Fractal Forma - Research Design Booklet

FRACTAL FORMA

A tribute to underrepresented women.

An Architectural Proposal

University of Pennsylvania

Weitzman School of Design

Spring 2024 | ARCH 602

Critic: Simon Kim

TA: Marjorie Tello-Wong

I, being born a woman and distressed by All the needs and notions of my kind, am Urged by your propinquity to find your Person fair, and feel a certain zest.

- Edna St. Vincent Millay “I, being born a woman and distressed”

CONTENTS

Statement

1. The Ideas: Discovering the Stories Behind

2. The Exploration: Investigating Structures

3. The Design: Architecturally and Functionally

0.

The creation of Fractal Forma is kindled by the underrepresented females in the architecture industry. Our structure draws inspiration from the groundbreaking work of female architects whose contributions have often been overshadowed by their male counterparts. By bringing their designs out of the shadows and into the spotlight, we aim to shed light on the diversity and innovation within architecture, while honoring the oftenunrecognized talents of minority architects. Through this pavilion, we strive to create a space where their legacies are celebrated and their stories are told, fostering inclusivity and representation within the architectural community.

One prominent fracture in the architectural world lies in the unequal distribution of opportunities and recognition among architects. While some architects enjoy access to prestigious projects, accolades, and resources, others face systemic barriers that hinder their advancement. This divide can be exacerbated by factors such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, and geographic location, creating a landscape where talent and potential are not always given equal weight. However, amidst these fractures lie opportunities for reconciliation and transformation.

Architects have the power to bridge divides, challenge norms, and create spaces that foster unity and understanding. By embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion in their practice, architects can begin to mend the fractures within their profession and contribute to a more cohesive and equitable society. Collaboration across disciplines, active engagement with marginalized communities, and a commitment to ethical and socially responsible design are important steps towards achieving this goal.

THE IDEAS

Seneca Village Research - Eliza Webster

Under the Shadows of Male Architects

Pritzker Architecture Prize winners

Women in Arts / Guerrilla Girls

Eliza Webster

Seneca Village, established in the early 19th century, was a significant community of African American property owners in New York City. With the 1821 state constitution granting voting rights to Black men with substantial real estate holdings, many Black New Yorkers sought political rights by purchasing land uptown, where it was more affordable. The village, home to Black churches and a diverse population, provided autonomy and security in the face of changing laws and threats. However, the community faced eviction in 1857 to make way for Central Park, marking the first use of eminent domain for a park. The displacement disrupted not only the homes but also the relationships and economic stability of Seneca Village residents.

The Webster home is the larger rectangle within the square marked 116.2, 124.10, 120.4, 115.4. Egbert Viele map of pre-Central Park landscape (detail). 1856. Municipal Archives

Girls at Colored Orphan Asylum, 1863

In 1855, 35-year-old Eliza Webster resided in Seneca Village with her second husband, George, and her five children. Eliza, born in New York around 1819, lived in a substantial two-story house valued at $3,000, located in the older part of the village near cultivated fields. George, likely born in Virginia, worked as a porter and owned enough land to qualify for voting. Eliza’s oldest child, 18-year-old Malvina, worked as a domestic worker downtown, while three of Eliza’s children from her first marriage and her and George’s 3-year-old son lived with them in Seneca Village.

The family’s status and occupation highlight the economic stability and social dynamics within this African American community facing the threat of displacement in 1857 for the creation of Central Park.

After the eviction from Seneca Village, Eliza Webster and her family returned to the Fifth Ward. The 1860 Census reveals George and Eliza living with two of their children in the Fifth Ward, with George owning a saloon. Tragedy struck in 1861 when George passed away, potentially leading to financial challenges for Eliza. She briefly operated a confectionery business before disappearing from directories until 1870, when she resurfaced as a widow living on the West Side.

The Draft Riots of 1863 may have prompted their move, as Black-occupied tenements were attacked near their previous residence.

Antiwar newspaper articles fueled riots, leading to the murder of 11 Black New Yorkers and countless injuries. Black homes, businesses, and the Colored Orphan Asylum were destroyed. Businesses serving Black patrons, like dance halls and boarding houses, were attacked. Many Black residents left the city, with some never returning, opting for Brooklyn, other parts of New York, or New Jersey. The events underscored systemic racism and violence during a turbulent period in New York City.

Eliza faced further challenges, including the loss of property during the riots. By 1879, she died at 56, leaving a legacy of resilience and endurance despite the obstacles faced by her family in 19th-century New York City. The Webster family’s story reflects the broader struggles of Black New Yorkers in their pursuit of financial stability, social safety, and community resilience.

