Dissolving as a spatial quality: How to make a dissolving space resulting in an ambiguous boundary

SD4562 CAPSTONE RESEARCH: ENVIRONMENT & INTERIOR DESIGN

Dissolving as a spatial quality: How to make a dissolving space resulting in an ambiguous boundary

| checkpoint | interim report | final report

Student Name Student No. CPTutor

July He Xue 13103076D Kuo Jze Yi

RESEAERCH STATEMENT (before interim)

Topics Strategies Schedule

Research Interest:

spatial artists/architects or in different situation.

Dissolving as a spatial quality: How dissolving defines time in the space through materiality

To research relationship or the difference of the construction method between various dissolving materials.

Research Strategies:

Research plan:

Experimental:

Case studies:

To experiment the combination of materials: materials with construction potential and reference (materials that people used to build before, test them with dissolvable materials)

Olafur Eliasson’s related projects

So far I have done some testing that showed the result and consequence of dissolve. I am looking for a combination of materials and techniques that shows the process of dissolving.

On the table, Ai Weiwei Backside of the moon Spiral jetty, Robert Smithson WALLPIECE I-III, Jonas Etter

To master the technique to control the speed and extent of dissolving Experiment: Case studies: Spatial Artwork: to study what kinds of materials/objects were dissolved, how long they last, the reason why he/she chose these material, what the meaning of dissolving were in these artwork, what the relationship were between artwork and the spectator, what social and historical issues were aroused by these projects, what theories they are influenced by, what the impact of these projects are, etc.

Construction Testing: to study what kinds of material they dissolved, in which stage dissolving happened (during construction that people would see the result and trace of dissolving or people can see the process when the space is under use), which element of the building dissolved, what spatial quality dissolving influenced (e.g. light, ventilation, texture, etc.) whether the dissolving is permanent, how long the dissolving last, what methods they use to achieve that, etc.

Correlational: To research the difference or relationship of cultural and social influence between the same dissolving material applied by different

testing constructive materials + dissolving Output content and format: make conclusion and illustration of each part of research Schedule Week 6-7 Have 3 Wall testing and 2 case studies Week 8-9 Have 1-2 Wall testing and organize the data, make conclusion Week 10 Mid-term, clarify the direction of the next stage, make adjustment Week 11-12 Have testing on 3 different materials, record and make conclusion Week 13-14 Start making the final report and presentation panel. Make one concluded model carefully for two weeks Week 15 Submission of final report

MIND MAPPING

Topics Relationship Demostrate Possibility

WHAT MAKE A SPACE FRAGILE?

FRAGILITY OF LITERATURE MATERIALS REVIEW Reading Materials:

Type of Materials sand

Advantage

Disadvantage

limestone glass brick

Ceramics

enduring

brittle

cement

hard

heavy

gypsum

rigid

plaster mortar

Metals

mineral wool insulation

ductility dimensioal stability

oxidation

wood

Organics

paper bitumens (synthetic material) asphalts plastics rubbers

susceptibility to corrosion light flexibility

soft

Reason of Deterionation

Climate and Environment

Trace of events

WEATHERING

EFFECTS OF OCCUPANCY

“But all materials deteriorate through time, alghough at varying rates.”

Fragility Result in Different Variables

Temperature

Organics

Metals

Ceramics

Difference in coefficient of expansion will cause thermal movements and deformation.

“The similar thermal expansions of steel and concrete must be noted. This makes it possible to reinforce conrete with steel rods. Aluminum-reinforced concrete would be possible only if temperature variation were insignificant and of course if concrete did not corrode aluminum.�

Movement

Wood

Metals

Bricks and Concrete

“It is the strongest and until recently the cheapest of the cellular construction materials.”

“If steel should rust, the rust in a porous material that readily takes up moisture. Expansion is due both to the increased volume of the rust and its absorbed water. ”

“A brick or monolithic concrete structure will be less tolerant of such building movements.”

“A timber building may tolerate formidable movements and still stand.”

“Clay swells and shrinks remarkably with variations of moisture content.”

Moisture

Absorbent Materials “Clay, wood, nylon, or some types of plaster.”

“Concrete shrinks and wood swells or contracts as its moisture content changes.”

“Worse damage may occur if water collects in cracks or openings and then freezes. The expansion of water on freezing is a volume of almost 10 percent.”

Metals

“The corrosion of steel results in harmful expansion effects. If steel should rust, the rust in a porous material that readily takes up moisture. Expansion is due both to the increased volume of the rust and its absorbed water. If the steel is buried in other materials, these maybe cracked or spalled off.”

Synthietic Materials

Oxidation

Fe2O3 and hematite

Ceramics

Plastic

“Ceramic materials do not corrode in the atmospheric conditions to which buildings are exposed;”

“Paints, varnishes rubbers, sealants, asphalts, and many (but not all) plastic materials will oxidize slowly with time. Oxidation makes the material harder and more brittle, with the final result that the material may develop cracks, crazing, or deep dissures.”

Metals

“Metals are extracted from natural ores.”

“The corrosion process returns the metal to its original state as mineral.”

Creep

Steel and Aluminum

Concrete

Wood

Plastic

Creep is the slow but constant increase in deformation under a oermanent load, and is a plastic deformation.

Provided that stresses are held below a certain limit, creep will be negligible.

“Creep is not a characteristic of stells or aluminums as used in construction.”

“In the case of concrete, this creep limit is higher than the stresses allowed in concrete construction codes.”

“The effects of creep may be found in wood construction occasionally.”

“They are a very basic consideration in plastics.”

“This creep limit may be 40 percent of the rupture stress in the more durable construction plastics.”

CONCLUSION FragilityCorrelational of Materials

SMELLS

PERFUME

HEATED MATERIALS

FOG/HAZE/SMOKE

FOG

SMOKE

SOLUTION

DYE

DRINK POWEDER

SALT

MELTING

SYRUP

ICE

WAX

ASPHALT

MUD

CRACK

BRICK

CONCRETE

STONE

GLASS

PLASTIC

ROT

PLANTS

PLASTER

WOOD

DETERIONATION

METAL

STONE

STONE

GAS

DIFFUSION

LIQUID

SOLID

HIGH FRAGILITY

CONCRETE

LOW FRAGILITY

WHAT IS THE QUALITY OF DISSOLVING?

WHAT DOES DISSOLVING SPACE MEAN?

OLAFUR LITERATURE ELIASSON REVIEW

I have found several reference by different artist and I found Olafur Eliasson have done many project related to ice and dissolving. I decided to start the case study from his works.

I tried to understand his methodology and perception of space making and found out the impact of his works.

I listed out his related artworks first and research them by reading his articles, art reviews, interviews and TEDs talk.

There are terms that I cannot understand which part he would like to address and I found the answer in other sources. For the terms repeated many times, I listed them out to catch his ideas and concept of making dissolving spatial experiments.

Installation Art Spatial Studies Phenomenology Relational Art Gestalt Psychology

“I would claim that art and culture, and this is why art and culture are so incredibly interesting in the times we’re living in now, have proven that one can create a kind of a space which is both sensitive to individuality and to collectivity. It’s very much about this causality, consequences. It’s very much about the way we link thinking and doing. So what is between thinking and doing? And right in-between thinking and doing, I would say, there is experience. And experience is not just a kind of entertainment in a non-casual way. Experience is about responsibility. Having an experience is taking part in the world.Taking part in the world is really about sharing responsibility. So art, in that sense, I think holds an incredible relevance in the world in which we’re moving into, particularly right now. ” – Lecture at TED

“I try to ask my children not what nature looks like; they know what everythings looks like – atrocities in Paris, in Syria, everywhere. But they don’t know what it feels like.”

– The New Yorker

“It is not only our immediate experiences that are a subjective matter; our memories and expectations also have a highly individual impact on our perceptions.”

– Your Engagement Has Consequences

“The fields of waves are connected to my fundamental interest in exploring the relationship that arises between visitor and artwork. The experience of space – walking down the street, for instance – is a negotiation in which a co-creation takes place. What I am aiming at is to try to isolate the negotiation or engagement; that is, I am neither looking at the person nor the street, but instead at the in-between.”

– Your Engagement Has Consequences

“The value system suggested by society at large unfortunately tends to favour fixed identities and few voices, and is based on limited concepts of what is good and bad, acceptable and non-acceptable. In the face of the entertainment industry’s commodification of experience by excluding relativity through the suspension of time, the questions about self-reflection and identity have to be seriously reconsidered. We should avoid what we might call a Disneyfication of experience in order to leave room for individual evaluation, feelings, and thoughts. ” – Your Engagement Has Consequences

Confusion about the terms

Find demostration in his lecture & interview

List out the keyword and exact his ideas

Find direction and ideas about experiment

My comments on the article changed after going through his works

Trying to applied his philosophy to one of his works and compare to the art review

HIS ART STATEMENT

Reference:

guage=en#t-490180

Grynsztejn, M., EliĚ asson, O., Birnbaum, D., & Speaks, M. (2002). Olafur Eliasson. London: Phaidon Press.

