Graduate Portfolio by Hannah Mann

HANNAH MANN PORTFOLIO | 2019-2021 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE

Portfolio by Hannah Mann Los Angeles, CA

STATEMENT

statement

Like a piece of writing that can be edited, or refined, architecture can not ever be finished. It is always being reworked through multiple iterations and it’s story changes as time moves on. Architecture should be able to excite you, to calm you, to make you think. Revisions, not necessarily to change per se, but rather to ‘re-see’ in the words of Amanda Reeser Lawrence, tells an ever developing story about function, culture, pain, and beauty that begs to evoke emotion and discourse from the reader. Hannah Mann received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Architecture at Portland State University (PSU) in 2019. She recently completed her Master’s Degree in Architecture at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). Born as a first generation American, she has had an insatiable curiosity for chasing new horizons. Always learning how objects go together or how they can be taken apart; taking one thing and turning it into a new creation. This curiosity led her to travel to many cities internationally and helped her develop her voice through art and design which has brought her to this point.

CONTENTS

HANNAH MANN

8 A Rustic Untidiness taught by Hernan Diaz Alonzo

16 Mutineers Manifesto

62 Re-see; reconceptualize, reconsider taught by Erik Gheniou

with Alex Lewis taught by Lucy McRae

66 SLICE - it 24 Design Details Group Work taught by Herwig Baumgartner, Brian Zamora, Matt Melnyk, Jamey Lyzun, and Casey Rehm

32 Other Futures with Sohail Gill, Mateo Deza, + Yuto Yokomizo taught by Mimi Zeiger

36 Le Musee Imaginere with Burak Celik taught by Jackilin Hah Bloom

with Alex Lewis taught by Andrea Cadioli + Curime Batliner

76 After Images with Lezi Li taught by Angelica Lorenzi

84 Luma Arles with Alex Lewis, Kyle Balster, + Peter Kluzac taught by Maxi Spina + Randy

98 Strip Tease 52 Out of Context

taught by John Cooper + Marcelyn Gow

with Allison Hoagland taught by Angelica Lorenzi

S C I -A R C

A R U S T I C U N T I D I N E S S | S P 21

A RUSTIC UNTIDINESS A vertical studio led by Hernan Diaz Alonzo Assistant teachers: Joy Dai + Pedro Ferrazini

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 3GBX

S C I -A R C

A R U S T I C U N T I D I N E S S | S P 21

A Rustic Untidiness the intersection of the urban and the rural

his project aims to work on the intersection of the natural and artificial, time and movement, urban and the rural . It is not about primitive geometry, but instead about primitive and traditional methods—of design, architecture, textiles, cooking, furniture, tools and objects. Architecture, at the end of the day, can only express the culture of now. Like science, fiction is never really about the future, but only a myopic view of the present. Architecture can similarly only operate as a bridge between the past and the future. Revamping and reshaping traditions into contemporary mechanisms of thinking and design, the studio proposes to define agencies of contamination for interactions for the current digital apparatus of design. Architecture also should remind us of children’s play—only for the sake of play and curiosity—but absolutely serious and committed. As it becomes more about creating genres than typologies, the evolution of the genre begins to deepen. Some choose to reinforce the barrel. Others, as in our case, select to contaminate it. excerpt from studio brief

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 3GBX

S C I -A R C

A R U S T I C U N T I D I N E S S | S P 21

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 3GBX

his “now” process will modify the tradition of composition and order as an agent to study the shift towards a paradigm of disordered “occupiable infrastructure” rather than the omnipresent platform of typologies. If typologies are traditionally seen as categories of standardization and symbolic expressions of form, in terms of crossovers, they are malleable entities that are in constant metamorphosis; adaptation and mutation are the main characteristics of a project that produces genera or species. A species needs a lineage to be recognized as such, and in fact, a typology also needs a family to become such. But a species has more freedom because it can mutate. A typology can change, but it cannot mutate; it can be combined or renewed, but it will always be a typology. My project aims to propose to carry out an extensive journey in the new logics of contamination and construction of structural, cultural instability. Radicalizing the relation between the urban and the rural, using the possibilities of artificial and natural interaction. Never leaving the strangeness; but rather just curious and channel different ways of seeing. It

makes it vital and necessary and, yes, useless, in the best sense of the word. This is a current and ongoing project that will be on the Paraná Delta: the delta of the Paraná River in Rosario, Argentina. It consists of several islands known as the Islas del Paraná. There are new possibilities in disorder, contaminations, and putrefactions of traditions. These need to be a channel through a combination of nature/landscape, water, infrastructure and architecture. How can something advance if it is not confronted? It is a strive to achieve that balance and try to dispel the ideal of imagination, innovation, and originality. Believing in the integrity of chasing obsessions. The sole purpose of architecture is to imagine and challenge the discipline’s culture at every possible angle.

