#taubmanthesis

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Paper Monuments

“Intentionally Unbuilt”, a thesis by Michelangelo LaTona explores the architectural drawing as a representational technique that embodies monuments of a specific time.

LaTona has begun his process by developing a curation of nine intentionally unbuilt monuments in New York City.

LaTona argues that the architectural drawing has a timeless ability to capture a city’s time stamp through its independence from dated materials and construction techniques. He states that “built architecture will never be as powerful in remembering the true history as the representation of it”.

To further understand how these drawings envelop a time and monumental persona, he developed a criteria for monumental drawings, which included site (abstract paper), materials (pencil, lead, ink), and developable area (bounds of the paper).

As a means to generate new forms and interpretations of the architectural drawing, LaTona transformed the nine two-dimensional monuments onto a new site. This collaging exercise used the array of projects as site surroundings and contexts to each other.

The curation and criteria of the intentionally unbuilt is impressive, but I begin to question LaTona’s future intentions. If the intention is to further study, articulate and reinterpret the nine monuments of New York City, I believe it could be pushed further. To maintain the theme of working within the representational style of the architectural drawing, LaTona could zoom into material or joint details, to analyze or re-imagine the different scales of the monuments. Alternatively, the architectural two-dimensional drawings have the ability to be reconceived as three-dimensional objects. How far could the monuments be re-imagined?

LaTona could also have the opportunity of creating his own curation of intentionally unbuilt monuments. The exercise of developing a monument every hour, day or week to emulate specific events and moments could drive the argument further. The monuments would represent a time and memory so specific to the second, that no built form would be able to capture the same essence.

This thesis project has the opportunity to further explore the nine drawings or begin a new set of intentionally unbuilt structures that embody contemporary moments. The author has the ability to decide the future intentions and representational techniques to further his argument.

Carmen Petersen

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In Praise of Dust

In Praise of Dust by Young-Tack Oh aims to alter the contemporary perception of dust in the domestic setting. The project starts with disclosing the size and dispersion of dust, which is usually rendered unspecific as a result of the myth of cleaning. The materialistic content and the configuration of dust are manipulated as the index of activities and lifestyle of the inhabitants. The project further discusses how modernist understanding of hygiene and cleanliness changes the value of aesthetics. The diminishing use of carpets, curtains, cornices and decorative ornaments in modernist architectural setting illustrated the urge for sanitisation. The Victorian moulding is taken as an example to demonstrate how architects and decorative elements threatened health hygiene and cleanliness. Different articulation of surface are explored to reposition dust inside a domestic setting.

It is an interesting perspective of the project to take dust, which was historically rendered invisible and insignificant, to be the primary inhabitant of an architecture. While it is closely related to architecture, in which the daily repetitive routine of housewives and janitors are to collect and get rid of dust, both in the interior or at the exterior facade of their domestic setting. The introduction of decorative moulding, functions as dust collector and displayer, creates an architecture with the tolerance for dust to coexist within the livelihood. Apart from the notion of time and ageing through the accumulation of dust, the display of dust would be an interesting way for one to personalise their own domestic setting. Given that the components of dust is closely related to the daily activities of the inhabitants, a visual representation of dust could serve as an alternative way one could decorate their home, other than hanging picture frames or painting the walls with different colours. Perhaps the question would be what is the ultimate goal for the display of dust, and to whom it poses the meaning. The project might be benefited from the introduction of a specific site context and type of inhabitants. Would the display be merely the indication of the zone and type of activities of the household, a demonstration of residue space in the house where the accumulation of dust take place? Would the dust be able to reflect the personal detail of the household, such as the health condition or the living habit, such that doctors could easily diagnosis the disease of their patients without undergoing the complicated procedures of examination? Or would the dust house be an experimental scenario, in which one must cohabit with dust, and explore how would it changes the lifestyle of the future generation and the configuration of a domestic setting?

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Residence of Curiosities

“Domesticating Archives” a thesis by Lauren R. Tucker

This thesis project stems from an interest in the archive.  More specifically, Tucker is interested in “architecture’s mediation in our relationship to objects and items that we save and keep”.  She argues that architecture in a broad sense fosters in us a tendency to collect and keep material things.  The archive may be considered paradigmatic of this belief in both its attempt to halt material entropy and also its sole purpose of collecting.  Yet, an infinite collection of physical artifacts in one building cannot be possible due to the finite nature of our world. Tucker’s thesis proposes the question, “What happens when an archive like the Beinecke archive at Yale University exhausts its available physical space for storage, and turns to the residential/domestic scale?”

This question offers not a solution to the problem, but an interesting temporary relief.  If houses, attics, domestic spaces begin to take on the responsibility of the archive the results of interest are three-fold.  One, the archive’s spatial needs are fulfilled for a time.  Two, a situational relationship between domestic space and institutional requirements rarely experienced materializes.  Three, novel architectural work can be deployed on, within and against existing homes in New Haven, CT thanks to this specific situational “what if”.