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culturedesk/theartistwhoisbringingicebergstoparis

Obrist, H. U., & EliĚ asson, O. (2009). Experiment Marathon. Reykjavik: Reykjavik Art Museum. https://www.ted.com/talks/olafur_eliasson_playing_with_space_and_light/transcript?lan-

http://icewatchparis.com/ http://olafureliasson.net/

CONCLUSION Keywords

What material he used to dissolve?

Audience: Responsibility

Spectator / Viewer Engagement Experience

He used ice in Ice Pavilion (1998), The Very Large Icestep Experienced (1998), The Very Large Ice Floor (1998), Your Waste of Time (2006), Ice Watch (2014 & 2015) and Still River (2016). Uranine, a harmless fluorescent dye, in Green River (2002). Sugar and dry ice in the Weather Project (2003) and dry ice in Yellow Fog (1998).

Space: Context In-between Negotiation Interpenetration

Time: Process Time Static Temporal

Art: Nature Tangible Experience The research board I made relational mapping like this is mainly because that there are many difficult art term for me and some words repeats several times in each articles. I am wondering how the artist define them. So I connected all the passage together.

I made comments and questions, and I usually can find the answer and demonstration in other books, interview or lectures. The methodology the artist use and background of the artist are also very inspiring, such as phenomenology, Gestalt psychology and relational art.

Why he use ice as a medium often?

He is an Icelandic-Danish artist. There are a lot of his memory and experience about Ice. As the Greenlandic geologist he cooperated in the Ice Watch, 2015, mentioned, Ice is an important aspect of Greenlanders’ national identity. Everyone looks out of their windows and they see and feel it every day.

Iceland shared the same culture background.

Ice even become his personal insight of the cities in cases like Still River, 2016 that he froze water from Huangpu river into ice cubes and displayed them as a melting process in the museum. He would like to have a conversation and make the audience view the city by such “Nordic” way.

Apart from his background, it takes time for ice to melt and it is a process. This quality matches the concept of his space making “temporality“ to enhance audience’s feeling and experience. This will make the space negotiable and tangible which is against the contemporary culture. He used glacial ice a lot in which there is compressed air from millions years ago to recall the awareness of climate. But also huge ice floor to discuss the interaction between people and the space.

What kind of issue he would like to raise by these dissolving projects?

Generally speaking, Olafur Eliasson intents to raise the keywords in the previous context. For the audience, he addressed the responsibility, engagement and experience of spectators. I was confused about the responsibility in his articles at the first place but he demonstrated it specifically in his lecture and interview.

For the space he is very interested in the urban context of the exhibition location. For example, Still River is composed by the river in Shanghai where his solo exhibition located, and Ice Watch is in the centre of Paris on the occasion of the UN Climate Conference COP21. There usually is negotiation between spectators and the space. The negotiation means the space context will change if spectators take actions. Also, the interpenetration connotation between spectators’ cognization and the space or the issues he raised, between the object and the space. Something in-between to challenge the dualism in the modernism theory.

Time is another keyword of his works. He argued that contemporary culture such as the entertainment industry has a tendency to exclude relativity by suspension of time. Objects in such culture are static and timeless. However, everything is naturally in motion and situated in process. They are time itself. Time is also related to experience and memory. Eliasson are interested in creating space with temporality and set up continuous relationship between the world, art and receivers.

He is also challenging the traditional definition of truth which will be shattered if an idea is in the process. This might be another reason that why he choose ice as material a lot. The temporality and fragility of the ice (and also other dissolving materials) can be a good medium for him to express his perception. He described his works as events rather than objects result from involving the participation of time and spectators.

Time is indispensable for cognition and experience. Without it, objects are just fantasies of capitalism which compresses our freedom.

With these concept, Eliasson also raised some specific topic in events. Climate change, water pollution, enegry, etc. In the way of space making, he brought the issues in front of audience that with sensibility. Olafur Eliasson is influenced

by Gestalt psychology. Thus, he make his most spatial experiment tangible, “Feelings are facts�, as one of the title of his previous exhibition. For example, some audience hear the crack sound inside the glacial ice in Ice Watch project, which is the sound of the air from millions years ago coming out, when they touching the freezing and moist surface of ice .

This moment is quite touching that make people not only know what climate change is, but how it feels and what it means.

OLAFUR CASE ELIASSON STUDY

Ice Pavilion / 1998 / Steel, water, sprinkler / Kjanalstadir Museum, Iceland

01 DISSOLVING PROJECTS

The Very Large Ice Step Experienced / 1998 / Water, foil, wood / Musée d´Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and Nanterre, Paris

The Very Large Ice Floor / 1998 / Water, cooling system, metal, plastic foil / XXIV Bienal de São Paulo

Your Waste of Time / 2006 / Vatnajökull ice, cooling system, styrofoam, wood / neugerriemschneider, Berlin

Ice Watch / 2014 & 2015 / 12 ice blocks / Place du Panthéon, Paris

Still River / 2016 / 5 ice blocks, stainless stell, plastic sheet, wood / Long Museum, Shanghai

Green River / 1998 – 2001 / Uranine, water / Iceland, Bremen, Moss, Los Angeles, Stockholm, Tokyo

Yellow Fog / 1998 & 2008 / Fog machine, monofrequency light / Jewish Museum, New York (1998) & Verbund headquarters, Am Hof, Vienna (2008)

The Weather Project / 2003 / Monofrequency lights, projection foil, haze machines, mirror foil, aluminium, scaffolding / Tate Morden, London

Ice

02 MATERIALS

Dry Ice

Uranine

Olafur Eliasson’s works refer to a wide range of phenomena. I selected and studied those related to the quality of dissolving, such as melting and solution. There are three materials that are used in these cases.

ICE CASE WATCH STUDY Decay Exchanging Interpenetration Transition Shaping

Climate of Two Cities

COPENHAGEN Weather in December in Copenhagen.

The average temperature in Copenhagen in December is very cool at 3 °C. Afternoons can be cool with average high temperatures reaching 4 °C. Overnight temperatures are generally very cool with an average low of 1 °C.

Ice Watch / 12 ice blocks / Olafur Eliasson / 2014 / City Hall Square, Copenhagen / 2015 / Place du Panthéon, Paris

Ice weight: 100 tonnes in Copenhagen, 80 tonnes in Paris Origin: Nuup Kangerlua fjord outside Nuuk, Greenland Application: Public Art Installation

Duration: 2 weeks Aims: To enhance the cognisation of global warming, to make the fragility and decay of the Arctic visible and tangible, to bring global warming from a concept into an experience.

Transport: Organised by Group Greenland / Greenland Glacier Ice, the ice was collected by divers and dockworkers from the Royal Arctic Line and then transported in six refrigerated containers from Nuuk to Aalborg, Denmark by container ship and to Paris by truck.

Carbon footprint: 30 tonnes CO2e.

PARIS December is one of the coldest months in Paris, France, when the weather is cold, wet and there is a small chance of snow. During this month, the average temperature begins at 5.5°C on December 1st and drops down to 4°C by December 31st.

Ice Harvesting Fished out of the sea in the Nuuk Fjord, they had already been lost from the ice sheet before being ‘harvested’, and were rapidly melting into the ocean. The acquisition of the ice thus did not affect the Greenland ice sheet, which loses the equivalent of 1,000 such blocks of ice per second throughout the year.

Transport ‘Once Kleist and his crew lassoed the ice calves, they were dragged back into the harbor, lifted up by heavy cranes, stored in icehouses, and then transferred by container ship to Denmark before a ten-hour trip, in a truck, to Paris. (The longest trucks are the cheapest, Eliasson notes; the project was underwritten by Bloomberg Philanthropies, which also funded Eliasson’s 2008 New York waterfall project.) Ice, like glass, is both hard and fragile. Kleist laughs, “We had to be very, very careful. We didn’t want to open the container in Denmark and find a thousand ice cubes!”’

– The Artist Who Is Bringing Icebergs to Paris, The New Yorker

On the top left we can see that the ice has already broken into pieces.

2014 VS 2015

FRAGMENTS

The event in 2014 is like a mock run of 2015’s. Although in 2014 12 ice cubes were put in a circle like a compass or clock, the ice cubes were in fragments while in 2015 they were bigger one pieces in each position. It could be the improvement of transport and chose a better harvesting spot.

