My Letters... My Secrets...

"I draw so that I can see" Scarpa

"Line is basis of all drawings" Mauricio Baretto

"To draw, you must close your eyes and sing" Picasso

"Seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees." Robert Irwin

"If you are really eager to learn and want to learn something, you look into that thing, not at it." Frank Lloyd Wright

"A critic in my house sees some paintings. Greatly perturbed, he asks for my drawings. My drawings? Never! They are my letters, my secrets." Paul Gauguin

Alas;

A 22"x30" sheet of strathmore lies in front of me...

Drafting pencil in hand...

Light on full power...

Allow me to get personal with my drawings.

Allow me to show you my letters... my secrets...

My ideas. My thoughts. My mind.

My project is about the dialectical language between knowledge and the user of knowledge. I see knowledge as chance. A chance that the user can take advantage of, or a chance that the user may not take advantage of. It is all about the engagement of the user. If the user chooses to engage, then the user activates the possibilities of knowledge within.

It is the balances of imbalances. The human activates my project through movement within my project.

Similar to the idea behind my original mapping exercise, the user first comes from a grand space of totality. The space of the world. The users life. The users experiences. Then, the user focuses and enters UNAM and eventually narrows down to a large open field within a quad of buildings. The user, on his journey through life pursuing knowledge, enters the new library and is narrowed into a grand space.

Within this open and grand space, one is allowed to roam free. Experience the library as a whole. See the library in totality. See the connection of knowledge, space, time, and the human element. Get personal with the books.

The knowledge seeker moves through the space, entering the narrow stacks, coming out to small private reading areas, goes down into depressed reading spaces, travels up a few stairs into a mass of knowledge rising up above them all. Looking out, and seeing the totality of all the books UNAM has to offer. As one looks, one sees the programmatic elements above the stacks. They seem to float on their slender columns. Floating, interacting, inter playing with the liminal space between them and the books. Creating spaces, voids, zones, reading rooms, and gardens. The offices, cafe, lecture hall, small store, are all elevated from the books, but the books also reach up and grab into the space above. It is much like interlocking fingers, or two brushes pressed up against one another, allowing the bristles to intertwine and interact with one another.

The condescending reaction that occurs inside the user is experiential. One experiences the value of space. Moving from an outside hectic world to this grand organized space, to intimate isles of stacks of books, to the small and private reading rooms. One is activated by the building to learn.

Knowledge, chosen by chance of the user, activates the user.

The user activates the building.

Activates the project.

Wire massing axon

Wood Massing study Model

Gotta Stay Awake

Danteum

An interesting idea for my stack area at the location of all intersections of liminal space connective tissues

Sectional Progress

These are a few sections that i have done to try to define my project. I began to play with the sectional heights of the building as they extrude from the site, but i wanted to keep it low in order to maximize the continuity of the open space above from courtyard to courtyard. In my project, I overtake the pond, and utilize it to my advantage. The pond acts as a sectional barrier from one quad to the other, so in place of the wall height of the pond, my building will take its place and act as a tranitional space into my building. Then, as you move through my building, the stacks fall under the existing stairs, which allow a connection from library to library, as well as define the connection from courtyard to courtyard.

A Few New Study Models {Chance}

Here are a series of models I created to try some different ideas for the library.

-Layered

-Vertical

-Celebrated entry

-Underground Circulation to existing Library

High-Rise Style

-Pancaked

-Mirrored Balconies

-Circulation core

Series of folding plates

-Few vertical levels

-Folds represent motion over time

-Fluid spaces tied together by circulation

Similar to existing

-Respects existing facade

-Has crazy interior spaces

-Allows for possible views

-Programatic elements seperated from facade

Slanted Circulation

-Represents a stack of books about to fall

-Series of levels stacked oblique

-Allows for dynamic spaces

-Captures more sunlight

-Allows for open terraces to read

Final Maps

For the final presentation this past wednesday, I created my first two maps to show the transitional space infront of the library. It goes from a broad, expansive, and open greenspace, then it transitions sectionally up to a space that is directional and orthagonal.



This first map is a series of 23 sections of the site that intersect, showing their spatial relationships to eachother



This is a view looking from the open greenspace to the heightened sectional space of the orthagonal grid.














This is a view looking flat on the map. This shows how the circulation interacts with surrounding complexities. The Solid white behind the lower area shows free motion in any direction. The linear white elements show a direction in which people would possibly travel, and the white grid represents the grid that exists of grass and pavement that is the actual definer of movement. They are scattered to show that some people will follow the grid, while others will ignore it and continue on their own journey.


Map 2 is an exploded axon showing the different layers of complexities and how they are all interrelated to one another by some sort of sequencing, massing, or directional quality.





















