in Relation
Boston, MA 2012
Based on a 10 day-long trip through New York City, Big Bend National Park, and Marfa, Texas, this installation was a means of translating our experiences. These works are the product of a collaboration among our fall 2012 Special Topics Studio class with Samantha Altieri, Viviana Bernal, Erblin Bucaliu, Katherine Bujalski, Brittany Carey, Kristen Giannone, Mark Morin, Bao Nguyen, Samantha Partington, Charles Simmons, Liem Than, Robert Trumbour (instructor), Alex Cabral and myself. This studio aimed to capture the findings—including drawings, sensory data, and emotional mappings—recorded by the group and through working at a 1:1 scale, represent them in a built form.
The installation created a field condition to allow the user to experience a sensation of compression and release. Through the use of low-tech materials and high-tech design tools, we created a system utilizing bent PVC tubing that would then populate the site. The system was comprised of an isometric grid at the base plane that set up an even framework to build upon. A group of pipes bundled together at mid-height and steel pipes pushed the PVC pipes outward to create a canopy. Using the parameters set up within this system, clusters could be generatively arranged to create varying densities throughout the site based on selected nodes. The final arrangement allowed for the user to create their own experience as they meandered through the installation.