Art Institute for Solidarity. Xochimilco, Mexico.

Universidad Intercontinental. Mexico City. October 2007

Jury:

Gabriel Esquivel

Pedro Alvarado

Carlos Tello

Hector Said

First Place. "The Drop"

The idea about this project was to produce a vortex using the drop of water as the inspiration. This condition organized the rest of the project around it. The decision for giving this project the first place was that it was not an enclosed building and offered direct contact with the canals but at the same time producing a "hazy atmosphere" with the interaction of the material from the vortex, the sunlight and the water reflection. The project's main concern was the production of an effect by magnifying the intensity of the drop. The project was resolved with analog techniques.

Students:

Jorge Aramburu and Ivan Madrigal

Digital Baroque 3

Digital Seminar. San Carlo Alle Quattro Fontane. 2007 Instructor: Gabriel Esquivel Trina Weaver

Katy Johnson

Check the other two blogs on the same topic

Atmosphere 1. Study of Luis Barragan

Digital Model

Analog Study

Inspiration

"Color, Effect, Luster and Opulence"

Exhibition of Luis Barragan. Wexner Center, Columbus, Ohio. 2007.

Critic: Gabriel Esquivel

Project by: Kylie Karagiorge and Ali Brewer

In Barragán’s work the fluctuation experienced from one space to the next gives the subject the sense of non-uniformity within the house, and awareness that specific “atmospheres” attempt to evoke different emotions and senses. Each atmosphere has inherited qualities of light, color, sound, and function. Populations of objects, art and furniture interact with the physical form and ambient effects to produce qualities of sensuality, pleasure, intimacy, spirituality, etc. Color was the final addition to the constructed space. Barragán would revisit the construction site and try to imagine the color in the environment. He found inspiration from the drawings of Chucho Reyes as well as Surrealist works by Magritte, Delvaux and De Chirico on account of their strange and mysterious auras. Chucho Reyes was credited by Barragán for his placing of color in his own work. He also referred to the studies of Itten which is devoted to laws of physics, harmony, contrast, and spatial effects of colors offering certain guidelines and strategies for color application such as the effects of cold and warm tones; warm tones will advance in perception and cold tones will retreat. For Barragán -“…color is employed as an agent for metamorphosing spaces and creating different ambiences.”[1] He employed color to create an atmosphere that would produce an aesthetic response. Surfaces of the walls are textured never smooth, interacting with color and light intensifying the effect. Barragán regarded light as a tool for qualifying and transforming spaces. Spaces are introspective and sequential and are patterned by light and shadow. He worked by a process of assimilation – to integrate painting, sculpture and architecture perfectly and produce works in which it is impossible to separate the various components. There are very specific, prominent pieces placed within the various atmospheres of his house. Each lends itself to some type of perceptive effect or engages in the discourse of the architect. Jose Clemente Orozco’s Pueblo Mexicano, 1930 (living room) paints shadows where light goes and light where shadows go. Barragan saw this as an important lesson for architecture and often fetishizing the possibility of achieving the impossibility of the painting. Mathias Goeritz coined the concept of emotional architecture. Barragan used this concept in his research for an architecture that contains magic, mystery, beauty and enjoyment. He would use Goeritz’s chromatic gold paintings in spaces to impact light and spatial perception.When we consider color and atmosphere let’s go to Richard Wagner’s composition, particularly those of his later period, which are notable for their elaborate use of leitmotif. A leitmotif is a recurring musical theme, associated within a particular piece of music with a particular person, place or idea.

The operative qualities in leitmotif are required in the contemporary architectural work where there is the condition of integration for different ontological constructs. Today those leitmotifs have become digital technologies that can assist in that integration not only through systems of image production, but with new parametric systems that can bind and explore those philosophies with construction technology. The work of Luis Barragán would often be compared to Mies Van Der Rohe. Although there are similarities in the ambition to produce perceptual effects, there are clear differences as to how and what degree that is done. For example Mies Van Der Rohe’s Farnsworth House & Phillip Johnson’s Glass House are composed of a standardized set of internal parts and make an effort to produce effects that are as consistent as possible. This could be described as a uniformity of effect.

The exploration will require the use of analog models and digital rhino models as the instrumentality of the studio. The process will be followed by understanding the contemporary conditions of a site for this particular project. The studio will require the use of analog models as well as the previously indicated digital ones. Finally the specific prototype will be developed revising the programmatic conditions and event structure that will sufficiently support this project. The project to develop could be a transformation and a redirection of a precedent with normative tectonics as long as there is a specific infrastructure to support it. The studio began by doing preliminary research on the precedent, following an image analysis using a analog model process with the support of the selected software a technique model. The investigation was followed by understanding the conditions of the space of the Wexner Center. The studio will require the use of analog models first and then the indicated digital ones.

