NEW NATURES by Vineet Hingorani
Š June 2020 Vineet Hingorani
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, Architecture School of Architecture Pratt Institute June 2020
Program Introduction
I - XII
Ariane Lourie Harrison
Design Methodologies Object, Origin and Context
03 - 12
Physical Materials, Digital Textures
13 - 22
Themes and Research 'Constructed' Nature
25 - 34
Anthropocene Epoch and Plastiglomerate
35 - 46
Design Intervention: New Natures RE:Coring: Stairs and more
47 - 60
Scalar Approaches
61 - 78
New Natures
79 - 96
Appendix: Precedents
97 - 104
Bibliography
105 - 106
List of Figures
107 - 110
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Design Methodologies
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Object, Origin, Context An investigation into the relationship between an object, its origin and its context.
New Natures
Figure 1: Selected geometry overlaid on original Piranesi's Campo Marzio drawings.
Figure 2: Illustrations derived from the selected geometry of Piranesi's Campo Marzio drawings.
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Object, Origin, Context
EXPLORING 3 DIMENSIONAL QUALITIES IN 2 DIMENSIONAL GEOMETRIES Every design starts in the X-Y plane and ends in the X-Y-Z plane. Plans and sections are the base of any architectural project, the process of converting these 2D drawings into 3D spaces tends to add a mystical character to the design which may or may not respond to the drawings on paper. Sometimes it's intentional, sometimes a mistake. Sometimes they work, sometimes they do not. Piranesi’s Campo Marzio drawings, although imaginative, form a strong base for explorations into spatial qualities derived from Euclidean geometry. Lines, Dots and Curves are the three basic elements selected to indulge with each other resulting in unique and complex 2 dimensional geometries. A process of exporting 3 dimensional forms from the selected 2D Lines, Dots and Curves leads to a taxonomy of 3D ‘objects’ that hold minute resemblance to the original Euclidean geometry and have unique individualistic formal and spatial qualities. A few of the qualities can be traced back to the Piranesi drawings, but many new aspects are introduced in the 3D. Explorations in seeking a relationship between the various objects by extruding, splitting, embedding, slicing, subtracting with each other leads to the generation of invisible bonds between them - almost as if they are pieces of a puzzle that fit together. The minimalist Euclidean geometries transform into surprisingly complex forms, different yet similar to each other and their origin.
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New Natures
Figure 3: 3D object configuration extracted from selected 2D geometry and illustration.(Fig1& 2)
Figure 4: 3D object configuration extracted from selected 2D geometry and illustration.(Fig1& 2)
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Object, Origin, Context
A TALE OF THE OBJECT AND THE CONTEXT Generally, architecture is designed around and born out a certain context. This context can stand for the site context, the cultural context, the climatic context, the regional context, and so many more innumerable realms. Each design shares an intimate relation with its context, and the context is always considered to be a superset of the designed object. But what if this thinking is reversed, where the context is a subset of the object and is born out of it? Fiddling with the 3D objects formed from the selected Piranesi euclidean geometry allowed the creation of various 3D object configurations where the aim was to form relationships between all members of a configuration. Some objects plug into each other, while some new ones are developed out of the negatives spaces within the configuration while at the same time trying to maintain the characteristics and qualities of the original 2D geometries. The introduction of a cuboid volume as a baseline for a context allows for mutual engagement between the objects and the context where one entity influences the other and tries to form a dialogue of tension between the two. Gradually, repeated cycles of association and disassociation between the two leads to the development of a completely different entity where the object and context cannot be visually separated from each other. Taking this digital process to the physical world by means of 3D printing, casting, hydrodiping, painting, CNC milling and laser cutting leads to the development of a mixed material physical model with varied textures and colours, thereby disassociating from the concepted of 'the object' and 'the context' even more but still maintaining the same original qualities of the Piranesi geometries.
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Object, Origin, Context
Above: Figure 5: Illustration showing Objects (in white) and Context (in black). Right: Figure 6: Images of final Object-Context model showing mixed materiality. Fabrication techniques include 3D printing, physical casting, CNC milling and hydro-dipping.
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New Natures
Figure 7: Section as a medium of speculation showing dual quality of spaces.
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Object, Origin, Context
OBJECTIFIED ARCHITECTURE : SECTION AS A SPECULATIVE MEDIUM A section is often understood as a reductive drawing type produced at the end of the design development process to depict structural and material conditions in service of the construction conduct. But, it can also be perceived as a cut into that which cannot be seen; it reveals territories for architectural experimentation and exploration. Creating two separate cuts through the Object-Context model helped understand the dual quality of the interior spaces. Where the longer section (fig.8) is largely stable with spaces neatly plugging into each other, the shorter section (fig. 7) reveals the precarious and unstable characteristic of the same spaces.
Figure 8: Section as a medium of speculation showing dual quality of spaces.
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Physical Materials and Digital Textures Wayfinding into blurring boundaries between the physical and the digital with the aim to successfully integrate the two homogenously within a design process.
New Natures
Figure 9: Graph based on Masahiro Mori's theory of the 'uncanny valley'. Credits: The Aesthetic Appeal of Prosthetic Limbs and the Uncanny Valley.
Figure 10: Feedback loop developed in order to blur the boundaries between the physical and digital using machine intelligence.
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Physical Materials, Digital Textures
'UNCANNY VALLEY' AND ESTRANGEMENT “for the modernist avant-gardes, the uncanny readily offered itself as an instrument of 'defamiliarization' or ostranenie; as if a world estranged and distanced from its own nature could only be recalled to itself by shock, by the effects of things deliberately 'made strange'.� - Anthony Vidler1
The concept of the 'Uncanny Valley' finds a strong base in robotics and technology rather than architecture. In the 1970's, Masahiro Mori, then a robotics professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, wrote an essay on how he envisioned people's reactions to robots that looked and acted almost human. In particular, he hypothesized that a person's response to a human-like robot would abruptly shift from empathy to revulsion as it approached, but failed to attain a life-like appearance. Mori proposed that human beings feel greater affinity for artificial humans as they become more realistic, but when they are almost perfectly human, slight differences creep people out, and affinity for them drops. Should they appear indistinguishable from true humans, one would again feel affinity for them. On a graphy of affinity versus realism, the drop of affnity resembles a valley. Mori called this pattern 'bukimi no tani', translated loosely as 'the uncanny valley'.2 An object's descent into eeriness and strangeness can be expressed as Estrangement. Estrangement, as an aesthetic effect, finds itself oscillating between notions of realism and fictionalism. Estrangement delineates the aesthetic qualities that emerge from tensions between reality and representation. Estrangement is not necessarily solely tied to the repression of a prior pyschological state, but instead can reference genre conventions in art or one's uncontrollable reactions to bodily sensations. 1
Anthony Vidler, The Architectural Uncanny (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1992) 7. Masahiro Mori, Translated by Karl F. MacDorman, Norri Kageki, "The Uncanny Valley", IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, Vol. 19, No. 2, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer (June 2012), 98-100.
