Carl Lostritto, Instructor
School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation
photoshop
Seperation and Connection
Seperation and Connection
The intersection outside of Stamp Student Union is one of the most heavily traveled areas of the University of Maryland campus. It is here that Campus Drive intersects with a major crosswalk that connects a major portion of the campus, “the mall” to Stamp Student union and North campus. It is at this intersection that one will also discover a bus stop. The obvious result of the mixture of pedestrian traffic, buses, and impatient drivers is traffic jams and issues along the street. What if one could introduce a new means of crossing the street? Campus Drive, in a way serves as a means of dividing one side of campus from the other. What if a structure could be implemented that created a sense of connection while solving the traffic issue of the space. The main intention of the intervention is one that simultaneously separates the road way traffic from the pedestrian traffic but it will also pay respect to the fact that the street is a changing condition of the with respect to time. At night there is a completely different set of street and traffic conditions as displayed by the video. This intervention could potentially be a space or structure that responds to the time of day and the traffic condition of the space, while simultaneously creating a sense of connection over…or under a major roadway that creates division of space.
Youth Vote and the Swing States
Statistics show an overwhelming increase in registered voters for the 2008 election. Across the United States the “young voters” those ages 18-29 have increased their votes in every state except New York. In the year 2004 the average youth vote per state was 46,373. The average in 2008 is 174,646. In most states, young Democrats appear to be outnumbering young Republicans at the polls. This graph establishes a correlation between, the youth vote in 2004 and 2008 and the party affiliation of the state in each year.
Campaign Events
the image above graphically represents the campaign trail of both major canidates for the 2008 presidential election. obama is represented by the blue pattern and mccain is represented by the red pattern. by using resources such as the washington post, i compiled the number of events held in each state of the continental united states. the set of conditions illustrated show the overlapping and interweaving of how many times each canidate visited the state contextually showing where a majority of their campaigning attention was given. this also represents where both canidates overlapped and/or divided their focus. the extremes of the conditions range from 178 events/visits to 0.
Exploration of Surface
This project takes the abstraction of pattern and creates an interesting condition between two surfaces. When viewed straight on, the surfaces line up to give the idea of the original pattern. Since this view is rarely achieved in perspective, this project will explore the idea of experiencing a layered surface from different viewpoints. The two surfaces create a space between which can be inhabited on different scales. This space is created through the folding and bending of each surface, which creates texture and space in the surface. “While bending may suggest tension, stress, or restlessness, it also suggests continuity, direction, and smoothness” (“(Un)folding Form” by Kostas Terzidis from “Expressive Form, A Conceptual Approach to Computational Design”). Through this manipulation, a dialogue is created between the surfaces, as a result of the original abstraction of pattern. This project explores the idea of a façade, which can be occupied. The viewer will have one perception from the outside, a different perception from the interior, and the space between the two surfaces. The Louis Vuitton Roppongi Hills Store explores the idea of transforming their label into a façade treatment. The label is experienced as label from the interior, but on other outer wall, it is transformed into an abstraction of that pattern which then allows you to experience the label in varying ways. “The composite of the layers forms a deep screen that provides varying degrees of transparency or opacity when seen from different angles: more transparent the more frontal the viewpoint, more opaque when seen on the oblique” (The Function of Ornament, edited by Farshid Moussavi and Michael Kubo). The technique used in this building creates an experience that varies dependent on the viewpoint.
This project takes the idea of transformation of a pattern, and allows the surfaces to be experienced from the exterior, the interior, as well as the space between the two layers of surface. This will add an element of human motion that will make the façade more dynamic.
Flat image to layered surface
Image to surface
