NICK DOERMANN—WORK(S)

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Nicholas Austin Doermann

WORKS

I

Tokyo, JP / Academic / Concept / Cornell AAP : Jr-Gang Chi & Shingo Masuda

—HOUSE ON THE CORNER

ETERNAL RECURRENCE — The project is an investigation into contemporary urban living conditions in Tokyo. A renovation of existing house is augmented and contrasted by the insertion of a new volume floating above. They exist as two separate experiences, united by a shared understanding of existence.

Market forces in Japan dictate the eradication of what was with each passing generation; the altar of the new overshadows the lessons of the past. The value of each is integral to building a layered character, depth and life. A blank slate becomes a palimpsest; dichotomy becomes multiplicity. The Old House is a place of latent memory, its inhabitants actively occupying the shell of the past. The void(s) of the past are filled in and framed by the lives of the living—absence becomes presence. The New House is a place of quiet introspection, distant from life below, but calculated in its relationship to a greater landscape. The Old House bares itself to the world; the New House chooses what it wishes to share—presence becomes Absence. Two Languages working together, past and future in the present, being.

A

B

C

A : Site Section — B : Ground Floor Plan (Memento Mori) — C : Second Floor Plan (Memento Vivere)

Tokyo, JP / Academic / Concept / Cornell AAP : Jr-Gang Chi & Shingo Masuda

—HOUSE ON THE CORNER

F

D

E

D : Audible Awareness — E : Section at Kitchen (Existing/Infill) — F : Exploded Assembly

Tokyo, JP / Academic / Concept / Cornell AAP : Jr-Gang Chi & Shingo Masuda

—HOUSE ON THE CORNER

II

Berlin, DE / Academic / Concept / Cornell AAP : Werner Goehner

—MEMORY PALACE

“History craves a degree of definitiveness it can never acquire, a desire that condemns us to proceed on the basis of half-truths, which we then take for the whole truth.” 1 A EULOGY TO THE EAST — Over-saturation of the Wall as a ruinous object in Berlin has rendered it effectively meaningless, devoid of any of its initial symbolic context or power, and most importantly what it represented to the East and its inhabitants. To the victor belong the spoils, and with it the claims to a true “German” culture and identity. With the demolition of the Palast der Republik and subsequent recreation of the Stadtschloss, cultural amnesia and erasure threaten the city’s ability to effectively escape the lessons and failings of the past by opting for a concise and tidy narrative. The act of remembrance is not merely a representation of the content of an era, but rather an embodiment of its spirit, functionality and zeitgeist — the experience of its inhabitants. The building aims to embody the ideology of a forgotten subset of the city’s populace, directly confronting the narrative that has been laid out, free of value judgments of “good” vs. “bad”. Placed at the crossroads between East and West, the ground is given to the public as a flexible extension of the city, while the mass floating above provides space for measured reflection and study — a living archive and refuge to move things forward by keeping the memory of the Cold War alive.

A

B

C

D

A : Ground Condition — B : Between City & Public (Border) — C : Archive & Gallery Above — D : Wall (Context)

Berlin, DE / Academic / Concept / Cornell AAP : Werner Goehner

—MEMORY PALACE

E

F

G

H

E : Isometric Assembly — F : Palimpsest City (70 Years) — G : “Re”Construction — H : Building Section (East|West)

Berlin, DE / Academic / Concept / Cornell AAP : Werner Goehner

—MEMORY PALACE

III

Blacksburg, VA / Academic / Thesis / Virginia Tech CAUS : Heiner Schnoedt

—CENOTAPH FOR HUMANITY

THE BIRTH & DEATH OF THE DAY – An exploration of procession, ritual and mythology in religious architecture. The project is concerned with exploring the ways in which one is able to celebrate (human) life and to comprehend place on multiple scales — a knowledge of self through a shared experience. A long processional path brings the participant deep under the ground to small room for reflection, guided only by the fire that burns within. Upon a prolonged ascent upwards, a hand-operated mechanical winch system opens a panel wall of the upper chapel and reveals a lone tree, prompting exploration of the surrounding world. It is the question of natural versus artificial beauty – building as an enduring testament and monument to/of man, versus a more accurate representation of his finite existence and fragmented legacy. A cenotaph for humanity.

A SEARCH FOR UNDERSTANDING – In conjunction with the architectural aspects of the project, explorations of iconography and symbolism through printing and photography were undertaken, using existent elements as a means of conveying intangible concepts. As a complementary set of images created with the intent of being transferable towards the construction of an architectural entity, the works exist as a combination and replication of the ideas of life, death, and time throughout iterative collage and photomontages. The understanding of the transformation of a place into site through a year-long investigation of texture, growth, and topography through digital and analog photography were vital to the foundation of the architectural themes of the project. The project ultimately manifested itself as a search for higher order and organization through a series of spatial and formal studies, so that one may start to be able to replicate their universe, as well as mediate the disconnect that exists between man and his world.

A

B

C

A : Site Model (Physical Limits) — B : Site Plan (Phenomenal Limits) — C : Site Ideogram (Metaphysical Limits)

Blacksburg, VA / Academic / Thesis / Virginia Tech CAUS : Heiner Schnoedt

—CENOTAPH FOR HUMANITY

D I I I.

I V.

SKY as the gift of day

TR EE as the center of the world

THE IL LU M I NAT ION OF FOR M

THE R EV E A L OF FOR M

I I.

I.

F I R E as thermal silence

WATER as the darkness that lives in the earth

THE DISINTEGRATION OF FORM

THE ABSENCE OF FORM

E

D : Human Procession (Building) — E : Natural Progression (Tree)

Blacksburg, VA / Academic / Thesis / Virginia Tech CAUS : Heiner Schnoedt

—CENOTAPH FOR HUMANITY