S C I -A R C

A R U S T I C U N T I D I N E S S | S P 21

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 3GBX

S C I -A R C

M U T I N E E R S M A N I F E S TO | FA 20

MUTINEERS MANIFESTO A vertical studio led by Lucy McRae in collaboration with Alex Lewis

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 3GAX

S C I -A R C

M U T I N E E R S M A N I F E S TO | FA 20

Mutineers Manifesto perfection as the devil

iction is the most important artistic genre right now. It plays a key role in shaping public opinion, has the power to prevent worst case scenarios, and can steer a technology’s trajectory for the good. It is critical, urgent and non-negotiable that we write, physicalise and create our future. As Mutineers we adopt a renegade, outlaw, m averick a ttitude, as does British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood — a matriarch of rebellion. We don’t look to others and channel our internal psychological forces to inspire new feelings, aesthetics and stories, seeing perfection as the devil. — Rei Kawakubo. The project speculates on scientific and technological advancements, to investigate what future culture will look and feel like. Via photography, film and CGI, we built various objects that would be used as physical models, props, products, machines or furniture, etc..that championed our story. In this case objects and props became the characters and protagonist in our moving images. Found materials are kitbashed and transformed into otherworldly objects, that are documented on location and in the photo studio as well as composed into digital scenes. excerpt from studio brief

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 3GAX

S C I -A R C

M U T I N E E R S M A N I F E S TO | FA 20

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 3GAX

S C I -A R C

M U T I N E E R S M A N I F E S TO | FA 20

surveillance

reflection

self experimentation

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 3GAX

extraction

ingestion

catharsis

S C I -A R C

D E S I G N D E TA I L S | FA 20

DESIGN DETAILS A seminar led by Herwig Baumgartner in collaboration with Burak Celik, Jasper Gregory, Peter Klusak, Wen Chen, Ilaria Lu, Wenxi Zhang, David Hakcheol Seo, Yixuan Cai, Melody Chu, Kovartini Sekar, + Abdullah Tahseen

HANNAH MANN

APPLIED STUDIES | 3GAX

S C I -A R C

D E S I G N D E TA I L S | FA 20

Design Details

his course investigates issues related to the implementation of design: technology, the use of materials, systems integration, and the archetypal analytical strategies of force, order and character. The project includes advanced construction methods, analysis of building codes, the design of Structural and Mechanical systems, Environmental systems, Buildings service systems, the development of building materials and the integration of building components and systems. The intent of this course is to develop a cohesive understanding of how architects communicate complex building systems for the built environment and to demonstrate the ability to document a comprehensive architectural project and Stewardship of the Environment. A series of built case studies will be presented by the instructors along with visiting professionals in the field who are exploring new project delivery methods. These case studies will be shown in‐depth with construction photographs, 3D renderings, and technical drawings and details. Pertinent specific topics for the course will be highlighted in each presentation, with a focus on the evolution of building design from concept to build form. excerpt from studio brief

HANNAH MANN

APPLIED STUDIES | 3GAX

S C I -A R C

D E S I G N D E TA I L S | FA 20

HANNAH MANN

APPLIED STUDIES | 3GAX

S C I -A R C

D E S I G N D E TA I L S | FA 20

HANNAH MANN

APPLIED STUDIES | 3GAX

S C I -A R C

OT H E R F U T U R E S | FA 20

OTHER FUTURES A seminar led by Mimi Zeiger in collaboration with Sohail Gill, Yuto Yokomizo, Mateo Deza

HANNAH MANN

H I S TO R Y T H E O R Y | 3 G A X

S C I -A R C

OT H E R F U T U R E S | FA 20

e are proposing seven 18’x 6’ modular panels arranged octago-nally for an exhibition space that is nomadic in design and portable in its construct. The exhibition has no site, it has neither exterior nor interior. The nature of the exhibition is to break free of the linear flow of time by comparing past and future events placed in a non-hierarchical way. The intention of the exhibition is to bring awareness by juxta-posing hitorical events seen and compared three at a time. The triangulated vision being a direct representation of the perspectival gaze. These events or projections will be portrayed on LED panels where one is in constant comparison with the two adjunt projections. Hope, Limit, Irony and Time are the ‘feeling’ experience of the curators, but the observers are open to interpret their own perceptions as their gaze navigates the panels. One is open to enter the loop of time anywhere, but the sight will always capture one body facing panel and two in comparison. We have explored various futures from multiple perspectives in this class. Over this semester it has come apparent to the group that de-pending on who, how, when, and what is observed, the idea can take on myriad of interpretations. We found that the ideas of hope, irony, limit, and time can be used to bridge the comparison between works across any medium. The exhibition enclosure, or a space, invites the viewer towards the centre point of the octagon to induce the feelings, perceptions or interpretaions based on comparisons in sight. As the observers move their gaze freely within the space, they become a representation of time that breaks the linear flow. Their narrative generates different futures that leads to an open understanding of what a utopia or dystopia could be. These perspectival comparisons through time lead to an ultimate “open gap’’ for the observers to fill as they leave the exhibition. HANNAH MANN

