Festum Fatorum by Stephen DeMayo

Festum Fatorum Stephen DeMayo

Masters of Architecture Wentworth Institute of Technology

I would like to acknowledge Dan Hisel, Ann Pitt, and Weldon Pries for their guidance and thought-provoking critique during the discovery of Festum Fatorum.

I would also like to thank my grandparents for my vast experiences made possible by their love of travel and generosity. And lastly, Mara for always believing in me.

An Abstract The Festum Fatuorum is inserted into Notre Dame du Travail in order to spark contemporary dialogue between the sacred and profane. The cold and relentless display of spiritual tension articulates a constant search for spatial reconciliation. A sectional operation provides a methodology that confronts, opposes, and interrogates this dialogue. The Festum Fatuorum tames the sacred by locating secular fears. This discovery develops a new sense of self in the search for spatial awareness and the constant co-production of spatial interactions. The performance of Festum Fatuorum acknowledges the constant struggle in the construction of the threshold between the sacred and profane. The Priest and Jester mediate between the manifestations of the axis mundi. The Jester embodies the profane world, the constant instability of the sacred threshold. The puppeteer of the surface translates fears and objectifies profane desires. The Priest executes the sacred rituals between god and man. His liturgical acts search to confront the Jester in hope to release the growing tension between the sacred and profane world by granting the sacrament of confession. The daily churchgoers, explorers, and clergymen become both audience and participants in the master puppeteers story. The constant reconfiguration of the sacred allows for a new spatial interaction, this interaction redistributes symbolic desire to create a responsive architecture both consciously and subconsciously that connects and opens up to us. 5

Contents

Part I | Research

Thesis Question Definitions Preface Research Essay | An Architectural Study on The Perceived

Part II | Methodology

Spatial Interpretation & Projection Notre Dame Du Travail A Space of Contemplation Narrative

Part III | Festum Fatorum Act 1 Performance of a Reflection Act 2 Concealed Isolation Act 3 The Manipulative Inhabitant Act 4 The Voyeurâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Loyalties Act 5 The Feast, The Fools

Part IV | Conclusion Conclusions Evaluation

Part V | Bibliography Bibliography

Part VI | Appendices Perspectives & Axons A Surface Study Mirrors Jorge Luis Borges

â&#x20AC;&#x153;anything suggested is far more effective than anything laid downâ&#x20AC;? Jorge Luis Borges | The Craft of Verse

Part I | Research

How can a design intervention instill awareness and provoke spatial perceptions that act as a catalyst to challenge the contemporary ritual of the sacred and profane?

Part I | Definitions Sacred | adjective \’sakrid\ connected with God (or the gods) or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration. transparent the boundary between matter and mind, flesh and the spirit

Profane | adjective \pre’fan\

relating or devoted to that which is not sacred or biblical; secular rather than religious. (of a person) not initiated into religious rites or any esoteric knowledge.

Instill | verb \in’stil\ gradually but firmly establish (an idea or attitude, esp. a desirable one) in a person’s mind.

Reactive | adjective \re’aktiv\ showing a response to a stimulus

acting in response to a situation rather than creating or controlling it.

Interactive| adjective \inter’aktiv\

(of two people or things) influencing or having an effect on each other. allowing a two-way flow of information between a computer and a computer-user; responding to a user’s input.

Space | noun \spas\

a continuous area or expanse that is free, available, or unoccupied. the dimensions of height, depth, and width within which all things exist and move.

Perceive | verb \per’sev\

become aware or conscious of (something); come to realize or understand. become aware of (something) by the use of one of the senses, esp. that of sight. interpret or look on (someone or something) in a particular way; regard as.

Normative | adjective \normetiv\

establishing, relating to, or deriving from a standard or norm, esp. of behavior.

Part I | Preface The recent search for the awareness and the comprehension of human spatiality pose the question on how contemporary architecture deals with the sacred and its threshold. It’s influence effects our constant interaction between our physical and metaphysical self. Perhaps more than ever before, we are becoming consciously aware of ourselves as intrinsically spatial beings, continuously engaged in the collective activity of producing spaces. This process of producing spatiality begins with the body, with the construction and performance of the self, the human subject, as a distinctively spatial entity involved in the co-production of the boundaries between the sacred and profane. Through encountering and identifying the constant search for spatial reconciliation. Festum Fatorum aims to re-create both historic and contemporary architecture that can be thought of by multiplicity, alternativitiy, and its ability to solicit the individual’s imagination. Architecture has the ability to open up, reveal and propose an alternative. With the subtly to suggest and power to alter, architecture fundamentally dwells within the individual’s narrative desire to be constantly re-figured. Architecture’s ability to overwhelm through mystique, and inflict a sense of doubt, results in what could only be described as curiosity, and through this curiosity brings a desire for more, an individualized architectural experience that connects and opens up to us.

