INHABITING
&
A STUDY OF ISOLATION AND TECTONICS
INTERACTION:
GOAL 1: Isolation Program:
- Space for a walker, a runner, and two people in coversation - Each need privacy as well as points of interaction
This project was primarily an exploration in the feeling of isolation. I considered different places of isolation and chose four that best suited the program. Each space evokes a type of isolation that inspires contemplation within its context (walking, running, talking).
GOAL 2: Tectonics Making my structure tectonically helped to integrate each space. While fixing one problem in my model, I found that its tectonic nature often served to fix another problem simultaneously.
Notching
Puncturing
DESIGN
The design gives inhabitants privacy as well as opportunities to interact with each other. Each space relates to the others as well as the whole, yet
is distinct in order to be specific to its own function. Repetition of one unit kept the design simple and integrated; changing the unit created differentiation between 1/2� Model
1/4� Model
areas.
1/8� Model
A curve acts as a structural element to hold the form upright. Additionally it works aesthetically to vary light and obscure views.
WALKER: Tunnel Isolation The walking inhabitant travels down a long curving tunnel. Slanted walls form a tall diamond that contains and shapes the walker’s thoughts. There is space for only one person so the inhabitant knows that they are alone in the tunnel. The amount of light entering the tunnel varies to accompany changes in thought. Particularly, nearing the bright terminus might encourage an epiphany.
Columns from above come through the floor like stalactites, giving a signal that there is something above.
RUNNER: Mountaintop Isolation
Isolation experienced on a mountaintop best suited the runner. He or she runs up - and ends on top of a thin steep ridge. At the top, the runner is alone, he or she cannot see any of the other inhabitants (although it might be possible to hear them). 1/2� Model
A curving route and gradual incline inspire the runner to daydream. At the acme, the runner can turn around and view his or her path and achievement. 1/8� Model
CONVERSATION: Cave Isolation
A conversation area mimics the feeling of isolation in a cave. Tectonic walls
allow for glimpses of the
runner as he or she goes by, or of the walker beneath their feet. Inhabitants conversing in this area would have visual control of their surrounding, they would know when another person was within earshot.
1/2� Model
1/8� Model
THRESHOLD: Isolation in a crowd
The transition between all three domains is a pathway through human-sized columns. A person moving through this space is supposed to feel as through they are in a crowd or on a city street.
1/8� Model with 3D Movement Diagram
1/4� Study Model
Isolation Diagrams: Darker areas of charcoal indicate spaces where the feeling of isolation is greater.
WHAT I LEARNED • Be inspired to create spaces based on emotions • How to punch holes in cardboard • The usefulness of a scale figure • Charcoal is a quick and expressive medium
WITH FURTHER INVESTIGATION • Concentrate on the end of the walker and runner’s paths • Rework the transition space • Make this design applicable in the real world