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Physical Materials, Digital Textures
Furthermore, as an aesthetic effect, estrangement needn't always delivery a shock to the observer; it can also produce an allure, a strangeness that draws one in, rather than alienates.3 Creating an 'uncanny valley' and bringing in a sense of estrangement by using physical and digital processes in tandem becomes a vital design approach to produce aesthetically invigorating textures and patterns that leave a feeling of animosity and oddness but are yet appealing. BLURRING THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL USING MACHINE INTELLIGENCE Machines and technology are a large part of the architecture and design world in present times. While being used merely as a tool for drafting or illustrating purposes, we forget to realise that they export certain 'characteristics' of their own which are easily visible in the final work produced. The studio approaches using machines as an ally in the design process forming a creative loop between the human and the machine where these 'characteristics' become a part of the design scheme. The resultant product is a confluence of the creative intelligence of both, the machine and the human. This blurs the line between the digital and physical and sets up a kind of 'uncanny valley' between 'man-made' and 'machine-made'. Repeated cycles of digital modelling, physical modelling, 3D printing, physical casting and photogrammetry sets up a feedback loop, the product of which sits between the physical and digital realm. The product ,aesthetically, may look organic/natural but is fine tuned and user or code specified. 3
Michael Young, The Estranged Object (Chicago Illinois: Treatise, 2015) 30.
Left: Figure 11: A collage of texture swatches from physical casting experiments.
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Physical Materials, Digital Textures
Left: Figure 12: Photogrammetry: casted object photographed 360 degrees to be converted to a mesh to extract texture qualities in the digital medium. Above: Figure 13: Digital model produced via photogammetry showing mesh surfaces.
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Figure 14: Striations - Naturally occuring geological formation. Credits: G. Shuttleworth, Geologyin.com
Figure 15: Striations - 3D printing and physical casting.
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Themes and Research
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'Constructed' Nature Man-made technologies and Nature do not stand apart but work alongside to build novel and advanced environments that intend to heighten environmental and ecological conscience.
New Natures
Figure 16: 'Germination Day 8, 2008'; A photographic collaboration imagining the skin becoming ecological skins, where vegetation grow from skin pores. Credits: Lucy McRae and Bart Hess, LucyandBart.
Figure 17: 'Things which necrose'; A bio-plastic pavillion for an exhibition at Lousiana Musuem of Modern Art, The pavilion dies little by little during the time of the exhibition and its degradation can be manually controlled by the humidity degree in the atmosphere.The program asking for a temporary building is thus considered as literal here, as long as, its own death is included in its protocol of life. Credits: R&Sie(n)
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'Constructed' Nature
'For centuries, architects and artists have been looking to nature and its patterns for design inspiration with a mixed bag of results oscillating from the mimetic to the systemic. Whether though biomimesis or the aestheticizing of natural systems, the aspiration to use nature as project generator has often fallen short of the very same beauty and complexity it invokes and strives to replicate. Expanding on an often superficial understanding of complex natural processes or systems, architectural applications have tended toward relentlessly Voronoi-patterned structures and building skins that look like dragonfly wings on speed. Rather than settle for half-hearted attempts at biomimicry, doomed to always fall short of their model, (some) projects confront the aesthetic and cognitive boundary between the natural and the fabricated, celebrating the deviation, mutation, and augmentation that define the not-natural. The past decade has seen the same natural processes and systems emulated in the name of optimization and performance, only to leave one with the feeling that nature somehow did the same with greater elegance and ease. It is time to leave the honeycomb to the bees and to stop chasing the banyan leaf's drip-tip. Why settle for a poor man's version of nature, and at the same time, why settle for its relentless perfection? This collection of work sidesteps mere mimicry in favor of a souped-up version of nature, augmented and intensified in search of new forms. Exciting new effects and sensations emerge from this amplification, creating a contemporary hyper-natural aesthetic. Concurrent with the past decade's adulation of natural systems and adoption of their forms, resultant designs have carefully denied the inconvenient truths of these systems. The continuity and precision of digital technologies almost exclusively disregarded the dirty, fractured, hairy, and animal realities celebrated by nature itself. The works mark a retreat from the unarticulated, naked unibody, a retreat to equally calibrated and technologically advanced representations and fabrications capitalizing on grit, controlled decay, and an earthy palette. Their aesthetics are appropriately untamed, wild, and glitchy. Together these shifts shape a contemporary aesthetic that builds on natural inspiration to create a projective rather than mimetic result. Seeds of designs can begin with a natural process or visual ambition, but through mutations and shifts outside of nature, can begin to project new outcomes that are neither nature nor architecture, but something new. The wild unruliness of nature's systems and structures is seed for liberating, sepeculative language of mutations and augmentation. Formal Frankensteins are born of the sublime mash-up of unexpected assemblages, the natural breathing life into the artificial.' - suckerPUNCH4
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suckerPUNCH, "Something Wild[er]", Not Nature, TARP Architecture Manual, Pratt Institute Graduate Architecture and Urban Design (Spring 2012), 26.
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New Natures
Figure 18: 'Palms'. Credits: Suzanne Moxhay.
Figure 19: 'Double'. Credits: Suzanne Moxhay.