ONE PIECE

The sense of place was different when ice was present in fragments and one piece. It is obvious that the one pieces can present the idea of compass better.

Decay People’s interaction changed according to the various scales of the ice.

LISTENING

LICKING

TOUCHING

WITNESS

Tangible Eliasson was waiting in Copenhagen. “I thought, I know what ice looks like—I’ve seen ice frequently, these days! But when I opened the truck, it was shivering and shining in the warm air of Copenhagen. The ice had gotten a shock! I put my hand to it and suddenly I drew my hand back! I said to myself, The ice is really cold! Cold ice on your hand is very different than reading about how it is melting.” He paused. “From the perspective of the ice, humans look really warm.”

“You know, my kids are more elaborately agile in the digital mode than I am.

My generation experienced a time of innocence, but children now have never known a time without the challenge of climate change. I try to ask my children not what nature looks like; they know what everything looks like—atrocities in Paris, in Syria, everywhere. But they don’t know what it feels like. Public space in which things happen is vitally important now, and especially in Paris, where space is generated by civic consciousness.”

His Treatment on Ice Case Studies Your Waste of Time / 2006 / Vatnajökull ice, cooling system, styrofoam, wood / neugerriemschneider, Berlin

REFRIDGIRATED SPACE

Origin: Iceland’s largest glacier, Vatnajökull Application: Art Installation in Museum

Aims: To being not perfect for the society, to waste our sensitivity to the temporality, to meet up with history, to exDuration: 4 time months perience the vast of deep cosmology by touching and melting it

COOL SYSTEM POWERED BY SOLAR ENERGY

Temperature: Below 0°

“if there are too many people in the room, the ice starts to melt. If I stay in the room alone, for 25 min I will faint, 45 min I will freeze to death.”

Reference: https://vimeo.com/116118034

– Olafur Eliasson

ICE HARVEST

TRANSPORT

CLEANING

HIS TREATMENT ON WATER

Melting water went to...

CONTAINER MADE OF WOOD + PVC FABRIC

The Very Large Ice Step Experienced / 1998 / Water, foil, wood / Musée d´Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and Nanterre, Paris

BASE MADE OF STAINLESS STEEL + PLASTIC SHEET + WOOD

Still River / 2016 / 5 ice blocks, stainless steel, plastic sheet, wood / Long Museum, Shanghai

DRAINAGE SYSTEM OF THE CITY

Ice Watch / 2014 & 2015 / 12 ice blocks / Place du Panthéon, Paris

FLOOR OF THE MUSEUM

Your Waste of Time / 2006 / Vatnajökull ice, cooling system, styrofoam, wood / neugerriemschneider, Berlin

DISSOLVING EXPERI& CASTING MENT

01 TEXTURE

I used dissolving as one of casting method to make different texture on plaster and concrete. I have used salt, sugar and ice. I found that sugar actually is used as retarder during cast. That explain why it takes long to solidify a sugar-plaster. It is also the first time for me to cast concrete. I casted beautiful texture.

01 Salt + Plaster

02 Sugar + Plaster

03 Even Salt + Plaster

04 Salt + Sand + Plaster

05 Sugar Cube + Plaster

06 Salt filled in the the plaster

07 Even Salt + Gauze + Plaster

08 Ice + Concrete

Dissolving Time: 15 min 1. Salt dissolved very fast where it is in high density on the surface 2. You cannot have a section full of salt which would be fragile.

Salt will not be melt and stick to each other after absorb the water in the plaster.

3. Many bubbles came out from the place where there is much salt at the beginning of dissolving.

01 Salt + Plaster

02 PROCESS

I was trying to build a plaster wall with salt inside and put it outdoor when raining. But I did not go this direction somehow. I casted concrete with ice instead. The casting process is interesting though.

Dissolving Time: 15 min 1. Sugar dissolved very fast where it is in high density on the surface 2. Sugar takes longer to dry up when casting. Water comes out when sugar meet think liquid of plaster.

3. I used fine sugar so that the hole on the dissolving surface is smaller and the “fabric� is thinner.

02 Sugar + Plaster

Dissolving Time: 15 min 1. I thought it would dissolve very fast since I add a lot of salt than before.

2. Dissolving is much more slower than before. Salt was mixed with plaster and distributed relatively even in the plaster. Plaster prevent salt from dissolving.

3. The salt dissolves slower when there is less salt exploded on the surface.

4. Thin salt crytalised on the surface.

03 Even Salt + Plaster

Dissolving Time: 15 min 1. Still, the salt exploded on the surface will be dissolved.

2. Plaster mixed with sand is quite solid 3. The sand that did not mix evenly with plaster will be washed away.

04 Salt + Sand + Plaster

Dissolving Time: 15 min 1. It takes more than three days to dry up. They water keeps coming out.

2. There are ig hollow inside.

05 Sugar Cube + Plaster

Dissolving Time: approx. 1 day 1. The salt is crytalised on the surface as expectation which means plaster cannot be a filter that isolate salt from water.

2. When pouring water, salt dissolved very fast but the water came slowly.

3. The mold is a bit difficult to make which may damage plaster when being taken out.

06 Salt filled in the the plaster

Dissolving Time: 30 min 1. I would like to see if fabric can help with dissolving the salt inside the plaster. But I broke the plaster accidentially when take out the mold.

2. Gauze cannot absorb water into the plaster.

3. Only when the salt on the surface dissolving happens.

4. The gauze freezed after drying up.

5. No crylization on the bottom on pure plaster.

07 Even Salt + Gauze + Plaster

08 Ice + Concrete

It was the first time I played with concrete. I made this piece for more than a week. Everytime the ratio of sand and cement could be different because I read the weigh ratio online and adjust it according to classmate’s experience. Once even a construction worker helped me to mix concrete which is a very interesting experience.

It result in a beauriful layering on the surface. Also the surface is different where the concrete pouring out.

EXPERIMENT DESIGN SKETCHES

TIMELINE OF PRODUCTION

MAKING MOULD

TAKE ICE OUT FROM FRIDGE

MIXING CONCRETE

PLACE ICE

PEELING OFF THE MOULD OF ICE

FLATTEN THE SURFACE

POURING CONCRETE TO THE HEIGHT OF NEXT HOLLOW

ICE DISAPPEARING

CONCRETE DRYING UP

DISMANTLE MOULD

SHAPING THE ICE

Pealing off the mould

Striking the ice – hard to shape

Drilling is workable on ice

Ice melt fast by using heat gun

WHEN ICE IS MORE THAN CONCRETE

Dissolving Time: more than 2 weekss I tried to cast some concrete on the wasted ice. I thought the concrete will be solid fast but I am wrong. The concrete is diluted by water with no shape. I will test when there is much more ice

ICE, HOLLOW AND TEXTURE

THE TEXTURE - BEFORE & AFTER

ICE CASTING THE GROUND

When I mixing and pouring the concrete, I just put the ice on the ground. The ground was heated by the day light. After a while, I found that the ice cast the texture of the land – I was doing it on ground filled with tough rocks.

MOSQUITOES There were many mosquitoes once when I was making the concrete. They flew around the water melt from the ice and eagered to lay eggs there I guess. This kind of interaction with the nature was something I never expected for.

My Definition of the Quality of Dissolving 1. Shaping: Dissolving is a process of shaping the boundary.

2. Invading & Losing: Dissolving is like war, trading or pas de deux. One medium come into another medium, they both get something and cost something, and they would be in one in the end.

3. Adjusting, Exchanging & Interpenetration: When two media meet, there are ambiguities in between.

They adjust themselves to each other, react to each other, exchange the features and heading for a certain direction.

4. Transition: It is the transition of two stable situation. Every shot, every moment is just a point on the spectrum.

There is an end for dissolving if the variable is leading to a stable status. When the stable happen, dissolving stops until the next time the variable leads to the unstable again (e.g.

When the ice melts down, or the salt becomes solution, they look like they’re gone but actually dissolving is gone).

5. Exposure/Disclosure: Dissolving may expose some factors regarded as common that people might can’t feel. Like temperature and humidity.

Or like ice, when it is dissolving, it keeps expose the inner of itself.

6. Decay: Dissolving happens alongside the time. It also could be an event that involves time, behaviour and memories. + Critical aspect: Dissolving is a transition with interpenetration.

My Definition of the Quality of Dissolving Previously, I really found the beauty of dissolving based on the case studies – mostly artworks. After interim, when I trying to build the system of dissolving, I decided to divide dissolving to two parts – the motion and the ambiguous boundaries.