H I S TO R Y T H E O R Y | 3 G A X

S C I -A R C

LE MUSEE IMGINERE | SP20

LE MUSEE IMAGINERE A studio led by Jackilin Hah Bloom in collaboration with Burak Celik

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 2GBX

S C I -A R C

L E M U S E E I M A G I N E R E | S P 20

Le Musee Imaginere a museum for the digital age

iven today’s evolution of cultural places, we are interested in exploring ways in which an everexpanding encyclopedic museum would not only accommodate and exhibit art in the digital age, but also act as a unique public space within a campus of museum buildings. Our project aims to challenge the way that art viewers experience the museum in a new digital age. Interactive, digitized art can have the ability to disorient and transpose its viewer through collected data. Digital art pieces break the conventional art-making process and work as a catalyst to the space-making process by using more complex and higher performing data collection systems than it used to be. Projected in rooms and spaces that are designed to be dynamic allows the art pieces to take on new forms resulting in a unique experience.

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 2GBX

S C I -A R C

L E M U S E E I M A G I N E R E | S P 20

Heightened disciplinary distinctions between architecture, art, ecology, and engineering marginalize the status of the architectural project

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 2GBX

S C I -A R C

L E M U S E E I M A G I N E R E | S P 20

LACMA 3.0

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 2GBX

he territory of museums should concern itself with the whole of the built environment. Heightened disciplinary distinctions between architecture, art, ecology, and engineering marginalize the status of the architectural project, precluding new paradigms for contemporary settings of this digital age. This is primarily a conceptual development for an architectural intervention that is interested in deriving its form from the very notion of art. The role of museums to collect, preserve and present objects and art pieces are critical. Today, museums are not only for art-viewing but for art-making. This intervention asks the question of what it means to create a museum space using the techniques and mediums of art. It is a study of the atmospheric effects created through art and translated into literal spaces for viewers. Our project proposes a looping, tubular plinth on the ground floor that delineates an open sculpture garden while holding a larger volume of exhibition spaces above. The groundscape works as an open space for art to be publicly displayed. It bridges the gap between the interior and the exterior. The formal arrangement of the plinth and the mass makes it an elevated museum. The plinth allows for multiple access points into the garden from the

LACMA campus. Digital displays of the permanent collection through holograms and augmented reality projected in dynamic architectural spaces provides interactive activity areas.

S C I -A R C

L E M U S E E I M A G I N E R E | S P 20

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 2GBX

S C I -A R C

L E M U S E E I M A G I N E R E | S P 20

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 2GBX

S C I A RSCC ‘I2-A 0 RC

L E M U S E E I M A G I N E R E | S P 20

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 2GBX

S C I -A R C

L E M U S E E I M A G I N E R E | S P 20

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 2GAX

S C I -A R C

O U T O F C O N T E X T | S P 20

DON’T QUIT YOUR DAY DREAM A seminar led by Angelica Lorenzi in collaboration with Allison Hoagland

HANNAH MANN

VISUAL STUDIES | 2GBX

S C I -A R C

O U T O F C O N T E X T | S P 20

OUT OF CONTEXT In collaboration with Allison Hoagland

“

It’s good because it’s awful...” High culture defines our larger cultural perception of beauty. Success is a calculated, serious effort of absolute truth and rationalism. These boundaries are stifling; a resistance is found in failure. Exaggerated and bold, the new ritual is naive and fantastic. Aesthetics and Style replace moral perfectionism and allow for the experience of the world in antiserious ways. Thus the way the world can be delighted in is exponentially expanded. Theatricality is celebrated, artificial realities challenge the ones we are thought to be contained to. The aura of original and replica are appropriated and loved freely.

HANNAH MANN

VISUAL STUDIES | 2GBX

S C I -A R C

O U T O F C O N T E X T | S P 20

HANNAH MANN

VISUAL STUDIES | 2GBX

S C I -A R C

O U T O F C O N T E X T | S P 20

HANNAH MANN

VISUAL STUDIES | 2GBX

“

It is about a kind of platform monasticism, devoted to the spiritual expression of the discrepancy between the different modes of temporality and image that emerge between digital megastructures, reality and users; a gravity between the computational assemblage and its human and non-human inhabitants. It creates a Now, capable of accommodating other Nows; a Now that looks back and ahead, and eventually can do away with the distinction between past and future.” - Metahaven, Digital Tarkovsky We trust our digital devices and its platforms so much that the context of the immersive, inhabitable Internet functions as a repository and organizer of our human aspiration. Its temporal and spatial dimensions contain a stratification of images and manifestations of our known. Internet platforms are technologies that function as a base upon which other applications, processes, or technologies are being developed. They are not only websites, but infrastructures; apparatuses that demand constant user engagement. The seminar explored the possibility of a three-dimensional future for the Internet, persistently mapped over the entire planet. The inhabitable internet might eventually

become a collective place for all humans to live, work, and play. Based on this assumption, what will the spatial internet look and feel like? How should we value it? How many realities does it contain? We sstudied the current state of visual literacy and how it infiltrates the everyday both on an individual and a societal level. We design versatile solutions applicable to generic situations (nonspecific) through advanced image production and modelling techniques. Once the design context is designed, the students test it against particular present scenarios that are a projection of our current everyday lives using simulations.