Source: “Eliza Webster’s Seneca Village and 19th-Century Black Life in NYC “, https://www.nyhistory.org/blogs/eliza-websters-seneca-village-and-19th-century-black-life-in-nyc 19th-Century Black Life in NYC Drawing, 1863

Destruction of the Colored Orphan Asylum, July 13, 1863

UNDER THE SHADOWS OF MALE ARCHITECTS

Anne Tyng

The idea of arranging material in an efficient way might have appealed to Anne as she was very much interested in growth patterns in nature. She studied growth patterns, occurring in nature, in her PhD thesis “Simultaneous Randomness and Order: the FibonacciDivine Proportion as a Universal Forming Principle.

Architect Louis Kahn is famous for designing the Yale University Art Gallery, yet we know now his assistant and lover Anne Tyng played a much larger role than previously recognized.

The Golden Section Anne Tyng Space Frame.

Yale Art Gallery by Louis Kahn.

Eileen Gray

Eileen Gray, an artist, architect, and designer hailing from Ireland and born in 1878, played a prominent role in the modernist movement during the 1920s. She envisioned dwellings as “A dwelling as a living organism” serving “people actually living in them”. Demonstrating versatility, Gray excelled in interior, furniture, and architectural design, showcasing influences from Art Deco, modernism, and internationalism styles. Among her notable creations is the iconic house, E 1027, situated on the southern coast of France near Monaco.

of E1027 and Le Corbusier’s Painting E-1027 table by Eileen Gray, 1926-29.

During Le Corbusier’s visit, angered by a woman excelling in a style he claimed as his own, he defaced the house with garish wall paintings, featuring explicit sexual imagery, against Gray’s specific wish that the home be free of decoration. To compound the injustice, Le Corbusier and Badovici intentionally omitted Gray’s name from publications, causing doubts about her authorship among architectural historians. Despite Gray’s ongoing design work, she experienced neglect from the industry. Likewise, the house, mirroring Gray’s fate, faded into obscurity and fell into disrepair by the late 1990s.

The overall structure of the house is based on her study of the wind and sun, and on its position on a steep slope descending to the sea. The exterior of the building is mostly white, and the interior is decorated with light pink or lilac planes, or night blue or black. Despite the efforts that Gray had paid to design the house, Jean Badovici was often credited as the architect of E1027.

Interior

E1027 by Eileen Gray.

Kazuyo Sejima

Kazuyo Sejima, along with her partner Ryue Nishizawa, achieved global recognition, making Sejima became the second female architects to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2010. Co-founding the Tokyobased firm SANAA , their work is characterized by innovative, minimalist design that redefines spatial experiences. Sejima made history in 2010 as the first woman appointed as the director of the architecture sector for the Venice Biennale.

The New Museum of Contemporary Art by SANAA Shenzhen Maritime Museum by SANAA Platform House I by SANAA

Design Center, in Puyuan, China by Kazuyo Sejima

Mirrored museum dedicated to legendary Japanese printmaker by SANAA.

Taichung City Cultural Center, Taichung by SANAA

Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, Pritzker Architecture Prize 2010

PRITZKER ARCHITECTURE PRIZE WINNERS

FEMALE

IN RED

Luis Barragán

James Stirling

Kev in Roche

I. M. Pei

Richard Meier

Hans Hollein

Gottfried Böhm

Kenzo Tange

Gordon Bunshaft Oscar Niemeyer

Frank Gehr y

Aldo Rossi

Robert Venturi

Álvaro Siza Vieira

Fumihiko Maki

Christian de Portzamparc

Tadao Ando

Rafael Moneo

Sverre Fehn

Rem Koolhaas 2001 Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuro

Glenn Murcutt

Jørn Utzon 2004 Zaha Hadid

Thom Mayne 2006 Paulo Mendes da Rocha

Richard Rogers

Jean Nouvel

Peter Zumthor

2010 Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa 2011 Eduardo Souto de Moura

Toyo Ito

Shigeru Ban

Frei Otto

Alejandro Aravena

Rafael Aranda, Ramón Vilalta & Carme Pigem 2018 B. V. Doshi

Arata Isozaki 2020 Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara

Lacaton & Vassal 2022 Diébédo Francis Kéré 2023 Dav id Chipperfield

Source: The Pritzker Architecture Prize

5 out of 51 winners are women. Only two years’ worth of winners won without a male counterpart.

WOMEN IN ARTS

Educational Art Fairs, Awards, & Publications Art Market

Though women earn 71% of the art degrees in Australia, only 33.9% of artists represented in state-run galleries and museums are women—a decrease of 3% from 2016.

