INCEPTION KEVIN FINCH VOLUME 3
ARCHITECTURE
Architecture Portfolio for Kevin Finch, First Year Master’s Candidate at the Southern California Institute of Architecture
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DESIGNER Kevin Finch
SCHOOL OF INSTRUCTION Southern California Institute of Architecture
1GA INSTRUCTORS Matthew Au Todd Gannon Pavel Getov Anna Neimark Constance Vale Andrew Zago Emmett Zeifmann
1GB INSTRUCTORS Matthew Au Dora Epstein Jones Russell Fortmeyer Ming Fung Margaret Griffin Darin Johnstone Ilaria Mazzoleni Matthew Melnyk Anna Neimark Benjamin Smith Emmett Zeifmann
volume 3
FINCH
Contents. 1GA//FA//14 Introdutory thoughts on Contemporary Architecture [CS 2101] 3 Of Ducks and Men / 5 Public Discourse in Architecture. Materials and Tectonics [AS 3100] 7 Parametric Modernism: Re-imagining the Yoyogi National Gymnasium. Strategies of Representation [VS 4100] / 9 Studies in Boolean Geometry. 1GA Design Studio [DS 1100] Los Angeles Public Library, Hyde Park Branch / 18 Tony Smith and SMOKE / 27 Building Design and Representation. 1GB//SP//15 41 Santa Maria Assunta: A Formal Analysis [CS 2100] 53 Environmental Systems [AS 3121] 63 Strategies of Representation [VS 4101] 1GB Design Studio [DS 1101] 71 Villa Tugendhat / 77 Tessellations / 84 Casa Ultima
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1GA//FA//14
1GA - Fall 2014 2
SMOKE - Tony Smith
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OF DUCKS AND MEN ARCHITECTURE AND LANGUAGE The parts, components, and pieces of an architectural project and the subsequent arrangement of these elements form the basis of an architectural language. Through this language, architects have the ability to communicate a variety of things from where to enter a building, to their personal values as they relate to a society or culture. As users of architecture, we interpret this language to look for walkways, doors, places to eat and shop, and where to live. Since architecture has the power to communicate to its users, perhaps it can accomplish something intelligent, or even sinister. How can the language of architecture influence the design and perception of the built environment? In Robert Venturi’s essay Ducks, he proposes this idea that most architecture today is over-decorated. He argues that the architecture itself, through certain forms and decoration, informs its users of its intentions. He calls these buildings “ducks.” However, if we assume that most of architecture’s users are not architects, then most individuals may not perceive more complex signifiers of use and space. George Baird has more faith in his audience. He believes people can perceive and environment “…as it in itself really is.” If we then combine this idea of “ducks,” and Charles Jencks’ basis for an architectural language as put forth in his essay Modes of Architectural Communication, we have a basis for answering the question stated at the beginning of this passage. If one was to approach a structure shaped like a hotdog, one might expect this structure to be a hotdog stand. Similarly, one might expect a 30 foot highheel to be a shoe store. If this sort of architectural language is adopted across a metropolitan area, city dwellers would no longer need signage or branding to help them find what they need; the architecture will do that for them. However, this method borders on kitsch and leaves little creativity for the designer with which to work. If architecture remains just as communicative as we would expect to find today, then the use of signage and giganticism will be the parts of speech
that communicate to users what this building is for. Since this typology already exists in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and most of the US, it would not be much of a creative departure from the status quo. I believe a hybrid of ducks and complex signifiers can generate a much more communicative city. On a micro scale, individual social interactions can be encouraged, or downplayed, through the design of hallways and corridors. On a macro scale, an entire city may function as a machine – diverting pressure and fuel where it is needed, or possibly even completely locked down in the event of a disaster or desire for control. Robin Evans describes how the design of interconnected rooms has changed to a branching of rooms off of hallways since the 15th century. More carnal aspects of human interaction were facilitated through the design of spaces, but changed to an avoidance culture when rooms began to separate and were only connected through an individualized pathway. The way buildings and cities work today follow this example. Individuals want to get to where they are going without any distractions or interactions along the way. Urban corridors are designed to promote interaction, but fail due to introverted human desires. As previously stated, a person visiting this country might not know what kind of food In-n-out serves, but if the restaurant was shaped like a cheeseburger, they would know exactly what to expect to eat there. There should be, however, a differentiation between overly decorated architecture and subtly complex architecture. Where one eats and shops should be typologically different from where one works and lives. In Jencks’ conversation with Kisho Kurokawa about his residential
ESSAY: OF DUCKS AND MEN 4
tower in Tokyo, Jencks sees a series of stacked washing machines, while Kisho insists they are bird houses. This difference in cultural codes in what we are expected to see versus what we are conditioned to see facilitates architectural discourse. If this concept is applied city-wide, we suddenly have a system of ducks, signifiers, symbols, and signage connected by hallways and corridors that efficiently transport users from point to point with little to no diversion inbetween.
what to expect and exactly where to go, especially in a place we have never visited, then a city or larger system of environments can do the same. We are unaware of the motives of our designers and may be part of a large social experiment of environmental psychology. Unfortunately, those with more nefarious desires could use this as a tool of control. Through the use of “ducks,” or more subtle signifiers and complex components, the language of architecture has the capacity to inform and even control its users’ lives.