A panorama in excerpts

S C I -A R C

O U T O F C O N T E X T | S P 20

HANNAH MANN

VISUAL STUDIES | 2GBX

S C I -A R C

R E V I S I O N S | S P 20

RE-SEE; RECONCEPTUALIZE, RECONSIDER HT2201 Final Project 04/24/2020

evisionist theory can be used in a number of contexts, but usually refers to the different revisions of Marxist theory. Oftentimes it came from groups that opposed Marx’s revolution (or at least how aggressive it was) and wanted to pursue a more peaceful way for a socialist revolution. The first “revisionists” can be traced back to close friends of Carl Marx, such as Eduard Bernstein. These democratic socialist writers such as Bernstein, who sought to revise Karl Marx’s ideas about the transition to socialism and claimed that a revolution through force was not necessary to achieve a socialist society became what we know as 19th century revisionists. The views of Bernstein gave rise to reformist theory, which asserts that socialism can be achieved through gradual peaceful reforms from within a capitalist system. Jumping forward to the 20th century, enter James Stirling. Born in Great Britain in the 1920’s, he began to make a name for himself in the world of architecture in the 1950’s when he began his own practice in London. Stirling might either have been modernism’s “last great prophet” or post-modernism’s “poster child” according to Amanda Reeser Lawrence, but we’ll get more into that later. In any case, he had some issues with what other architects were claiming, but not fully demonstrating in their architecture so much so that he built said buildings again but “corrected” them to truly be what they were supposed to be. In an HANNAH MANN

article written in 1979 for the book, Contemporary Architects, Stirling said, “I believe that the shapes of a building should indicate—perhaps display—the usage and way of life of its occupants, and it is therefore likely to be rich and varied in appearance, and its expression is unlikely to be simple ... in a building we did at Oxford some years ago (the Florey Building, Queen’s College, Oxford, 1971), it was intended that you could recognize the historic elements of courtyard, entrance gate towers, cloisters; also a central object replacing the traditional fountain or statue of the college founder. In this way we hoped that students and public would not be disassociated from their cultural past. The particular way in which functional-symbolic elements are put together may be the ‘art’ in the architecture. ...If the expression of functional-symbolic forms and familiar elements is foremost, the expression of structure will be secondary, and if structure shows, it is not in my opinion, the engineering which counts, but the way in which the building is put together that is important.” Some of Stirling’s works that he is best remembered for, such as the garden apartments at Ham Common (1955-58) and the seminal Engineering Building at Leicester University (1959-63) are both examples of his revisions on modernist architects Le Corbusier and Konstantin Melnikov pre-existing buildings. Now skip to the 21st century where Amanda

H I S TO R Y T H E O R Y | 2 G B X

Reeser Lawrence comes into the discussion. Lawrence takes a close look at the work of James Stirling and its relationship to his predecessors like Corbusier and Melnikov. She doesn’t quite argue his case or argue against it; moreover Lawrence is engaged in quite a different, and far more rigorous pursuit. Anthony Paletta writes in Metropolis about how she’s concerned with a close analysis of Stirling’s own thinking about his projects and his idiosyncratic conception of Modernism, as “a set of principles that transcended association with the contemporary or even with the twentieth century; they had nothing to do with any stylistic language, modern or remote. As Stirling was fond of saying, ‘There’s nothing fundamentally new about modern architecture,’ by which he meant that modern qualities could be found in buildings throughout all of history.” Lawrence writes in her article Revision: Seeing Stirling Again, that Stirling had visited the Maisons Jaoul in Paris and struggled with Le Corbusier;s “irrational” post-war building contrasting its “deliberately crude” language with the pure machine aesthetic of the Villa Stein. If Corbusier was going to claim these houses as being “a machine to live in”, Stirling would have liked to see the finish of the bricks being harder or definite joints between the brick wall and the concrete floors. He calls for a return to the principles of the revolutionary architecture of the 1920’s, according to Lawrence. When Stirling came out with the apartments at Ham Common, you can see the way he took his theory of revision and applied it to his practice. Lawrence states that “To revision, then, is not simply to change, but to ‘re-see’, to fundamentally reconceptualize and reconsider. And that is what I believe she is noticing in James Stirling as he, in a way, “re-see’s” Corbusier. “Once we see again, it seems, we must reimagine.” Pictured below is a side by side comparison of the two; on the left is Ham Commons by Stirling, and on the right is Maisons Jaoul by Corbusier. Lawrence mentions in Revisions that the two buildings side by side are remarkably similar. From the facade with the horizontal bandings of exposed concrete floor slabs to to the infilled load bearing brick walls, when viewed in this way, Stirling as a revisionist really begins to come through physically in the built environment. And he does this again in 1963 in Leicester, England with the engineering building. It speaks to Konstantin Melnikov’s Rusakov Workers Club of 1929 in Moscow. The difference here being that with Ham Common, he saw a flaw in Maisons Jaoul and “offers a swerve in a more mechanistic and rational direction”, but in Leicester, he seems to be taking Rusakov and completing it. Lawrence clarifies the ways in which