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'Constructed' Nature
NATURAL VS MAN-MADE “Architecture is the constant fight between man and nature, the fight to overwhelm nature, to possess it. The first act of architecture is to put a stone on the ground. That act trnasforms a condition of nature into a condition of culture; its a holy act.” - Mario Botta5
Nature and Man are two spheres of the architectural realm always at constant friction with each other. Anything that Man creates, is born out of Nature and goes back to it at the end of it's lifecycle. Man is clearly a subset of Nature, but he does not want to succumb to this assessment of him. In a way, Nature encapsulates Man and his creations yet, man fights back trying to win against Nature's mighty force. Conflicts create interesting scenarios, and the concept of 'New Natures' finds a strong base in this. In a sentence, the project explores the idea of tension and ambiguity between the ‘natural’ and ‘man-made’. Susanne Moxhay, an artist from London, has created some compeling pieces that capture the essence of this fight between the 'natural' and 'man-made'. The interesting thing about her piece 'Palms' is that it does not present a house in complete ruins, but one that is in a process of change and revolt. The trees are breaking through the floorboard of the house and is, in a way, in the process of overtaking the structure while the structure tries to hold its ground. Her piece 'Double' flips the idea of the man-made structure acting as the germination environment for the tree. There is a subtle tension visible between the 'greens' and the house - between nature and the man-made structure - a kind of 'tug of war'. Capturing this intriguing fight between the two and giving it the form of an architectural product is the stronghold of 'New Natures'. 5"Mario Botta" cinqpoints.com, 2020.18 June 2020. https://cinqpoints.com/en/blog/20_Mario-Botta
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New Natures
Figure 20: 'I'm lost in Paris' by R&Sie(n). Image Credits: R&Sie(n)
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'Constructed' Nature
Figure 21: 'I'm lost in Paris' by R&Sie(n). Image Credits: R&Sie(n)
PRECEDENT: CONSTRUCTED NATURE An exploration into incubation and generation of ‘nature’ controlled by ‘man-made’ conditions and microclimates. 'I'm lost in Paris', by R&Sie(n), is the perfect example of 'Constructed' Nature in a live project - a functional laboratory with a green self sustained skin. The skin consists of a species of hydroponic ferns that are not local and require a certain kind of bacteria to grow. The bulbous glass objects help in the cultivation of such kind of bacteria. A drip water system aids in this process which is fueled by a rain water harvesting system. Hence, allowing the existence of a species of flora that would not be able to grow in natural conditions. The architects are effectively using synthetic systems and materials (a bulbous glass object) to create a microclimate that aids the growth of ferns.
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New Natures
Figure 22: Collage showing varied typologies and colors of lichen.
Figure 23: Growth of lichen on corrugated concrete wall. Credits: Evelyn Simak, geograph.org.
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'Constructed' Nature
BACK TO NATURE: LICHEN LIFE Lichens are moss-like organisms that can live in a wide range of locations and climates - from polar regions to the tropics. They grow on undisturbed surfaces such as rocks and tree barks. Lichens are found to exist in various forms and colors dependent on the climatic conditions they grow in. For most people, the sight of lichen growing on the side of a structure may repel them and might be a cause of concern. Stakeholders of the construction industry have put in much research to produce building materials and develop paint treatments designed specifically to resist the growth of lichens and other similar living organisms. 'We admire lichens and mosses growing on old buildings, we identify them with our past, but we don't like them on contemporary buildings because we see them as a pathology.'6 'New Natures' delineates from this outlook and romanticises with the idea of using lichens as a building and design element for its positives. Lichens want to grow on things anyway, and require very little upkeep so why stop it. 'New Natures' specifically looks into the creation of surfaces that promote and provide the conditions required for the growth of these organisms. Lichens require water, air and sunlight to grow and spread. Although most species require sunlight, some species are adapted to darker areas. They grow on almost any stationary surface but requrie a nutrient source or substrate to germinate. The color of the lichen depends on the amount of water or dampness available to it. Being algae based organisms, lichens clean indoor air by absorbing toxins, increasing humidity and producing oxygen thereby helping mitigate effects of sick building syndrome like mental fatigue and stress. As they are found in numerous colors, they can be utilised in adding a unique aesthetic to the built environment. Even brief exposure to nature has been shown to initiate a sense of calmness within people. 6 Rose Eleveth, "The Future of Architecture" The Atlantic, 7 December 2015, https://www.theatlantic.com/ technology/archive/2015/12/bioreceptive-buildings/418620/
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Anthropocene Epoch and Plastiglomerate Searching for opportunities to initiate new dialogues between man, nature and the anthropocene via materiality.
New Natures
WELCOME TO THE ANTHROPOCENE “We must abandon the politically and psychologically loaded idea that the Anthropocene is a great crime against nature... the Anthropocene is a consequence of life on Earth;... an expression of nature.” - James Lovelock7
Since the age of industrialization, human beings have littered the oceans with plastic, pumped carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and raked chemical fertilisers across the lands. The impact of the human species is so severe that the current geological time period has been declared by geologists as the Anthropocene. The word combines the root “anthro”, meaning “human” with the root “-cene”, the standard suffix for “epoch” in geologic time. The Anthropocen is distinguished as a new period either after or within the Holocene, the current epoch, which began approximately 10,000 years ago (8000 BC) with the end of the last glacial period. While the idea that humans are changing the earth in a geologically significant way first surfaced in the late 1800s, it was chemist Paul Crutzen who revived the idea in 2000.8 Earth has changed tremendously over the past two centuries as humans have mined, cultivated, trawled, bleached and emitted their way forward with new technologies and higher populations.9 New materials, such as plastic, concrete and aluminium have spread across oceans and land. Nitrogen and phosphorus in soils have doubled over the past century as use of fertilisers has increased.
7 James Lovelock, Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence (United Kingdom: Penguin Books, 2019) 8 Etienne Turpin, Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters Among Design, Deep Time, Science and Philosophy (Michigan: Open Humanities Press, 2013) 4. 9 Sophie Yeo, "Anthropocene: Journey to a new geological epoch" Carbon Brief, 5 October 2016, https:// www.carbonbrief.org/anthropocene-journey-to-new-geological-epoch
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Anthropocene Epoch and Plastiglomerate
Mining for copper, mercury and nickel has rapidly increased since the mid-20th century and nuclear testing has left its mark across the globe. Not only have these changes been rapid but are still accelerating. Concentrations of carbon dioxide have risen to more than 400 parts per million (ppm), from 285 ppm at the start of the Industrial Revolution around the 1800s Methane concentrations measured in Antarctica ice cores are higher than they have been for the past 800,000 years. Sea levels now exceed the past 115,000 years.10 Not only have these changes been rapid but are still accelerating. Evidently, human behaviour has had a great impact on the atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic and other Earth systems and processes. Throughout history, humans have been capable of deciphering environmental conditions and adapting it to changing requirements, but have not been able to do the opposite. Therefore, it becomes necessary to introduce a new dialogue with the goal of achieving constructive engagement between man, nature and technology via architecture and design as a medium - a concept that reduces pressure on the environment and increases our ability to foresee.
