Tectonic Map Update

In the next trial tectonic drawing I made I tried to focus on giving more depth to the drawing and also to make the cross section read better. It seems closer to being a drawing from one perspective and invention from another but I think it still at risk of being more of a model. I think for the final try it may be that I need to shift some of the elements back and forth in space and simplify detail.

Dibujos sin Papel: Plaster Cast

For the stereotmic map I decided to focus on the the three walls and the excavated space inbetween. The first try I cast so that the walls protruded outward. Some of the issues were that the walls were delicate and the mold was difficult to unmold.

In the second try, I reversed the cast by having the walls sunk in and the land raised. I am unsure as to how I feel about the heights of the land and if the walls need to be carved in more. I also think there may be a better way to frame the cast. 

Try 1

Try 2

Mapping Part 2: Dibujos sin Papel

For the final two maps that will be a part of our final series of maps we are to create a tectonic and a stereotomic...basically we are to model a drawing of the condition being examined. The tectonic map can consist of wire, wood or string and explores joints and materials. The stereotmic map should consist of a heavier material like plaster or wax and should be cast in a single gesture.

So far I have only tried wire and am making more of a model of the site than a model of a drawing.



Unconscionable Maps Update...

I wasn't really sure what to focus on in making a drawdel that shows the wall as a place of transition. In the test drawdels I ended up looking at the relationship between the walls defining the excavated space without knowing it. 



House of Seven Gables

This is what the final product turned out to be for the first assignment.

 

Unconscionable Maps

The next task for studio is to look at our given site in Igualada and find thresholds that exist. After finding these thresholds, these places where two elements collide, places of transition, we are to map the threshold.

How big does the scope of the transition have to be? Does the threshold exist outside of the cemetery or inside the cemetery?

I am thinking of the retaining wall as the place of transition. At a larger scope, the wall buffers the sub terrain from the terrain. The wall also acts as a mediator from one level of ground to the next. The wall contains levels. The stairs within the wall can be seen as levels that lead from one part of earth to another. There are also levels of niches. The wall acts as a transition between materials.

The façade of the wall acts as a threshold separating living person experiencing the outside world from the dead experiencing the earth. There is the same moment of separation that occurs within the wall where the staircase can be used by the living and the earth on either side of the staircase can be used by the dead.

If the wall can be seen as a line and the wall divides then the line is a way to divide? And what about what happens in between the retaining walls? The sandwich of one retaining wall and another creates this larger wall. So then does an occupation of the wall occur? The space between is usually reserved for things not people but here the occupation of the wall is by both the living and the dead.

At a more micro scope there is the point with in the facade where bright daylight and darkness of the niche meet in a piece designed by Miralles to mediate light. This piece becomes ambiguous too in the sense that it is semi enclosed but also semi open. This piece serves as gateway to the isolation of the crypt from outside world. Here the moment where compression of the niche and expansion into open space combine. But this open space is simply more of a spacious enclosure of void because the wall as a whole entity encloses that space too.

The question is how to map?

Could the three maps be an examination of the wall through different microscopic lenses? And each lens of examination makes up a part of the whole? Perhaps the smallest level examining the detail of the wall then another map is of the transition that occurs inside between niches and earth.

Or, another 3 maps can examine the wall relates to the context as far as acting change in materials, as a place where levels change and maybe as I don't know what else.

Covers

I am wondering what is the best way to present my book . I want there to be a process of discovery for the reader. The cover, I feel should invite the critique to pick up the book and look at it because of a curiosity as to what is happening inside. The cover then becomes important. What makes a person pick up one book as opposed to another? The cover should also suggest what is to come either by way of text or graphics. How then do I want to alter the cover so that this curiosity is achieved. One idea is the cut one long stripe in the front cover that reveals the voided and solid sections inside. I wonder, though, if cutting a parallel strip goes too much against the perpendicular language that is happening in the book. Another idea is to cut seven marks into the book running in the same direction as the strips already created in the pages. Perhaps two of the strips align with a void that is already in the page so that in one moment there is a hole that penetrates entirely through the book. Also, in what way can I present the book so that it is not on display but rather available to the reader?