Stirling understood modernism as inextricably linked to the past and placed in his own work in what he termed a “dialogue with architectural tradition”. Lastly, Stirling is unique in the way that he offers nothing new. Throughout his career he continued to develop this “Noli’s map of Rome” but situating his own projects onto the map. Each project confirms, compliments or replaces that which was there before. It is a look at his life’s work in a very iterative manner. And I don’t think that Amanda Reeser Lawrence is trying to say whether it is good or bad or measure him in that way at all. She looks at the way in which Stirling deliberately breaks the rules of reference “or at least call attention to certain assumptions as to what those rules are”. Rather she raises the question of whether or not it is ok to quote oneself. And then she answers it by asking what it even means to quote yourself if the project that you are quoting is itself already a revision of another project. I think that is powerful. How Stirling examines the projects of a man like Corbusier, Lawrence extrapolating on Stirling, and I commenting on Lawrence is really all summarized in that sentence.

“Once we see again, it seems, we must reimagine.” -James Stirling

S C I -A R C

R E V I S I O N S | S P 20

HANNAH MANN

H I S TO R Y T H E O R Y | 2 G B X

Works Cited “Biography: James Stirling: The Pritzker Architecture Prize.” Biography: James Stirling | The Pritzker Architecture Prize. Accessed April 24, 2020. https:// www.pritzkerprize.com/biography-james-stirling. Lawrence, Amanda Reeser. James Stirling: Revisionary Modernist. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013. Paletta, Anthony. “James Stirling, Modernist Prophet or Postmodernist Poster Child?” Metropolis, February 21, 2017. https://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/ james-stirling-modernist-prophet-postmodernistposter-child/. Philip P. Wiener (ed). Dictionary of the History of Ideas, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, in 1973–74. R. K. Kindersley Marxist revisionism: From Bernstein to modern forms, website of the University of Virginia Library.

Processing Art by Vera Molner

Steger, Manfred (1997). The Quest for Evolutionary Socialism: Eduard Bernstein And Social Democracy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

S C I -A R C

S L I C E I T | FA 19

SLICE - IT! A seminar led by Andrea Cadioli and Curime Batliner in collaboration with Alex Lewis

HANNAH MANN

VISUAL STUDIES | 2GAX

S C I -A R C

S L I C E I T | FA 19

SLICE-IT! A study of the aesthetic effects that take place after the image has dissapeared.

In collaboration with Alex Lewis

hat happens after an image dissapears? What effects remain burned in the memories of our mind or the pixels of the screen? Through the process of iteration creating one image sequence after another, we begin to hone in on the aesthetic of what the after image effect can take.

“The image is never a simple reality. Cinematic irnages are prímarily operations, relations between the sayable and the visible, ways ofplayíng wíth the before and the after, cause and etTect. These operations involve different image-functions, different meanings of the word ‘image’. Two cinematic shots or sequences of shots can thus pertain to a very different ‘imageness’...Several contemporary authors thus contrast the image, which refers to an other, and the visual, which refers to nothing but itself” Jaques Rancier

HANNAH MANN

VISUAL STUDIES | 2GAX

S C I A RSCC ‘I2-A 0 RC

S L I C E I T | FA 19

HANNAH MANN

VISUAL STUDIES | 2GAX

Image by Andrea Cadioli

laying in the game of part to whole, this project looks at the potential of a gestural cut as a device for the production of dualities in an ontologically weak system. Concepts of inside/out, open/close, right/wrong are challenged in a surface in continuous evolution in between opposing identities. Following the contemporary explorations of the 2.5d canvas in postdigital area, the project investigates the architectural facade as a space of multiplicities and singularity, deeply public and in an infinitely state of fluxation.

The panel then was video recorded while oriented in different position in relation to gravity and camera view to take advantage of the natural fold of the cut and the different light effect of the hatches. For us, making the panel was a tool to generate image sequences that, when collaged together could begin to inform a new way of viewing that image. The end result was really never the goal from the start, but rather the process of how the final image came to be was the focus.