“Although architecture has a sense of its place within broader socio-political and cultural systems, it has not, until very recently, acknowledged itself as part of the earth's geology, despite the fact that it is a forceful geological agent, digging up, mobilizing, transforming and transporting earth materials, water, air and energy in unparalleled ways. With the Anthropocene thesis, architecture is called to think itself as a geological actor capable of radically transforming the earth's atmosphere, surface morphology, and future stratigraphy.� - Lindsay Bremner11
10 Sophie Yeo, "Anthropocene: Journey to a new geological epoch" Carbon Brief, 5 October 2016, https:// www.carbonbrief.org/anthropocene-journey-to-new-geological-epoch 11Lindsay Bremner, Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters Among Design, Deep Time, Science and Philosophy (Michigan: Open Humanities Press, 2013) Backcover.
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Figure 24: Underwater pollution. Credits: Rich Carrey, Shutterstock.
Figure 25: Trash washed up on a beach in Santa Monica, California. Credits: Jason Swain, Getty Images.
New Natures
PLASTIGLOMERATE Trash is everywhere; the oceans and seas are flooded with it. Covering more than 70 percent of our planet, water bodies are among the Earth’s most valuable resources. By their very nature, with all types of water bodies flowing into oceans, the oceans are the end point for so much of the pollution we produce on land. From choking plastic to leaking oils to ruins of shipwrecks, the types and quantities of trash and debris that ends up in the oceans is vast. Most of the waste that enters the oceans each year is plastic. Almost 8 million tonnes of plastic waste is dumped into water bodies every year and is expected to exponentially increase in the future.12 Due to their very slow degradation periods, plastics have become ubiquitous and have been associated with marine health impacts. Chemical discharges from industries, water treatment systems add other forms of marine poisoning pollutants to the toxic brew. Waste debris has become a global concern as accumulation in the world’s oceans has become apparent. Much of this waste can persist in the environment for a millennium, polluting coastlines, entangling marine life, and getting ingested by fish and seabirds. A strange and intriguing product of this systematic pollution of water bodies is Plastiglomerate. Plastiglomerate, also popularly recognised as the first material of the anthropocene epoch, is formed when plastic and other trash melts and fuses with natural materials such as sand, shells, wood, stone fragments, corals, etc. resulting in the formation of a plastic-rock hybrid. 12 Carla Herreria Russo, "Plastiglomerate:The New and Horrible Way Human Are Leaving Their Mark On The Planet" Huffington Post, 19 June 2014, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/plastiglomerate_n_5496062?gucc ounter=1
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Anthropocene Epoch and Plastiglomerate
First discovered in 2006 by Charles Moore, Patricia Corcoran and Kelly Jazvac at Kamilo Beach, Hawaii, the origin of plastiglomerate finds a base in physical geological process and oceanic currents working towards the fusion of natural and man-made material.13 Today, plastiglomerate can be generated using human induced fires or other heating mediums to allow the fusion. Plastiglomerate is an outcome of the marine pollution crisis. Media regularly reports on mismanaged plastic waste and patches of garbage in the ocean. Some of this waste inevitably ends up being transported by ocean currents, distributed globally, and deposited on land. In some cases human induced burning during beach clean ups results in formation of plastiglomerate aggregates, in other cases, naturally formed plastiglomerates wash up on beaches around the world. Regardless of the formation pathway and its classification, owing to the ease of creation, widespread distribution, resistance to chemical weathering and mechanical abrasion, and its high density, plastiglomerate have the potential to form part of the rock record.14 Plastiglomerate is part natural, part synthetic, but one cannot tell apart which is which. Hence, plastiglomerate, as a building material, perfectly falls within the narrative of ‘New Natures’. It aptly showcases the tension and ambiguity between the ‘natural’ and the ‘man-made’ and sets up a strong framework for the project to develop further on.
13 Carla Herreria Russo, "Plastiglomerate:The New and Horrible Way Human Are Leaving Their Mark On The Planet" Huffington Post, 19 June 2014, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/plastiglomerate_n_5496062?gucco unter=1 14 Patricia L. Corcoran, Kelly Jazvac, "The Consequence that is Plastiglomerate", Nature Reviews Earth & Environment (January 2020), 6-7. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-019-0010-9
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Figure 26: Plastiglomerate sample. Credits: Kelly Jazvac and J.D. Whitman
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Figure 27: Plastiglomerate material experimentations that involved physical casting using waste plastics, concrete and other house hold trash like paper, sponges, threads and paint pigments done in studio. 46
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Design Intervention: New Natures
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RE Coring: Stairs and more Project brief: Rethinking and rejuvenating the ideology of a staircase core beyond the functional aspect of vertical circulation.
New Natures
Figure 28: Existing staircase, House 14, Nolan Park, Governor's Island.
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RE Coring: Stairs and more
STAIRS AND MORE The humble staircase is usually looked at as a static piece of structure for ascending/descending floors. It is that, but can a staircase be much more? The project seeks to rethink and rejuvenate the idea of a staircase core beyond the functional aspect of vertical circulation. New Natures emphasizes contemporary and future speculations into the design of a multi-scalar staircase core for two uniquely different contexts: a commercial office building (WeWork) and a 19th century colonial house on Governors Island, New York. Sincere effort has been made to design, study and redesign outputs ranging from “undersized architecture” to “oversized products” while also trying to create a vertical public space. Areas of interests during design development include the following:15 • Post Digital Materiality: How can the interrelation of new materials and established construction methods produce new architectural media capable of communicating to a broad and diverse audience? • Environment Sensing: Building systems that record the presence of humans and respond. • Volumetric Interior Landscapes: How can what was a formerly exterior “nature” be constructed for interior conditions and what perceptual opportunities emerge? • Stair Fabrication and Construction: How can the building envelope host new collectivities? • Stairs as a vertical public space.
15 Ariane Lourie Harrison and Nathan Hume, Course Syllabus, ARCH 903: Design Studio 3 Speculating on Architectural Mediums, Pratt Institute Graduate Architecture and Urban Design (Spring 2020)
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New Natures
Figure 29: Illustration showing extents of Governor's Island in1811.
Figure 30: Illustration showing current and future (grey) extents of Governor's Island.
