Carl Lostritto, Instructor
School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation
space
Tracking Movement_Transforming Space
This is my final image for the review of Project B. My intentions have changed along the way, so I thought I’d update the proposal in the image as well.
spatial transformation
this week is an attempt to move away from the literal transformation of the interior space to the exterior. here i am trying to create a form-z model of the spatial qualities of the interior with an animation of formation. i’d like to create the growth|scaling of the model from the ground to the space. as this is occuring, i want to have the camera angle of the animation to tumble to capture the interior of the model while there is a fade of the exterior video out and a blend of the interior video in.
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.
Exercise B_week 1
This exercise will seek to examine the essence of Hornbake Plaza, specifically its transitory nature. As the video was shot on a cold day, rather than in the spring when the space is used as a gathering spot, almost all of the activity within the space was movement, both pedestrian through, and car along side. The final video will break Hornbake Plaza down into smaller sub-spaces, looking at how different occupants and activities within the plaza as a whole creates these divisions, and how each individual sub-space can be defined by its activities
Threshold and Space
The intersection of Knox Road and Route 1 is a place containing a combination of automotive traffic and pedestrian traffic. The automotive traffic is due to Route 1 being a major avenue, but the pedestrian traffic is due to the type of buildings on this intersection. Cars inherently pass through this intersection to get to further destinations without fully experiencing this space. Their time in this intersection is fleeting; however, pedestrian tend to remain in the space longer. In order for cars to experience the intersection, they must enter a threshold first. Pedestrians need a more defined space to gather somewhere in the sidewalk area to experience the intersection. My intervention will include a threshold for cars, but a defined space for pedestrians. Looking at the work of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, a threshold and space defined by fabric appears to attract people. The Gates at Central Park are a good example of how a threshold can influence promenade. The intervention will explore how a fabric threshold and space will affect the way pedestrians and cars experience the intersection.
Project B Proposal
My intention for this project is to manipulate the existing architecture of the space so that it in turn alters the reaction, or rather interaction, the figures have with the have with the architecture. That is, in the end I will have created a completely new built space in which the action of the footage occurs. To begin with, I will diagram the built aspect of the existing space, focusing mainly on the perspective aspects thought the use of lines. The next step will be to expand the lines into the volumetric forms that make up the space. From there, the forms will begin to move and even morph into new shapes. At first the movement of the volumes will only occur in accordance with the existing built forms, but eventually they will begin to break free of the rigidity of the perspective and have increasingly undefined movement. At this point, I will manipulate the footage so it seems as the new volumetric forms are actually controlling the movement of the figures within the space. In the end, the seeming random movement that originally occurred within the figures of the space will translate onto the new architecture of the space though the use of scripting.
Timeline
Timeline
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.
East Coast State Distribution
This set of conditions represents the percentage popularity of Obama vs. McCain in the states on the East Coast. The percentages range from 30 percent to 60 percent. These conditions are mapped over the time period of January to November 2008. The east coast states are shown as connected in this graphic to reveal the change in popularity of the two candidates as one travels down the east coast. I achieved this by creating a lofted shape of the popularity of Obama and the popularity of McCain. These shapes are connected to show one whole image of each candidate’s popularity. The intersection of the two images signifies a change in preference of one candidate over the other.
3D Mapping
The graphic maps a comparison between a poll done by SurveyUSA for the state of Ohio and the overall national trend for the 2008 Presidential election, from January to November 2008, as compiled by Pollster.com. I chose to create the graph of the poll statistics for Ohio using by cubes, as they can be stacked and displaced to represent a margin of error that comes with pre-election polls. Furthermore, they are also the “building blocks” that make up the national polls, which is why I chose to represent them as larger and generally more consistent, sweeping elements that weave through the Ohio poll. The grey rectangles a 10% range in which most of the information falls (between 40 and 50%).
Swing States (seems to be a popular trend..)