The medieval town on lockdown due to the plague, as described by Foucault in Panopticism, functions much like the highlycontrolled urban environment. Foucault compares this medieval town to a specific prison-like structure – The Panopticon. This typology requires no walls, no bars, and no sense of entrapment or control, except for the fear of being watched and monitored at all times. This is quite a useful tool for rulers who are fans of George Orwell. Every aspect of an individual’s life can be controlled, and quite subversively so, by use of architectural language. An argument can be made that modern society is herded from place to place without any indication of the tools used to do so. The methods as described by Venturi, Jencks, Evans, and Foucault simply lay groundwork for a more efficient means of achieving total civil control simply through the use of architecture. This can be accomplished to successfully that individuals may not even be physically watched by anyone in particular, but will continue to perform in a city and in their own homes as the designer has envisioned simply because we all prefer to stand in line than to go against the grain. When an enlightened individual does decide to subvert the system, the lockdown of the environment will resolve the issues of uprising. We underestimate the power of architectural language, and are not so privy to the signs and signifiers that allow us to navigate a building or a city. If a building can be so efficiently designed that we know exactly
References: 1.Evans, R. (n.d.). Figures, Doors, and Passages. In Translations from Drawing to Building (pp. 54-91). The MIT Press. 2.Foucalut, M. (n.d.). Panopticism. In Discipline and Punish (pp. 195-228). Vintage Books. 3.Jencks, C. (n.d.). The Modes of Architectural Communication. In The Language of Post-Modern Architecture. Rizzoli. 4.Venturi, R. (n.d.). Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (pp. 22-45). Doubleday & Company. 5.Venturi, R. (n.d.). On Ducks and Decoration. In Architecture Culture 1943-1968 (pp. 446-449). Rizzoli.
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PUBLIC DISCOURSE IN ARCHITECTCTURE A RESPONSE TO QUERELLE AND OBJECT ORIENTED ONTOLOGIES Gilles Deleuze puts forth the idea, drawing from Plato, of simulacra in art and architecture. There exists an original, a model, an idea, and there are the images, copies, and recreations of these originals known as simulacra. In comparison to other essays written by Bryony Roberts, Jason Payne, Tom Wiscombe, and Andrew Zago and Todd Gannon, the idea of the simulacrum can be found buried within these writers’ arguments. In Roberts’ Beyond the Querelle, delineation between the “old ancients” and the “new ancients” is made. The old ancients draw on Technological Positivism while the new ancients strive to uphold a historical tradition. This distinction is not unique to architecture and has many examples from other fields of study such as the struggle between landscape urbanism and garden design in landscape architecture, visceral perception versus hyper-realism in painting, or synthetic production versus musical performance in modern music. The dividing lines in the above examples have less to do with epistemological differences, and more to do with the technology used to represent output. The old ancients will use technology insofar as the historical means of practice are upheld, while the new ancients will use technology to push the limits of representation and pedagogy. In comparison to Deleuze’s simulacrum, one might be able to view the old ancients and their methodologies as the original idea, and that the new ancients take that original and apply more advanced practices to these ideas. Innovative or not, by definition, these works fall under the category of simulacrum. If the new ancients approach their work in such a way as to subvert the institution of the old ancients, then the work has the opportunity to transcend the notion of simulacra and become its own idea.
Jason Payne describes how the German legend of Doppelgänger can be used to compare two seemingly unrelated objects. He goes on to compare the asteroid Mathilde, and the Albanian Bunker Project, Projekti Bunkerizimit, by saying that both of these objects are big, black, and blank. Though convincing, the means of comparison between these two objects is only successful by altering the means by which they are compared. For example, Payne describes Mathilde as being chromatically black. This denotes a visual effect of how much of the sun’s light is reflected by the surface of this object. He then goes on to describe the Albanian Bunker as “mysteriously black.” Due to the nature of this project and its country’s period of seclusion, the Bunker project is certainly shrouded in mystery, however has little to do with the blackness of Mathilde other than the spelling of the word chosen to describe these two objects. In comparing this essay to the notions of simulacra, I believe the effectiveness of Payne’s arguments can be further discounted. By comparing and contrasting two seemingly unrelated objects, it is impossible to label one as the original, and one as the simulacra. It’s not as if the bunker project was created to mimic the bigness, blackness, and blankness of Mathilde, and certainly not vice versa. However, if we accept the arguments put forth by Payne, we may be able to deduce which object is truly black, and which object is a reasonable imitation of black. Given this example, it would seem that Mathilde is purely black and, according to Payne’s definition of black, the bunker project is a simulacrum.