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RE Coring: Stairs and more
GOVERNOR'S ISLAND & HOUSE 14 Governor's Island presents a site full of history of 'constructed' nature and adaptive reuse. Over the years, it has undergone a multitude of changes functionally and environmentally. In the early 20th, the island was doubled by the Army Corps of Engineers by adding five million cubic yards of fill on the south side. Over the past decade a masterplan designed by West 8 has been developed bringing artificial mounds and meandering paths to the island giving it an exaggerated topography. Over half of the island is covered in artificial turf. The islands fortifications and military buildings were constructed over two centuries and are now landmarked and governed by The Trust for Governors Island. Since 2005 the island has been open to the public with the focus being on recreation and arts programming with nearly one million visitors each summer.16 House 14 is one of the houses along Nolan Park. The houses along Nolan Park were constructed in the late 19th century and have been used by artists over the past several summers. A series of art fairs have made use of them to house sculpture, installation art, and interactive experiences.16 House 14, a duplex house, serves as the primary site for the intervention. The focus will be on an architectural reconfiguration of the home through the insertion of a staircase element which introduces new material and spatial organizations. A unit which not only transforms the stairs but the experience of the adjoining spaces and the perception of the entire house.
16 Ariane Lourie Harrison and Nathan Hume, Course Syllabus, ARCH 903: Design Studio 3 Speculating on Architectural Mediums, Pratt Institute Graduate Architecture and Urban Design (Spring 2020)
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RE Coring: Stairs and more
Above:Figure 31: Existing plan of House 14, Nolan's Park, Governor's Island. Left:Figure 32: Image of House 14, Nolan's Park, Governor's Island.
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RE Coring: Stairs and more
RESEARCH STATEMENT
“Naturalism, broadly speaking, attempts a rapprochement between society and nature through concepts such as balance or mimesis. Within a naturalist framework, reality —including architecture— can be structured to represent nature and environmental phenomena with the goal of obviating the problems caused by the conceptual gap between society and nature. Creating buildings that represent or integrate natural processes or represent the forms of nature illustrates this direction” - David Gissen17
Architecture evolves from nature. Overcoming and imitating nature is always what architecture has been about. The early Greek Corinthian column, whose capital was inspired by acanthus leaves, is a prime example of architecture mimicking and taking inspiration from nature. Man has always been in awe of nature and its structure, and has been on a mission to recreate and re-imagine nature. Nature, in the broadest sense, refers to the collective phenomena of the physical world, including plants, animals, landscapes, geological processes, weather and many other features of Earth. Mimesis, or recreation, of this Nature with the aid of man-made technology can be categorised under the term Constructed Nature. Constructed Nature is a movement or ideology set within the parameters of Post Nature where man-made technologies and nature do not stand apart from each other as distinct entities but work together to develop and re-define ideas of conscious ecologies and environments. ePerformative systems come into play to exaggerate and build further on this concept while also generating a living green system in otherwise vapid conditions. 17 David Gissen, "Nature's Historical Crises", Journal of Architectural Education (2015) 5-7.
Left:Figure 33: Image of House 14, Nolan's Park, Governor's Island.
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RE Coring: Stairs and more
We live in the anthropocene. Since the onset of Industrialization in the 1850s, vast quantities of synthetic materials like plastics, chemicals, and biohazardous substances have found their way into the natural environment. These synthetic materials have, over the years, fused with each other and with natural materials via natural processes (geological, climatic, etc) to give us the first material of the Anthropocene era. Plastiglomerate, a combination of waste plastics, sand and rock, is a prime example of a product of both human and geological processes, raising the question, is plastiglomerate then a part of nature? New Natures stems from the idea that architecture is essentially an extension of nature into the man-made. Incubation and re-generation of ‘nature’ controlled by ‘man-made’ conditions and micro-climates is the crux of the project while also setting up a stage to exhibit the conflict between the two. This project strives to exaggerate and showcase this tension and ambiguity between the ‘natural’ and ‘man-made’. Performative systems come into play to exaggerate and build further on this concept while also generating a living green system in otherwise vapid conditions. The project questions what constitutes nature today with respect to the Anthropocene. Left: Figure 34: Image of House 14, Nolan's Park, Governor's Island.
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Scalar Approaches Explorations using photography and renders as a medium to study different scalar approaches to better understand the textural qualities of cast and 3D print experiments.
Figure 35: Initial casting and 3D printing experimentations.
New Natures
Figure 36: Scalar approaches: architectural space/feature.
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Scalar Approaches
Figure 37: Scalar approaches: computer kiosk/furniture scale.
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Figure 38: Scalar approaches: wall panelling system with fenestrations & lighting media.
Above:Figure 39: Scalar approaches: seating and table unit/furniture scale Left:Figure 40: Scalar approaches: View of intervention as a staircase and vertical circulation core in an office building.
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Scalar Approaches
Above:Figure 41: Scalar approaches: varying scales of the intervention as a staircase and vertical circulation core in an office building. Left:Figure 42: Scalar approaches: View of intervention as a staircase and vertical circulation core in an office building.
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Scalar Approaches
Above:Figure 43: Scalar approaches: section showing intervention as a staircase and vertical circulation core in an office building. Left:Figure 44: Scalar approaches: View of intervention as a staircase and vertical circulation core in an office building.
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Figure 45: View of intervention as a staircase and vertical circulation core in an office building.
Figure 46: View of intervention as a staircase and vertical circulation core in an office building.
Figure 47: Textures running through casted and 3D printed sections of the model
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New Natures The culminating design intervention for a staircase core based around themes such as Constructed Nature, Post Digital Materiality and the Anthropocene while maintaining the given context of an old colonial house and Governor's Island, New York.
The intervention is seen as a prototype that acts as a circulation and services core for the house while also creating new spaces. The casette like insertion is planned in a way so as to have minimum impact on the existing layout of the house. At its core, the project questions the dialogue between the‘nature’ and the ‘man-made’ while exploring the tension and ambiguity between the two. Figure 48: Axonometric view of the intervention within the existing house. 81
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Above: Figure 49: Plan of the proposed insertion within the house. Left: Figure 50: View of gallery 1 with the insertion in the background.
The current function of the house being an exhibition gallery takes the spotlight with the insertion acting as a backdrop, selectively revealing itself as one moves through the house. There is a constant feeling of tension between the house and the insertion, a kind of tension where the house is trying to keep the casette insertion inside, and the insertion is trying to jump out.
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Above: Figure 51: Section of the proposed insertion within the house. Left: Figure 52: View of gallery 2 with the insertion in the background and new gallery spaces jutting out.
The circulation is intentionally hidden between double walls, and new viewing gallery spaces have been designed between existing floors allowing the user to experience the same house from new and unique vantage points. The insertion pierces through the entire existing house, connecting the old spaces which are now used as exhibition galleries to the new viewing galleries jutting out of the insertion.
