ARCHDES 702 - Advanced Design II
This AD2 paper was a hell of an undertaking, also taking place during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns, the majority of the semester was spent at home. Despite this, while being supervised by Aaron Paterson and Michael McCabe, we were encouraged to stay true to the paper's rough-around-the-edges ideology of "shonky-ness".
We began the semester in studio - after experimenting with projection mapping on small scale models - we were provided a list of films of which to study. I selected Yann Gonzalez's 2018 'Un Couteau dan La Cœur', a gorgeous French film which follows a brief moment in a gay pornography director's life, it's almost surreal at points, though it's completely and unabashedly queer.
I enjoyed one particular textural moment within the film, here we watch the scene [above] through the lens of the director's camera. We pass through large draped translucent set pieces and - as a voyeur - are intertwined with naked bodies that marvel at their own sexuality.
The idea of the veil as an architectural elements generates a curiosity, as it acts as a method of concealment, drawing upon the desirable, the erotic, and even the menacing.
Soon after this initial study we were back into our homes. I took this opportunity to experiment with 1:1 modelling, exploring a scale in which my body could wholly interact with. I created 3 short films that study the veil through light, shadow, and sound.
(Headphones recommended)
The overarching brief here required us to design a film + production studio space on the site of the old Mid-City cinema (now home to CityFitness among other things, in case you’re unfamiliar). I opted to completely replace this existing structure with a monolith to queer culture, exploiting the veil across multiple levels while incorporate a cruising zone and nightclub space below the aforementioned programs outline the brief.
As we popped out of isolation a good few weeks before the deadline, I took the opportunity to create a set of models at 1:100 and 1:50 of how I imagined these spaces would manifest.
Very basic plans / sections were also made for submission, though we were encouraged to not stress too much about them being perfect, as they were solely the rough basis for our models.
The final output of this project was interesting though - with a final set of films building upon the themes of our initial 3. These incorporated more site specific imagery, my approaching being by way of the scaled nightclub and 1:1 veil models. These took the place of detailed technical drawings.
(Headphones recommended)