Portfolio 2.0

Austin Robert Madrigale

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PRINCETON

TEXA S A&M

bonkei chutes & ladders both& village k-12 golden corral enfilade ivy house superclips

a.r.k. exquisite corpse imperfect places

WORKS COMPENDIUM 2015 - 2021 1

Austin Robert Madrigale

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To the reader,

T

his catalog is an assemblage of conceptdriven design projects crafting the

body of my architectural explorations thus far. This particular volume of works archives projects from my four years of undergraduate experience at Texas A&M University and my first half of graduate experience at Princeton University. These projects are presented in descending order.

Each

project

presenting

its

own

architectural discussion and each drawing having its own representational purpose in the composition of the whole. This collection follows

themes

of

processes,

graphical

experimentation, theoretical investications, physical fabrications, and quirky executions all working in tandem to answer questions of architecture of different programs and at varying scales. Through further pursuits in the field of architecture and design, my hopes are to continure adding to this assemblage, expanding upon themes already introduced and discovering more along the way.

Thank you, Austin Robert Madrigale

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I PRINCE TON

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01 - bonkei 02 - chutes & ladders 03 - both& village 04 - k-12 05 - golden corral 06 - enfilade 07 - ivy house 08 - superclips

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01 BONKEI Eco-Cultural Park in Inujima, Japan M.ARCH FALL - 3RD YEAR STUDIO INSTRUCTOR(S): JESSE REISER OF RUR ARCHITECTURE DPC

This project seeks to create an ecocultural

as shelves for new sculptures and experiences

park that interacts with and highlights the

that pull visitors into the excavated histories.

excavated geographies of the island. Inujima,

These trails that traverse that landscape use

once home to a thriving quarrying and

the natural elements of the pits to create

copper refining industry, now has a declining

sensorial experiences for the viewer as scale,

population and a landscape scarred with the

light, texture, and atmosphere are highlighted

history of its industrial past. Most famous for

through the procession. In hopes of tapping

its granite mountains, the stone was excavated

into the geothermal energy in the site, an

to build castles in Japan as well as shrines

introduction of bathhouses will be placed

on the island, these quarrying sites are now

in the park providing new atmospheric

scattered across the island leaving pits now

conditions and layer of cultural experiences.

filled with water giving opportunity for new

A place of relaxation and a means of viewing

ecosystems of life and observation. Situated in

art similar to that of murals in traditional

the heart of the island, filling in the landscape

bath houses and placed opportunley to

between a network of abandoned quarry sites,

view the geographic landscape as art as well.

this park provides a cultural retreat allowing

This microcosmic park looks to create an all

visitors to immerse themselves in new and

encompassing journey of different ecosystems,

old histories of the island. A network of paths

histories, culture. A journey through a time

traverse the terraced geography, now serving

and atmosphere at the heart of inujima.

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BONKEI

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02 CH U TES & L A DDERS Center for Ceramics in Long Island City, New York M.ARCH SPRING - 2ND YEAR STUDIO INSTRUCTOR(S): WONNE ICKX OF PRODUCTORA

So why chutes and ladders? When presented

and compositions as they respond to a grid

with the prompt of proximity for this studio

and the objects in proximity to them.

I was interested in the relationship between

I wanted to look for similar

objects that were similar in their typology

relationships of proximity around our site

but had the ability to take on different formal

in queens. This resulted in a finding of these

expressions based on different pressures. The

big box sheds that are scattered along the

simplest example I can think of is the “bar”

east river. I read this Costco as an example

or long extrusion of a sectional profile. This

of “two ladders slipping” past each other

led me to thinking about the game of Chutes and

looking to the city across the water. Moving

Ladders where a bar can take on a rigid form in

down the waterfront from Rikers Island in

the case of a ladder ,with a strong directionality

the north to Dumbo in the south, there were

or a more freeform sweep that responds to its

many different examples of these industrial

environment, a chute. The game of Chutes and

sheds pointing to the water. Some taking

Ladders shows these two objects in proximity

on different section profiles that affect their

to each other in how they begin to layer on

readings as either a cluster of singular sheds

top of each other or slip around, under or

or maybe one extrusion of a 3 pitched roof

past each other, responding to environmental

which I found to be helpful in moving forward

conditions, creating some unique interactions

with my own proposal for the ceramics center.