In the U.K., 64% of undergraduates and 65% of postgraduates in creative arts and design are women, but 68% of the artists represented at top London commercial galleries are men.

Just 24% of the 27,000 artists shown at art fairs in 2018 were women. Art fair sales that year totaled $16.5 billion.

Museums & Galleries Category: Demographics & Compensation Leadership

Women earn 70% of bachelor of fine arts and 65–75% of master of fine arts degrees in the U.S., though only 46% of working artists (across all arts disciplines) are women.

Only 29% of the winners of the Turner Prize, one of the bestknown visual art awards, have been women—though several women have won over the past decade. In 2017, Lubaina Himid became the first woman of color to win.

More than $196.6 billion has been spent on art at auction between 2008 and the first half of 2019. Of this, work made by women accounts for just $4 billion— around 2 percent.

In the top 20 most popular exhibitions around the world in 2018, only one was headlined by a woman artist: Joana Vasconcelos: I’m Your Mirror at the Guggenheim Bilbao.

Women in the arts are found not to experience the “motherhood penalty”—lost or stagnant income after children. But men in the arts do receive an income bump when they become fathers.

Women make up a majority of professional art museum staff; despite recent gains, they remain underrepresented in leadership positions.

From 2011 to 2017, the Venice Biennale featured 26–43% women artists. The 2019 edition of the major international exhibition of contemporary art finally achieved gender parity, with 53% women artists.

The record for the most expensive work by a living woman artist at auction was set by Jenny Saville, whose painting Propped (1992) sold for $12.4 million in 2018. This sum is still dwarfed by the record for a living male artist: a Jeff Koons work that sold for $91.1 million in 2019. At the same sale where Saville made history, less than 10% of the rest of the works for sale were by women artists.

In a study of 820,000 exhibitions across the public and commercial sectors in 2018, only one third featured women artists.

Art Review’s 2018 Power 100 list of the “most influential people in the contemporary art world” included 40% women—a slight improvement from 2017 (38%) and 2016 (32%).

Only 13.7% of living artists represented by galleries in Europe and North America are women.

In the field of architecture, only 7% of Pritzker Prize winners, and less than 3% of AIA Gold Medal winners, were women. At the Art Basel fairs (Basel, Miami, and Hong Kong), women made up less than a quarter of the artists on view over the past four years.

There are no women in the top 0.03% of the auction market, where 41% of the profit is concentrated. Overall, 96% of artworks sold at auction are by male artists.

The most expensive work sold by a woman artist at auction was Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/ White Flower No. 1 (1932), sold in 2014 for $44.4 million—more than $400 million less than the auction record for a male artist: Leonardo Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, sold in 2017 for $450.3 million.

A recent survey of the permanent collections of 18 prominent U.S. art museums found that the represented artists are 87% male and 85% white.

The NEA found that as women artists age, they earn progressively less than their male artist counterparts. Women artists aged 55–64 earn only 66¢ for each $1 earned by men

The good news is that in 2005, women ran 32% of museums in the United States, and they now run 47.6%—albeit mainly the ones with the smallest budgets.

Just 11% of all acquisitions and 14% of exhibitions at 26 prominent U.S. museums over the past decade were of work by female artists.

Of the 3,050 galleries in the Artsy database, 10% represent not a single woman artist, while only 8% represent more women than men. Almost half represent 25% or fewer women.

Nearly half (45.8%) of visual artists in the United States are women; on average, they earn 74¢ for every dollar made by male artists.

Three of the most-visited museums in the world, the British Museum (est. 1753), the Louvre (est. 1793), and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (est. 1870) have never had female directors.

Women still occupy fewer directorships at museums with budgets over $15 million, holding 30% of art museum director positions and earning 75¢ for every dollar earned by male directors.

Source: National Museum of Women in the Arts https://nmwa.org/support/advocacy/get-facts/

GUERRILLA GIRLS

Anonymous Feminists & Activists

The Guerrilla Girls are a group of anonymous feminist artists and activists that utilize art and comedy to highlight gender and racial inequalities in the arts and beyond. Formed in 1985, the group takes the names of deceased female artists and wears gorilla masks to hide their identities, emphasizing their message above their unique characteristics. They criticize institutions for their lack of representation and raise awareness about issues such as sexism, racism, and discrimination through posters, billboards, public interventions, and publications. Their bold and often funny approach challenges the status quo and provokes debates about diversity, inclusion, and social justice in the art world and society as a whole.

