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Cont ent s MEMORY – Perception vs Reality Gilman Hall Harrison Bergeron Reflection Space METAPHOR – Fluidity vs Rigidity Hand Washing Fire House EXPLORATION
Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today's events.
– Albert Einstein
Description Memories are fascinating – they can capture nearly imperceptible details of the most mundane items, yet omit the name of an old friend. Because we record memories with selective focus, it is impossible to define a universal reality devoid of individual perceptions. However, in these projects, I strive to push the boundaries of perception to meet reality.
memory
I developed a system of metrics to measure the physical conditions of a space that influence a visitor’s emotion. By reverse engineering, I applied this technique to a fictional story and to the design of a space for reflection.
PERCEPTION
VS
REALITY
GH Research: Gilman Hall HB Experiment: Harrison Bergeron RS Experiment: Reflection Space
PERCEPTION VS REALITY
RESEARCH:
GilmanHall
GH.01 Description Everyone has unique perceptions and memories of a space – one may consider something thrilling and emotive, while another finds it insipid and tedious. By extension, the same person can have different experiences of the same place from one time to the next. I asked friends to recall a familiar path through Johns Hopkins’ Gilman Hall and describe the light, sound, height, width, and duration as they remembered it. To analyze their answers, I developed a novel system for displaying these measurements. As expected, there was huge variance from one person’s report to the next, but common among them was the multiplicative effect of changes across spatial boundaries.
Info Project Type: Independent Date: May 2012 Time Available: One week Material: Ink and pencil on paper, digital media
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
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GH.02
PERCEPTION VS REALITY
RESEARCH:
GilmanHall
GH.03
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
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GH.04
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
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EXPERIMENT:
HarrisonBergeron
HB.01
“
No story is the same to us after a lapse of time; or rather we who read it are no longer the same interpreters.
”
– George Eliot
Description To better understand what defines our experience of space, I applied these newly-developed metrics to a fictional story. I found that reading Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s Harrison Bergeron resulted in a series of emotional impressions akin to experiencing a physical space.
PERCEPTION VS REALITY
Focusing on transitional periods of the story, I developed a sequence of spatial renderings by diagramming and modeling.
Info Project Type: Independent Date: June 2012 Time Available: One week Material: Ink and pencil on paper, digtal media
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
seanostro.com
HB.02
EXPERIMENT:
HarrisonBergeron
HB.03
PERCEPTION VS REALITY
The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal.
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
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HB.04
A buzzer sounded in George’s head. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm.
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
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EXPERIMENT:
HarrisonBergeron
HB.05
PERCEPTION VS REALITY
He began to think glimmeringly about his abnormal son who was now in jail.
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
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HB.06
Sounded like somebody hitting a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer.
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
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PERCEPTION VS REALITY
EXPERIMENT:
HarrisonBergeron
HB.07
Clanking, clownish, and huge, Harrison stood in the center of the studio.
HB.08
Ballerinas, technicians, musicians, and announcers cowered on their knees before him, expecting to die.
EXPERIMENT:
HarrisonBergeron
HB.09
PERCEPTION VS REALITY
In an explosion of joy and grace, into the air they sprang!
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
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HB.10
“Forget sad things,” said George. “I always do,” said Hazel.
PERCEPTION VS REALITY
EXPERIMENT:
HarrisonBergeron
HB.11
Sean Ostro M.Arch.Berkeley seanostro.com
HB.12
Composite Drawings
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
seanostro.com
PERCEPTION VS REALITY
EXPERIMENT:
Reflection Space
RS.01 Description In our fast-paced competitive world, many people are so goal-oriented that they rarely take time to appreciate life. I am sometimes guilty of this, but I also experience moments of great joy when I just sit and reflect. Looking back on a day fishing with my father, I realized that the space around us had a profound impact on my enjoyment and I wanted to discover what made this moment blissful. I resolved to design a space for reflection situated on Johns Hopkins’ campus and inspired by the students. I interviewed a number of students, sketching their descriptions of blissful places from their memories as they spoke. By diagramming these memories, I discovered common elements among them, including the importance of an initial passage to calibrate visitors’ emotions and a place to pause.
