Drawings made in 3D Design Class

Place

Most people characterize a place as a type of destination or the reaching of a certain desired point. What I want to explore with my place project is how a place is formed based on a goal or a non-goal. With my project I want to impart to people that a place can be additionally defined by its occupant’s intention. Sometimes one may aim to reach another location simply to escape his/her current predicament, and therefore his goal becomes his place and the path is simply a means to an end. Whilst someone else’s idea of a place is the path itself; he chooses to wander. These I plan to characterize as follows: I plan to build a maze in which two people’s backs are facing each other. Based on the two directions these people are facing their experience of place will be quite different. One person will face a confined and impeded path while the other will be presented with a somewhat straight and unrestricted path. Because of the obstruction and claustrophobia the former will experience, he will be pressured to make it to the end of the maze, thereby making the end his place. The latter, however, does not find anything wrong with staying in the path, wandering around, thus his path is his place. The maze is an allegory for life in this world. While one man may go through life pursuing the direct route and the quickest ways to his goals, another may choose to wander, to step back and experience what life has to offer. However, in the end we all grow and develop, reaching the conclusion of life’s labyrinths. The Japanese word “Ma” is a great representation of this theme. “Ma”(negative space) is the space around and between the subject(s) of an image. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, and not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape, and such space is occasionally used to artistic effect as the "real" subject of an image. This is repeatedly seen in figure-ground reversal. Similarly, a maze is created by the space between the walls and not the walls themselves. Therefore, one’s decision to take up the maze challenge or discard it is completely based on the curvature or incurvature of the void.

Path

This path is based on the story of Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. There are 7 characters in the story that continuously reappear as architectural elements/experiences in my Path. The order of the path purposely follows the sequence of the 25 minute musical piece written by Prokiev, thus achieving architecture through music. The 7 characters are as follows: Sasha the bird played by the flute and therefore represented by the ever-changing pattern of steps jutting out at different sizes. This emulates Sasha because she has an almost hyperactive positive/good(=ascending steps) attitude. Sonia the duck/oboe inspired me to use a series of descending ramps to represent her lazy and very slow non-athletic movement. Ivan the cat/clarinet (low register) takes on the form of descending (=negative/not helpful),spiraling steps. This is because we are never sure what Ivan is thinking, he's very sneaky and can turn on someone very suddenly (this is seen when he attacks Sasha, for the most basic reason that he is a cat and Sasha is a bird). The Grandfather/bassoon, an instrument that brings to mind the never ending reprimands of our elders, is interpreted as a maze of paths, representing the many times Peter must outsmart his Grandfather in order to go on his expedition. Our villain the Wolf/horns give off the vibe of an eerie, terrifyingly mysterious evil represented on my path by the dark spaces (=evil) created by walls and ceilings that are not accompanying the solo door frame which represents Peter. The 3 Hunters/Kettle drums which sound very flat and similar to the final and firm sound of death correspond to the 3 flat gun-like protrusions found on the path. Finally our hero Peter/string quartet is depicted as a doorframe. Peter is a boy who wants to prove his worth and doesn't want to understand the danger he is putting himself into. This is greatly personified by the string quartet which sounds like its scared of no one and very sure of itself. The Path project is also meant to echo our model of threshold which is done as follows: The concept of Threshold was to capture the many experiences of transition with different forms or spaces. For this i used Light(open spaces) and Dark(closed spaces). Now in this path those same spaces are being brought back but now representing good and evil. The unaccompanied doorframe symbolizes light not just because there are no walls and ceilings to dim the natural light, but because it represents the new opportunities (hunting the wolf) without negativity or bounds(the chance that Peter may be killed) The walls and ceilings symbolize dark not just because they create darkness when attached to a door frame but also because they limit and stagnate one's incessant need to grow.