Project Book- Objects & Images in Architectural Form

Project Book

Writing Intensive Course Objects to Curves to Masses

p.12

Abstraction & Estrangement

p.16

Object & Field

p.22

Color, Form & Figure

p.28

Mediascape

p.32

Library Precedent Study

p.38

Shape & Character

p.42

Sum of Parts

p.44

Library

p.46

Final Project Statement

p.62

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Instructor Virginia Houck

Majeda Alhinai

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Project Overview

Site & Program

The premise of the studio is based on the collusion between objects and images in the production of architectural form. Rather than use program to determine architectural form the studio poses the problem of how might new forms organize the program and maybe even augment it? The studio will interrogate the potential of medium specific appearancemaking in architecture and differentiating between realism as a representational mode through the extraction of abstracted information of selected objects that we will study.

Contemporary media enables unprecedented immediacy. Advancements in technology and available devices continually evolve how we exchange information and disseminate knowledge. Not only has this development altered our conception of what constitutes public, it has also enabled unparalleled opportunity for access. Within the context of the studio you should consider the provocative potentials of media, both digital and physical, to influence a longterm recalibration of consciousness. Scape suggests something more extensive and less explicit in its boundary. A scape can be either picturesque or structured, realizing an organic inclusion of parts or enveloping a deployment of objects. One recent example merging square and scape is James Corner Field Operations’ Cleveland Public Square, which sought to revive a lifeless fragmentation into a unified whole. Within the parameters of the project and site, the proposed mediascape hopes to embrace a local yet worldly vision of a unified agenda in aesthetic culture.1

Through the design of the studio project we will examine the ways in which architecture can engage with reality/realism without succumbing to the pictorial resemblance spawned by the renaissance (naive realism).

One current response to this is the return to orthographic projection and platonic primitives. Basically, this could be seen as a rejection of the real and a reaf rmation of abstraction, process and rationality. Perhaps this response is not so much a rejection as it is an indifference towards the real.

The vehicle for this is a digital library & archive as well as mediascape. One of the interesting things about the project brief is that it deals with not only the design of the archive but also the ground and immediate surrounding site in the form of a mediascape.

The library should be able to re-invent itself programmatically by introducing new ways and incorporating digital technology into its already existing ways and methods of learning. You should incorporate various other media (audio visual, 3D) apart from books and print media to make it a prospect for the future. The spatiality of the library should be re-interpreted from typical and pragmatic interiors to innovative and exible typology of reading spaces and interior arrangements.

Through the design of the digital archive, we will refer to studies of the CCA on the ‘Archaeology of the Digital’ curated by Greg Lynn.

“Archaeology of the Digital is a project envisioned by the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), curated by Greg Lynn, based on the acquisition and collection of approximately twenty-five projects. These works were produced between the late 1980s and the early 2000s and embody inventive ways of engaging the digital. This first phase—entitled Archaeology of the Digital, comprising an exhibition and this publication presents four pioneering works by Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Chuck Hoberman, and Shoei Yoh. In all fairness, a fifth actor should be added to this list; an inanimate actor who takes different forms and names: machine, computer, manual, software, code, script, etc. This technological constituent— sought, found, tested, modified and even invented by the architects themselves in order to realize their ultimate vision—attained a life of its own and made the production of these projects possible.”2 The site for both Mediascape and Digital Library will be in Streetsboro, Portage County, Ohio. Currently Streetsboro has a very small outdated public library ‘Pierce Streetsboro Library’, the studio project will replace the library currently on the site.

Through site design the project will ultimatley investigate the implications of designing a mediascape & digital library in a rural area.

1. “Competitions :Current Architecture Competitions.” Arch out loud, www.archoutloud.com/traf cking.html. Accessed 20 Aug. 2017 2.(CCA), Canadian Centre for Architecture. “Archaeology of the Digital: Complexity and Convention.” Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), www.cca.qc.ca/en/events/38273/archaeologyof-the-digital-complexity-and-convention. Accessed 20 Aug. 2017.

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Objects to Curves to Masses

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1. KAWS, Sleep City (2011) 2. KAWS, Passing Through, Mini Figure (2013)

In the beginning of this project, two KAWS creations were selected to extract linework from. This process involved creating linework that replicated each image. For Sleep City, this involved exactly following the lines that were exhibited in the two dimensional image. However, for Passing Through, its three dimensional nature was exhibited through the use of a contour line drawing instead of replicating its exact outline.

