Peter Eisenmann, House II
I was assigned Eisenmann's House II to do a case study on. We were to focus on its floor plans, section drawings, and especially its volumetric forms.
From this, we were to create a 'massing model' of the building's main spaces or general structure. At the same time, I was assigned a random number, 9. This number means the massing model has to be made out of 9 smaller pieces that join together like puzzle pieces to make the whole.
This is what it is like when (partially) taken apart.
MESSY ARCHITECTURE
From those pieces before, we were to choose 4 of the most interesting ones to create a new building of 2 stories (consisting of 2 and 4 rooms in each floor) on a 136 x 88 ft sloped site. But most importantly, the design has to be inspired by a randomly assigned word, which I received "messy."
Because of the many restrictions the project held, such as no trimming walls when pieces intersect, I always find myself having way more than 6 rooms in total. To deal with this I developed a system in which the pieces were paired 2 by 2. The pairs sit on top of one another (do not intersect) and then rotated on its perpendicular axis. Finally, these pairs are 'mushed' together to create 'messy'.
12 Windows
Furthermore, we were to create 12 windows that consist of 6 "designed" and 6 "incidental" windows no larger than 8x8ft in each of its dimension. This means that the 6 "designed" windows each project through the building and cuts a new window on the opposing elevation, thus creating 6 "incidental" windows.
By placing all 6 "designed" windows on corners of the building mass, these windows which mostly operate through a substraction method (only 1 pair of windows extrude outwards) are able to deform the volumnious shape of the original building. Some of the "incidental" windows also fall on corners, while some do not.
11 Columns and 13 Benches
'Messy' can be a good excuse to basically do anything I want. However, I mostly interpret the word as 'misalignment'. This is mostly reflected in the building's column placement, where the columns do not align to one another nor anything.
Also, benches are used as devices for redirecting flow and places to pause. Because the messy conjoining of my 4 original pieces creates sharp corners in a lot of the rooms, I utilized these benches in these corners to direct movement there.
And 8 doors, 2 entrances, 1 bathroom, lots of stairs and a pathway...
In the inside
Section model
Materials Used: Bristol paper, tacky glue, wooden dowels, acrylic paint.
Programs used: Rhinoceros, Adobe Illustrator.
This project won the Ray Watson Best Project Prize 2016.