THE EXPLORATION

Theater Precedents Formal Precedents Plan Reference Public Commons - Program List

REFERENCES

Theater Precedents

We gathered our precedents throughout the development of plan and section drawings as they became pertinent to the project. Noteworthy examples include Alice Tully Hall by Courtesy Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC)at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute by Grimshaw Architects, Chacao Municipal Theater by ODA and Kadare Cultural Centre / Chiaki Arai Urban and Architecture Design.

Tully Hall | Courtesy Diller Scofidio +

Kadare Cultural Centre | Chiaki Arai Urban and Architecture Design.

Teatro Municipal Chacao | ODA EMPAC | Grimshaw Architects

Alice

Renfro

Teatro Municipal Chacao | ODA

Teatro Municipal Chacao | ODA

Kasmin Gallery | studioMDA Maido Sushi Restaurant | Child Studio

Kadare Cultural Centre | Chiaki Arai Urban and Architecture Design

Kadare Cultural Centre | Chiaki Arai Urban and Architecture Design

Formal Precedent

Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art

Zaha Hadid: First American art museum designed by a woman.

When the Rosenthal Center opened in 2003, it not only provided a new exhibition space for the Contemporary Arts Center but also marked a significant milestone as the first American art museum designed by a woman. Today, it stands as one of the largest and most vibrant contemporary art galleries in the United States, a fitting home for a distinguished institution in the field.

The Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art (CAC) in Cincinnati embodies the concept of being both inconspicuous yet attentiongrabbing simultaneously. Despite its substantial, solid appearance suggesting it as an isolated sculptural entity, the Rosenthal Center is actually intended to integrate with the city, drawing people in beyond its boundaries and upwards into the sky. This dynamic design suits the nature of a gallery without a permanent collection, strategically positioned in the heart of a thriving Midwestern city.

Zaha Hadid, among the three finalists selected from an initial pool of 97 submissions, proposed a radical approach that won over the CAC. Her vision involved organizing the museum into distinct gallery volumes suspended from a curved concrete plane, an idea she presented conceptually rather than physically. This concept, along with her emphasis on integrating the museum with its urban surroundings, secured her victory.

Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art Massing Model

The gallery spaces within the center, driven by Hadid’s “Jigsaw Puzzle” concept, were designed to accommodate a variety of artistic forms and sizes. This resulted in a complex arrangement of differently sized concrete volumes interconnected with voids, providing flexible exhibition spaces adaptable to various artistic needs.

The circulation within the center is facilitated by dramatic stair-ramps along the rear wall, illuminated by skylights, creating a dynamic vertical experience for visitors. The building’s distinct facades express its interior functions, with the south facade showcasing the building’s program through materials while the east facade reveals the complex arrangement of gallery volumes through massing.

Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art - Section Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art - Photos

Initial Massing Study Massing study example of one of the iterations.

Seat Dimensions

Auditorium Dimensions

Ernst and Peter Neufert. “Architects’ Data”

PROGRAMS

Anne Tyng Theater

Eileen Grey Pavilion

Kazuyo Sejima Hub

THE DESIGN

Design Iterations

Structure Analysis

“Un-Recognized Efforts”, by Julia Cheung Cladding Systems

Final Presentation

SCHEMATIC DESIGN

FLOOR PLAN V1

Plan Exploration

Testing the spacial requirements for the theater.

Floor Plan during “Structural Week”

SECTION V1

Sectional Exploration

Testing design ideas and spacial relationships.

Section during “Structural Week”

STRUCTURE ANALYSIS

Structural Analysis

Using the ‘Visual Analysis’ software to process the structural stress members analysis.

Structural Analysis

Structural wall section detail.

Structural Analysis

Structural members diagram on floor plan.

Structural Analysis

Exploded axon model showing each structural design elements.

Structural Analysis

Massing model showing each structural design elements.

Structural Analysis

Model Pictures

AnneTyngHall Immediatehelp

EileenGreyPavilion

FLOOR PLAN V2

In the latest iteration of our floor plan, we have seamlessly incorporated new programs inspired by distinguished architects. The theater draws influence from Kazuyo Sejima, featuring smooth surfaces and a well-organized building composition. The overarching design is characterized by interlocked and tiled squares, paying homage to Sejima’s preference for squares and cubes.

The Anne Tyng Hall, designed to serve as an immediate help center, boasts a groundlevel restaurant and upper-level services catering specifically to women. The building showcases a distinctive triangle waffle facade, drawing inspiration from Anne Tyng’s pioneering research.

