Hidden ARTifacts PROOF

CRYSTAL PARAISO TAN Woodbury University Acrylic, Yarn, and Painted Chipboard

Black Cloud |

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The art of film and the world of architecture are converged to inspire a building that blurs the line between the real and the virtual. This art piece was a visual tool to represent and test the concepts driving the design of a black box theater, and symbolizes the movement of the characters and cameras in the film Cloud Atlas. A clip from the movie was selected and carefully analyzed to design a speculative architecture based on the scenes. The character and camera movements were mapped onto the speculated architecture, and then translated into a model.

In this model the architecture is suggested with the isolated mapping of movement. The scenes suggested a vertical structure with compact spaces that are all connected, and thus set the parameters of design; it set the rules and the language of the black box theater as a floating tensile space frame.

A floating black box theater is unpractical and may even be impossible, but it is conceptual ideas like this that push the envelope and test the limits of architecture.

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TAMIM ALMAMOOND Woodbury University Acrylic

Architecture Unbound |

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The discipline of Architecture relies upon the delineation of boundaries. Lines are used to separate interior from exterior, public from private, and above from below. Lines can represent thick walls, windows, or imaginary divisions, they are a symbol. This disciplinary predilection for boundaries is largely tied to the representational practices that are at the center of architectural production: plan and section. The geometric and formal properties of walls and floors are bound to single lines that can do little other than separate one thing from another.

This piece of art was produced as part of a thesis confronts assumptions about line usage by the deploying topographic contour drawing as a means of defining architectural form and space. Walls and floors are no longer structured by single lines, but by many, with each line providing a nuanced reading of different bounded conditions. Interior and exterior no longer exist on either side of a single line, but overlap and intermingle through the accumulation of variable contours. Such a concept can inform how real walls are designed, whether the actual shape of the walls, their composition, or their relationship to the spaces they divide.

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CRYSTAL PARAISO TAN Woodbury University Acrylic, Yarn, Mirror

Spatial Hatch |

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This is an abstracted and simplified representation of architecture that emphasizes materials and tests the combinations of reflectivity, translucency, density, and light. Spatial hatch is an organization of space based on a three-dimensional grid of physical lines which controls the movement of both masses of people and individuals at different scales. The hatching is also an experiment in depth and darkness as the lines overlap and build up, with a play of light as reflective surfaces bounce it through the field of lines. This model allowed the testing of different theories and scenarios to formulate an innovative method to create something beautiful.

The creative process of this piece begins with research; first of light, darkness and materials, second the surrounding environment of the site and its history, and third precedents. All this research establishes a strong foundation for design investigation in order to develop the method of spatial hatching.

The architectural design process of research and experimentation is very a long procedure, but it’s worth taking the time to acquire new sensibilities, see the possibilities, and refine the idea and project. It allowed the creation of this piece of art as a physical embodiment of the conceptual idea of the spatial hatch.

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YUAN YAO University of Southern California Laser Etched Acrylic on Light Pedestal

Mobius Wait |

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Waiting is a given in our lives. We wait to be born, to grow up, and to die. We wait to go to school, to graduate, and to work. We wait for something we want to get, something we want to see, and something we have to do. Sometimes we enjoy waiting and sometimes we are tired of waiting.

Sometimes we know the reason for waiting, and sometimes we don’t know the reason for waiting.

Waiting is a ceremony in our lifecycles, to be respected and even held sacred.

This piece is a study of the many moments that people are waiting and proceeding. Efficiency in architecture and buildings is important to the experience of them, and what better way to understand the ‘circulation’ space in a building that to truly focus on, experiment, and study it? This project presents a conjointed double spiral celestial space, and with it the waiting ritual. People go forward along the spiral ramps, wait behind other people, and meet other people at the intersections.

Spirals in each ball are endless loops that people ascend and descend. Gradually, people are confused about the space and confused about the meaning of waiting; they are eager to escape from the endless waiting, and ready for activation. Architecture can have a profound power influence on experience.

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DAN FREUND Freund Studio Folded Steel Light Fixture

Light Study |

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This fixture was a 1st “study” for a larger light to be installed in a living room. The design began with a thirst to understand the possibilities of the fabrication process. I spent several months in my friend’s metal shop, learning by making under an experienced mentor. Design and fabrication are divided in our culture; historically this was not always true. The artisan craftsman tradition created most of our early history of Architecture.

Design has three steps. First what do you want?

Answering that starts a design process. Next, what materials? Third, what tools, techniques, and processes will you need? What’s available? Those questions form an evolving circle until you arrive at a solution that is possible.

I started with1/8” thick “industrial” steel plate. I wanted the steel to be perceived as a mathematical plane, abstracted yet real. The techniques available: cutting and folding, on a “hydraulic break press”.

The geometry: triangles, long and short, and a parallelogram. Suspended from cables, with LED lighting, the steel now has a “function” as a light source.

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JAMES PERRY Conner + Perry Architects Concrete and Wood

Untitled |

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I’ve always been drawn to working with concrete and believe it to be one of the best building materials available to design with. Concrete has an amazing ability to be cast into infinite possibility of shapes. This led me to working with plaster in school, as it acts like concrete on a model scale, and I’ve continued to use it ever since. More recently I’ve experimented with fabric formed concrete, such as the two castings exhibited here.

The two plaster tile pieces are fabric formed and cast in a wood frame. They were experiments in combining my interest in fabric form work with my knowledge of concrete gained over years of architectural design of furniture and structures. The more we learn about concrete and steel reinforcement, the more endless the possibilities of these building materials seem to be.

I continued exploring after making these, with the idea of producing the tiles in a repeatable series, which was eventually accomplished in a tile project using a template milled from foam. The experimentation of making these helped ensure that my use of this technique on client work later went smoothly.

