THIRDSPACE

T H I R D S PA C E AN EXPLORATION OF LIMINAL SPACE AND THE IN-BETWEEN EXISTENCE OF AN IMMIGRANT

THESIS PROJECT BY EILEEN NUNES KOO INSTRUCTOR ERIC PETERSON FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY // SPRING 2015

Dedicated to my home, Venezuela.

To all the students and their families who are fighting for a better future, and to all those who have had to go but never truly left.

“Habernos ido fue una forma de volver�

(Leaving was a way of coming back)

COURSE DESCRIPTION

(Leaving was a way of coming back)

ARC 6970 FULL-SCALE ARCHITECTURAL DETAIL INSTRUCTOR ERIC PETERSON For more than ten thousand years we have been building things. Some of the oldest known written word deals with the construction of buildings. What can the things that we as individual designers want to build tell us about our own ambitions and desires to enter into this ten-thousand-year-old discussion?

The studio course centers around three primary activities: reading, discussing, and making full-scale architectural details. We have read a series of essays, chapters, and selections from pieces of text loosely associated with phenomenology. In the discussions we have attempted to relate ideas from the readings to our own critical practice as designers and active agents in the production of physical culture. We have used reading and design work to explore our own means of approaching the meta-project that is sometimes called civilization, urbanity, culture, or humanity.

Ultimately, our aim is to begin to know where we stand in relation to this larger project.

Each student has proposed an architectural detail that is part of a wall and has built it at full scale. Typical programs include a means of passage, a means of viewing out, a means of viewing in, a means of sitting or resting, a means of working, a means of rising up – i.e. a door, a window, a seat, a desk, a stair. The architectural detail should be justifi ed with careful excerpts from specific texts. Final proposals include both architectural drawings and a written discussion of how the ideas expressed through architectural detail are related to those texts.

INDEX CONCEPT 8 PROCESS 25 DETAIL DRAWINGS

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FINAL MODEL

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C O N C E P T

A stair is a transition between two spaces or conditions. Much like the state that most immigrants find themselves in when they are forced to leave their homes; their lives become a sort of inbetween condition where one is never really here nor there; one inhabits a sort of thirdspace, defined by vindecision and uncertainty. Being a Venezuelan immmigrant myself, I feel very identified with this concept. This transformed my thesis project into a personal exploration of sorts, about studying what is liminal space and relating it to this in-between existence that I am living through: that of the immigrant.

“A space of transformation between phases of separation and reincorporation. It represents a period of ambiguity, of marginal and transitional state.� - Victor Turner

As an architectural concept, liminal space is basically defined as the condition of a blurred edge, or of shifting thresholds where it becomes unclear where something begins and where something ends.

What exactly defines a space is lost in uncertainty.

Taking departure on this concept, the staircase becomes a very unclear ascension, where the treads and facade elements are begin to blur, and it becomes confusing to determine which is which. The distinction is very vague, as to what is a tread and what is only facade. Seen in profile, it does not look like a stair at all; it gives the appearance of a bookshelf, or a stand.

Digital rendering of complete staircase

(Clock-wise from top left) Entrance bridge of Querini Stampalia Museum; Staircase at the Olivetti showroom; Querini Stampalia stair detail; Querini Stampalia bridge detail

This concept of shifting the ground plane was wonderfully mastered by the architect Carlo Scarpa. His works had a big influence in this project, and a lot of time was alotted to an in depth analysis of his Querini Stampale project and the staircase at the Olivetti showroom in Venice. Materiality plays a fundamental role in both, as well as tectonics: at the Querini Stampale, the bridge starts and ends on different ground planes. Scarpa elevates the ground by adding a first step in the same materiality as the floor, resulting in that we neer are entirely sure where the ground ends and where the stair begins.

The Olivetti staircase was the biggest inspiration for this project: its graceful blending of spaces through a somewhat overlooked element such as a stair led to a complete transformation of the old Venetian building.

Preliminary study models

The first step in this project is a heavy concrete slab that seems to emerge from the ground itself. It then thins out to the same thickness of the wooden treads, leaving ambiguous the start of the stair and the end of the ground plane.

Plan view of staircase

The materiality of the wooden treads was a very personal decision; I chose walnut, a heavy, dark and textured wood that reminds me of home and keeps me grounded myself. Most houses in Venezuela are of an old colonial style, and their roofing and furniture are usually of rich dark wooden timber. The heavy treads shift as they ascend, and the stair’s direction is not entirely a straight path.

