03.05.09

the overlaps of corridor



the overlaps of stair


with separations


without separations


the diagram as threshold as wall and as ground

03.02.09

the camera, the way it sees, the house, the way it has its openings





to develop a consistent language throughout in the diagrams to explain the theme of each project and then to take this to the case studies of my own in studying corridor and stair.












the site

it is still unknown to me where the house or the walls are accurately located

02.17.09

To be in one place is not to deny the existence of another, even if that other place cannot be felt or seen.

A place, upon crossing a threshold, opens/closes depending on the intention of the perceiver. A threshold [any place or point of entering or beginning] is not just an entry from light to dark but a bodily threshold, a constructed experience. But how to inhabit a threshold, a space of memory that negotiates the self.

To propose an architecture where the movement through-by the perceiver-constructs the space, where the crossing of a threshold is different for every person. No two feel or see the same thing-a wrinkle.
In perception, memory plays a role. Memory as perspective-memory as a blur-a long exposure.

If the body is scale and the intention inhabits the space in a movement or shifting through time, this would change how a threshold is crossed, how light moves through. [the coming from and the going to]

The shift in perspective [a back and forth-ing] recognizes the in-between.
In the looking back the reflection finishes.completes.

A study of five precedents has been done over the wintersession period. These particular studies are of architecture that represents (to me) the understanding of the built construct as a place of transition, a place of bodily movement. To use these studies as principles for working, a point of reference to look back to, I am interested in finding a way to design the aspect of architecture, the threshold, as the architecture itself

In contemplating threshold as a point of entering or beginning, the act of the transitory space is the interest in this degree project. The understanding is that intention leads one through a threshold-a particular reason to pass through. In many cases there is a point when the same threshold is crossed again (perhaps in the leaving) but the intention is different. Using the word intention, an understanding of coming from and going to is used, the word perspective in one of its definitions. To study through perspective the direction one is going and then to look back at where one came from is the beginning of this project.

To understand the idea of the in-between and how to inhabit that place as an architectural space. What is the difference in living between two walls or inside of the wall. To use this idea as a physical understanding as well as an investigation in the aspect of time with the present being the mediating “space” of past and future.

case studies
five

casa en brejos de azeitao, setubal, portugal
aires mateus

slow house
diller + scofidio

police box at chofu station, tokyo
kazuyo sejima & associates

bridge at bellinzona
aldo rossi

monument to the resistance at cuneo
aldo rossi















to begin an investigation

to use a constructed camera obscura to draw the perspective seen in the particular threshold space looking in the direction headed. then, to look back, to turn around and face where ia m not but once was. to draw this perspective again on the same drawing just made. this overlap, when redrawn in plan will give a new definition for my place standing, the space of in-between.

the site







to propose an architecture of the looking back

02.02.09

a side note to degree project-an understanding of space through the projection of light
using the darkroom
to make a model of the concept and then to project light through the enlarger onto photopaper.
this makes a two dimensional plan of the model [now removed and put aside] that is the new basis of the drawing.
tones are assigned numbers 1-6
and then heights assigned to those numbers.
a new plan oblique from light...

02.01.09

camera obscura
set up along a corridor somewhat [30 ft from one end, 60 ft from another] the perspective is drawn of one view, then a turn back and the perspective drawn over the first one. taking the true height of the floor to ceiling in the place i stand-this is the measurement from which i start.
to pull down the plan from the perspective is next and the overlap of the two drawings is collected, then the "residual" or leftover spaces are collected. the openings for door and window are pulled, and then rotated 180 degrees to meet with the others, and then a showing of the extrusion into other spaces.

01.29.09

case study no.5
Aldo Rossi Monument to the Resistance at Cuneo

a stair to an opening above. The light of the time of day moves down and around the stairs through the opening of entry. This is the foretelling of the room to be in and to look up and back through and down. The opening on the opposite façade is a horizontal band that allows only a certain light to pass through. Very intentional and prescriptive light.

To know one’s place is the allowance here.

the orientation is determined by importance of views to the mountains. the long window frames the battle sites at eye level.

[this could be a tower?] the walk up such stairs to a purposeful standing creates the question of how long the time of travel or from where and to where is one going.

case study no.4
Aldo Rossi Bridge at Belinzona

in looking at the bridge, an understanding of horizontal and vertical movement is the main objective. The idea of bridge is a middle, a mediator, a connection, an in between of the two places coming and/or going. To move up is to gain access to the horizontal through and out. Either inside of or on top of. An undulation of sections show the change in grade of an already existing element that the bridge then moves over. To pass from one side to the other entails an either going up and over or across and through. If on the ground, the need to move vertically before going to one side is understood. Also, there is a passing through the middle, the void created by the two towers. An inside. There is a reflected passage through as well in the ground level of the stair towers.

An understanding of coming from and going to is revealed in the bridge of the bridge. The crossover.

01.26.09

case study no.3
Sejima and Associates Police Box at Chofu Station, Tokyo

a police box, being the inside of the city.
[a turning inside out of a building (like a sleeve) to be the inside instead of holding the inside.

the site plan is to show that this is to be a visible light and building to various parts of the community and located on the rail line. the structure consists of space between two concrete walls. the private space on the second level is a japanese tatami room that "floats" between these two walls. the sides and ceiling are not touching the walls.
the surface of the two walls are polished with a paint that is reflective and the storage areas are covered with mirrored stainless steel for reflection.

as the inside is turned out and reflected to the community, the idea of the self and what the police are here to protect is projected out and seen through the various perspectives of the city.