MULTIPLY

from Justin Jarrett Design Portfolio

PROPAGATE

Mycelium Research Facility

BRIEF:

Through the independent development of two disparate characters, create a narrative in which they meet. Use the details of their lives and interaction to extract a concept and a process for an architectural program.

CHARACTERS: Michael Hamilton — Biochemist / Mycologist — 1933 - Present — Born in Crescent City, CA

Michael grew up in the dense, damp, cold coastal region of Northern California. His father, a fisherman, raised him by his side on the ocean. Michael became obsessed with marine life, a fixation that grew into a passion and eagerness to deeply understand biology. In the micro-climates of the coastal region and the old-growth forests to the east, Michael found happiness. The vivid reality of the natural world; its textures, colors, and smells compelled Michael to discover how it was all held together. In 1951, Michael began his studies in biochemistry and mycology, quickly becoming immersed in his work. Over time Michael’s father became mentally ill with Alzheimer’s disease, no longer remembering taking Michael into the sea or forests… and eventually who Michael was. His father was the only person that understood Michael’s infatuation, and now his mind had vaporized into the Pacific fog. Forced deeper into isolation, Michael became dangerously attached to his work. Venturing out for days searching for new species of fungi and plants, digging into the earth, drenching his brain with both poisons and panaceas. The purpose of his work became twisted in the folds of psilocybin and his inherited psychosis. Michael disappeared in 1963, abandoning his lab and all of the research within it.

Enola — Wayfarer — 1993 - ? — Born near Flagstaff, AR

Enola was born in the desert by a roaring fire beneath the stars. She was abandoned by her birth parents and raised in the reservation by the collective. Enola has visions of past lives and lives not yet lived. Because she lacks youthful innocence and naivety, she is an outcast. Her strange perception of the world around her permeates through her personality. The Elders see her as wise. They understand the conditions of being born into the cold with no one there to claim her had affected her adversely. This psychological tension made her mute. She became invisible to everyone. She often would venture into the desert in search of her nomadic parents, using the stars to guide her. One frigid night she saw a figure in the distance sitting by a fire. Enola was never fearful, and so she approached the fire and sat down next to it. She sat in silence with the silhouette, whose dilated black eyes glistened in the darkness. A voice emerged, softly whispering a cadence of repetitious binomial nomenclature. An old, worn voice… a man’s voice not coddled by modern convenience or shelter. She spoke… Softly muttering the same repetitious cadence… her jet black hair lifted and poured into the night sky, her eyes became stars, and her body melted into the red soil upon which she sat… her voice still gently gliding through the cold night air with the sounds of the crackling fire. He closed his eyes and slipped again into a tumultuous kaleidoscope of voices and visions of past lives and lives not yet lived.

ELUCIDATION:

Michael’s obsession with his work and the loss of all things grounding him to social normality eventually leads him to leave his laboratory behind and venture into the wilderness. His wanderlust brings him into the deserts of Arizona, where he hallucinates the existence of Enola.

This project’s origin parallels with the exponential qualities innate to the mycelial networks of fungi. Conceptual primitives were developed through a series of methodically folded planes documented through section drawings. The cubic masses represent a programmatic paradigm. The folded planar models were introduced to these cubic masses and allowed to dissect and subtract spatial voids amongst them in a rhythmic promenade from public to private function.