Graduate Thesis...
Film has this unique ability to transport us to spaces that feel more real than anything we experience in our daily lives. We allow ourselves to become absorbed by the stories, the characters, and the environments and are transported into an entirely different plane of reality; a place more about psychological connections than physical ones. Both film and architecture define frames of life, situations of human interaction and horizons for understanding our world. Architectural space is fundamentally different from cinematic space because of this very reason; however, there is an important thread of commonality between the two. If we distill it down to its most primitive level, space, both cinematic and architectural, is a delicate and artistic balance of psychological and experiential factors.
Film has an unparalleled ability to affect both our emotions and our memories, but how can a medium that is confined to
two dimensions make us feel so incredibly encapsulated by environments that only exist in our imagination?
Film has an unparalleled ability to affect both our emotions and our memories, but how can a medium that is confined to
two dimensions make us feel so incredibly encapsulated by environments that only exist in our imagination?
Analysis...
The architectural part of my thesis was centered around the city of Detroit, and more specifically, what could be done to try and revitalize the area around the abandoned Michigan Central Station. After visiting the area, I learned of several of community and artistic collaboratives that are doing all kinds of good things to help bring back what once was. However, individually, they aren't able to have the kind of larger scale impact that could bring about real, prolonging change for a city that has fallen so very far.
The idea was to use the abandoned site of Michigan Central Station and several surrounding warehouse buildings and provide one centralized area where all of these groups and ideas can come together to have a greater impact.
In my analysis, I began to focus not as much on the buildings themselves that would house these various groups, but instead on the communal space left over between these buildings on the site. I used the existing rail tracks on the site as a starting point and then diagrammed the site into specific zones, or scenes.
The idea was to use the abandoned site of Michigan Central Station and several surrounding warehouse buildings and provide one centralized area where all of these groups and ideas can come together to have a greater impact.
In my analysis, I began to focus not as much on the buildings themselves that would house these various groups, but instead on the communal space left over between these buildings on the site. I used the existing rail tracks on the site as a starting point and then diagrammed the site into specific zones, or scenes.
In addition to the Site analysis I did for my thesis, I made a "compilation documentary" from clips I took while in Detroit mixed together with several sources from existing documentaries that I used to try and get into the mindset of the people who are dealing with Detroit's rebuilding on a daily basis.Through it, I tried to tell the story of what I learned from the city and how the youth movement and artistic communities have all kinds of passion and creativity to rebuild Detroit, they only need a direction. What I really learned was that Detroit has so much to teach us as architects; both of what not to do, and of the opportunity we have to make an impact to bring a city back.
Process...
The main component of my thesis project was trying to find a way to translate the theoretical ideas from my text into something tangible. Many of the research into the connections between film and architecture are merely skin deep. They don't look to try and redefine the entire architectural process, and that is where my project began.
As architects, we have started to lose our connection to reality. That is to say, that a vast majority of modern architecture created today, while visually interesting and exciting, has become detached from the user and become deeply impersonal. We need to look outside of our own profession in order to better understand the potential that the built environment has to affect our psychological and sociological experience. We can begin to analyze this connection by understanding more clearly how director’s have manipulated their own medium, and the user, to create experiences in two dimensional space that have a lasting impact on our three dimensional world.
By examining the effects and impact of cinematic techniques, can we then begin to harness the emotional power of film to improve the experiential quality of the spaces that we design?
I began by approaching design from the eyes of a director. I initially ignored basic starting points like program and space planning, and instead focused on gathering images, sketches, emotional qualities, and themes that I was striving for without any tangible design in mind. From that point, I roughed out a storyboard for the kinds of spaces I wanted the users to experience and the emotional qualities of each area in the same way a director would break down a scene.
As architects, we have started to lose our connection to reality. That is to say, that a vast majority of modern architecture created today, while visually interesting and exciting, has become detached from the user and become deeply impersonal. We need to look outside of our own profession in order to better understand the potential that the built environment has to affect our psychological and sociological experience. We can begin to analyze this connection by understanding more clearly how director’s have manipulated their own medium, and the user, to create experiences in two dimensional space that have a lasting impact on our three dimensional world.
By examining the effects and impact of cinematic techniques, can we then begin to harness the emotional power of film to improve the experiential quality of the spaces that we design?
I began by approaching design from the eyes of a director. I initially ignored basic starting points like program and space planning, and instead focused on gathering images, sketches, emotional qualities, and themes that I was striving for without any tangible design in mind. From that point, I roughed out a storyboard for the kinds of spaces I wanted the users to experience and the emotional qualities of each area in the same way a director would break down a scene.
Translation...
The success of both great architecture and film resides in its ability to balance and understand the relationship between the spaces we create and its profound effect on our audience. Filmmakers and architects alike are all struggling with the same primary issues: How do we use composition, light, shadow, and form to mess with your emotions, your mind and really affect what you’re thinking and what you’re seeing? While this is a somewhat ordinary statement, reexamining these guiding principles throughout the history of cinema is key to translating cinematic spatial experiences into tangible architectural expression.
The vignettes below illustrate the translation of my early storyboard sketches into physical spaces. The result is more a memorial that anything else. A series of spaces designed to inspire those who strive to make Detroit great again and at the same time to celebrate the ideas that made Detroit great to begin with.
The vignettes below illustrate the translation of my early storyboard sketches into physical spaces. The result is more a memorial that anything else. A series of spaces designed to inspire those who strive to make Detroit great again and at the same time to celebrate the ideas that made Detroit great to begin with.
Light and shadow was a key element throughout my design process. Whether it was in the rubble of an empty building or a small patch of green that is reclaiming an abandoned site, I found that by simply walking the city, they was all kinds of beauty in that decay. I tried to use the elements of shadow and light to emphasize the story of Detroit through this memorial site and use those elements to culminate in an uplifting communal space where all these organizations would join together to share ideas. Below is a series of process models that I produced to experiment with how this light would change throughout the site and how that light would enhance Detroit's story. In the end, these studies were transformed into the final sectional models below where I used a framework of simple materials and connections which is then deconstructed as you pass through the site.
The perceived instability of the structure and deconstruction of the framework serves as the canvas in which light is able to impact the users experience of the memorial.
The perceived instability of the structure and deconstruction of the framework serves as the canvas in which light is able to impact the users experience of the memorial.
While it's true that this kind of analysis and use of film as a guiding force for design may not be applicable in many cases, the point I think my exploration finds is that, as architects, we should constantly be looking at the way different profession deal with problem solving. No matter what the project, it is always useful to look at a design from a different set of eyes, and in this case, I think I was able to create a much more moving and emotionally impactful environment.