Ensphere_West 2nd Street Art Museum
Academic work_SCI-Arc 2022 Fall /// Instructor: Jenny Wu /// Partner: Yiyu Zhou /// Software: Rhino, Cinema 4D, Redshift ///
Academic work_SCI-Arc 2022 Fall /// Instructor: Jenny Wu /// Partner: Yiyu Zhou /// Software: Rhino, Cinema 4D, Redshift ///
Geometric primitives are the basic shapes we all know and recognize. They are simple three-dimensional forms such as cubes, spheres, cylinders, and cones. One of the fundamental powers of the primitive is the way our brain instantly recognizes its geometric character, even when the form is not perfectly defined.
In addition to its formal qualities, we have also been interested in articulating methods of assembly, specifically the operations necessary in connecting and attaching parts in place. We like to imagine that building elements, while sliding, rotating, and clicking into place, may leave traces of their assembly onto the architecture itself.
The project began by using Midjourney as an early exercise to test potential configurations and spatial consequences for a geometric primitive made with interlocking parts. The second half of the semester will situate the primitive in relation to the ground.
West 2nd Street Art Museum
Based on the primitive puzzle previously developed, we want to discover the possibility of how the primitive puzzle can be the starting point for a building. By de-assembling the primitive into a new posture on a site, the spatial relationship within the sphere puzzle fundamentally disrupts the fit of the parts to its whole and opens up opportunities for the primitive to become architectural - addressing program, structure, spatial sequence, and materiality.
The site of the building is located in the heart of downtown LA, in a nearby open space of The Broad. The site is on a slope with a huge height difference which is a continuous slope all the way up to The Broad. This open space is now used as a parking lot.
As an art museum, we imagine the building and the surrounding landscape are not only an extension of the original museum space of The Broad but also a space that bridges and interlocks the space, people, and the neighborhood and allows them to flow inside. The sphere puzzle was de-assembled by a few moves, such as pulling out and adding pieces, scaling, and rotating before placing it on the site.
Midjourney / DALL.E 2 v.s. 3D Primitive Puzzle
In recent years, with the increasing development of AI computing power, AI’s ability to process images has also improved. When a man’s drawing created with Midjourney AI won an award at the Fine Arts Exhibition held at the Colorado State Fair, it caused an uproar not only in the art world but also among the general public. It is undeniable that the use of AI will gradually become part of people’s lives and affect the way creators create their work. AI can produce a series of solutions in a short period of time by interpreting textual narratives and deconstructing and sewing together material from databases. However, if we imagine a 3D spatial relationship based on the 2D images generated by AI, there is an ambiguity in the results generated by AI. This allow people to read the space and the 3D relationship in different ways. This ambiguity is why we should consider AI as a powerful aid to our design and exploration of volumes.
Our design uses two pictures obtained from midjourney and DALL.E 2 as the front and back hemispheres of the sphere puzzle. Using 3D modeling, we explore the relationship between the surface of the spheres and the volumes inside, such as how they connect and pull themselves together to form a sphere. In both midjourney and DALL.E 2 images, the depth and width of the gaps become the basis for cutting the spheres. We imagine the internal relationship of this sphere puzzle by disassembling the puzzle.
We use sequential disassembly to emphasize the narrative of a disassembly process and the spatial relationship between the connected parts of the different pieces. We imagine that this sphere is assembled by 9 pieces of different sizes, and in the process of disassembly, we can find that each piece overlaps and wraps around the previous parts that have not yet been disassembled. At the end of the disassembly, the core part is a key-like block that locks itself to the next piece. In terms of material selection for the physical model, we used clear resin as the core key material and plated copper, nickel, and zinc for the other pieces.
Circulation & Physical Section Model
The building volumes are mainly divided into two halves placed on the base; they come from the process of decomposition and transformation of the sphere puzzle. The keys in the original plan still function as keys to the two large spatial assemblages in the architectural space. The two keys in the building are the main spaces for changing the flow of people. We tried to preserve the spatial relationship between the different blocks of the original plan in the process of transforming the plan into a building. The transformed building volumes are combined with the newly designed topography to create a gap for people to enter.
Physical models of this project are built in 3/32” = 1’-0” and 1/16” = 1’-0” by 3D printing to show the detail inside the section and the relationship between the building and the overall landscape. To showcase the materiality of the design, In terms of material selection for the physical model, besides the spraypaints, copper, nickel, and zinc are are plated on the model.