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NAFISEH SALAVATIAN Woodbury University Printed Aluminum

Uncanny Figuration |

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Architecture is typically organized and structured through abstract systems of order, deriving formal and spatial strategies through the intentional and systematic accumulation of geometry. An approach that favors purity, alignment, and clarity. This thesis proposes an alternative, systematically deploying the uncanny as a drawing methodology for the production of form, space and programmatic organization. In lieu of abstract geometry, Uncanny Figuration, accumulates familiar figures drawn from existing buildings as an organizational frame work for the production of architecture. In so doing, it allows unexpected interactions between programs, forms and spaces.

Restrooms intersect the proscenium of a theatre stage. The collision of stair geometry and window mullions introduces a dense organizational grid which is materialized as a series of pleated surfaces.

The familiar figures of architectural form become the primary components of an architectural language of unexpected encounters, disruptions, and resolutions.

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ALEXXA SOLOMON University of Southern California Aluminum Print, Steel and Paint

Reflection Ripple |

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Architecture is more than just designing a building or creating shelter. It is a form of art that takes effort to develop into final product. When designing a new project, I try to look for inspiration outside of architecture. In this piece, I was inspired by the reflection and pattern of the ocean when the light hits the water, and challenged to devise a “skin� that could be applied to the exterior of nearly any form (building), while based on an easily repeatable system for ease of fabrication and costs.

I analyzed the ocean waves, reflections, patterns, plants, colors, and sea creatures and looked for patterns that could be developed into a system that provided the structure of the art form and attachment of the skin facade.

Notably, time dedicated to architecture goes beyond the production of plans and drawings – first we must determine what the end product will be, and the design process to produce a final model or design requires the consideration of what materials best represent the narrative. Considering elements, I chose riveted aluminum modules and perforated sheets to fully represent the idea of reflection and patterns of the ocean waves.

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SHERINE TEYMOUR Art Center College of Design Mixed Media Furniture

Closer |

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Closer is a project that challenges the notion of public space and that carefully scrutinizes intimacy in the context of 21st Century living. In a technology driven world, the quality of our intra-personal and interpersonal connections have diminished and Closer attempts to challenge that and to revive physical, emotional, and psychological intimacy within our communities through the use of architectural furniture. Closer uses a combination of pattern, light, proxemics, texture, color, and enclosure to address our eminent need for meaningful human connections in our day to day lives that has been suppressed and subdued for the past Century.

Closer is a free-standing structure, making it easy to provide places of retreat and intimacy in open plan spaces as well as to a variety of indoor or outdoor spaces. In this case, the architectural furniture and informs navigation throughout a space, thereby creating an opportunity for a new narrative describing human interaction within 21st Century communities.Subtle hints like a gesturally enclosed roof and a perforated pattern to allow natural light in the enclosure create intimate, private spaces while still creating feelings of connection to one’s surrounding context or community.

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DANIELA ANGELO Woodbury University Acrylic, Wood, Steel, and Various

Potential Difference |

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Los Angeles dwells in the space between an imaginary attic and fictitious cellar; a place that is dreamed to be hopeful and bright. However, the city is deprived of the experiential aspect of the dark basement and the mysterious attic. Taking this concept and pairing it with the constructive mythology of a“flooded city,�the project then evolved to create a dual atmosphere by flooding an area in Los Angeles with colored translucent solar panels which is meant to generate new social connections and a new architecture. Initiated with extensive research on architecture reacting to flooding and new technologies of electricity, the design process led the written research into a collaging experiment.

The hybrid research drawings allowed the project to establish a style to create a certain atmosphere.

Conceptual models that captured the essence of the project where built to inform the project as a spatial element. Although the intention is conceptual, it speaks loudly to the tone of the final product. These research models serve as an area to test final ideas before finalizing them in a well-crafted drawing.

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JENDA MICHL Vertu Studio and Creator of Hidden ARTifacts Strathmore Paper, Glue

Darth Canyon |

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Finding inspiration can often be one of the most challenging aspects of design. Inspiration does not necessarily determine the outcome or style, but rather gives a solid direction to head when starting.This piece started by flipping through a Star Wars coffee table book looking for images that grabbed me. I then took a piece of tracing paper and traced over whatever appealed to me from the page, repositioned the paper, and repeated multiple times, finally arriving at a new line composition with the stylistic flavor of Star Wars imagery.

This process was repeated many times to produce a stack of trace paper with unique but still related line compositions. I continued the process without the book to develop a self referential language while also refining the image I was creating, ultimately arriving at a line drawing of what we see here.

The final step was to assign form and space by transforming the line drawing into three dimensions.

This piece became the basis for the design of an outdoor mall, experienced as a canyon within a large park.

If you look closely, from top to bottom along the right side you can find the profile of Darth Vader, head to toe. The portions in relief are actually the arms and legs of Stormtroopers. The rest of the lines are mostly taken from the wings of ships. p23

CRYSTAL PARAISO TAN Woodbury University Various; Print on Gampi Paper, Paste, Hand Drawing

Vortex |

The Vortex is an aviary structure inspired by the organic shape and movement of swarms of birds gathering to eat insects in the sky. The Swifts circle around the spectators as they walk up the spiravg staircase, and together they create a vortex; a vortex that brings people up to another world in the sky, and allows birds to coexist with humans. p24

The pieces explore the different medias of visual representation to communicate ideas in both twodimensions and three-dimensions. The atmospheric qualities are captured with a different technique from 2D to 3D. The mixed-media hybrid drawing was created first and drove the design of the model.