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Tom Wiscombe explains his ideas of flat ontology in his paper Discreetness. The flat ontology provides a framework from which a project can be designed through a series of irreducible parts that exist a whole objects, rather than a system of objects that exist hierarchically. Though his example of the irreducibility of water is non-sequitur (water being composed of oxygen and hydrogen), the concept of the discreetness of partto-whole relationships seem to lead to a better functioning project in terms of how systems interact with each other. I believe that flat ontologies are best compared to Deleuze’s eternal return; a point in the cycle of simulacra where the copy becomes the original. Wiscombe describes part-to-whole relationships as whole objects coming together to create new whole objects. It is in this assemblage where these originals come together and instantaneously shift from simulacra to new model as the systems involved begin to influence each other. Just as reducing an original idea into something new becomes kitsch, so does the irreducibility of a flat ontology. In Todd Gannon and Andrew Zago’s essay Tabloid Transparency, the authors clearly state the difference between the discipline of architecture and the practice of architecture. While a flat ontology between these two areas may exist, Gannon and Zago explain that the discipline is the tugboat to the Titanic practice of architecture. They go on to urge architects to engage in a larger dialogue that will bring the practice of architecture on a level playing field with the discipline. However, since the practice deals with public wants and needs, it can only be as advanced as the public is about architecture. I would argue that the large majority of the world is unaware of
the capabilities and responsibilities of modern architecture and the practice is therefore limited by the intelligence of its users. If the discipline would take it upon itself to educate the public about epistemological architecture, then perhaps there would no longer be such a disparity of work produced between these two areas. In keeping with the theme of Deleuze’s simulacra, I find it quite interesting to apply this “chicken or the egg” concept to the field of architecture. Zago and Gannon say that discourse drives practice, which one could argue the discourse to be the model and the practice to be the simulacrum. If this is the case, to whom might this copy of discourse be recognized, by architects or by users? Unless the public is to become aware of the capabilities of architecture, we as architects will always be the ones to critique ourselves. By following this thinking, we quickly have a cycle of discipline educating the public, the public demanding cutting-edge design, practice delivering unto the public, and the discipline advancing the research of architectural possibilities. This can also be described by Deleuze’s eternal return; the original is conceived, the original is recreated, and by the time the cycle repeats itself, the original becomes the simulacrum. Through the analysis of the previously stated essays, it seems that there is a large infrastructure in place for the advancement of architecture to unprecedented levels. Whether through technology or discourse, architecture will continue to advance research and drive what offices are expected to produce. There also exists the framework to construct genres of architecture for those who become educated in styles one prefers. Whether its rock and roll, or post-modernism, it is imperative that architects continue to advance architectural discourse and pedagogy to infinite ends.
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YOYOGI NATIONAL GYMNASIUM
Architect Kenzō Tange built the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan for the 1964 Summer Olympics. A pioneer in the bridge between culture and strict Modernist logic, Tange pursued the combination of the wisdom of traditional Japanese architecture with that of Modernism. The Japanese Ministry of Education commissioned Tange to design the Yoyogi National Gymnasium and approved all designs. Their priorities were twofold: one, to optimize space for parking; and two, to transition the masses of people to and from their respective seats with great ease. Indeed, there were masses—the gymnasium seats 16,000 and the smaller building, 5,300. Tange approached the program with a wild, unprecedented priority: he was determined to build a suspended roof across the entire structure, rather than breaking it up into smaller parts. At its completion, the Gymnasium was the largest suspended roof in the entire world—a fact made even only more remarkable when one considers that only two concrete pillars support the entire structure. The roof finds its form through a series of prestressed steel nets and steel plates underneath which a heavy concrete system anchors the cable. Rather than allowing this concrete to hide as a structural afterthought, Tange pushed it to the front of his design. Both the interior and exterior to draw their form from the curving concrete. Furthermore, it is this same concrete that anchors the entire interior seating system. Tange looked not only to tectonics, but also to history when finding forms. First, he considered the Western Classics: the skyline of the Colosseum in Rome appears to have a skin supported by two masts, exactly like the Yoyogi National Gymnasium. However, Kange did not stop there. He borrowed the idea of using hard materials like fabric from the Philips Pavilion, a design by Le Corbusier for the Brussels World Fair. Lastly, Yale’s Hockey Arena by Eero Saarinen further pushed Kange to consider the roof as a principal point of expression, as opposed to its façade.
AS 3100: PARAMETRIC MODERNISM 8
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STUDIES IN BOOLEAN GEOMETRY
VS 4100 : STUDIES IN BOOLEAN GEOMETRY 10
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PREVIOUS PAGES: Diagrams that show the process of development of this shape. A series of sections then show the interior qualities of the prism. The shape was then modelled in polystyrene, photographed, and scanned in an effort to further distort the geometry. The styrene model was then used to cast a foam replica of the solid. The same scanning process was repeated, then the foam model was cut into sections, re-scanned, and compared with the original sections of the styrene mold.
