DEPTH OF PANELS : a quiet revolution in our homes Yangtian Yan
Wallenberg Critic: De Peter Yi Collaborators: Leonard Clayton Artz and Bilal Fawaz
Despite recent waves of technological advancement, modern architecture stubbornly demands static solutions, restricting the vision of architects to passive and unresponsive spaces. Consequently, the individual’s agency and ability to pursue freedom within architectural space has been limited. As inhabitants, we live in the margins—in the modernist’s utopian dreams in which thinness of space is zealously pursued. While modern lifestyles have been marginalized into stagnation, various panels also occupy the physical margins of our rooms (i.e., walls, floors, and ceilings), though their presence recedes with the advancement of technology. Increasingly, the panels are perceived as two-dimensional elements despite their structure. A quiet revolution must happen within the domestic environment—one directed by us, the inhabitants. Depth of Panels, an architectural oxymoron, attempts to create spatial depth by operating on three of the thinnest panels in a typical domestic setting—the wall, the floor, and the ceiling. Panels are inherently spatial but exist in buildings as units or modules. In many parametric or modular designs, the spatial volume is perceived as an accumulation of two-dimensional panels. In these instances, the panels, mere components of our physical space, have been reimagined as generators of spatial experience itself. This thesis consists of two parts: a physical model of architectural diagrams and speculations on the augmented experiences created through the assembly of panels. The physical model, a desk assembled from 3/4” plywood panels, changes form as part of a spatially interactive installation. The structural design and adaptability of the desk seek to embody the quality of thinness observable in modern furniture.