From these flat, two dimensional curves I extracted came the vision of what they could represent in a three dimensional field.

The experimentation of form and figure within the parameters of still retaining some nature of the original KAWS works was the following trial.

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1. Extracted Lineworks from Sleep City and Passing Through 2. Preliminary Massings - Created with Extracted Lineworks

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2. Preliminary Massings

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Abstraction & Estrangement Through trials in experience and form, my selected figures have evolved from two KAWS works into five configurations that exemplify both the original works as well as perceived experiences brought to another dimensional aspect. I worked with KAWS’s Sleep City, a circular painting that utilized dusky colors confined within a circular form, as well as Passing Through in black, which is a three-dimensional ‘toy’ that takes the shape of an all-black cartoonish figure weeping into its hands. To draw from these works, I utilized the curves found within the works. Sleep City, being a two-dimensional artwork, had its curves extracted in a more literal sense. Where there were color variations or distinct lines, a curve was born to represent this matter. Passing Through, however, was less literal. Rather than extracting just the edges of the perceived object, I created a contour drawing that studied variations in the way in which light hits and interacts with the form of the figure. Once these curves had been established, they were shaped into new forms that represented the original spirit of the initial sources.

The two works from which I was drawing from had a few traits that noticeably aligned- there was a certain roundness to them, as well as an almost menacing aura. The colors featured were dark and the shapes that KAWS chose within them seemed to have a supernatural aspect that was very alluring. After extracting curves from these sources, I experimented in ways in which I could exhibit both a perceived roundness as well as the gougelike movements exhibited in the sources. The resulting figures often had sharp lines with jagged edges or a completely spherical shape.

Further experimenting with these forms brought about intersections and the repetition of patterns within the set I had created. After narrowing the selection down to five forms and continuing to reiterate them, I was left with five distinct figures:

1) A disk with the strong impression of a whirlpool, which exhibited both the circular fashion of the original images as well as their impact. The swirling lines were extracted from Passing Through, but its circular nature is a direct descendant of Sleep City.

2) A cube with a strong impact of vertical and horizontal rods running through it, giving the impact of a certain crystallization or shattering. The rods were extracted from Passing Through and kept a hard, claw-like impact. The box on which the figure sits within Passing Through is still visible within the extruded lines, while other boxlike forms have been mirrored in the rest of its figure.

3) A rail structure that plays with the interaction of solid and void within a sphere. Its external lines were gained from Sleep City, as was its roundness. However, its sense of void was remenescient of the contour drawing extracted from Passing Through.

4) An orb that witnesses a certain heaviness of form that was seen in the original works. It lacks much void, despite intricacies within itself, and takes this mannerism from the dark, monotonous color choices of both Sleep City and Passing Through.

5) An explosive sunburst that is radiating out of a pipe. The bursting lines are extracted from Passing Through, while the cylinder within it brings back to the circular nature of the original designs as well as the idea of tunneling and shadow. It is almost an inverse from Sleep City, which sees lines sweeping within a circle, rather than its own nature which has the curves forcing themselves out in an uncontained nature.

Together, the forms create a whole and unified set that, while drawing from the original content, create their own conditions and uniqueness in shape and impact.

Final Massings

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Final Massings

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ARCH 30001 1. Mediascape Linework 2. Mediascape Formation 3. Mass Locations within Mediascape

2. Mediascape

1.Site Outline

3. Mediascape with Masses

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Object & Field In my site, each of my masses was placed according to the visual impact and intersections found in my original curved forms. After superimposing the curves onto the site, I selected five different points in which the lines intersected and placed the five masses based on which intersection had similar curvilinear movements.

Once each mass was located, the original linework was removed and new curves were created that suited the interactions between each mass. These new curves flow in a circular manner- an attempt to evoke the nature of Sleep City once again.

Once these new curves had been found, they were diagrammed into possible vertical components. The extracted curves were then extruded and shaped on the z-axis, forming around the masses to give the semblance of an orbit. Each mass influenced not only the linework of its immediate surrounding, but also the way in which the massing of the site was formed.

1. This mass is embedded deeply into the site, creating a tunnel-like form that users are able to experience and could feature the interplay of light and mass.