Info Project Type: Independent Date: October 2012 Time Available: One week Material: Ink and pencil on paper, clay, digital media
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
seanostro.com
RS.02
PERCEPTION VS REALITY
EXPERIMENT:
Reflection Space
RS.03
Sean Ostro M.Arch.Berkeley seanostro.com
RS.04
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
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PERCEPTION VS REALITY
EXPERIMENT:
Reflection Space
RS.05
Sean Ostro M.Arch.Berkeley seanostro.com
RS.06
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
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PERCEPTION VS REALITY
EXPERIMENT:
Reflection Space
RS.07
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
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Plan: Upper Level
RS.08
Bridging Gaps Besides literally spanning the stream, this design aims to unify the sensations of the environment, providing its visitors with an acute awareness of the light from above and the sound from below. Once inside the space, a fabric canopy admits dappled light that changes with the breeze, mimicking the effect of the sun shining through the trees. The stream generates a reverberating sound as it flows underneath the floor. Two Levels The structure is split into two levels, each serving a different purpose. The boardwalk on the upper level provides a direct passage over the stream. Its soft wooden feel and color echo the characteristics of the trees. Meanwhile, the lower level creates a space for people to sit and pause. The openings in the stone floor put the stream’s flowing water only an arm’s reach away.
Plan: Lower Level
EXPERIMENT:
Reflection Space
RS.09
PERCEPTION VS REALITY
Rammed Earth Walls To achieve a form that appears to grow out of the earth itself, the walls are intended to be constructed from rammed earth.
RS.10
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
seanostro.com
The metaphor is perhaps one of man's most fruitful potentialities. Its efficacy verges on magic, and it seems a tool for creation.
– JosÊ Ortega y Gasset
Description Undeniably, the power inherent in a metaphor is immense. It has the ability to conjure up vivid images in our mind’s eye and can enable us to understand concepts otherwise unattainable. However, this is only possible when we incorporate our own memories. Shakespeare famous Without an impression of a stage, Shakespeare’s monologue “All the world’s a stage” becomes utterly meaningless.
metaphor
Here, I explore the importance of metaphor in design, using my investigation on the interplay of fluidity and rigidity to inform the design of a firehouse in Harlem, New York City.
FLUIDITY
VS
RIGIDITY
HW Research: Hand Washing FH Experiment: Fire House
concept
RESEARCH:
HandWashing
HW.01
“
To understand water is to understand the cosmos, the marvels of nature, and life itself.
”
– Masaru Emoto
Description Intrigued by the flow of water around my hand, I decided to investigate the result of interrupting the natural course of a fluid with a rigid object. I realized that almost all of the matter around us can be classified as either fluid (liquids and gases) or rigid (solids), and that fascinating phenomena emerge from their interactions. I studied the effects of placing various rigid objects in a stream of water, and found four ways by which the fluid would yield to the rigid object: engulfing, collecting, tearing, and parting. To further this exploration, I modeled these effects with wire mesh, Plexiglas, and wood.
FLUIDITY VS RIGIDITY
engulf
Info Project Type: Independent Date: July 2012 Time Available: Two weeks Material: Various media
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
seanostro.com
collect
tear
part
experiment
detail
pattern sketch
3d study – mesh
3d study – plexi
RESEARCH:
Hand Washing
HW.03
en
gu
lf
engulf
FLUIDITY VS RIGIDITY
tear
colle
ct
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
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HW.04
part
f
l u g
en
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
seanostro.com
concept
EXPERIMENT:
FireHouse
FH.01
FLUIDITY VS RIGIDITY
Description Columbia Intro to Architecture For Columbia’s program last summer, students were presented with the challenge of designing for a site in Harlem. Confined to a 20’x30’ footprint, I integrated my study of fluidity and rigidity with an analysis of the site to create a design proposal for a mobile firehouse.
Info Project Type: Academic Date: July 2012 Time Available: Two weeks Material: Various media
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
seanostro.com
FH.02
Diagrams of Neighborhood Urban Conditions
Gr ou ps
. Ave 125th St.