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The problems introduced by trying

thus disrupting the programmatic expression

to apply my formal explorations with the

of the two and concealing itself within the

investigations of the shed typology around

repetition. The roof plan showcases the roof

the site at midterm were most attributed to

tear and clearly articulates the relationship

the direction of the grain of the project. This

between the chute and the ladder.

came with the implementation of a roof pitch

The proposal on the site is having a

that wants to work with the existing building

dialogue with the site bounds on the left, the

(horizontally) on the site but also one that

bridge on the right and the existing buildings

wants to extrude down our site towards the

across the east river on Roosevelt island.

water (vertically). tHis problem resolved

Looking almost as if it could plug into it and

itself in creating two different “ladders”. One

become an extension across the water. This

ladder defined by a private program with the

pier is introduced as an extension of the

same dimensions of the existing building on

queensboro park to the right of the bridge

the site that repeats itself all the way down to

connecting it to the proposal.

the waterfront set back. The second ladder, defined by a public program, looks at a singular pitch extrusion extending towards the water much like the examples presented earlier. This private bar takes on more of a domestic articulation with the repetition of the pitch roof. The long public shed then hinges and aligns itself to the bridge on its right. To mediate the grain of the roofs and bridge the gap between the two bars, the roof of the long shed tears off and slips itself into the other bar,

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CHUTES & LADDERS

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CHUTES & LADDERS

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CHUTES & LADDERS

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CHUTES & LADDERS

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CHUTES & LADDERS

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CHUTES & LADDERS

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CHUTES & LADDERS

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CHUTES & LADDERS

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03 B OTH& V IL L AGE Queer Quarters & Gender-Inclusive Housing for Princeton University M.ARCH FALL - 2ND YEAR STUDIO INSTRUCTOR(S): JING LIU & FLORIAN INDENBURG OF SO-IL

I

n this studio we were prompted with the

According to the 2019 anonymous

question of how to double the occupancy

senior exit survey, 18-20% of Princeton

of Spelman Hall, the historic dorms built my

seniors identify as a member of the LGBTQ

I.M Pei on Princeton University's campus,

community with approximately 6% coming

and how can we achieve doubling through

into their sexuality during their time at

sustainable means.

Princeton. With a collective student body

This project believes that not all

population of 8305 students, according to

bodies fit the binary and neither should

2019-2020 enrollment statistics, roughly 935

student housing. It believes in creating a

undergraduates and 539 graduate students

healthy environment for any and all students

identify as a member of the community. The

to grow in their work as well as in themselves.

campus pride index, an organization that

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rates and ranks universities based on tolerance

around the world with notable examples

and resources for the LGBT community, has

like the Castro neighborhood in San

consistently ranked Princeton University in

Francisco, Capitol Hill in Seattle, Le Village

the top 5 for the past 5 consecutive years.

in Montreal, Montrose District in Houston,

Peer universities have affinity housing

and Hells Kitchen and Greenwich village in

programs already in place tailoring to creating

New York City. Though these neighborhoods

a community based on shared experiences of

have traditionally come to be formed through

race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc

ghettoization of marginalized groups to

with schools like Dartmouth, Cornell, and the

generally less affluent areas. They have since

University of Southern California, to name a

been reclaimed, embraced, and affirmed

few, already having in place affinity housing

as places of refuge where members of the

programs for LGBT students. It would not

LGBT community can come together and

be out of place for Princeton University

benefit from the concentration of safe,

to implement a program of similar nature

nondiscriminatory resources and services and

given the size of its queer population and the

this is exactly what Both& Village aims for for

resources it has.

the students of Princeton.

Queer villages or gayborhoods can be found in nearly every metropolitan area

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BOTH& VILLAGE

Spelman Hall Spelman Hall has always been a dorm of change, from its first occupation as an all women’s dorm in 1973 it has since evolved into one of the few designated gender inclusive housing options on campus for partnered undergraduate students

or

for transgender/gender nonconforming students to have a more conformtable option to live. Understanding the history of the dorms as a sort of building whose inhabitants change with the social climates of the times, I used this as a departure point for my proposal of doubling the occupancy of Spelman hall and establishing it as an LGBTQ affinity housing complex and a safe space for students of shared experiences to live learn and create an environment that is sustainable for occupants in terms of academic success, community engagement and tolerance, and students’ mental and physical health.