2. An exploding cube that sits lonely on its own end of the site with a wrapping in the landscape that creates a theatrical seat for the figure. It can be observed both from a distance and up close, drawing users into the site.

3. Spherical and bringing the curvature into the design of the site, this mass sits upon a precipice and is capable of projecting light and sound upon both the internal volume and external volume of the site.

4. This mass shares a curve with the spherical third mass, but rather than a solidly shaped mass it tends towards hollow visuals, and is provides a contrast with its sister shape. Any light or sounds it emits can broadcast and interact with its sister shape, emitting over the heads of those experiencing the site.

5. The final mass conducts its space on the edge of the site, its tubal form creating an interface with the outside world. This draws visitors to the site and allows media to influence the surrounding world.

Together, the ways in which these masses interact with the site’s formation create an orbital path that influences the experience of those moving through the site. It directs them around a path, moving through and circling each mass. The experience of each object is directed and informed by the way in which it sits within the site. Those which sit aloof tower over users and allow them to experience light and sound from a distance, while masses that sit low create a private contact with any who come close.

Mass Locations within Mediascape

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Mass locations within mediascape.

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Masses, rendered with preliminary color choices.

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1. Masses Rendered with Preliminary Color Choices 2. Masses Located within Site.

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Color, Form & Figure Art, by its very nature, is not truly definable. It is an expression of humanity, and as such is highly interpretive and flexible. The way in which is it typically defined, the term “art” speaks of applicable design mediums, such as paintings and sculpture. However, in a more colloquial definition, art can refer to any method of work that is a sort of labor, or a sort of undertaking- such as novel, a building, or a song. This definition has much more to do with the recognition of these mediums as a way to convey expression that it does with the rather firm definition of what marks out a discernible form of fine art.

In the context of art being a type of undertaking that creates a method of expression, abstraction becomes a fascinating concept.

The definition of abstract, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is as follows: Abstract: adjective 1 a : disassociated from any specific instance - an abstract entity

b : difficult to understand : abstruse - abstract problems

c : insufficiently factual – formal : possessed only by an abstract right 2 : expressing a quality apart from an object – the word poem is concrete, poetry is abstract 3 a : dealing with a subject in its abstract aspects : theoretical – abstract science

b : impersonal, detached : the abstract compassion of a surgeon – Time 4 : having only intrinsic form with little or no attempt at pictoral representation or narrative content – abstract painting In the sense of architectural design, abstraction speaks through it as an art medium in multiple variations in the meaning of abstraction.

This sense of disconnection between the literal figure and its concrete

definitions creates a space for inquiry. What are we expressing with the original art, and how may we refer to that through a non-literal sense? If the purpose of art is to convey, how is intent conveyed through nonobjective design?

Abstract art does not have a literal meaning. It does not depict a subject, such as a person or place or object, and so requires the audience to examine the work not by method of context but by the actual literal piece itself. Non-abstract and literal work relies heavily on context and the interpretation of the viewer, such as references to other novels within novels and the understanding of social class represented in clothing choice while viewing a historic painting. The entire meaning is not conveyed just by viewing but by its interconnection to the rest of the world. In removing this, the abstract becomes interpreted not by factual knowledge but by the viewer themselves. The focus is on color and form rather than context.

Speaking in a sense of architectural design, abstraction creates this interplay of the viewer and the subject. It creates, rather than answers, more questions. Viewers interact with the design not just in the physical sense, but also in the theoretical sense. Their own interpretation is unencumbered by their previous knowledge of structures and form, leaving them with the question of what does this mean rather than a rigid I know what that is and requires more than a glance to grasp meaning. It is a study into formal methods in color, line, form, and texture and meaning is consequent to these actions.

1. Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild (1990).

2. Gerhard Richter, A B, Courbet (1986).

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Blue Hatch) Tricolor Blocks - extracted from Abstraktes Bild.

Multicolor Blocks - extracted from A B, Courbet.

Black & White - extracted from A B, Courbet.

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Textures

Textures, as applied to Mediascape

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Mediascape The mediascape is designed to pull users into its orbit. The pathsthat one may find in its movement are circular, bringing people close to witness specific instances before pushing them away once again.

Each mass becomes an event space that can be used for a variety for purposes. Lights, sound, and various other forms of performance enter and interact with the site through this. Some events are broadcast and some events are held closely. Specific instances in form create these nuances, allowing individuals to be influenced by its curving slopes and niches. .

