the buildings and asking questions. There was no definitive answer to any question. A door that might open to a three story drop was not seen as anything more than a new potential of how to move through a space. Graphically each drawing I worked on was meant to portray movement along with the disposition of the spatial elements.
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steadicam We looked at several typologies when it came to structure. After choosing the barrel vault structure, I reverted back to the sort of mapping done early in the project, looking at different potentials of movement. From here, I overlayed the vault geometries onto the different maps that quantified movement through a barrel vaulted space and could then form a geogetry. The final mapping led to changes in level and scale. The idea of the steadicam was the driving force behind the rail system. I wanted to create this sort of continuous shot in a new way; one that was manipulated more by how the structure moves rather than how the people move. Making new connections between frames creates new types of spaces.
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filmic Film became the way for me to represent the dialogue between the real and artificial movements in the space. Projections shot across the side of the trains to the north, while rails of their own made their way into the canopy of the structure. These eventual geometries combined with the dialogue between the real and artificial motion, made way for a new type of film production center and venue. A rail system would run from the ceiling and thicken up at parts to create the actual structure of the venue. This rail system would also allow for cameras to run along them so the structure of the space could then begin to form the film itself.
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INDUSTRIAL PARK
VENUE
PRODUCTION
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the chinese hoax a post-truth investigation
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a post-truth manifesto ??? “Post-truth” is a phrase that defines the culture of 2016 and the 21st century dilemma with constant information. The phrase is a living emblem of its meaning, transcending a singular meeting, only carrying weight only when an opposition presents something as “fact”. The 21st Century culture is one that thrives on the image. Images and news are presented in terms of frequency rather than factual definitiveness. Digital pursuits have often dealt with the questions of this culture by creating adaptable interfaces that can be altered by the swaying opinion of the public eye. Architecture has led most technological epochs, with our current renaissance being less attached to the physicality of actual buildings, but rather their impact. This project asks questions of the current political and cultural climate and offers a new type of project that is felt more through economic, digital, and political impact than through the physical experience of the resident. The project was initially approached through three research tools: 1. Radiolab Podcast 2. Donald Trump’s Twitter Archive 3. A Post-Truth Event The following pages are both writings and spatial constructs/images that derived from the rather direct process inherent in researching these materials, in hopes of finding some sort of resonating factor that existed in a post-truth culture. 64
Philip Kremer
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veiled manipulations The progression of film in the early 20th century is said to have followed a timeline similar to the architectural theories of the time. There was a present simultaneity in which the two fields nurtured eachothers’ progression. During this time, film makers were able to manipulate spaces in ways that architects never could through their use of narrative as a subject rather than the actual spatial conditions. Manipulation of information and images has always been conveyed as a ficticious effort, yet a post-truth society, with the frequency of these manipulated moments, has turned these potentials into realities The 21st century news cycle has become a tabloid in which the most stimulating aphorisms come first. Journalism has furthered the shroud that exists between political and public eyes. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is the first President to not only have a twitter account that breaks policies up into aphoristic moments, but he is also the first President to fully exploit the way in which the public receives its information. While social media platforms create a sense of transparency, the importance lies in what 140 characters can hide. .
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obscured territories A panoramic view of the world can be updated every six months. This sort of global intrusion condenses surface areas and gives the world an image unlike its 1972 self portrait. Wherein that image, the earth seemed still and everything seemed to be in one place at one time. Now the world revolves around the dialogue between cartesian and hertzian spaces, only the hertzian self portrait allows for zoom and street viewed invasions. The post-truth man is connected at the hip. This allows for these invasive moments. Devices have shed borders and created a transparency that is found through shared memories, locations, and opinions. The culture spreads politicized safety nets call for further surveillance. Links to live facebook videos shot from Police cameras convey narratives that lack security, justifying further encroachment that ties our own inner-workings in further with the world’s. It seems the only form of privacy comes through obscuring or lying about a digital presence that summarizes one’s physicality.
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regional frequencies The culture of a post truth society is driven more by ranges than by instances. The cause of the 2010 United States Flash Crash was a mystery until four years later, with the cause still projected with a sense of ambiguity. Rather than there being a definite instance of guilt, the event shed light on a fractured system that is run by the acceleration of a pulsating culture. The construction of a digital infrastructure has inherently formed a network dependent on the connectedness of the physical world. With the ability to access any piece of information, the pace at which these materials are procured becomes imperative. The router and the server are interesting through their ability to create circulation that translates across both the digital and analog domains. The cellular man becomes frustrated and unable to function upon being detached from either of these elements. Meanwhile, new spatial considerations are informed by the protection of these wired boxes as it becomes a calculated centerpiece on several scales.
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territory The Spratly Islands have been a widely contested territory over the last couple of years. They draw eyes as both a political and economic spectacle. They are a piece of international waters, while also situated among the worlds largest trading route. Recently, China has begun building their own domain along these reefs, with no clear intentions. The only American view of these islands is through satellite imagery or through Philippine journalism. Each reef claims a natural resource boundary of 12 nautical miles. This lays claim to any potential oil reserve or any supposed trading route that is running through the territory. This site found me through its positioning of boundary as not only a physical line, but rather an artificial claim. The site is an architectural statement in itself, balancing digital and artificial borders with physical trajectories.
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vietnam// natural resource
china // natural resource
malaysia // natural resource
philippines // natural resource
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island building eco__logical The artificial islands currently being built in the South China Sea are both unsustainable from economic and ecological points of view. The Chinese government has failed to comply with the UN law, by building their islands artificially. My proposal is to take back economic zones for the Phillipines and other countries throughout the region through a more natural displacement of the reefs. The coral would be taken from beneath Thitu Island which is a Phillipine territory, then dredge the coral out along high points in the reefs to eventually grow and create new economic zones. This would not only create an economic advantage for the other coun76 tries in the sea, but it would also add economic value to the reefs, something that has been lost.