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S p e l m a n H a l l , P r i n c e t o n Un i v e r s i t y A r c h i t e c t : I M Pe i , 1 9 7 3 Current occupancy: 206 students

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Spectrum of Interactions After speaking with the director of Princeton’s LGBT Resource Center, I mapped the programs of what he and the students would like to see in this hypothetical complex and organized them around the ideas of sustainability that I aimed to achieve through an affinity housing group, community engagement/tolerance, academic success, and positive health.

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HEALTH

GENDER INCLUSIVE LIVING

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

STI TESTING

ALLYSHIP

PUBLIC SAFETY

QUEER SPACE

MENTORSHIP PROGRAMS

COUNSELING SERVICES

SEX EDUCATION

GUEST SPEAKERS

PRINCETON LGBT RESOURCE CENTER

SPECTRUM OF INTERACTIONS

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ACADEMIC SUCCESS

BOTH& VILLAGE

Doubling through tangential packing Proposed occupancy: 445 students & public spaces

Spelman Double In order to double the amount of occupancy my intervention was found through the reading of Pei’s grid and introducing a new system of circles within the grid touching at the tangents of peis blocks to create a conversation of binaries. I wanted to start to develop a dialogue between the two systems, creating layering, bending, and wraps that will give the system a new reading but still maintains remnants of both. A both and condition.

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Both& The ground level is porous to allow for

in anonymity (especially younger college students)

interconnectivity to the rest of campus to promote

for that reason, each of the new blocks are organized

allyship and acceptance into the neighborhood.

around an interior program, giving inhabitants

The ground floor contains mostly public spaces

privacy from the rest of campus allowing them to

like common rooms, outdoor plazas, the newly

feel comfort within their own space.

expanded LGBT Resource Center and access to each block using the existing cores. Though there is a stigma that those of the LGBT community enjoy being, out, visible, and proud, most find comfort

Ground Level

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Up p e r L e v e l

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SECTION

1.1

L2

L1

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Village The section shows the different offering of “tribes within the village” as well as an underground tunnel system connecting the blocks and allowing students that find comfort in anonymity to pass between spaces without being seen replicating the bridges in the air below ground.

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BOTH& VILLAGE

Layered Richness striations on the exterior create an atmosphere that is inviting for the students living inside. The earth carved out for the tunnels will be repurposed for the earth walls and given a 15% lime coating to withstand erosion.

Influenced by the Chinese TuLou round villages as well as a spiral rammed earth wall done across from the site in the Forbes garden done by the Princeton form finding lab a few years back. The opportunity to create something beautifully graphic with the layering was also exciting. The more organic, colorful, and warm striations of the rammed earth on the interiors contrasting with the cold, sharp concrete

DETAIL 1.1

2

1. oak window, exterior untreated, interior oiled, double glazing 2. 180mm timber floor; leveling 25mm locally sourced loam board 3. 450mm rammed earth (10% lime-earth mixture outside coating); 2x 50mm reed-mat insulation; 30mm loam rendering with wall heating (roughcast loam plaster, finishing loam plaster with marble dust), iron oxide pigment for colored striations

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4. 27mm softwood lumber-core plywood (3-ply)

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5. 25mm reed mat insulation 6. 100mm rammed-earth floor, with vegetable-based hot wax, cork-trass-loam mixture as leveling 7. 280/120/30 mm mud brick as erosion protection, fired 8. 300/150 mm trass-lime ring anchor with reinforcement

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7 8

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RAMMED EARTH FABRICATION RAMMED EARTH FABRICATION & CONSTRUCTABILITY STUDY & CONSTRUCTABILITY STUDY DETAIL 1.1 DETAIL 1.1

1. oak window, exterior untreated, int 1. oak window, exterior untreated, in oiled, double glazing oiled, double glazing

2. 180mm timber floor; leveling 25mm 2. 180mm timber floor; leveling 25m locally sourced loam board locally sourced loam board

3. 450mm rammed earth (10% lime-e 3. 450mm rammed earth (10% limemixture outside coating); 2x 50mm mixture outside coating); 2x 50mm reed-mat insulation; 30mm loam ren reed-mat insulation; 30mm loam re ing with wall heating (roughcast loam ing with wall heating (roughcast loa plaster, finishing loam plaster with m plaster, finishing loam plaster with m dust), iron oxide pigment for colored dust), iron oxide pigment for colored striations striations