An alleyway in the Watts neighborhood was chosen for the site, which was digitally modeled and transferred onto wood by tracing carbon paper. The design intervention is printed onto gampi paper and pasted over the transfer. Final details were drawn in and the gampi paper trimmed to follow the flow of the printed graphic. The 3D translation of the piece was built three times before a successful technique of the model’s structure was found, with an inner and outer core layered with various materials, a similar layering technique to the mixed-media drawing.

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ANTHONY MOREY Harvard University Ink on Mylar Film, Multiple Layers

Layered Thinking |

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Architectural drawing has long been seen as a static art, something that represents a predetermined object, something already known. The drawings here are meant to challenge that idea. At points there is more joy in discovery than knowing and the drawings are meant to give more questions than answers. Each drawing in itself is a finished work, one that seems to look like the architecture drawings we know, yet they don’t show a building, section, or elevation until you discover it.

To strengthen this idea each variation can be endlessly layered with another, reorganized and reconstructed to make a new variation. Endless options of white over black, black over white, or black over black are all allowed and encouraged. This allows for a constant reinterpretation of possibilities of each single drawing, using them as templates of ideas. I urge you to stare, look, get lost and make your own jumps, leaps, and assumptions and bring them to life. The goal was to find a way to be able to draw nothing but evoke everything. To bring childhood wonder and imagination into Architecture.

“You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus” Mark Twain

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AFSHIN SHIDANSHIDY University of Southern California Steel

Tri Angle |

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The project is an exploration of how the term Skin and Bones can be applied in architecture, more specifically to a sculpture. One way to explain the concept is to imagine a tent with its poles being the bone, and the cloth being the skin. One of the most common forms of a tent is the triangular and pyramid form, which was the departure point for the geometrical base. Metal sheets were located such that light would be able to pass through, implying ‘transparent metal’. Like a sheet of metal with rows of holes on the surface, it allows the light to pass through, creating the illusion of transparency, and the complex light play that can generates Moire effects.

A second system was created to allow a flexible skin that could twist and turn in complex ways. For this, a cell system was derived, with each cell consisting of a triangular sheet of metal folded similarly to a pyramid. Alternating rows of these cells with opposite orientations yields a dynamic skin. The opening in and between the cells produces a unique level of transparency that amplifies the visual effect of their already curved geometry

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CRISTINA GOMEZ University of Southern California Copper, Steel

Hyperfolly |

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Hyperfolly began as an exploration with metal, both for it’s known uses as a construction material and to discover its qualities firsthand. Architects are responsible for designing with metal, and what better way to understand a material than to make it your only option and get to know it intimately? This sculpture is made out of copper tubing covered with black paint and clad with galvanized steel pieces, forming an intricate skin over the copper pipes. The site for this sculpture was to be Barnsdall Park, in the lawn of the famous Hollyhock House. The multiple views from the site include the Hollyhock House itself, the Hollywood sign in the mountains and a view towards Downtown and the ocean. In deference to this interesting vantage point, the work took on a unique warpedshape that is always opening to all three vistas regardless of how it is oriented.

This creates a vague perception of the difference between exterior and interior space. There is no real boundary between the inside and outside of the folly, creating an interesting experience for the visitor and providing a deeper architectural discussion. Also, as the work sits like a jack, with one of the 4 vertices always pointing somewhere, the result is a dynamic and unpredictable form that never fails to command attention with innate drama and charisma.

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JULIANA CIANFAGLIONE PIERINA MERINO Southern California Institute of Architecture Prints on Vinyl, Painted Cast Resin

One + 1= UNO |

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This project explores the assumed relationship between parts and the whole, specifically that parts tend to result from a logic of assembly, that they are specialized and indicate inherently their relationship to the whole. The design language explored here results from the aggregating different and unrelated parts to make a whole. This creates dynamic relationships between elements, based on the ‘space’ between them. Two primary strategies emerged in resolving how apparently unrelated parts act when forced to relate to each other, figurefigure, and figure-abstract. The first condition focuses on keeping a part as-is, in a pure form. The second describes a part sacrificing or softening it’s identity in order to coexist with the part or parts adjacent to it. This project explores the multiple readings that can be achieved using this method, as a part can potentially have different relationships to different neighboring parts, wth a variety of qualities (texture and color for example) each of which can also employ its own strategy. This project not only resulted in a powerful method of creating diverse and active visual patterns and complexity, but also forced us to find resolutions for “impossible” situations where ONE+1 must still equal UNO, a skill critical to successfully designing and constructing a building.

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LAURA GEHRING University of Southern California Steel, Steel Mesh

Motion Map |

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Motion Map was based on a study of human body movement. The bones are based on the directional lines of the human body performing a fluid jumping motion. Each movement creates a section that is stacked horizontally and connected by vertical lines across each joint. This results in a network of orthogonal lines that map out each step of this motion. The skin is synthesized to provide a stark contrast to the sharp and angular framing system.

The outlines of curves based on similar directional lines are extruded from the existing bones, reintroducing the idea of the fluidity of the human body. Instead of being joined purely by orthogonal lines, the curves are connected by a fabric-like chain mail that allows for complex curvature. The contrast between the sharp and angular bones with the soft and fluid skin emphasizes rigidity vs. fluidity.

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SARAH HAMMOND University of Southern California Aluminum and Zinc

Gradient Script |

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Various structural schemes were explored with sketching, digital, and physical modeling. Iterations of models taught structural techniques as well as materiality and methods of connections. The goal was to generate a system that was both durable and harmonized with the form; the diagonal members, for example, rotate in each section, exaggerating the shifting and almost twisting nature of the form.

Engineering and form-making as one. The design of the skin also started with a series of models and drawings to analyze, then progressed to the use of digital programming and scripting once a concept and vision was in place. A paneling system was generated in which each panel relates uniquely to the ‘bones’ below to emphasize the sinuous design.