VS 4100 : STUDIES IN BOOLEAN GEOMETRY 16
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DS 1100 : MISREADING PLATONIC SOLIDS 18
[MIS(RE)AD] This exercise began with the analysis of Tony Smith’s SMOKE at LACMA. I noticed a strange arrangement of geometry, and I found myself being unable to complete the task at hand: draw a plan of this sculpture. Upon further study of this sculpture, I found it was not the arrangement of the geometry, but the individual pieces of this sculpture that was producing a misreading. The following exercises are re-orientations of the SMOKE sculpture, a dissection of the logic inherent in its pieces, and the reiteration of this logic to create a new family of forms. These new shapes within shapes would serve as the foundation for this studio’s building project: The Hyde Park Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. LEFT: Axonometric view of the rotated sculpture. RIGHT: Plan, front, and side elevations respectively of the rotated sculpture.
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THIS PAGE: Orthographic drawings of new ‘family members’ that draw their logic from Smith’s Platonic solids. NEXT PAGE: Orthographic drawings of new ‘family members’ that draw their logic from Smith’s Platonic solids. NEXT PAGE BOTTOM: Diagram of of the wireframe relationship of and between the family.
INCEPTION 3
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PREVIOUS PAGE: Color studies of individual family members. These color palettes are based on the paintings of Josef Albers. LEFT PAGE: Color studie of an individual family member. These color palettes are based on the paintings of Josef Albers. THIS PAGE: Diagrams of the creation of the individual family members showing how their logic derives from platonic solids. FOLLOWING PAGES: Color studies of all family members in a single geometric composition. These Color palettes are based on the paintings of Josef Albers.
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LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY HYDE PARK BRANCH OPPOSITE PAGE: Rendering of the final library form with perforated skin. NEXT PAGE: Color studies of the proposed library’s elevations. These studies were used to further drive volumetric relationships within the structure.
The Hyde Park Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library was the focus of this studio. The existing library, originally designed by Hodgetts and Fung, was assumed to be non-existent, creating a tabula rasa for the design of this new library. The site itself is situated in South-Central Los Angeles, on the corner of Florence and Van Ness between the 110 and 710 freeways. After spending several weeks in studying geometries inspired by Boolean operands, and the artist Tony Smith, I had amassed a large collection of formal shapes from which I could begin. Being a native of Southern California, I’m well aware of the cultural and social connotations associated with South-Central Los Angeles: gangs, violence, and poverty. Also, having studied landscape architecture for my undergraduate degree, I am very familiar with Reyner Banham’s Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies, with this site sitting within his “Plains of Id.” At first, I was reticent to impose any geometry upon a site which had little to do with prismatic shapes and an architect/artist from the 60’s. However, I was able to put aside my concerns for the project, and carry on with these geometric studies; after all, I’ve never designed a library before. The formal strategies of the exterior of the library draw from sacred Platonic solids and evoke feelings of prismatism. The panelization of the building skin is created through a gridded pattern that slips from its geometric edges and creates a misreading between Platonic edge and graphic edge. Strategies of program were developed through an internal shape that had similar language and logic to its exterior. By means of orienting these two shapes in an interest of creating meaningful pochè, aperture was then introduced to accommodate related programs such as reading rooms and offices. The orientation of the building on the site takes advantage of maximized sun exposure in areas that require the most daylight.
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DS 1100 : HYDE PARK LIBRARY 30
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THIS PAGE: Photographs of the physical model built for this library. NEXT PAGE: Line drawing elevations of the library. The pattern is ispired by the paintings of Agnes Martin. The slippages were wrapped in such a way as to dissociate the relationship bewteen geometric edge and graphic edge. This pattern was used to further develop systems of aperture and panelization.
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East-West section of the library.
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North-South section of the library.
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First Floor plan of the library.
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Second Floor plan of the library.