4. 27mm softwood lumber-core plyw 4. 27mm softwood lumber-core ply (3-ply) (3-ply) 5. 25mm reed mat insulation 5. 25mm reed mat insulation

6. 100mm rammed-earth floor, with 6. 100mm rammed-earth vegetable-based hot wax, floor, with vegetable-basedmixture hot wax, cork-trass-loam as leveling cork-trass-loam mixture as leveling

7. 280/120/30 mm mud brick as ero 7. 280/120/30 protection, firedmm mud brick as ero protection, fired

8. 300/150 mm trass-lime ring ancho mm trass-lime ring anch 8. 300/150 with reinforcement with reinforcement

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04 K-11 2 KK-12 School & Community Center in Trenton, New Jersey M.ARCH SPRING - YEAR STUDIO INSTRUCTOR(S): MONICA PONCE DE LEON & CAMERON WU

T

here were two preliminary exercises

exterior massing and urbanism as seen from

of

required

the city, while simultaneously choreographing

the orginization of matter and space in

the interior programs and sequence for

paradigmatically different ways. The first

public and private users. Converse to the

encouraged the production of unconventional

first exercise, it sought to produce unity and

relationship between repetitive elements as a

sameness from difference.

the

semester

that

means to explore part-to-whole composition

The program of the K-12 school

and type. In doing so, the destabilized section

situated in a post-industrial American suburb

may have suggested (new) social implications

demands that we consider the integration

between user groups (of different ages) in

of these two ways of architectural thinking.

addition to more general notions of the

Its program is large - manifesting both

collective and the individual. In short, it

heterogenous variation and homogenous

sought to produce difference from identicality.

repetition - such that the methods used to

The second exercise inverted these tendences,

produce its architecture might be applicable/

requiring strategies to architecturally unify

interchangeable with strategies for larger

larger program elements which were singular

urban morphologies. Thus, the themese

and idiosyncratic in nature. Circulation was

engaged in the beginning of the semester will

undoubtedly the main protagonist of the

now culminate in a final exercise to design

latter study, organizing the

the building and grounds for a K-12 public

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Working now with the programs of both

However on the side fo the pentagonal site,

exercises combined (and then some), you

theres a row of commercial and residential

will quickly learn that the site, though large,

buildings that must be kept.

will require intelligent and strategic planning

Careful

consideration

must

be

to accomodate all the program, especially

paid to how the project is accessed by the

with the addition of exterior athletic fields.

different user groups: a) students; b) parents;

You must therefore strike a balance between

c) teachers; d) staff; e) general public. You

internally-motivated

and

should study this for both indoor and outdoor

typological) constraints which dictate that

spaces. The program must be able to operate

the site be occupied in highly deterministic

at various times of day and serve various local

ways, and the extrinsic urban factors that

community groups simultaneously. To that

suggest the overall massing and site be shaped

end, the building must have separate systems

and subdivided in certain ways. Consider the

of entry and circulation. One (or more)

figure/ground of the project as a coherent

should serve the leasable gathering spaces/

architectural syntax that can permute on the

auditoria, while other entry routes should

site while also being contextually responsive at

provide access to the gymnasium, library,

its edges.

and cafeteria, and other spaces of the school

(programmatic

The site for the school is located on

at large. It is probable that lobbies or other

a predominantly disused industrial block in

common spaces might enable the building to

southwest Trenton. It is bounded by South

function as one.

Clinton Ave, Hudson Street, and Mott Street.

There are large industrial buildings on the site which are in various states of viability or dilapidation. Some of these existing buildings may be kept rehabilitated and used for part of the school - or they may be razed completely.