Emphasizing the two most exaggerated points of curvature on each side of the form, the panels rotate on a gradient, with holes of varying diameters as well as density piercing the metal panels (also on a gradient system). This ten week project gave firsthand experience with a variety of different structural techniques, metal as a material (different finishes and methods of metalworking), and methods of connection. Most importantly, the project stressed how all of these factors influence the design and the overall experience it brings to the audience, which will always be applied to architecture.

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GRACE YU University of Southern California Dye Sublimation Print on Aluminum

HapOptic |

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Architecture has traditionally addressed the Optic, focusing on designing for what we see, yet as Users, we have five senses. How might Architecture change if we engage our sense of touch – our Haptic sense – and use it in combination with the Optic? This image is the result of an exploration into the relationship between Architecture and our Haptic sense. An idea originally embedded in the desire to design for the visually impaired, speculating about an Architectural language created without the influence of sight, the exploration led to the marriage of the Haptic and the Optic - the ‘Hapoptic’. The Hapoptic uses Texture - the visual and tactile characteristic of a surface - as a mechanism for engaging and creating stimuli. Because Users depend on stimuli to perceive the built environment, the augmentation of stimuli encourages the discovery of new experiences and relationships. Intrigued by the beauty of fluids and fluid forms, the process of Texturing creates a perception of fluidity, distortion and movement.

Looking to organic textures and materials for inspiration, the ‘crystal’ form embodied the concept of fluidity and distortion. Its multifaceted surface plays with light and sound to augment the user’s perception of stimuli. The final texture was created through the variance of scale, color, angle and placement of the crystal form.

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YUAN YAO University of Southern California 3d Color Print, Layered Acrylic

Studies 1 & 2 |

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These two pieces explore ways that architecture can connect people in intimate and sensitive ways.

Communication requires a medium, for example sound must travel through air and whatever it runs into before being heard by another. The acrylic model is a prototype for a wall in which people can talk and hear other people through the holes and tunnels.

The holes and tunnels amplify and diminish the acoustic effect, creating a unique communication experience for each person engaging through the wall. The model uses stacked acrylic with different profiles to create the layered effect and form.

The 3D printed model is similar, but for for face to face communication. The model consists of two organically shaped containers with two connective tunnels. In real scale, people would be able to put their heads in the hole and then engage others in the holes above and below. In the holes above, people can only communicate by sound through the thin tunnel. In the holes below, the tunnel is wide open and people can see each other and talk face to face. The two models define specific ways of communication between people to explore architectural forms and functions.

Scale models allow the testing and realization of conceptual ideas like these. Perhaps in a few years a wall/ sculpture inspired by one of these concepts will be realized and provide a playful centerpiece to a piece of architecture.

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LAURA RODRIGUES University of Southern California Dye Sublimation Print on Aluminum

Feed the Seam |

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The process of growth and evolution over time is one that can often be controlled, but cannot always be predicted. Having an inherent need for order, humans are constantly searching for organization within their households – the dining table is often near the kitchen, the bathroom near the bedroom.

However, there are times when certain conditions do not always allow for conventional organization to exist within a living space. The creative process of these pieces is based on a study of favelas – an informal and often chaotic urban settlement found in Brazil. Because of this irregularity, the social impact on its inhabitants has led to a higher need for co-dependence within a community by preventing their escape from human interaction.

To betterunderstand the social development and unusual conditions of communities like these, a series of rules were determined and re-applied to a basic unit. The first piece depicts the outcome of this basic equation at an advanced phase demonstrating how the building’s geometry reaches a higher level of complexity over time and how its inhabitants re-adapt to its growth. The second piece reveals the dynamic occurring within unconventionally organized spaces. *Cover Art Created by Laura Rodrigues

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BRAN ARIFIN JAMES CHOE Southern California Institute of Architecture Dye Sublimation Print on Aluminum

#LA |

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How does a city become a viable host in housing a hyper dense community? This project challenges the default outlook of the city as a two dimensional canvas, and see the city as a three dimensional and spatial canvas, opportunistically developing strategies that challenge our existence in the city.

The recurring theme of Los Angeles is portrayed as a dense horizontal sprawl. It is a city with multiple centers and blurred boundaries. The extents of these communities are experienced as sequences as one travels from one district to another, perceptually aware, yet no explicit boundaries are evident.

With projected forecasts of an urban downtown population to triple exponentially every fifteen years, hyper density is seen as a real problem. This project asks the city of Los Angeles to allocate a quarter mile radius as the testing ground in hopes to produce a prototypical strategy of the hyper dense city. The flat tops of Los Angeles’ skyline were confined to various regulations that have been relieved, contributing to a concentrated datum of 150 feet. The secondary layer strategically addressed this concentrated datum.

The notion of a secondary layer is not a new idea, for example, Yona Friedman, but the logics of these precedents have largely neglected the relationship to the ground and the city itself.

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ERIN HORAHAN Professional Dye Sublimation Print on Aluminum

Grammar Studies |

Architects make pictures to communicate what they’ve imagined. Yet the conventions of architectural drawing are a visual language only architects speak. These works commit grammatical errors, mystifying those who attempt to apply the rules of architectural syntax as much as those unaware such rules even exist. p46

The method of making a “developed surface” is reserved for drawing the interior of a room. Here it is used to inspire a Floor Plan in its own right. Similarly, a combined “section cut” and “rendering” mash technical and illustrative techniques not to evoke, but to confound the perception of space.

Finally, in the 3D “model” the viewer must literally look through an etching of the exterior - itself only a suggestion - to the interior acting as an independent volume trapped inside.

