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.
/a room that we all live in
/a room without panels We are surrounded by panels. Sitting in the room I’m typing at this moment, I sense space and volume but I cannot fathom any depth. Panels that are supposed to connect us with more freedom yet most times, I feel I’m isolated and imprisoned. And sometimes, I wish I could spend time in a room of blankness and pure spatial volume, not a pseudo-three-dimensional space of laminated panels.
“a piece of furniture of panels with working surfaces in multiple axes”
“a physical model of architectural diagrams and representation”
_WALL (margin) _WINDOW (panel) _FLUID WALLPAPER (depth)
Windows are the interface between interior room and outside surroundings; as a transparent material, windows allow our eyes to go through and perceive the depth of nature. Nonetheless, the first spatial retrofit, inspired by the mechanism of camera obscura, aims to transform window’s nature as spatial divider into a tunnel where the visible information of nature (natural scenery) can flood into the interior and be projected onto the wall as a wallpaper with fluid and constant motion. /rendering of indoor_01
“depth that’s projected from nature to the tangible surfaces of our home” [up]_plan view [down]_perspective
_CEILING (margin) _LIGHT DIFFUSER (panel) _INDOOR RAINBOW (depth)
Ceiling, for long, has been mostly decorative. Nonetheless, in the era where “decroation is a sin”, such decrative presence has almost vanished as well; the commodification of ceiling tiles has slowly erased their three-dimensionality. Therefore, the second spatial retrofit aims to use the prism as an apparatus to create an optical phenomenon of rainbows in an indoor setting and the panel where such speculation takes place is the light diffuser commonly placed under large ceiling lights. /rendering of indoor_02
“depth of natural color and ambience that’s reflected and refracted through the light diffuser panel.” [up]_plan view [down]_perspective
_FLOOR (margin) _CARPET (panel) _GROWING CARPET (depth)
Carpet is a soft material that has also been panelized. The sensual experience such as warmth and softness of the carpet panel inspired the third spatial add-on to adjust the static state of carpet to a growing form; it speculates on if the carpet was a nutritious farmland, how would the plants grown out of the carpet create spatial depth from the floor. /rendering of indoor_03
“depth of dynamic volume that’s grown out of a carpet of soil and earth.” [up]_plan view [down]_perspective
“color, clouds, and earth... these should be enough to free my mind...”
[up]_plan view [down]_perspective
Lastly, situated in the current COVID-19 circumstances, the project also adapted a new method of designing, which aimed to blur the boundary between physical modeling and the digital realm. As a result of the constraint of time in this semester, the thesis positions not as an end to itself but more as the beginning of a new academic endeavor...
I would like to thank my instructor, De Peter Yi, for his insights and support, as well as his encouragement in expressing creative freedom. This project also would not have been possible without the assistance of Leonard Clayton Artz and Bilal Fawaz in the assembly and documentation of the physical model.