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K-12

SITE

FIE L D P L A C E M E N T

U R B A N C O N N E C T IO N

N EST R O O F PL AN

T HICKEN

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THI cut 0’

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20’

K-12

S E C TIO N A 0’

20’

40’

60’

80’

SECTIO N B 0’

20’

40’

60’

SEC T IO N C

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80’

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K-12

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05 GOL DEN CORRA L Artist’s Residence in Marfa, Texas M.ARCH FALL - 1ST YEAR STUDIO INSTRUCTOR(S): ERIN BESLER & MICHAEL MEREDITH

W

ith this project I was interested in

Windows looking into walls. Courtyards with

using the circle as a discrete module

no entry. These effects of the system's nature

that could be aggregated at points of tangency.

function locally, when a wall begins to split

By creating a system of relational tangencies

from another, but also the form of the with a

figural objects begin to be released from the

unifying unrolled conic roof.

field. Moments of intersection in this system

This system also tackles ideas of

begin to be capitalized on architecturally,

proportion referencing the golden ration

however the system responds to its own

spiral and deploying it in a west Texas as a

ontology. Columns are placed on module

small home for artist's it takes on the aesthetics

centers dictacting the structure in plan of the

of its vernacular.

object. Module tangent lines begin to create apertures and openings though not all usable.

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GOLDEN CORRAL

a g g re g a ti o n o f d i s c re te m o d u l e s

c enter- t a n g e n t re l a ti o n s h i p o f a d j a c e n t m o d u l e s

tangent- ta n g e n t re l a ti o n s h i p o f a d j a c e n t m o d u l e s

fi g u ra l r e l e a s e i n s y s te m g ri d

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GOLDEN CORRAL

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front elevation 0

2.5

5

15

0

2.5

5

15

back elevation

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06 ENFIL A DE Threshold Expansion Fabrication for the Princeton SOA M.ARCH FALL - 1ST YEAR STUDIO INSTRUCTOR(S): ERIN BESLER & MICHAEL MEREDITH TEAM: JONATHAN HANNA & IAN TING

T

his project brief asked us to build a

The idea was to place it in a review space

one to one prototype model of a door

to allow passage through while someone is

or window. Our group chose to tackle the

presenting without acting as a distraction to

concept of an expanding threshold. A portal

the presenter. The sloped top gives it an idea

that can be flattened into a door or expanded

of sideality and the painted "socks" on that

into a hallway of portals, an enfilade. It is

bottom ground it and camouflage the black

constructed of CNC milled oriented strand

casters.

board, repeated and hinged together in a sort of accordion style and then placed on rolling casters allowing it to be deployed anywhere.

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07 IVY HOUS E Green House Laboratory and Research Center for Princeton University M.ARCH FALL - 1ST YEAR STUDIO INSTRUCTOR(S): ERIN BESLER & MICHAEL MEREDITH

I

vy House looks at volumetric compositions

form interior walls and spaces, the floor plates

of quasi-autonomous objects that are

between the two buildings delaminate to a

wrapped in a delaminated facade envelope.

circulatory ramp connecting the two within the

Three separate programs, the Research

conservatory. Ground begins to delaminate as

Center, Conservatory, and Greenhouse,

well to create green walls and roof to provide a

are organized on the site in accordance

living quality to the structure.

with the limitations set by the existing trees.

This Center reads as a living wall.

The conservatory at the center provides a

The architecture becomes a billboard of

formal torque to the connected buildings,

sorts, advertising seasonal changes through

diagrammatically resembling a belt pulley,

the display of plant life cycles on its exterior

delaminating the surfaces of the facades, floor

creating a dynamic facade condition. The

plates, and ground. Facades peel and tear to

facade delaminates revealing interior during

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facade delaminates revealing interior during

the two. The Research Center holds the

the winter months to take in more sunlight

library, classrooms, labs, and offices. The

vs. summer months when they begin to close

Greenhouse is divided into two floors and

up with plants creating fuzzy poche. The 3

holds plants that will then be cultivated and/

are unified by a ribbon strip that ties a thread

or placed in the conservatory for public view

through the Center and ends with a peel of the

and study. The Conservatory pulls in aspects

site ground.

of both the Research Center and Greenhouse

The three objects, different in

and provides a means of vertical circulation

programs but read similarly in material

between the two. It is a public showcase of the

characteristics and tectonics. The panelled

work being done in the two buildings as well

west facade is stone cladded with breaks to

as a place to hold vegetation during the winter

provide shelving for vegetation to grow during

months.

warmer months. A wooden “green screen” is applied to the east facade to filter morning light. The greenhouse and conservatory are built in traditional means of glass and steel for proper plant growth.