Experiments in representation keep the architect’s mind limber and receptive to the different ways people communicate space. Just as it is difficult to describe the space one sees in his or her own imagination, it is only more so to build the thing that resides in another’s.

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GABRIELLA O’CONNOR University of Southern California Dye Sublimation Print on Aluminum

Scripting Movement|

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Imagine that you are in your favorite building. Now, what room are you imagining yourself in? Was it either an entry foyer or hall, or entering into a larger room from a smaller space or hall? Many buildings are primarily experienced when moving through their circulation spaces, commonly defined as corridors, stairs, ramps, elevators, moving walkways or escalators.

This project explores whether there is an opportunity for movement and circulation to behave independently, and as the primary generator in the design process.

Architectural software today offers tool similar to computer coding, typically called scripting. This project explores results of a script that generates paths of circulation. As a result, circulation paths are generated and then mapped into three dimensional space. These four pieces are indicative of plans and perspectives of these circulation scripts.

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Overall, the script creates a series of generative studies, illustrating an evocative new way of understanding and in a way, graphing movement

LUIS GARCIA University of Southern California Steel, JB Weld

Soma |

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Architecture is often understood as a conceptualization of skin and bone; but what does “skin and bone” mean? Typically “bone” is identified as the framing inside walls; In a skyscraper its the steel framing which ensures strength and stability.

However whether we’re dealing with a home or a hundred story skyscraper, the bones are assumed to be concealed and protected by the skin. This project challenges the traditional understanding of bone by comparing it less to a typical building and more to a living organism.

The bones for the project are massive metal modules comparable to the spinal structure of vertebrates.

Each module is identical, with interlocking notches providing its unconventional look, all while retaining stability and great simplicity at the fabrication level, yet flexibility in how the joints themselves connect.

Because the bones were so sculptural, creating a skin to conceal the structure felt wrong. Instead, the skin was reimagined, not as an external overlay, but optimized to compliment the bones in another way: by laser cutting holes into the metal modules, wire could be threaded between them, acting more like the muscle fibers which hold the bones together in a human body.

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ALEJANDRO AGUIRRECHU Southern California Institute of Architecture Printed Film, Acrylic, Hardwood, Aero Hardware

Off-Edge Mediations |

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Urban expansion and historical conservation are often in conflict, as cities are not a singular, static surface, but an intricate tapestry woven together by a series of experiences, spaces and limits, invisible links as powerful as any physical one. Through an analysis and investigation of edge/ boundary conditions between the cultural, sociological, political and historical layers, (the city in all of its fictions/realities), an idea of urban expression emerges and can be visualized.

Operating within the conditions present in the early-modern city of Havana, Cuba, multiple layers of the human and the physical are digitally painted, drawn-out and investigated in an attempt to open and comprehend its many unexplored conditions. These drawings question and generate possibilities of a stimulus for the emergence of the uncontrollable fragments of the city, and how those pieces, composed and understood by their unique individualism, can contribute to the greater order of the city as a ‘whole’.

This technique is intended to express the complexity and the chaos, but it also provokes a discussion of forces - of entropy, of decay, of history, of ideology, of urban growth, of edges, boundaries, landscape, infrastructure, culture - all evident within the urban fabric of Havana.

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JOAO VELAZQUEZ Southern California Institute of Architecture Ink on Paper, 3d Print

Bad Render |

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In an age of renderings, the rendering itself is still understood as a singular entity. It affords many filters but often in architecture, it is thought to provide a singular relationship to the form it represents.

Like the traditional model in architecture, there is supposed to be a direct congruence from the thing to its representation. But, the rendering actually affords much more than that, and if we can imagine the image as a separate entity from the material existence of an exact architectural object, then it’s possible to explore the rendering on its own terms. This project attempts an extended process of rendering to engage the design work flow by exploring the relationships between the productive capabilities of the render and the possibilities of form, where the render becomes a takeoff point rather than the photorealistic end game. This thesis utilizes computer graphic surface effects which blur and dissolve a primitive figure to produce lo-fidelity figures, such as a redesign of the Crystal Cathedral, in which the similarity is marked visually, but are not according to an exact image of the original figure.

By blurring and dissolving the form, new readings of the figure emerge. The lo-fidelity figures are less exact, fuzzy, and noisy. It’s a “bad render.”

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DUSTIN FEIDER 02 Treehouse Laser Cut Steel, Twigs, Hardware

Bird Nest |

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I was inspired to explore the idea of human scale bird nests when I saw wonderfully light and woven “Tree Webs” another treehouse builder made. His super light and minimal technique got me thinking about how birds build their homes, held secure purely by the friction created by weaving sticks and twigs.

The concept of building a human sized nest in a tree isn’t groundbreaking. What excited me was the thought of undertaking its construction as a group activity, with each person bringing a slightly different method. A variety of builders would ensure consistent chaos, which itself inherently contributes to the integrity of the whole. Structural stability and longevity soon complicated what started as an elegant concept.

The result is what I functionally named the Nest Substructure. A structural basket with radial beams CNC cut from 1/8” steel provides the structure needed to support humans. The pieces flat pack and can be sold as a kit to be assembled locally in conjunction with locally purchased 1/4” steel rod. The structure can be group woven on the ground and then raised high into the trees with steel cable, providing a twiggy human scale bird nest lounge in the upper branches.

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EMMA LIN University of Southern California Basswood

Sublimation |

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The design for this promenade connecting a pier and a tower was developed through experimentation with density of lines and how this density can affect spatial experiences. It follows a strict process of arranging infinitely long lines on circular paths, then finding opportunities to enclose and experience verticality with other connecting lines by essentially taking a “core sample” of the most interesting formation of lines. With the repeating array of lines, one feels a continuous quality to both the circulation of people in the tower as well as the pier, with dense lines guiding the viewers eye in an almost spiral fashion.