Part I | Research Essay An Architectural Study on the Perceived Understanding Metaphysical and Physical Space In order to challenge the traditional definition of space, we must understand the relationship between space and object. Architectural theorist Lebbeus Woods’ essay “The Question of Space” states that in order to see an object, we must be separated from it. “Therefore, we imagine a space around the object, and also around ourselves, because, at some stage in our mental development, we realize that we, too, are objects. Space is the medium of our relationships with the world and everything in it, but, for all of that, we do not experience it in a palpable, physical sense. We must think space into existence.” 1 Given that space is the implication of one objects relation to another, we the spectator of that relationship create our own idea of space. The conceptual creation of space establishes mental boundaries that heighten our level of awareness. These boundaries define our relationship between surfaces. Woods draws examples from Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity; he defines particular space as arising from the simple act of establishing coordinates within general space. “For example, simply drawing a box with conceptually thin line, that is, non-physical-lines are enough to bring a distinct and separate space into being”2. The representation of space in this case is conceptual; the lines become delineations of boundaries. If applied to cartography, the lines drawn between the coordinate

points are only mentally physical constructs. Nevertheless, we regard them as real. As a result, the conjunction and continuity of a line can create space. Woods argues that when it comes to space, the mental is as potent as the physical. Establishing the perception of mental space uncovers its role in the ephemeral qualities of an experience. These qualities enhance the method that Instill|ation aims to implement. Tossing aside the idea of the real and logical, French phenomenological philosopher, Maurice Merleau-Ponty offers a perspective free of contextual settings but rather interchangeable dimensions, homogeneous and isotropic.3 Offering a form of reflection and contemplation provides a window where the viewer recognizes the spatial connections in which they exist. Realizing they live only through the medium of a subject, it traces out and sustains them; and passing from dissociated to contiguous space.

Spatial Projection, Surface Augmentation In order to translate the perceived physicality of space to the projected surface, it was necessary to create a series of images that explore the potential of spatial augmentation. The ability to project on irregular shapes and industrial landscapes, such as buildings, can turn objects into a dynamic interaction of three-dimensional mapped space. As a result, this architecture works specifically with our physical and spatial ways of knowing. It is uniquely positioned to understand the role of our virtual in our interaction and comprehension of constructed and personal boundaries. Lebbeus Woods uses film and projection as the media of choice. Despite the presentation of space, we as viewers fully

1 Woods, Lebbeus. “The Question of Space.” LEBBEUS WOODS, Nov. 2009. Web. 25 Oct. 2013 2 Ibid 3 Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. Phenomenology of Perception. London: Routledge, 2002. Print.

accept the spatial presence, “we speak as if we have ‘been there’. This ‘being there’, in scenography of the movie, is a reality we experience in only our minds.”4 So as a result in this narrative of space, we do not believe we are part of it. On the contrary Sylvia Lavin, in Kissing Architecture, asserts that there is a direct connection between the act of the first kiss to the observation and discourse of the relationship of space. As she says, “The attraction between architecture and the image (both built and virtual) might easily be and often is mistaken as simply a new form of spectacle. But of all the things that are generally difficult to do while kissing, seeing is among the most difficult. The contribution made by the attraction between subjects is not simply about how it changes the appearance of a building or image but how it alters its mode of reception.” 5 This mode of reception allows projection to instill perspective and alter the perceived surface. Lavin continues to strengthen her original claim through a discussion of the recent installation, Pour Your Body Out by Pipilotti Rist at the Museum of Modern Art, in hopes to show the transformation and intervention it has on the canvas provided by architect Taniguchi. This installation breaks the solidarity of the Museum of Modern Art by describing the “coming together of two similar surfaces, surfaces that soften, flex and deform when in contact.”6 This method of projection aims to return architecture to the interior as a lens of experimentation. Instill|ation examines the interior as a new canvas. The canvas aims to break down the 4 Woods 5 Lavin, Sylvia. Kissing Architecture. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2011. Print 6 Lavin 38

solidarity of traditional methods of building, and reinterpret the interaction of surface and space. This is achieved by moving from floor to ceiling, as well as over and under things. The choreographed surface performs a composition that pushes architecture out beyond its own envelope. Spatial projection provides two methods of perception. The first method constructs the idea of space. A second, discusses the image and the implication of digital space. The constructed space provides a standard to explore the realm of the virtual. The implied space of the 12 x 12 x 12 cube allows both methods to be explored with a constant variable. The first image constructs the idea of space through the role of electronics and micro controllers, developing a responsive system. The three layers contain a grid of points that portray a field of sensors, a layer of flexible skin and its resulting deformation. The second construction provides images which blanket a series of forced perspectives that allow for overlapping space. The adjacent walls and ceiling extend the perceived space physical and are altered by spatial augmentation of projection mapping.

Site Discovery The relationships among built form identifies the tension between exterior and interior spaces. This interaction calls for a semiautonomous state where the interior and exterior of a building are now separate. The interior is not a result of the exterior but, requires a design intent of its own. This relationship between inside and out allows a building to separate from the built environment; resulting in new spatial independence. 17

During the late 19th and early 20th Paris underwent an Industrial Revolution. During this time Paris regarded itself as the world capital for technology and innovation. Industrialization was moving ahead at full speed. The city experienced a massive influx of workers to fill the new factories. The cities southern periphery felt the impact of this immigration quite drastically. As a result the planning of a new church was put immediately into effect. The goal was to accommodate the growing work force and their families In 1902, architect Jules Godefroy, developed plans to construct Notre Dame du Travail. To honor the tradesman who constructed the Eiffel Tower and the 1889 World Exhibition, metal columns were salvaged from the demolition of the Palais de Li’industrie in 1897 and were incorporated into the design.7 The traditional method of a Romanesque church generates expected circulation and building typology. This is accomplished with an archaic stone façade grounded in poche. However, Notre dame du Travail steers away from this tradition. The remarkable structure boasts a visible skeletal iron frame that allows the interior to separate from the exterior. This contrast creates a unique series of interior volumes that rely on the dynamic play between its skeletal surface and constructed space. As a result the spatial independence is the catalyst between the interior and the exterior built environment. Through the skeletal construction and lack of poche the open plan offers atmospheric and sensible experiences8 7 “Churches of Paris.” Churches of Paris. Web. 02 Dec. 2013. 8 Lavin 88 9 Picon, A. “Architecture and the Virtual: Towards a New Materiality” 10 Picon 51 11 Picon 110

that provide the spectators with a new form of interaction.

