Reflections on Isolation
Elizabeth Schmiesing
Introduction Reflections on Isolation is an exploration between the psychological states of isolation and the architecture that enhances it. This was explored through multiple modes of representation resolving in a lexicon of isolation and five proposed museums of isolation around the globe. The five museums of isolation are intended to amplify, or undermine, the architectural qualities of isolation with in each site.
LEFT: interventions made to Walden Pond
2018 M.Arch Schmiesing p1
Why? My interests in isolating architecture started in 2008 during a trip to Estonia, they were abandoning buildings built during the soviet era and rebuilding new buildings that embodied their culture and spirit. This seed of an interest continued to grow during a trip to Russia in the summer 2017. All over Russia this image of isolation, or separation, was so clear. Even as they rebuilt urban areas to be more human oriented, spaces continued to feel solitary or untouchable. This stems from a long culture of hiding one’s true self, behind closed doors you are a poet, artist, and rebel; through the front door you are normal and abiding by the rules and regulations of the government. When you are captured, you are freed, yet you are confined to a prison cell or prison camp. The spatial quality of a place changes when people engage with it in a veiled way, always suppressing their true identity. TOP: a series of studies on social isolatoin made using collage
University of Minnesota School of Architecture
2018 M.Arch Schmiesing p2
Explorations through Representation: collage, sculpture, words To begin to associate language with isolation, I began collaging moments in mainly social situations and applying language to them. The use of collage was intended to be an equalizer, an attempt to discuss complex topics through intentional juxtaposition. While working through sculptures the intention was to fully devote thinking to isolation as beautiful or detrimental and see what the intuitive brain creates. This part of the process was the greatest for language development and intentionality.
LEFT: Plaster model made during phase 1
University of Minnesota School of Architecture
2018 M.Arch Schmiesing p3
University of Minnesota School of Architecture
2018 M.Arch Schmiesing p4
Scopes of Isolation: Choice, Need, Force Within each scope of isolation I have begun to define the type of isolation through a comparison between the physiological impacts of isolation with the spatial qualities of isolation, and start to determine when architecture is playing a role or just a passive element. To aid in this study, I looked at buildings across time that have been present in history and classified them based on Choice, Need, or Force. Isolation by Choice is a situation chosen by the user, a person can choose to enter into moments of isolation for reasons such as restoration, meditation, or religion. The isolation here can be self directed and intended to allow a person to be one with themselves; the cases of isolation by choice are typically positive on psychological state of a person. Spatially isolation by choice can be chosen by the user, but several factors are scale (close to the human body), connection to the greater world (such as views), privacy? Examples: Stylite, Sauna, Religion, Meditation, Library Isolation by Need is when isolation is brought upon the person due to a need or service such as serving or providing for others. The psychological state of the isolated can be negative or positive, depending on the space. The spatial qualities of these places vary but typically exist in small quarters and the sharing of spaces. Examples: travel, work - mining, fire - towers, remote research RIGHT: Collage - Maunself fort and Eastern State Pen, a prison
University of Minnesota School of Architecture
2018 M.Arch Schmiesing p5
Isolation by Force is an isolation caused by an imposing factor such as war, politics, or sickness; this form of isolation typically has a negative impact on the psychological state of the person. The spatial qualities of Isolation by Force are typically spaces of confinement or securing, such as a fence. (extra, or too much?) People being confined in these situations typically have their choice stripped away, leaving no human agency within the spaces they are being confined to. The (people) occupant is not able to choose the length of time they are in one place, the areas they walk to, the views they look at or the space itself. Examples: Leprosy Colonies, Concentration Camps, Prisons or Solitary Confinement cells, Slave ships
LEFT: Maunsell forts and stylites, a collage Above: diagram of people and shared interestes
University of Minnesota School of Architecture
2018 M.Arch Schmiesing p6
Goulag and Fire, a collage
University of Minnesota School of Architecture
Meditation and Time, a collage
2018 M.Arch Schmiesing p7
Architecture's role in Isolation When looking at varying building types identified in above, I began to do spatial analysis on 7 different building types. Here the research presented observations about the human and their positioning within architecture, the adjacency to a wall or window, the difference between a space to pace rather than a space to walk freely. I developed a series of consequence diagrams identifying Program, User, Space to determine what was influencing what. This research manifested fully in a lexicon of Isolation.
University of Minnesota School of Architecture
2018 M.Arch Schmiesing p8
Lexicon of Isolation Analysis on how seven architectures from around the globe play into the physical and psychological conditions of isolation. The lexicon looks at each space through an axonometric view, orthographic drawings, and consequence diagrams, and spatial system diagrams. The physical factors of isolation can be identified and used as a design tool for future architectural interventions.
Spatial analysis of a prison cell
University of Minnesota School of Architecture
left: Maunsell Forts middle: Fire Towers right: Walden Cabin
2018 M.Arch Schmiesing p9
Design Proposition - Five Museums of Isolation Embedded within five locations around the globe are five museums of isolation. Each museum will attempt to mirror the spatial conditions of isolation. Architecture acts to amplify the varied experiences of isolation inherent in each typology. As the viewer moves throughout the space they are performing as the architecture demands, and they are brought to a moment of realization - this is when architecture creates isolation. The research that informed each architectural amplification became a guide into methods of engagement. This is a study of isolation across moments of time identifying situations that translate isolation into the built environment.
LEFT: Henry David Thoreau’s Cabin
University of Minnesota School of Architecture
2018 M.Arch Schmiesing p10
2: Sensory Deprivation Tank
3: Stepwell
University of Minnesota School of Architecture
4: Maunsell Fort
5: Firetower
2018 M.Arch Schmiesing p11
final model - fire tower
University of Minnesota School of Architecture
final model - fire tower
2018 M.Arch Schmiesing p12
Selected Bibliography
for the project, allowing a viewer to jump right into the visually stunning, yet complex world of the word, isolation. The language developed around isolation
Bloomer, Kent C., and Charles W. Moore. Body, Memory, and Architecture. Yale University Press, 1979. Lavin, Sylvia. Kissing Architecture. Princeton University Press, 2011.
in incredibly general terms: good, bad, situation, or location. Phase 02 - Scopes of Isolation
Riley, Terence. The Changing of the Avant-Garde: Visionary Architectural Drawings from the Howard Gilman Collection. The Museum of Modern Art, 2002.
Yet after the creation of eight sculptures and eight collages I was able to analyse and study these moments of isolation and really begin to understand the different scopes that surround them. The scopes of isolation defined in this early
White, Edward T. Site Analysis: Diagramming Information for Architectural Design. ArchiBasX Press, 2013.
research are: Isolation by Force, Isolation by Choice, and Isolation by Need. Within each scope of isolation I look define the type of isolation through a description of the isolation, a look at the physiological impacts of the isolation, and the spatial qualities of the area the person is isolated to and an example from history.
Isolation by Force is an isolation caused by an imposing factor such as war, politics, or sickness; this form of isolation typically has a negative impact on the psychological state of the person. The spatial qualities of Isolation by Force are typically spaces of confinement or securing, such as a fence. (extra, or too much?) People being confined in these situations typically have their choice stripped
University of Minnesota School of Architecture
2018 M.Arch Schmiesing p13