““Any relationship between a building and its users is one of violence, for any use means the intrusion of a human body into a given space, the intrusion of one order into another.” - Bernard Tschumi The project was constructed starting from a series of parametrically and generative designed patterns playing with repetition, tiling and overlapping. From a first path in Grasshopper, the linework was enhanced in Illustrator and After Effect before being printed double side and carved out of the canvas itself and plexiglass sheets. The elements were then compiled on a CNCd frame and mounted on the robotic arm. S C I -A R C

S L I C E I T | FA 19

HANNAH MANN

VISUAL STUDIES | 2GAX

Images by Andrea Cadioli

S C I -A R C

S L I C E I T | FA 19

74 HANNAH MANN

VISUAL STUDIES | 2GAX

S C I -A R C

A F T E R I M A G E S | FA 1 9

AFTER IMAGES A studio led by Angelica Lorenzi in collaboration with Lezi Li

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 2GAX

urrently the dicipline of architecture is in the process of being actively redefined by shifting political, social, technological, and ecological paradigms. In this studio, we explored the forefront of the discipline, leading the conversation about the next in terms of aesthetic agendas, architecture’s contemporary and future societal role, and the impact of theoretical and technological innovation on architecture’s design and communicative repertoire. This studio placed an emphasis on advancing formal strategies beyond the current state-of-the-art. We integrated extra-disciplinary

techniques and technologies into the design workflow in order to develope innovative architectures that respond to changing societal, ecological and technological contexts. Our design engages issues that range from fundamental morphological transformations through rigorous 3D modeling, to the role of the image and digital sampling in the production of architectural form.

S SCCI -A I -ARRCC

A F T E R I M A G E S | FA 1 9

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 2GAX

S SCCI -A I -ARRCC

A F T E R I M A G E S | FA 1 9

he studio After Images questions the contemporary status of the image in architecture. Images permeate our daily interactions, whether mundane or extraordinary, and our engagement with and through them exerts unprecedented pressure on architecture’s historical identity as the locus of the real. The stability and immutability of Vitruvian firmitas has effervesced into innumerous bits of data that congeal in myriad of forms to comprise, describe and construct various aspects of our environment. We are challeneged to re-imagine and to consider what is architecture after images; to invent the new stories that demand new forms, aesthetics and ways of being in the world. We worked with after images and through after images [a visual image or other sense impression that persists after the stimulous that caused it is no longer

opperative] reflecting on the idea that the capacity to describe an object through images may be such that the description of the object begins, in some instances to coincide with the object itself, to augment it or to completely supplant it. Taking as a premise Jacques Ranciere’s definition of images as “operations that produce a discrepancy, a sdissemblance,” we examined how the process of documentation of sites, objects, and spaces becomes deliberatly misconstrued to engender multiple authenticities. We performed acts of architectural duplicity that allowed us to cut through the assumed real and discover the possibilities of architecture after images. Our focus was on the aesthetic dimension of architecture and the possibile production of new modes of being in the world with Los Angeles being our site of inquiry, action, and architectural speculation. text from syllabus

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 2GAX

S C I -A R C

A F T E R I M A G E S | FA 1 9

HANNAH MANN

DESIGN STUDIO | 2GAX

S C I -A R C

L U M A A R L E S | FA 19

LUMA ARLES in collaboration with Alex Lewis, Kyle Balster, and Peter Kluzak

HANNAH MANN

A DVA N C E D T E C TO N I C S | 2 G A X

A twisting tower clad in reflective aluminium tiles, designed by architect Frank Gehry, is taking form in the south of France. Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, who was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 1989, designed the tower for the Luma Arles complex, an arts centre established by Swiss collector Maja Hoffmann. The tower’s opening date has been pushed back to spring 2020, but new photos show the irregular form of the metallic tower taking shape above the city of Arles. Due to be 56 metres high when complete, the tower is formed of a concrete core with a steel frame. Glass boxes and shining aluminium panels are stacked around this in an irregular formation above a circular glass atrium. Gehry’s design for the facade is supposed to echo the craggy rock formations found near the city, the same kind that inspired sometime-resident Vincent van Gogh to paint them in 1888.Inside, a vast circular atrium will recall the Roman amphitheatre in Arles, part of the city’s designated UNESCO World Heritage site. American architecture critic Frank Miller described Gehry’s design as a “stainless-steel tornado”, although

some locals have reportedly dismissed it as resembling a crumpled drinks can.The Luma Arles is set on the site of an SNCF rail yard that has been abandoned since 1986. New York-based Selldorf Architects has already transformed several industrial buildings on the site into gallery spaces, while Belgian landscape architect Bas Smets is creating a public garden, the Parc des Ateliers, nearby. The Luma Arles is set on the site of an SNCF rail yard that has been abandoned since 1986. So me and my team had to come up with a way to redesign this iconic facade

“Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness.” -Frank Ghery

S C IS-A C IR-A C RC

L U M A A R L E S | FA 19

HANNAH MANN

A DVA N C E D T E C TO N I C S | 2 G A X

For this assignment, our team wanted to look into the use of PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) as a new way to replace the stainless steel bricks cladding Luma Arles. Being a fluorine-based plastic, this material has high corrosion resistance and strength over a wide temperature range. This material is commonly used as a plastic polymer that has been extruded into a thin film. Inflating two or more layers of this foil forms cushions into a single skin membrane. PTFE is gaining popularity in today’s design industry. PTFE is an incredibly versatile Weighing approximately material with a wide variety of 1% the weight of glass, applications PTFE cushions would enable a reduction of structural framework and impose significantly less dead load on the supporting structure. Implementing this material as a replacement to Gehry’s signature metal paneling would create a new and interesting way to challenge one of the main elements that makes his buildings so iconic.