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1GB//SP//15
1GB - Spring 2015 40
Cooper Union, NYC - Morphosis
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SANTA MARIA ASSUNTA IL DUOMO DI SIENA The city of Siena is situated in the center of the Italian province of Tuscany which occupies the heartland of Italy. The cathedral, or Duomo, of Siena serves as the city’s main place of Catholic worship. Designed in the 11th century by Giovanni di Agostino, Santa Maria Assunta, Saint Mary of the Assumption, has elements of both Romanesque and French Gothic design influences.1 From the outside of the city, the Duomo dominates the Sienese skyline.(fig. 1) One approaches the Cathedral from the East, walks along the Southern façade, and enters the building from the West. The original church was built on the highest point of the very hilly terrain of the city—the eastern most portion of the structure coming very close to the edge of an extremely steep slope. At the beginning of the 12th century, the cathedral’s baptistery was added on the eastern edge of the existing church just down the slope. The height of the baptistery is level with the ground plane of the old church. This was done to aid in the expansion of the old cathedral. Just fifty years later, the additions to the cathedral were made with the extension of the baptistery roof.2 (fig. 2) The exterior of the cathedral is made of alternating bands of black and white marble on the South, East, and North walls. This technique is known as pietra serena, or serene stone.3 The campanile also exhibits this striping pattern. The Eastern façade makes up the end of the church choir that is situated above the baptistery. (fig. 3) Moving up the outer walls, the wooden roof pitches towards the center from the north and south until each side meets the clerestory on the next level up. The black and white striping is more frequent on the west side of the cathedral than on the east side. The eastern and western portions of the clerestory are divided evenly by the cathedral’s dome which marks the location of the intersection of nave and transept. The exterior arcade of the dome hides the unique hexagonal crossing barrel of the dome. The roof of the white dome then rises above the barrel, terminating about three-quarters of the height of the campanile. (fig. 4)
The western façade (fig. 5) exhibits various motifs and design styles due to the time it took to complete and the change of designers in the process of construction.4 The backside of the façade that is not covered by the roof of the clerestory is constructed with the same black and white striped pattern of the western portion of the clerestory. The lower portion of the western façade is wrapped on the north and south by the continuation of the adjacent pietra serena. This pattern terminates at the spring line for the three arches that signify the entrances to the cathedral. The tympanum above the church portals display various carvings of saints and symbols of Siena and her allegiance to Rome, such as the She-Wolf.5 These are bordered by spiral patterned archivolts which meet the ground in a compound column. While the lower portion of the façade exhibits clearly Romanesque influences, the upper portion shifts to canonical gothic. Above the spring line of these archivolts begins the west work of the cathedral. On the north and south sides of the western façade two gothic style towers rise up, embellished with sculptures of saints and ogive arches. Above the archivolts begins a design that was influenced by the cathedral of Orvieto.6 The three arches are topped by a pitched pediment with a single sculpture in the center each. The top of these three points creates a baseline for the remainder of the west façade. In the center, a rose window is framed by a square of figural sculptures—the frame flanked on either side by ornamental towers. Between the rose window assembly and the outermost towers, an arcade of ogive arches is topped by a pediment with a tympanum fresco. This same element is repeated above the rose window, completing the western façade of the cathedral.
FORMAL ANALYSIS: SANTA MARIA ASSUNTA 42
The interior of the duomo follows a basilica plan (fig. 6) with the nave along the main axis that is divided from the side aisles with pietra serena compound columns. (fig. 7) The floor of the duomo is what attracts visitors—several dozen mosaic paintings depicting scenes from the bible adorn the ground plane of the interior, the most intricate of which are covered for protection except between the dates of August 15 – September 15.7 The compound columns rise to meet the groin vaults of the side aisles, except for the center column which rises to the very top of the vaulted clerestory. (fig. 8) The side aisles terminate with exterior walls adorned with chapels and frescos. At the end of the north side aisle is the Piccolomini library. This library houses paintings and relics of Eneo Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini, a favorite son of Siena who later became Pope Pius II.8 The line between the top of the side aisle vaults and the bottom of the clerestory is adorned with the busts of saints and priests facing the nave towards the inside. Stained glass windows sit centered above these arches to form the clerestory. From the eastern and western facades, the clerestory terminates in a rose window, while the clerestory’s intersection with the transept is treated differently. The crossing of the cathedral was the first to display a hexagonal intersection of vaulting. While this feature is masked by an arcade on the exterior, this feature of the dome’s barrel is revealed on the interior by a thin arcade that exposes the exterior of the barrel to the inside of the nave. (fig. 9) The groin vaulted roof of the nave has painted mosaic intersections with blue in the negative space and white and yellow dots to symbolize the night sky. This sky pattern is repeated on the interior of the dome that opens to
an oculus topped by a glazed tower. The graphic panelization and oculus are representative of the Pantheon in Rome. Returning to the exterior of the duomo, we notice something peculiar in the piazza to the south. (fig. 10) A complete pietra serena wall extends from the east side of transept several hundred meters to the south and terminates at a large, blank, unfinished wall that resembles a larger version of the cathedral’s main façade. Before the completion of the new choir over the lower level baptistery, a new church or duomo nuovo was proposed.9 The plan was to extend the transept to the south proportionally so that the nave of the existing church would become the transept of the duomo nuovo. Due to structural negligence, lack of funds, and ultimately the black death, the extension of the Siena Duomo was never fully realized and plans went forth to finish the cathedral as we see it today.10 All that remains is the eastern wall of the new nave, complete with black and white marble striping, groin vaulted side aisles, Romanesque embellishment and a pitched wooden roof. The new façade, facciadore, exists now as the terminus of the piazza del duomo.11 Due to Siena’s alignment with Rome, the city was in constant turmoil with her neighbor, Florence. The design of the Duomo di Firenze, Santa Maria di Fiori, was happening around the same time as the construction of the western façade of Santa Maria Assunta. After Brunelleschi’s involvement with the dome of Florence, the race to construct larger and larger cathedrals began between the two cities.12 While Florence was true to the Romanesque tradition, Siena took influences from French Gothic and lore of the city of Siena and by extension, Rome, to create a narrative for its cathedral. The use of pietra serena comes from the story of the death of Remus of Rome. Remus’ son, Senius fled Rome when Romulus murdered Remus. The black and white stone symbolizes the black and white horses that carried Senius and his brother Aschius to the site where they would found Siena. Legend also tells of the clouds that concealed the boys from their Roman pursuers—black and white.13
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Figure 1 – View of the Siena Cathedral taken from the North.