The third addition to Version 3 is the Eileen Grey Pavilion, envisioned as an art and recreation center. Inspired by Eileen Grey’s modernism principles, the pavilion embraces minimalist design with clean horizontal plate aesthetics.

LEGEND

Sejima Theater

UN-RECOGNIZED EFFORTS

Anne Tyng had been professionally and romantically involved with Louis Kahn, and their collaboration created remarkable projects such as the Yale Art Gallery. Louis Kahn’s development as an architect was closely linked to the presence of Anne Tyng by his side. Together, they collaborated on various projects, including Trenton Bathhouse, which is credited to Kahn’s name. This project was among their earliest joint ventures. According to Anne’s memoir, the well-known ceiling of the Yale Art Gallery was inspired by her physical models.

Tyng was Kahn’s assistant for years, and they had developed a stimulating working and personal relationship. Though Kahn was happily married, he had a romantic involvement with Tyng. During Kahn’s milestone in achievements, the publication of Perspecta 2, and the completion of the Yale Art Gallery, Tyng was pregnant with Kahn’s child secretly. She decided to give birth in Rome, which could be an influence on Kahn’s connection with Rome as they continued to send letters after her departure. Tyng was deeply influenced by Kahn’s ideas about architecture and design, and she played a key role in developing many of his projects. In turn, Kahn was deeply affected by Tyng’s ideas about geometry and structure, which he incorporated into his work.

Triangulated geometry can be challenging to visualize. Tyng had made a model of the elementary school (Fig 1) at one and a half inches to the foot, an unusually large scale that showed every joint in scale with standard lumber sizes in their office. This model was the root of the structural design of the Yale Art Gallery’s ceiling. She mentioned that Kahn will use her model and thread pencil-sized duct through it to envision a hollowed-out servant space.(Fig 2)

Fig 1. Kahn, Louis Isidore, and Anne Griswold Tyng. Elementary school model. 1949. In Kahn, Louis Isidore, and Anne Griswold Tyng.

Rizzoli international, 1997.

Anne Tyng played a significant role in the design of the Yale University Art Gallery. According to her, Kahn’s initial designs for the gallery were conventional, and it was Tyng who suggested using an innovative structure. Tyng was working on a house for her parents on the Eastern Shore of Maryland (Fig 3) at the same time she was working on the gallery. The house she had designed was a total space frame structure that was hollowed out for shaping the living spaces, similar to a bee’s hive. Tyng’s parents’ house was the first built totally triangulated architecture with living space hollowed out within the structure. The geometry was both its total structure and its enclosure, like Kahn’s ceiling. Tyng’s structural innovation in this house earned an American Institute of Architects award in May 1953.

Tyng’s work in her parents’ house may have influenced Kahn’s design of the Yale Art Gallery. Vincent Scully has suggested that Kahn saw the pyramids as the basis for the gallery ceiling. However, Tyng argues that a solid mass, the square-based pyramid has very little relation to a triangular-based space frame. Tyng helped design and made a model of the triangular stair in a cylindrical stairwell. She found the protective wire fabric for the railings on an expedition to a conveyor belt factory in northeast Philadelphia. The spiraling weave of light wire is almost dematerialized, yet it is amazingly strong. Tyng’s work with geometry and space frames influenced Kahn’s decision-making in the Yale Art Gallery, he galvanized Tyng’s structure and created order and beauty.

2. Kahn, Louis Isidore, and Anne Griswold Tyng. Elementary school model. 1949. In Kahn, Louis Isidore, and Anne Griswold Tyng. Louis Kahn to Anne Tyng: The Rome Letters 19531954. 40-41 New York, NY: Rizzoli international, 1997.

3. Kahn, Louis Isidore. 1955. Ceiling detail. May 4th, 2023. Scan. Archdaily. https://www. archdaily.com

Citation: Kahn, Louis Isidore, and Anne Griswold Tyng. Louis Kahn to Anne Tyng: The Rome Letters 1953-1954

Louis Kahn to Anne Tyng: The Rome Letters 1953-1954. 40-41 New York, NY:

Fig

Fig

CLADDING SYSTEMS

SEJIMA FACADE

ANNE TYNG FACADE

EILEEN GRAY FACADE #2

Sejima Facade

Anne Tyng Facade

Eileen Gray Facade #1

Eileen Gray Facade #2

RENDERINGS

Phoebe Lam + Julia Cheung

SITE PLAN

PLAN

LEGEND

EGRESS DIAGRAM

WALL SECTIONS

Wall Section - Theater

Cross section showing the theater north entrance

MODEL PICTURES

Weitzman School of Design

Phoebe Lam + Julia Cheung