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Above: Figure 53: Dollhouse perspective showing the different gallery experiences; the insertion can never be seen as a whole, only selectively reveals itself. Left: Figure 54: View of the stairs hidden behind double walls within the insertion opening into the basement gallery space.
The users play an active role in the design as they experience unique material and formal qualities on every turn as they explore the house. There are certain instances where the insertion grows on the house, while other times where the house wins against the it. The collage on the right shows how the insertion selectively reveals itself in each gallery and is never fully experienced by the user as a whole.
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Figure 55: Axonometric detail drawing showing performative systems in use.
New Natures
Performative systems come into play to further exaggerate the tension and ambiguity between the natural and manmade. A mix of grey water recycling systems and radiant heating/cooling systems aid in the generation of microclimates that further help in the rejuvenation of organic matter, lichens in this case, on the surfaces of the insertion. Grey Water Recycling
Grey water from washrooms and sinks are circulated in pipes within the walls of the insertion creating different temperature zones. This allows the user to ‘feel’ the space change, rather than the usual visual and tactile connection. A drip & spray system keeps parts of the walls moist providing dampness for the growth of lichens. Excess water is stored in water catchment pouches on the wall surface and enhances the tactility of the otherwise geological texture Radiant Heating and Cooling
Thriving Lichens
The lichens, being a natural element grow on the walls of the insertion, only because it is in an enclosed and a controlled environment. Moreover, the changing colours phenomena of the lichens, which is a natural process, is accelerated by technology thus blurring the lines between natural and manmade. The growth of lichens and water catchment pouches help further dramatise and bring to the forefront the concept of a living wall. These not only act as ways to improve the performance of the house but also engage the user in a dialogue about what constitutes nature today in the age of anthropocene.
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Above: Figure 56: Interactive walkthrough using augmented reality experienced via cellphone. Left: Figure 57: Photograph of lighting experiments with physical model, 3D printed and casted.
Fabrication and Visualisation (AR) were very important factors with regards to the project. It became interesting to experience the 'New Natures' via AR and physical models and form a feedback loop between them. Fabrication involved numerous casting and 3D printing experimentations to sucessfully recreate textural qualities of layering and striations. Visualisation involved the development of an Augmented Reality model in Unity which can be used to view and experience the project via an application available on the Apple App Store or can be alternatively made to view via an AR/VR headset.
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Figure 58: View of the stairs hidden behind double walls within the insertion.
Figure 59: View of compressive spaces between double walls within the insertion.
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Vertical Circulation: Precedents Precedents with regards to vertical circulation. These precedents form the foundation of the research book and act as sources of inspiration for the project 'New Natures'.
New Natures
Figure 60: From multiple areas and vantage points within the Lerner ramp space, students and users can make unobstructed visual connections to one another and their futures destinations.
Figure 61: The Lerner Hall ramps, along with abutting a four storey glass facade, exudes a sense of physical and visual transparency within the structure.
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Appendix:Precedents
ALFRED LERNER HALL Location: Columbia University, New York, USA Architect: Bernard Tschumi “There is no architecture without action, no architecture without events, no architecture without program” - Bernard Tschumi18
The Alfred Lerner Hall, built in 1999, was conceived as a social and academic hub for students. The building acts as a centre for curricular and extra-curricular activities, and houses computer rooms, student lounges, offices, restaurants, a bookstore, an auditorium and a theatre huddled around a circulation zone of ramps and stairs. Examined in relation to Tschumi’s writings on the notion of ‘event’, the student center crystallizes the difficult moment when a theoretical model finds its architectural translation. According to Tschumi, the function of the glass court is to allow students to appropriate the space. His notion of ‘event space’ is informed by the French intellectual and artistic culture of the 1960s based in the belief that each individual is able to transgress the existing socio-politcal order and experience moments of self realization.19 Viewed from the lawn, the glass walled circulation zone, appears as an isolated entity trapped between the old bulky buildings with people moving along the ramps disappearing at landings on either ends. Within the building, the programming of space and function has been ingeniously strategized to further activate the glass circulation zone. For example, the back wall of the glass court is composed of thousands of mailboxes with the delibrate attempt to integrate them into the circulation ramps. This desire to celebrate even the most mundane activities is the essence of the project. Here, circulation does not merely mean moving from point A to B, instead the wide ramps allow for people and functions to mingle. 18
Bernard Tschumi, Architecture and Disjunction (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1996)122. Eeva-Liisa Pelkkonen, “In Context: Tschumi at Lerner Hall”, PRAXIS: Journal of Writing + Building, Vol. 1, No. 0, Architecture & The University (Fall 1999), 82-87.
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Figure 62: The tension between the three walls and the staircase creates a magical spectacle. The walls seem to close in on the staircase and pull it down, whereas the white sleek staircase seems to spring upwards and float within the space as though held by a magnetic force.
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Appendix:Precedents
THE ARTS CLUB OF CHICAGO, STAIRCASE Location: Chicago, USA Architect: Mies van der Rohe The Arts Club of Chicago was found in 1916. It has been a host to several locations over the years. In 1951, true to its modernist mission statement, commissioned Mies van der Rohe to design the interiors of a new building. On completion, the building contained of a gallery, restaurant, lounge and the "Mies' floating staircase". Keeping in tune with Mies' work, the staircase exudes a strong aura of clean, straight lines born from the ideologies of minimalism. A glazed lobby houses the white painted steel stair that seems to float freely like a weightless sculpture in the space. The treads, carpeted in black, seem like the only elements of the staircase that hold it to the ground. The staircase connects not just the lower and upper floor, but also pulls in and integrates graciously with all sides of the space. “God is in the details.� - Mies van der Rohe20
Mies did not simply mean that building details are important; he meant that they are the very soul of architecture. An easy way to appreciate this is to look at how Mies handles a very simple detail such as a stair balustrade. The function of a balustrade is straightforward: it is both a guardrail and a climbing support. Mies' balustrade at the Arts Club of Chicago, is a perfect expression of his minimalism design style: identical square bars serve as handrails, stanchions and safety rails. The result is less about functionalism than about the strict minimalism that characterizes all his work. Less is more.21
20 "Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Quotes." BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, 2019. 10 December 2019. https:// www.brainyquote.com/quotes/ludwig_mies_van_der_rohe_101419 21 "Upstairs, Downstairs." Slate Magazine, 7 September 2007, www.slate.com/articles/arts/architecture/2007/09/upstairs-downstairs.html
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Figure 63: Graphic representation showing peeled ramp floors. Credits: OMA.
