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The Cooper Union School of Architecture
DESIGN IV
Fall Semester, 2010
Professors Diane Lewis, Peter Schubert, Mersiha Veledar, Daniel Meridor, Dan Sherer
“AUTONOMIES”& SPATIALIZMO
A study of principles derived in the work of Lucio Fontana
A project for the architecture of the city – in five autonomous phases:
PHASE ONE AND TWO
ELEMENTS AND 30-FOOT CUBE PAVILION
SELECT FOUR VARIABLES: The project began with four boxes of paper slips each describing a condition of: STRUCTURE< ENTRY< PROGRAM<LIGHT SOURCE
Each participant selected a piece of paper from each of the boxes as a series of conditions that had to be integrated to design an implicit or explicit condition of a 30-foot cubic pavilion.
The drawing set to describe this structure was done at one half inch equals one foot. The model was constructed at one-quarter inch equals one foot. The lexicon of elements including stairs, ramps, entry elements, light elements, and structural elements was drawn at either scale.
PHASE THREE
ESTABLISH THE CITY: SITE/TEXT
A site was selected from a box of site plans.
The site was to be studied as a minimum of two different eras in its morphology.
Site plans and sections at 1/16 inch and 1/32nd inch equal one foot were created, and corresponding site models were created.
PHASE FOUR
POSITION THE 30-FOOT CUBE PAVILION AT STREET LEVEL
PHASE FIVE
SELECT ANOTHER CONDITION FOR MASSING TO COMPLIMENT 30-FOOT CUBE PAVILION. PERIMETER BLOCK< PILOTIS TOWER< TOWER ON STREET< PILOTIS SLAB OR SLAB AT STREET
With Mass and the Pavilion positioned, the entire site can be re-read for civic and domestic program inclusive of consideration of surrounding existing fabric, and site morphology at every elevation of the tectonic city landscape.
The principles of Fontana’s Spatializmo were studied throughout; Each participant selected a Fontana text and maintained a development of their understanding of that study throughout the project.
The project can be examined in each and every element in equal weight – from the structural elements to the light elements, stairs, the pavilion, site work, or massing – each element is an autonomous identity in the civic space and memory.
