Jul 31, 2008
BAC Instructors:
Luis Montalvo John Pilling
Designing Together - A Parallel Studio about Living in the Américas
Mid Term Review
The studio was delighted Diane Georgopolis, Kent Knight, Ric Lamb, and Karen Nelson agreed to visit us to comment on our work so far. Students presented their ideas for an individual dwelling. They explained their reasons for choosing specific strokes based on their readings and their on site research in Mexico. They described the qualities of their dwelling based on the criteria they had set for themselves
Christian Bender
Threshold, as differentiating between the roles that we play and lives we lead outside of the home vs the internal natural, singular, true self. On the exterior side is chaos, multiple roles and confusion. Across the threshold exists only the individual.
Individual-the idealized personality experienced in a natural state.
Nature-I feel it is important to bring nature into the home because it is truly eternal, and can remind us that we are part of the larger world/universe.
Peace/Solace-To counter to the chaos beyond the threshold, the house should offer feelings of peace, calmness, serenity.
The design consists of hallways, stairs, and public rooms in the dwelling being separated from private rooms and a garden by a robust, penetrable wall.
‘Oppie’ Oppenheimer
Overlapping: I felt it with Orozco’s murals; both literally and figuratively. Overlapping was also present in Barragan’s overlapping planes: the various planes in his foyer, the ceiling past the partial height walls.
Convergence: I was struck by the effect at the satellite towers. At the Tlalpan Chapel, the light, viewpoints and walls converged on the cross, creating a feeling of awe and power. The elbows and stairs also represented a kind of convergence.
Flames (and surprise): the first things that I noticed at the Government Palace and Las Cabanas murals. They are just awesome and more overpowering that I expected.
Compression: everyone’s favorite, because it is so well used by Barragan.
Screen: my favorite – it hides and reveals at once.
The design is a loft with with complex geometries enclosed by curvilinear planes.
Sarah Eigen
Engulfing warmth, growth and explosion...originating from Orozco's murals which engulfed the viewer. It was also from the general feeling of the people of Mexico. Especially in the smallvillas, of Sierra del Tigre. I thought that was significant to bring this quality into my own studio work.
Enclosed- private intimate space- a collection of moments that I experienced. Barragan's chapel. When the nun opened the door, the intimacy and spirituality that came through was unbelievable. There were no words to describe it.
Transitioning - orginated from the whole experience of traveling and the transition from Boston to Mexico in a broad sense; a different culture, different artwork, different lifestyle, different tastes. All were a very enlightening and exciting experience. Barragan's designs of a compressed space to a very open space were very powerful. The experience of climbing the Pyramids and the transition from being at the bottom to the top was exhilarating. The views changed as one moved up the challenging steep narrow steps of the pyramids.
Complex polyhedrons create an entrance which sequences into increasingly private spaces. These more intimate spaces open onto a private, climate protected garden
Kelly Lawless
Compression - from moments beginning and ending at the Boston airport. The unusually small doorway of Casa Gilardi. The Chapel vestibule compression, essential to increasing our sensitivity.
Hidden - special to me both allegorically and physically. From the readings, I felt Mexicans were always hiding. I hid so I could take pictures and find a moment of solitude in Barragán’s houses. Also, I wanted to hide my own awe entering spaces like Orozco’s.
Filter - with light, images, colors; essential to protect the human tenderness rarely seen on the Mexican surface and for physical protection from the sun.
Spirit - My senses were ignited, and I wanted to document the excitement.
A duplex on a small footprint with corners, obscured paths, colored window wall patterns, and a garden.
Bond Worthington
Embrace - The 47 house entrance drops you into the center of the hall which is the meeting point. Red walls and darkness embracing the bright white and light at the top of the stairs..also the physical embraces Mexican people openly share with each other. It all seemed natural.
Mechanistic element and or speed - Guadalajara the first morning at around 5 when the traffic started.; Mexico City's Insurgentes. The feeling is like a stampede. Orozco's work at Cabanas for sure; harsh and fast with acute angles. Manmade metallic elements are incorporated and twist into a life of their own.