Understanding the Virtual In order to place physical space into the virtual world and the virtual world into physical space, Antoine Picon breaks down the unsettling role that many believe computers and the digital age play on the discipline of architecture. Picon states “The computer indubitably can be related to an extension of the mind, but it also alters our perception of objects by extending the realm of our sensations”9 . Picon strengthens the connection between the human body and it’s relationship with the virtual world through Toyo Ito’s famous statement that architecture should design for subjects with two bodies, a virtual and a real. “We of the modern age are provided with two types of bodies, the real body which is linked with the real world by means of fluids running inside, and the virtual body linked with the world by the flow of electrons. Actually, these two bodies are not separated, but rather they are part of what constitutes today’s physical presence”10 These two bodies provide us with the opportunity to generate a multi-sensory experience. Picon continues to identify the computer (dealing as a direct relation to the virtual) as an extension of the mind. Through this redefinition of perceptual entities, Picon looks to the automobile as a hybrid of machine and human. He states that an experience such as riding in a car “alters our very notion of space, changing

the existential status of our body”11 . The significant change is not the car itself, but the subtle changes altered in our physical perception of the world by superseding the content and boundaries of materiality. As a result, our true perception of space will in turn be affected by the mechanical changes in the digital age. Through the synthesis of the virtual and physical bodies we are able to encompass the full human experience, defined by Ito. Architects previously manipulated static forms. The shift in technology and the virtual can now compose surface and volumetric deformations creating a new physical experience. The virtual reality offers an interactive technology that influences our comprehension of surface and space; not only through the space we occupy, but also how we perceive ourselves. This provides Instill|ation with an environment that embraces the technological advancement of projection mapping, sensors, and kinetic systems. This integration recognizes and responds to our social participation. The intersecting dialogue of the virtual and physical explores the relationship between building and subject. Whether it be, environment to building, building to structure, or structure to surface. Respectfully, it will also be experienced by means of surface to subject, and subject to subject.

Multi-sensory Approach Through creating an experience of spatial expression it provides a multi sensory virtual and physical representation, the reception of this experience presents the opportunity to provide multiple points of perceived space. Synesthesia is characterized as a phenomenon

that is defined by the appearance of sensory impression during the stimulation of another sense.12 These cross-sensorial connections heighten the resulting stimuli. Through this phenomenon it generates a multi sensory experience. Evoking emotion causes external stimuli to generate a series of bodily reactions among multiple points of perceived space. Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa’s theories on the perception of space call for architecture to not only activate our cognitive sensory system but also encourage the body to “project” itself onto the city13, while the city also projects itself onto us. Along with Pallasmaa, Olafur Eliason describes the perception within the city as a constant co-production, when someone walks down a street he/she co-produces the spatiality of the street and is simultaneously co-produced by it.14 Apart from the direct perception from the body to the city to the understanding of space, Eliason creates what he refers to as the engagement sequence, this sequence provides a framework for moving the immediate to memorial perceptions. A nonlinear line of experiences that generates individualized perception: Experience to Memories to Expectations to Perceptions.15 It is no longer about the individual experience or a single perception of a specific identity or space, concludes Eliason, but rather the conditions that formulate the assortment of multiple experiences. “We should avoid what we might call a Disneyfication of experience in order to leave room for individual evaluation, feelings and thoughts”16.

12 Haverkamp, Michael. Synesthetic Design: Handbook for a Multi-sensory Approach. Basel: Birkhauser, 2011. print 13 Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons 14 Eliasson, Olafur. Your Engagement Has Consequences: On the Relativity of Your Reality. Baden: Lars Müller, 2006. Print.

Since Festum Fatorum aims to create a series of layered experiences, it is important to avoid ‘disneyfication’. These experiences are a direct result of a subject’s individual perception through the interaction between the virtual and physical.

Reinterpreting Poche Yet, there is a level of transparency between the visible layers and the invisible layers. These transparencies provide a socio-spatial intervention between the objective and subjective modes of cognition. Eve Blau defines transparency as the conception of architecture in terms of contradictions between perception and knowledge and material and virtual presence.17 The virtual age permits spatial interpenetration. Thus, layers of superimposed images result in alternative realties.18 These new realities reinterpret the understanding of poche. The skeletal construction of Notre Dame du Travail provides a frame to implement this reinterpretation. This allows for spatial reconfiguration. Hence, the reconfiguration provides Instill|ation the ability to reveal and conceal space through interactive exploration. This exploration requires inhabitable space where:

Conclusion The existing relationship between surface and space falls short in creating an interactive dialogue between inhabitants. Identifying the role the human body plays in understanding the metaphysical and physical creation of space offers a canvas for interaction. This interaction provides a perception of mental and physical space that uncovers its ephemeral qualities. Spatial projection and surface augmentation as well as, a responsive and kinetic system translates the physical and metaphysical, and as a result offer a conscious alteration in our perception of our adherent spatiality. The direct connection between the act of the first kiss and its observation between surface and space aided in the discovery of Notre Dame du Travail, a structural feat in itself. The resulting disconnection of exterior and interior not only enhance the dialogue between surface and space but also offers the openness needed to intervene. This production of spatiality begins with the body, performs between the surface and responds to its subjects, as a distinctive spatial entity involved in our complex relation with our surroundings reinterpreting poche.

