MATT SHARA
student work | summer 2012
fifth year statement of purpose san luis obispo, ca. july 2012 My name is Matt Shara and I want to be an
Terry Hargrave’s studio, Fall 2010: The room
architect. Architecture has always filled me
was always dark. There was an unspoken
with a feeling of immense potential and I
order that we followed in this space and only
want my studies as an architecture student
lamps were used to illuminate the studio. We
to reflect and expand my awareness of
pursued issues between our consumer culture
this potential as it relates to people and
and the natural environment. On the first day
space in our built and natural environments.
of class we watched Edward Burtynsky’s
I am uncertain and uncomfortable within
Manufactured Landscapes. There are two
the profession of architecture and within
key points that I would like to mention from
the institution in which I study. I have
this design course: the content of the work
many
of
pursued in the studio and the resulting space
architecture, my own place within this diverse
that each student was given to explore this
yet highly specialized discipline, and my
content. Architecture is inevitably connected
own abilities as a student of architecture.
to the many social, political, and environmental
doubts
about
the
profession
issues of our time and it is important that as The last four years have inevitably marked a
students we begin to shape our own attitudes
significant period of growth and development
towards these realities. I cannot deny the
in my life, both inside and outside of school.
importance
My personal values, life goals, and creative
architectural pedagogy, but I can emphasize
and
evolved
the importance of a young student’s awareness
immensely. I am very grateful for the many
within a cultural context and the importance
incredible experiences I have had in this time
of space to explore this relationship. In Terry’s
that have inspired me and have revealed so
class I found fulfillment and meaning in my
much positive direction towards my wildly
work, space to explore alternative mediums
uncertain future. I will outline a few such
of representation, and ultimately space to
experiences as they clarify the statements
be uncertain; space for failure. In Terry’s
above and serve as a place of reference for the
class I felt my own abilities and confidence
department in my studio placement next year.
as a student grow immensely, a confidence
intellectual
capacities
have
of
fundamental
practices
in
I have since lost. Such a space I yearn to
in
my
collaborations
they
nonetheless
we could enjoy, something that might augment
return to in my final year of study at Cal Poly.
impressed upon me the importance and joy
its site and that others could enjoy as well. As an
of collaboration within the process of design.
architecture student design tends to manifest in
San Francisco Urban Design Program, Fall
This is a means of design I would like to
a vacuum. This vacuum is the artificial reality that
2011/Spring 2012: My experience in San
embrace in my final year of study at Cal Poly.
the academic context creates. Although one might
Francisco was a full immersion into one of
strive to consider “real world” forces such as a
our country’s most diverse and geographically
I interned at David Baker + Partners in the
budget, client preferences, and site constraints and
stunning cities. More importantly, it was a
fall and Interstice Architects in the spring. My
opportunities, this consideration is incomparable
direct confrontation with the professional
work at each firm varied in my role within the
to the reality of actually designing and building; of
practice of architecture and realities of our
office, from graphic creator/editor at DB+P,
going to the lumber store and the local quarry, of
culture of which I was entirely ignorant before.
to conceptual designer/model builder at
cutting, measuring, and assembling ideas once
Again it is important for me to mention two key
Interstice. Each firm not only acknowledged
born on paper. The knowledge I gained working
points from my experience in San Francisco:
my presence, but strove to integrate my own
in this period grounded many of my unbound
my collaborative efforts in design class and
attributes into their work process. I enjoyed both
architectural ideas and expounded new ones into
the incredible firms in which I conducted my
office environments, but after each internship I
the areas of building materials and construction
internships. Throughout second and third
was left with a desire to express myself more
assembly. This is a dimension of design I would like
year I struggled, it seemed with progressive
through my professional work. I look forward to
to pursue further in my final year of study at Cal Poly.
intensity, to capture my ideas in design class.
taking the necessary step towards licensure,
I left projects unfinished, succumbed to states
but after my experiences in San Francisco
presented in the following pages is a collection
of creative possession, and by the end of
I know that this is not a step that I will take
of my work that I am the most proud of; a
my third year I was entirely discouraged and
immediately upon my graduation from Cal Poly.
collection which honestly reflects my interests and
fully without confidence in my own abilities.
fascinations as an architecture student
In San Francisco I immediately embraced the
Summer 2011 Design/Build: Last summer I
opportunity to put aside my radical idealism
had the opportunity to build several structures
and
with
with a group of friends outside the context of
other students as the grounding foundation
school, without the expectation of critique,
from which our ideas could grow. Although
without the desire for perfection. Our intentions
I experienced varying degrees of success
were simply to build; to build something which
acknowledge
my
relationships
(4’’ x 8” x 16”) BOX material studies through physical realization
The project explores building with a coordinated material palette, rhythmic and ordered geometries along an organizing axis, and the craft of creating meaningful joints and details. Final model of: mahagony, red oak, plexiglass and brass roding.
MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPE: THE ISLAND a spatial investigation into the relationship between culture and environment Edward Burtynsky’s film Manufactured Landscapes created a platform to
communicate
resulting
observations
exploration
was
on
spacial,
our
global
informative,
consumer and
culture.
revealing;
The
focusing
attention to the problem of interpreting ideas and conceptions as spaces. The week long study proved to be a worthy encounter with spacial representation through abstract conception rather than through icons and literal descriptions. The technique of physical collage making chose fragments from industrial waste sites as the subjects cast into resign and concrete assemblages. The assemblages delineate the enclosure of a space and place the viewer in control of his or her perception of each relationship as it relates to the greater whole. This holistic viewpoint is missing from the current paradigm involving our individual responsibility within a cultural context. The resulting island is 3’ x 2’ x 3’. Materials: concrete, resign, plywood, steel threaded rods, fragments from an industrial wasteland.
collage vignettes, top to bottom: extruded objects in concrete, textured connections, an assembly line of parts in resin
welcome to the sea to the sea of we where my bleeding hands reach out connect you to me
PLACE OF WEDDING pure/circumstantial/transactional spaces (tactics towards a critical architecture)
From the project brief: “ there is a ‘circular’ striving, relational order between form (space + mass) to its
contained
relationships
to
event/activity/rite/ritual
and
their
beliefs/myths/values
and
their
relationships to form...” The place and ritual of wedding was used as a vehicle to explore issues dealing with pure, circumstantial, and transactional form: Pure in the essence of Kahn’s ‘will-to-exist’ the question was initially asked, “ what is the essence of wedding?” This question was then pursued through a process of investigative writing, drawing, and modeling. Circumstantial in recognition that pure form inevitably finds itself within a sea of aesthetic, personal, political, cultural, environmental, and economic circumstances. A site was chosen on the Island (previous project) and the impacts of ‘site’ on pure form were explored through relational tone drawings. Transactional in hopes that architecture has the ability to communicate and reveal new understandings of our physical world. Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC, and Kahn’s proposed Roosevelt Memorial, in New York City inspired the inquiry of transactional space.
pure form study, wedding investigated in three parts: sacrifice, communion, and ascension (seen left to right in model).
above: wedding ‘site’, watercolor and pencil tone drawing left: wedding and circumstance, pencil tone drawing
6 + 1 DWELLINGS a sketch project about three dimensional space, or volume, as a formed-concept From the basis that narrative potential exists to inform architectural space, six predetermined characters were chosen with the intention to spatially epitomize the realities of each character. An additional character was created by the student to relate to the ongoing issues of culture and environment pursued in the studio. The narrative serves as a platform to investigate the delicacies of each dweller; their struggles, fascinations, and behavioral patterns. Plan and sectional studies were essential instruments in deriving the spacial relationships that come to personify the dwellings. This investigation is about space and relationships; start to finish time: 48hrs. 7 dwellings: plans and sections final hardline drawing
THOUGHT PROCESS:
fragments of an evolving creative spirit “The creative state is a condition of haptic immersion where the hand explores, searches and touches semiindependently� Juhani Pallasmaa The
following
pages
reveal
a
collection
that
belongs unassigned to any specific project, but is authentically
reflective
of
my
developing
creative
process. Shown are sketches, vignettes, and ideas left unrealized; experimental
as well as gesture models and sturcure
built
from
found
an
materials.
right: a transactional toilet to replenish soil: human excrement provides sulfur, phosphorus, and potassium to de-nutrified soil left: the walking frame: rhythm and vertical scale augment a horizontally expansive landscape
gestures shown right to left: lifted, split, and ascending oppositely two houses, personified community: scaled
the frame and the sea glistening, horizontal shadows on the body lay, forgiving motions of the null past’s prey to look forward beaming: can’t you see!
yes, yes I can, but will forget... it’s okay, says the sea, I am here and you are me. listen to the water’s rum and the echo of the sand’s comfort touch. take a glance out, your vision framed, and step, with me into uncertainty.