Manori S - Secrecy of the Void

Thesis Studio

SCI-Arc
2014 Spring Semester
Advisor: Devyn Weiser

Special Advisors: Dora Epstein Jones & Thom Mayne

Thesis Coordinator: Dwayne Oyler

What is the void?

The void may imply Nothingness

And imply a space that is simultaneously absent and present.

A formless field that allows for movement & dwelling

I want this formless thing of nothingness to be something, with a deliberate form and purpose.

I’m interested in the space between the exterior mass and the interior object of a theater. It is reimagined in my thesis as a void.

I approach the void as a controlled and a designed object as opposed to the void that is a by-product… A void as by-product may be witnessed in Nouvel / Starck’s Tokyo Philharmonic. And it is from this, that I recognize the ways in which the philharmonic style of theater is a natural choice for exploring the object-void relationship.

My void is not a residual by-product of inserting the interior theater into an exterior mass. Instead, it is at the same hierarchical level as the theater and the exterior object, placing it on a flat ontology.

The void enhances the architectural potential of the overall design by adding a formal value to the relationship between the exterior entity and the interior objects. This equality of void to thing drives my project.

Henry Moore’s Helmet Head # 2 sculpture from 1955, is a very interesting formal case study for this purpose. (Point to Henry Moore sculpture in Precedents)

· The materiality & the form creates a wonderful tension between mechanistic form & the animistic feeling

· The gaze, the interrogative attitude makes a direct demand on the viewer

· It Implies secrecy of its internal voids

· The implacability of its outward structures resists all dialogue.

· There is a Sense of Enigma of the objects

These qualities from Moore’s sculpture are very appealing to me and I am hoping to bring them to the architectural conversation of this thesis.

Precedents Study
34" x 20" Print on Water Color Paper

This thesis project is a counter proposal to Jean Nouvel’s Paris Philharmonie, at Park de la Villette.

It has a 2100 seat grand auditorium, a chamber music hall, an experimental performance space dubbed the “lab” and other support spaces.

The Exterior envelop responds to both the interior void object and the exterior site incidents.

In some instances the interior objects pushes the envelope outwards and envelop tightly contain them. In other instances the objects manage to rupture the envelope and spill out to the site.

Entry & Procession Diagram
34" x 36" Print on Water Color Paper

The apertures pull in the site to the interior of the design, demanding the interior void to engage with the park.
The apertures and the spills engages with the 4 main landmarks in the park – The Zenith on the north, The Geod & the City of Industry Museum on the North West, The Park Hall on the West, The City of Music Building on the South West.

In my proposal, the void is a part of the architectural object that responds to place. It is activated by movement.

Interposition of the interior objects into the exterior form helps break down any perceived singularity between the two forms. The void brings together different problematic forces such as transitioning between the exterior chaos to the interior tranquil space. And the void mediates the velocity from the exterior to interior and can create very interesting and complex interior public and social spaces.

The design begins by establishing the primary programmatic components such as the Grand Auditorium, the Chamber Music Hall, The Lab and the object that contains the Library & the Education Center. The Circulation to and around these objects are established in order to set up the utilitarian foundation of the void object. Complex spatial conditions are combined with the utilitarian requirements, in creating the void object. This object is autonomous from the formal language of the interior objects and exterior.

The theater is pushed into the void through the underbelly.

Components Diagram
60" x 15" Print on Water Color Paper

Interior Render View
29" x 20" Print on Water Color Paper

Exterior Render View
29" x 20" Print on Water Color Paper

In adding this extra layer, the External form is now liberated to create its own object-identity.

The layering of the form also allowed me to address a few complex set of responsibilities presented in Architecture such as the structure, materiality, and interstitial space. The void is the entity that bares the primary structural responsibility of the design.

Plan

1:300 Scale
60" x 20" Print on Water Color Paper

The apertures, while making gestural relationships with the site, spill out the interior to exterior in controlled moments, and the layers enhance the enigmatic feeling and the secretive attitude. They also add a very animistic quality to the overall design.

Objects are generally understood as an exterior form and not typically considered as a complex interior condition.

The secrecy of the void is never revealed in one given moment from the exterior, only enabling glimpses into what lies inside. The secret is ONLY revealed when a person steps into the interior. It can ONLY be experienced once the person is inside the complex interior spaces and the form.

Section

1:150 Scale

60" x 26" Print on Water Color Paper

Sectional Model

1:300 Scale

Model - Powder Print 12.5" x 18" (LGM)

Plynth - CNC Milled Foam 12.5" x 48" (SCI-Arc fabrication shop)

Thesis research began with Object Oriented Ontology (OOO) which is more or less useless for architecture, but which readily suggests a reinterpretation of the building as an object. So, if it’s an object, then it must have relationships to other objects, and if it has relationships to other objects then this must mean that it has non-relationships interpreted as voids. To follow this logic completely, a void can either be residual to the objects, or it can have its own agency. I chose the latter. And this can propel a number of architectural concerns, not just theaters.