1. Decay - Time - Aging 2. Deformation - Distortion - Diffusion - Dismiss 3. Disappear - Melting - Erode

1. Sensation The motion of Dissolving

Ambiguous Boundaries

2. Spatial 3. Conceptual

HOW TO CONTROL A FRAGILE MATERIAL – ICE?

HOW LONG WILL A PIECE OF ICE MELT?

TIME EXPERIMENT 30 °C, Sunny 13:30 – 13:42

26 °C, Sunny 15:30 – 15:52

19 °C, Cloudy

INTERFACE MATERIAL iron coated with black paint

19 °C, Night 21:30 - 22:06

SIZE OF ICE BLOCK 0.3L (50*40*150mm)

VARIABLE

16 °C, Rainy 17:40 – 18:20

TEMPERATURE WEATHER TIME

MINUTE(S)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

26

28

30

32

34

36

38

CONCLUSION

The melting speed is relevant to temperature, sunlight, and rainfall. The duration is between 12 min to 40 min when temperature is from 16 degrees to 30 degrees.

HOW TO CONTROL THE TRANSPARENCY OF THE ICE?

VARIABLES LIGHTING AMBIENT TEMPERATURE If the ambient temperature is far above 0 degree, an ice block is easily cracked due to the temperature difference between core and skin.

The stronger and more focus the light is, the more details of the texture you can see.

WATER QUALITY When there is too much particle such as air, salt and mineral in the water, it is hard to get a perfect ice. Because they are trapped and excluded by ice during solidification if it solidifies from surface to the core.

AIR There is impurity when air gather in the ice. But it is almost impossible to exclude air from water directly by domestic tools. But the air can be excluded from the water natrually if the temperature drops slow enough.

FREEZING SPEED Due to Brownian motion, the solidfication of a material require time long enough to keep it stable. And the volumn of ice will expand during solidification. When the temperature drops too fast, the outside will solidify first and restrict the expansion of the core, the core easily cracks.

Constantly changing the ambient temperature around zero degree or adding insulation in the mould could be two kinds of solution.

LIGHTING EXPERICONDITION MENT

30 °C, Sunny

26 °C, Cloudy

19 °C, Drizzle

MELTING EXPERITIME MENT

0 min

5 min

20 min

SMOOTHNESS EXPERIOF SURFACE MENT

Before spraying water

After spraying water

THE FIRST EXPERIMOULD MENT

I tried using hot glue to get this done but it leaks.

I used plastic sheets to wrapped around and the ice formed out of the mould which brough difficulty to dismantle the mould.

It still leaks and I used salt to defroze it.

The bubble is distributed even in this way.

AIR IN THE ICE

Diagram of Freezing Water Water

Ice

Air

Materials with high thermal conductivity

Pictures of Freezing Water

01 COMMON METHOD

Due to Brownian motion, the solidfication of a material require time long enough to keep it stable. Since when we put the ice directly from ambient temperature to the fridge, water cannot be frozen from the core evenly as being frozen gradually. Water will be frozen from the outside while the inside is still liquid and there is no way for air to escape. Bubbles are locked in the ice.

Directions of coldness

Reference: https://www.studioneat.com/blogs/main/18098872-how-to-make-clear-ice

MOULD EXPERIMAKING MENT

WATER MOULD WRAPPED BY PLASTIC SHEETS PAPER TOWEL in case of leaking

PLASTIC SHEETS

TAPE

for covering, prevent the moisture frozen in the fridge

SCISSORS

When I testing the speed of melting, I used this method. It is fast but less transparency. But the motion of bubble is beautiful when it is escaping from the ice during melting.

>=10mm

When filling the water, the water cannot be too close to the edge. Its volumn will expand when freezing.

After filled with water, the mould would be covered with a plastic sheet. It can prevent adding frost in the fridge

After being frozen, the ice can be pull out from the mould.

But it needs several minutes to melt for being taken out easier.

The edge of the ice wouldn’t be that sharp anymore but at least it wouldn’t leak. The cloud it so obvious under the flash light.

Diagram of Freezing Water

Waterproof Materials

Materials with low thermal conductivity

Pictures of Freezing Water

02 GATHERING BUBBLES

This method control the direction of coldnessby adding materials with low thermal conductivity like foam so that one can control the position of bubbles in the volumn.

Directions of coldness

The impurity can be split up

Reference: https://www.studioneat.com/blogs/main/18098872-how-to-make-clear-ice

MOULD EXPERMAKING IMENT

FOAM insulation

PLASTIC SHEETS

WATER

water proof layers, also prevent the moisture frozen in the fridge

MOULD MADE BY PLASTIC SHEETS

SCISSORS TAPE

The method is similar but it requires longer time for solidification.

The method is similar to the last method. Add a water proof layer between the mould and water. But it need improving because the layer were too loose that it insert into ice.

After filled with water, the mould would be covered with a plastic sheet. It can prevent adding frost in the fridge

CLEAR CLOUD

When it is initially pulled out of the mould, it is hard to see the condition of the ice.

After spraying water, it is clear to see the condition inside.

The air were compressed to the bottom. But still a lot of impurity.

Water circulating pumbing

Refridgerating system at the bottom

Diagram of Freezing Water

Pictures of Freezing Water

03 CIRCULATING WATER

The reason why to use the pumping system is to prevent the impurity in ice like air and particles not to gather and deposit in the middle of the water. And the running water usually have similar temperature that the ice would not crack. Thus, the ice would be transparent.

Water is vaccumed

Directions of coldness and circular system

ICE FACTORY

Put ice modules in. The ice is refridgerated by the refridgerated liquid around the ice modules.

01 CLEAR ICE MACHINE

Spread waterproof membrane

The clear ice machine use circular water system and refridgerate the ice by refridgerating the liquid around the mould. And vaccum the water on the surface.

For higher quality ice blocks, they may cut it by bandsaw in a refridgerated room.

Place hanger for clipping the ice later and add water

AT LEAST 24 HOURS LATER

Put water circulating pump in

Some machine can make ice in open air while others need closed cabinets

ALTERATIVE MACHINE

3 DAYS LATER

The stick is used to test the condition of ice

Take out the pump The surface has to be level.

Extra water can be taken away by vaccum or siphon

Lift it up Dismantle the module or lifted the ice directly

Check and make sure the ice is perfect.

The ice was put on ice gel which is not easy to melt and can be reused.

The top of ice is cut by bandsaws in a refridgerated room.

The room is about -10 degrees.

Some other machine for ice sculpture making

CONCLUSION

1. The easiest way to achieve the transparency for me is to add insulation out of the mould.

2. Ice making does not has to be produced in refridgerated room.

3. I may need to study how to control the translucency of the ice as well in the future.

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl8VcL0DNio&index=3&list=PLI2zIrcWpX0_eJNvokmhU69PpQ3Bzr812 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5OB-qbFJXw&list=PLI2zIrcWpX0_eJNvokmhU69PpQ3Bzr812&index=8

WHAT IS THE SOUND OF ICE?

THE FIRST DROP 30 °C, Sunny 13:30 – 13:42

26 °C, Sunny 15:30 – 15:52

19 °C, Cloudy

19 °C, Night 21:30 - 22:06

16 °C, Rainy 17:40 – 18:20

2 min

5 min

12 min

20 min

N/A

When recording the melting of the ice, I found something surprising about the sound of the first drop. It was stunning during a long period of slience.

Dissolving is not only about change of shape but also about the presence of ice.

DROPPING ON MATERIALS

WOOD

AT THE HEIGHT OF 2 METRE

GLASS

The sound of dropping could differ when the interfaces are made of different materials. I recorded them and tried to visualize them in some ways.

The wave above might not be the best way to connect one’s experience to the sound, but it tells the difference of volume and vibration. The design could refer to a space of rhythm by hearing.

FOAM

FABRIC

PVC

ALUMINUM

HOW TO CONSTRUCT

BY ICE?

IGLOO CASE STUDY

TYPE Vernacular Housing MATERIALS Ice blocks ETHNIC GROUP Inuit PURPOSES Shelter for hunting, Dwelling, Special Occasions BUILDING TIME Winter LOCATION Canada’s Central Arctic and Greenland’s Thule area CONSTRUCTION DURATION 40min - Days

CONSTRUCTION METHOD

1. Build a circle by snow blocks first.

2. Cut the part of the ice block to create a slope as foundation of the igloo.

3. The igloo will be built in spiral.

4. Finish

CONSTRUCTION PROCESS

d

Inuit people use special stick to measure the hardness of snow to judge whether it is suitable for construct.

They use special steel knife to cut snow to make the block on the spot.

They used to use ivory when there is no steel.