The Research Center and Greenhouse are autonomous programmatically using the Conservatory as a transitional space between

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IVY HOUSE

N

sc a l e: 1 / 8 ”

G r o u n d LLe v ele 0v1e- stlu d y- S t u d y cut +5’

c u t +5 ’

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L e vn el Level O cut +

nl 0e2 - -t eachTe a c h +20’

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N

sc al e: 1 / 8 ”

sc a l e: 1 / 8 ”

L e vel o 0 3 - w-o r kWo r k L e v e l Tw cut +40’

c u t +2 0 ’

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c u t +4 0 ’

IVY HOUSE

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IVY HOUSE

30’

15’

Wo r m ’s Eye S ect i o n

sc a le: 3 /1 6 ”

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40’

30’

20’

10’

20’

30’

40’

10’

Wo r m ’s E y e S e c t i o n

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IVY HOUSE

West Elevation

S um m er

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08 S UPERCL IPS Barber Shop and Apartment on Main Street, USA M.ARCH FALL - 1ST YEAR STUDIO INSTRUCTOR(S): ERIN BESLER & MICHAEL MEREDITH

A

little off the top please. Superclips,

circulation. The facade screen receives a

Main Street addition, uses operations

literal clip to provide clear clips into the

of clips, clipping, and clip-ons to create

interior of the project from the street. The

construct a main street addition, barber

facade also acts as a clip on unit, speculating

shop and residential unit. Clipping operates

on an idea where main street facades can

at multiple scales across the project. Clips

be interchangeably replaced depending on

as a means of subdivision of the 30x30

program, use, or aesthetic. Clipping as both

block to activate interior spaces and provide

an additive and subtractive operation.

a geometrical system of organization and

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section perspective scale: 1/2” = 1’

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II TE XA S A&M

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09 - a.r.k.

10 - exquisite corpse 11- imperfect places

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09 A .R.K. Archive for the Post-Anthropocene UG4 SPRING - VERTICAL STUDIO INSTRUCTOR(S): JORIS PUTTENEERS & GABRIEL ESQUIVEL TEAM: ESTEBAN ARMENTA, KAREN CARDENAS, & MICHAEL MARROQUIN

A

RK is a sanctuary of objects speculating

the system. Programmatically, objects are

on a new ecosystem of accessing,

displayed in a gallery and garden, processed

displaying, processing, and preserving in

within an archival chamber, and finally laid to

a post-singular context in an endeavor to

rest within the catacombs for deep storage and

ensure that digital information of continuing

preservation. This process of preservation is

value remains accessible and usable. This

cyclical, allowing for a reduction of time to

archive addresses algorithmic operations

exist in an object’s quote unquote lifespan.

sectionally, in three levels: the architectural

The objects are not only preserved but are

system as a whole, the curatorial process,

repurposed to be able to produce new objects,

and the object as a tool in how it relates to

through data collection and sequencing.

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This system utilizes algorithmic processes working at

This project sorts in two categories.

A machine’s data processing output and a

three scales:

human subject’s understanding of this output.

1) The first level is the ecosystem as a whole.

While both are independent of each other,

The cylical nature of garden, collection,

both can be used as a resource for each other

extraction, and preservation.

in this ecology. The system learns from human data while the human may also learn from the

2) The next level of algorithmic processing is

data outputs of the system, creating a symbiotic

curation. There is a step by step process in the

relationship between both system and human

object’s journey from arrival to storage that

without any interdependence. This archive

takes place within the archival chamber.

produces interpretations of architecture and human and machine interaction through

3) At the smallest scale, the algorithm

new means of object collection and data

functions as a tool. A collection of objects

processing.

repurposed as a difficult whole.

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A.R.K.

Ecosystem The gardens above ground, landmarked by follies outputted by the machine, determined ideals of a picturesque, rejecting Kantian perspectives of the beautiful and sublime, in order to inject its own aesthetic. A gallery where an object’s “hardware” is displayed and accessed by a subject curated entirely up to the machine’s discretion.

Below the gardens, the liminal space of the archival chambers where an objects data is collected and processed in its transition to becoming digitally preserved, and finally to storage within the catacombs where the object’s remains are stored in the “folders” within the poche. Due to the cyclical nature of this ecosystem, if objects are considered significant due to machine discretion, the object data will be outputted and sent to the gardens to be displayed or if deemed insignificant (for example: object duplicates) are then sent to the incinerator to be deleted.