Pa irs
e Sit
8–
9P
10
PM
Traffic Diagrams
Alo ne
s
9–
ian Pe de str
tom
ob iles
M
Au
EXPERIMENT:
ox Len
FireHouse
FH.03
Paths Taken by Pedestrians
More Groups After 9PM
Groups Moving through Time
Conceptual diagram depicting
Graph showing the proportions
Derived of previous diagrams,
the most common paths walked
of people walking alone, in pairs,
this hybrid incorporates the
by groups of particular sizes.
and in groups of three or more
paths walked by pedestrians
Dashed lines indicate people
before and after 9:00PM. After
around the site’s corner and the
walking alone, thicker lines
9:00PM, fewer people were
number of people in groups
indicate larger groups.
walking alone.
before and after 9:00PM.
FLUIDITY VS RIGIDITY
Pedestrians and Cars Photographs of the areas surrounding the site, taken at 9:00PM on a Friday night. The site, located at 125th Street and Lenox Ave., is often bustling with automobiles and pedestrians. People gather for its mixture of historic landmarks, contemporary shops, and major transit stations.
FH.04
Groups of People in a Night
Reminiscent of Mesh (below)
Bristol Board Model (above)
Conceptual diagram illustrating the
With inspiration from the
Physical manifestation of the
nightly proportion of people walking
previous project, I incorporated
concept of rigid objects cutting
alone or in groups of various sizes.
the four ways that fluid yields to
through two undulating fluid
Individual crosses represent people
a rigid object into the design of
planes (taken from the crosses
walking alone, linked crosses
this firehouse.
of the earlier diagram).
represent groups walking together.
part
engluf
tear
collect
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
seanostro.com
FLUIDITY VS RIGIDITY
EXPERIMENT:
FireHouse
FH.05
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
seanostro.com
Mesh Models (left and below)
Programmatic Diagrams (above)
These models served as a preliminary
These diagrams conceptualize the interplay
exploration into the effects of inserting
of programmatic spaces, creating overlaps
rigid floors into a fluid envelope.
that form new spaces.
FH.06
Initial Forms (above)
Plan, Section, and Axonometric (above and right)
Confined to a footprint that required the building to be
These drawings show a layout that incorporates
propped up on stilts, I sketched potential forms for the
the programmatic requirements and combines
firehouse.
a fluid envelope with rigid floors.
Envelope Evolution (right) Without external forces acting on it, water would assume the form of a sphere. However, when it interacts with rigid objects, its shape is altered. This series of diagrams shows how the fluid envelope might adjust with the insertion of rigid floors and bodies. Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
seanostro.com
FLUIDITY VS RIGIDITY
EXPERIMENT:
FireHouse
FH.07
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
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FH.08
EXPERIMENT:
FireHouse
FH.09
FLUIDITY VS RIGIDITY
Lower Level Floor Plan (above)
Recreation (right) The upper level is used for recreation during downtime. Control Desk (far right) The mezzanine level is a dedicated control center. Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
seanostro.com
Upper Level Floor Plan (above)
FH.10
Deployment (far left) The structure is transported to the emergency site by hydraulic legs. Responding to a Crisis (left) The firehouse opens for access to the outside. Water cannons and cherry pickers are deployed.
FLUIDITY VS RIGIDITY
EXPERIMENT:
FireHouse
FH.11
FH.12
exploration
Description I find expression through drawing to be an exploration of both my subject and myself. The study of a scene can reveal interesting subtleties, while also informing me of my own perceptions. This section exhibits drawings from my travels and from my imagination.
EX.01
Chimney (above) Pencil on paper (4” x 5”) Stone Steps (right) Pencil on paper (5” x 5”)
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
seanostro.com
EX.02
Archway and Bepton Church Pencil on paper (10” x 14”)
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
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EX.03
Piranesi Study 1 Pen on paper (3” x 4”)
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
seanostro.com
Piranesi Study 2 Pen on paper (3” x 4”)
EX.04
Towers and Bridges Pen on paper (5” x 7”)
Sean Ostro
M.Arch.Berkeley
seanostro.com
My Grandfather “Gah” and Me circa June 1993
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