01 ICE HARVESTING

Inuit people will harvest the ice at the site where they hunt. Knife and stick are enough for them to build an igloo. The smallest igloo can be built in 40 min.

Before construction, they draw a circle on the ground by foot. It should be circular enough, otherwise igloo would collapse.

They are cutting the slope for foundation.

They harvest the ice directly on the site. The floor of igloo therefore will be lower than the ground.

02 BUILDING STRUCTURE

The structure of igloo is in spiral. Some people will put one of the ice block a bit higher as anchor point. But inuit way is the fastest. They are very familiar to build igloos.

The last block is layered.

The details: the interface should be flat enough to combine two blocks together.

Put some loose snow in the gap between blocks to ensure the heat will not escape.

Cut another piece of ice as a door.

Open the door by cutting the blocks.

03 FINISHING

Before they settle down, they have to make an opening and have a better finishing on the surface first. Doors are made from another piece of ice.

Reference: Wilkinson, D. (Director). (1949). How to build an igloo [Motion picture on laser disc]. New York: National Film Board of Canada ; Sterling Educational Films.

ICED CASE TIME TUNNEL STUDY

TYPE Site specific installation MATERIALS Plastic coated waterproof Light Emitting Diode, IC, Electric wire, Ice block DIMENSION Half-Ice tunnel, 15 m diameter x 2m height ARTIST & ARCHITECT Tatsuo Miyajima & Tadao Ando TIME 12 Feb - 31 Mar 2004 LOCATION Rovaniemi, Finland CONSTRUCTION DURATION Approx. 2 months

CONSTRUCTION PROCESS

The ice blocks floating on the river, are put on a transfer place, waiting for transport.

The ice blocks are cut by electrical saw which is used to cut woods.

01 ICE HARVESTING

Large ice blocks are cut out on a local lake and transported to the building site.

The size is 1m x 2m and 50-60 in thinkness.

Large ice blocks are lifted by a crane from the river carefully.

Ice blocks are placed in layers but separated by wood sticks as a damping during transporting, also in case that they stick to each other.

Large ice blocks are going to be put on a lorry.

The ice are transported to the site directly.

The ice structure is built again the scaffolding made of wood and metal.

02 BUILDING IN ICE

The large ice block is cut in two by chainsaws.

The large ice blocks are unloaded from the crane lorry.

Each block is cut in the right size and angle.

The tools are standard forests equipement.

Workers unload the cut ice block from the production line carefully.

The ice blocks are cut by circular-blade on site saw in certain specific angels.

They cut the edge of ice into more specific angle that fit in the structure.

The working condition varied from minus 10 to around minus 30 degrees in a climate where the sun has no heating power.

The ice was lifted and placed by the crane.

There were workers holding the ice on the ground, ensure that the ice was put in right position and protect it from being broken.

03 THE ASSEMBLY

Each block is laid against the scaffolding and water is used to freeze the blocks together.

The workers would cut the ice block again when it was placed against the scaffolding. They even used very small tools to cut the interface between two blocks, to make them be stacked firmly.

Workers were preparing for placing the key “stone” – the final stone.

They were adjusting the interface by chainsaws.

The final stone was lifted by crane again.

The fin by the Worker as well.

nal stone was inserted force from the crane. rs pulled it in by rope .

The scale bewteen human, water and the structure.

Water is prayed over the structure in order tofreeze the large building blocks together before the scaffolding is removed.

Workers were demolishing the scaffolding by prizing the joints.

The dismantled the verticle struture first, then it is horizontal layers.

04 CLEANING & FINISHING

The scaffolding is removed and the structure stand on its own.

The final smoothening of the surface is made by special made carving tools.

The pre-layed cables for the LED lights is exposed now. The blue sky can be seen through the ice.

This is the look after scaffolding removed. The ice is transparent. However, the artist were trying to make it perfect. They smoothened the surface after.

The waste was shoveled by a loader out of the tunnel directly.

Another worker worked on the inside surface. The day was very short in arctic circle that they need to have additional lighting when working.

The worker was shaving the ice bit by bit on the outside surface.

The tool was specially designed. The smoother the surface is, the more transparent it is.

The lighting effect of LED through the ice.

The final look of the ice. There were lights casting from the outside.

05 EXHIBITING & MELTING

The exhibition lasted about 1.5 months. ‘I had no experience of the materiality of ice so it was a very difficult proposal for me.’ ‘The ice is amazing but very difficult to get a good finish and maintain the transparency.Finally I am very satisfied.’ said the artist.

Spring has arrived to Rovaniemi in April 2004 and the “Iced Time Tunnel� is disappearing......

The ice was opaque and dirty again.

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL8CMouuyXM

CONCLUSION

The ice construct is not a new method and Inuit can build an igloo in 40 min. But it is very difficult to control its quality as Tatsuo Miyajima said. This case study is very supportive to my research, it provide various methods of building an ice construct and controlling its transparency, such as using scaffolding to make the arch support, using water as adhensive and smoothening the surface by striking off the skin layer.

PENAL CASE COLONY STUDY

TYPE Site specific installation MATERIALS Ice block and snow ARTIST & ARCHITECT Yoko Ono & Arata Isozaki TIME 12 Feb - 31 Mar 2004 LOCATION Rovaniemi, Finland

The Snow Show is an ephemeral construction festival intending to create a bridge between the world of contemporary art and architecture. 17 works have been constructed since 2000, when the Art Show was originally conceived by curator Lance Fung.

In 2004, a partnership was established by Yoko Ono and Arata Isozaki, and a work was conceived and built using ephemeral materials such as snow and ice.

Their pavillion used harvested ice from a frozen lake in the Sestriere. The blocks came from a lower layer of the lake, where the ice is blueish or turquoise depending on the minerals contained in the water. Once cut with a chainsaw, each block, measuring 1 metre in length by 0.6 metres in height by 0.6 metres in width was lifted by a logging crane and transported to the site.

The blocks were then positioned in order to fit together. Once each block was put into place, water was poured to fuse the ice together. Finally the material was finished using setaline torch and smoothing the surfaces, giving a translucent tone to the construction.

CONSTRUCTION PROCESS

MELTING PROCESS

Reference: http://socks-studio.com/2012/09/24/penal-colony-by-yoko-ono-arata-isozaki-2004/

COMPARISON

TYPE

ICE HARVESTING

BUILDING METHOD

IGLOO

Vernacular House

Snow

Stacking ice blocks

ICED TIME TUNNEL

Installation / pavillion

Ice in river

Stacking ice blocks against scaffolding

PENAL COLONY

Installation / pavillion

Snow & Ice in river

Casting the snow

TOOLS

CONSTRUCTION TIME

ADHENSIVE

REBUILDED

Stick and knife

1hr 45min

Loose snow

Yes

Crane, circular-blade saw, chainsaw, chisel, scaffolding, water spraying, loader

Approx. 2 months

Water spraying

No

Crane, mould, loader, chainsaw

N/A

N/A

No

ALTERNATIVE LITERATURE CONSTRUTION REVIEW

I found that the traditional methods of laying ice in ice cellar is similar to building bricks. I put some contemporary brick building method here for reference and it may help experiment following.

WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND OF ICE?

TYPE OF ICE Type Nature Sea Ice

Glacial Ice

Sea ice forms in the winter, when the ocean freezes over.

The ice cover on the polar ocean comes and goes with the passing of the seasons. This does not influence sea level, since the same amount of water remains, whether as ice or as water. However, when sea ice melts it is replaced by dark ocean, which does not reflect sunlight but absorbs it, converting it into heat. This is probably the major reason why temperatures have increased twice as fast in the Arctic as in the Northern Hemisphere in general.

Glacial ice is a different matter. In Greenland we find a continent-wide ice sheet, produced by falling snow over millions of years. This glacial ice flows slowly towards the ocean, where it either melts or breaks apart to form icebergs. The amount of ice lost at the edges used to equal to the accumulation of new snow every year, but the warmer climate has thrown the Greenland ice sheet out of balance.

Currently, the amount lost each year is 200–300 billion tonnes, a rate that is expected to increase dramatically.

And what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic – Arctic warming also affects the climate at lower latitudes.

Extreme weather events at lower latitudes are among the consequences of the loss of sea ice from the Arctic Ocean.

Unlike melting sea ice, melting glacial ice does affect global sea levels. Water that evaporated from the ocean in the past has been stored for millennia as ice. When it returns to the ocean, this water causes the sea level to rise.