Mallarmé Remix

As an exercise to find ways of carving for our book assignment, we were challenged in studio to take the poem Un coup de dés by Stéphane Mallarmé and cut, glue, or tape together a new interpretation of the text. We were given an hour and a half to complete the task. I wasn't really sure what to do. This assignment was stressful. I decided to play with an idea that was discussed in the preface. In the preface it is suggested that the poem could be viewed as this sort of symphony. In a symphony there are several instuments that mesh together to create a composition. I interpreted the varying text types as different instruments. By first removing the text from the page, then reinserting the text through the voids, I created a weaved composition. Like a symphony, the different text would mesh together to create a new version of the poem.

Cavernous Holes

After our critique of concepts, it was suggested that I find a way to combine the carving method of 7 voids with puncturing as a way to create a new perception of the book. I am not sure what I want the 7 gables to be perceived as. Is it the solid page or the voided section that reads as the gable? I think that I do want this ambiguity to exist so that the viewer can decide. I also am unsure as to whether there should be two sets of voids or just one. In the initial diagramming of carving by puncturing I had the punctures running both perpendicular and parallel to the spine. The issue I run into with trying to carve in both directions is that the voids running parallel to the spine do not read as strongly as the voids running perpendicularly. Perhaps then there are suggestions of two lines of void but the ones parallel to the spine are not as defined as the perpendicular lines . I also wonder whether the cover should be carved and in what way? Additionally, should the voided sections reach entirely through the book?

Interpretation

Carving text

7 Voids

Carving by Puncturing

After looking at the The House of Seven Gables, I decided to focus on the concept of the house and its gables and the themes of sin and reconciliation.

Reconciliation:

The story begins with one family, the Pyncheon family, coveting the land of another family, the Maule family, and building a house on that land. At the end of the story the initial sin is resolved through a reconciling of wrong doings committed between the two families. Similarly, like the story it contains, the book itself can be perceived as a reconciled and complete piece. The book has two covers, complete chapters, and text centered on the page. The first concept I had of redesigning how the book will be perceived was to unresolve the reconciliation of the book. Through thinking of the text as the solid and the page as the void, my idea was to remove text from the page without physically carving, carving without carving. By removing the ink to reveal the white page the balance between text and page and solid and void can begin to become disrupted.

House and Gables:
Central to the story is the house where the characters live.  The house in the book was inspired by the original House of Seven Gables located in Salem Mass. The original house was at one point owned by Nathaniel Hawthorne's cousin.

The second approach to carving, 7 voids, takes the idea of the gables of the house and reinterprets them through carving seven voided sections into the pages of the book. There is an ambiguity of what is considered the gable. Is it the solid page or the void?

Sin:
The story and actions of the characters center around an initial sin that is committed by one family on another. Sin is in essence a violation. The third approach views the act of carving the book as a violation of the book. The idea of puncturing thus reflects a sin committed against the book.

Empty Space: Books, Paper, Scissors

Our first assignment for the studio is to take a given book, interpret its meaning, and redesign how the book is perceived based on that interpretation. By means of representation we are to dissect, analyze and explain what the central condition of the book is. We are to propose and execute by means of carving the book to reveal that central condition.

The book I received is the House of Seven Gables. Its a really nice book...has a good weight, the size is just right, thicker pages, and the smell has that old book smell. I almost don't want to cut it up and feel bad to have to sacrifice such a beautiful work. I don't think my book wants to be cut up either. While flipping through its pages I found left over on the inside of the cover a rule from the library it previously belonged to.

The rule (and the only rule left too) states "Every person shall make good whatever damage is sustained by a book while standing in his or her name, and the Librarian may, at his discretion, refuse each individual any use of the Library until this is done". I think my book is threatening me.