Focal point - a byproduct of the interaction between the embrace and mechanical elements. maybe it is the most active point or a space created by the interaction.
Interventions into the Back Bay context with sinuous, warm wall / floor assemblies tied to angular , black ones with a translucent enclosure.
Trea LaRaia
Color - from the traditional costumes at the Fiesta of St. Michael, to Chucho Reyes’s strokes in Barragan’s architecture. Barragan’s use of color was bold and rich, but it never eclipsed other characteristics of his work.
Borrowed Light - I am interested in light as sculpture, which I observed at Prieto Lopez.
Interrupted View - These gestures represent the inner-most private space or the threshold between public and private which was most prevalent at the front doors. These thresholds are barriers unto themselves rather than transitional spaces.
Spirit - of space cannot be controlled by the architect. Put more plainly, if a built environment can bring about human improvement, then it has spirit
A loft studio with a compact footprint and non rectangular form. A vertical path springing from the wall leads to a day lit, private work space.
Andrew Paine
LENGTH - seemingly endless streets of Sierra del Tigre, the roof terrace at Gonzalez Luna, the churches, the Cabanas colonades, the long hallways of Barragan’s houses, the markets that stretched for miles, the long horse path at Arboledas, and the gigantic avenue of the dead at the pyramids.
SCREENING - particularly the Tlalpan Chapel. The various colored screens we peered through seemed to blend together to create whole new colors. They also created a definite sense of mystery as to what could be around the next screen.
LAYERS - present in a lot of the architecture, particularly Barragan’s. Most of his buildings involved intersecting orthogonal blocks and details such as the “paper” staircase or repeating exposed joists. The pyramids were also just stacked layers.
SWEEPING - primarily from Orozco’s murals. When I looked through the screen of my camera the torch Hidalgo, was using to sweep away his enemies appeared to actually be on fire. That is why I use warm colors.
ICON - as the models progressed, the icons became unattainable moments which need to be searched out,more akin to the red dipstick in the Gilardi House…something you want to touch that is just out of reach.
A pyramidal form that is partially buried. Entry stairs lead to living spaces by going around a private garden where the icon is suspended, out of reach.
Steven Berger
Compression - relates to space that becomes space by its relation to a compression, and space and spaces that connect to compression.
Volume - this space is intentional. The massiveness and the element of volume that I experienced in Barragans work was unexpected and left a lasting impression on me. It is one element that the plans and photographs did not relay.
Level change - within volume and compression. In volume, level change is not a separation of space for me, it is the continuation of space but at a different level. In Barragans work it was the loft with a continuous ceiling. At a point of compression, it was the wall that often remained uninterrupted and continued through the compression from one volume to the next.
Corners, surprise: Luis’s description of elbow- the interrupted aspect of Barragan’s compression. This brings mystery and life to the above elements
A spine made of a sloping hallway attached to a large wall. Entrance and bedrooms at either end of the hallway. Kitchen, living room, and library at different levels on opposite sides of the wall.
Aki Ichiizuka
Diversity - Living in the Americas as a non-American, and especially coming from a small island nation, I think the Americas represent a region of diversity - of ethnicity, race, culture, religion, nationality, traditions, heritage, cuisine, etc.
Connection - Living in the Americas fosters a strong desire to ‘feel’ connected. In our visits to churches in Mexico I saw how people were ‘connected by their strong power of faith.
Expansion - One of the most mesmerizing sights was the aerial view of Mexico City, the vast expansion that just endlessly spread before my eyes into the horizon was unforgettable. Guadalajara appealed to me as a rapidly growing city as well.
Repetition - what Luis calls ‘a very modern condition. I was surprised to see suburban development like the United States in Mexico - all houses, in vast numbers, were identical.
A multi-level loft in a rectangular volume. Circulation and ancillary spaces happen in a double wall surrounding the living space. Other units share this double walled space for their own circulation.