Manufacture Industrial Ice

Edible Ice

Environmental Ice

Dry Ice

TRADITIONAL ICE INDUSTRY The history of ice trade The ice trade, also known as the frozen water trade, was a 19th-century industry, centering on the east coast of the United States and Norway, involving the large-scale harvesting, transport and sale of natural ice for domestic consumption and commercial purposes. Ice was cut from the surface of ponds and streams, then stored in ice houses, before being sent on by ship, barge or railroad to its final destination around the world. Networks of ice wagons were typically used to distribute the product to the final domestic and smaller commercial customers. The ice trade revolutionized the U.S. meat, vegetable and fruit industries, enabled significant growth in the fishing industry, and encouraged the introduction of a range of new drinks and foods.

At its peak at the end of the 19th century, the U.S. ice trade employed an estimated 90,000 people in an industry capitalised at $28 million ($660 million in 2010 terms), using ice houses capable of storing up to 250,000 tons (220 million kg) each; Norway exported a million tons (910 million kg) of ice a year, drawing on a network of artificial lakes. Competition had slowly been growing, however, in the form of artificially produced plant ice and mechanically chilled facilities.

Unreliable and expensive at first, plant ice began to successfully compete with natural ice in Australia and India during the 1850s and 1870s respectively, until, by the outbreak of World War I in 1914, more plant ice was being produced in the U.S. each year than naturally harvested ice. Despite a temporary increase in production in the U.S. during the war, the inter-war years saw the total collapse of the ice trade around the world. Today, ice is occasionally harvested for ice carving and ice festivals, but little remains of the 19th-century industrial network of ice houses and transport facilities.

TRADITIONAL ICE TRADE Ice trade case study Source: Documentary Title: The ice of pop Hoshur Director: He Ming, Li Guanghua Release dates: March, 2013 Running time: 42 min

This documentary documented traditional ice industry in Xinjiang through the story of pop Hoshur, a ice cream stall owner in local market. Pop Hoshur sold ice water in summer time, but he prepared the ice in the beginning of the year.

The film shot the whole period of ice mining and storage in a period of 6 days.

Xinjiang is in the temperate zone where the summer is hot but the winter is freezing cold. River and pond will be covered with ice sheet as thick as 20-30 cm. Located in the inner land, it rains little. In the summer, people would like to buy an iced drink to relief the uncomfortable.

Reference: http://www.bilibili.com/video/av1003165/

ICE MINING

Time: mid-end janurary Duration: 6 days Labour: temporally hired Water source: frozen pond, reservoir Harvest tools: water(float the ice in the shallow pond), axe, hook

TRANSPORT

Methods: dividing the ice sheet into several squares of 30-40 sqm by axes, subdividing them into smaller sizes, moving it to the tractors by ice hooks for transportation: sled, motocycle, tractor Thickness of ice sheet: 20-30cm Transportation: sled, motocycle, tractor

Place: an open-cast ice cellar

STORAGE

Method: like building bricks 1. lay a layer ice of poor quality at in the footing to reduce friction of the place 2. lay the layers of ice pieces, enfuring they are level 3. use crushed ice to fill the risers to the height of the ice 4. repeat step 2-3 to the proper height 5. lay a 20-cm layer of ice, cover a layer of canvas, then put a thick layer of stray, the top is a layer of reed

ICE INDUSTRY IN HONG KONG

Ships or Lorries

EDIBLE ICE

LOGISTIC

CATERING INDUSTRY

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

RELEVANT INDUSTRY

HONG KONG ICE

AQUACULTURE HYGIENE LICENSE

SERVICE EDIBLE ICE

ICE PRODUCTS LOGISTIC

INDUSTRIAL ICE STORAGE ICE SCULPTURE

DRY ICE

I

Refridgerated Lorry Deliver about 500 BAGS PER LORRY

INDUSTRIAL ICE ABOVE 20 DEGREES

Deliver about 200 BAGS PER LORRY

C BELOW 20 DEGREES SEASONAL

E INDUSTRY

Corruption

COMPANY Provide 90% of Edible Ice in the Market

More than $10 dollars per bags

Less than $5 per bags Provide 10% of Edible Ice in the Market

LOW BALLING

MAIN FACTORIES IN HK

HK ICE & COLD STORE

SHIU PONG GROUP

TURBO ICE CO LTD

TSIT ON ICE CO LTD

ICE COMPANIES AND THEIR FACTORIES

66%

EDIBLE ICE INDUSTRY MARKET IN 2012

There are four main ice companies in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Ice & Cold Store is the biggest one, whose factories locate all around Hong Kong.

10%

However, when it comes to the market of edible ice, it only take 10% stake in 2012.

This resulted in the low balling of HK Ice & Cold Store.

HK ICE & COLD STORE

HK ICE & COLD STORE’S STAKE

SHIU PONG GROUP

THE STAKE OF OTHER COMPANIES

TURBO ICE CO LTD TSIT ON ICE CO LTD

LOCATION TO THE SEA

89%

Most of ice factories locate by the sea. Because Hong Kong’s aquaculture used to boom in mid-20th century.

The fishers drove their boat to the ice factory where ice would drop by tubes. Aquaculture decayed these days and ice mainly serve to construction industry and food industry. Also, since there are smoke ventilated by the factory, it is not ideal for the factories to build somewhere else.

ICE SCULPTURE SERVICE

3 CO

Shiu Pong, Turbo and Tsit On provide ice sculpture service while HK Ice does not. Those who have these service means they can control the transparency and shape the ice by machine in refridgerated rooms.

FACTORIES BY THE SEA

COMPANIES WITH ICE SCULPTURE SERVICE

FACTORY NOT BY THE SEA

COMPANY WITHOUT ICE SCULPTURE SERVICE

Reference:

http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/news/art/20121102/18055260

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUAaaL-vKgY

分秒必爭 [送冰工人, 派報員]. 香港 : Originally released as a television broadcast on 28 July 2013.

http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/news/20120329/00176_097.html

Credits: Production of Television Broadcasts Ltd. (TVB)

VISITING ENQUIRY

These are emails that I have sent to them. Others of the factory I called them directly. But they either not accept visiting or too busy to arrange it. These email never receive any reply.

CLIMATE IN HONG KONG

30

25 Avg. Highest Temp 20

15 Avg. Lowest Temp 10

5

Freezing point 0 JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

HONG KONG’S IMPRESSION OF ICE

COLD DRINK

FISH MARKET

CONSTRUCTION IN SUMMER

SATISFICATION

REFRESHMENT

RELIEF

CONCLUSION

The presence of ice is not just frozen water. It satisfied people’s need. Centuries ago, people have stored ice since winter, maybe just for a sip of the drink.

Hong Kong’s ice is not about drink only, but also related to aquaculture and construction. The ice satisfies the need of industry as well. However, ice factory is somewhere not much people know about.

WHAT CAN IT REFER TO?

EPHEMERAL LITERATURAL ARCHITECTURE REVIEW seasonal structures

nomadic architecture

‘Ephemeral’, up until now, might apply to a building with the potential to move, or even just the impression of lightness, or fragility in its design.

event architecture

The graph visually displays architecture relative to its intended and actual time at a site. Architecture along the 45o line remains on a site as long as intended. Above and to the left of the 45o line lies architecture that prematurely departs a site. Below and to the right lies architecture that remains on a site past its intended departure.

As the graph shows, Ephermal Architecture typically lies near the 45o line. Most Ephemeral Achitecture can be found here because actual time is relatively easy to reconcile with intended in a shorter time frame, and the examples shown often relate to an event with a predetermined end point. For example, Snow Show 2005 was schedule to last a specific number of days, but due to an early spring the buildings melted away early.

Therefore, it falls to the left of the 45o line, but still close as indicated by the golden color. The golden area around the 45o expands as it moves into the future since deviations from the line become more difficult to contro over time. The darker golden area represents where most architecture will be found since a building's intended and actual time at a site is not always easy to reconcile. Therefore, buildings locate in this area generally rather than with a specific dot. Examples like Ise Shrine and Denver Airport are still aging and moving toward the 45o, while others like Paper Church and Quonset Hut have moved well past it. (Note: The graph shows certain typical groups (e.g. backpacking tents, cruise ships, yurts) and may not properly reflect specific examples within these groups. For example not all recreational vehicles will be on the 5o, there may be specific ones that become permanently rooted to a site and stetch past it intended time.)