Article 121 // Regime of Islands 1.
An island is a naturally formed area of land, surrounded by water, which is above water at high tide.
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Except as provided for in paragraph 3, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf of an island are determined in ac cordance with the provisions of this Convention applicable to other land territory.
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Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf.
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eco_digital camoflauge
Agl >>
regional displacement
coral >>
micro // architectures Themes of post truth culture tend to revolve around the larger impact of smaller moments. That same phenomenon is the driving force behind the conflict of the South China Sea. The islands themselves only quantify small habitable areas, but their economic impacts are felt much further due to the impact of potential oil and trading routes.
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The architecture proposed plays along with these micro_architectures in hopes of pushing their impact in a way that is more economically valuable for the land and the coral itself, while still maintaining a bit of secrecy due to the hostility of the region. Cloud seeding was seen as a way of creating an atmospheric ambiguity of what the project was doing, while the beneath the surface of the water, coral can be mined and displaced with the hopes of not only adding economic value to the reefs, but also the nations competing with China’s actions in the sea.
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atmospheric drone 1.0
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oceanic drone 2.0
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speed horiz. The Land Channel 01 __ The first channel moves at the speed of natural growth. This is the channel where territory is created and boundaries are created. This is a transactional speed, creating new economic and political territory. The Machine Channel 02 __ The second channel works at the speed of the drone and the information which it processes. Submarine cables run along Thitu towards Subi, opening potential access points for digital territory. The Worker
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Channel 03 __ The worker addresses the architecture at the speed of the vehicle. A channel formed under the tide continues the secrecy of such a disputed site.
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Digital The building works as a both a planned and a sectional system, moving through microarchitectures. The micro-architectures are present from a satellite view in the screen in which they are viewed, considering the effect that physical spaces may have on our digital (only) perception.
Mechanical The mechanical moments within the building are arguably the most important to the function of the space. Falling somewhere between fiction and science, these spaces work on their own to form real world implications that have human interaction and impact.
Ecological The coral and the land beneath the architecture is displaced to not only form a more economic territory for the countries in the South China Sea, but this sort of displacement also adds to the value of the coral reefs, something that our global culture has long ignored for humanitarian reasons.
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speed atmospheres personal research
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speed atm_ research Speed atmospheres is an ongoing research project that investigates the constant updating and frequency of the modern digital age and how this can create new types of spatial atmospheres. It also explores current political climate and how other current events began to shape what we refer to as a post-truth culture. Much of my research has explored how speed plays a role in the quickly changing world. This includes not only physical speeds, but also refers to the speed of information and the frequency of images and how that has affected our perception of space. The world is no longer the 1972 self portraitt where everything is in one place at one time. Information and personal profiles are distributed through the spaces we inhabit at a rate that we cannot perceive, yet certain moments that float through the airwaves have begun to stick. I hope to bring the pulse driven elements that stick into the architectural realm through my research and through different representation techniques.
... facebook __ 1.5 hours
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nashville, tn __2.65 syl/s
springfield, ma __ 3.54 syl/s
portland, or__15.5 steps
I can feel the wheels removing themselves from the plane. The next three months of my life project themselves onto a backdrop of birch trees. The winter is present here, even during July. Everyone seems calm as they know what the next six months hold. Stores open at noon and the sun peeks through blinds well into the night. 5 . 15 . 15
Both of the diagrams represented are ones that are tracking both human and digital speeds. The above diagram represents Bob Levine’s research on how the speed of a city can create an atmosphere. He does this through measuring syllables and overall pace. Meanwhile, I tracked how my mouse moved and the quickness that it moved while on social media.
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manipulations Part of examining speeds became imagining how this related to the current political divide in the United States. Each image is a reference to a specific political region. This drawing and map is representative of the routine of the factory worker in the rust belt. Questioning how this sort of pace is different from a more globalized one. I began comparing the speeds of conveyer belts to that of an international network.
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obscured territories The Midwest is a land where territories remain unclear. Every move is linear and a step towards travel. The wind generates something faster, with moments among the field becoming more and more relevant, so are the inhabitants. Coming to light every four years, the people adjust themselves to a world that moves closer to their pace. A sense of domain becomes evident in a world where borders become increasingly ambiguous.
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regional frequencies Consumerism and the rate of transaction becomes faster and faster every year. Computers control urbanized markets, causing flashed recessions that only quit when the circuit breaker shuts off. Lengths of wire become spatially influential as traders find themselves cutting pieces down by the nanosecond. This sort of speed does not slow for human interaction, and we find our cities built around these transactional machines.
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... We envision the world as a marbled self portrait from 1972, where everything finds itself in one place at one time, but that sort of singularity no longer exists as information circulates through our physical world. Architecture has failed to advance on this sort of speed in terms of changing landscapes. We try to manipulate the physical manifestation of speed, but never attempt to simply adapt. Light has always dominated the architectural experience, The project intends to address both physical and digital divides by creating a mobile design that moves across regions while also projecting digital narratives as well. Travel is the program. We learn from real human interaction and hopefully with the juxtaposition of digital and physical worlds, we can begin to discern the exaggerations inherent with a media driven world. While the project is viewed as a transportation piece, the interiors intend to reimagine architectural pieces in a way that lends itself on a digital platform. We can begin to think of the window as a frame that processes information rather than simply a view. The door translates into a transitioned loading space between realities. The path is inherent through interior and exterior spaces. The cab is a host for these sort of memoric experiences. We have lost the capacity of memory and are forced to archive it along with 2 billion other profiles. We associate through imagined experience. The augmented realities presented hope to share those associations through something tangible.
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