“ a marked space emerges via a constitutive distinction from an unmarked space and how something becomes invisible when something else becomes visible.”19

15 Olafur 2 16 Olafur 3 17 Blau, Eve. Transparency and the Irreconcilable Contradictions of Modernity. Print 18 Ibid 50 19 Diller,Elizabeth, and Ricardo Scofidio. Blur: The Making of Nothing. New York, NY: Harry N. Adams, 2002. Print

Part II | Methodology In order to enhance the interaction between surface and space a series of frames were established to explore their relationships. These explorations are categorized and defined as spatial interpretations and spatial projections. The virtual and the perceived uncover the role projection mapping, forced perspective, and responsive architecture play in discovering the interconnectedness of what surrounds us. These series of created images and models are a collection of perceived interactive systems within science, art and architecture that constantly evoke relationships.

Part II | Spatial Interpretations In order to enhance the interaction between surface and space a series of frames were established to explore their relationships. These explorations are categorized and defined as spatial interpretations and spatial projections. The virtual and the perceived uncover the role projection mapping, forced perspective, and responsive architecture play in discovering the interconnectedness of what surrounds us. These series of created images and models are a collection of perceived interactive systems within science, art and architecture that constantly evoke relationships.

The exploration of three-dimensional protein strands provided a parallel to the interaction of bodies in space. This biological method is a direct correlation to Toyo Itoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theory on bodily interaction. The strands explore three types of spatial interaction, direct (figure 1), the bystander (figure 2), and the integrated (figure 3). The direct interaction illustrates two subjects along a parallel circulation path, the moment of connection happens when they reach adjacency. The bystander explores the observed; the resulting spaces are created by the inverse of the direct. Lastly, the integrated interaction redesigns the path of circulation to undoubtedly cross paths of both subjects. These series of illustrations pose the question on how Instill|ation can enhance interaction and reactivity among its inhabitants. This interaction can as a result, be altered by the role of the virtual and perceived. The adjacent diagrams explore both existing and future direction of spatial reinterpretation. The connections between its users, activities and interior location draw from interactive technologies produced through the virtual. At present, spaces are created in rather a linear manner, interaction between point A and point B using conventional methods of only a two-way communication. The same connection exists from A-C, B-C and A-X. However, if the frame evolves with a new socio-spatial perspective through the use of interactive technologies, A, B, C, and X can interact within each other through a common nucleus. (Figure 5).

Figure 1. Direct

Figure 2. Bystander

Figure 3. Integrated

Figure 4. Existing Spatial Sequence

Figure 5. Future Spatial Sequence

Spatial interpretation can be explored through mechanical systems that directly affect the perception of space. Figure 6 provides a mechanically responsive technique that operates on a series of tracks and operable arms. These arms stretch the limitations of the fabric, and as a result, create different arrangements of expressed space. This system offers an architecture that connects and opens up to us.

Figure 6. Mechanical Interpretation

In figure 7, spatial proximity controls the interaction between subject and surface, and subject-to-subject. The first diagram shows each participant at a distance. Their spatial proximity cannot provide a direct interaction to the divider. As the series progresses however, their proximity between the divider and each other draws a certain level of curiosity. The transparencies hint at the adjacent spaces and its occupants. The moment of contact is at the pinnacle of spatial proximity shown in the proceeding illustration. This level of interaction alters their understanding of relative space. Through the design of this responsive system, architecture can embrace spatial perception and interaction that can redefine the solidarity of the built environment. As a result, rid current architecture of its numbing spatial communication.

Part II | Spatial Projections A series of projected images uncover the potential of spatial augmentation that increases the role of the virtual in expanding the traditional methods of reality in the everyday built environment. The ability to project on irregular shapes and industrial landscapes, such as buildings can turn objects into a dynamic interaction of threedimensional mapped space. As a result this architecture works specifically with our physical and spatial ways of knowing, is uniquely positioned to understand the role of the virtual in our interaction and comprehension of constructed and personal boundaries.

The shown model was an attempt to merge forced perspective and projection. The process involved laser engraving a series of forced perspectives on acrylic to provide the translucent quality of a virtual image. To add another layer of depth images of the built environment both interior and exterior where transferred through the process of emulsion. The end result studied how the virtual age permits spatial inter-penetration. Thus, layers of superimposed images result in a attempt at a new spatial reality.

The constructed space provides a standard to explore the realm of the virtual. The implied space of the 12â&#x20AC;&#x2122; x 12â&#x20AC;&#x2122; x 12â&#x20AC;&#x2122; cube allows both methods to be explored with a constant variable. The image above explores how the role electronics and micro controllers could be implemented in designing a layered interactive system. The three layers contain a grid system of points that portray a field of sensors, a layer of 34 flexible skin and the resulting deformation

of the skin. The image to the right provides projected images overlaid on a series of forced perspectives that allow for overlapping images to alter the perception of space. The adjacent walls and ceiling extend the perceived space past the realm of the physical and controlled by the spatial augmentation of projection mapping.