The architectural consequences are beginning to be presented and discussed, but are not yet at their peak.  A possible direction for the work is to latch onto a specific house within New Haven, CT in which to play-out the narrative.  Rather than generic axonometric diagrams of possible alterations to a house-like representation, the designer could give us John Doe’s specific house and less generic architectural operations generated thanks to the particular formal elements of Doe’s home.

Choosing a specific house would also allow Tucker to present interesting scalar shifts into the project.  Alterations to the house at the architectural scale can lead to situational details of the inhabitant looking for a spoon for cereal, but passing over hundreds of spoons that are part of the collection.  Collections of furniture packed like sardines into domestic space might begin to create novel architectural elements (eg. a floor of grand pianos or a wall of bicycle frames).  Considering the scale of the detail critics have presented thoughts about the installation of security cameras and how that simple change would alter the way one inhabits their own home.

Regarding the deliverables, the collaged perspectives have good conceptual legs under them and succeed in Tucker’s aim for a cabinet of curiosity feel.   They offer a good look at the experience of these odd, museum-like domestic spaces, which the audience needs.  The nuance in the plan drawings requires this more experiential look at the spaces.  Yet, the collages lack the sense of density that the plans imply.  More loyalty on the part of the collages to what is represented in plan in terms of density would really step up the strength of Tucker’s investigation.

A couple aspects of the project that need development and resolution are how the act of hoarding and the spaces of storage containers fit into the theme of the project, and how to architecturally treat domestic spaces the have taken on the role of storage or exhibit.  The aedicule has been a passing reference of interest of Tucker’s and seems an extremely useful concept for developing an architectural language within the home.

A concern of both the designer and a few particular critics thus far is the share-economy feel of the project.  Air B-n-B has been brought up on multiple occasions in regard to the tone and view point of this project.  The plausibility of the situation for some detracts from the project, but for others strengthens the argument.  It seems that revealing the alterations to the house on the exterior may add to the Air B-n-B issue.  Regardless of what designer intends, representation and presentation will both play major roles in the legibility of intent.  A fine-tuning of both the deliverables and how Tucker verbally portrays them will be important considerations moving forward.

A series of perspectives would function well as a method of showing the story.  One can imagine a view of a row of domestic facades, one of which is central.  The next view is framed by the front door jamb which foregrounds a collage much like what Tucker has produced already.  Following this the aedicule (or whatever architectural typology is developed) makes its appearance displaying hundreds if not thousands of precious items.  The next final views may develop details that highlight what life might be like in this particular home.  Is that just a cereal box or is it the box Elvis Presley ate from the day he died?

by Michelangelo LaTona

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Off/On

The premise of the project Off/On by Zachary Gong is to explore the potential of architecture and also the role of architect in the production of mediation, through the lens of theatricality and leisure. The project starts with addressing the binaries captured in architecture, the spectator and the spectacle; the labour and the leisure...etc. The ultimate goal is to generate form at both furniture and building scale that capture the binaries.

The first part of the project, Co-Seating, consisted of two incomplete chairs side to back joint together. The prototypes designed illustrate the possibilities of appropriation, by changing the number and configuration of the entity, generating a range of programs that define the space. The preset form of the chair restrains the face direction and the posture of the users, resulting in limited variability of the configuration possibilities, at the same time, insufficient specificity to each of the configuration generated.

The variability could be enhanced through an increase in level of appropriation. One of the advantages of using a physical model of a Co-Seating to explore the idea of appropriation is to provide the users with a tangible artifact to “play” with. The designed  intention of appropriation may be made more vivid by adding wheels to the legs of the chair, like an office chair, enhancing the mobility of the chair. The authorization of appropriation could even be extended to the assemblage of the chair, by providing the users with the prefabricated cut sheet and an ikea manual. The user will be able to appropriate the different parts of the chair and define its level of completeness. Perhaps detournement could happen to bring the seat into a more extreme context. Reference to the reinterpretation of the Ron Arad’s Tom Vac chair during the Clerkenwell Design Week 2014, several designers delineated the seat and re-interrupted it into a lifeguard’s chair, a four-wheeled kart and a swing. The Tom Vac chair is taken as an object and reappropriated with different elements to generate alternative meaning. While the variability of possible configuration should be enhanced, the specificity of effect of each configuration should be rendered more explicit. Cultural and historical reference of posture, form and configuration of chairs can be drawn to generate more defined appropriation.

The unpolished wood material successfully rendered the Co-Seating as an unfinished prototype that is open for interpretation and appropriation, which could be applied similarly on the Co-Housing prototype. However, given the difference in scale and complexity between a house and a furniture, how would appropriation be executed differently? When developers are duplicating towers of apartments with identical layout, how would the Co-Housing enhances the level of personalisation of the dwellers within the prefabricated setting? How would the instability of appropriation be introduced to a concrete setting that is prescribed to contain habits? How would the appropriation redefine a house and the lifestyle of the dwellers? And what would the role of architects be if appropriation could be done not only by the architects?