As a representation of “sublimation”, the project moves from solid at the base to delicate lines at its extremities. The transition is smooth, and is meant to lure the audience to the most intricate, ephemeral moments in the project: the top of the observation tower, and the end of the pier.

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PIOTR PASIERBINSKI Krakow Technical University, Poland Laser cut Chipboard

Forgotten Subway|

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Historical Restoration and Revitalization represent an important type of work for architects, one that requires delicately balancing the old and the new.

This balance requires developing a consistent project strategy for how the two should interface.

Without a system to default to in the seemingly endless supply of conditions where old meets new, projects can lose clarity of language, becoming muddy and disorganized. Interacting with the old also requires carefully surveying and assessment of the existing, not only to locate it correctly, but to evaluate it structurally as well.

This proposed revitalization of the old ‘City Hall Station’ in New York reanimates the old station while creating new opportunities and roles for existing underground infrastructure by focusing on and selectively utilizing the network of underground connections seemingly hidden from view. Through the excavation of fragments of subway lines and stations, this design enables and celebrates the interaction between both pedestrians, residents of skyscrapers, travelers in the subway and those resting in the park above.

Fractures in the ground bring natural light is to the very bottom, and with it the opportunity to create underground gardens. The subway no longer solely serves the commuter, but becomes high quality public space.

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MENGYI XU University of Southern California Basswood

Scalable Pyramids |

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This project involves a strong investigation into the pyramid form. The visual language of simple geometry repeated at different scales creates the appearance of complexity, while allowing for the potential re-use of standard hubs at all joints. In a way, the entire design is a study in resolving and integrating the transition among line, surface, and solid. For example, the planes of the pyramids are one of only three things: solid, void, or lattice. This means that I must develop a language of complexity using only the equivalent of A, B, and C while successfully maintaining a balanced visual composition.

Aside from shifting between three modes of expression (line, surface, and solid), I create a variety of “enclosed� spaces at different scales, offering multiple types of environments and uses by changing nothing but scale of the space. Finally, I further expand the pyramid structures into the site of the project so as to blur the boundary between building and landscape. The whole designing process leads me to explore how to break up a long linear journey, such as hallways or corridor, by creating subdivisions of it at a variety of scales still with the equivalent of just the letters A, B, and C and the potential to use a single type of hub to connect it all together.

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MARIA JOSE HERRERO Southern California Institute of Architecture Framed Prints, 3d Castings

...and Ray Tracing |

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Historically, shadows have been used in representational media to bring a form, an order or a building into a perceived reality. Architectural drawings such as Piranesi’s analytical drawings intended to bring the drawing “into relief,” meaning as if existing projected outward from the plane of the picture. To add to this perception of reality, the convention of drawing shadows in architecture was by projection of the shadow’s angle, as if in the case of a moving sun. In this way, the relationship between object and shadow is supposedly truthful and accurate its representation. A more contemporary approach returns to the shadow and questions to what extent the shadow forms the form, and not whether the shadow merely follows the form. This exploration therefore would engage the shadow as a generator – a first principle instead of a secondary effect. It’s through the use of digital tooling and the space created between the digital and the analog in drawing where this exploration emerges.This thesis uses rendering techniques iteratively and rigorously to represent a contemporary undoing of the object. The object is separated into a positive and a negative, a twin of the other, and a constant dialogue of volumes, asymmetry, difference and perceptual hierarchy. No object-house is important, as much as they are subject to the dominance of the shadow.

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ARIANA ROSE BOOTH University of Southern California Frosted Mylar and Brass Paper Fasteners

Cloud |

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The Cloud is a personal and portable alcove that can be folded, twisted, rolled or hung based on the inhabitant’s preferences. It was conceived to operate at multiple scales simultaneously in order to adapt and adjust to the environment it is in. The connection points (where the paper fasteners are located) give the Cloud structure and flexibility so that it can go from laying flat at 3 feet wide by 6 feet long to being rolled up at 3 feet wide by 3 feet long and anywhere in between. The method of construction used in the making of the Zip Tie jacket, fastening, was the starting point for this project. The goal was to confidently apply the now familiar action of fastening into new materials and at a bigger scale.

The Cloud is made up of 6 inch by 6 in sheets of frosted mylar rolled into a cone and connected back to back to another cone with gold paper fasteners.

One of each set of cones was then turned in the opposite directions so that units could be placed inside of other units and aggregate successfully. A total of 160 feet of mylar and 915 paper fasteners were used to construct the Cloud.

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ALISE ROBLES University of Southern California Elmer’s Glue

Elmer’s Glue Jacket |

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This Mao jacket made entirely of Elmer’s glue was conceived of as a response to a project during a studio called “Craft: Truth in Making, An architectural Inquiry”. The Mao style jacket was chosen because it represents a known silhouette and its detailing and structure are plain and unembellished. My interest was in using Elmer’s glue as my unconventional material and manipulating it through a conventional fabric operation technique called smocking. The Mao Pattern only gives lines but says nothing about surface or depth, which is what architecture begins to talk about.

The jacket is an exploration of how through the use of a single material and single operation technique surface and depth can begin to be expressed. The fabrication process consisted of drying a total of 3 gallons of Elmer’s glue into 1/16” sheets. Then taking these two-dimensional 1/16” sheet casts of glue and heating the sheets to become malleable enough to fold into the smocked geometry. This project examines parallel processes of design present in both architecture and fashion, including the use of two-dimensional instructions, pattern and plan, to achieve three-dimensional form, clothing and building.