FORMAL ANALYSIS: SANTA MARIA ASSUNTA 44
Figure 2 – Cross section of the Siena Cathedral showing stages of construction.
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Figure 3 – View of the East façade of the cathedral. This façade extends the new choir over the below-ground baptistery.
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Figure 4 – View of the Siena Cathedral from the Southeast. Note the differences in pietra serena treatment between the lower outer nave walls, and upper clerestory walls.
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Figure 5 – Western façade of the Siena Duomo.
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Figure 6 – Plan diagram of the existing Cathedral. The old church is outlined in purple and the new baptistery is outlined in blue.
Figure 7 – Interior of the Siena Duomo from the church portals looking towards the apse. Note one of the mosaic paintings that adorn the entire floor of the cathedral.
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Figure 8 – Interior of the Siena Cathedral looking up towards the nave roof and main dome. Note the treatment of the piers, roofs, arcades, vaults, and dome.
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Figure 9 – The arcade treatment on the inner terminus of the nave adjacent to the dome reveals the outer portion of the barrel supporting the dome.
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Figure 10 – View of the incomplete Duomo Nuovo from the south façade of the cathedral looking southeast.
FORMAL ANALYSIS: SANTA MARIA ASSUNTA 52
Footnotes: 1 - Diana Norman, Florence, Siena, and Padua: Art, Society and Religion 1280-1400, ch. 6, pp. 143 “…Giovanni di Agostino, the (previous) capomaestro in charge of the Duomo…” 2 - Diana Norman, Florence, Siena, and Padua: Art, Society and Religion 1280-1400, ch. 6, pp. 133, Plate 163 – Longitudinal section of the Duomo showing the stages of building. 3 - Dora Epstein Jones, lecture, Architecture Culture 1, SCI-Arc, Los Angeles, Wednesday, March 11, 2015. 4 - Diana Norman, Siena, Florence, and Padua: Art, Society, and Religion 12801400, ch. 6, pp. 142 “An alternative hypothesis is that the top half of the façade was designed in the 1360’s, after the events surrounding the new baptistery and the Duomo Nuovo had been experienced.” 5 - Carol Field, The Hill Towns of Italy, Siena, pp. 29, “…Siena took the side of the emperors, while her rival, Florence, a mere forty-five miles away, supported the Popes. 6 - Carol Field, The Hill Towns of Italy, Siena, pp 34, “Had the plans been arried out, this would have been a much larger cathedral than its rivals in Orvieto and Florence.” 7 - Carol Field, The Hill Towns of Italy, Siena, pp 35, “The famous floor, and enormous carpet of inlaid colored marble designs, is like a gigantic book telling stories from the Bible…The best of them are almost always hidden by protective wooden planks and are unveiled only from August 15 to September 15.” 8 - Scala, The Piccolomini Library in the Cathedral of Siena, Introduction 9 - Diana Norman, Florence, Siena, and Padua: Art, Society and Religion 1280-1400, ch. 6, pp. 137, Plate 168, Diagrammatic plan of the Duomo Nuovo. 10 - Diana Norman, Florence, Siena, and Padua: Art, Society and Religion 1280-1400, ch. 6, pp. 137, “By contrast, in Siena the Black Death led, at least indirectly, to the abandonment of the project of the Duomo Nuovo.” 11 - Diana Norman, Florence, Siena, and Padua: Art, Society and Religion 1280-1400,I ch. 6, pp 137, “The facciatone, the right aisle and the outside wall of the left aisle are all the remain of the Duomo Nuovo today.” 12 - Diana Norman, Florence, Siena and Padua: Art, Society and Religion 1280-1400, ch. 6, pp. 134, “Meanwhile in Florence around 1293-96, at the same time that Giovanni Pisano was working on the façade of Siena Duomo…” 13 - Carol Field, The Hill Towns of Italy, Siena, pp. 28, “Legend says that Siena was established by Senius, fleeing Rome after the death of his father Remus. With his brother he set up the familiar roman wolf suckling Romulus and Remus as the symbol of the city, and chose black and while for the shield, because he rode a white horse and his brother a black one, or perhaps because the two of them were hidden from enemies by two clouds, one black and one white, as they made their way north to safety.” Bibliography: 1.Norman, Diana (1995). Siena, Florence, and Padua: art society and religion 12801400. Yale University Press. 