Part II | Notre Dame du Travail During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Paris regarded itself as the world capital for technology and innovation. Industrialization was moving ahead at full speed, and the city experienced a massive influx of workers to fill the new factories. The 14th arrondissement, near the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s southern periphery, felt the impact of this new immigration quite acutely, and soon planning began for a new church to accommodate these new workers and their families. This church, built in 1902, is remarkable for its use of a visible iron frame. It gives the church an industrial atmosphere, which is no coincidence: the church was built for the construction workers who helped build the Eiffel Tower and other structures for the 1889 World Exhibition. The metal columns were even taken from the Palais de lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Industrie, an exhibition hall that was demolished in 1897.

Part II | Notre Dame du Travail The normative experience of a Romanesque church generates expected circulation and building typologies. A strong stone faรงade and building construction grounded in tradition. Notre Dame Du Travail breaks this tradition, from an exterior facade that holds historic value in contrast with the modern day iron space frame construction. Form values function, the Churches interior holds strong to that design concept. Instilling the perception of space through an intervention that rids the normative experience of the Romanesque church while highlighting the advancement in technology both today and of the 19th century.

Part II | Site Documentation The traditional means of architectural representation call for plan and section drawings. The following drawings explore the first digital representation of Notre Dame Du Travail. The drawings clearly identify the traditional Romanesque arrangement sequence including, the naive, apse, aisles, and transepts. However, due to the Industrial Revolution and structural simplicity eliminates poche. The regularity of the structural bays offers an open floor plan that can provide a backbone to the intervention of Festum Fatorum

Part II | Site Re-Construction The series of axons shown provide a clear diagrammatic relationship between interior and exterior, or rather a lack there of. The disassociation between the interior and exterior allows for the interior to boast design intent of its own. As a result, this independence provides spatial independence. The skeletal construction offers a unique experience that offers spatial autonomy.

Part II | A Place for Contemplation The following narratives place diverse persona within an environment that encourages exploration. The resulting pragmatic interaction aims to instill and absorb a diverse understanding of perceived and interactive spaces. Through studying the extrovert and introvert the interaction among spatial relationships react differently.

Extrovert| noun \ekstre,vert\

an outgoing person; a person concerned primarily with the physical and social environment rather than with the self.

Introvert| noun \intre,vert\

a person predominantly concerned with their own throughts and feelings rather than with external things

Part II| A Place for Contemplation Extrovert The brisk morning dew covers the uneven cobblestone, the sun glistens over the drops of water falling on each blade of grass. The silhouette of the man crosses against the surfaces of the limestone and falls against the slick granite facades on his way down the Rue Alain. Waving hello to the bystanders. The row of Romanesque facades numb his morning commute. The repetitive, rigid, cold materiality of the street wall towers overhead. His mind consumed in his own thoughts. The marble steps no longer rigid but worn down by the foot traffic, the transition to the iron door of passage. Inside filled those seeking contemplation. Seeking a place of self, a place of reactivity, a place of self and communal interaction. The light cascades down the soft fabric stretching from bay to bay. With every footstep the man is consumed into the soft interaction between self and the built form. Contracting with each step the passage narrows, the light is dim now. Mirrored on parallel space is a chamber filled with bodies, the flowing of electrons bouncing in infinite space causes a reactive interaction between the layers of constructed space. The perceived space in between altered by the collision of each electron with the continuous sound waves projected by unidentifiable sources. This container expands and overgrows into 46

the passageways structured by the repetitive columns of the remains of the Eiffel Tower. The light source filters through the stained glass, the colors projected along the blank canvas of the intervention, through the perceived, the constructed and the virtual realm of space. The man presses through, his comfort level tested by the interaction generates with the swift and slow reacting curtain.

Introvert The sun falls over the tips of the spires that line the edge of what seems as a never-ending street.

interaction, a soft and swift motion of the parallel wall leads the man into a small pocket of poche, the hidden niche.

The constant demand from overgrowing crowds keeps his thoughts full and focus divided.

The light grows across the space, he finds himself in the center of this intimate space, a place for contemplation.

The dire need to break away from the draining social situations that the public realms place on daily experiences.

For a second his mind is clear, blank, numbed.

There is a need for an escape, a search for meditation. The cold granite lines the path down Rue Alain, the daily routine leading him to the same rigid iron church in search of sanity in exploring his own thoughts and feelings.

He is moved to reflect, he moves to the light cascading down the soft wall of this hidden niche. It responds, it moves with him, the space now gradually becoming smaller. It grows with him, a complete extension of his self, his space, controlled by his actions, his motion.

The heavy weight of everyday life wears down the limestone steps that lead up to the iron doors. The normative routine numbs the mind; the blank canvas walks in search for clarity. The narrow entryway contracts and isolates the man from what is normally lined with pews and chairs. The noise of others fill the adjacent masked spaces, the wall extrudes closer now, in search of poche. Sacred niches hiding in the carved surface of the traditional mass of historic buildings built by the master builders are lost in translation. The man has no choice but to press forward down the new aisle. A slim sliver of light escapes the womb of 47

Part III | Festum Fatorum For purpose of being ambiguous I have removed preconditioned thought of the current namesake established in the abstract of Festum Fatorum. The Priest [Voyeur] and Jester [Manipulative Inhabitant] mediate between the manifestations of the axis mundi. The Jester embodies the profane world, the constant instability of the sacred threshold. The puppeteer of the surface translates fears and objectifies profane desires. The Priest executes the sacred rituals between god and man. His liturgical acts search to confront the Jester in hope to release the growing tension between the sacred and profane world by granting the sacrament of confession. The daily churchgoers, explorers, and clergymen become both audience and participants in the master puppeteers story. The constant reconfiguration of the sacred allows for a new spatial interaction, this interaction redistributes symbolic desire to create a responsive architecture both consciously and subconsciously that connects and opens up to us.