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//ossuary

//garden + processing

//folly01 //folly03

//folly02

//folly04

//divot

//stalactites

//catacomb chunk

//object cycle

//system leak //object processing _object status: arrived _SCNNR activated _CTLGR: warming up _XTRCTR: sleeping _NBLMR: sleeping //object classification: folly, +send to garden

ARK

//curating_cycle:

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T h e p ro c e s s o f c u ra ti o n t h ro u g h th e A R K i s c y c l i c a l . T h e o b j e c t e n te rs th r o u g h th e o s s u a ry , i s t a g g e d , s o rte d a n d p ro c e s s e d to b e s e n t to th e c a ta c o m b s fo r d a ta c o l l e c ti o n . P o s t c o l l e c ti o n , t h e o b j e c t i s e i th e r s e n t to b e p r e s e rv e d o r d e s tro y e d d e p e n d i n g o n th e m a c h i n e s v i e w o f o b j e c t w o rth . Ob j e c ts d e e m e d wo r th y o f p re s e rv a ti o n

A.R.K.

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TEXAS A&M

Curation In the Second Digital Turn, Mario Carpo

but only based on the frequency of scale,

describes the new technological advancements

following an order that would be meaningless

in classification and sorting that have allowed

to humankind. This model of machine

data to be collected. Technology giants such as

classification is seen within the chambers of

Google and Amazon have allowed people to

our architecture. The Curators define their

correctly sort information or files in a specific

own system of classification unbeknownst

order, but machines are able to do the job at

to human understanding. This leads to a

a more efficient rate. From today’s big data

developed library of both meta and material

perspective, it is easy to see that classifications

data in order to create an accurate rendering of

also function by structuring and formalizing

authenticated content over time.

a random stock of information, providing speedier access to all data in an inventory by way of indexing. In Amazon Warehouses, objects are not sorted by subject or category,

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Meet the Curators

There is a step by step process in the object’s j within the archival chamber. This process is

The Curators. The Curators are charged wit

and interpreting object data through photogr

cataloguing for digital and physical preservation

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journey from arrival to storage that takes place aided by artificially intelligent tools dubbed

th classifying, appraising, sorting, collecting,

rammetric scanning, material extraction, and

n.

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A.R.K.

Contact & Excavation

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TEXAS A&M

To o l Each “tool” is made from the

delamination, bashing, growth,

“hardware” of other typologies.

and decontextualization allowing

After a certain critical mass

for transtemporality of objects.

is outputted, when the tool

The pieces are not fused or

has enough information to be

merged,

of use, it begins to aid in the

objectual qualities. The object

curatorial process of the system.

uses collected data to render new

The result of this parts to whole

outcomes such as objects, spaces,

is a completely new typology,

and tools. The tools are no longer

the tool becomes a plane of

parts of the system but they are the

objects

system now.

through

aggregation,

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retaining

its

own

10 EXQUIS ITE CORPS E Meta-Mausoleum for the Data Departed UG4 SPRING - VERTICAL STUDIO INSTRUCTOR(S): JORIS PUTTENEERS & GABRIEL ESQUIVEL TEAM: ESTEBAN ARMENTA, KAREN CARDENAS, & MICHAEL MARROQUIN

O

ur project speculates on a speculative

spiritual space, and data center. Like that

fiction in which a Mausoleum becomes

of canonical catacombs, human remains

an archive for preserving artifacts in a post

and objects meant to enter the afterlife with

singularity era. The Mausoleum serves as a

the human, are stored within the poche

monument implanted in preexisting contexts

of the network of underground passages,

featuring an information garden and archival

establishing no hierarchy between human and

data catacombs below. These catacombs serve

non human objects after the expired lifespan.

as burial grounds for objects both physically

The poche becomes a plane of objects in

and digitally as well as a space of display and

itself rejecting classical labeling paradigms

historical preservation. The extraction of

through

both human and nonhuman metadata is

bashing, algorithmic manipulation, and

performed in the below and the essence at the

superimposition allowing for trans temporality

point of departure from physical existence

of objects, placing centuries of context in

is backed up to the cloud while the hardware

on observation of thickness and space. The

is preserved within the physical architecture

archival poche becomes an exquisite corpse

of the crypt. A tomb as a museum, library,

of collected objects perversing the duality of

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aggregation,

delamination,

TEXAS A&M

figure ground by layering the catalogued data

where objects rest in a state of existence. Our

through thickness and space. Poche in flux.

