DAVID HECHT INVESTIGATIONS AND EXPLORATIONS
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Table of Contents
Investigations
Boundary Conditions
Helical Razorcase 5
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Wall of Aggression
Scales of Inversion
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Interlude I: Inversions Shirt Tectonics
Transmission Towers
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44 Schoolyard Border Crossing 46
Folded Bodega 27
The Devil’s Living Room
Enfolded Pathways 35
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Interlude II: Materials and Meanings
Fractured Bubble Folies de Faire/ Faire de Folie 63
Explorations In-Between Cafe Bodega:Twixtcb
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79 Photography 84
Helical Razorcase Object Repetition Study Hunter College Intro to Visual Studies Peter Dudek, Instructor 2007 Disposable razors, glue. Approx. 4’ x 1’
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An ever yday object joined to itself with a simple constraint (a slight rotation) yields a complex and emergent form that subtly masks the inherent danger of the object.
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s ue tin ns n co tio ity var ia x ple ht om f slig c c no mi na retio y s, d acc ase the e r inc rom e f l sca r ge As eme to Facing Page: A front view of the sculpture reveals potential perceptual effects of the complex emergent pattern.
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Wall of Aggression 24-hour 1:1 Scale Model Columbia GSAPP Intro to Architecture Mojdeh Baratloo, Critic Teammates: Alison Boliek, Jenna Levine Role: Design Concept, Mockup, Construction, Presentation 2009 Styrofoam blocks Approx. 6’ x 8’
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Styrofoam packing blocks contain latent structural potential, beyond the forms they hold in shipment. When modified slightly and multiplied, the blocks ser ve as building components, which can then be fur ther exploited to create unexpected moments of assertive or even aggressive formal expression. The project brief called for the design and construction of a 1:1 scale wall that would address aggressive encounters.
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Configuration study showing operation of “aggressive� module.
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Iterative diagram of possible configurations of modules.
Breaches of the structural tendencies of packing blocks create modules that express their formal roles aggressively (perhaps even violently), thus inhibiting safe passage and encouraging aggressive encounters between people on either side of the wall.
Right: Final model on site.
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Interlude I: Inversions Two collages, each of which inverts the observed or expected relationships within spatial conditions on and around the High Line park in Chelsea.
The Edge Line Columbia GSAPP, New York Intro to Architecture Handshake Collage Mojdeh Baratloo, Critic 2009
Scales of Inversion Columbia GSAPP, New York NY/Paris Program Handshake Collage Patrick O’Connor, Critic 2009
The Edge Line
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This collage uses surfaces extracted from within and around the High Line to investigate the nature of the boundaries that define and delimit our perceptual relationship with the park and its urban context.
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Scales of Inversion
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Sampling from particular locations in a one-block section of the High Line, this collage transposes objects of divergent and incongruous scales, highlighting the fractal nature of urban forms.
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Shir t Tectonics Sequencing Scale/Scaling Site Columbia GSAPP NY/Paris Program Thomas de Monchaux, Critic Fall 2009 Black marking crayon on men’s oxford shir t on dressmaker’s form; pencil on mylar. Approx. 3’ x 1.5’
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A man’s dress shirt was draped onto a female dressmkaer’s form and subsequently “edited” or remapped onto the new body type. This operation was a hybrid act of material alteration and drawing, and became a generator for further investigation of representing complexity in drawing.
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Folded Bodega Sampling/Transcoding/ Performative Analysis/ Modeling Columbia GSAPP NY/Paris Program William Feuerman, Dahlia Rober ts, Danielle Smoller ; Critics 2009 Drawings: Pencil, ink on mylar and vellum; digital drawings Models: Bristol Dimensions Var y
“To sample is to inspire oneself, to take loans or resort to various known architectural object that in their superimposition, copied or quoted, produce a different result.” - “Sample”, The Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Architecture
Construction documents from the BURST House by Gauthier and Edmiston was the source structural components for an investigation of emergent form, translated via the analysis of the program of an iconic New York City institution: the Bodega.
A set of performative analyses on the section of the BURST house indicated a variety of possible formal operations which could be performed on the roof component of the structure. 28
Through drawing, an experiment was conducted on how the roof might operate upon itself in section, revealing a set of latent rotational trajectories. When projected from sectional to planimetric views, the rotations were found to be folds. ThiS roof image was then sampled, ennabling a greater degree of variation across multiple spatial dimensions..
Roof:Fold The roof of the BURST structure enfolds the interior and the inhabitants, and thus also serves as the primary walls and skin. It is calibrated to environmental and programmatic parameters.