Atmospheres 2

Digital Model

Analog Study

Inspiration

Exhuberant Texture

Kylie Karagiorge and Ali Brewer

Atmospheres 3

Digital Models

Analog Study

Inspiration

Opulence and Reflection

Kylie Karagiorge and Ali Brewer

Atmospheres 4

Digital Model

Analog Model

Inspiration

Color Effects and Reflection

Kylie Karagiorge and Ali Brewer

Digital Baroque

Digital San Carlo Alle Quattro Fontane. Department Of Design. The Ohio State University. 2007

Critic: Gabriel Esquivel

We would like to address specific ways in which experimental architects make use of digital media, what effects this has on architectural production and architectural form, and how this relates to today’s rapid and complex cultural transformations. Performance as a paradigm for architecture moves the attention away from the static object and towards a complex and dynamic plane of relations. Performance understands architecture, technology and culture not as separate and isolated elements, but as elements interrelated through complex feedback loops, by which they simultaneously affect each other. After building and analyzing crucial aspects of the irregularities of San Carlo’s interior surface, you need to establish an organization to begin to record the simple changes and the affects of the generated surface. The precedent helps us speculate into a new development of the Baroque Technique using new technology to continue the process.

Consult the San Carlo posting within this Blog. October 13.

Paul Benson

Joe Weagraff

Amber Dixon

Justin Boyd

Gabe Tippery

Automotive Sensibility

Zach Kamerer

Adam Davie

Fourth Year Studio. Knowlton School of Architecture. The Ohio State University. Autumn 2007.

Critic: Gabriel Esquivel.

See section 3 for Discourse.

Automotive Sensibility 2

Eric Schmiesing

Dustin Todd

Brandon Vickers

Fourth Year Studio. Knowlton School of Architecture. The Ohio State University

Autumn 2007

Crtic: Gabriel Esquivel

Automotive Sensibility 3

Joseph Superak

Beth Evanoo

Young Jang

Fourth Year Studio. Knowlton School of Architecture. Autumn 2007

Critic: Gabriel Esquivel

The central aim of the studio was to continue the development of the student’s design sensibility and expertise. Specifically, studio participants manipulated a high-density program on an urban site and perhaps the program could engage interesting organizational and atmospheric proposition. The site is a new area of urban development in Columbus, Ohio. The idea was to look at cars in terms of cultural icons and performative industrial design objects. The students had to develop a certain sensibility using the car, its lines, nuances and seriality into the project. The final project had to evoke certain aspects about the car without being metaphorical or iconographic. The results were diverse and discussed different aesthetic propositions.

Studio Anticipation

Just an example of great high-rise projects to come from Gabriel Esquivel's Forth Year Studio. Project by Zach Kamerer.

Final Review November 30th. 2:00 p.m. at KSA Central Space.

Invited Jury.

Kivi Sotamaa

Clover Lee

Museum for Solidarity.

Univeridad Intercontinental.

Mexico City October 5, 2007.

Project by Raul Basurto.

Gabriel Esquivel was invited to design and precede the jury for this competition.

It was decided to make museum for Solidarity, a city-forming object in Xochimilco Mexico, built by ideology and by technologies of 21st century. New museum should become a city brand, a visiting card of the city and region, like Guggenheim museum in Bilbao by Frank Ghery, Kiasma by Stephen Hall in Helsinki, Gratz museum by Peter Cook, MXXI by Zaha Hadid in Cincinnati. The objective of the project is to widely confront creative design solutions and to select the project of the highest aesthetic, functional and operating values. This Center is to commemorate the importance of Solidarity. This center is a diverse organization, with several programs supporting to the education, the culture and the new currents. These activities are diverse from exhibitions, conferences, film, theater and concerts. A fundamental aspect for the accomplishment of this project is the discussion of the emergent technologies that affect the execution of the architectonic project in XXI Century. The points to consider were: Originality of the aesthetic values Generation of form and geometry control Innovating nature of the solution Discussion on Emergent Technologies Nature of the design Materiality and structural aspects of the design This competition was a research and design workshop. The first part concentrated on the understanding of surface, geometry and ornament in different cultures; Aztec, Islamic, Mayan, Mexican Baroque, etc. The second will be an attempt at developing an alternative approach to architectural design capable of engendering a new type of bio-morphology. The proposed morphogenetic approach required a novel theory of species for architecture that may be related to the notion of genes and species within biological evolution. It will be an experiment in morphogenesis based on an abstract formal system that is autonomous and deterministic once the rules are set and defined. The result was a new generation of performative and emotive surfaces that related the genetic conditions of the precedents that were applied. The Third step was to develop an understanding of what Solidarity could be in terms of mood, aesthetics and atmosphere in the context of Xochmilco and the technological precedent of the building by Felix Candela. The new Project will occupy the site next to it.