The main project of Studio III was an art gallery. This project was designed to incrementally introduce new design constraints that would need to be addressed. The first exercise in this process was what was called the “Ground Lab Models”, wherein we were to respond to a few abstract site conditions. It wasn’t specified in which way this response was to occur, but my response was mostly subtractive in nature. Ideas that were generated in this process were carried throughout the entire project. The second exercise that was introduced was to pick an artist from a list of exhibitions, that were on display in Denver at the time, and analyze some of their art and the space that would be required to display it. The final exercise that was introduced was a site analysis that then created the final design.
This project was dissatisfying to me personally because I lacked the understanding required to apply a concept that I genuinely was excited about. It turned into a typical, modern, mini-art-gallery. This discovery was possibly the greatest learning experience of the studio.
Ground Lab Modeling created the ideas of Axial Shifts: to create sightline breaks and framed views, Elevational Shifts to emphasize threshold moments, and Compressive Moments that differentiate the spaces.
Many iterations were attempted and tested to best address the abstract prompts that were given during the early stages of this project.
A significant amount of exploration was done by way of modeling. Smaller scale concept models were continually adapted to include new ideas. Section models were also created to study light and space.