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SARAH DENAULT University of Southern California Caution Tape and Canvas

Caution Tape Jacket |

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I manipulated a single non-clothing material by hand to create a Mao Uniform Jacket, chosen because it provides a very simple and structured starting point, thus allowing us to read the effects of our chosen material more clearly. I chose CAUTION tape because I liked the variability given by its text and opacity. I discovered that, when braided, the variability of the tape made a marbling effect almost akin to snakeskin.

With that, I braided, coiled, wove, layered, and tied nothing but 2,300 feet of the CAUTION tape to make a jacket that reads as if it were made with fabric. The CAUTION TAPE JACKET is another example of the power of materiality to transform an outcome, no matter the rigidity with which it is applied.

Box of Poems |

This is a box that holds something dear to me: poems. Instead of sitting inside the box, the poems make up the box. I like to weave words together to write poetry, so I literally wove words to write this box. I wove strips of canvas according to a strict grid system, and given the soft nature of canvas, the box came out with rounded and imperfect edges, looking more like a basket than a box. The construction of this box exemplifies my most personal design technique, which is purposeful organic. I like allowing materials to transform a rigid production system or technique, such as weaving, into an organic final product. It exemplifies the contradiction and complexity in architecture.

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ARIANA ROSE BOOTH University of Southern California Black and White Zip Ties

Zip Tie Mao Jacket |

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The simple pattern of a Mao jacket serves as a blank canvas for material exploration and creative risk-taking. The challenge was to take the generic and find luxury through an obsessive attention to materiality, detail and construction. By taking risks with an unknown material and transforming that material both physically and visually, this jacket confronts the reality of construction and materiality head on.

A total of 18,060 zip ties were used: 17,376 white and 684 black. Zip ties were the chosen material for this jacket because they are both durable and pliable.

When tied together and accumulated, the zip ties become stronger and in effect create structure and strength in numbers, armor. The Jacket was constructed by first creating units made up of 166 zip ties, 160 of those being white and the other 6 black.

The units were then zip tied together according to the jacket pattern. The white zip ties make up most of the jacket and the black zip ties were used as connectors and acted as the seams of the jacket.

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AMANDA CLAY MIKE ANDERSON BAHAR ABEDI Woodbury University Vacuum Modeled Plastic Hexagons

Vacuumed Transparency|

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The goal of this project was to create a modular surface that was different on each side and could interlock to create depth and texture in the surface through the medium of vacuum forming. There were many stages of exploration in this project including learning how to work with and assemble our own vacuum former. Different plastics and different depths of pulls were experimented with, as we worked out different designs, possibilities, and difficulties in designing two different molds that would interlock to create a rigid surface.

This project was all about the creative process and bringing a seldom used form of manufacturing into the realm of architecture, and pushing it to become something that could build upon itself and eventually grow to stand on its own; to act as walls, facades, dividers or lightweight canopies. While this stage of the project has not reached the full potential we are reaching toward, we feel that is has that potential to add to the discussion of vacuum forming in the architectural design world.

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VANESSA ARRIAGADA University of Southern California Beads, Foam Core

Demosaic, Spatialize, Interpolate|

This suspended piece represents an initial set of images, translated into a beautiful pattern through a process of demosaicing, spatializing, and interpolating.

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The first step was to extract color values from a series of input images, translating them into numerical values which could be graphed. Notice that the suspended strings are not set in a grid at the top, but rather their placement itself is a function of the input. The larger, colored beads are derived from the initial selections as well, with their location on the string a result of their popularity within the data set.

As architects are the artists of cities, and buildings do not always lend themselves to inspiring creativity, processes that can generate beautiful patterns, density, and texture derived from dry numerical values can be a great tool for an architect to wield.

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GEVO AELIAN Woodbury University Prints on Baltic Birch, Painted Wood

Winery Factory |

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Wineries are always associated with vineyards; rarely is one seen without the other. This building aims to challenge our beliefs about society and what type of spaces individuals are familiar with. Reimagining what a factory looks like, the building begins to tackle our society’s blue and white collar stereotypes. As a society, we are segregated amongst the workforce, but rethinking the structure as one looping form gives the building a chance to blend the parties, bringing people of different backgrounds together.

In doing so, it creates multiple types of interaction by reflecting society’s working habits. By looking at society’s working habits, the form of the building started to take shape, not only from the interior but the exterior as well. As the building wraps over itself, it creates multiple corners, which were then used as areas of gathering and socializing. The top half of the building is where wine is produced, the lower half is where wine tasting and other social engagements happen. The two diagonal areas are where wine is stored, acting as the starting and finishing point. The slits in the roof are intended to bring natural light to the space, since typically, traditional factories do not have any natural lighting. Through the process of this project, I explored different techniques for representing and portraying ideas, alongside understanding the process of mass-producing wine.

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CHASE BRANDON WILLS Designer | Co-Founder Brandon+Bradley Solid Cherry + Digital Fabrication

Hammock Chair

From inception, this project was intended to challenge the idea of what a wood chair could be.

I wanted to create a piece that was not possible to produce with traditional hand fabrication methods.

The challenge was to apply the form language of bent wire chairs to one made only of wood. p80

For the seat pattern, I studied the way hammocks splay out from a simple grid to a diamond pattern.

A 3D model was built to resolve the initial shape of the chair. Then a grid pattern was projected onto the surfaces of the chair model. Each “cord� was painstakingly modeled to create files suitable for subtractive manufacturing.

Fabrication required over 100 hours of computer controlled milling. Once the parts were finished with machining, the real work began. Just as these parts could not have been created without the help of computer aided design, they could not be finished without many hours of hand carving, sanding, and finish work to assemble the final artifact.

This unfinished backrest is evidence of how much additional carving required human hands. With the rapid advancement of technology and digital fabrication, evidence from the hand of the maker is vital to imbue an artifact with a sense of humanity and ultimately a sense of soul.