Right: Performance studies of roof. Across: Section:Fold (Performative Analysis)
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An iterative procedure of self-superimposition, diagrammed below, was engaged for testing the roof component’s ability to operate on its own spatial and structural patterns.
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When the overlaps acheived a high degree of complexity and violation of the existing structural regime (i.e., when the selected vertices created multiple perpendicular intersection), the bristol model was scored and folded. This procedure resulted in unexpected behaviors, such as a section emerging from a fold.
The bodega shopper sees an item they would like and speeds up to get to it. As they approach, they slow down to pick up the item; around this point of inflection (the change in acceleration from positive to negative), it might be said that there has occured a FOLD. The intentional subject is about to change their path; the built environment is about to alter its presentation of salient objects.
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Point of Inflection
Extending the material logic of superimposition and folding discovered in the experiments with the roof component of the BURST house, a mapping of a possible path and set of interactions between human and building can serve as a data set to inform a set of folding operations which, in their formal, material expression, are a mapping of how buildings and people enfold one another.
EVENT : point of inflection speeding up : slowing down being drawn : running off object deforms subject : subject deforms object point of inflection : FOLD
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Model of “folded� bodega and interior mock-up.
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Enfolding Pathways Interaction and operation at the scale of the street Columbia GSAPP NY/Paris Program Jane Kim, Critic 2009 Interaction models: forged aluminum sheets Interaction models: forged aluminum sheets Dimensions var y
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At the scale of a street, interactions between people, the environment, and time become extended along paths of motion, and can thus be investigated by abstractiion and simulation in material experiments. This four-part project utilized aluminum sheet metal, worked through by hammer forging, analytical drawings, and modeling the synthesis of vectors to explore how people and environment operate on each other atop the High Line
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Forged Model 2 Metal curls and folds along the edges of portions of the High Line, suggesting the turbulent effects of multiple parallel lines of stimuli presented while moving.
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Forged Model 3 Metal pleats run along connected paths, indicating how meandering and overlapping trajectries in a delimited area might affect and deform one another.
Vector Model A synthesis of the interacting forces analysed in the forged metal models results in a spiralling, snaking, twisted form. Invisible forces at work atop the High Line are given an abstract yet material presence.
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Interlude II: Materials and Meanings A series of sculptural projects using material choices to operate on issues in contemporary and classical cultural discourse.
Transmission Towers Hunter College, New York Intro to Visual Studies Material Triptych Katerina Lanfranco, Instructor 2007
Schoolyard Border Crossing Hunter College, New York Intro to Visual Studies Found Materials Sculpture Katerina Lanfranco, Instructor 2007
The Devil’s Living Room Hunter College, New York Intro to Visual Studies Environmental Sculpture Peter Dudek, Instructor 2007
Transmission Towers
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A triptych of miniature electrical transmission towers composed of carcinogenic materials - cigarettes, coal, and cellular phones. The transposition of objects from the scale of daily use onto the forms of objects that have become ambient environmental features taps into an ongoing critical discourse regarding our acceptance or even active seeking out of objects that may be implicated in a significant public health crisis. The piece begs the question: if we would not want to have giant electrical transmission towers in our backyards, why are we often complacent about smoking, burning coal, or holding radioactive electronics next to our brains?
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Schoolyard Border Crossing
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A selection of found materials were and organized into a provocative narrative scenario addressing conditions of access, through the metaphor of a border crossing. On a harsh landscape of technological rigor, an absurd stereotype of an outsider (the mexican figurine) to a realm represented by a symbolic item of quotidian convenience and privileges of access (metrocards and a turnstile). The immigrant, however, is impeded by a confrontation with “bullys” - elements of the natural and built environments that challenge his attempt to gain possesion of a key, which is ostensibly his means of access. Emotional responses in viewers may be elicited by the use of controversial representations of the “other” and the implication of violent confrontation at border zones, offering a point of access to the contemporary discourse on immigration.
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The Devil’s Living Room
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A motley collection of objects were placed in a context totally incongruous with their normal setting, immediately challenging a visitor’s sense of familiarity with their surroundings. In this grotesque “room”, disquieting scenes are in display (the “prisoner monitor”) and representations of natural processes of complexity (Helical Razorcase), growth (the gnarled cherry tree), culture (paintings, totems), and commerce (money, mannequin) are decontextualized, evoking questions about their essential roles in the world. Perhaps only the Devil - a symbol of the inversion of the “normal” and “good” would find respite in such a perverse domain.