The Performance of a Reflection An impenetrable surface – where there is neither a beginning, nor end. Infinite configurations of space and reflections, yet uninhabitable. The still ceiling spies. We find clarity in its reconfigured image. Transforming mystery and wonder to present realities. These realties reinterpret our own desires; calming our sense of doubt. Under wandering eyes and ears we question, we ask ourselves – what has made us so fearful of the glancing mirror. Gazing at the performance, we become participants, vulnerable of manipulation. Subjects of the voyeur. Subjects of the manipulator. The surface hides and reveals itself with each passing glance, breaking the calm reflection Distorting current perceptions while questioning our present self. No longer do we see truth. Now – subjects of our desires, our doubt.

An impenetrable surface â&#x20AC;&#x201C; where there is neither a beginning, nor end. Infinite configurations of space and reflections, yet uninhabitable.

The still ceiling spies. We find clarity in its reconfigured image. Transforming mystery and wonder to present realities.

Concealed Isolation The voyeur transcends the spiral staircase â&#x20AC;&#x201C; surveys through the arrowslits. He watches, but never speaks. They build up the boundaries. One bound by the order of the church, and the other bound by the reality of the profane. Aware in part of where the other must be. They move about in separation, they dine, they sleep, they live. Above and below only never to cross paths. Separated by the weight of confession, they become entangled by pursuits of truth in their respected roles. The relentless search for interaction will only come in a consistent search for spatial reconciliation. But what comes is only a longing for what will never come, a constant reconfiguration of an impenetrable threshold.

Under wandering eyes and ears we question, we ask ourselves â&#x20AC;&#x201C; what has made us so fearful of the glancing mirror.

The voyeur transcends the spiral staircase â&#x20AC;&#x201C; surveys through the arrowslits. He watches, but never speaks. They build up the boundaries.

The Manipulative Inhabitant Watching from his guarded tower perched as they mindlessly moved about. Disgusted by and rejecting of these greater souls, he escaped above it all. Now he lives apart. He lives isolated. He lives alone. He moves hesitantly between two floors, weightless, a lack of life. His home suspended over the valor of the void, the wonder and mystery. He becomes a part of the parts, broken from himself, suspended above the clarity. He presides over the surface, a master puppeteer of sorts. The mimesis of the profane redistributes his doubt. The silent surface reflects the self, a sense of clarity at a moment. The moment is leached onto by the wonderers below. He manipulates the clarity of the silence; an undulation imposes and extracts disbelieve. No longer silent, but an illusory.

Watching from his guarded tower perched as they mindlessly moved about. Disgusted by and rejecting of these greater souls, he escaped above it all

He becomes a part of the parts, broken from himself, suspended above the clarity. He presides over the surface, a master puppeteer of sorts.

The Voyeurâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Loyalties Watching from his wavering alter as they search for his guidance. His troubled arms opened the sacred doors; masking his own questioned faith. He speaks freely at the altar. He is a voyeur of the confrontation. He manipulates words that reflect the sacred, a sense of hope in a single moment. The audience seeks this moment. He executes his sermon, and retires to his study. He lives in hiding, in search of light. His daily routine moves him counter clockwise with the teasing sun. He executes the sacred rituals between god and man; his liturgical acts search to confront the profane. The mocking sun watches as he confronts, opposes, and interrogates his internal self. The mimesis of the sacred redistributes his desire. No longer symbolic, but true.

He speaks freely at the altar. He is a voyeur of the confrontation. He manipulates words that reflect the sacred, a sense of hope in a single moment.

He lives in hiding, in search of light. His daily routine moves him counter clockwise with the teasing sun. The mocking sun watches as he confronts, opposes, and interrogates his internal self.

The mimesis of the sacred redistributes his desire. No longer symbolic, but true.

The Feast, The Fools The unwary balance in finding truth in symbols, redistribute a sense of doubt. The weightless transcendence of faith acknowledges the unknown. The uncertainty suddenly finds complacency. In the distance we seek forgiveness through judgment and confession. Descending the steps we find ourselves suspended over the valor of the void and under the reflection of the mirrored surface. The manipulative inhabitantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; gesture violates our inward thinking, and provokes the profane. Exposed and vulnerable, the voyeur questions the inhabitantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; faith; he opens skepticism of the sacred, projecting it upon himself. The cold and relentless display of spiritual tension articulates a constant search for spatial reconciliation. The voyeur and manipulative inhabitant choreograph the feast, while their architecture tames the sacred by locating our secular fears. The search for light reveals the darkness it crafts. The fool both objectifies and fulfills desire. At this intersection we are no longer the observers but observed.

The uncertainty suddenly finds complacency. In the distance we seek forgiveness through judgment and confession. Descending the steps we find ourselves suspended over the valor of the void

The search for light reveals the darkness it crafts. The fool both objectifies and fulfills desire. At this intersection we are no longer the observers but observed.

Part V| Conclusion Understanding Metaphysical and Physical Space Spatial Sequence Spatial interpretation and spatial projection provided a methodology that established both metaphysical and physical creations of space. In order to identify the existing problems of spatial relationships within built form, illustrations where provided to explain current engagement sequences. This sequence enhanced the need for a design intervention that was instilling and responsive through the growing interwoven realms of the virtual and perceived.