Hundreds of lengths of different types of timber make up the facade systems, blurring boundaries while directing views and movement. In the stair the steps are heavier, grounded by resting on the steel frame. At the same time, the thin steel frame gives the impression of not being very strong and not able to support one’s weight, giving a sense of instability in the user. Freed to scatter up from the ground, the floating timbers filter light and views. Spidery, pixelated shadows are cast on the floor and bare walls.

The heavy treads blend with the light, floating facade.These facade systems are open and appear to be very lightly suspended by the steel, implying a spacial condition but entirely defining it. This creates a blurred condition of interior and exterior space as the individual ascend the staircase.

Exploded axonometric of elements

P R O C E S S

From the selection of materials and trial-and-error, to the finishing touches and set up of final pieces, the entire fabrication process took two weeks of non-stop labor.

First in the process was the preparation of the wooden members of the facade system: twenty pieces of wood, varying between spanish cedar and white pine, were cut to their specific length and beveled at 45 degrees along their sides.

Then, each piece was perforated through their centerline with two 3/8� square openings at 2 feet apart.

Each piece had to be carefully measured, cut, sanded and oiled.

Once the wooden elements had been processed, I moved on to begin building the steel frame. I learned to weld and cut steel, and was able to produce a two-part framing structure that would hold up the steps as well as keep the wooden facades suspended.

Each wooden element required two small steel pieces, cut to size and beveled to the same angle as the wood. This way, the supporting steel would be inset in the wood as a smooth, elegant detail.

The wooden elements were then carefully threaded onto the steel rods at their specific heights, then welded into place.

Eighty invididually cut steel pieces were welded onto the steel frame.

The fabrication of the stairs’ treads followed; the concrete step was assembled first. A plywood mold was constructed then filled with a mix of Cement All and concrete. The drying process took aproximately one day.

The walnut treads were simply sanded and oiled; two small 1� wide lengths of walnut were screwed onto either end of the treads, where they would rest on the steel frame. The steel was then drilled to create perforations where the wood was then fixed to the frame.

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D R A W I N G S

Once the wooden elements had been processed, I moved on to begin building the steel frame. I learned to weld and cut steel, and was able to produce a two-part framing structure that would hold up the steps as well as keep the wooden facades suspended.

Each wooden element required two small steel pieces, cut to size and beveled to the same angle as the wood. This way, the supporting steel would be inset in the wood as a smooth, elegant detail.

1-A 1-B

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4-A

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4-B AXONOMETRIC DETAIL

DETAIL 1-A

DETAIL 2-A

Each wooden member is beveled at 45 degrees on their long side. An equally beveled steel strip is welded under either side of the wood, serving as suppost for the piece. A 1/2” screw holds the piece in place.

The walnut handrail, 2 inches thick and 3’-6” in length, is supported by a steel structure made up of three pieces, then welded on to the steel frame. The handrail is screwed onto the steel with a 1/2” screw.

DETAIL 3-A

DETAIL 4-A

Each walnut tread is held in place by two systems: one flat-head screw that secures a small piece of walnut to the bottom of the tread, and another 1/4� screw holds the wooden pieces in place on the steel frame.

The concrete step was molded with an inch wide inset, which allows the step to be locked in place on the steel frame, using it as support.

The concrete has no additional placing system, while the steel angle is welded to the frame.

DETAIL 1-B

ELEVATION

clear pine horizontal strips threaded on steel pencil rod

2” wide walnut handrail fastened with 1 1/2“ x 1/4” screws to welded 1” steel angle 1 3/4” thick walnut stair tread, fastened with 1 1/2” x 1/4” flathead screws at 4” o.c.

3’ x 8” concrete stair tread resting on 1” steel angle 3/8” square pencil rod 1” steel angle welded 1/2” flat steel bar welded to vertical steel rods

DETAIL 4-B

DETAIL 2-B

ELEVATION

DETAIL 3-B

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Full finished model

Steel support detal (left); frontal view of full model (right)

View of concrete step (left), close-up of wooden tread and facade elements (right)

Concrete and wooden tread detail

Close-up of wooden treads and facade

Developing this project was a very personal experience for me; it forced me to look introspectively into my situation and my country’s situation, and it unearthed many new realizations and emotions. As a Venezuelan who was forced to leave her country, I have lived first-hand what it’s like to pack my bags and walk the infamous Cruz Diez tiled artwork of the Maiquetia Airport, a place that has become an involuntary witness to thousands of families breaking apart, sending their children to find a better future.

Our bodies have left but our minds and souls are still back home; a constant worry , guilt and sorrow make living on the edge of two lives a very difficult emotional state. Taking something so personal and developing it in architectural terms was quite a challenge, but equally gratifying.

I am deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to dedicate my final design project to my country my family.