This is the third map which I interpreted from my last project about the library. It represents how spaces flow throughout this area. It begins to capture things from the site directly, and begins to draw them in and toward the building. As these spaces move into the building, they get more intricate, move around alot more, and get more complex. Movement from the outside- free and clear, to the inside- complex and intricate.

A possible scheme?

Take a look at this video below. It is one of my ideas for a map, showing the sectional relationships in the spaces i am working with.

Also, Please let me know what you think-

Beginning of my Mapping Process

In the beginning of my process studies, i have been looking at the differences of green scape vs hard scape. In my drawings, i have taken the footprint and massing of the buildings themselves and extruded them down into the plane of paper. The higher the building the deeper the void into the space. My idea was to show the physical and emotional qualities of the green scape into the university as a whole. I will then experiment with the differences of grass vs dense tree coverage vs paved areas vs water scape.

How can these natural environments effect the space as a whole?
How can these green habitats enlighten the space?
How do people interact with these areas?
How does the interstitial spaces interact with the surroundings?

This is my task-

From the Shell to the Sea

I was focusing on creating a program inside this space that was fluid and continous. Free Flowing. Like the Sea.

From the Shell of the building, to the Sea of the flowing spaces inside-


The shell of the building


A view from the top into the model


View 1


View 2


View 3

As you can see, the spaces from the building continually flow into the base, and the division line between the two is eliminated from within.

My Book

My studio project was a book on motion.

Here is the video that describes and shows my project.

Blogs below really give a good depth of my thinking of this project.

In the handle of the book, there is a mechanism that moves back and fourth as the observer moves the book. This is supposed to cause movement, and a startled motion which lets the observer feel the power of the book moving in his hands.

Take a look and let me know what you think-

Im creating a book...

I saw a friend today walking to studio and she asked me what i was working on in studio.

i quickly responded with, "im creating a book" ... and it made me stop and think.

Im creating a book. Im creating a book. Im creating a book.

Im actually creating a book.

I told her that I was to explain in my book of MOTION how apples fall from trees, how clouds form, how rain falls, how birds fly, how one thought chases another, and where one thought goes after it is finnished.

Then, as she glares in confusement, she says what are you gonna write about?

-Write? -Write? -Write?

Im not going to write a word in the book.
The book will tell many stories, but without a word. You cant read it page by page. Each page, taken out of sequence, has no story to the book. The book works as a whole. Each page needing the page before it and the page after it. And therefore, the book, in theory, should be infinite.

What is infinite of my book.
It travels through time.
Time becomes an element.
Time is infinite.

So let me explain how apples fall from trees, how clouds form, how rain falls, how birds fly, how one thought chases another, and where one thought goes after it is finnished, without a word. The book will speak to you. YOU.

You.

Who are you?

Are you a reader of my book?

Are you?

Nope. You are not a reader. There is nothing to read. You are an Experience-er.
You are a time traveler.
An Infinite time traveler.

Book Of Motion

Motion.

Movement.

Action.

all these encounter one denominator.

Time.

What is motion with out time?
- a picture. a frame. an image. A still life.

Time must become a variable.

So be it.

My book will move you.
You will move my book.

Then you will both dance in harmony.

Cool book idea

This would be an interesting book to try to create.

Any ideas on it?

Books. What do they do to me?

Books, to me, are something very powerful. They hold so much information in them and each and every one of them holds potential for learning possibilities.

I remember when books were an everyday part of my life. As far back as I can remember, My mom and dad used to read me a book before bed time. Given- bed time was at like, 7pm, and the book was a mere 10 or so pages, it was still a way of connecting to an outside world. A world beyond my imagination. A world of creativity, dreamlike powers, and story lines that only the most brilliant minds can think of. These books sparked dreams that I encountered over my childhood that really influenced me to grow and learn into who I am today.

As school progressed and I got older and older, the books began to become more and more realistic. More life-like. More non-fiction. Books began to lose that creative outlet for me and soon I began to read books less and less.

As college life rolled around and books and books began to pile up on my shelves, I began to have an interest in these books again. Reading through all these architectural books inspired me, and reminded me of my childhood days.

They reminded me of Hello Moon, Dr. Seus, and the few other Disney books I had. They began to spark. The spark ignited some dry flint behind my eyes, and soon I had the desire again roaring inside me to learn from these books.

Books, to me, have the power to do anything to the reader. But the book itself is merely lifeless and nothing but a 'volumetric bundle of paper'. It needs the participation of someone to have interest in it, hold it, touch it, and gently touch each and every page individually and give each page the same love it deserves. It needs attention. And only the reader can give these needs to it. In return for the love and touch, the book gives knowledge, ideas, thought, self conversation, asks questions, inspires, and gives hope to the reader. The reader becomes one with the book. Its the books words, the books words, that are suddenly your words. Your words, being said inside your own head. You hear them, they are your words, following another idea. Its powerful. Beyond my explanation. Transcendent-