Tectonic Objects
2003
Undergraduate project
This design exercise required the selection of an artistic composition and one or more architectural details. The composition would act as the basis for the plan and section of the project, while the details would be applied to give the resulting model a tectonic character.
The composition chose for Tectonic Object I was a work from Daniel Libeskind's Micromegas series of drawings. The tectonic template was taken from the construction photos of the Yokohama International Passenger Terminal, designed by Foreign Office Architects. The project combines the vocabulary of the folded plates and rib-like structure with the vibrancy and fragmentation of the Libeskind composition.
Tectonic Object II was based on the De Stijl painter Theo van Doesburg's composition Rhythm of a Russian Dance. Works by Tadao Ando and Winka Dubbeldam provide the inspiration for the architectural details. The rhythm of the van Doesburg composition is captured by rectilinear concrete planes that form the walls, floors, and roof elements of the project. Glazed areas enclose the spaces between the solid masses and steel H-sections form an expressed frame that gives the building its structure.