Figure 64: Through its scale and variety, the effect of the inhabited planes becomes almost that of a street, a theme which influences the interpretation and planning of the boulevard as part of a system of further urban elements in the interior: plazas, parks, monumental staircases, cafes, shops. Image credits OMA.
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JUSSIEU - TWO LIBRARIES Location: Paris, France Architect: OMA, Rem Koolhaas The competition entry for Two Libraries at Jussieu, Paris by OMA in 1992 found worldwide critical acclaim. In the scheme, OMA reconfigures the typical library layout. Rather than stacking one level on top of another, complete floors are converted to ramps of gradients two to four percent slope to connect floors above and below, thus forming a single continuous circuit that winds through the entire building like a meandering boulevard with all elements of a typical library like houses on a street. The 1.5 km long boulevard acts as an 'urbanist' means of movement. Users are meant to wander and stroll through the library via the boulevard discovering interesting books and resources on display. Elevators and escalators allow for a more decisive movement, while also offering shortcuts along the boulevard. If the architectonic movement of the ramps is indeterminate and ambling, the mechanical movement of the elevators and escalaors is linear and determinate. Together these two types of connections form a complex network of spatial relationships, a variety of different paths through the building.22 In the project, Koolhaas focusses more on the human experience of the space than on the existence of space itself. Being a former screenwriter, Koolhaas seems to approach architectural design the same way that a filmmaker approaches movies. As Madelon Vriesendorp says in an interview, "Its very scripted, the way people move and the possibilities he leaves for people in his buildings... the experiences are laid out... he sees a space and he sees what could happen - a scene in space."23
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Hans Harbort, “The Jussieu Libraries�, ARCH+ (June 1993), 34. Arthur Lubow, "Rem Koolhaas Builds." The New York Times, 9 July 2000, www.nytimes.com/2000/07/09/ magazine/rem-koolhaas-builds.html 23
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BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS & JOURNALS Banham, Reyner. The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969. Bois, Yve-Alain and Krauss, Rosalind E. Formless: A User's Guide. New York: Zone Books, 1997. Harrison, Ariane Lourie. Architectural Theories of the Environment: Posthuman Territory. New York: Routledge, 2013. Hwang, Irene. Natures: Verb Architecture Boogazine. Actar Publishers, 2007. Lovelock, James. Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence. United Kingdom: Penguin Books, 2019. Miller, Meredith. "Views from the Plastisphere: A Preface to Post Rock Architecture". Climates: Architecture and the Planetary Imaginary. New York: The Avery Review and Columbia, 2016. Morton, Timothy. Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013. Not Nature, TARP Architecture Manual, Pratt Institute Graduate Architecture and Urban Design. Brooklyn, New York: Pratt Institute, 2012. Reiser, Jesse and Umemoto, Nanako. Atlast of Novel Tectonics. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006. Tschumi, Bernard. Architecture and Disjunction. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1996 Tsurumaki, Lewis. Manual of Section. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2016.. Turpin, Etienne. Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters Among Design, Deep Time, Science and Philosophy. Michigan: Open Humanities Press, 2013. Vidler, Anthony. The Architectural Uncanny. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1992. Young, Michael. The Estranged Object. Chicago Illinois: Treatise, 2015.
JOURNALS Corcoran, Patricia L and Jazvac, Kelly. "The Consequence that is Plastiglomerate". Nature Reviews Earth & Environment (January 2020). Mori, Masahiro Translated by F. MacDorman, Karl & Kageki, Norri. "The Uncanny Valley". IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, Vol. 19, No. 2, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer (June 2012), 98-100. Pelkkonen, Eeva-Liisa. “In Context: Tschumi at Lerner Hall�. PRAXIS: Journal of Writing + Building, Vol. 1, No. 0, Architecture & The University (Fall 1999) Gissen, David. "Nature's Historical Crises". Journal of Architectural Education. 69:1. (2015) 5-7.
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WEB ARTICLES Eleveth, Rose. "The Future of Architecture". The Atlantic. 7 December 2015. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/12/bioreceptive-buildings/418620/ Herreria Russo, Carla. "Plastiglomerate:The New and Horrible Way Human Are Leaving Their Mark On The Planet". Huffington Post. 19 June 2014. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/plastiglo merate_n_5496062?guccounter=1 Lubow, Arthur. "Rem Koolhaas Builds." The New York Times. 9 July 2000. www.nytimes. com/2000/07/09/magazine/rem-koolhaas-builds.html "Upstairs, Downstairs." Slate Magazine. 7 September 2007. www.slate.com/articles/arts/architecture/2007/09/upstairs-downstairs.html Yeo, Sophie. "Anthropocene: Journey to a new geological epoch". Carbon Brief. 5 October 2016. https://www.carbonbrief.org/anthropocene-journey-to-new-geological-epoch
WEBPAGES "Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Quotes." BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, 2019. 10 December 2019. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/ludwig_mies_van_der_rohe_101419 "Mario Botta" cinqpoints.com, 2020.18 June 2020. https://cinqpoints.com/en/blog/20_ Mario-Botta
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LIST OF FIGURES COVERPAGE: Image of casting experimentation, Fall 2019. CONTENTS: Image of casting experimentation, Fall 2019.
DESIGN METHODOLOGIES Cover: Digital model produced via photogammetry showing mesh surfaces. Fall 2020. Object, Origin, Context: Piranesi's Campo Marzio drawings. Credits: Figure 1: Selected geometry overlaid on original Piranesi's Campo Marzio drawings, Summer 2019. Figure 2: Illustrations derived from the selected geometry of Piranesi's Campo Marzio drawings, Summer 2019. Figure 3: 3D object configuration extracted from selected 2D geometry and illustration(Fig1& 2),Summer 2019 Figure 4: 3D object configuration extracted from selected 2D geometry and illustration(Fig1& 2),Summer 2019 Figure 5: Illustration showing Objects (in white) and Context (in black), Summer 2019. Figure 6: Images of final Object-Context model showing mixed materiality. Fabrication techniques include 3D printing, physical casting, CNC milling and hydro-dipping, Summer 2019. Figure 7: Section as a medium of speculation showing dual quality of spaces, Summer 2019. Figure 8: Section as a medium of speculation showing dual quality of spaces, Summer 2019. Physical Materials and Digital Textures: Image of casting experimentation, Fall 2019. Figure 9: Graph based on Masahiro Mori's theory of the 'uncanny valley'. Credits: The Aesthetic Appeal of Prosthetic Limbs and the Uncanny Valley: The Role of Personal Characteristics in Attraction. International Journal of Design. Figure10: Feedback loop developed in order to blur the boundaries between the physical and digital using machine intelligence, Fall 2019. Figure11: A collage of texture swatches from physical casting experiments, Summer & Fall 2019. Figure12: Photogrammetry: casted object photographed 360 degrees to be converted to a mesh to extract texture qualities in the digital medium, Fall 2019. Figure13: Digital model produced via photogammetry showing mesh surfaces. Fall 2019. Figure14: Striations: Naturally occuring geological formation. Credits: G. Shuttleworth, Geologyin.com. Figure15: Striations: 3D printing and physical casting. Fall 2019.