2.Scala (1982) The Piccolomini Library in the Cathedral of Siena. Istituto Fotografico Editoriale, Firenze 3.Dillerman, D.M. (1999). “Cosmopolitanism and Campanilismo: Gothic and Romanesque in the Siena Duomo Façade.” The Art Bulletin, Vol. 81, No. 3, 437-455. 4.Pregil, Philip (1999) Landscapes in History, 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons. 5.Carli, Enzo (1999) Siena Cathedral and the cathedral museum. Scala Publications 6.Johnson, Geraldine A. (September 1995). “Activating the effigy: Donatello’s Pecci tomb in Siena Cathedral.: The Art Bulletin 77 (3): 445-459. 7.Official website of the Siena Duomo. http://www.operaduomo.siena.it/eng/index.htm 8.UNESCO World Heritage website. “Historic Centre of Siena.” http://whc.unesco.org/ en/list/717 9.Nevola, Fabrizio (2007). Siena: Constructing the Renaissance City (Second Ed.). Yale University Press. 10.Kauffman, Richard (1983). The Hill Towns of Italy. New York: Dutton. 11.Listri, Massimo (1999) Hidden Tuscany: Unusual destinations and secret places. New York: Rizzoli International Publications. Image Index: 1.Norman, Diana (1995). Siena, Florence, and Padua: art society and religion 12801400. Yale University Press. 2.Scala (1982) The Piccolomini Library in the Cathedral of Siena. Istituto Fotografico Editoriale, Firenze 3.Wikimedia Commons. Search Terms: Siena Cathedral, Siena Duomo, Santa Maria Assunta Siena. 4.Images from the author’s personal archive. Images taken between August 2012 and December 2012. 5.Official website of the Siena Duomo. http://www.operaduomo.siena.it/eng/index.htm 6.UNESCO World Heritage website. “Historic Centre of Siena.” http://whc.unesco.org/ en/list/717
53
INCEPTION 3
LIGHTING INSTALLATION REFLECTIVITY
OPPOSITE PAGE: Image of the lighting projection in process. NEXT PAGE LEFT: Diagram showing the effects of polar coordinate image mapping. NEXT PAGE RIGHT: Sketch of the intended installation.
This project takes advantage of polar coordinate distortions through a series of projections and reflections. The concept of reflectivity in this installation is achieved through a cylinder of reflective mylar. By projecting a distorted image perpendicular to the cylinder, the distortion is re-mapped onto the cylindrical surface as a clearly recognizable image. Through our process of experimentation, we have noticed a striking similarity between our project, and modernist Miesian columns. The columns found in the Barcelona Pavilion and the Villa Tugendhat are polished to a chrome finish as to minimize their appearance; our cylinder represents a portion of this column. Due to the size of the original projected image, about one-third of our cylinder is activated by the light phenomenon—not unlike the proportional relationships of a Corinthian capital to its column. Upon further experimentation, we have created a process by which we can control the graphic effects of a polished column, creating a digital capital. The viewer approaches our installation either from the North or the South, seeing what represents a Doric Column pedestal, and a shiny, metallic-like object suspended from an overhang. The alignment of these elements implies a complete columnar geometry that is tectonically believable. Within about ten feet of the installation, the viewer then notices a strange circular projection occupying the space immediately surrounding the reflective cylinder. As the viewer is upon the installation, they will notice an upright and clearly recognizable image reflected onto the cylinder. The effects of the projected animation establish four separate “planes” of the digital capital. Furthermore, the animation acknowledges the tectonic connection between the column and the picture plane and uses this as a theatrical fourth wall.
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INCEPTION 3
36" 30"
"I" BEAMS
CORRUGATED METAL SHEETS
(2) 14" THICK FOME-CORE 3M DOUBLE SIDED TAPE 4" O.C. TYP. 6" DIA. REFLECTIVE MYLAR CYLINDER 15'-0"
PROJECTED CONE OF LIGHT 3 1
4"
4"
60"
MDF
FOME-CORE CONCRETE FLOORING
60" 3"
EPSON PROJECTOR VGA INPUT FROM COMPUTER
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LIGHTING INSTALLATION SECTION SCALE: 1/2" = 1'-0"
TO POWER (110V) Installation details of the projection and image surface
6"
12"
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LIGHTING INSTALLATION PLAN SCALE: 1/2" = 1'-0"
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Image of the completed installation from the South.
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INCEPTION 3
REFLECTIONS
PREVIOUS PAGE: Overlapping of sequenced projections. OPPOSITE PAGE: Visitors observing the projections and remapping phenomena.