project instead produces new possibilities

Spaces in becoming. Newly added objects can

and potentials, where every object’s data is

be easily seen and understood by their sensual

part of a collective that is in the process of

qualities while objects of longer storage begin

becoming. The catacombs, where the objects

to be modified through data extraction and

are stored, become a “proto” for something that

hardware embalming through amalgamation

is beyond our present knowledge. Reflecting

into existing poche.

the canonical catacombs that were a proto of

The growth is omnidirectional,

the architecture that was to come, our project

without hierarchical structure, because it

explores the possible precedents for a post

transcends cartesian limits. The information

anthropocene architecture.

that is not expressed in the physical growth

The mausoleum questions object

occupies no spatial dimensions. The object

life and afterlife. As an object’s physical life

also has no set time. This is where the

ends, how can its essence be manifested

algorithm plays a vital role in communicating

digitally?

Data

these ideas. The gradient between smooth

Disposal.

Metadata

and striated denies any registration of

itself in its phenomenological state then

construction or deterioration. It is a setting

eventually abstractly materializes into a

where space and time are transcended

tangible architecture archived within the data

(pushed past their limits), and the state is

catacombs of the mausoleum.

purely the existence of data physical and metaphysical(or what is not seen with the eye). However our project defies a fixed state of this collected data, rather than a museum

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Upload

and

Hardware

extraction

identifies

EXQUISITE CORPSE

[SITE PLAN]

Garden of Algorithmic Delights Introduction of the algorithm allows

this data garden as an expression of

for multiple attributes of data or

or an attribute of the substance or

substance to be synthesized and

our archive of information. What is

expressed. Thereby implementing

expressed is physically seen but is not

the notion of the becoming and

the entirety of the substance, which is

growth, as is evident within the

the intangible data or information.

garden. The information growth or “garden” is the tangible growth of the information, a data leak of what has been archived. Our project treats

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TEXAS A&M

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Cadaver An archive of the dead. The mausoleum exists as a reduction of time to past, present, and future by understanding the poche as an archive. The mausoleum distorts that notion.

There is no archive and yet there is only archive, in that the composition of the built work contains objects ranging from significant to banal, tangible and intangible, old and new, and temporal and eternal.

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Plan of Data Catacombs cut -45’

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EXQUISITE CORPSE

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TEXAS A&M

Extraction Kierkegaard argues the idea of extraction and begins to question the afterlife by focusing on the moment when the subject transcends to the “after”. the post-physical identity, Corpus Hominis to Spiritus Immortalis. Known as “the moment”. The instance where subject connects and enters a transcendental state of the eternal, or where an object connects to upload its metadata through a trascendental vessel known as the Machine Aided Metadata Extraction

Device

(pictured

left).This

procession backs up the metadata to the eternal storage capacity of the “after”, from temporal to eternal.

97

98

Autopsy logitudinal section

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11 IMP E RFECT PL ACES Sacred Space for Virtual Reality UG3 FALL STUDIO INSTRUCTOR(S): VAHID VAHDAT

T

his project focuses on the importance

allow for a shift in space thus activating more

of the architectural section in the

inhabitable areas throughout.

animation, articulation, and activation of

This was also an investigation in the

a space. What began as an aggregation of

occupancy of a space through virtual reality.

primitives in elevation, an animation of space

The spaces throughout called to question the

was achieved through booleans of “objects’

idea of the human as an irritant, an agent

taken from the initial massing. These objects

of disturbance in a space, manifested both

start to articulate the space by creating a

physically and virtually.

unique surface logic to the interior. The interior begins to imitate similar logics found in Piranesi’s Carceri drawings through the flattening of layered spaces blurred together by a manipulation of perspective. Through a diagrammatic analysis of the section of the object, cuts made along regulating lines can

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Austin Robert Madrigale Vol. 06 Produced in May 2021 WORKS COMPENDIUM 2015-2021 For further information contact at austinmadrigale@gmail.com

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