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JINGBO YAN University of Southern California Color 3d Prints

Rennaiseum|

This work represents my explorations in using architectural language to articulate the transition from Traditional Culture to 21st Century Products.

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Driven by this idea, the architectural language of this hypothetical building is divided into two parts: On top, four exhibition galleries read as volumes joined together into one building and resolved in a way which reflects the wisdom of traditional craft.

At the same time it also articulates the contents inside the volume, the exhibition of Cloth & Fabric, Calligraphy, Craft and Furniture in Traditional Chinese Culture.

Toward the bottom, the volumes are dramatically transferred into a group of twisted surfaces which read as a container for the museum store which offers products with traditional spirit, but in the context of 21st century Post-Fordist Network Society.

For example, Haute Couture, 3D Printing Jewelry, Wearable Devices, and Open Source Products.

Between Volume and Surface, the transition parts are interwoven, which reinforces an intimate connection between culture and products.

The design process allowed me to explore and test my concept of the “Museum Store” replacing “Museum” in Modern Consumer Culture, and how design could anticipate this anticipated change. The exploration led to analysis of how Volume and Surface relate and could be reimagined in a way that is more socially, culturally, and historically relevant.

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JUSTIN YANG University of Southern California Chipboard and Basswood, Aluminum Print

Boardwalk Tower |

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This model of a boardwalk and observation tower is a study in the development of a regulating system oftriangulation and tessellation. In addition, layering of the surfaces leads to a diversity of spaces resulting from overlaps created, some of which are tiny and others large enough to be rooms. The design challenge for the exterior of the structures was to produce a smooth transition from solids to surfaces to lines, to nothing; to create the appearance of a smooth and organic disintegration along the length of the structure in spite of the irregularity of the form itself. This transition from solid to void occurs at a variety of scales, which helps achieve a sense of aesthetic appeal through similarities that account for natural variations.

The exact locations of openings, disintegrations, and the like were set to capture and frame distinct views.

The geometry not only frames the building itself, but the landscape surrounding it. By extending the edges of the main building, underground spaces and projected observation deck are created to improve the experience of it.

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CHADI HAKIM Woodbury University Student Pneumatic System and Inflatable Silicone

Emotive House |

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Models are used at the beginnings of projects to discover an approach to projects. In this case models enabled me to think about how the pneumatic system could work on different scales. For example the big model was built to show two scales of the project, one at the scale of a room and how the pneumatic system can completely change the dynamic of a room by distorting the corners. The second scale could be kept at 1:1 scale to show how the system could take over the spaces between the structures, creating a new type of insulation that could be responsive to temperature and different conditions.

Attached to the big model is an electronic control board that controls the pneumatic materials by inflating, deflating, and generally controlling the pressure of the cavity inside the silicone membranes.

The smaller study models later became important aspects of the project, including a wall that can inflate as a response to a physical cue, a space that is hidden and are only accessible when it inflates, and a slight change that renders a space unrecognizable.

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CHADI HAKIM Woodbury University Dye Sublimation Print on Baltic Birch

Emotive House Print |

The development of tract housing in America has allowed houses to be built quickly and cheaply.

However, in creating endless enclaves of identical houses these houses have become constrictive and unresponsive to both the demands of contemporary life and the forces of the external environment. p88

This project focuses on an alternative form of housing that takes emotion, responsiveness, personality and character as its key drivers. Thanks to the integration of pneumatic systems and alternative construction details, the emotive house can peel its walls, reveal hidden spaces, converse and flirt with the neighbor’s house and in the extreme, protect the neighborhood from the unpredictability of its surrounding environment. Due to the location of the house next to a ravine and the mountains of LA, the house will protect itself, its inhabitants, and with the help of the neighboring houses protect the neighborhood from the threat of bush fires. By giving the emotive house the ability to move beyond the strict property lines, and to create spaces between neighbors, it generates a dialogue between the house, its inhabitants and environment that leads to the rethinking of community and domestic spaces.

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SHEIDA ROGHANI University of Southern California 3d Print

Voronoi Museum |

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Artifacts arise from art and museum is a medium to exhibit art. The museum should isolate people from their surrounding environment and make some moments for visitors apart from their routine life.

Given these two ideas, the concept of cellular architecture formed for the design for a museum of the future.

Cells are arranged based on logic that controls their density, size and shape; a “3D voronoi diagram�.

Buildings can be thought of inherently as artifacts in cities. The design process began with designing an artifact with the proportion of a building. While cells filled inside the building, They played various roles; aperture, shades, screen, furniture. Dynamically, cells could fit their role by changing only in size and proportion.

Transformation from artifact to building occurred when cells were rationalized based on the requirements of the building program and construction methods. Details were designed to explore how to translate it into something buildable.

The desired effect was to create a building which celebrates its role as both containing artifacts and as an artifact within the city itself.

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KANE YANAGAWA CHARNG SHIN CHEN National Cheng Kung University - Taiwan Materials Research

Re-Inflate |

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Material research and fabrication methodology are important aspects of the design process. Our approach to architectural design stems from a broad foundation, drawing from inspiration from the visual arts, fashion and industrial design. Re-Inflate explores the contradiction between the physical properties of compression and inflation through computational design simulation, digital fabrication technology and responsive material properties in this age of pervasive computing. We investigated the translation and transformation of digitally captured data to design form, and the emergent characteristics of the spray forming fabrication process.

Through this experimentation and research our design work is informed by this process on multiple scales of application from interior building finish to overall formal expression. In the end, at each stage of the design process from data capture, computational simulation to digital fabrication, design intuition remained an invaluable resource in the corroboration of design concept, functionality and aesthetic.

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