S C I -A R C

L U M A A R L E S | FA 19

HANNAH MANN

A DVA N C E D T E C TO N I C S | 2 G A X

S C IS-A C IR-A C RC

L U M A A R L E S | FA 19

HANNAH MANN

A DVA N C E D T E C TO N I C S | 2 G A X

S C IS-A C IR-A C RC

L U M A A R L E S | FA 19

HANNAH MANN

A DVA N C E D T E C TO N I C S | 2 G A X

SSCCI -A I -ARRCC

L U M A A R L E S | FA 19

HANNAH MANN

A DVA N C E D T E C TO N I C S | 2 G A X

SSCCI -A I -ARRCC

L U M A A R L E S | FA 19

HANNAH MANN

A DVA N C E D T E C TO N I C S | 2 G A X

SSCCI -A I -ARRCC

S T R I P T E A S E | FA 19

STRIP TEASE HT2200 Final Project 11/29/2019

henomenology can be described as an approach that concentrates on the study of consciousness and the objects of direct experience according to Oxford’s dictionary. It is a study of the structures of the subject’s consciousness and experiences. Though this philosophical movement began to emerge in the 20th century, it continues to be an important topic of conversation, especially pertaining to architecture today. Every experience can be looked at through the lense of phenomenology. While I am interested in what the content is, I also want to dive into whose exact phenomenologies are being discussed and whose are not. Who has been left out of the conversation when we talk about architecture? Who has undeservingly not had a seat at the table? Feminism has come in many waves over the last century. Feminist theory as it relates to architecture has forged the way for the rediscovery of architecture as it pertains to not only women, but marginalized groups in general. It began by reimagining an architecture that challenged the way the traditional family could live.The rediscovery of architecture through feminist theory is not limited to female architects. Architects like Le Corbusier and Adolf Loos have also had their architecture reexamined through the lense feminist theory. The ways in which feminism impacted architecture at the turn of the 20th century, or even through the post-modern movement and new wave feminism has been well examined. But what is the contemporary condition of architecture as it pertains to a feminist phenomenology today? How do new definitions of feminism address intersectionality in the way architecture is experienced? Despina Stratigakos writes about the topic in today’s climate “...these days there is heightened interest in the status of women in architecture. From the flurry of media attention to Architect Barbie to new studies HANNAH MANN

on workplace conditions and growing online forums about architecture’s sexual politics, the profession’s ongoing diversity struggles have lately been more widely recognized and discussed than in previous decades.” People love to see feminine women architects being represented in the media today. They love to brag about how diverse their firm is because of women. They heavily rely on the workload that women take on in the world of architecture. But the moment when women begin to try to capitalize on these things or use them to their advantage, they are met with resistance, shame, and not taken seriously. Women’s phenomenology in architecture has been very similar to that of sex workers. And that can be visibly seen in the physical architecture itself. Paul Preciado, a trans writer, philosopher, and curator, speaks to this juxtaposition in his book Pornotopia (published under the name, Beatrix Preciado). He addresses some of the first glimpses we have of sex workers moving out of the private sphere and emerging into the world of entertainment in his chapter called Undressing Domesticity. “The first performances that codified nudity are the result of the shift of the prostitutes’ seduction techniques from the brothels to other urban spaces of entertainment. In other cases, such as in the famous “Coucher d’Yvette” or “Coucher de la Soubrette,” the performances of nudity dramatize a frame of the domestic interior in the public space: the spectator is supposed to be given access to watch how Yvette undresses herself before lying on her bed. What all of these performances have in common is the usage of garments and its opacity or transparency within a theatrical frame where the body is unraveled and shown. This theatrical body, which includes wigs, knits, feathers, and even sculptured armor, works as a masturbatory architecture that hides it and at the same time reveals, covers, and exposes it.” This is not just a commentary on sex workers, or architects, but even reveals how architecture in it of itself works in a performative, exploited manner. It can be on display or hidden or manipulated while simultaneously displaying, hiding and manipulating the user.