Top View- Phase 01 - Mediascape

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Mass 01- Phase 01 - Mediascape Mass 03- Phase 01 - Mediascape

Mass 02- Phase 01 - Mediascape Mass 04- Phase 01 - Mediascape

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Seattle Central Library Precedent Study The Seattle Public Library was chosen for my precedent study for a variety of reasons, including the way it exhibits space, light, and program. I was fortunate enough to visit Seattle in 2015, during which I visited a variety of buildings in the area, including Gehry’s EMP Museum, the Seattle Space Needle, the Olympic Sculpture Park, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Seattle Public Library. While visiting the library, one of the things that struck me the most about the library was the way in which it did not seem like a library. Growing up, the library near my house was a red brick rectangle featuring florescent lighting and computers that were only capable of archiving on floppy disc, regardless of the fact that by then floppy discs were rather obsolete. The very essence of the Seattle Public Library, unlike most, was the ability to change and the ability to be a part of the modern world.

The way the Seattle Public Library’s Central branch was programmed made it entirely capable of changing throughout the years. The “book spiral” through the building that houses the physical books is continuous, allowing sections to shrink or grow continuously as the world changes. The availability of media is woven into its very fabric, but rather than a hard value, such as a space made specifically for a certain type of technology, the media areas are landing spaces that can be remodeled as new devices become available. Only the critical and more stable programmatic elements are permanently etched into its layout- such as parking and headquarters. In this sense, the library is capable of changing with time and will not be permanently stuck in the past.

Mass and material also play into why the Seattle Public Library did not strike me as a library. After aligning the program, it was sheathed in a design that creates fascinating light and space conditions. Light changes throughout the day as the sun moves through the sky, changing where the shadows fall upon the structure and what areas of the building receive more light. The conditions change as time passes, making the space interesting to be physically in through the

changes. On top of that, the building is situated to maximize views out of the sight rather than ignoring them, which draws upon an interconnectedness to its neighbors and placing that a lot of other libraries seem fond of ignoring. This physical space and the ambiance it creates makes studying or reading in this library seem much more appealing than reading at home.

One of the somewhat recent downfalls of the library, as a model, is the availability of online research, novels, and the proliferation of personal computers. Today, it is entirely possible to rent electronic copies of books from libraries, which essentially eliminates the last holdout of being physically present at a library. In light of this, the library as a type of building must adapt- if its traditional services are more readily available elsewhere at a lower cost or more efficient means, why, exactly, would you build a library?

The answer lies in the social aspect of the library as not just a source of knowledge but as a social device. Humans are social creatures. When a book is available through Google or Amazon, it ships to a home or post office where it is consumed by an individual. However, this method of consumption distinctly lacks the community that a library invokes. A library for the modern age of media consumption should likely aim to feature social programs, staff services, study space, and education in new technology. I firmly believe that the Seattle Public Library, between its use of changeable program, media space, and physical qualities captures all of the elements needed to make a library worth attending regardless of your ability to do the same work elsewhere.

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Seattle Public Library - Central Branch

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Form Studies

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Shape & Character The general massing of the figure is relatively solid. It is a wide, rectangular form that is situated in a horizontal manner across the site. The broad side of the mass is perpendicular to the mediascape that it shares its location with, allowing communication between the two built conditions. This stronger, more solid form allows it to contain the programmatic elements necessary for a library, such as book stacks, a media center, and space for other educational pursuits.

While the massing is stronger in form to provide a method of operation for the structure, the massing itself does not definite its entire character. It is the details, not the overall form, that mark this assembly as mechanical. The shape of most mechanical systems are created for function- in that way the library’s construction has remained the same. Each small movement is created for a specific function or experience, and each major movement is created for functionality. However, the larger form of the building itself is not reminiscent of an engine or motor. A machine created for the experience of a library or media center simply would not have a shape like that, as it would not be the most functional way to create that larger space.

Humans are fantastic at interpreting what they see. It is said that seeing is believing, and this perfectly describes how reliant people are on the experience of sight. When the eyes take in the sight of an object, such as a chair, the classification of that object as a chair is an interpretive process that recognizes patterns. A chair could come in a variety of designs- four legs, one leg, red, blue, white- with a nearly infinite number of physical features. It is these characteristics as well as its context that allow the human mind to recognize both a chair with four legs made of hard blue plastic as an object with the same function as a rainbow bean bag chair, despite the two objects looking nothing alike.