The goals of this project were clear: project a distorted image onto a curved surface to remap the image into something legible. However, we did not anticipate the tectonic effects this installation would have. The subtle differences between projection, projected surface, and radius of the reflected column present a delicate balance of project successfulness and believability. The effect of the warped projection onto the bottom, cut surface, of the reflective column was something that added a scaled relationship of material-to-surface interaction. The black inner circle and glowing outer circle suggest a physically cut object—implying the remainder of the column. This instance led us to believe that the column could have been extended all the way to the ground. With an additional projector and further technological finesse, a single, Meisian column would have positioned in such a way as to represent the support of the cantilevered space above while activating the digital capital.
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INCEPTION 3
ROMAIN DU ROI LETTERFORM TRANSFORMATIONS
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OPPOSITE PAGE: Lowercase letter “g” as described by the official alphabet of the French courts.
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THIS PAGE: Sequence of diagrams showing the creation of the hybrid letter. NEXT PAGE: Oblique view rendering of the final letterform. FOLLOWING PAGE: Grasshoppergenerated vector rendering of the final letterform.
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INCEPTION 3
VILLA TUGENDHAT PRECEDENT STUDY
B
Mies Van der Rohe’s Villa Tugendhat in Brno, Czech Republic is a cannonical example of Mies’ attention to materiality and the use of the free plan. The following is a formal dissection of the house and the elements contained therein.
A
THIS PAGE: Roof and street level floor plans of the Villa Tugendhat.
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OPPOSITE PAGE: Ground level and basement plans of the Villa Tugendhat.
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street level plan
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INCEPTION 3
section AA
section BB
Sections of the Villa Tugendhat
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street elevation
north elevation
garden elevation
south elevation
Elevations of the Villa Tugendhat
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INCEPTION 3
OPPOSITE PAGE: A series of diagrams that formally describe the Villa Tugendhat.
North-East axonometric of the Villa Tugendhat
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structure
main space layout
divergence
vertical circulation
figure ground
vertical circulation
part - to - whole
public / private
solid / void - elevation
basement / hillside
underground / overground
power windows structure / enclosure
massing
fenestration / usage
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INCEPTION 3
Butterflies - M.C. Escher
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TESSELLATIONS
TWO-DIMENSIONAL PATTERN RECOGNITION The design process of this studio began with the study of two-dimensional tessellations. Upon unraveling the secrets to their creation, I was able to use the same logic to reconstruct the tiles of this tessellations. In M.C. Escher’s Butterflies, there exists an infinite scalar relationship between each tile once the organizational logic is broken down. Once these patterns were re-represented, the next task was to express these tessellations in three-dimensions. By identifying the forms that could be created by lofting several patterns together, I was able to scale a certain “mother geometry” appropriately and from that, extract three dimensional forms that were either a positive or negative intersection between the original form and a regulating box that set up the proportions of what was to become a house.
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INCEPTION 3
THIS PAGE: The top row shows the different tiles patterns within this tessellation. The following rows show different ways in which these tiles can be recombined. OPPOSITE PAGE: Solid void diagrams and color studies of these new realtionships reveal even more spatial an geometric relationships.
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INCEPTION 3
THIS PAGE: Diagram of form generation from two dimensions to three dimenstions OPPOSITE PAGE: A small selection of the many forms that were created from the mother geometry. The selected form for the house design has been highlighted.
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INCEPTION 3
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CASA ULTIMA HOUSE DESIGN
Casa Ultima leverages sectional design processes in accordance to program aimed at domesticity. By increasing the frequency with which benchmark sections are taken, an infinite number of forms are thus generated. Due to the purely digital creation of this house, interstitial sections reveal digital artifacts of the process by which they came to be. This house is represented in a way that positions itself in the realm of buildings as drawings. The methods of representation treat elevations as sections, plans as diagrams, and axonometrics as elevations. By blurring the line between building contexts, new relationships between solid, void, mass and aperture are further discovered. Casa Ultima aims to situate itself as a study in what is expected versus what exists. OPPOSITE PAGE: Front elevation of Casa Ultima. The diagonal gesture across the facade is a feature that has remained since its creation from the tessellation.
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INCEPTION 3
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First Floor Plan
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down to first level family room up to third level
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Second Floor Plan
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INCEPTION 3
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down to second level loft bathroom open to sun room below
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Third Floor Plan
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90째 Plan-Elevation
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INCEPTION 3
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entry living room atrium bedroom
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INCEPTION 3
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entry courtyard atrium
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Section “CC”
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90째 Back-Left Elevation
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INCEPTION 3
PREVIOUS PAGES: Vector renderings of Casa Ultima. Experiments in line, color, and solid-void further reveal volumetric realtionships within the house. OPPOSITE PAGE: Examples of iterative sections that were uses to develop the experiential qualities of Casa Ultima.
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INCEPTION 3
THIS PAGE: 360째 photos of the physical model of Casa Ultima from parallel views. OPPOSITE PAGE: 360째 photoes of the physical model of Casa Ultima from aerial view.
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INCEPTION 3
View inside the sectional model
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Left view of the sectional model
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INCEPTION 3
Rear view of the sectional model
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Right view of the sectional model