Looking to History While the original research placed emphasis on the development and advancement of technology, its ability to reveal a new dimension of space pushed the limitations of traditional modes of representation and building tectonics found to be too forceful. Over the course of the development of Festum Fatorum the goal no longer became about current technological implications but rather a response on the current discourse of the continuous reconfiguration of the threshold between the sacred and profane. The discourse spoke to sacred architecture and the history of religion, specifically those who challenged its societal roles. Over the course of my research one specific person stood out among the rest, Victor Hugo. Hugo challenged the very notion of religion in the medieval time period, presenting a novel known as the 82

Hunchback of Notre Dame, this challenged and brought light to the darkness of sacred rituals, more specifically the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Feast of Foolsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, a day where the clergy would break away from their sacred vows and poke fun at those less fortunate and at the end of the day they would crown a king of fools. This posed an interesting dialogue with the ongoing tension with the Roman Catholic Church. While the Catholic religion denies all of these actions it was clearly documented. While Hugo took a stand on religion in his novel, he also took a very strong opinion on how the printing press affected architecture. While architecture was known to stand the test of time and carry the history of past generations long after generations have passed the printing press no longer needed for a permanent architecture. So I posed a question to myself on how can narrative architecture comment and uncover the current discourse of religion in architecture. I wanted to create a series of autonomous drawings that provided a constant discovery for the viewer as they piece together their own narrative through derived from their personal experiences. While the drawings stood for themselves as provocative images, I felt that something was missing.

Architectural Narrative I quickly turned to designers such as Douglas Darden, John Hejduk, Rudolf Schwartz, and Raimund Abraham for inspiration. The beauty in an image was just as powerful as the corresponding narrative. Over the course of the semester the most influential moment was a conference attended at McGill University with Professor Marc Neveu. I was able to be apart of a presentation on Douglas Darden where I was introduced to his former colleagues and pen pal, Ben Ledbetter. This conference only enhanced the need to

develop and discover the narrative of Festum Fatorum. Festum Fatorum exchanged architectural drawings and technology for the function of story telling. Firstly, the narrative of the self, or individual. It is the individual that allows for a narrative function to continually re-describe ones own reality in accordance with a constantly evolving fiction or myth. Therefore, an individual in fact uses fiction to bring about a coherent understanding of one’s daily life, “the synthesis of the heterogeneous”. This process, which continues to occur dialectically, is able to exist by the narrative structure, pertaining to the individual self. French Philosopher Paul Ricoeur describes it as “ the first way human beings attempt to understand and master the ‘manifold’ of the practival field is to give themselves a fictive representation of it.” This idea is perhaps a way of existing that individuals are not necessarily consciously aware of, but yet is intrinsic to our way of being. This traces back to the notions of muthos (emplotment or fiction) and mimesis (imitation or re-description), as presented in Aristotle’s work Poetics. These two functions, in my belief still remain true in the understanding and creation in the individual’s narrative.

what if each piece started to remove itself from the story, the three constants could rearranged, removed, or left, an archeological dig where the void, the church, and the penetration of the tower could stand on its own, or become structurally dependent on the other. This critique pushed and allowed me to question Festum Fatorum’s independency both as drawing and narrative.

Guest Critiques The function of the individual narrative grounded Festum Fatorum, as well as provided the audience with an outline open for interpretation. Over the course of the review the guest critics found it powerful and moving, as they fell into the narrative and where able to pull their own views into the present story. The most constructive critique provided future development, they questioned 83

Part V | Bibliography Diller, Elizabeth, and Ricardo Scofidio. Blur: The Making of Nothing. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, 2002. Print. The Making of Nothing describes the process from schematic to construction of Diller+Scofidio’s installation Blur. The provided graphics and drawings bring physicality to the multisensory experience. However, I find the questions and theories behind the design of most importance. They aim to understand the relationship between art, the subject, and the world. The boundary between the implication and instability of the subject and performance are interlaced between the human and technology. While the Blur “building” could be found as precedents across the emerging age of instillation architecture, this specific construct is most successful in aiding to understand the relation of observed spaces to perceived spaces. “How to observe the world and how the world observes itself, how a marked space emerges via a constitutive distinction from an unmarked space and how something becomes invisible when something else becomes visible.” Blau, Eve. Transparency and the Irreconcilable Contradictions of Modernity. Print. Eve Blau focuses on conceptual theories and explanations of socio-spatial transformations through the lens of translucency and it’s effect on perception and materiality. Blau’s article continues to reference specific works and designers such as Rowe and Slutzky as well as Detlef Mertins idea and theories on the psychology of perception and aesthetic perception. This article offers a more philo84

sophical and historic root that strengthens the argument of interactive and reactive design technologies. Blau continues to strengthen the importance in comparing and contrasting both mechanical and passive ways of modern construction. Haverkamp, Michael. Synesthetic Design: Handbook for a Multi-sensory Approach. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2011. Print. Synesthetic Design provides framework in psychology, physiology, motor functions, and neurology through the innovations of materials. This book acts as a foundation for creativity through the fundamentals of a multisensory experience. The significance and strength of this “handbook” provides the rudiments of perception through the influence of social factors, demands, individual knowledge and emotional attitudes. Haverkamp defines perception as “perceiving and imaging an object in a conscious state is the basis of human cognitive activity as a multisensory process”. Along with initially defining perception Haverkamp draws the relation between emotions and its grounds in the interaction of the perception of external stimuli with the perception of body reactions. The relevance of Synesthetic Design is truly aiding in my understanding about how one perceives space apart from the physical.