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In-Between Cafe/Bodega: Twixtcb Cross-programmed addition to the High Line Columbia GSAPP NY/Paris Program Patrick O’Connor, Critic 2009 Architectural Design Project; various media.
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In between two programs, two agents, two narratives, surfaces that were once distinct are put into frictive contact, the forces that deform each also serving to deform the other.
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Twixt C/B is a hybrid cafe-bodega which inhabits and explores a series of interstitial spaces: between the street, storefronts, and the High Line; between the layers of the High Line; and the space of the structure itself, where undulating walls, partitions, and windows weave betwixt and between different programs, contexts, and events.
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Diagram of bodega customers informed by previous observations on building-buyer behavior
Diagram of pathways traversed by cafe staff and moments of intersection with patrons.
Bodega staff follow more regular paths
Diagram of customers’ conversations, implying spaces of interaction between different occupants of the cafe.
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Top and above: Material translations of diagrammatic investigations of cafe occupant behavior
Diagrams then inform the creation of frameworks in Rhino, in turn allowing for the development of complex relationships which promote explorations of design parameters.
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Section of Twixtcb: unexpected encounters
Right: Aerial perspective of massing and relationships to surrounding urban context
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Folies de Faire/ Faire des Folies Interactive microarchitecture for the 104 Columbia GSAPP NY/Paris Program: Reid Hall Paris, France Veronique Descharries and Rafael Magrou, Critics 2010 Architectural Design Project; various media.
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Les Folies de Faire is a microarchitectural exploration of the spatial ramifications of the process of making art, operating through the agency and interactions of the public and the artists. The project seeks to challenge the notion of the artist’s studio as a closed, sealed off crucible of creative energy from which emerge acts of artistic expression. By shifting the studio from behind brick walls and cloth-covered windows into the open skylit gallery of the CentQuatre, and by making the form of the studio space itself a product of the creative process, the Folies address the Foucauldian concept - promulgated by Bernard Tschumi - that “madness articulates something that is often negated to preserve a fragile cultural or social order. How can the public, in open, active spaces, be given access to the realm of the artist? What happens the esoteric is unfolded into the exoteric?
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Investigations of the 104’s place in the Parisian landscape and potential means to engage it as a new monument explosion, extrusion, redefinition.
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Group investigations of the various programmatic and coneptual aspects of the 104.
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Investigations of the various formal and expressive possibilities of the spaces of the 104. Above image with Aldo Cherdabayev and Owen Nichols
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The open halls of the 104 operate as passage, playground, meeting place, and point of interest. - but it appeared to require instigation by outsiders (a group of American architecture students) to turn the ambiguous open spaces of the 104 into spontaneous zones of creative production. Planned events occur, but they do not seem to address the gap between the public that passes through the space and the public that actively seeks to use it as a cultural facility.
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Les Folies de Faire grasps the artist’s studio and folds (or unfolds) it into the public realm, performing an exoteric shift analogous to the process at work in museums of science, where interactivity is the key to public accessibility.
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Investigation of the potential for measurement of the deformation of a rectangular volume.
Investigation of feedback pattern: the shape of works of art inform the displacements of the wall modules.
Perspective sketch exploring relationships between folies, studios, and the Jardin platform within the 104.
Perspective/plan relationship.
Section investigating access and folie-studio relationship
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Plan view: Folies, structural system, and access stairs.
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76 glass panels lcd panel
linear actuator housing
Building from a simple modular uniit, the walls of the folies can respond in a fliuid manner to the work produced within and around them, while providing an interface between the public, the artists, and those who wish to explore the newly opened terrain between them. Without a static spatial arrangement, the folies present an ongoing challenge to notions of familiarity, privacy, and monumentality, not mention the direct relationship established between spatial and artisitc modes.
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Fractured Bubble Construction and documentation Sukkah City NYC 2010 Competition Finalist/ People’s Choice Award Winner Babak Br yan and Henr y Grosman, Architects 2010
Fabrication and construction
Transpor t through Brooklyn and Manhattan
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On-site build at Union Square, New York
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Fractured Bubble at dawn
P h o t o g r a p hy
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E x p l o r a t i o n s o f m ove m e n t , s p a c e , str ucture and time through the capture of still images.
Armory Installation Digitial Photograph 2007
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Center s of Motion
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People and places provide pivot points for public potentials.
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D av i d H e c h t • 4 1 2 Ave n u e J • B r o o k ly n , N Y • 1 1 2 3 0 • 9 7 3 . 4 2 0 . 4 1 0 1 dahecht@gmail.com