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A Collection of Memories

“Uroborus: The Mellontic Archeion”, a thesis by Luis Orozco

Can you recall the last time you got lost in a phrase, a sentence, a book, a collection, or an entire world of mythical beliefs beyond the shelves of the library? What ifyou could have the ability to spend an endless amount of time in anarchive full of these moments? Imagine yourself as Alice in a wonderland full of past ideologies and mythical belief systems at your fingertips, waiting to be explored and experienced. These are some of the thoughts imagined in my head for this project of collecting.

“A collection of artifacts, humans and human moments” describe the architect's programmatic and conceptual framework for this project. These elements were only explained to the extent of their purpose: to understand the world, to describe society, to discover possibilities.

The narrative spoke of “getting lost in the stacks”: where specific moments, experiences or feelings could be created between the artifact, the user and the architecture. It was unclear whether these experiences were figurative or literal. Are these moments purely imagined and experiential spaces? Where the user feels the comfort of “curling up by the fire”? Or could these experiences be constructed in a literal sense of disorientation, such as The Library of Babel; or a labyrinth of collections that offers three doors to open after every turn? Interweaving vessels and compartments that constantly move about, as a string of possible future search engines from the one before, an endless discovery.

The experienced moments have the possibility of recreating a place in time of the described artifact. If the archive holds the knowledge and ideologies of previous cultures, could the act of studying the map of mythical sea creatures create a scene surrounding the user that depicts that belief? The spaces have the ability manipulate and encourage human moments within the collection.

The archive was described to house three categories, which were developed by Aristotle: theoria, praxis, and poiesis. It was unclear as to what extent of knowledge and artifacts would be collected, although the “appropriation of past or existing knowledge that may no longer be relevant” was a reoccurring theme. If the categorization system will not be designed, then I believe it to be helpful for the architect to narrow down the archive to specific categories and subcategories to aid in the design of human moments, interactions and relationships. This could also focus the lens on the project's purpose.

To house the collections, the architect proposed “an orbiting space station”. A vessel that collects artifacts, humans and human moments is a poetic concept that mimics the cyclical nature of the uroborus. Yet, the decided site use of space was undefined and somewhat complicated the project's objectives.

I am also curious about the humans assigned to this library. This “transient community that comes to maintain a collection”. Who are they? How are they chosen? Why would they want to be chosen? Could this be a community of researchers that have the ability to explore the endless depths of the archive for a period of time? Therefore they would be able to forward their knowledge back to greater amounts of people.

This collection of artifacts, humans and human moments has the ability to take on an array of scales and sites. But what should remain consistent is the project's overall concept and purpose. I look forward to hearing the architect's further decisions in the next discussion.

Carmen Petersen

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LIFE: Death Rehearsal

LIFE: Death Rehearsal, by Carol Nung, takes the form of a voyage or vacation for those courageous souls not afraid to confront the possibility of their inevitable demise.  Structuring the project is the Japanese tradition of the pre-funeral, which can occur at six specific ages during a persons life starting at 70 years old.  This tradition began in the 1900s and is meant to celebrate long-life and no regrets rather than to mourn the deceased as in the case of most Western funerals.

This journey contains several stops along a route out of Tokyo to Mt. Fuji and back.  An aspect of the proposal that seems in need of further thought or development is the difference between a soon-to-be deceased person celebrating long-life and a recently deceased person’s body being transported along the route.  Situationally, family and friends will experience drastically different emotional states during each, yet the same sites and architectural articulation are experienced.  This clash of emotion, memory, place and space may be intentional, but may also require some more thought.

The voyage begins with the death parade at the Shibuya, then the party house at Yokohama Pier, passing through the torii by boat to the Weighing Wheel at Enoshima.  A train then takes you to the Canning Forest(fig. 1), Energy Chamber and Decay Observatory (fig. 2) around Mt. Fuji, finally to arrive at the Bath House and Retreat House.  The proposal brings a nice balance to the extreme emotions that come along with death.  Both the pre-funeral and true funeral are balanced with their counter point.  For example, the pre-funeral voyage simulates things like cremation to bring a more serious tilt to the otherwise joyful celebration of life.  And during the true funeral, a somber time, friends and family will ideally remember the happy occasion of the pre-funeral.

The comedic leaning of the project seems an intelligent choice, especially in the employment of a type of vacation or retreat catalogue to lighten the dark topic of funerals and death.  Yet, somehow it seems the representation missed the memo.  The project needs to balance on the thin line between too humorous and too dark in order to lighten the mood enough for the content to be recognized and considered thoroughly.  Currently, content seems to be pulling 100% of the humor load, while the representation continues to focus on somber and contemplative moods and spaces.  It is good to see though that looking through the representation to the architectural proposal itself that design considerations have been made to accommodate both celebratory and mournful situations.  That is not to say that don’t require more development, but they are at a good spot for continued iteration.

Overall the project is a highly considered, thoughtful proposal for a processional architecture.  The dark tone of the project has been intelligently supplemented with bits of humor, too much in some places, not enough in others.  A couple of places to keep our eyes on for the development of the project are moments of extreme detail (maybe super important moments to the procession) and where to locate comic relief in places other than the retreat catalogue.  

Michelangelo LaTona