Lavin, Sylvia. Kissing Architecture. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2011. Print. Sylvia Lavin asserts that there is a direct connection between the act of kissing to the observation and discourse of the relationship between architecture, art and multi-media instillations. Lavin strengthens her claim through the recent instillation, Pour Your

Body Out by Pipilotti Rist at the Museum of Modern Art, in hope to show the transformation and intervention it has on the canvas provided by architect Taniguchi. Sylvia’s purpose is to point out that kissing opens architecture to a means of expression in the touching of two surfaces in order to highlight ether material or epistemological differences. This source has lead to be very relevant and forced me into taking something tangible and developing the idea of a reactive and interactive design into a psychological research of perception of the physicality and socio-spatial transformation. Woods, Lebbeus. “THE QUESTION OF SPACE.” LEBBEUS WOODS, Nov. 2009. Web. 25 Oct. 2013. Lebbeus Woods’ essay questions the construction of both the physical and mental comprehension of space. The most important point Woods’ makes is acknowledge that space is essentially a mental construct. We imagine space to be there, even if we experience it as a void, an absence we cannot perceive. However despite his metaphysical ideas of space, Woods’ uses an object-based idea behind physical space, a stagnate process, rather than a constant flux of interaction. This source provided a backbone of conversation to solve a current problem in the understanding of spatial relationships, who is the performer of space, and what is the product.

encouraging the body to project itself onto the city, while the city also projects itself onto us. Pallasmaa provided claim to strengthen the role projection mapping has on the production of spatial experience. Through the advancement of technology the manipulation and production of images provide an endless rainfall to the manipulation of spatial perception. Eliasson, Olafur. Your Engagement Has Consequences: On the Relativity of Your Reality. Baden: Lars Müller, 2006. Print. With a focus on human experience, installation artist, Olafur Eliasson, provides insight to ideas of context, motion and awareness in relation to that experience. He discuses the concept of “Your Engagement Sequence”, a claim that in order to understand something, the person must relate back to her own personal engagement sequence to bring relativity to and individualize the topic. Picon, A. “Architecture and the Virtual: Towards a New Materiality.” Praxis 6(6). Antoine Picon’s article strengthens the need to pay close attention to the physical experience and materiality. I have received precedents and articles to continue my research and focus on how new representations alter individual experience through the perception of space and materiality.`

Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons Juhani Pallasmaa provides a multisensory exploration of our spatial cognition. The main point that I extracted out from The Eyes of the Skin was the built environments ability to activate our sensory system through

Part VI | Appendices The following series of drawings, images, and poetry aided in the current state of Festum Fatorum. Without the research of the surface and contemporary building techniques it would not have been possible to identify what the space really wanted to become.

Part VI | Axons & Early Drawings The adjacent axons and renderings uncovered that modern building methods fought against the tradition of the Romanesque and of the medieval buildings grounded in poche.

Prie

1 Bed 2 Kitc 3 Libr 4 Pra

1 Bedroom 2 Kitchen 3 Library 4 Prayer

1 Contrition 2 Confession 3 Satisfaction 4 Absolution

Roo

1 Exterior Pathway 2 Garden 3 Rose Beds 4 Skylight

1Exte 2 Gar 3 Ros 4 Sky

Part VI | Detexualizing the Surface The fabric hides and expresses circulation and structure and allows for reinterpret the definition of poche and act as an inhabitable mass.

Part VI | Mirrors I, who have felt the horror of mirrors Not only in front of the impenetrable crystal Where there ends and begins, uninhabitable, An impossible space of reflections, But of gazing even on water that mimics The other blue in its depth of sky, That at times gleams back the illusory flight Of the inverted bird, or that ripples, And in front of the silent surface Of subtle ebony whose polish shows Like a repeating dream the white Of something marble or something rose, Today at the tip of so many and perplexing Wandering ears under the varying moon, I ask myself what whim of fate Made me so fearful of a glancing mirror. Mirrors in metal, and the masked Mirror of mahogany that in its mist Of a red twilight hazes The face that is gazed on as it gazes, I see them as infinite, elemental Executors of an ancient pact, To multiply the world like the act Of begetting. Sleepless. Bringing doom. They prolong this hollow, unstable world In their dizzying spider’s-web; Sometimes in the afternoon they are blurred By the breath of a man who is not dead. The crystal spies on us. If within the four Walls of a bedroom a mirror stares, I am no longer alone. There is someone there. In the dawn reflections mutely stage a show. Everything happens and nothing is recorded In these rooms of the looking glass, Where, magicked into rabbis, we Now read the books from right to left. Claudius, king of an afternoon, a dreaming king, Did not feel it a dream until that day When an actor shewed the world his crime In a tableau, silently in mime. 100

It is strange to dream, and to have mirrors Where the commonplace, worn-out repertory Of every day may include the illusory Profound globe that reflections scheme. God (I keep thinking) has taken pains To design that ungraspable architecture Reared by every dawn from the gleam Of a mirror, by darkness from a dream. God has created nighttime, which he arms With dreams, and mirrors, to make clear To man he is a reflection and a mere Vanity. Therefore these alarms.

-Jorge Luis Borges

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