THEMES AND RESEARCH Cover: Lighting experimentations with mixed material physical model. Fall 2019. 'Constructed' Nature: Mixed material model created via 3D printing and casting techniques. Spring 2020. Figure 16: 'Germination Day 8, 2008'; A photographic collaboration imagining the skin becoming ecological skins, where vegetation grow from skin pores. Credits: Lucy McRae and Bart Hess, LucyandBart. Figure 17: 'Things which necrose'; A bio-plastic pavillion for an exhibition at Lousiana Musuem of Modern Art, The pavilion dies little by little during the time of the exhibition and its degradation can be manually controlled by the humidity degree in the atmosphere.The program asking for a temporary building is thus considered as literal here, as long as, its own death is included in its protocol of life. Credits: R&Sie(n). Figure 18: 'Palms'. Credits: Suzanne Moxhay.
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Figure 19: 'Double'. Credits: Suzanne Moxhay. Figure 20: 'I'm lost in Paris' by R&Sie(n). Image Credits: R&Sie(n) Figure 21: 'I'm lost in Paris' by R&Sie(n). Image Credits: R&Sie(n) Figure 22: Collage showing varied typologies and colors of lichen. Figure 23: Growth of lichen on corrugated concrete wall. Credits: Evelyn Simak, geograph.org. Anthropocene Epoch and Plastiglomerate: Plastiglomerate formations. Credits: J.D. Whitman. Figure 24: Underwater pollution. Credits: Rich Carrey, Shutterstock. Figure 25: Trash washed up on a beach in Santa Monica, California. Credits: Jason Swain, Getty Images. Figure 26: Plastiglomerate sample. Credits: Kelly Jazvac and J.D. Whitman. Figure 27: Plastiglomerate material experimentations that involved physical casting using waste plastics, concrete and other house hold trash like paper, sponges, threads and paint pigments done in studio. Summer & Fall 2019. DESIGN INTERVENTION: NEW NATURES Covers:Textures obtained from casting experimentations. Fall 2019. RE Coring: Stairs and more: Photograph of existing staircase, House 14, Nolan Park, Governor's Island. Figure 28: Photograph of existing staircase, House 14, Nolan Park, Governor's Island. Figure 29: Illustration showing extents of Governor's Island in1811. Figure 30: Illustration showing current and future (grey) extents of Governor's Island. Figure 31: Existing plan of House 14, Nolan's Park, Governor's Island. Figure 33: Photograph of House 14, Nolan's Park, Governor's Island. Figure 34: Photograph of House 14, Nolan's Park, Governor's Island. Scalar Approaches: Photograph of casting experimentations. Fall 2019. Figure 35: Casting and 3D printing experimentations. Fall 2019. Figure 36: Scalar approaches: architectural space/feature. Fall 2019. Figure 37: Scalar approaches: computer kiosk/furniture scale. Fall 2019. Figure 38: Scalar approaches: wall panelling system with fenestrations & lighting media. Fall 2019. Figure 39: Scalar approaches: seating and table unit/furniture scale. Fall 2019. Figure 40: Scalar approaches: View of intervention as a staircase and vertical circulation core in an office building. Fall 2019. Figure 41: Scalar approaches: varying scales of the intervention as a staircase and vertical circulation core in an office building. Fall 2019. Figure 42: Scalar approaches: View of intervention as a staircase and vertical circulation core in an office building.Fall 2019. Figure 43: Scalar approaches: section showing intervention as a staircase and vertical circulation core in an office building. Fall 2019. Figure 44: Scalar approaches: View of intervention as a staircase and vertical circulation core in an office building.
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Figure 45: View of intervention as a staircase and vertical circulation core in an office building. Fall 2019. Figure 46: View of intervention as a staircase and vertical circulation core in an office building. Fall 2019. Figure 47: Textures running through casted and 3D printed sections of the model. Fall 2019.
New Natures: Casting and 3D printing experimentations. Fall 2019. Figure 48: Axonometric view of the intervention within the existing house. Spring 2020. Figure 49: Plan of the proposed insertion within the house. Spring 2020. Figure 50: View of gallery 1 with the insertion in the background. Spring 2020. Figure 51: Section of the proposed insertion within the house. Spring 2020. Figure 52: View of gallery 2 with the insertion in the background and new gallery spaces jutting out. Spring 2020. Figure 53: Dollhouse perspective showing the different gallery experiences; the insertion can never be seen as a whole, only selectively reveals itself. Spring 2020. Figure 55: Axonometric detail drawing showing performative systems in use. Spring 2020. Figure 56: Interactive walkthrough using augmented reality experienced via cellphone. Spring 2020. Figure 57: Photograph of lighting experiments with physical model, 3D printed and casted. Spring 2020. Figure 58: View of the stairs hidden behind double walls within the insertion. Spring 2020. Figure 59: View of compressive spaces between double walls within the insertion. Spring 2020.
Appendix: Precedents: Photography of staircase, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Fall 2019. Figure 60: From multiple areas and vantage points within the Lerner ramp space, students and users can make unobstructed visual connections to one another and their futures destinations. Figure 61: The Lerner Hall ramps, along with abutting a four storey glass facade, exudes a sense of physical and visual transparency within the structure. Figure 62: The tension between the three walls and the staircase creates a magical spectacle. The walls seem to close in on the staircase and pull it down, whereas the white sleek staircase seems to spring upwards and float within the space as though held by a magnetic force. Figure 63: Graphic representation showing peeled ramp floors. Credits: OMA. Figure 64: Through its scale and variety, the effect of the inhabited planes becomes almost that of a street, a theme which influences the interpretation and planning of the boulevard as part of a system of further urban elements in the interior: plazas, parks, monumental staircases, cafes, shops. Image credits OMA.
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