H I S TO R Y T H E O R Y | 2 G A X

This “pin-up architecture” that Preciado talks about is an entirely different way to view the built world. He later talks about the playmate nudes: the foldout pages of the second feature on the Playboy penthouse of the late 1950’s and the popularity that this issue had. “Relying on the same visual and consumption economy of striptease, the chaste watercolor illustrations of the apartment aroused as much fascination as the Marilyn Monroe and Bettie Page nudes. The interior of the penthouse unfolded just as the bodies of the pin-ups had done. By turning the pages, readers opened and closed doors and windows, walked along corridors, and created transparencies that invited them to travel endlessly back and forth between the private and the public.” Noting these parallels that take place in the relationship between the woman’s body and the built space that she is photographed in was an entirely new way to experience the iconic pages of the Playboy magazine. To me, as someone who has learned about architecture in many parts of the world and for the entirety of my adult life, it was disorienting to read about architecture in this exploitative deeply raw way. It exposes secrets about the world and presents new phenomenologies that are not talked about in the public sphere. “That these discussions are not happening in most architecture schools is unsurprising. To an astonishing degree, the “subject” in their curricula, as communicated in studios and history/theory courses, remains male and white.” It is a disservice to everyone to continue to look through the lenses of this very specific phenomenology when it wouldn’t exist to begin with without the phenomenologies that are being left out of the conversation. The life and death of the powerhouse that was Zaha Hadid brought up the question of what it means to live as a woman in the architecture world today. “The stunning silence that followed her death caused

many more to take pause, reflecting on a fundamental question that went far beyond buildings: What does it mean to be a woman architect, businessperson and innovator in the 21st century?” (Even though she made it clear how much she hated being referred to as a woman architect). Although people could argue about Zaha Hadid and her contributions (or lack thereof) to push the needle forward for the rest of women in the field, her presence and authority was among the first for women to be recognized and accepted. The architectural review published a survey just a month prior to her death that stated that 67% of women in the field do not believe that the building industry validates them as legitimate in the profession. For the past millennium the way humans orient themselves in the world has been in accordance with the same phenomenology. It is written by, designed by, argued by, predominantly white men. So when a “new” phenomenology surfaces, it makes sense that it isn’t taken seriously. When new phenomenology is presented, it causes disorientation. Because we are used to navigating the world in the way that we have been told for ages, trying to wrap our minds around the fact that there are other narratives that are contradictory to what we were taught to accept as the correct way. Sara Ahmed extensively dives into the world of orientation and phenomenology in her article Orientations; Toward a Queer Phenomenology. “Phenomenology can offer a resource for queer studies insofar as phenomenology emphasizes the importance of lived experience, the intentionality of consciousness, the significance of nearness or what is ready to hand, and the role of repeated and habitual actions in shaping bodies and worlds.” “What does it mean to be oriented? How is it that we come to find our way in a world that acquires new shapes, depending on which way we turn? If we know where we are, when we turn this way or that, then we are oriented. We have our bearings. We know what to do to get to this place or to that. S C I -A R C

S T R I P T E A S E | FA 19

To be oriented is also to be oriented toward certain objects, those that help us find our way. These are the objects we recognize, such that when we face them, we know which way we are facing. They gather on the ground and also create a ground on which we can gather. Yet objects gather quite differently, creating different grounds.” I believe that there is a growing desire from both men and women alike for a more inclusive and sustainable architectural culture that opens the door to a redefinition of what feminism can mean for the profession. And with that, a redefinition of how we talk about architecture, and who is talking. I believe that over the history of both feminism and architecture, large strides were made in order to change the conversation. Now, there is a call for more. If architecture should continue to be pushed and challenge norms, it is time to look at phenomenologies that are not typically discussed. Time to un-forget the women in architecture of the past and write them back into the history of architecture. To expose and unwrap the complex ways that architecture is being used as a vessel to serve men in this strip tease dance that it has been designed to do for so long. Addressing these how we will be able to move forward and make good, meaningful, beautiful architecture for generations to come and to honor the ones that had no voice before. Phenomenology gets to demonstrate how architecture can be made to manipulate spaces, materials, lights, shaddows. It is a beautiful thing, and the more phenomenologies coming together and mixing and conversing creates a space for incredible potential for architecture.

Works Cited Ahmed, Sara. “Orientations: Toward a Queer Phenomenology.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 12, no. 4 (2006): 543-574. https://www.muse. jhu.edu/article/202832. Amanda Kolson Hurley; @amandakhurley on Twitter. 03/31/2016 Architizer Keskeys, Paul. “After Zaha: What Now for Women in Architecture? - Architizer Journal.” Architizer, 7 Nov. 2017, architizer.com/blog/practice/ details/after-zaha/. Despina Stratigakos, “Why Architects Need Feminism,” Places Journal, September 2012. Accessed 29 Nov 2019. “Phenomenology: Definition of Phenomenology by Lexico.” Lexico Dictionaries | English, Lexico Dictionaries, www.lexico.com/en/definition/ phenomenology. Kraus, James. “The Great Indoors: Playboy Magazine And The Invention Of The Bachelor Pad.” THE GREAT INDOORS: PLAYBOY MAGAZINE AND THE INVENTION OF THE BACHELOR PAD, 15 June 2015, kavstyle.com/blogs/news/ the-great-indoors-playboy-magazine-and-the-invention-of-the-bachelor-pad. PRECIADO, Beatrix (Paul). PORNOTOPIA: an Essay on Playboy’s Architecture and Biopolitics. ZONE BOOKS, 2019.

HANNAH MANN

100

H I S TO R Y T H E O R Y | 2 G A X

S C I -A R C

101