Egyp ian Pyramids

New Orleans

German Reichstag

Millenium Dome Hawai i State Capital

Pruitt-Igoe

Parc de la Villette Follies

Tokyo High-Rise c. 1980's Denver Airport

Hamlet Housing Shodai Cultural Center

R nker Hall

Hoshida Common City Housing

Na Hale 'O Waiawi

Traditional Ice-Block Houses ("Igloos")

Bedouin Black Tent

Japanese Tea House

Schwazenegger's Cigar Tent (Poli ical Term, 3 years)

Quonset Hut World Expo Pavilions Swedish Ice Hotel

Mexican Fishing Hut Yurts

Tipis

Approximately the leng h of a Season

Burning Man Edgar Blazona's Modular Dwellings The Gates

Refugee Housing Shigeru Ban's Paper Church

European Festival Architecture c. 1600-1700 Ta'zia, Rath, Pandal

Nagakin Capsules

Cruise Ships

Mobile ICHIJYO/1 Covered Wagons Recrea ional Vehicles Farmer's Market Tents

Backpacking Tents

Buddhist Sand Mandalas

0

Snow Show

So-an/Mobile Chanoyu Room

Christo's Reichstag Project

Party Bouncers

para-SITES

Cushicle

Jim Denevan Sand Designs

Intended Time at a Site

Ise Shrine

A few weeks or less

Mobile Home

A day or less

Actual Time at a Site graph 1: The graph visually displays architecture relative to its intended and actual time at a site.

PHENOMENOLOGY LITERATURAL OF ARCHITECTURE REVIEW

three-dimensional geometry

perceptual field

flooring wall ceiling

“A b

architecture

Gree is

landscape

ground horizon sky

Since when I was doing the research on Olafur Eliasson and having discussion with my tutor, the term “Phenomenology” turns out so many times, I have read this book to get the knowledge of phenomenology of architecture.

centralization

concrete space being abstractions from the intuitive three-dimensional totality of everyday experience

direction

rhythm boundary

boundary is not that at which something stops but, as the eks recognized, the boundary that, from which something begins its presencing� – Heidegger

extension and enclosure

figure and ground opening

space character

landscape

PLACE

comprehensive atmosphere

settlement

orientation

concrete form andsubstance of the space-defining elements

identification

orientation

perceptuaal schemata

THE CASE RIVERWALK STUDY The Riverwalk, San Antonio, Texas.

Reference: https://www.zhihu.com/question/22012558

Space: Three-dimensional, digitizable, abstract and perception field

Architects may love to analyse the dimension, skyline, composition and scale of architecture, paths, water area and bridge in a picture like this. They also analyse the spaces of open versus closure and privacy versus public.

Place: Not referred to theory, referred to experience and sensation (five senses).

But a user may just use the space according to their sensation and experience instead of understanding of the theory.

San Antonio is located in Texas where the summer is hot and humid and winter is cool and dry. The waterfront is enjoyable in this kind of climate. The place’s atmosphere and people’s sensation would even change before and after a rain.

SPATIAL ANALYSIS Bottom-left Enclosure

The bench and soft plants form a tiny enclosing platform, where only a couple of people can fit in. It provide a sense of security.

Touchable soft plants

The terrazzo flooring and tile bench also remind people of leisure experience.

People can be away from the crowd but still can enjoy the scenery of boats drifting leisurely and people drinking coffee at the other bank, and can hear sound of water and noise of passengers.

The surface of water is close to the land that can be easily accessed.

People would think the river is more fun and safe when they know it is not deep. In summer when it is hot and humid, it would be very refreshing to touch or dip one’s toes into the water covered by the shades and breeze while viewing the surroundings.

Passenger on the boats

Listening to ripple of the water, they move slowly. The landscape on the bank constantly changes.

Sometimes they will next to people in the cafe who are chatting or drinking. They can touch water, plants and even people at the bank. It is a unique experience which is different from busy wide rivers in big cities.

When they go beneath an arch bridge, the light changes and the echo will enhance.

People at the cafes

Chilled terrazzo path below is connected to the atmosphere of waterfront and wooden chairs sitting on is very comfortable and chilled for an outdoor space with such climate.

If they want to be private and quiet, they can go inside the cafe by going across the terrazzo path, where there is darker and the noise is more far away. Through glass windows, sitting on soft sofa, they can still see everything outside and outdoor seats.

They feel secure and comfortable when being covered by trees and umbrellas, preventing them from sunshine.

They can either focus on chatting with friends, looking at the boats and mallards on the river or people at the other bank. People passing by from time to time. The breeze sometimes will bring the smells of food and coffee from the cafes.

Pedestrian

They feel comfortable because there is always trees above protect them from sunshine and bushes show up at suitable position.

Made in various materials, the path sometimes close to the water, sometimes go underneath a building or a dark arch, sometimes it climbs up.

Standing on the top, pedestrian can see that boats are passing through beneath them, buildings in different scale are surrounding them and tourists from all around the country are passing by. But they cannot see the whole picture in one position, the winding path always lead you to somewhere unknown.

When they are tired, they can find some pocket places for a rest.

CONCLUSION

When we travel in a space, it is not just abstract three-dimensional geometry and perception field. When we talk about the sensation and perception, they are not just about themselves but our everyday life, human need, our memory and experience. When these are located in the context like climate and topology, the sense of place exists. A place cannot be percepted without these.

AMBIGIOUS LITERATURE BOUNDARIES REVIEW

This book defined the boundary from phenomenology point of view. It does not address the physical boundary but also the character of the space.

It also mentioned the position of the boundary locate in a space in phenomenology of architecture.

GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY Gestalt psychology or gestaltism is a theory of mind of the Berlin School of experimental psychology. Gestalt psychology tries to understand the laws of our ability to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in an apparently chaotic world. The central principle of gestalt psychology is that the mind forms a global whole with self-organizing tendencies.

The key principles of gestalt systems are emergence, reification, multistability and invariance.

Reification Reification is the constructive or generative aspect of perception, by which the experienced percept contains more explicit spatial information than the sensory stimulus on which it is based.

For instance, a triangle is perceived in picture A, though no triangle is there. In pictures B and D the eye recognizes disparate shapes as “belonging” to a single shape, in C a complete three-dimensional shape is seen, where in actuality no such thing is drawn.

Reification can be explained by progress in the study of illusory contours, which are treated by the visual system as “real” contours.

Prägnanz The fundamental principle of gestalt perception is the law of prägnanz (in the German language, pithiness), which says that we tend to order our experience in a manner that is regular, orderly, symmetrical, and simple. Gestalt psychologists attempt to discover refinements of the law of prägnanz, and this involves writing down laws that, hypothetically, allow us to predict the interpretation of sensation, what are often called “gestalt laws”.

Law of closure The law of closure states that individuals perceive objects such as shapes, letters, pictures, etc., as being whole when they are not complete. Specifically, when parts of a whole picture are missing, our perception fills in the visual gap.

Research shows that the reason the mind completes a regular figure that is not perceived through sensation is to increase the regularity of surrounding stimuli.

For example, the figure that depicts the law of closure portrays what we perceive as a circle on the left side of the image and a rectangle on the right side of the image. However, gaps are present in the shapes. If the law of closure did not exist, the image would depict an assortment of different lines with different lengths, rotations, and curvatures—but with the law of closure, we perceptually combine the lines into whole shapes.

PHYSICAL BOUNDARY VISUAL

Ambiguous Case Boundaries Studies

NON-PHYSICAL BOUNDARY POLITICAL

ELIMINATING BOUNDARIES Internet gives human chances to unity regardless their background and classes. Some countries like Estonia has already embraced this tendency and find a better solution for the politics, economic development and culture fusion for their countries in the future.

Estonian e-Residency Digital society When Estonian political and technical leadership began laying the foundation for e-Estonia, it decided on certain principles: Decentralization. There’s no central database, and every stakeholder, be it a government department, a ministry or a business, gets to choose its own system in its own time.

Interconnectivity. All the elements in the system have to be able to work together smoothly.

Open platform. Any institution can use the public key infrastructure.

Open-ended process. As a continuous project to keep growing and improving organically.

Infrastructure The two key ingredients in the infrastructure are the X-Road and e-Identity or e-ID. The X-Road is a critical tool that connects all the decentralized components of the system together. It’s the environment that allows the nation’s various databases and registers, both in the public and private sector, to link up and operate in harmony no matter what platform they use. eID is the nationally standardized system for verifying a person’s identity in an online environment. It opens the door to all secure e-services while maintaining the highest level of security and trust.

Other systems have since been linked, thanks to these. But the Estonian government didn’t create programming resources – it acted as a smart purchaser. The

licenses belong to the taxpayer, but the solutions were created by private companies. That way costs were reduced, while flexibility was maintained.

Government Transparency and efficiency at all levels of government have been boosted by advanced e-services.

Business Business has been made easy by fast interaction, lower bureaucracy and access to critical information.

Citizens Integrated e-solutions have created an effective, convenient interface between citizens and government agencies.

Healthcare Doctors, patients, hospitals and the government are all benefiting from the convenience, access and savings that e-services have brought.

e-Estonia means voting in elections from the comfort of your own living room.