I mapped data from the swing states only to look at how often each candidate (McCain and Obama only) visited each place. At the bottom, I mapped both McCain and Obama in popularity polls against the rising gas prices. I found this to be a relevant statistic because of economic factors and the candidate’s differing policies on energy. I made two images, one including the states where the data corresponds, and one with no context. Any comments on which is more successful? As a diagram, it is better without the states because it can be interpreted differently and is more about the spatial relationships and clustering of data, but having the states allows you to read it as a political message– showing who visited what state more and whether the end polls were leaning republican or democrat.
These images attempt to capture the pattern created in a chain link fence, scale the design up and represent the voids between the links as solids. These images show the fence as a way to navigate through as they wind in and out of one another.
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.
Folding to Space
The passage from pattern to surface to space can be thought of in a very logical and step-oriented process or algorithm. In the reading Expressive Form by Kostas Terzidis, the author explains that simple pattern can be folded and unfolded upon itself to become a shape or space. In the example of the step-by-step oriented process of paper folding or origami the pattern folds upon a preset crease to create a 3-dimensional form or space. Also, nothing is added or subtracted to the continuous nature of the single pattern or piece of paper creating homogeneity in the structure.
However, this idea of folding based solely on one pattern can be identified with a sort of mimicry that Michael Ostwald says causes the space to lose its identity. In his article Seduction, Subversion, and Predation: Surface Characteristics he says the object will lose itself in the whole of its surroundings, or in this example the shape loses its individuality from its initial state because it followed only one set path.
But what happens if new sets of rules are introduced during the act of the fold or unfold? Terzidis argues that all the potential of a plane is in between the start and end points of the action. My journey into the translation of pattern to space will see what happens when a pattern is introduced to another or reintroduced to itself, before it has finished (un)folding. This will not only cause a new dynamic space than the one that was predetermined by the original pattern, but it will also help to cure the problem of the output losing its individuality to the pattern.
The actual process will build upon my initial experiments into depth from exercise 5. In that case I used a single, but multifaceted pattern, and broke it down to three distinct, but separate patterns. Now I can go back and reintroduce the patterns to each other in various ways to create a new space than the one originally predetermined.
For the ant, a chain link fence becomes something of a pathway. It is a route that the ant will take to move upwards to uncharted territory. As the chain links wind in and out of one another, interchanges between the links are created allowing the ant to change from link to link. Eventually, the links connect to one long horizontal bar, the sort of interstate connecting the whole fence. The ant knows that he can not walk in the voids within the fence, they, in the eyes of the small creature, are solids. He can see flying insects make it through them, but knows he is not able. This in turn is an allegory to the city, where pedestrians and cars inhabit the streets and mysterious people are within solid buildings. These streets “cut” through the urban fabric just as the fence cuts up the ground below. Nevertheless “clusters” of shadows and trees are noticeable below. Different layers of roads “stack” to build a network of pathways, just as links layer each other to create a complete fence.
To create a city from the chain link fence, a scale change must be employed and everything must become larger. Shadows must become clouds, small weed patches will become forests, and the fence will become motorways. As the fence becomes larger, the round nature of the links will flatten out. Voids in the fence will need to be rendered as solids, to account for the places one can not necessarily be. These voids, when drawn in perspective should “diminish[ing] in size and recede[ing] to the horizon” (Frascari 17) but I would like to challenge that. I argue that when on the outskirts of the city, one can often see the buildings soaring into the sky farther away.
For a successful project, this will be more than just the modeling of a matrix of links, but also a diagram demonstrating “interruptions and inconsistencies” that create a sense of “time, void or chance encounters” so I can indeed cure my “dread of space” (Boyarsky 51). I believe I can do this by inherently changing the principles ordering the fence to create a more interesting and random form.
Frascari, Marco. From Models to Drawings. “Critiques: Critical Studies in Architectural
Humanities.” Routledge: London.
Boyarsky, Nicholas and Murphy, Nicola. Action Research. “Architecture and Urbanism 1”.
Deep Space, Shallow Surface
TKR Building in Soel Korea. Architect: Frank Barkow
Found in The Plan Magazine
