Final Mass+Void+Site - Clarence Lee

Final Mass + Void + Site

For my final iteration, I decided that I would treat the site as it is instead of some natural landscape. I thought that if I want a form to harmonise with the site I can complement it by creating a form that is heavy, light, angular, curvilinear or a mixture of these aspects. I also remembered that one of the tutors commented that most of our creations were highly monumental. This inspired me to create something different.

Looking at the site again, I saw how the contours pile above each other, emerging through what could have been a linear plane. To harmonise would be to in a sense come to terms with the general "flow". This gave me the idea of a form that looks fragile, light and hovers gracefully above the site. This was my starting point.

My main intention for the user was to create a form that can be easily relatable. I sought to achieve this by bringing out the beauty of order and to introduce light, nature and spatial depth to foster a meditative and sublime atmosphere. For this reason, the scale of the form was especially important. I did not want it to appear overly monumental, nor did I want it to appear too aesthetically overdone if it was shrunken. 

In terms of what I could glean from my previous work, I was once again interested in how the overlapping contours/rings of my wood and paper models could a) help me respond to the site and b) create the ideal experience for the user.

I also used the ideas from my previous iterations to help me arrive at this final form. 

Having done some research on Tadao Ando's ideas and work, I was influenced to try out the concept of using orderly forms to complement an irregular form. 

For this reason, I felt that the colonnades can give the final form a sense of rhythm and order. As a form, it also serves to visually mark out the gradient of the site, thereby complementing it. In terms of the users' experience, the huge colonnade that seems to support the sky will add to feelings of the sublime. The moving light during different times/weather of the day will also result in the bold and still shadows that will enhance the mood for contemplation. 

I have also decided to add a functionless bridge that connects the pillars that mark out the steeper approaches. These bridges will serve to enhance the users' approach, descend, helps frame the sky and also gives the overall form a sense of wholeness. 

The overlapping layers were created to lend emphasis to the gradient and the contours. What I was trying to achieve was to give the site a physical manifestation of its "genus loci" and depict it to be emerging directly from the site itself. I think I failed in this aspect as the layers i used did not fully achieve that sense of flight and drama. They were aesthetically too chunky.