In this, it is the details of the library’s form that makes the mind register it as a machine. While the main massing itself is not that of a mechanical structure, and so it is other recognizable forms within its design that create its association. Specific instances include pipe forms, light wells that resemble caps, cylindrical structures that represent pistons, and forms that imitate valves. While this structure is undeniably a building, not an engine or factory-made assembly, these recognizable forms are all within a category that gives any who witness it the ability to apply context and understand its character and aesthetics.

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1. Playmax Group Engine Assembly.

2. Mechanical aspects as applied to chosen massing.

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Sum of Parts

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Machanical-esque details

The aesthetic of a machine, with the form of abstraction, becomes an interplay of individual parts and designs that come together to form a whole. When a machine is formed its purpose is utility.

A machine does not have pieces that are there only for the way in which they look, which is rather contrary to the very idea of an aesthetic. A structure that was designed as if were a true machine would be barren and only concerned with functionality. Abstraction of what a human eye believes a machine should look like becomes the focus of this aesthetic, rather than an exact matching process.

The goal is to create not a literal machine, but to suggest and imply a machine.

After focusing on what true machine parts look like, the forms are captured and then remade. Specific details are designed to suit a new function that is separate from what the mechanical part served on its original host. A fan casing becomes a reading nook, a pipe becomes a lightwell, and gears become an atrium. This, in turn, plays specifically with scale, implication, and perception. It does not lose its intent as a machine and does not lose its intent as a library.

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Library Upon entering the library, there is a reception area with a lofted ceiling and clerestory lighting. A slight change in level surrounds this entry space, which distinguishes it from much of the surrounding area. Left of the atrium is a gathering space ideal for working on group projects and other necessary meetings that take place in a public location such a library. There are two slightly isolated reading nooks that extend from this communal area, but are still interconnected. Underneath the community area is the storage for physical copies of books. Straight ahead from the atrium is a staircase that leads to more secluded reading or study nooks- they are separate from the majority of the foot traffic that the library would experience. To the right of the atrium is a dividing wall that separates the media space from the primary volume of the library. This room, and those below it, provide the area to integrate technology such as computers, smart boards, and 3D printing to the library. The library is meant to be flexible with time, regardless of what a library is needed for in any given year, and to capably serve the community as technology changes.

This library is meant to serve the future, and to serve the needs of a community as technology grows and develops.

Isometric Axon

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Northern Perspective

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1. West Elevation 2. East Elevationz

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1. South Elevation 2. North Elevationz

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Site Plan- Colorless

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Site Plan with Context

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1. Plan View- Ground Level 2. Plan View- Upper Level

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1. Longitudinal Section 2. Transverse Section 3. Sectional Model

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Final Project Statement The studio focused on addressing the student performance criteria of Professional Communication Skills (A.1), Architectural Design Skills (A.4), Use of Precedents (A.6), Codes and Regulations (B.3), Technical Documentation (B.4), Structural Systems (B.5), Environmental Systems (B.6), Building Envelope Systems (B.7), Building Materials and Assemblies (B.8), Building Service Systems (B.9), Research (C.1), Integrated Evaluations and Decision Making Design Process (C.2), Integrative Design (C.3), Collaboration and Leadership (Perspective A), Stewardship of the Environment (Perspective D), and Sustainability (X.2).

Overall, the students achieved highly on A.4, A.6, B.4, B.6, B.7, B.8, C.1, C.2, C.3, Perspective A, and Perspective D. They achieved more moderately on A.1, B.3, B.5, B.9 and X.2.

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The success of A.4 and A.6, related to issues of assembled components and overall massing was due to a clear statement of the formal and architectural interests in the studio, along with initial, iterative models (digital and physical) that focused on multiple versions of formal aggregations guided by a defined technique. Precedent studies at the outset established an understanding of similar building types and formal qualities, allowing the students to actively incorporate those lessons into their projects when more developed tectonic systems were explored. The additional success of B.6 along with Perspectives A and D is attributed to the environmental workshop with Transsolar. Less consistent success was found in B.4, B.5, B.7, B.8, and B.9, and we believe these issues should be further developed in the subsequent Design Development.

We believe that the degree of tectonic and technical development can always be pushed further in the studio, but we also feel that the current model of continuing to