Filing your income taxreturn in just five minutes. Signing a legally-binding contract over the Internet, from anywhere in the world, via your mobile phone.

These are just a few of the services that Estonians take advantage of on a regular basis.

For their part, entrepreneurs can register businesses in as little 18 minutes, check vital company, property and legal records online, and even integrate their own secure services with the ones offered by the state.

Interaction among government agencies, and between the government and citizens, has been completely transformed in e-Estonia, quickly making bureaucracy a thing of the past and making the running of all levels of government more efficient than ever before.

The e-Estonia section of this website details the methods by which Estonia is using advanced technical solutions to create a stronger economy, a better community and a brighter future.

Estonia’s e-solutions have resulted in:

Education

An unprecedented level of transparency and accessibility in government

e-school has revolutionized the way students, teachers and parents interact, creating a generation that is both better-educated and tech-savvy.

Safe, convenient and flexible exchange of private, government and corporate data

Public Safety

A healthier, better educated population with easy access to social services

Estonia is safer thanks to systems that give law enforcement officers the tools they need to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively.

A prosperous environment for business and entrepreneurship

Cyber Security A unique partnership between public and private IT sectors and Institutes keeps Estonia one step ahead of cyber security threats.

Utilities Innovations in the utilities and intelligent homes industries save energy and result in a cleaner environment.

Life in the Digital Society

Digital society and infrastructure The e-Estonia digital society is made possible largely due to its infrastructure. Instead of developing a single, all-encompassing central system, Estonia created an open, decentralized system that links together various services and databases. The flexibility provided by this open set-up has allowed new components of the digital society to be developed and added through the years.

It’s that power to expand that has allowed Estonia to grow into one of Europe’s success stories of the last decade.

The service of e-Residency according to e-estonia.com

The factor of e-Residency in Estonia so far.

The data base and the infograph provided by the website really shows the possiblity of e-Residency.

NON-PHYSICAL BOUNDARY CLAIMED BOUNDARIES BY ONESELF

POLITICAL

A micronation, sometimes referred to as a model country or new country project, is an entity that claims to be an independent nation or state but is not recognized by world governments or major international organizations.

Micronations are distinguished from imaginary countries and from other kinds of social groups (such as eco-villages, campuses, tribes, clans, sects, and residential community associations) by expressing a formal and persistent, even if unrecognized, claim of sovereignty over some physical territory. Several micronations have issued coins, flags, postage stamps, passports, medals, and other items.

These items are rarely accepted outside of their own community but may be sold as novelties to help raise money or collected by enthusiasts.

The Principality of Sealand The Principality of Sealand is an unrecognised micronation that claims Roughs Tower, an offshore platform located in the North Sea approximately 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) off the coast of Suffolk, England, as its territory. Roughs Tower is a disused Maunsell Sea Fort, originally called HM Fort Roughs, built as an anti-aircraft defensive gun platform by the British during World War II. Since 1967, the decommissioned HM Fort Roughs has been occupied by family and associates of Paddy Roy Bates, who claim that it is an independent sovereign state. Bates seized it from a group of pirate radio broadcasters in 1967 with the intention of setting up his own station at the site. He attempted to establish Sealand as a nation-state in 1975 with the writing of a national constitution and establishment of other national symbols.

While it has been described as the world’s smallest country or nation, Sealand is not officially recognised by any established sovereign state in spite of Sealand’s government’s claim that it has been de facto recognised by the United Kingdom and Germany. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in force since 1994 states “Artificial islands, installations and structures do not possess the status of islands. They have no territorial sea of their own, and their presence does not affect the delimitation of the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf”. Sealand was not grandfathered, and sits in British waters.

The land of The Principality of Sealand.

The law of UĹžupis Republic

You have to stick the stamp of Lithuania when you send a mail out of this micronation.

CONCLUSION Ambiguous Boundries Correlational

SENSATION

colour

SPACE DIVIDED INTO COLOURS semi-open space

temperature

PEDESTRAIN STAY IN BRIGHT SPACE

humidity

open space density FOGGY INDOOR SPACE SEE-THROUGH CHURCH

accessibility translucency

security privacy

density

spiritual

translucency

MOSQUITE NET COLONY

CONSISTENT COLUMNS

temporality accessibility

internet accessibility

opportunity

fluxion of river

legal authority E-RESIDENCY ownership

CHANGING BORDER

visual illusion

right of developing resource

border

omit nationality

change of territory

SPACE OF MIRRORS

MICRONATION accessibility

ENCLAVE

identity

solid wall territory culture

SPATIAL

TEA HOUSE OUT OF THE PLACE

activities

CONCEPTUAL

WHAT COULD IT BE?

PROJECT PROPOSAL

I have two standing points towards two key quality in my space. I made them in two short phrases: Fragility: To get a glimpse into localization of foreign spaces and Temporality: To make EPHEMERAL space as SPACE

Fragility: To get a glimpse into localization of foreign spaces What is “localization”?

What is “foreign spaces”?

According to W.J. Patton, the decay of materials is because of the climate and people’s occupation. Climate and people as atmosphere and main body of a place represent the spirit there. “Localization” in my concept refers to the process that a space integrated by them.

Foreign here could either refer to something comes from somewhere else or something doesn’t fit it. Foreign spaces/ materials means spaces/materials cannot stay stable in a place.

It would lead to a decaying and varied space which has the potential to bond people, location and the space together.

The feature of the climate and people there could be visualized through the fragility and temporality of the space.

For example, the oxidation of metals is actually the process of coming back to their natural status in earth. The metal is localized by the climates where it locates. Another example is Your Waste of Time by Olafur Eliasson. If there were many people in the refrigerated room, the ice pieces started to melt. The space was localized and shaped by people’s heat and moisture, breath and behavior, or, existing while people felt cold and slippery.

Why introduce the foreign to the local?

Exceptions reinforce the rules. Something doesn’t fit may indicate the identity of a place. The fragility and temporality of space would a media reflecting the context of a place that we take for granted. One of the reason why we are losing our sensitivity in the place we stay is that the fragility is coated.

Many urban context are the same as those in advertisements. The foreign stays foreign. And we never know how powerful our place could be. Another reason is that we get used to the climate that we are not able to be sensitive to it (Like when I in Shanghai I can’t tell the difference of humidity). I would like to peel that coat off, make the foreign meet the local, bring the sensitivity and the power into the place again, through a “foreigner”.

What’s the relationship between dissolving and localization of foreign spaces?

porality of the space. We plan the decay and make it a way of being.

The reason why I chose dissolving rather than decay as my keyword is that my design would focus on how people, location and the space exchange and adjust to each other during the unstable status through the fragility of the space.

What’s the meaning of this?

This kind of space is a media to raise a question that how valuable a space can be. It’s not about the money on the maintenance and serve but time, which is too expensive to pay for. The difference between a dissolving space and others is that you can tell the space is dying, or being localized second by second by the climate and people. And this may change people’s behaviour conversely.

Temporality: To make EPHEMERAL space as SPACE What does this mean?

This phrase stems in that your experience and belief influence your perception.

When I doing the research on igloo, I found that the word “igloo” in Inuit languages means “house” while in English and other languages it means “ice house”. This indicates that Inuit people see no differences between ice and other building materials while foreigners found ice special. Because they have different life experience leading to different belief toward buildings.

What I am trying to say by this example is the difference between architecture and ephemeral architecture. When we say the phrase “ephemeral architecture”, we actually believe in the architecture should be in stable and immortal. In short, we believe in stable and immortal. But as what I put in the very first article, I believe in dynamic balance, change and complexity. The phrase “to make ephemeral space as space” means, I want to make a space for people who share the same belief where we are not foreigners to fragility and tem-

What’s the relationship between this standing points and Hong Kong?

Although ice does not naturally exist in Hong Kong, but when we think of it according to our memories and experience, it is almost all about need and satisfication: we need ice to drinks, to preserve the seafood and to build our cities. Ice is seldom refer to damage, such as floods, cracks and deaths here. It would provide an enjoyable experience.

Ice is fragile in Hong Kong, but its beauty locates in its fragility. You will listen to the crack sound when the ice suddenly meet ambient temperature. You will be chilled when you touching the dripping water. You also would see how the bubble escape from the transparent ice.

It is not a space with a firm shape. It constantly changing and questioning whether a space should be stable and protective.

COLLAGE

The design could be questioning the solidification situation of a space through the phenomena of dissolving and how the spectators interact with the ice. The whole process can be translate as “localization” from how the climate change the volumn of the space to what the character of ice in people’s memory in Hong Kong. It would be a space full of pleasure and satisfication.